The prince took waking up in an unfamiliar room to a stranger ostensibly threatening his girlfriend pretty well, all things considered.  Baekhyun was mid-rant when Yixing finally gave a yawn and sat up, squinting around in confusion as he ruffled the back of his head and tried to figure out where he was and what was going on.  The second Baekhyun saw the movement, he shut up and let go of Yeonhee, taking a step back.

Yixing looked him up and down, baffled.  Yeonhee prepared herself to initiate the awkward introductions, but Baekhyun got there first.

“Good morning, your highness,” he said with a quick bow.  “Sorry to disturb you.”

It was probably very odd for Baekhyun, Yeonhee reflected.  He wasn’t a republican himself, but that was more because he didn’t have much of an opinion either way on the monarchy rather than because he strongly supported it.  But even so, apathy towards the monarchy wasn’t going to stop a general what-do-I-do-in-this-situation? that was clearly going through his head.

Yixing looked between Baekhyun and Yeonhee and then back again.  Baekhyun looked like he was halfway between frightened and angry, most likely because he was worried about offending royalty and because he was worried about Yeonhee.

To Yeonhee’s amazement, it took the prince three sentences to break the ice.

“Are you Byun Baekhyun?” he asked, sizing Baekhyun up.  He stuck out a hand.  “Yixing of Taderra.  I’m a fan of your music.”

Not even meeting Baekhyun’s favourite celebrity could have blown his mind like that.  He was close enough to reach out and shake the prince’s hand, which seemed to be more of an autopilot thing for him, because he clearly wasn’t capable of coherent thought right them.

“How. . . ?” was all he could produce.

“Yeonhee’s sent me clips of you stuff.”  The prince smiled, but it soon faded into a grimace and he winced, gingerly probing at his head.

Still trying to compute, Baekhyun turned to Yeonhee.  Then he glanced back at the prince.

“Wait a second,” he said, apparently recovering the power of speech.  “Were you the pirate at the. . . ?”

Yixing nodded.

“Okay.”  Baekhyun stumbled over to Yeonhee’s desk chair and collapsed into it.  “Wow.  Okay.”  It looked like his brain was still trying to recover from the shock.  “So, er, how did you two meet?  Your highness,” he tacked on at the end.

Yixing let out a hacking cough, quickly covering his mouth with his hand, and looked towards Yeonhee.  Yeonhee looked uncertainly back.  Was she supposed to tell the truth, or was she supposed to go with some cover story?

“Online,” she said a little hesitantly.  The prince nodded, coughing again.

“Easyl,” Baekhyun filled in, nodding to himself.  “Of course.”

The prince sent him and Yeonhee a questioning glance.

“We’ve been trying to work out who Yeonhee’s been seeing, sir,” Baekhyun explained, gesturing to Yeonhee.  “I saw the car a couple of times and she mentioned art lessons—”

“Are you the one who thought I was a sugar daddy?” the prince asked.  His voice was still pretty rough with sleep.

Baekhyun gaped at him like a fish out of water, his face going bright red.  He could evidently tell it gave him away, though, because he bowed profusely from the chair.

“I apologise, your highness,” he said at once.  “I saw your car a couple of times and assumed. . .”

The prince coughed again, the action wracking his whole body, but Yeonhee saw the corners of his lips twitching up.

“So. . .”  Baekhyun glanced warily between them both.  It looked like the shock was beginning to wear off and he was trying to work out what he could and couldn’t ask.  “You two have been dating for, what, about. . . three months?  Your highness?”

“A week,” Yeonhee corrected.

He raised his eyebrows.  “You mean the press caught you on your first date?”

Yixing flopped back down on Yeonhee’s bed, curling up on his side and pulling the duvet up to his chin.

“I completely forgot it was Valentine’s day,” he admitted in a mumble.  “There was a temporary sculpture exhibition I wanted Yeonhee to see and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Baekhyun looked incredulous for a few moments, but then utterly confused.  “So wait, is this a. . . a sort of. . . dating arrangement because the press thought there was something going on when there wasn’t?  Like a contract relationship?”

Yixing huffed softly, but he appeared to be amused by the notion.

“No,” said Yeonhee.  “I would be a very, very bad choice for that.  Think about the media coverage if I’m caught.”

“Good point,” said Baekhyun.  “Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

Yixing coughed again.  “Why do you think I hid her face?”

Baekhyun nodded.  It was a bit of an awkward movement.  Yeonhee noticed the way his gaze lingered on the prince, wary and almost scared.  Even if he had recovered his faculties of thought and speech, it looked like he was still having difficulty believing his eyes.

“Aren’t you guys moving a little fast?” he blurted out before clapping a hand over his mouth.  “Sorry, your highness,” he added.

The prince started coughing again, but this time didn’t stop, and his face started to turn red.  To be fair, that could have been because he was blushing anyway, but Yeonhee still started across the room in alarm, ignoring her own embarrassment.

“I’ll get water,” Baekhyun offered, disappearing into the bathroom before Yeonhee had realised that she had none on the bedside table, even though the empty mug of tea from the previous night was still there.

Yeonhee helped Yixing to sit up, thumping his back as he choked.  He’d just coughed it out when Baekhyun returned with a full glass of water.

“Thank you,” Yixing wheezed as he accepted it.  His fingers shook as he raised the glass to his lips, and Yeonhee automatically took it off him so that he wouldn’t spill the water.  His hands were unnaturally clammy.

Baekhyun hovered nervously by the bed.  Under any normal circumstances, Yeonhee knew he would have made himself at home and sprawled down on it, but the prince’s mere presence was an obvious block to doing that.

It didn’t stop him from tapping Yeonhee on the shoulder when Yixing nudged the glass away from his mouth and lay back down.

“Yeonhee,” Baekhyun whispered, more mouthing the words than saying them.  “Is it just me, or does it look like he might be ill?”

Yeonhee looked down.  Yixing had balled himself up under the duvet again, his eyes half closed as he tucked the duvet back under his chin.  Now that he was no longer choking, his face was worryingly colourless.  His fringe also looked a little damp with sweat.

Sitting on the bed next to him, Yeonhee reached out and placed the back of her hand against his forehead.  Yixing immediately leant into the touch with a sigh of contentment.  His skin was sweltering.

“Do you have any fever medication?” she asked Baekhyun.  “He’s burning up.”

“I can steal some from Mihae if you want,” Baekhyun offered.  “I have a bag of frozen peas in my room as well, if that helps.”

Yeonhee nodded and he scampered away.

As the door closed, Yixing’s hand snuck out of the duvet cocoon and found its way around Yeonhee’s wrist.

“I’m not ill,” he mumbled.  “Luhan will go berserk.”

“I’m going to ring Luhan and tell him you can’t work today,” Yeonhee disagreed.

Yixing shook his head.  “Then he’ll know I’m here.”

Yeonhee reached for her phone anyway and turned it on, but she sighed.  “What are y