Two Years Later

 

How did they get here?

 

Kyungsoo mused as he stared down at their intertwined fingers, Jongin’s thumb grazing his knuckles absentmindedly. Warm eyes gazed into his. Somehow, in the past years, they managed to rewrite their entire relationship after erasing everything they had ever known about each other.

 

Past Kyungsoo would have never even imagined this happening. That sad, little chef having his heart broken after overhearing just how far Jongin would go for his dear prince didn’t have a mind capable of conjuring this kind of happiness.

 

Yet, here they were. Being another normal couple strolling through the streets.

 

It felt somewhat anti-climatic after what they had both gone through. After years of hardships, broken promises, and plain growing up on all his friends’ behalves, it all led to a simple date like this. Not that he’d have it any other way.

 

“What are you thinking about?” Jongin asked, tugging his hand gently. “You’re biting your bottom lip again. You only do that when you’re in deep thought.”

 

“Wondering how we ended up here,” Kyungsoo replied, holding their hands up. Biting his lip again, he asked, “Hey, what do you think would have happened if we hadn’t met Luhan?”

 

“I don’t know,” Jongin said, brows furrowed. “If you think about it, we might have been stuck in that stupid loop. Or worse, once you got the courage to push me away. But he really changed our lives, didn’t he?”

 

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo said, smiling at the thought of his friend. “You’d still be in love with His Royal Highness, and I don’t know where I’d be. Still going through some issues, probably.”

 

“I’m glad we met him. That the Prince met him.” Jongin sighed. “I miss him. Wonder how that dork’s doing in Japan.”

 

“Oh, about that-”

 

“Jongin?” A disbelieving, familiar voice cut through the chatter along the streets.

 

The two of them turned, searching for the source of the interruption. Finally, they narrowed in on a slender, pretty lady who just exited a clothing store and was staring at them with wide eyes. It took Kyungsoo a few seconds to recognize her as, “Luna?”

 

“Kyungsoo!” She exclaimed, making her way over to them. “Oh, wow, it must have been ages since I’ve seen your ugly mugs.”

 

“Nice to see you again, too,” Jongin muttered under his breath. He and Luna never got along that well, but had formed a begrudging respect for each other due to their connection through Luhan.

 

“How are you doing?” Kyungsoo asked, the more polite half of the pair. “You look great.”

 

And she did. Luna had longer hair, now cleanly falling down to the middle of her back in straight locks. Maybe it was extensions, but it was a nice look. Besides that, there was a warmer glow that she emitted. Compared to her usual gruffness and overall negativity back at the Castle, Luna seemed much more happier now.

 

“Thanks.” She smiled at him. It wasn’t an outright beam, but it might as well be, coming from Luna. The positivity threw Jongin off, given his past impression of her. “My life’s been so much better after leaving the Castle. I’m actually aiming for a psychology degree.”

 

Kyungsoo nodded approvingly, as Jongin engaged her in some small talk about how university life was going. Jongin was thinking about taking on some courses while working as a butler, since Prince Sehun didn’t seem to need him as much anymore, and so he had a lot of time to spare.

 

Kyungsoo remembered when the Prince came back from his impromptu trip to London (everyone who knew what went down between him and Luhan knew where he actually went), he was different. It wasn’t as if he was a completely new person, but he gave off a different air. Like the Prince finally knew what to do with his life. Like he accepted the fact that he was twenty.

 

Immediately, the Prince called off the engagement with Luna and told the public “they remained friends.” Though the citizens’ responses were conflicted, Luna was obviously pleased with the results and left the Castle at once. Many of the ministers and King Junmyeon weren’t as happy with the imprudent decision, but Queen Krystal gave her approval. It was a long time coming, she had said. The Prince then enrolled in Yonsei University. It was a whirlwind of major choices on Prince Sehun’s part.

 

“So are you and Sehun cool now?” Jongin’s question brought Kyungsoo back to their conversation.

 

Luna scoffed, “No, he’s still pissed at me after our last argument. Honestly, I pride myself in pushing him to canceling the engagement. I told him the marriage was a complete sham and I was just going to leave the Castle, whether I’m wearing the damn ring or not. It got heated up and we started shouting, but then I threw the deer plushie at him.”

 

Jongin made a choking noise. Kyungsoo laughed, “Oh my god.”

 

“Everything fell into place after that.” Luna shrugged. “I figured I did enough counselling in the couple of months I spent with you idiots at the Castle, so I decided to turn it into a career. It’s interesting telling people what to do with their lives.”

 

“That sounds so like you,” Kyungsoo said, shaking his head.

 

“Oh! It’s been great catching up, but I have to get to work,” Luna frowned, reaching to give Kyungsoo a hug, ignoring Jongin’s disapproving grunt. “Retail’s hell, I’m telling you.” She gave Jongin a look, and then an awkward pat on the shoulder. They were not in a hugging relationship. “Anyway, tell Luhan I said hi!”

 

With that, she left them in a state of confusion. Well, only one of them was confused. Jongin, glancing at his boyfriend, asked, “Wait, what did she mean-”

 

Jongin’s phone went off. He rolled his eyes skyward, but recognized the ringtone, having set a special ringtone for Sehun.

 

Kyungsoo quietly thanked the Prince for his wonderful timing.

 

¤¤¤

 

Jongin was not feeling an ounce of gratitude towards the Prince, at all.

 

He didn’t want to cut their date short, so he ended up dragging his boyfriend along on his butler duties. Which didn’t appear to be such a good idea.

 

They were situated in Sehun’s room, along with the King and Queen. Sehun, in all his lanky, royal glory, was lying in his bed drinking strawberry milk out of a carton in his bunny pajamas. So maybe the Prince hadn’t fully grown up yet. Why, Jongin wondered with a pained expression. What had I seen in this dork all those years ago? And maybe it was a little sad that he never confessed, but Jongin definitely didn’t regret his decision to keep his feelings on the downlow because a) it was unprofessional and would probably get him fired and b) he was sure Sehun knew how much he loved him anyway - in a platonic sense, of course.

 

“He - Jongin, do something, anything, about him!” King Junmyeon sputtered once he realized that the backup he called had arrived. His face was reddening, a rare sight for the normally collected King.

 

“What exactly are you doing?” Jongin directed his question to Sehun.

 

“Drinking milk,” responded Sehun, making a face like he thought Jongin was an idiot. He rolled his eyes at his father. “I don’t get why he’s so upset. I don’t have any classes today.”

 

“He’s mad because the citizens are mad,” Queen Krystal kindly explained from her wheelchair. Thankfully, the illness didn’t take her life away but she still had to remain in the wheelchair, possibly for her entire life. “Your father hoped that everything would blow over in two years, but the citizens are still upset at the wasted money spent on Sehun’s marriage, only for it to be cancelled.”

 

“It was a huge waste,” Kyungsoo pitched in. Jongin shot him a you’re not helping look.

 

“Prince,” Jongin sighed, walking over to snatch the milk carton out of Sehun’s hand. He ignored Sehun’s indignant yelp. “I know you think it’s not your fault, since you didn’t come up with the foolish idea in the first place, but you still have to take responsibility for agreeing to marry Luna, then seemingly getting cold feet and calling the entire thing off.”

 

Sehun huffed, “So you understand. I can’t do anything about the citizens. I already apologized.”

 

“Then maybe, you can make use of the money spent on your wedding,” Kyungsoo suggested. Everyone turned to look at him. The past him would have shrunk away from the eyes belonging to some of the most powerful people in their country, but the current Kyungsoo simply straightened his back and spoke clearly, confidently, “You can find a new partner to marry.”

 

Sehun went quiet. Queen Krystal, on the other hand, shared a secret glance with Kyungsoo and immediately grinned. “I like that idea.”

 

“But who?” Jongin asked. None of them noticed that King Junmyeon had taken a seat with his head in his hands.

 

Kyungsoo sighed. This isn’t how I expected this to turn out. Out loud, he said, “I know someone who’s exactly Sehun’s type.”

 

“No,” Sehun quickly shot it down. “I’m not going on a blind date.”

 

“No, you’re not,” Jongin agreed. “Not in those clothes you aren’t.”

 

Ignoring Sehun’s sputters that his bunny pajamas were a perfectly reasonable outfit to wear on a first date, Queen Krystal - despite being in a wheelchair - and Jongin managed to wrangle Sehun into a more suitable outfit while Kyungsoo sent a message to Sehun’s new date on his phone.

 

Normally, both parties of the blind date would have been informed at least a day prior so they could prepare. But this wasn’t a normal situation.

 

Pressing the phone to his lips, Kyungsoo smiled. Maybe it was his turn to change his friend’s life.

 

 

¤¤¤

 

Probably one of the biggest changes was Jongdae turning his bar into a restaurant. He basically renovated the whole place, replaced the furniture with wooden, antique counterparts and hired more staff members. Some of the walls were in need of touch-ups, but Jongdae was too lazy to actually paint them himself.

 

“I like it.” Luhan nodded approvingly, leaning against the counter. He worked a few shifts as a waiter to make up for crashing at Jongdae’s place for the past few days. “Adds to the whole olden-time thing you’ve got going on.”

 

“The people like it,” Jongdae pointed out. And it was true. His business was steadily improving, but not to the rate that it was incredibly busy. It was an odd time of the day, four o’clock in the afternoon, so most of his tables were empty and a lot of their waiters and waitresses were simply lounging around.

 

Luhan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Wiping his hands on his apron, he pulled it out, and stared at the screen, eyes wide.

 

“Who was that?” asked Jongdae.

 

Luhan’s eyes were still on the phone.  “Kyungsoo wants to set me up.”

 

“You haven’t even met up with everyone yet.”

 

“Well, I didn’t want to deal with everyone right as I got back,” Luhan replied. He typed a response and quickly put it back in his pocket.

 

at work rn. no time.

 

Luhan knew he was avoiding his friends and family. He didn’t want them to see him without a job and homeless. Once he got back on his feet and adjusted to life back in Korea, Luhan planned to meet up with all of them. Including a certain prince.

 

“Don’t worry,” Luhan said to Jongdae. “I’ve got my eye on an apartment. I’ll be out by the end of this week.”

 

“Hey, boss!” A chef called from the kitchen.

 

“Take your time.” Patting Luhan on the back, Jongdae said before heading to the back, “Keep an eye out, it’s almost dinnertime.”

 

Just as Jongdae entered the kitchen, a waitress tapped Luhan on the shoulder. Tzuyu, he remembered her as. She pointed towards a table at the back. “Someone’s looking for you.”

 

Weird. It was usually Tzuyu that their customers requested to serve them; on top of her looks, she was incredibly sweet. As Luhan made his way over to the table with menus in hand, he turned back to shoot her a what’s going on look. She replied with a helpless shrug.

 

Feeling Tzuyu’s worried eyes on his back, Luhan finally turned his attention to the customer. As he walked closer, he realized that, oh no, those broad shoulders looked a little too familiar for his liking. The blond was gone and replaced by mature, brown locks but Luhan still, with a heavy heart, recognized him.

 

Luhan stopped in his tracks. Kyungsoo. Of course. Kyungsoo, with his “blind date” nonsense, was the only one besides Jongdae that knew he was working here temporarily. And he knew Luhan, believe it or not, had a plan about how this was all going down. And this, Sehun showing up at his workplace, this was definitely not part of that plan.

 

Steeling his nerves, Luhan took the final few steps up to the table. Sehun glanced up at him, a strange expression crossing his face, like he couldn’t recognize Luhan.

 

It wasn’t like they weren’t in touch for the entire two years. They had texted and called each other, but it wasn’t often enough, given that Luhan was a busy college student and Sehun was a busy college student on top of being the nation’s prince dealing with a failed engagement. Luhan knew all that, so he didn’t want to stress the poor guy out further. And he had a plan. A plan that might have included him actually having a proper job and maybe those four o'clock flowers and fairy lights-

 

“Luhan?” Sehun asked, voice hushed. His eyes were glistening, trailing over Luhan’s black button-down (work uniform) to his fair skin and tousled black hair (he hadn’t gotten a haircut in a while), soaking in all the details he hadn’t seen in so long.

 

Luhan stared speechlessly back. Still in shock, he realized Sehun already had a menu given to him by Tzuyu. He said, throat feeling terribly dry, “Good afternoon, sir. Are you ready to order?”

 

He could see Sehun swallow, and took advantage of the pause to take note of all the little changes. Two years really changed a man. Everything was sharp and structured, with low, set eyebrows and a calmer air that wasn’t there before.

 

After Sehun’s stiff nod, Luhan pulled a notepad and pencil from his apron and cleared his throat, trying to hold onto any sense of normality he could. He could feel that they were on the verge of something, but god, if Luhan didn’t turn into a coward in front of Sehun’s cutting glare.

 

“So, what would you like?”

 

He could hear Sehun let out an annoyed sigh, and the chair screeched back as Sehun stood up. Luhan finally tore his eyes away from his notepad and flickered up to meet Sehun’s.

 

“A kiss would be nice,” Sehun said simply, before clutching onto Luhan’s collar and tugging him gently forward. Their lips met just as his notepad and pencil hit the floor with a clunk. Tzuyu’s gasp was prominent in the now empty restaurant.

 

It was a simple kiss, all lip and little tongue. Luhan’s hand slipped to the back of Sehun’s neck, with the other grazing Sehun’s jaw and Sehun’s hand resting heavily on his waist. Calm and easy. Sehun wasn’t angry, even though he had every right to be. Luhan felt even more guilty.

 

Pulling away, Luhan frowned, his insides a tangled mess of confusion. “I’m sorry. I know, I know I should have told you I was coming back. I was going to, in a few weeks’ time, after I got settled at my new university and got my own place. I didn’t want to rush anything.” He muttered, “Goddamnit, Kyungsoo.”

 

“Hey, I’m actually grateful he set this whole thing up. I don’t think I’d have found you this soon without him.” Sehun shook his head. “Who knew how long you would have stayed in hiding?”

 

“I wasn’t hiding,” protested Luhan. “I had a plan, okay? There were goals I had to achieve. And you were, like, the very final one.”

 

“Final destination, huh.”

 

“Okay, let me rephrase that - it’s more like I’d get the lottery ticket with you as the prize only after I got my life together. So, it’s not like it’s guaranteed that you’d still love me.”

 

Sehun gestured for Luhan to take a seat, and after seeing the seconds of hesitation, gently pushed Luhan down into the chair. “Don’t worry. There’s no one in the restaurant, and besides, there are other waiters around.”

 

Luhan glanced back at Tzuyu, who was leaning against the counter and scrolling through her phone. He was glad she was the one on shift today. But he wasn’t so glad that she had such good hearing; he could see through her act of not eavesdropping.

 

Sehun drew him back with a huff. “God, this is harder than I thought it would be.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I practiced this so many times in my head, the day that I’d meet you again, but this is definitely not what I had in mind.”

 

“What did you have in mind?”

 

“I don’t know, meeting you at the airport, a lot of X’s and O’s.” Sehun looked away. “I thought I’d be the first to know.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Luhan said again. He restlessly drummed his fingers on the table. “I wasn’t sure if you moved on or not. I didn’t want to crash into your life when there wasn’t a spot left for me anymore.”

 

Sehun reached out for his hand and Luhan gave it to him, letting him examine the slender fingers as he said casually, like he was just discussing what he was going to order and not something so heart-aching as, “You really think I’d stop? That I can live without you? Because I haven’t had any luck with that so far.”

 

“Not true,” Luhan denied vehemently. “You had twenty years of luck before we met. And you were doing fine for the two years I was gone.”

“You think me staying perpetually twelve years old was luck?”

“You would have skipped out on a lot of things if I didn’t run your life off course. Misery. Pain. A potential uprising of citizens against your failed marriage.” Luhan pulled back his hand, ignoring the clenching of Sehun’s jaw. The dryness in his throat hadn’t subsided yet.

 

“Luhan.” Sehun huffed out half a breath, eyes pleading, why don’t you understand. “I don’t get angry easily anymore. I try to talk through it. I’m enrolled in Yonsei. I can cook more than one dish, and for the record, I make a mean fried rice. I grew up, didn’t I? And maybe I’m still growing up, and maybe I won’t ever stop. But the thing is, Luhan, I still have your stuffed deer. I couldn’t ever get rid of it. All the things that I’ve gained and kept, this is all because I met you. You, whether you believe it or not, are a catalyst of this change.”

 

Luhan’s breath hitched. There it was, that off feeling he got underlying the nerves and ecstasy at seeing Sehun again. He didn’t know this Sehun. He didn’t know if he liked the fact that this boy in front of him felt half-foreign.

 

Somehow, over the course of their relationship, Sehun became better at expressing his feelings, even though Luhan was supposedly the Liberal Arts student here. But Luhan understood, because in a way, Sehun affected him just as much, too. He freed him. Sehun introduced him to things Luhan never thought he could have and that was just as valuable, if not more. He wanted to let Sehun know that.

 

He swallowed and pushed his bangs out of his face, suddenly feeling all too nervous and under the spotlight. “I missed you.”

 

Sehun softened noticeably, and Luhan knew this wouldn’t be a mistake.

 

It got easier to speak after starting. That was always the case with Luhan; the beginning was the hardest part, but after that, everything had a habit of falling into place. He went on, “I haven’t realized how much I missed you, until you were here and actually tangible. It’s like how, by keeping myself incredibly busy, I forgot how hungry I was until I finally had food in my mouth.” Luhan ignored Sehun’s worried frown at that. “It’s like that with you. I buried myself under a pile of work so there was no energy for me to focus on missing you. But now, now I can. I miss you.”

 

Sehun’s head tipped forward - in relief, probably. He bit his bottom lip and exhaled. “Good. That’s, that’s good. I - oh god, I’m sorry if I came on too strong in the beginning, saying how I changed and everything because of you. It’s not, not really. I changed for myself, too. It was a long time coming-”

 

“Sehun, you’re rambling,” Luhan laughed. So maybe Sehun wasn’t that eloquent yet.

 

Sehun scrunched his face into an embarrassed expression. “Well, I didn’t know if you were on board, since dating a prince is a really heavy load.”

 

Luhan nodded. He finally understood the feeling of actually starting something substantial. Not like when they ran away to Japan, younger and stupider, just tossing their anger and pain and misconceptions to the wind. Now, they were in a better place.

 

He said, noticeably calmer than before, “Let’s try this. Even if we might break up. Let’s just try dating first, and we’ll see how it goes.”

 

“Right, I like that. A lot.” Sehun finally relaxed for the first time since Luhan saw him, leaning back into his seat and shoulders dropping. “Okay. Wow, this is happening. This is real.”

 

“I feel like we’ve been dating for ages already,” Luhan laughed, feeling a little shy. Which, with all things considered, was kind of ridiculous. They weren’t teenagers who finally confessed their puppy-love for each other, but now that they finally got all the difficult things out of the way - at least the difficult things strictly between the two of them - Luhan wasn’t sure what they were going to do.

 

Turns out, they didn’t really do much after. Sehun and Luhan stayed at that table in the far corner of the restaurant and talked for hours, about anything, even after dinner rush hour came and left. Poor Tzuyu and Jisoo, the other waiter on hand, had to call out Jongdae to help. Neither of them had the heart to interrupt the couple.

 

At one point, Xiumin had arrived to fetch Sehun because he’d been here for hours, but Jongdae stopped him.

 

“Let them be,” he said. “They’re working towards their own happy ending.”

 

 

¤¤¤

 

“Why do I have the feeling that all our friends already knew this was going to happen? Maybe with the exception of my sister.”

 

“Even my mom knew. She kept asking about you, and got all excited when you called.” Sehun scrunched his nose. “But my dad will probably freak. He’ll get used to it, though.”

 

“My dad would probably just give me this tired look-” Luhan attempted to mimic his dad’s expression. “-and ask me why out of eight billion people on this planet, I chose the prince of Korea.”

 

“Yeah, why did you?”

 

“I don’t even know myself, to be honest.” Luhan shrugged, chuckling at Sehun’s offended face. “I figured we just kind of stumbled our way together.”

 

¤¤¤

 

“Did you grow, like, an inch?” Luhan asked, because he had been itching to ask that since he first laid eyes on Sehun.

 

“Milk. Lots and lots of milk. I actually was drinking some this morning.”

 

“So you’re saying milk is the magical ingredient for your absurd height. God, my neck already hurt before when I had to crane my head up to look at you. I fear for the state of my spine.”

 

“I’d give up milk, if that’s what you’re asking.”

 

“I’m not asking, but okay. Why?”

 

“Because I love you,” said Sehun. “More than I love milk.”

 

“That’s ridiculous. Am I supposed to swoon over you preferring me over milk?”

 

“Luhan.”

 

“Besides, I don’t want you to give up things for me. It’s like asking me to give up soccer, and that’s under the assumption that your love for milk can rival my love for soccer.”

 

“You still need to coach me soccer. Don’t give me that look. I’m a student with potential. I scored some goals!” Sehun insisted.

 

“You scored one goal, Sehun. Singular. And that was because I let you.”

 

“Oh, really. Why, to preserve my pride?”

 

“It’s because I love you more than I love winning.”

 

“Now that’s ridiculous.”

 

¤¤¤

 

“Are you ready?” Sehun asked, and they were bound to arrive at this topic, but it still didn’t make it any easier. “There will be a lot of backlash and you’ll be shoved under the public eye for the rest of your life. I know how much you hate the camera.”

 

“That’s assuming we’re getting married. Or that we’d be at a stage in our relationship when telling the public would be necessary.”

 

“But I actually want to tell the public sooner rather than later. I don’t want you to have to hide. You don’t deserve that.”

 

“I’m not saying I’m against it.” Luhan sighed. “It’d be a nightmare if I can’t even buy groceries without people staring at me. But I can deal with it. I knew this would have to come up if I was dating royalty; it’s not a surprise. And I have a pretty good support system. We’ll get through it together.”

 

“Oh. So this is a possibility? That you’re actually considering? I mean, if you want to hide our relationship, it’s fine, no worries-”

 

“Sehun, stop freaking out. I thought we made this clear already. If we’re hiding this relationship, we probably shouldn’t be in it in the first place. So we’re not going to hide. Why are you freaking out?”

 

“It’s a good freaking out. I just need to wrap my head around that for a second. That you’re okay with dealing with all the media and backlash . I know, I know, you’re strong, I don’t have to worry but you haven’t grown up under cameras like I did-”

 

“Sehun,” Luhan said in a low tone and ugh, it did things to Sehun. “Let’s not overthink this, okay? We’ll deal with it when we get to that point.”

 

“Okay.” Sehun let out a breath, noting how Luhan said when and not if.

 

 

¤¤¤

 

He fired question after question, because for some reason, Luhan felt the need to keep Sehun here as long as he could. It was stupid, he knew. They were dating - god, it still felt weird to say that - and if he felt the need to, he could probably call Sehun up the next day and they’d resume their endless conversations.

 

But Sehun felt the same. Even if he sometimes fell into a lapse of silence to gather his thoughts, he still continued the stream. It should have been boring, listening to Luhan go on about that stray cat on his street in Japan he nicknamed Tofu and wondering what had happened to it now that Luhan wasn’t there to feed it, but it wasn’t.

 

And maybe they’d get tired of this someday. But that day wasn’t today.

 

So they sat there, talking and listening, and Luhan wondered what it would be like if they just did this from the very start.

 

¤¤¤

 

Two years changed a lot of things. Luhan actually had a life he enjoyed now. A job, a house, university, people that actually cared about him.

​

And now, he had a Sehun.