Jongin hates being stuck inside all day trapped in a dull room for hours on end with no one but his tutor. Politics, history, strategies of warfare – it goes on and on and on endlessly. It all ceased to interest him a long time ago. He isn’t even in the first line to the throne; he is the second youngest of eleven, why would anyone but his teachers ever notice if he can’t retell the battle of this or that so or so many years ago perfectly? Not a single soul, he thinks bitterly.

The only lessons he remotely enjoys are swordplay and archery, but at this point in time those lessons are few and far between. Therefore, he is stuck in a suffocatingly hot room with an exceptionally boring tutor going over the proper way to handle oneself in court and general etiquette. As a prince, this is something he is required to know and it has been drilled into him since the moment he could understand what people around him meant with the fancy words they use. Thus he sees no point with this lesson that has been going on for hours already and is not likely to end anytime soon.

He is longing for night to come like he does every day, longing for the freedom that comes with the setting of the sun behind the distant mountain ridges.

This is when the palace falls into silence and he is expected to be asleep. He lets his servants remove his heavy silk robes and help him into the thin, soft one he sleeps in. They brush his hair and braid it down his back before going to bed.

As soon as they’ve put out the candles and closed the doors to his chambers, he barely waits for the sound of their steps to disappear before he throws the covers of off himself and jumps out of bed.

This is what he’s been waiting for all day.

Sneaking out of the palace without being noticed is an art which Jongin has perfected through the years. Soundlessly slinking through empty corridors and avoiding guards is second nature to him now.

As soon as his feet hit the stones of the road outside the high palace walls he takes off at a run towards the river. There is little light, but he does not need light to find the way to where he’s going.

He comes to a stop when the stone under his feet give way to the wood of the edge of the dock. There is no more than a single ship here tonight – a merchant ship with red sails that Jongin knows all too well. Just as well as he knows the delicate boy now walking down the gangway towards him.

The two boys smile at each other but neither speaks a single word. For them silence is more than enough to understand each other. Jongin extends a hand towards the other boy who takes it without hesitation; his fingers are thin and cold as always.

They walk together to the large tree seated at the riverbank. The other boy gives a small smile as he sits down by the twisted roots of the tree, a deep dimple indenting his cheek. He makes himself comfortable on the ground and then reaches into the folds of his dark blue robes and pulls out a small silver flute.

For a few moments, Jongin does nothing but listen as the other boy plays soft tunes that flutter into the quiet night like small butterflies with moonlight bouncing of their wings, making them glow like the silver of the flute.

Then he starts to move, slowly, gracefully. His body following the melody the other boy creates. He feels like he can almost touch it. He is breathing in the soft music – becoming one with it. And this, he thinks, this is what I was meant to do. He doesn’t have to think while he dances. It comes so naturally to him the same way calligraphy comes to his older brother Joonmyun, the same way archery comes to Baekhyun or creating music does to the merchant boy in front of him.

When the music stops, so does Jongin’s fluid motions. The boy by the tree stands up and walks towards him. Jongin meets him halfway, bringing his hands up to cradle the face of the other between his palms and lean their foreheads against each other.

“Yixing,” he says breathlessly. The other boy smiles and leans in, gently pressing their lips together in a soft kiss.

“Jongin.”

And so they part, fate separating them once again only to bring them back together as night falls the following day.