Euntyrone slid down the roof of the castle, carefully avoiding any slabs of bricks to scrape his skin. Two other men followed his lead, hopped right off the wall and dashed behind the skinnier man as they all leaped from turret-to-turret. Euntyrone had the brown satchel that they were going to store the tiara in slung over his shoulders, the bag swinging carelessly as he jumped over and under like the monkey he was dubbed as back at home. The three ran carefully, making sure the palace guards down below on the ground wouldn’t suspect anything.

The youngest male hopped towards the edge of the roof, holding onto the cement with one hand as he gazed at the view with curious eyes.

“Wow, I can get used to a view like this.” He stated.

Yunho sighed exasperatedly, the rope in his hand while the other slapped Kangin’s shoulder to stop him from letting go of the trapdoor on the roof. “Euntyrone, get back here! We don’t have a lot of time!”

“Just wait a second.”

Kangin and Yunho stared at him blankly.

“Yep. I’m used to it.” The younger said after five seconds of silence. “Guys, I want a castle.”

“We do this job, and you can buy your own castle.” Yunho reasoned, before grabbing the brunette’s collar and dragged him towards the trapdoor.

The two men strapped the rope around the slim adult, Kangin successfully choking him a little when he tugged it tighter around his form. Euntyrone sent him a dirty look, but before he could retort anything to the eye-patched man Yunho had already nudged him into the opening of the roof. He fell into the trapdoor, suspended meters over the lost prince’s tiara with only Yunho and Kangin holding him up by the rope.

Euntyrone got lowered smoothly until he was within reach of the jewel-encrusted crown placed neatly on a lavender pillow. Just as he was stuffing the priceless treasure into his satchel, the palace guard closest to him sneezed loudly.

“Ugh, hay fever?”

The guard turned his head slightly towards the intruder. “Yeah.”

As if a bell suddenly went off in his head, the guard immediately did a double take just in time to see Euntyrone pulled back up into the opening of the castle.

“Can’t you picture me in a castle of my own? Because I certainly can.” the brunette giddily said as all three of them dashed away from the kingdom after snatching the tiara and found a way to get off the palace roofs.

“This is it!” The blonde stated, picking up his jars of paint and packing it into a wooden box. “This is a very big day, Henry. I’m finally going to do it!”

He shut the box’s lid before standing up straight, setting Henry onto his shoulder and giggling in excitement. “I’m gonna ask her.” He said, determination in his eyes.

“Haepunzel!”

The boy gasped, hearing his Mother’s voice outside of the tower.

“Let down your hair!”

He breathed in, patting Henry’s tiny head for comfort. “Come on, don’t let her see you.” Haepunzel said hurriedly, plucking Henry off his shoulder and hiding him behind the curtains of his latest masterpiece; a large painting of the night sky with those lights shining brightly, finishing with a small boy resembling himself and his blonde hair perched on a tree watching the display.

“Haepunzel?” his mother impatiently tapped her foot as she waited for the boy to throw down his hair. “I’m not getting any younger down here!”

Haepunzel popped his head from the tiny window of the tower. “Coming, Mother!”

He hooked half of his blonde hair on the wooden bar protruding slightly from the window sill, throwing most of it out of the tower and letting the woman in red down below to grip the ends of it. She made a hook for her feet to rest, and gripped onto the rest as she let herself be pulled up by her son. As his Mother set foot into the tower, Haepunzel pulled his hair off the bar and panted slightly from the work he had to put to single-handedly pull the elder woman up.

“Oh, Haepunzel.” The black-haired female sighed out heavily as she set her basket down onto the ground. “How do you manage to do that every single day without fail. It looks absolutely exhausting, darling.”

The boy smiled sheepishly. “It’s nothing, Mother.”

“Then I don’t know why it took so long~”

Haepunzel’s smile fell.

“Oh, darling I’m just teasing!” his Mother cackled loudly as she went towards the full-body mirror.

The boy half-heartedly laughed along, his eyebrows pinched together in confusion. “Al—Alright… So, Mother…”

He followed the woman as she went to check her reflection in the old mirror. “As you know, tomorrow is a very special da—“

“Haepunzel, look at that mirror.” Hee interrupted the boy before he could finish his sentence. “You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful, young person.”

The blonde smiled in appreciation.

“Oh look you’re here too.”

And once again, that smile completely melted off his lips and was replaced with a confused frown as Mother Hee resumed chortling like a madman.

“O—Okay…” Haepunzel tried to confront his Mother once again. “So, Mother, as I was saying tomor—“

“Haepunzel, Mother is feeling a little run down.” The elder women interrupted once again. “Would you sing for me, dear? Then we’ll talk.”

He jumped slightly in joy after he heard the last part of the sentence from his Mother. “Oh! Of course, Mother!”

Haepunzel ran towards the fireplace, dragging with him a chair for his Mother to sit on. He grabbed a smaller stool from the other side of the room, setting it close to the larger chair and hurriedly pulling his Mother down onto the chair. His golden mane dragged around the living room as he ran in circles, filling putting his bottom onto the tiny wooden stool, dropping a hairbrush in the elder woman’s hand, and gathering a portion of his own hair before dumping it into his Mother’s lap.

“Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine.” Haepunzel immediately started singing, his hair glowing brighter and brighter as he continued the song.

Mother Hee looked at the boy frantically, not grasping the situation at hand. “Wait, wait—“

“Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine!”

Fortunately, she managed to comb the blonde hair before the boy could end the song, and the strength of its magical power washed through the elder woman, making her younger inside-and-out once again.

“Haepunzel!” Mother Hee started, so close to scolding her magical flower.

The boy stood up and clung onto his Mother’s arm.

“So, Mother earlier I was saying tomorrow’s a pretty big day and you didn’t really respond so I’m just going to tell you,” he threw his body onto the woman. “It’s my birthday! Tadah!”

“No, no, no. Can’t be.” Mother Hee peeled her body off her arm. “I distinctly remember. Your birthday was last year.”

“Thaaat’s the funny thing about birthdays! They’re kind off an annual thing…?”

When he received no response from his Mother, Haepunzel sighed and sat back onto his stool. “Mother, I’m turning 18 and I wanted to ask… Ugh, what I reeaaally want for this birthday… Actually what I’ve wantedforalotofbirthdaysis—“

“Okay, Haepunzel, stop with the mumbling.” The raven-haired woman interrupted him. “You know how I feel about the mumbling, blah blah blah blah--- it’s very annoying.”

She stood off the chair and pinched Haepunzel’s cheek lightly. “I’m just teasing you, adorable. I love you so much, darling.”

Haepunzel watched with sad eyes as his Mother went to the kitchen to unpack the groceries she got for today, disappointed that he couldn’t muster the courage to tell her his dream to see the lights. He looked down at Henry, who was hiding behind a table a few meters away. The chipmunk gestured towards Mother Hee, encouraging him to just say it.

“I want to see the floating lights,” Haepunzel finally blurted out.

The elder woman froze as she was about to take out the apples out of her basket. She laughed nervously. “What?”

“I was hoping you’d take me to see the floating lights,” he replied, going over to his masterpiece hidden behind the curtains on top of the fireplace and showing her the beautiful painting.

Mother Hee smiled grimly. “Oh, you mean the stars.”

“That’s the thing!” Haepunzel shrieked, throwing a portion of his hair up to a small window on the ceiling and hooking the blonde strands to the handle and tugged, letting the light in to show another painting of a map for the stars. “I charted stars and they’re always constant but these, they appear every year on my birthday, Mother. Only on my birthday!”

The woman didn’t look impressed.

“I can’t help but feel like they’re…. they’re meant, for me.” Haepunzel added.

The elder woman walked towards the open window, half-listening to the boy begging her to bring him to see the lights.

“I need to see them, Mother, and not just from my window. In person. I have to know what they are.”

“You want to go outside?” Mother Hee snorted, as if Haepunzel had just asked for the most ridiculous thing on Earth. “Why, Haepunzel.”

She slammed the window panes shut, before walking over to the boy and tenderly holding onto her hands.

“Look at you! As fragile as a flower. You know why we keep you in this tower,”

“Yes, I know but—“

Mother Hee caressed his blonde hair softly. “That’s right. To keep you safe and sound, dear. The outside world is a dangerous place filled with horrible, selfish people. You must stay here, where I know you’ll be protected 24/7. Don’t ever ask to leave this tower again.”

“…. Yes, Mother.” Haepunzel sighed.

The raven-haired woman smiled in contentment. “I love you very much, dear.”

“I love you more,” the boy countered, large brown-eyes twinkling up towards his Mother.

“I love you most.” The elder softly pecked the top of his head. “Don’t forget it, you’ll regret it. Mother knows best.”

She let go of the short boy, grabbed her basket and cloak before heading towards the window again. Haepunzel helped her secure his long, blonde hair onto the bar, and the woman slid down it to go back into town.

“I’ll see you in a bit, my flower!” Mother Hee called out, before she stepped onto the grass and walked out into the forest surrounding the prison she had built for the poor boy.

Haepunzel sighed, unhooking the strands of hair off the wooden bar. “I’ll be here,” he whispers, eyes gazing at the world outside of the tower he calls home.

where the  is this story going 

i'm sorry it's like 12:39 am uRGH

i really should've put in the whole musical number for mother knows best 

comment i spent actual time on this