Jonghyun's POV

Around 5 months ago...

"But I don't think I -"

"Look, dear, you're the only heir, and this is what happens when you're this age!"

"But -"

"Don't argue with me! YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED."

"Mom -"

"AISHHH."

That's when she did it. She cast the spell that made me mute until I fall in love. Isn't that lovely? It's been a while now; almost half a year. I have until a full year is up to fall in love, unless I want to stay quiet my whole life. Yeah, she tends to forget to read the side effects of all the spells she casts. That's my mom. Once, she accidentally e of the maids into a frog and waited too long to reverse it. Now, I think that maid is living happily in our pond, away from the stress of human life. I wish I got turned into a frog. I, Kim Jonghyun, CANNOT stand not being able to talk. It's ridiculous.

So, my mom is throwing this ball for me soon. I get to "meet all the eligible young ladies of the kingdom and fall in love and take over the kingdom and have beautiful babies," according to my mom. Exciting! Right now, all the preparations are taking place, so I'm stuck here in the castle with nothing to do. Usually, I'd go horseback riding or something, but my horse is getting groomed, and the lawns are getting manicured. Isn't that what girls do to their fingernails? Get manicures? Are they making my beautiful green grass sparkly and pink?! 

"Jjong, dear~" Goodness, can't she leave me alone? "You have to go get fitted for your clothes for the ball! Go to that nice tailor in town...what was his name? Key? That's a strange name...anyways...here, take this money and go!" 

With that, she pushed me into one of the carriages and sent me into town. My kingdom has a nice town - it's not too big, so we don't have to deal with a lot of annoying complaints, and my mom made these laws where the girls can't get any plastic surgery, or wear buttloads of makeup, or cut their hair shorter than their mid-back or something, so all the girls are really pretty and natural (for the future babies, of course. Who wants ugly babies?). At least, the ones that wash themselves are...how gross. Who doesn't at least wash their hair? I love my hair. It's awesome. Oh, I'm here.

"Jonghyu- I mean, Your Highness!" Key ran out, covered in his usual tailor stuff. There was a loose measuring tape draped around his shoulders, he had a pin cushion strapped around his left wrist, and his glasses were hanging awkwardly low on his face. He had sewn on a lot of shiny things to his jacket, and it was already a shimmery white, so it was kind of hard to look at him with the sun reflecting off of him. His dad was the old tailor, but he's old and sick now, so Key's taking over. His family has always taken care of our clothes, and I often came with my mom when she got a new dress (which was like, every week), so Key and I naturally became friends. I think he's my best friend. Best friends forever! 

The carriage drove away, and I think one of the footmen snickered, but I'll just ignore that. How rude. I'm the crown prince and he's my best friend. I RULE THEM...almost. I waved at Key, annoyed at not being able to talk. I pulled the money out of my pocket and stuck it in his face, hoping he'd know what I mean. He motioned me inside and cleared up a chair for me to sit in. Some girl was getting fitted in what I would say was a pretty horrendous dress. Hopefully it was for her mom or something. It was WAY too old for her.

"Ah, uh...Your Highness..." She awkwardly bowed and shuffled into a dressing room, bundling that awful thing as much as she could so she wouldn't trip. Cute. A few minutes later, she came out in normal clothes (thankfully) and paid Key. She bowed as she passed me again. That's weird; she didn't freak out like other girls normally did. I knew it! Talking made me all the more charming! Stupid mom; now I'll never get married. Whatever. This is her fault.

 "Sorry, she was here before you. Now, if you're wondering why I would make such an ugly thing, it's because her step-mother designed it. I think that woman has it out for this poor child. She never gets to wear anything pretty. Well, you'll see it in its full glory at your ball. If I was her, I just wouldn't go. That thing is gross. What do you need? ...Oh yeah, you can't talk. HAH!"

I scowled at him and pulled out a note that my mom had written with the instructions. I wonder what she came up for me this time.

Narrator (aka Third Person) POV

"_____! GET DOWN HERE!" You groaned in annoyance and rushed down the stairs. What could it be now? "Go to that bizarrely dressed excuse for a tailor and tell him to make this for you. Consider yourself lucky; I almost didn't let you go to the ball at all. Hurry up. I'm sure you have enough for the first payment."

"Of course." Not like you'd give me money anyways.

You headed down the street to Key. His family tailor business was the best in town, and the Kims were the only ones deserving of the title of "tailor". Key was really nice, and he always did exceptionally well. You were sad that his father was ill; you know that Key wanted to leave and make a name for himself outside of this kingdom, but he loved his family too much to leave them. You stuck your tongue out at the drawing your step mother gave you. It was hideous; you expected it to be, but not this hideous. You wondered how she even came up with these things. 

"I'll just sneak away when I get there. Then no one will have to see me wear this stupid thing." You entered the shop and saw Key with his head down on a table covered in different clothing designs. He was asleep. "Oh, sorry, Key..."

You gently tapped his shoulder, and when that didn't work, you nudged it, jerking Key awake. "Omo! Oh, it's you! You scared me!"

"Hello~ Uhh, my mom wants you to sew this...thing...for me...but if you're busy, or just not in the mood, you can totally not make it. You know. Really, you don't have to." You smoothed the paper onto the table and winced at the design. It was some weird puke green color, and it had ruffles in all the wrong places. Then, there were the polka dots. The hot pink polka dots. They were everywhere! 

"This is insulting!" Key looked at the paper disgustedly, like he didn't even want to touch it. "I mean, I can make this, but it's just...so..."

"I know. I'm sorry. But hey, I'm the one wearing it, right?"

"But still. You're way too pretty for this. And the color's all wrong! It makes you look like you fell into the swamp and your dress got attacked by giant bugs or something!"

"Thanks...but you know her. If it isn't exactly like this, well, she'll get really, REALLY mad...and..."

"I don't see why you put up with this. You're eighteen already. Just get out of the house!"

"But I have to take care of Taemin....he's all I have left, and I can't stand the thought of leaving him with her alone. I mean, coming into town just to run errands already worries me. He's a good kid, and he doesn't deserve that."

"No one deserves this ugly piece of clothing."

"You always know what to say! Anyways, can we just get this over with?"

"Of course! Up you go!" You stepped onto the podium thing and stretched your arms out. Key measured you like usual, even though you haven't grown in months. "I think you lost weight. Is that old lady feeding you?"

You laughed, and continued with the rest of the process of getting a dress made. When you were younger, you'd go with your mother to get a dress made for special events. You didn't really care much for the clothes; you just liked spending time with her. But, after a while, she kept getting tired easily, and you stopped. Your dad would try to take you out, but you would always cry for your mother. Oh, I'll save the sob stories for later. Continuing on.

After you got most of the fabric pinned onto you, and a basic shape was sewn, you stood once again on the podium, looking at the stuff hanging off your shoulders. That's when he walked in. Oh, the charming prince of the kingdom! You remember the days when he would stroll around town and have a friendly conversation with everyone. He'd stop to buy some meat from Onew, get fruit from the little girl selling it on the corner, and even stop by and hang out with Key sometimes. You were kind of jealous; he was able to have such a nice time and make friends with everyone, while you had to rush home to make sure Taemin wasn't being tortured into massaging your step mother's feet or something. 

"Ah, uh...Your Highness..." You turned quickly so he wouldn't recognize you, or have you committed into memory as the girl with the hideous dress. After changing and paying Key, you bowed again and rushed out. How awkward.

You finally arrived home, your step mother nowhere in sight. 

"Taemin! Where are you?" You threw your stuff into your room and looked around for your brother. He was finally going through his growth spurt, and you had already passed you, but you were still shocked whenever you had to look up to talk to him. He was your adorable baby brother, not some tall handsome man thing. Nope.

"_____!" He hugged you and gave you a noogie. His height had given this ability and he took it as a way of getting revenge on you for all the times you noogied him. "She almost made me give her a sponge bath. You know what that means?! I'd have to see her ! I think I'd rather die!"

"GROSS! How'd you get out of that?"

"She changed her mind when I got the mail, I don't know. It was kind of weird, but I think I'm traumatized now. Just thinking about gives me the heebie-jeebies!" 

"Hmm. That's weird. And stop thinking about it!" You went to clean up and make dinner. It was well past midnight when your step mother got back home, but Taemin was already asleep, and you were about to go to bed, but curiosity got the better of you. You carefully snuck out of your room and peered down the stairs into the main hall. She was all dressed up and...drunk?

Well, hello there! taemily here with yet another SHINee fic. I want to experiment with POV's and mess with Jonghyun, so yeah. Anyways. This one is less realistic than the other ones and it takes place in a magical kingdom! Woo! I have too much time on my hands.