“You worked him too hard!” Yixing scolded the king, for once, forgetting exactly who Sehun was. On the hospital bed lay Luhan, head bandaged though his hair was still visible. He hadn’t been cleaned, Sehun hadn’t had time for niceties when Luhan was hurt and Yixing couldn’t be bothered. He had others to attend to and wounds to heal and stitch. The only parts that were cleaned from the falls that Luhan had taken were his hand which was neatly bandaged and his head which was carefully bandaged and washed. Luckily Luhan’s falls had posed less of a problem than Yixing had anticipated. The other sure had a strong skull. The gash had been shallow. The hand too, the gash had been shallow. Both needed minimal stitching, Luhan would be out in about a week or even less. Nevertheless, Yixing wasn’t happy to have one of his best friends in the hospital the first day he had been here. The first official day.

“He deserved it.” Sehun replied, sulky, and nearly flinched as Yixing seemed to bristle, nearly hissing at Sehun.

“He saved you from a damn bear, !”

“Yeah well he left me six years ago too!” Now Sehun couldn’t help but raise his voice, though he lowered it immediately, careful not to wake up Luhan, who seemed for once, peaceful. It had been easily to tell how much Luhan had changed. The moment he walked in, Sehun could tell he was no longer a child. His face was carved with his hardships and yet his head was held high. He had been nothing like the innocent, sweet, shy child Sehun had known. Though perhaps in sleep, he resembled his old self to almost a fault. It almost made Sehun want to forgive the other. “He didn’t even send me a letter.” Sehun murmured almost to himself as he stared at Luhan, swallowing before he looked towards himself, wondering if he had changed as much as the other had.

“Of course he sent you letters.” “Yixing retorted, causing Sehun’s head to shoot up in surprise. “He sent me letters. He even told me in letters that he sent you letters. And you didn’t ever respond !”

Silence.

“You—did receive the letters didn’t you Sehun?” Yixing spoke slowly, eyes moving to try to meet Sehun’s.

More silence. Sehun stared at Yixing, blank.

“Sehun, who manages the palace mail?”

That was enough to startle Sehun awake. “He sent no letters.” Sehun growled, rising to his feet “You lie Yixing, he sent no letters. And if he did, I damn well didn’t receive any.” And with that, he stormed out with Yixing calling after him.

“Hey! You better come back and thank Luhan for saving your life !”

A garbled groan brought Yixing’s attention away from the door and back to Luhan. The boy was finally awake, rubbing his eyes as he struggled to a sitting position, gingerly putting a bit of weight on his injured hand before he looked at Yixing blankly, blinking. “I’m pretty sure I wasn’t here when I was about thirty seconds away from getting mauled by a bear. A trained bear at that as well.”

“Ah yes, Sehun managed to injure the bear and carry you here while the other men captured the bear. Apparently it belonged to one of the neighboring nobleman. He’s dead now.” The way Yixing spoke so matter of factly sent a shudder through Luhan. Sounded like he saw this often, it was a pity he did. “Anyways, that was a couple hours ago. So don’t think about changing the death verdict. Nothing is more absolute than the king’s word.”

“Did—Sehun come to visit?” Luhan murmured uneasily, knowing that dwelling on the death would do nothing but make him toss and turn for no good reason.

“He did but the stormed off after I scolded him.” Luhan managed a smile. Only Yixing would be brave enough to scold the king for his patients and his friends. “He might be back.” Yixing shrugged, causing Luhan to shift uneasily again, not wanting to be seen in such a vulnerable state. “Though he’s probably busy.”

A reprieve.

“He’s basically locked himself in his room now.” Another voice sounded and Luhan and Yixing both started in surprise at who was at the door. There, leaning on the doorframe was Jongin, checking his nails before he looked up under the surprised gazes. “Probably with one of his toys. I can’t blame him for having toys, we all do, but I can look at him with disgust for having so many.” How many could Sehun have? Probably enough so they fought among themselves. Luhan didn’t want to become one of them, vying for the king’s “love”, did he even love anymore? “Anyways,” Jongin stepped forward, moving to take next to Luhan’s bedside before he grinned at the other “I have to say, that was pretty brave of you, distracting the bear from the king. “ For a moment Luhan searched the other’s eyes for mockery, but he could only see sincerity.

“It was nothing.” Luhan merely responded, lips quirking into a small smile “Anyone would have done the same.”

“And yet they didn’t.” Jongin replied, and Luhan fell silent for a moment before he grinning, eyes sparkling, taking Jongin by surprise at how the other’s face seemed to glow with mischief.

“You would have.”

“I would have.” Jongin replied, chuckling softly before he shrugged “But I was on the ground, unconscious from a hoof to the head.”

“It only grazed your head.” Yixing piped up, bringing over a cup of tea which Luhan took gratefully. “I should know, I patched you up.”

“Guilty.” Jongin shrugged before he smiled, thanking Yixing as the other brought over some more tea for him. “Anyways, how are you feeling Luhan?”

“Alright.” Luhan chuckled, shaking his head before he groaned as the world tipped “Other than my head really.”

“Ah, you’re going to need that.” Jongin replied grimly “And your hand for that matter. The king just published a notification that apparently we’re having guests in a week. And not just a guest, but multiple. We’re having foreign ambassadors all over the world coming to visit.”

Luhan knew what that meant. Grilling them for court secrets, withholding their own, it was a dangerous dance.

“And considering that Sehun just executed the owner of that bear, who happened to be foreign, no one is happy.” Jongin swallowed, meeting Luhan’s eyes as he added “Which is why I’m here to warn you. Seems like the king’s taken a bit of dislike to you in particular, you should be careful.”

“We’ve had a turbulent past.” Luhan merely responded before he grinned “I can count on you to have my back though right?” It was a joke, but Luhan was taken aback at the sincerity in Jongin’s eyes as he responded with a grin.

“Hell yeah. You want to change the court for the better, guess that finally makes two of us who are willing to take action. Would you perhaps, be kind enough to entrust me with any information you have that would dispose of those wanting to use the court for their own personal power?”

“Absolutely.” There was no hesitation.

Finally, Luhan had an ally.

AN: Apologies for being gone yesterday, I was out all day. Plus, school's about to start up again so updates will be slow D: Forgive me everyone.