The Prince had trouble keeping his eyes open at the table that morning. The water fight he'd had with Minho earlier completely wore him out, not to mention the fact that he'd fallen asleep last night right when the sun was ready to rise. His chin was resting in his palm and was supported by his elbow that comfortably sat on the table, which was unlike his usual prince-like posture he'd always kept based off of habit.

"Taemin, are you alright?" Key asked, noticing the younger male's strange behaviour. Taemin jerked awake at the sound of his name, immediately recomposing himself to his normal properness to cover up his exhausted state.

"Aw, are you tired from what happened last night?" Kibum cooed.

Minho nearly spit out his food and Taemin almost fell out of his chair. "W-what? What happened?"

Key blinked in confusion, thinking that the answer was obvious. "You were frightened of the lightning...weren't you?"

Taemin and Minho mentally sighed in relief. "Oh! Yes! Right, it uh... slipped my mind for a moment." he recovered, lowering his head to hide his forming blush.

"I'm sorry I couldn't comfort you last night. Where did you sleep?"

"In my room." Minho piped up.

Key raised his eyebrows in suspicion, pointing his spatula at the thief threateningly.

"Oh, would you relax? I slept on the floor and gave him the bed." he lied without falter as Taemin scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Good."

"Why don't you sleep for a bit longer, Taemin?" Minho suggested, already getting up to go and help the Prince to his room.

"I'm fine, really." he protested, yet still allowed Minho to lift him out of his chair and guide him to the bedroom.

The thief chuckled. "Just come along..."

Key narrowed his eyes at the couple as they retreated to Taemin's room, noticing the small limp the Prince had as he walked. "Those two have gotten really close lately...haven't they?"

"R-really? Them? No, I don't think so..." Jonghyun chuckled nervously.

"If I didn't know any better I would've thought they were in love or something."

"What? Key, that's ridiculous."

"I have to agree with Jonghyun on this one." Onew stated. "Minho's a lot of things....but he certainly isn't interested in men. He's just being friendlier than usual, that's all."

"A bit too friendly if you ask me..." Key mumbled, picking at the food on his plate. "I swear to you something's going on here. I can feel it."

Jonghyun chewed on his lower lip nervously, thinking of a way to distract his boyfriend before he figured out Minho and Taemin's secret. "H-hey, Bummie can you go down to the stream for me and collect some more drinking water?" Jonghyun requested, handing Key an empty bucket.

Kibum rolled his eyes and took it from his lover. "I told you to go and do that yesterday!"

"I know, I forgot. Could you please do it for me, baby?" Jonghyun gave his boyfriend his best puppy dog eyes, knowing he couldn't resist them. 

The thief scoffed and stood up. "Fine."

"Thank you, Bummie." he pecked the man's cheek before he walked out of the cabin.

A few minutes later and Key had yet to return with the water, and the leader felt concerned knowing that such a simple task wouldn't take this long to accomplish for someone as meticulous as Key.

"Key's been out there for a while...." Onew noted, craning his neck towards the window pane to look for their missing teammate.

"I'll go get him. He probably got distracted by something along the way." Jonghyun said, excusing himself from the table to go and retrieve his boyfriend.

The thief whistled a tune casually as he ventured out towards the stream. "Bummie! Key, where are you? Do you need help?"

He called out Key's name a few more times, only to get no response, and huffed in defeat before walking farther towards the main path. He was suddenly startled by a rustling coming from the bushes behind him, then chuckled as he walked towards the noise. "Key, I thought you stopped playing these childish games a long time ago! I don't fall for this stuff any--"

Jonghyun stopped as he pushed the foliage aside, eyes widened in astonishment at what he found. His boyfriend was lying in the dirt, hogtied and gagged. He had a panicked look on his face as he tried screaming through the cloth in his mouth. Jonghyun bent down and quickly pulled it out.

"JONGHYUN BEHIND YOU!"

The thief whirled around once he heard Kibum's words, but it was too late. Jonghyun fell to the ground as something large and heavy made contact with his head, and the faint image of female riding boots came into view before he out completely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, I'm going to go and look for them. They've been gone far too long." Onew huffed and stood up from the table.

"Just relax, hyung. I'm sure the both of them are just fooling around somewhere. Nothing out of the ordinary." Minho shrugged and got up to go check on Taemin.

".....I suppose you're right." he decided and sat back down.

Minho slowly turned the handle of the closet door, ensuring he didn't make any noise that could awaken the teen. His lips instantly curved into a smile as his eyes laid upon his sleeping lover, who was curled up comfortably with the blanket covering him from the waist down. Minho kindly pulled the covers up to his neck to make sure he wasn't cold, and kneeled in front of the bed with his head laying in front of Taemin's. It was hard to explain, but he always felt so giddy inside just being around the Prince. He hadn't felt this happy since he was a child, before he was forced to steal and was looked down upon for his poor peasant status. Even when Minho judged him to be a heartless person, Taemin still stuck by him and cared for him.

The thief smiled into the short peck he placed against Taemin's forehead, then stood up to leave with the thought of his lover still lingering in his mind.

Meanwhile, Onew was just about to get ready to go out and meet Luna when suddenly he heard Key's voice calling him from outside. "H-hyung?"

"Hmm? Key?" the leader answered back, jogging towards the front door and glanced in all directions for the missing member.

"C-could you please come here? J...Jonghyun and I need your help with something."

Hearing his teammate's distressed tone, Jinki rushed towards the river without a bit of hesitation. He had no clue why it took three people to carry a bucket of water back to the cabin, but he figured he'd asky why once he'd found the couple.

"Key?" he called as soon as the water was in sight. "Jong-"

The leader's eyes widened when he turned his head to the side and found both of his friends kneeling on the ground with thier hands bound behind their backs, one unconcious and the other struggling to get free as two young girls held swords to their necks.

"Surprised?"

Onew turned around and gasped when he saw another female figure standing in front of him, immediately recognizing her as the royal princess of Seonggong. He took a few steps back