Things were fine, not perfect, not great, not good, just fine. Things have changed between them but on the other hand nothing changed at all.

After that morning a month ago, things happened by Taemin's moods and as a typical sixteen years old- he had a lot of them. Minho couldn’t say he wasn’t trying, sometimes he was being nice and polite and on other times he was one huge ball of anger that exploded in his face. To be honest he didn’t knew how to control the boy's temper, teenagers were one big headache, but Minho really tried his best to understand him and show him love even when he tried to push him away, of course he had those moment when Taemin over reacted and he found himself bursting back at him, usually it ended really bad but most of the time they managed not to get too much on each others nerves.

As days passed by Minho couldn’t lie to himself anymore, his love for the boy grew a little stronger but it was hard when Taemin couldn’t accept his affection and wasn’t willing to let him in his heart, he was still a little suspicious and distance, even when they made love. Well, Minho made love to him, he most of the time thought it was a way to finish their fights, something he had to do for his satisfaction, Minho hated that, it felt like he was sleeping with a corpse and he would let go of him, going to sleep aching, apparently Taemin was still unattached with that part called emotions when they were intimate with each other and that was hurt the most.   

Tonight, Taemin got into his teary mood after last night he was in his irritated mood, the night before he was angry as hell and before that he was just angry but god help him if he knew why because every small and stupid thing turned into a huge fight.

So now as he was avoiding a flying shoe he held himself not to kill his young husband, instead he was even trying to calm him and hug him- unsuccessfully of course.

"I hate you…" Taemin cried hysterically and pushed Minho away as he tried to cross his arms around him "leave me alone, no! You're an idiot!" he sobbed "I ing hate you! Monster! Let go"

Storming out Taemin left Minho alone, he slammed the door behind him and could hear his husband cursing loudly, the shoe must have been flying again because something crushed against the door with a loudly thump.  

But Taemin didn’t cared, he was too busy running through the corridors away from him, his vision was blurred with tears he couldn’t stop and sharp pain went through his bones when he bumped into something and fell on his .

Raising his gaze he saw young maid on the floor in front of him, he stopped crying immediately and looked at her worriedly "oh…are you alright?" he asked and hurried to get up from the floor so he could help her.

The maid looked embarrassed, she held her swollen belly as she tried to get up from the floor "I'm sorry my prince…" she mumbled as she did.

"Are you alright?" Taemin asked again, one of his hands supported her back while the other held her belly unconsciously.

"Yes…" she tried to avoid his touch and looked at the floor where the basket of dirty sheets was.

"I'm sorry" Taemin said "you should sit"

The maid looked at him and pushed his hands gently "I'm fine my prince, really"

Like every time someone called him the prince he shook his head "I'm not a prince" and at the moment he saw the maid crouching to collect the sheets from the floor his eyes bulged "what are you doing?!"

She turned her gaze at him "collecting-"

"A pregnant woman can't carry heavy things!" he cut her words and started to collect the sheets into the basket.

"No! prince, please…" she said with panic in her voice, if someone would see that she might get into a lot of troubles "please let me… I can do that"

Taemin was stubborn, he put everything back in the basket and lifted it "where are we going with that?"

"Prince, I can do it, I'm begging of you to let go…"

"I'm not a prince" Taemin said and started to walk "to the laundry room?"

The maid rushed her feet after him, she looked around to make sure no one saw them.

"What is your name?" Taemin asked her as they went through the corridors toward the workers area.

"Kwan Yuri, sir"

"I'm Lee Taemin"

"I know that" she said with a smile, her hand rubbed her belly gently "you're the prince, every one knows your name"

"Please stop calling me 'prince', I'm not a prince- just married to one…" the boy said with a smile and the maid nodded "…did I hurt you when I bumped into you? Do you think your baby is fine?" his face suddenly changed with concern.

"It's ok, it doesn't hurt. Were you alright? You seemed to be upset"

Taemin glanced at her and saw goodness in her eyes, she looked nice and about his age and he felt the need to tell his heart, it was weird but something deep inside him told him it was ok to trust her.

"I just had a fight with Minho…again"

The maid seems to be shocked by his confession, her hand stopped rubbing her belly.

"…oh I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have told you that" Taemin said apologetically "please don't tell anyone about that, I don’t want the king and the queen to know we are fighting again, they think we're fine now"

"I won't tell, I promise" she said and earned a soft relaxed smile from him.

Reaching the workers area Taemin walked into the laundry room, Yuri stopped and he turned to look at her "isn’t it here?" he asked unsure.

"It is, I can go on from here, thank you so much for your help" she said and bowed.

Taemin placed the basket on the floor and nodded, he was about to go but then stopped "Yuri…"

"Yes?" the maid raised her eyes to look at him.

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen, sir" she answered with a frown.

"Can I call you Noona?"

The sweet naïve question made her giggle all of a sudden "you can't…you're the pri-" she stopped before she said the word.

"…I'm not"

"I know, I'm sorry. And yes, you can call me Noona"

Taemin smiled "ok then…good night" he said and waved at her.

"Prince Taemin…"Yuri called making him turn "…would you like a cup of tea? It may help you feel better…"

The boy tilted his head "I'd love to, yes…and I told you not to call me a prince"

Yuri made him a cup of tea, she even added some herbals "it would calm you" she explained when Taemin looked at the cup frowning.

"Thank you"

Yuri smiled at him and sat on a little stool in front of a huge laundry tub, she added soap and threw the dirty sheets into it, she worked hard as she rubbed the fabric to cleanness.

"Do you need help?" Taemin asked from his place at the table.

"Oh…no" she said and giggled, raising her gaze at him before returning to her laundry.

"I didn’t knew the workers works until those kind of hours…it's already late"

"Some of us"

"You shouldn’t work till late in your condition, you need to rest, it must be tiring for you"

"It's ok"

For a moment he studied her features "…can I ask how far long are you?"

Yuri tilted her head, she was surprised by the question, obviously no one of the royal family ever asked anything about it, no one really cared, they ignored her belly when they saw her walking by "…sixth months"

"You must be very excited" Taemin said with a pure, honest smile on his face "would you leave the palace after you'll give birth? Are you and your husband going to raise the baby here?"

Yuri flushed by the outburst of his questions, she turned her gaze back to the laundry, her hands worked fast as she mumbled "I haven't thought about it yet"

"I'm sorry…it's none of my business" Taemin said suddenly realizing he had crossed the line "I was just being curious"

Yuri heard the chair moving and felt the presence of Taemin close to her, she looked at him as he sat down on the floor in front of her "oh…please get up" she said worriedly.

"I don’t want to" Taemin said with a smile "it feels like we're…" his words drifted and he made her frown.

"Like we're?"

"Two friends" he said quietly"…like I used to sit with my butler back at home, he was my friend"

Yuri smiled "do you miss him and your family?"

Taemin nodded.

"He must be have been missing you too since you've got married with the prince"

Taemin made a sad face "Appa fired him long before me and Minho got married, he thought he taught me how to be a freak"

"Freak?" she asked and let go of the sheets in her hands, she looked at him confused when she saw his eyes sparkling with tears he held back.

"Yes, you know, because I love men…he said it's not normal"

"Prince Minho loves men too…otherwise he wouldn’t marry you"

"Yes but he loves women as well… and it made him ok. And we got married because of money, everybody knows that, there is no…love"

He was right everybody knew, the workers at the palace were worried about their jobs before the two got married and the money showed but Yuri wasn’t sure about the no love part "I think prince Mihno loves you"

Taemin shook his head "no, otherwise he wouldn’t treat me like that, he wouldn’t be mean to me and so demanding…" his voice became smaller and tears escaped his guard, he hurried to wipe them away "I'm sorry…I shouldn’t…"

Yuri made a brave movement and placed her hand on his cheek "you should, we're friends now and friends share their pain with each other"

It was late when Taemin left the workers area, he had fun spending time with Yuri and had to force himself to go back to his room so she could have some sleep before the dawn.

He opened the door and tiptoed quietly into the room so his husband won't wake up, however he froze when he saw Minho sitting in bed with his arms crossed on his chest.

"Where were you? I was looking for you…" Minho sounded worried.  

Taemin frowned "what do you care?"

His husband's face changed, he looked pissed but tried to contain his anger "I was worried"

Taemin snorted as he made his way to the closet, looking for a pajama "you're not worried about me, you're worried that the king and the queen will find out we we're fighting again and I disappeared from your guard" he could hear the whoosh of the covers and his husband's footsteps got closer to him.

"No, I was worried about you. You never walking out and disappearing for the night" Minho's tone was harsh now "you're usually locking yourself in the bathroom and crying"

That made Taemin clench his jaw "it make you happy isn’t?" He said through gritted teeth as he turned to face him, anger was writing on his face.

Minho in a breath and ran his hand over his face tiredly "no, it's not. I hate it when you crying"

"Then stop making me" Taemin spat the words before he passed by him, he didn’t went that far however because his husband caught his arm tightly and spun him "you're making me the bad guy Taemin, but I'm not and I'm tired of fighting with you, you're just choosing to hate me!" Minho said raising his voice angrily, forgetting it was the middle of the night.

Taemin looked deeply into his husband's eyes and saw desperation, his eyes were teary, he looked mad but deep inside him he was…he was…sad? 

Grabbing his arm from his grip Taemin took a step back, what he saw scared him, he never saw Minho's emotions so raw, he wanted to say he don’t hate him but he couldn’t let himself get hurt by telling him that.

"I'm tired" he mumbled and made his way to the bed, he got in between the covers without even changing his clothes, turning his back to Minho. He heard his husband getting into bed by his side moments later and suddenly felt loneliness that made his heart ache, he raised his hand to place it on his chest and closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths to stop the urge of crying when big arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him, soft lips brushed against his ear as deep voice whispered at him.

"Taemin…"

"Hmmm"

"Please don’t disappear like that anymore, you're free to do whatever you want, I never locked you by my side but don’t make me sit at night and worry about you like that"

Taemin let the tears blur his vision as he tossed in bed to face his husband, the closeness to him made him feel comfort in a way he didn’t felt for a while, Minho raised his hand and wiped his tears away before he lowered his lips to tap kisses on his eyes, Taemin held his pajama shirt tightly like his life were depend on it before he buried his head in his husband's chest.

"I'm sorry" he sobbed quietly.

Minho his hair and mumbled calming words until Taemin finally raised his head and looked at him.

"I haven’t meant what I said earlier" the boy said.

"I know…"

"I just…" an hiccup escaped his throat "I feel lonely in here" hiccup "I have no friends and my family is far and…" hiccup "and…I'm taking it all out on you…" hiccup "even when I know it's wrong" hiccup "but…"

Minho brushed his thumb over his cheek "shhh…" he cut his words "Taemin, let me be your friend, your family, don’t push me away all the time, you won't be lonely if you'll let me in"

Taemin's hiccups slowly disappeared, his chocolate eyes sparkled from his tears as he looked at his husband "…please don’t hate me" he said quietly, ashamed of himself.

Minho lowered his head and caught his lips into his mouth, the kiss was soft and gentle, showing the boy that he didn’t hate him at all.

Pulling away he looked into his chocolate eyes "let's start all over…no more fights" he said softly, knowing it wouldn’t last forever but still he wanted to try.

Taemin nodded before he angled his head for his husband to kiss him again, Minho's hand roamed on his body and every inch of him, his tongue invaded his mouth and played with his, making him moan softly. He welcomed the pressure of his weight when he got on top of him and settled in between his thighs, pinning him to the mattress.

Minho's touch was gentle and loving, it made his whole body tingle with anticipation, he wanted to feel his skin against him, he wanted him to bury himself deep inside him, touch him from the inside. Soft moans escaped his throat when his husband undressed him and tapped kisses all over his body, when he pushed his hard into him with slow s Taemin cried out his name shamelessly, he didn’t cared if anyone heard him when his hit him and left him exhausted.

Falling asleep in Minho's arms he snuggled into his body, he didn’t heard his husband whispering into his ear "I love you"