Chapter Eight

Cleaning Out Thoughts

Wielding cleaning supplies in both hands, Yifan dashed throughout the house as Luhan, Sehun, and Tao watched attentively. On this day, Yifan spent his time wiping the counters, mopping the floors, and sweeping the ceiling. Yeah. Sweeping the ceiling. When that happened, Tao had facepalmed so hard that he accidentally hurt his nose. Normally, Yifan would run to his aid and place a healing kiss on his nose, but he was far too preoccupied with his task to do so.

“What is that man doing?” He thought aloud.

“Summer cleaning?” Luhan replied, his pitch going higher as he spoke.

Yifan zoomed past, pulling on his rubber gloves and goggles. With a warrior cry, he kicked the door open. After a few moments of them staring at the door blankly, Yifan poked his head out.

“Kids, I’d be better if you weren’t here for the day,” Yifan laughed awkwardly before his head disappeared. “Tao, love! Come help me, will ya?”

Groaning, Luhan grabbed onto Sehun’s arm and dragged him out the door. Unbelievable. It was too damn hot for them to waste their day outside. With merely a quick glance at the older’s pouty expression, Sehun lost it. Bursting into laughter, he threw is head back into the air and covered his mouth with his hand. Luhan scrunched up his nose.

“What?” Luhan whined.

“You-you look so,” Sehun cut himself off with another laugh, “stupid!”

“Gee, thanks, Sehun,” Luhan teased, “I guess I’ll need to find another pal, huh?”

Ceasing to laugh, Sehun shot him a poker face, “I’m too perfect for you to say such a thing.”

"As if,” Luhan cackled, “Even for a prince you aren’t exactly divine.”

"You pain me,” Sehun said, clutching onto his chest.

The sweltering heat absorbing all of their energy, they plopped down beneath the cherry tree with collective sighs. After laying in silence for a while, Luhan leaned his head down on Sehun’s shoulder. As warmth radiated off the younger’s body, little butterflies flew through Luhan’s stomach. When Sehun’s arm wrapped around him, chills crawled up his spin. Shamelessly, his mind began to wander off at the thought of Sehun loving, wanting, and needing him.

“What do you wanna do today, Lu?” Sehun asked, rubbing Luhan’s shoulder in small circles.

“It’s too hot. You can decide,” Luhan muttered, closing his eyes. He felt himself slowly slipping into a light sleep with Sehun on his mind.

“Don’t fall asleep, Luhan,” Sehun reminded him, shrugging the shoulder Luhan’s head was on. Ignoring the younger, Luhan nuzzled into Sehun’s neck. Being in Sehun’s strong arms felt so right. Luhan never wanted to move. After staying prone like this for a bit, Sehun abruptly shot up from his position, indirectly pushing Luhan onto the ground.

“What?” Luhan groaned, rubbing his pounding head.

“Let’s go to the castle!” Sehun said. And by the twinkle in his eyes, Luhan didn’t have the heart to say no.

---

Somehow, getting to the castle took a lot less time for the pair compared to just Luhan alone. While he tried to admire the beauty of nature and ephemeral time, Sehun found ways to pester him throughout the journey. Luhan didn’t really mind. Rather, he welcomed the constant attention Sehun gave him with open arms. It’s not as if Luhan didn’t want or didn’t like it. Quite the contrary, actually. He often found himself craving for more on regular occasions. With a simple smile, Sehun could set off fireworks deep inside of him.

Once they reached castle grounds, Sehun’s face stoned and he pulled back his shoulders before swaggering forward. Glancing around anxiously, Luhan followed close behind.

“Follow my lead,” Sehun whispered with a wink. Blushing, Luhan nodded. He went along with him for a bit, but, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Chanyeol leaned up against a gold pole. His skin bore a strange, green tint and sweat dripped off him profusely. Chanyeol swayed a bit before collapsing. The Earth shook. Eyes wide, Luhan bolted up to him, leaving Sehun clueless.

"Chanyeol!” Luhan yelled, crouching beside the taller man.

“Lu? Luhan!” Sehun shouted, desperately searching for Luhan’s honey hair. He spun around to find Luhan hunched over another man. His face distorted into a multitude of uneasy expressions. He too ran over. “What happened, Lu?”

“He fainted,” Luhan responded, grazing his hand against Chanyeol’s forehead. Sehun bit his lip. Grabbing the older’s hand, he yanked Luhan back up to his feet.  

"That’s enough, Lu. Let’s take him to Kyungsoo,” Sehun grumbled. On the count of three, they hoisted Chanyeol up.

Sneaking that giant to the castle was the hardest task Luhan ever had to complete. Several guards gave them a nod as if to say ‘your secret’s safe with us.’ While Luhan greatly appreciated it, Sehun tugged him away before he could catch the chance to thank them. He mumbled something about workers not staying in their lane, but Luhan disregarded it as heat irritation. The whole time, Sehun kept his eyes glued to his feet.

“What’s wrong?” Luhan breathed out, heaving the heavy man up another two steps.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Sehun murmured, “I just had other things planned. You must be annoyed, right?”

Luhan let out a airy laugh. “Not really. This is, well, interesting,” he commented, “Besides, it’s not like I’m carrying this beast alone. I’ve got you.”

“I guess you’re right,” Sehun replied, a faint blush on his cheeks

Eventually, the pair managed to haul Chanyeol to Kyungsoo’s work quarters. They walked in, careful not to hurt the unconscious Chanyeol, to find Prince Jongin and Kyungsoo locking lips passionately. Only when Luhan whistled did the couple pulled away from each other. Jongin briskly scattered out of the room, doing no more than pecking Kyungsoo once more. At the sight of the body, now laying on the floor, the owlish man stared at them with such flummox that Luhan felt captivated by the thought of running. However, Sehun had forced Luhan onto a bed to rest beside him. Relaxing in the comfortable hospital bed, they talked about everything and anything they could imagine.

“The castle is so enchanting,” Luhan muttered, digging his head further down into the pillow.

“Yeah. It’s not half bad,” Sehun laughed.

“I guess you don’t really know too well how ing beautiful this place, but living in my house should have given you some perspective,” Luhan said.

“Maybe because you don’t live here you don’t know how beautiful this place isn’t,” Sehun retaliated. Luhan kept quiet.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“Okay, if you lovebirds are done singing, how about you leave?” Kyungsoo dictated, sending them a menacing glare.

“But we’re waiting for Channie to wake up,” Luhan whimpered, jutting out his bottom lip. Both of them laughed. 

As quickly as Kyungsoo could murder them for misbehaving, Prince Baekhyun crashed into the scene. Panting heavily, he placed his hands on his knees and squatted down. He ran his hands through sweat soaked hair. It took a few moments of heavy breathing and reassurance before he could speak.

“Yeollie! Is my knight in shining armor okay?” Baekhyun asked, his voice coated with a peculiar sweetness (well, at least, it was foreign to Sehun).

“He’ll be fine. He just needs a bit of rest,” Kyungsoo said, eyeing the short male suspiciously, “And you two. Out. Now.”

As they slugged out the door, Sehun couldn’t help but snicker, “Your knight in shining armor, huh?”

                                                                                                                ---

“Where to now?” Luhan asked, kicking a pebble as they walked along the riverside. As he contemplated, Sehun ceased to take another step further. After staring into the horizon thoughtfully for a few seconds, he grinned.

“One more place!” Sehun sang, once again dragging his elder back into the woods.

After spending so much time with Sehun, Luhan began to wonder exactly how many times the younger forced him into these parts. By now, he should have known the forest by heart. He should recognize every tree stump and where each flower patches was and what woodland creatures make each rustling sound. See, they had their differences; for starters, Sehun walked with impatience and Luhan enjoyed admiring everything they saw. Contrarily, Luhan was one of the most impatient people in the world while it took longer for Sehun to build up such irritation. Luhan only saw their opposites as another reason why he loved the younger.

At last, they finally reached the small opening Luhan had since decided to refer to as “theirs.” Of course, Sehun didn’t need to know that. Luhan was sure he never wanted Sehun to know about anything: his Sehun centered daydreams, the countless gazes, the feelings. Those secrets were locked deep inside his heart, where Sehun would never find them. When Sehun came to an abrupt stop, he cut Luhan’s pleasant thoughts in half.

"Well?” Luhan pressed, blinking a few times as he took a gander at the scenery.

"Take of your shirt,” Sehun said, pulling his shirt over his head revealing a slim, toned body. Luhan, eyes expanding, blushed furiously.

“E-excuse me?” Luhan stammered once he regained the ability to speak.

“Take. Off. Your. Shirt,” Sehun repeated, adding a lazy grin. “It’s hot outside, Lu.”

“F-fine,” Luhan complied, slowly pulling off the fabric. Sehun dropped the ground, gesturing Luhan with his eyes to follow. Naturally, Luhan did the same.

They were closer than Luhan first expected. Their arms overlapped, Sehun fingers tickling his sides. Playing with each other’s feet, their legs automatically entangled together. At this close proximity, Luhan felt like he might implode. As Sehun’s skin grazed against his own, his face burned and reddened. While Sehun talked about the sunset and stars, Luhan could hardly focus. All he could think about was exactly how close he was to Sehun and his overwhelmingly lewd daydreams.

“Tell me your story,” Sehun stated out of the blue.

“What? No,” Luhan laughed.

"Please!” Sehun harped, turning on his side.

“Why on Earth would you want to hear that?” Luhan said, resting his head on his arm as he too faced Sehun.

“Because you’re my best friend.”

Best friend. A warmth radiated inside of him. After pausing for a moment, he sighed in defeat.

“Fine. I’ll start with my parents, Tao and Yifan. They, along with your dad, have been best friends since they were five years old. They did pretty much everything together. When they turned eighteen, both Tao and Yixing fell in love Yifan. It caused a bit of tension, but otherwise they didn’t really talk about it. Yixing didn’t know, but Yifan loved Tao, not him. So, behind his back, Tao and Yifan stole kisses and snuck around trying to find the perfect man for him. Eventually, Yixing discovered their secrets and told them how he, er, fell out of love with Yifan. My parents wed and soon had me. Yixing was like another dad to me. Around the time I was one, the big Mama Festival had just begun and Prince Joonmyun, saw Yixing for the first time. Basically, it was love at first sight and they wed almost immediately, even though Yixing couldn’t speak good Korean-“

"Wow. My dads never told me how them met,” Sehun huffed, “Go on.”

“Ahem. After that, we rarely saw him and I never got introduced to his sons, aka you and your brothers. Whenever we did meet up, which we did until I was five, it was always some big celebration. Sometimes I wish we could go back to those days, but he’s way too busy,” Luhan trailed off, “Now, back to me. I was a surprise child they had…made on their honeymoon. Apparently, Tao was supposedly sterile and couldn’t have kids so I was like a goddamn miracle.” They both laughed.

“Yeah. I guess so,” Sehun pestered, “So they just told you right off the bat that you weren’t supposed to happen?”

“Well, no. As a child, they told me that an angelic lady in the wood’s pond gave me to them as a gift. Obviously, that’s not true,” Luhan giggled.

“You never know that. Maybe you are to someone,” Sehun insisted.

“Yeah, yeah. Now shut up and let me continue,” Luhan paused, “Alright, so, after Yixing left, I didn’t really have any friends. Since both of my parents derive from Chinese descent, they never spoke anything, but Mandarin around me. I learned Korean later when I was in preschool classes. That’s where I met Xiumin, who was babysat there. Through him, I met Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo. All of us have been friends since we were like six and we were inseparable. After a while, though, they all got married and had duties to fulfill and dreams to make happen. I kind of ended up alone, I guess,” Luhan concluded.

“Aw, Lu. You’ll always have me,” Sehun claimed, but he soon rolled over onto his backside, “I wish I was a commoner like you.”

Prince Sehun, a commoner? Luhan wanted to laugh at the idea. He was a royal, a star in the eyes of Exodus! He deserved better than poor commoner life. Luhan gazed up at the stars. Without Sehun, what was he going to do? Just wander around here, dreaming, and waiting for some kind of clue as to what he should be doing in life. Even though he hated to admit it, Sehun belonged in the castle, not here.

“Lu?” Sehun called, breaking him from his trance.

“Hm?”

“I’m glad I met you.”

“Me too, Sehun.”

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