Little Thief

♕ ♚ 

“Minseok!” the queen’s angry voice rang through the walls of the palace for the nth time that morning, as she entered her son’s rooms. “Find him and bring him to me! Now!” she ordered looking at a few guards, who automatically disappeared from the prince’s chambers.

“Honey, breathe,” a calm voice spoke, and soft hands caressed the queen’s shoulders, “he’s probably out and about.”

“He is a prince! He is not to be out and about! Especially not now!” she kept her voice loud, “Henry! He stood up another suitor! This is not what a prince does!”

“He’s young, he wants to have fun, not settle down, Yoona.”

“I understand, but he brings shame to our kingdom! He is not a casual commoner, he has no right to be ‘young, wild and free,’ or whatever the phrase goes these days! It’s been the fifth time this month, Henry!”

“I understand –“

“No, no, you don’t! You’re just like Minseok! You’re the same! Our son, the prince, stood up his suitors five time! Five! State officials are already bothering me enough for the fact I allowed Minseok to pick a man to marry! I swallowed it just fine that our son has more broad interests and respected it, Henry, but now it is his turn to show some respect towards me, and our traditions!”

“Alright, alright,” the king whispered, trying to calm his wife down, “I will talk to him tonight, I promise.”

“You’d better, or you’ll be both punished,” the woman chuckled, relaxing slightly, “and you’d better find him first,” she added, punching her husband on the arm, before leaving the room.

“Heavens, help me,” the king whispered, looking up at the sky.

♕ ♚ 

“We should really go back, prince.”

“Alright mum, in a minute.”

“Minseok! It’s not funny!”

“Oh, come on, Soo! Stop being so uptight! Enjoy!” the prince exclaimed, jumping in place.

He loved coming down to the city. He only did it a few times, but each was amazing. Today, was the first time he managed to reach downtown. Usually, he was only running around close to the castle, before someone caught him and brought him back to his mother. But today was different.

“Minseok, it’s dangerous!” a boy named Kyungsoo, a son of one of the lords and a good friend of Minseok, spoke. He kept on constantly nervously looking around, as if afraid anyone would want to stab them in the back.

“Calm down! Look at all these people! Look at all these colors! Look at the life here!” Minseok exclaimed, turning in place with his hands up.

“This is not gonna end well,” the other mumbled, but chose to follow the prince obediently.

“Stop worrying, Soo!” Minseok exclaimed, and only his bright smile and white teeth were visible from under a large, brown hood the boy had on. “Let’s have fun now, we’ll deal with consequences later!”

And like that, the prince started running down a hill, leaving panicked Kyungsoo far behind.

♕ ♚ 

Minseok loved it. He loved the feeling of freedom and carelessness more than anything else. Minseok was selfish, and in his selfishness, he most desired one thing he could not have. So he ran, taking in as much as possible, wanting to drawn in the feeling that was filling his bones.

He stopped in the middle of a crowd, on a massive plaza. There was a huge, white fountain in the middle, on the edges on which sat a few girls selling flowers, some other reading books, and a few older men playing chess. A little further in the background was a row of shops, a bakery, and a tailor. Minseok smiled, and talking a long breath in, he looked up at the blue sky. With the corner of his eye, he spotted the castle’s towers reaching the canopy.

And then, instead of seeing blue, Minseok was looking at something brown and dusty. Also, the world was no longer vertical, instead now appeared to be horizontal. And there was an immense pain shooting through his right side and cheek. Oh, and something heavy crushing him.

“GET HIM!” he heard someone yell, and someone coughing close to him. He felt someone’s warm breath hit his skin, and hair on his neck stood up. And that was when it hit him. Someone bumped into him was laying ontop!

“Get off me!” Minseok yelled, pushing the stranger off him.

There was a crowd gathering around them, and a bunch of yelling voice were nearing them.

“GET THEM BOTH!” the same voice from earlier yelled, and Minseok’s eyes grew.

“Hurry!” the stranger whispered, pulling him up along with a few other items that laid scattered around them, and he quickly started running, keeping a tight grip on the prince’s wrist.

Minseok was more than confused, and terrified as well, as he was running with a complete stranger through the cities of his, but yet unknown, city, with an angry bunch of men chasing them. This was not what Minseok had planned for the day. If his mother learns about it, he will be so dead.

“Heavens, help me,” he mumbled, as they turned another corner.

What caught Minseok off guard was the fact that the boy, he established as much from the physique and annoying voice, in front of him was laughing like a lunatic the whole time they ran. ‘I am so dead,’ he thought to himself, as catching a breath started becoming harder with every step he took.

“Here!” he heard the other’s voice, and was immediately violently pulled into a tiny crook between two buildings. He fell face straight into the other’s chest, and his back hit the stone wall. As he managed to straighten himself slightly, he was not able to take a breath, since the boy was pushing so hard on him with his own body, as if he wanted to push the prince through the wall. The crook was really tiny. Blood was pounding in Minseok’s veins, he heard and felt his heart chase in his chest, his lungs were on fire, and he felt as if his legs were to fall off of his body any minute. It had been long since he was so tired. The banging of feet against the hard ground and the raised voices of the men who were chasing them were getting closer, and Minseok closed his eyes praying for them not to be found out. His prayers were heard, as the group passed the crook and rushed down the street.

After waiting a few more moments, Minseok pushed the stranger back as far as he could and started scrambling his way out of the crook. Upon founding himself on the road, he let out a long breath, and placed his hands on his knees, trying to calm both himself and his lungs, which were begging for air.

A loud, obnoxious laugh rang in the empty street, and Minseok’s hands turned into fists. When his breathing stabilized, and he was able to speak again, he turned around to face the boy.

“WHAT THE IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, which made the boy go quiet for a moment, just to burst out laughing even lauder a few seconds later.

“Stop, worrying, cutie,” the boy spoke, and Minseok’s mouth hanged open, “nothing happened to your pretty face, right?” he chuckled, readjusting something in the pocket of his run down shirt. Minseok’s hand quickly flew up to his face, as if he was checking whether really everything was fine it with.

“Oh no,” a small gasp left his lips, as he felt something warm and wet on his cheek. When he looked at his fingers, they were red. Blood. Minseok paled, as a wave of panic washed over him. ‘Not my precious face!’ he screamed internally, frantically looking in search of any source of water.

“That’s only a scratch, you know that?” the other boy spoke, looking at the prince slightly amused and disdained.

“One that should not be on my face! It’s your fault!” Minseok yelled, “were you blind or something?! Why did you even run into me?!”

“Well, excuse me, your majesty,” the boy spat, and Minseok narrowed his eyes at the other. He knew very well that the commoner was only mocking him and making fun of him. Little did he know. “That I did pay enough attention your frozen form blocking the main road, as I was running for my life!”

Minseok frowned, wondering whether that truly was a main road and it might have been his fault. But then he quickly shook his head. It was not.

“Why were you running, anyway?” he asked curiously, drying the blood with his sleeve.

“Well, I stole from them, you know, in general people don’t like such things,” he shrugged.

“You stole from them?!” Minseok exclaimed, surprised, “why would you do something like this?!” he asked angrily. He never liked dealing with cases of thieves, smugglers, or muggers in his kingdom. He always believed the best way to get rid of them would be to impose a law stating that a punishment for such an act would be cutting off either one or both hands. Fair enough.

But the boy only laughed again, his voice full of disdain, “to live, obviously. Believe me, I don’t do it for sports.”

“Just get a job like a normal, self-respecting citizen!”

The stranger was quiet for a few moments, studying Minseok curiously. Then, he neared the prince, and smirked with contempt.

“People like you will never understand people like me.”

“Like me?” the prince spat, offended.

The boy moved to rip the hood off of the prince’s head in one swift movement.

“Porcelain people,” he whispered quietly, “perfect people. Your hands are as soft as silk, you skin white as China, your face spotless like little girls’ dolls. Your hair shine in the sun like the wheat shines in the field, when the midday heat flows down from the sky and washed over its crown. People like you, who never had to struggle to live one more day, or fell asleep in fear of not waking up in the evening. You are stainless, spotless, you are a white canvas.”

Minseok stood frozen in place, and although he knew he should feel beyond offended, there was something in the other’s words that kept him under a spell. But then he frowned, he was not like that.

“And who are you, then?”

“A grain of a sand people like you step on,” he whispered, and walked away.

Minseok stood stunned for a few moments, only blinking at the stranger’s behavior. Then he gasped, and ran after the boy.

“Hey!” he yelled, “wait!”

But the boy chose to ignore him, and only kept on moving forward.

Minseok groaned. He hated it when people did not pay attention to him. He was the prince, after all.

“I said stop!” he ordered loudly, his voice becoming very authoritative, as if he was talking to someone in the palace.

Finally, the boy stopped, but when he slowly turned around, one of his eyebrows was raised, there a few wrinkles adoring the corners of his eyes, and his lips were slightly parented. There was a general look of confusion and annoyance on his face.

“What do you want? I’m busy, you know.”

“Where are you going?! Where am I?! You can’t just leave me here in the middle of conversation!  You shall not turn your back on me!”

The other blew a raspberry, “oh, excuse me, princeling, I shall not,” he mocked, “the conversation is over, you gotta take this road to go back to the fountain, and I’m off to do my business. See you never!” he waved a hand, and turned his back to Minseok.

The prince was about to yell again, but the boy turned a corner and disappeared.

That, however, did not stop Minseok from groaning loudly in frustration at the offensive commoner he had the unpleasure to encounter.

“You’ll pay for disrespecting me,” he mumbled to himself, turning around and heading back to where he was kidnapped from.

♕ ♚ 

Way back home was a long one. First, upon reaching the fountain again, he spotted Kyungsoo nervously pacing back and forth, looking around. The boy was not happy when he spotted Minseok. More than that, he was beyond pissed. They did not talk the whole way, and separated in silence as well. Minseok sighed and rolled his eyes at his friend’s moodiness. He hadn’t done anything wrong after all. He almost made it to his room without bumping into anyone, key word being almost; just as he was about to enter his chambers, he spotted his mother sitting on a soft couch at the entrance. After one of the longest lectures he had ever been given, a countless amount of slaps on the back of his head, and a small panic attack upon spotting his cut cheek, his mother finally left, leaving him alone. Only to send his father.

He stood in his room, looking in the mirror and cleaning his face. He was exhausted. He felt dirty, sweaty, his legs hurt, and his face looked terrible, especially the stained cheek.

‘Stained.’

He frowned, taking one more look at the mirror. He complexion was really pale, that was true, but that’s because his parent’s had milky skin as well. His mahogany hair was indeed shining, but that’s because it was healthy. He looked at his hands. The skin was spotless, stainless, soft. Just like canvas.

He bit down on his bottom lip, and closed his eyes.

He thought about the stranger, and his darker complexion, which looked as if the sun left too many kisses on it. He thought about the boy’s light brown hair, as if burnt by the same sun. And then, as he ran a finger over his palm, he thought about the other’s touch. His grip on Minseok’s wrist felt rough and unpleasant.

A knock on the door made Minseok jump. He shook his head, and upon looking back, he saw his father entering the room.

“May I?” he asked, and the prince graoned.

“You too?”

“Your mother’s orders,” the man chuckled, and sat in one of the chairs.

“What is your role, here? She already talked for, like, forever.”

“Minseok,” the man started, “you have to start taking your responsibilities seriously. You owe it to your mother.”

“I owe it to her?!” Minseok exclaimed, “excuse me?!”

“She respected you, you should pay back with the same.”

“I don’t think I’m following you there.”

“As she put it ‘she respects you having broader interests’ and even allowed you to pick who you want to marry, and the only thing you’ve been doing is disrespecting her, my son. This is not how we brought you up.”

Minseok sighed, “but I am not your puppet, father! My heart is not your puppet! I don’t want to marry!” he whined.

“And what do you want?”

Minseok was silent for a few moments, thinking once again about the boy he had met, and the words the other had said.

“I want adventure,” he finally spoke, looking outside the window, at the city lights lighting up the black horizon.

“Marriage is quite an adventure, my son,” the king chuckled, however sadly.

“You know what I mean. I want my own love story, father. Like your and mom’s. I want to see the world. I want to feel something. Anything. Here, I just a white canvas.”

“Son, what happened today? You don’t sound like you.”

Minseok shook his head, realizing what words just left his lips. And then he frowned, determined to prove something to himself, the odd boy.

“Father, may I see something?” he asked, nearing his father, and extending his hand. The man looked confused, but gave his son his hand.

“What?”

Minseok was quiet, slowly studying his father’s palm, hand, and arm.

Milky complexion, soft skin, stainless and spotless.

The prince chuckled, trying to make the situation less awkward, “your skin is so white, father.”

“So it yours,” the king pointed, smiling softly.

“And your hands are so soft.”

“Perks of never having to do any physical work, I guess,” he laughed, and Minseok froze. He was looking at his father’s hand, and then he once again thought about the boy he met in the city. His hands were not only rough, but also covered in many scars and cuts. He frowned.

“Minseok, what is going on?”

‘Why would you do something like this?’

‘To live, obviously.’

Minseok looked up at a bowl full of exotic fruits standing on a small table by the wall.

“Son?”

“If I promise to respect mother’s requests, will you allow me to go back to the city?” he asked quietly, his eyes focused on the fruits.

The king stood up, and his hand fell from his son’s grip.

“I will,” he replied, “but not alone.”

“Alone, father.”

“No.”

“Father!”

“No, Minseok.”

“FATHER!” he yelled, and the man sighed.

“We’ll see what we can do,” he mumbled, and smiled softly at his son.

Minseok smiled back, and after bidding good night to his father, he stood by the window, looking into the night, in the direction of the city.

He reached for an apple, and smirking to himself, he took a bite.

‘I’ll find you, little thief.’ 

♕ ♚ 

Hello everyone!

The first chapter is up! I hope you enjoyed it! I know, I know, not a really long one, but I felt like I should've update years ago, and I haven't so I hope this is better than nothing. I also hope that you found it to your liking !

Thank you for giving it a go!

Oh, I have a bunch of xiuchen stories written, so if you love xiuchen just like I do, and want to read more, go check my other stories!

With love,

badblood.

P.S in case of any questions regarding... life, universe, politics, and the sense of spirders exiting on this world, write to me on my tumblr! Let's be friends and eat cookies!