Baekhyun wasn’t sure what he expected to walk into, but this certainly wasn’t it.               Chaos— chaos everywhere. Maids and butlers were running around desperately trying to make everything seem in tip-top condition, shouting all sorts of random orders out at others, regardless of position. Court members were frantically discussing something in a corner, some of them occasionally looking around them in what seemed like paranoia. And most alarming of all, the person who should be at the center of attention was missing.               Taking a deep breath to avoid tensing up and getting angry at everyone there, Baekhyun walked towards his lover, the one person he should be able trust to be a voice of reason in the situation.               Key word: should.               “Chanyeol…” he hissed out as he reached his target. The other person grinned at him in response.               “Baekkie! You’ve come to see the show!” Chanyeol exclaimed in glee. To Baekhyun, his lover was, in all essence, an overgrown man-child. With a complete baby face, a voice deeper than nearly everyone he knows, and a personality not unlike a five-year-old kid, Chanyeol was absolutely ridiculous. It was no wonder so many people doubted his abilities as the Head Advisor.               “What the is going on here?” Baekhyun practically seethed, but his lover didn’t seem affected.                         “Big ol’ Sun King’s paying a surprise visit, so everyone’s freaking out,” he replied cheerfully, simply chuckling when he saw Baekhyun’s anger. “Oh come on, Baekkie. Keep glaring like that, and people will start mistaking you for Tao!”               “You idiot! If he’s coming over so sudden like this, you know something’s wrong!” Baekhyun snapped, before rubbing his temple to calm himself down. “Where’s His Majesty?” Chanyeol shrugged, and one of the court members—the group apparently had shifted closer to them without a word—spoke up.               “We don’t know!” the man cried, and Baekhyun looked over at him. “He stepped out a while ago without a word, and we only heard the notice of the Sun King’s arrival after His Majesty had left. No one knows where he is, nor do we have a way to contact him!”               “I leave you guys alone for four hours and you let your king just up and leave like that?!” he growled, but once he saw the poor man looking near tears, he sighed. “Let’s go, Yeol.”                         “Kay,” the giant hummed, following his lover.  One of the other advisors spoke up.               “Where are you going?” he asked, and Baekhyun could feel the impatience in the old man’s voice. “We still have to find the King!” He rolled his eyes, and only spared a glance at the man before speaking.               “This is His Majesty we’re talking about; where else would he be?”   ----------               Now, Baekhyun loved their King, he really did, but sometimes, that free spirit of His Majesty’s absolutely drove him insane.               Without saying anything to anyone, the King had just left the castle after the day’s meetings, bringing no one alone with him, and even leaving his communication mirror at the castle. He didn’t even bring a horse, so they couldn't check for tracks. If Baekhyun and Chanyeol weren’t there, no one would ever be able to find him until he decided to return himself.               Baekhyun and Chanyeol walked quickly, treading through the forest expertly, as they had done so many times before. At this point, the two of them practically had the route memorized to heart, knowing exactly what dangers were where, and, more, importantly, where to slow their pace, where to quiet their step.               By the time they reached their location, they were likely too quiet for even a mouse to hear them. Baekhyun held back a sigh as he saw what was in front of him, confirming his suspicions. The King of the glorious Moon Kingdom was there, bare and as the day he was born— Baekhyun noted that his clothes were folded up neatly on a rock nearby— floating in the water, body and head partially submerged in the water, his face towards the sky, eyes and lips closed. It pained Baekhyun a bit to have to stir the King from his peace, but certain things had to be done.               He quietly stepped forward, and with the gentlest voice he could conjure up, he spoke.               “Your Majesty…”                         The King stirred, but he did not look frazzled. Ever graceful, he slowly opened his eyes, not even flinching at the sudden change in light, and slowly raised himself so he was standing, body submerged in the water up to his armpits. Knowing who it was who called, the King smiled softly, and Baekhyun smiled back, before continuing.               “Your Majesty, it’s time to return.” he spoke, keeping his tone leveled, but still adding enough force into his words to ensure no resistance. The King was hardly the most defiant character, but Baekhyun refused to be careless. The other nodded, and slowly but sure wadded his way through the water until he was completely out of it. Neither Baekhyun nor Chanyeol reacted to seeing the King —they had seen it multiple times before, and they felt no shyness between them. The King closed his eyes, and Baekhyun saw droplets of water being suspended around the other and knew the man was working on drying himself.               “So,” the King started, without opening his eyes, “What’s the issue?”               “We’re getting a… visit, Your Majesty,” Chanyeol spoke up this time, and the King opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the man’s words.               “Visit? What do you mean?” he questioned, before lightheartedly adding, “And don’t be so formal, Chanyeol.”               “We’re in public, Your Majesty,” Baekhyun reminded the man, but he just shook his head.               “Alias then. Come on, now, we’ve been friends since young, you could at least relax a tad bit, no?” Chanyeol and Baekhyun sighed, but nodded, relenting. “Anyway, what about this visit?”               “It’s Kris,” Chanyeol explained. “He’s suddenly decided to come in, and he’s supposed to be here within two or three hours. We’re not sure why, exactly, he just contacted us a few hours ago about it, not long after you left.”               “And you didn’t come get me earlier because…?” the King questioned, raising an eyebrow, and Chanyeol grinned.               “I wanted to see Baekkie mad.” Chanyeol started guffawing, and even the King chuckled a bit, but Baekhyun didn’t find it nearly as funny, and slapped his lover on the arm. Hard. “Ow, Baekhyun!”               “Now, now, you two, don’t fight,” the King teased, as he began clothing himself, and Baekhyun flushed slightly, but protested.               “But Suhooooo!” he whined, and the other male simply shook his head while laughing.               “You can have your lover’s dispute later,” Suho relented, a grin still on his face. “For now, let’s just get back to the castle before Kris comes. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like being murdered by Mr. Strict today.”
  ----------               Luckily, they managed to get Suho back to the castle and everything prepared long before the Sun King had arrived, and now, they were waiting patiently. It had become customary in the Moon Kingdom that, whenever visitors from other planets were coming to see the Suho directly, they would meet in the largest lounge of the castle, rather than in the throne room or other very public areas, and there they would stay unless it was necessary that they relocate.               Suho sat in a largely cushioned chair, while Chanyeol and Baekhyun sat and cuddled in a loveseat adjacent to him. The Moon King smiled at their closeness. The two were the perfect match for each other, and Suho couldn’t have been more overjoyed when they announced to him five years ago that they were seeing each other. Many people, including their families, had been pressuring them to get married soon, but Suho thought it could wait. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were still young, both 22 years old, and while he was sure his friends would stay together through thick and thin, marriage would bring legal responsibilities into their relationship—not to mention to political ramifications of the Moon King’s Head Guard and Head Advisor marrying. It was all a headache no one wanted to deal with right now, and in all honesty, doing it now would just seem sloppy on their part, or unprofessional, as Kris would say.               Kris. The older man was the perfect ruler for the Sun Kingdom—emotionless, strict, and leader-like whenever in public, and sometimes even in private. He always knew what to say, had an unshakeable composure in nearly all