“Nurse,” Taemin said, collapsing on a couch and muttering under his breath, “I don’t want to marry Onew.”

The “Nurse’s” name was really Kim Jonghyun (a dog, also in a human form), and actually, he wasn’t so much of a nurse as he was a bodyguard. Albeit a slightly inefficient one, as Taemin absolutely refused to acknowledge that he needed protection. Jonghyun recalled the several times the prince had tried to slip potassium cyanide into his tea when he was younger (he liked to think that their relationship was much more amiable nowadays).

Jonghyun frowned. “Are you telling me this because you think I can change something, or because you need a shoulder to cry on?”

Taemin smiled. “Neither.”

“Good, ‘cause I was worried there.”

“Why,” he cocked his head slightly the side, “that hurts me, Nurse.” There was a malicious glint in his eyes.

The Nurse huffed and avoided looking him in the eye. “Well, what is it then?”

“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to warn you to cover your ears, or just leave the room for a very, very short time.” Without waiting for Jonghyun’s response, he promptly threw himself onto his four-poster bed with a lacey canopy and screamed into his pillow. Loudly.

And then he returned, with his usual smile on. “Thank you for waiting so kindly, I’m all good now.”

Jonghyun winced and backed away. “Um…what was that?” Poor man. The ringing in his ears wouldn’t stop.

“No-thing,” Taemin mouthed, articulated the two syllables.

And so Jonghyun decided to bring the problem up to King Yunho and Queen Jaejoong of Capulet, because even if he was called “Nurse”, or on some occasions, “bodyguard”, he really had no control whatsoever over his…charge.

He sobbed and threw himself into Jaejoong’s arms, earning a glare from the king which he ignored, because the king was always glaring and frowning at him for some odd reason. “Jjongie?” The queen, who happened to be a man, didn’t look at all surprised by Jonghyun’s behavior. “It’s all right, it’s all right,” Jaejoong said soothingly. “What’s the matter?”

“Taemin, he…” Another soppy sniffle. “He doesn’t want to marry Prince-Onew-from-the-honorable-neighboring-kingdom-of-the-Pink-Pony-Meadow!”

“There, there,” Jaejoong patted him on the back, smiling the exact same smile that Taemin always wore (wondering who he got it from?). “Don’t worry about him, all right? We’ll speak with him.”

Satisfied, Jonghyun ran off to find Key, his fiancé, and left the task of The Taemin to the boy’s parents.

But Taemin was nowhere to be found.

***

“…and now they’ve arranged for me to be engaged to Onew,” the prince finished and sighed.

“Onew?”

“Yes. Onew.”

Silence. “That’s not very surprising.”

“Minho-ah,” he whined and pouted, giving Minho incredibly cute puppy-dog eyes.

Minho stared at him unmovingly, but was starting to crumble on the inside from those sparkles. So he sighed and rubbed his temples with his hand.

Taemin, Onew, and Minho had all grown up together. They used to meet in Pink Pony Meadows, where Onew lived, and Taemin always brought a nicely decorated picnic basket which they had nice picnics with. Taemin would have one-sided conversations with Minho, who only spoke back occasionally, while Onew would eat his food and sleep. He was always sleeping, and that fact hadn’t changed even now, because it was widely agreed upon that when he was not sleeping, he was generally tripping over his feet and creating accidental havoc.

But while Taemin and Onew were both royalty, Minho was an apprentice wizard. So at the age of ten, when his master died, he stopped coming to their picnics. Taemin was hurt and confused (while Onew couldn’t care less, because he slept through it all). Soon Taemin stopped seeing Minho altogether, but he then found out about his departure to the Stone Mountains, where he would take his place as Wizard of the Lands. Since then, whenever Taemin needed someone to talk to, he went to The Wizard’s Lair, where Minho resided.

So it wasn’t like Taemin hated Onew or something. But he had never meant more than a friend to him, and it wasn’t like Onew loved him either. Not that way, at least. Now would just be kinda weird. Taemin shuddered at the thought.

“Minho-AAAHH…” Taemin pouted. “I’m going to be married to Onew, for heaven’s sake! Think of something!”

The wizard offered him a pained smile, one reminiscent of an unfortunate man looped into a ridiculous scheme all to save his lady-love. “I’ve already got a plan.” As he told him of his ingenious scheme and the preparations he had made, Taemin’s grin got bigger and bigger until he giggled hugged him.

“I knew you’d have something!” he squealed.

***

Later that evening, Taemin’s mother called him into the throne room to “speak with him”, so he said. Taemin entered, smiling. “Yes, mother?” he said sweetly.

Jaejoong smiled an identical smile back at him. Really, it was pretty creepy to watch. “Jonghyun told me something very interesting today,” he told his son.

“Really?” Taemin replied with phony innocence.

“He told me something along the lines of… you’re-adopted*cough* I mean…’ Taemin doesn’t want to marry Onew’?”

“Ah,” Taemin feigned sudden remembrance.

“You know we arranged this marriage to strengthen our ties to the neighboring countries of Fantasy Land. Pink Pony Meadow seemed like the best candidate, since you grew up with the prince. Or are you not fond of Onew after all?”

Taemin shook his head. “No, it’s not that I don’t like him.”

“Then what is it?” The queen frowned. “Can it be…you love someone else?”

“No,” he blatantly lied.

But Jaejoong could always tell when he was lying. “Ah, so you do—”

“Your Majesties!” a messenger soldier ran into the room, effectively cutting Jaejoong off and sparing Taemin from answering. He quickly kneeled down and began, “There have been reports of a great red dragon ravaging Pink Pony Meadow!”

King Yunho, who had been suffering silently this whole time, abruptly stood up and barked, “What? But all the dragons are pink! I mean extinct!”

“We have witnesses, your majesty.”

“Were there any casualties?”

At this, the messenger looked confused and thought to himself for a moment. “Actually…no, I was not informed of anyone getting hurt.”

“Hm,” Yunho said thoughtfully. “Inform me if anyone catches sight of it in Capulet.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

***

That night, when Taemin was sleeping…actually he wasn’t sleeping; he was awake and watching reruns of “Hello Baby”. Anyway, he was watching TV and heard something hit his glass window.

Clunk.

Well, he thought, there was probably a scratch there now, which was pretty annoying, but he decided that he’d just make the servants change it tomorrow morning.

Then, again, clunk.

And soon after, another clunk, a lot louder this time. Following the last clunk was a sound similar to the sound thin ice sometimes makes when someone heavy stands on top of it. Taemin glared in the direction of his window, only to find rather large cracks on it, looking something like spider webs. He yanked his sliding door open (amazingly, the cracked glass did not shatter all over him) and stepped onto the balcony, seeing an irritated looking man slightly older than him on the ground. His expression changed immediately when he saw him. “Oh, Taemin!” he sang.

Taemin smiled. “Ah, yes, you’re…Seaweed, was it?”

The muscles under his right eye twitched. “I am the Great Prince Siwon of Montague. Be awed at my prowess!” Siwon struck a pose.

Taemin deadpanned. “Montague? Sorry, but I’m not supposed to associate with Montagues.”

“O beautiful prince, please hear my pleas (however much I am ashamed to beg). Could you come down for just a little while?”

“No.”

Siwon was obviously not used to being refused. He blinked a few a times. “Well. I only wished to say…” At this point his got down on one knee. “The moment I caught sight of you dancing, I fell in love with your beauty and finesse. You are almost as perfect as me.”

What a creeper, Taemin thought.

“You have captured me with your flawless charm. It is on par with my own. We shall be perfect together! Will you marry me, Juliet?”

Who’s Juliet?Taemin raised one eyebrow. “Are you…aware…that I’m already engaged?”

Siwon raised a fist triumphantly and declared, “Our love will overcome any obstacle placed in our path! True love can conquer anything, and no prior engagements, or laws, can stop us!”

Taemin stared at him, and turned around to leave.

“Sleep well and be strong, my love! The Great Prince Siwon will come back for you!”

Oh, joy.

***

Taemin snuck out of the palace in the middle of night from his balcony by climbing onto the back of a huge, red, serpent-like dragon. Somehow, no one had noticed it. Aw, darn, have the guards fallen asleep on watch duty again? Someone needs to fire all of them again… Anyhow. Together, they flew off into the night, in the direction of the Stone Mountains.

“Hey, dragon?”

“... Yes?”

“What should I call you? ‘Dragon’ seems like I’m referring to a tree or something.”

“…Hangeng.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, Hangeng.”

“…”

There was a long pause which was filled with…absolute silence.

“So, what is it between you and Mister Minho?” Hangeng the dragon asked.

Taemin sighed dreamily. “Why, he is my true love.”

“…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, is that too sappy for you?”

“…”

He took Hangeng’s unresponsiveness as a sign to go on. “Well, we were friends ever since…ever, actually. I always when we were younger for being so serious about exercising all the time.”

Hangeng chuckled. “Then he hasn’t changed.”

Taemin smiled, but Hangeng didn’t actually see that. But the purpose of the reader, yes, he smiled. “No, he hasn’t. Not at all. Anyway, when we were ten, he kissed me and promised me that one day we’d run away and get married. We had the whole thing planned out. But his master died sooner than we’d thought, and Minho became the Wizard of the Lands. It would be impossible to…elope then, since he had a duty to the land that he couldn’t abandon.” Taemin laughed wistfully. “Not even for me… But either way, we’ve been unofficially engaged for years. See?” He showed Hangeng a ring on a chain around his neck. “So you see, there’s no way I can go and marry Onew.”

The dragon nodded his huge head once, slightly. “What a romantic and heartwarming story,” he said impassively.

He playfully slapped one of the dragon’s horns. “Hey, you asked,” he retorted.

“Mmm.”

Taemin sighed. People in this story do that a lot. “You talk as little as he does.”

“Because I’m a foreigner.”

“Um. What?”

“I’m Chinese. From China.”

“Interesting. And where is this China in relation to Fantasy Land?”

“No clue.”

“I want to go sometime.”

“Okay…”

“Do they have eggrolls?”