Prompt: Sehun is a prince and Luhan is a commoner. Despite all the odds stacked against them, they always find a way. (Inspired by Sehun wearing that crown at that fanmeet); medieval!au

Word count: 4506

His hands reached out and grabbed something soft. He heard laughter, like a tinkle of a fairy, and he thought, Mother. She came into view, with light brown eyes and black hair with a twinkling thing on her rested on her head, and smiled. He smiled back because Mother is here! She picked him up as if he weighed nothing and held him to her chest. He was closer now and could see how flawless she really was. 

He heard another voice, a deeper one that sounded like his father. 

"He looks so handsome," Mother said. 

"He is." 

His eyes widened when he met his father's eyes, the same dark brown as his. The man had a beard, one that he just has to touch because it looked so odd. So he reached out and took hold of it in his little chubby hands. Father is surprised, but he laughed, a deep rumbling sound that scared him enough to let go. 

"You scared the poor thing," Mother cooed. She kissed his cheeks and grinned. "You're so beautiful. My little prince." 

Usually, it's Kai who takes him to the house in the hills. Other times, rarely, it's Chanyeol who guides him there. They're just a precaution. Sehun has memorized the route in his bones and muscles. 

"Your highness, we've arrived." 

Sehun jerks, fingers reaching out for the handle to open the carriage. Instead, he meets fingers, familiar ones that grip his own tightly as if they were a lifeline. 

"Luhan?" 

"It's me." 

Sehun blinks, a smile tugging on his lips. "I've missed you." He reaches to find Luhan's face, to map out the features of the man he so desperately wants to see.

Luhan guides Sehun's hands to his cheek and holds it there. "I've missed you so much too." 

"Your highness, would you like to step down?" Sehun hears Kai ask. 

"Yes, Luhan, can you help me?" 

"Of course, my prince." Luhan holds onto Sehun's forearm and guides the younger out of the carriage and onto the dirt road. Sehun's robe begins to slip off his shoulder and Luhan quickly fixes it. "Let's go inside. You shouldn't be outside too long, your highness." 

Sehun nods, gripping Luhan's hand and letting the other bring him inside. He can hear Kai guiding Ginger to the side of the quaint cottage. 

"Luhan, is your sister home today?" Sehun asks as they walk. 

"She is," Luhan replies. "I'll call her out once we get you out of the scorching sun." 

Sehun can feel when they reach the house. The sun is no longer beating down on his skin and the shade that the roof of the house provides is enough to cool him down slightly. 

"Min, come out!" Luhan calls. "Stand here." He lets go of Sehun momentarily to pull out a chair. Sehun can hear it scraping on the floor and soon, he is being guided to sit down on it. "I'll get some water for you. You must be tired, your highness." 

Sehun doesn't reply. His fingers feel the wooden table, smiling when he remembers that he had helped make it. He finds the indentations where Luhan had helped him carve, "S & L" on the side. 

"Your highness!" 

Sehun turns his head towards the voice. A patter of footsteps and then small hands pull at his own. "Min?" 

"It's me!" The little girl grins. "I lost my first tooth! Luhan pulled it out for me." 

"Oh," Sehun says, a look of surprise on his features, "Did it hurt?" 

"Yes, it did. But then Luhan gave me some sweet bread to eat to make me forget. It wasn't so bad." Min tugs at Sehun's robes. "May I sit with you your highness?" 

"Min," Luhan warns. 

Sehun waves a hand at Luhan and smiles as he nods. "It's fine, Min, come up." 

"She'll dirty your robes, my prince." 

"That's alright." 

Min giggles as she moves. Her tiny body weighs close to nothing on Sehun's lap. She plays with the royal blue silk, rubbing it between her fingers. "Your robes are so nice, your highness," she says as she leans back against Sehun's chest. "They're so pretty." 

"What color are they, Min?" Sehun asks. 

"They're the prettiest blue I've ever seen!" she giggles. 

"What does blue look like, Luhan?" 

"Oh, it's beautiful, your highness. It's the color of the sky when it's not raining. It's a soft color, like the feeling of cotton. It's also the color of the ocean. That kind of blue is a colder blue." 

"That sounds wonderful," Sehun says. His voice has a wistful tone to it. "Min, do you like this color?" 

"Yes, yes, very much!"

Sehun can hear the smile in her voice. "Min, may I touch your face?" 

"Of course, your highness." Sliding off Sehun's lap, she pulls Sehun's hand and touches it to her cheek.

Sehun's other hand comes up to her other cheek, feeling the soft skin of the child with the pads of his fingers. "There's your little nose," he says as he tweaks it lightly, causing Min to laugh. "And your eyes." Sehun can feel her eyelashes flutter closed as he runs his fingers gently over them. "What color are your eyes, Min?" 

"They're brown, my prince," Luhan replies. "The color of dirt, but warmer than that." 

"How can dirt be warm, Luhan?" Min asks. 

Luhan laughs, a wonderful sound. "I'm just trying to explain to his highness what you feel looking at the color, Minmin." 

Sehun feels her lips, fingers caressing the corners. "I think you're going to grow up to be a beautiful woman, Min," he murmurs. 

"Will I be beautiful enough to marry you, your highness?" she asks. 

Sehun laughs. "Yes, you will be."

When the sun sinks below the faraway hills, and the sun is a splatter of oranges and yellows, tinted with blue and purple, Sehun leaves. 

Luhan holds him close, tucking Sehun's shoulder under his chin. The younger prince is taller than him, but when he's being held like this, Luhan feels like he's cradling a baby, a sensitive, bare little thing. "Come back soon, my prince." 

"I will try." 

When Luhan pulls away, Sehun's eyes are glazed over with tears. Sehun blinks and a tear falls from beautiful brown eyes. Luhan wipes it away with his thumb. "Don't cry, my prince. Don't fall sick, be healthy so you can come back soon. We'll miss you." Luhan leans closer, holds Sehun a little tighter, and whispers into Sehun's ear. "I'll miss you...love." 

Sehun shivers slightly, not expecting Luhan to come so close, but he has a content look on his face. "I will miss you too. I'll visit with something for Min next time. Tell her I won't be long." 

"I hope you won't be." Luhan kisses, a soft press of the lips, against Sehun's temple. "You don't know how much longing I feel whenever I see the castle." 

"One day, I will take you and Min there, and you shall live with me and we'll be happy together," Sehun promises.  

"One day." 

He felt so hot and everything was so sore. He whined, not wanting to feel this suffocating heat that surrounded him anymore, but no matter how much he thrashed in his bed, cried and screamed until his throat is sore and his eyes were swollen, the heat was embedded in his skin, sunken into his bones. 

"Change his highness' towel," he heard a voice say. It's Nurse, but he couldn't make out her face through his tears. 

He had sweat so much, and he wanted water so badly. His throat felt like someone was scratching at it from the inside out. So he grabbed her arm and whined, hoping that she understood. 

"Your highness?" she asked. When he whined again, a soft little whimper, she got the message. "Get water for his highness!" 

Fatigue overtook his heavy body. He sunk into the bed, breathing heavily. Hands grappled at his body to hold him up and a cup was held to chapped, parched lips. He gulped it down quickly and emptied the cup. He opened bleary eyes and made another noise, asking for more. 

"More water, go get more water." 

He was set down on his pillows. It was a different one, he could tell since it was slightly cooler than the other one. A wet towel was placed on his forehead, but the short chill that it had was gone. The heat in his body was too much. He just wanted it gone. He just wanted to sleep. He just wanted...

Black. 

"Where have you been, brother?" 

Sehun blinks, moving around to try to find where the voice was coming from. 

"I'm here." 

There is a hand touching Sehun's shoulder and he turns. "Brother?" 

"Why were you out? Mother was worried about you. I said you went to town because you wanted some fresh air." 

"I-I-" 

"You went to see that boy again, didn't you?" Kris whispers. He doesn't wait for an answer, since the sinking of Sehun's shoulders is answer enough. "Do you know how dangerous it is? I understand you're with Kai, but if Father finds out, he will forbid you from leaving the castle." 

Sehun bites his lip, lowering his head. "I promised I would come back," he murmured. 

"You also promised to be safe." 

"I am! I'm with-" 

"Inside the castle. You promised to be safe while staying inside the castle unless Father permits you to leave." 

"He will never let me go if I ask for permission, brother."

"You're breaking his rules, Sehun. If he finds out, not only you, but that boy and his family will be in trouble as well." His brother's hands fall from his shoulder. Sehun flinches when Kris continues. "If you want him to be safe, don't go back."

He screamed, he cried, he rubbed his eyes, blinked, then cried and screamed some more. He could hear yelling, and then hands touched him, a tidal wave of voices asked him, "My prince, what's wrong?" "Your highness, why are you crying?" "What do you need?" 

He could hear them, but why couldn't he see them? He reached his arms out and grabbed a hand. "Where's my mother?" he cried. "I want Mother!" He wiped the tears from his cheeks and closed his eyes, sobbing into his fists. "I want my mother? Where is she?!" 

"Oh, Sehun, Mother is here." He felt her hold him, pulling him into her warm, comforting lap. He felt arms wrap around his body, holding him close and unrelenting. "Sehun, what's wrong, my child?" 

"Mother," he whimpers. He grabs at the fabric of her nightgown. "Mother, mother, I can't see a thing. I'm so scared Mother, what's happening to me? Everything is black. I'm so scared, Mother, why can't I see?" 

Despite his brother's warning, Sehun just has to see Luhan and Min again. They make him feel normal and loved. The castle is too big for someone like Sehun to try to find something to entertain himself with. In Luhan's home, Sehun is comfortable enough to move around without tripping over a rug. Luhan's house has been the same since the first time Sehun visited it five months before. 

Min and Luhan don't make him feel like he's disadvantaged. Min loves talking about everything and anything that comes to her mind, so Sehun is always occupied and entertained while listening to her. Luhan is the quiet type, but when they're alone, Sehun feels like it's just the two of them in the world. Though Sehun can't see, Luhan is his pair of eyes, painting the scene with beautifully strung words that sound they are coming from an angel. They make him feel normal, as if the crown on his head is nothing more than an accessory. 

That's how he wants to be treated, normally. They are the ones Sehun is sure he wants to spend the rest of his life with because they were his first everything. 

When Kai brings him back to the castle that afternoon, something feels off. When Kai helps him off the carriage, Kai holds him tighter than usual and instead of letting go for a moment to bring call the stable boy, Kai leans in and whispers, "His highness, the king, is waiting for you." 

Sehun's eyes widen. He blinks, eyebrows furrowing. "Where?" 

"In the throne room, your highness. I will take you there after Ginger is back in her stall." 

So Sehun waits, anxious. There is a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, as if he knows something bad will occur. 

He is right. 

"Father, you can't!" 

"My decision is final." 

Sehun clenches his fists, eyes filling fast with tears. "Why? Because he's a commoner?" He can't even see his father, but he glares at the general area he hopes is where the king is standing. 

"Because he is unsafe for you. And because you have no reasons with be affiliated with people like him." 

"He's my friend!" 

"You can find other friends, among the people who are beneficial for you." 

"You mean with other snooty princes who think they own the world?" 

"Sehun, you will speak respectfully when talking to me!" his father roars. 

Sehun flinches, hands covering his mouth to cover up a sob. It's that feeling like ten years ago when he woke up and realized his sight was gone. It's that same fear, that no, no, no, this can't be true, this can't be true feeling that sends him sinking to his knees and sobbing. He can't hear anything over the roaring in his ears and the wails that come from his mouth. But large hands that could only belong to his brother wrap  around his shoulders.

"Sehun, I told you," he says. "I warned you." 

Sehun pushes his brother away, eyes flashing. "You told him, didn't you? You told him I was meeting Luhan, didn't you?!" He doesn't even wait for an answer before continuing, nearly screaming. "You ruined everything! You're horrible! I love him! I love the both of them because they make me feel like I'm a human, not a defect, and you took that chance away from me! I hate you! I hate this damned castle, and I hate that I'm a prince that can't do anything on his own!" Sehun pulls the crown off his head and throws it down on the ground. It clatters, echoing. "I don't want to be a prince anymore," he whispers, shakily, as tears stream down his blotched cheeks.

Sehun turns and runs, nearly running into the wall, but he makes it out of the throne room. He can hear whispers from the maids as he runs past. Sehun trips over a wrinkle in the carpet and it sends him sprawling into the ground. He curls up, hugging his legs to his chest, and cries. He cries for the ache in his heart, for the loss of freedom, for his brother's betrayal to him, for never getting to meet Luhan and Min ever again. 

Sehun grinned. There was so much noise here, so much activity, so much energy buzzing around in such a small area. 

"Are you enjoying this, brother?" Kris asked. 

Sehun nodded vigorously. "It's so exciting. There's so much movement." The jostling of the carriage is proof of that. 

"I want to stop for some fruit, Sehun, is there anything you want?" 

"Can I come with you?" 

Kris was silent for a moment then a grunt could be heard.

Sehun his lips and smiled. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes." 

Sehun shook in happiness. He was finally going to walk on the streets of the kingdom! The carriage stopped and Sehun could feel the sun on his lap when the doors opened. His eyes widened. "Brother, help me down." He reached out for Kris but found no one sitting on the opposite side. He frowned. "You said I could go, brother!" he whined. 

"I'm down here, give me a second." Kris held Sehun's arms and pulled him towards the carriage door. "Step down, slowly," he instructed. Sehun did as told and his feet met uneven pavement. "Are you steady?" When Sehun nodded, Kris led him to the fruit stand. 

As they moved along, Sehun could hear the people talking amongst themselves, some of them greeted him with, "Good afternoon, Prince Sehun," while the others whispered about how his eyes were so odd. Those voices made him lower his head, eyebrows furrowed. 

"Ignore them, Sehun," Kris said. "If they bother you, tell them to come forth and say it to your face." 

But Sehun's heart had already begun to bruise from the words directed towards him. 

"What brings you to my stand today, your highness?" a foreign voice asked. 

Sehun perked up at the voice. 

"Some apples and pears," Kris said. 

"Your highness?" There was another voice, a softer, more feminine one. "Your highness, may I ask why your eyes are like that?" 

Sehun gasped and could feel Kris pull him away from the voice. "Get away from him," he growled. The little girl made a scared noise and ran into the fruit stand. 

"Brother, who was that?" 

"I'm sorry, your highness, that was my sister. I beg for your forgiveness for her reckless words." It was the fruit stand man. "She didn't mean to offend, she's just a curious child." 

"Her curiosity might get her killed," Kris snapped. 

Sehun frowned and wriggled out of Kris' hold. "May I speak with her?" Sehun asked. 

"What? Sehun, we're going back to the castle." 

"Wait, I want to talk to her. What's her name?" 

"Her name is Min, your highness. Please don't take offense to her words." 

Sehun smiled softly. "Min, I want to explain to you, not scold you. Come here," he urged. He reached his arms out and when he felt the little girl standing in front of him, he squatted down to her height. "I'm blind, Min, I can't see, that's why my eyes are like this." 

The child sniffled. "B-blind?" 

"I can't see anything at all." 

"That's so sad," she said. 

Sehun smiled, a bitter one. "It is, isn't it? But it's alright." Sehun stood up. "Brother, what color are apples?" 

"They're red, your highness. Bright red, like the color of your robes today." 

Sehun blinked at the fruit stand man's voice. "What is your name, Min's brother?"

"I'm Luhan, your highness." 

"Sehun, we need to leave now." 

Sehun smiled. "I'll see you again one day, Luhan and Min." Sehun could hear Min giggle. 

"Goodbye, my prince. Please be healthy." 

Sehun leaves on his own. He had found his way out to the stables, inch by inch, by hugging the walls and shuffling slowly. He listens for any signs of the servants and knights that patrol the hallways before moving and somehow had made it. The night breeze seeps through Sehun's thin nightclothes and sends chills throughout his body. Once he arrives at the stable, he tries to open the wooden door that opens to the stables but finds that it's locked. Sehun bites his lower lip in frustration. "I've come this far. I'm not going to let a stupid lock stand between me and Luhan." He takes a moment to contemplate his next action and then proceeds to ram his left shoulder into the wood to see if the door would budge. 

The action wakes up the horses and they whinny loudly, waking up the stable boy who opens the doors to find the second prince clutching his shoulder. "Your highness, what are you doing here?" 

"Give me Ginger." 

"Your highness, she is sleeping. And it's too dark out to take her anywhere." 

"Do you think it being nighttime makes a difference to me?!" Sehun snaps. 

The stable boy goes quiet. 

"Give me Ginger." 

"Your highness, you shouldn't be out at this time of night," the boy replies. 

"What's your name?" Sehun asks. 

"Yixing, sir." 

"Yixing, I advise you to give me Ginger before I tell the someone you're disobeying my orders." Sehun hopes that the empty threat will be enough to make the boy give him Ginger because at this point, Sehun's just too tired to fight anymore. 

"His highness the king has prohibited you from leaving castle grounds my prince." 

Sehun whips around and nearly loses his balance. "Kai?" 

"You cannot leave, your highness." 

Sehun sinks to the ground. "So I'm stuck here?" 

Kai holds his shoulders and pulls him up. "Your highness, you should go back into the castle. You're very cold." 

"I can't see him anymore?" Sehun whispers. 

Kai holds him close to his side so that his body heat could transfer to Sehun. "Your highness, please understand that your father wants you to be safe." 

"But all the times we went before...we were fine. Nothing happened to us. I'm fine..." Sehun trails off, suddenly too tired to talk. He slumps onto Kai, the his legs no longer able to hold up his weight. 

Kai braces himself and after a moment's thought picks Sehun up and continues to carry Sehun into the waiting castle in his arms. 

"My little Sehun, how did you get yourself sick again?" 

Sehun closes his eyes and turns to his side. "Go away, Mother." 

"Sehun, are you still upset with your father?" The queen's cold fingers trace her son's cheeks and then brushes his hair out of his eyes. "You can't make trips to meet anyone with your health being this way, much less a commoner."

Sehun jerks away, his mother's cold touch leaving his skin. "Go away, Mother," he repeats. 

"Why won't you listen to reason, brother? Must you always have your way?" It's Kris. 

Sehun feels anger bubble in his chest and he sits up despite how heavy his head feels. "I always get my way? If I could get everything my way, I wouldn't be blind, and I wouldn't be here!" he screams. His head pounds and beads of sweat are making his hair stick to his forehead. "I would be with Luhan because he's the only one who seems to care and listen to my problems. He's the only one that makes me feel like I actually can do something with my life, not just sit around all day because I'm blind!" 

"Sehun, lay down, darling, please." His mother's hands push at his shoulders, trying to make him lie down but he won't budge. He can't. He has to prove a point. 

"You think I'm happy here? You think being in this giant castle is any fun when I can't see where I'm going, where there are small changes everyday that makes it feel like a completely different place? You think that it's easy? Do you?!" 

"You're bleeding, Sehun, lie down," his mother pleads. 

Sehun feels it. He reaches a hand up to his nose and feels it, the sticky, warm blood on his fingers. "What color is it?"

"Red, your highness. Like a bright apple. It's a dangerous color but a beautiful one."

Sehun's head lifts up.  "Luhan?" 

"You're sick, my prince. You promised to be in good health." 

Sehun feels his mother's prescence move away while another one replaces it at the side of the bed.

Luhan sinks down and carresses Sehun's cheek. "Your skin is so pale. White as snow. You look so cold," he murmurs. His eyes analyze Sehun's face, to his sunken cheeks, to his sweaty forehead, to his bleeding nose. "You should lie down, my prince." A towel is held to his nose, as Sehun slowly is leaned back. 

"Is it really you, Luhan?" Sehun hears faint whispers and then the soft clank as his door closes. "Luhan, is this really you? Here? With me?" 

"Touch my face. See if it's really me." 

"It sounds like you." Sehun's clean hand reaches for Luhan's hand, the one holding the towel to Sehun's nose. "It feels like your hand." After a few seconds of holding Luhan's fingers. "Your face, Luhan, I need to see if it's really you." 

Luhan smiles at Sehun's choice of words and leans forward, taking Sehun's hand and holding it to his cheek. "It's me, love." 

Sehun's hands roam, gentle fingers that caress every curve and outline of Luhan's face. He traces Luhan's face, matching it to the map that he has in his head. "It's you," he breathes out. "It really is you." Blinking a few times and leaning his head back more, "Is this a dream? Luhan, pinch me to see if it's a dream." 

"I can't pinch a prince, I'll be beheaded," Luhan laughs. "But it's not a dream, your highness. I really am here, holding a towel to your bloody nose." 

Sehun breathes out a laugh, eyes burning with happy tears. "You're really here...with Min? Where is Min?" 

"She's in the kitchen with the cook. His highness the king thought it was best for her to stay there while I come to meet you first," Luhan answers.

"My father?" Sehun asks. "He brought you here?"

"Kai came to tell us his highness was coming last night. The king came this morning and we came back with him. He has taken a liking to Min," Luhan replies. "Has your nosebleed stopped, my prince?" Luhan lifts the towel to check. "You've stopped." 

"But he...he was the one that wouldn't let me see you. Why-why would he bring you here?" 

"Because he loves you more than he lets on, Sehun." Luhan wipes Sehun's sweat with his sleeve. "You're his youngest son. He felt so bad that he coudn't protect you and do anything for you when he came back to find that you had been sick and lost your sight. He wasn't able to move on from the fact that you would not be able to see again and wanted to protect you from any further damage because he loves you." Luhan's voice is soft, soothing. "Don't hate him, my prince. He just wants the best for you." 

There is a comforting silence in the room after Luhan's little speech. 

"Luhan, I love you. Do you know that?" Sehun blurts. His eyes are drooping, fatigue taking over his body from his outburst. "I just wanted to tell you, just in case that when I wake, you're not here with me."

"Don't worry, my prince. I'm here and I'm staying. The day you promised me has finally come. I am here with Min to stay." 

Sehun smiles, eyes closing. The last thing he feels is a soft kiss to his forehead. 

"What color are my robes today, Luhan?" 

"They're purple, like grapes. It's a rich color, one that captures your attention. You look stunning in it, my prince." 

"Do you like it here, Luhan? Being here, doing this? Would you rather be back at your fruit stand?" 

"My prince, being by your side is my second most favorite thing," Luhan replies. 

"The first?" Sehun asks, turning his head back a little so that it seems like he's looking at Luhan who is fixing his robes. "What's the first." 

"You." 

Omg this was the longest one I've written on here, even more than that two part mafia one. Hope you liked it, cause I loved writing it~

Also this was my inspiration. Look at this beautiful human being. I have literal heart eyes when I see him.