reunion
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While Jongin's great rescue plan was taking place, Luhan was trying very hard to inconspicuously sneak out of the palace. He had successfully made it to the main hall, and if he could only get to the gardens... But wait. What was that sound? He hid behind one of the walls in the gigantic corridor and waited. Nothing. Perhaps he was being paranoid. If only he could quell his palpitating heart.

With light and noiseless steps, he made his way to the gardens, senses hyperaware of every noise and every movement. And not before long, with a quick and nimble slip in between the fence, he was out once again.

"I think I'm getting too used to this," Luhan murmured. He silently thanked his small stature which came in handy in times like these. Looking at the long road before of him, he exhaled loudly before hurrying along. He had had the sense to change into a comfortable piece of clothing in the palace, to prevent himself from throwing away his princely cloaks like last time.

A while after, he neared the Autumn Valley Orphanage. Luhan gulped nervously. This was the place where he had experienced and learnt more than he had had for the past twenty years of his life; the place which brought him joy, sorrow, and overwhelming pain; the place where he had fallen in love. He had mixed feelings for the orphanage.

Stepping in at midnight, Luhan was once again greeted with the same dark shadows and eerie silence, so familiar and yet distant at the same time. His heart ached for a brief moment before he quickened his pace. Now all he had to do was to find Minseok. If he could still find him. Luhan didn't want to think about it, but there was a slim possibility that Minseok had moved on and wasn't staying there anymore. Luhan felt selfish for wishing that he hadn't. He padded softly down the halls, shrouded in darkness. Maybe it was his imagination, but he was pretty sure his heartbeat was louder than anything else. Minutes after, he found the door that he had so looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. Well, it was time to seal his fate.

He pushed the door open. Moonlight streamed in, illuminating the face of the boy on the bed, highlighting all the contours of his beautiful face. "Minseok?" Luhan whispered. "Minseok?" he called out again, louder and more confidently this time. The boy didn't stir. Luhan hit his head lightly. How could he forget that Minseok was a heavy sleeper?

Closing the door softly behind him, he made his way to Minseok and sat beside him on the bed. He didn't hurry and wake him up, instead he spent a few minutes just observing his lover's peaceful countenance. He looked so serene that Luhan almost couldn't bear to wake him up. But he had to, since time was running out. He lay a hand on his shoulder and shook hard. Minseok's eyes fluttered a little, but he didn't wake up. Luhan shook even harder, calling his name. Finally, his eyes flew open and he was speechless. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that Luhan would come back for him.

"L-Luhan? Is that really you?" Minseok asked unsurely. He reached out a tentative hand to make sure, but faltered a little when it was less than an inch from his face. Luhan took his hand and placed it on his cheek.

"Yes, I'm here, Minseok," Luhan replied softly. Minseok didn't realise how much he missed that voice until he heard it, and a wave of memories flooded over him. 

"Hey, I missed you," Luhan said. "I missed you too," Minseok answered, but his voice cracked with emotion and tears started streaming down his face.

Luhan leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. "Shh, don't cry, Minseok," he comforted. "I'm already here."

"This is too good to be true... Luhan, I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't mean to react to you that way... I believe you, Luhan. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

Luhan cut him off. "No, you have to listen to me explain the whole story. The reason why I didn't tell you who I was was because I didn't want it to spread, and I didn't want to burden you with the knowledge."

Minseok lifted an eyebrow inquisitively. "What do you mean... not to burden me?"

Luhan sighed. "You could have gotten arrested for treason, you know. You would have ended up in the dungeon if they found out that you had known. Like Sehun. Although hopefully, Jongin's gotten him out by now."

Minseok blinked. "Sehun... the name sounds familiar. Who is he?"

"He's the person with whom I swapped places with. I met him by chance when I was out taking a walk," Luhan explained. "I often used to do that."

Minseok slowly absorbed all this new information. It was no wonder sometimes he felt as if Luhan didn't belong in the orphanage. He had always felt that Luhan had a regal air about him that made him stand out from the rest of the orphans. But he had never thought twice about it before, attributing it instead to the fact that he had been born the son of a wealthy merchant.

"Thank you, Luhan," Minseok said, genuine gratefulness in his eyes. Luhan smiled, and Minseok grinned back. It was the first time he had smiled from the bottom of his heart in ages.

Minseok found his eyelids drooping, inching closer and closer to Luhan without even realising, and before he knew it their lips found each other and they were kissing. This kiss was different than before. It tasted of want, need and longing. They'd been separated for too long; what was merely a few days felt like an eternity to both of them. Luhan missed the taste of Minseok too much. He trailed feather-light kisses down Minseok's neck, and the latter shivered from the tingling sensations. But before either of them had enough, Luhan pulled away. Minseok pouted, complaining that it wasn't enough. Luhan smiled fondly. "We can make up for lost time later. Now, we have to get to the palace."

"The palace? Why? What do I do there?" Minseok asked dubiously.

"We'll explain everything to my parents, once and for all." Luhan chuckled as he saw Minseok's eyes grow rounder and wider, presumably from shock and a tad bit of fear.

"Are you out of your mind?" Minseok asked in disbelief. 

Luhan ignored him and continued. "And then when they agree, Minseok, I'm going to marry you. It'll be the grandest wedding ever in the history of our kingdom."

"Stop dreaming, Luhan! It'll never happen," Minseok said sadly, lowering his head. 

"And why not?" challenged Luhan.

"Because... because I'm just an orphan, too poor to even have three meals a day. And you're a prince, the heir of this entire kingdom. How could they ever agree?"

Luhan smirked. "So I've been told. But it's time to step up and show that we can be different. Who says that we can't be together?"

Minseok was speechless. He slowly shook his head. "But—" 

"No one dictates our future, Minseok. After a life of being controlled and puppeted by others, I've come to realise that. This is my life and our future and I can damn well take ownership of it."

Minseok opened his mouth, but he had nothing more to say. He shut it slowly. Luhan jumped off the bed. "So, what do you say, Minseok?" Luhan asked him with a twinkle in his eye, extending a hand. Minseok glanced up at the curved eyes and irresistible smile that he could never deny. 

A smile slowly crept up Minseok's face.

"I say yes."

-

It wasn't a sight you'd normally expect to see, a prince and an orphan holding hands and walking side by side. But then again, Minseok and Luhan weren't the most typical of people. They were walking down the path to return to the palace, the dusty dirt road familiar to Luhan but unknown to Minseok.

"I've missed you so much while you weren't here," Luhan confessed, swinging their arms. He didn't mind showing the fragile side of him in front of Minseok, because he  knew that Minseok would be the one to fix him.

"And I, you," Minseok responded, squeezing Luhan's hand.

"Hey! You took the easy way out," Luhan pouted. "No fair." 

Minseok chuckled. "Fine then. Luhan, I've missed you too." 

Luhan frowned. "That's all?"

Minseok added, "I love you, Luhan."

Luhan lifted up the corner of his lips. "That's better. I love you too, Kim Minseok."

"Why did you come back? You took a big risk there." Luhan stared at him like he had asked him why the earth was round. Minseok blushed. "Stop looking at me like that. I was just asking a question."

"Because I love you, stupid."

"Really? What about Jongin?"

"Don't worry, he's with Sehun. And speaking of them, they should be making their dramatic breakout from prison right about now."

"You're all such daredevils." Minseok shook his head. "I wish I could be more like you guys."

Luhan stopped walking all of a sudden. The wind blew, ruffling some of his hair, which Minseok reached to pat down. "What's wrong?" asked Minseok.

"Look, you're the bravest person out of everyone I know. Who stood up for me on my first day? Who landed a few blows on that bully and taught him a lesson? Who willingly opened his heart up to a random stranger? It was all you, Minseok, and if that doesn't scream 'brave', I don't know what else does."

Minseok took a deep breath. "Luhan... thank you for believing in me." He said no more, but Luhan understood that was enough. 

As the palace's outline came into view, Minseok stalled. "Wow... it's so grand. Absolutely breathtaking. It must be so wonderful to live here everyday. I can't fathom why you'd want to escape." He looked at Luhan questioningly. 

Luhan shrugged. "You don't know the half of it yet. Everything comes with a price, you know. To be born royalty means you bear a whole weight on your shoulders from the moment you are born, and you are expected to live up to everybody's expectations. It's really suffocating, and not something I can explain simply with words. Anyway," Luhan said, changing the subject, "let's make haste, we have to catch Sehun and Jongin."

"Alright."

The faintest glimmer of the sun's rays illuminated the sky. Dawn was coming. It was the start of a brand new day and the beginning of something beautiful.

A/N:

Eeks! I took a reeeeaaally long hiatus sorry about that. I was super busy but squeezed out time in order to write this for you guys. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as usual! 

P.S. I also went to SS5 last week, so if you're interested you can read my blog post on it here.