“You realize we don’t really have a plan or anything, right?” Jongdae whined as he sat down on a rock. They’d been walking around for what seemed like an eternity and by this point, the jester was beyond tired and hungry for that matter. Chanyeol sat beside his new friend and pouted.

“Yeah but I guess I didn’t really think about it because we spent so much time laughing over jokes we made, that I never brought it up until now.” The taller male frowned a little as he eyed the other.

“Yeah well I’m all joked out and we have no idea what we’re doing.” Came another whine, this time a little more serious. “How do you think the others are doing?”

“Significantly better. But come on, Dae! The power of friendship has to get us somewhere right.” Chanyeol said, energy far from gone as he stood up again. The prankster simply watched as his friend enthusiastically began to jump around.

“I don’t think friendship has ever gotten anyone anywhere.” He laughed but nonetheless stood up and followed the eager puppy.

Ever since the two teamed up, Chanyeol had gotten a lot more energy and seemed a lot more ready to tackle on life. Why? Simple, because for once there was someone beside him who was actually on his side. Their footsteps had slowly gotten lazier as they trudged through the unknown areas of the forest, just as Jongdae was ready to call it quits and lay down to wait for sure death, Chanyeol cut him off.

“What’s it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“You know, being you. I mean being me is pretty horrible, but what’s it like being you?” The knight questioned as he stopped and sat himself down on the floor. Jongdae followed suit, thanking every god in existence that he could finally rest.

“Well… My whole purpose in life is to make people smile and laugh. You know, when I was a kid that’s all I wanted. My parents told me to be realistic but really that’s all I wanted. I guess I just grew up in such a happy home that I got carried away. So when I had the opportunity to aid the king in finding his happiness, I leaped at the chance. Low and behold, I can’t even make him crack a smile. So here I am, empty of purpose, and probably banned from home for the rest of my life.” He said everything so casually that Chanyeol would have assumed he had just been asked about the weather. But a fellow misfit knew better. How often had the knight been so casual about his failures? He’d lost count in all honesty.

“You make me laugh” The knight retorted dumbly in a poor attempt to lighten the mood, but before he could regret it, Jongdae was smiling brightly.

“Yup, that’s why I’m thinking being stuck here forever might not be so bad after all.” He laughed. “I mean, what are the odds of us actually finding the prince? It’s not like we have magical powers or anything.” The jester laughed loudly as Chanyeol watched, the knight’s lips were pursed together as he nodded, though in all honesty he did want to find the Prince. It was his chance to actually be a somebody. Before the taller male could respond, Jongdae began to choke on his own spit, smacking his chest hard so that he could speak.

“Wait, Yeol! Magic! That’s it! We can find the Prince with magic!”

“That’s great, Dae! But wait… I don’t think either of us knows any spells or black magic that can help.” At his statement, Chanyeol received a dumbfounded look from Jongdae.

“I meant the wizard that lives in the woods! Apparently he’s a hermit or something that lives around these parts, maybe he can help us.” He chirped, now it was the knight’s turn to be confused.

“That sounds vaguely like something a creepy old guy would say to lure in someone dumb enough to actually believe him.”

“Well it’s either that or we keep walking around aimlessly and Jongin ruins your life. Yeah I know about that whole issue.” The jester sassed and that immediately had the other getting up and rushing off ahead.

“Point taken, creepy old guy here we come!” He said enthusiastically.

--------------

“-And that’s why his name is Slippers.” In all honesty Minseok had only understood half of the story but he nodded anyway and smiled warmly at the stable boy who was currently sitting on a stool, patting one of the many horses in the stable.

Oh how Minseok had fawned over Luhan secretly for the last few years. To say he was crazy about this guy was an understatement. Minseok actually spent an unhealthy amount of time at the stables the other worked at for the sole reason that he wanted to speak with him without actually seeming like a desperate admirer. Unbeknown to Minseok, Luhan only got the job as a stable boy and showed up for so many long hours so that he could speak with the very knight whose heart he had stolen and who’s heart had been stolen by him.

“Anyway, enough about Slippers, what did the king want to talk to you and the other knights about?” Luhan asked as he smiled brightly at the older male, eager to make their conversation as lengthy as possible.

“Apparently the Prince went missing and King Junmyeon asked us all to look for him. Our reward is the Prince’s hand in marriage from what I understand.” Minseok said, lost in thought as he wondered why the King never did talk to him about the alternate rewards he could get if he didn’t want to marry the Prince. The older of the two failed to notice that his object of affection seemed to falter in smiling when Minseok had mentioned marriage with the Prince.

“Oh… That’s great, Minnie! I mean you and the Prince huh? You’d both look really good together!” Luhan said, biting back any passive aggressive words he had for the Prince now. Minseok looked down shyly as he shook his head.

Luhan’s heart hurt all of a sudden. Perhaps he was a wishful thinker but he felt that over the last couple of months, he and his knight in shining armor had been flirting and falling for one another, together. He never imagined everything would get ruined because the little scoundrel of a Prince went missing, or that perhaps he was being delusional and Minseok wasn’t actually interested in him

“Actually I don’t plan on marrying Prince Kyungsoo.” Luhan was at a loss for words when he heard his love speak.

“O-oh, why not?”

“Because… I’m already currently in love with someone.” And now it felt like Luhan had just swallowed a knife. In love?! With who!? Luhan was ready to kill anyone who got near his Minseok.

“Aha, that’s so cute, Minnie! Who would this lucky person be?” He asked, having very little patience to figure it out on his own.

“Well he’s really handsome. He’s got nice fluffy brown hair, milky skin, very pretty dark eyes that make me fall deeper and deeper every time I look at them, he’s extremely friendly with everyone he meets and he actually works with the animals in this farm.” Minseok said with a shy smile, motioning to the King’s farm as he continued to stare at Luhan, nervous about what the other would think of his confession.

Luhan’s face fell as he listened and he suddenly had a burst of anger at his now realization of betrayal.

“I should have known Yifan was gonna pull a fast one on me! I’m gonna kill him the next time I see him!”

“Wait, what?! No, Luhan, I meant you!” Minseok immediately protested.

There was a moment of silence as everything registered and then Luhan slowly became sheepish as he felt his cheeks become hot. “Oh! Me?” he asked as he pointed at himself.

Instead of responding to the question, Minseok leaned in and kissed the other on the lips, quieting down the other male. It took only a millisecond for Luhan to return the kiss, wrapping his arms around the knight’s waist. The kiss wasn’t vulgar or too intimate, it held a sweet innocence in how shy they were about the whole situation. They pulled away shortly after and there was a comfortable silence. They only really knew that they wanted to stay like this forever, but a thought popped into the Chinese male’s mind, “Minnie! You need to find the Prince! He’s the priority here! Come on get going! The sooner you come back, the sooner we talk about that kiss and the many that await!” He said enthusiastically.

The other was about to protest but in all honesty he figured this was for the best, after all, knowing a variety of the people who were searching for the Prince, he was certain there would be a huge argument to get the poor Prince back and if anyone was going to stop it, it would be Minseok, after all he was the least interested in any courtship or marriage with the 18 year old Kyungsoo. Not now that he had Luhan.

---------------

It only took them another three hours to appear in front of the small shed that the hermit lived in and Chanyeol was currently debating whether this was actually a good choice or not. He bit his lip as he looked over at his shorter friend who was now standing behind him with an encouraging smile on his face.

“You’re the one who suggested this, shouldn’t you knock?”

“He’s your prince, not mine.” The quirky jester replied.

“Wait but we’re from the same kingdom so doesn’t that mean-” before Chanyeol could finish his sentence, Jongdae slammed on the door with his fist and then quickly cowered behind his much taller friend. They both remained frozen in place as they heard footsteps approaching the door. A few locks were turned from what they could hear and soon enough the door slid open, revealing a young man with pale skin, dark eyes, dark hair and two adorable dimples who looked at the two curiously.

“Wow you weren’t what I expected when I told Yeol about you.” Jongdae laughed but the knight nudged his friend to shut up in case the stranger got mad at them.

“Hi, did you need something? I don’t have any sugar, I’m sorry.” He said with a soft and polite tone. The other two both raised an eyebrow as they looked at each other. Who the hell traveled to middle of the forest for sugar?

“You’re that one wizard who lives in the middle of the forest because he likes solitude and is super magical right?” Chanyeol tried to explain to the best of his ability. The male before him seemed lost but he nodded anyway.

“I’m not really a hermit. This is like a vacation home for me.” The male said with a soft smile. “See I really like nature so every other year I come here to stay and enjoy the company of the animals.”

“So you’re not magical?” Jongdae asked with a hint of disappointment.

“Magical? Oh, yes, I am! I’ve been working on lots of new potions…Wait where are my manners? My name is Yixing, and you two?” He asked as he stepped aside to let the duo in.

The shorter of the two seemed to hesitate just a bit before he was ushered inside by Chanyeol. “Park Chanyeol, this is Kim Jongdae. Yixing we have a request for you.” The knight said, not missing a step as he refused to waste any more time.

“I’m sorry, I ran out of sugar recently.”

“No... It’s not about sugar.” Yeol said, seeming a little perturbed by the other continuously mentioning sugar. “See we lost a friend… and we don’t know where we should even begin to look.”

‘That’s a shame… If only you knew some magic to help you find him.” Yixing said as he puffed his cheeks up.

“Well that’s sort of why we came to you.” Jongdae quipped as he let out a snort, looking around at the weird knick knacks in the small shed Yixing owned. They weren’t weird in a creepy sense, he just kept a lot of boring old people objects like dusty books no one ever reads anymore and lame looking dolls.

“Oh that’s right I have magic!” Yixing said excitedly before he rushed off to his cabinets and pulled out several ingredients and a pot. “Come here you two!” he called out before he pulled out two cups and poured in a strange red liquid.

The knight went pale as he saw the dark crimson colored drink, beginning to back away, “Dae, I knew it… we’re going to be sacrificed…” but as he turned to look for his friend, Jongdae was already chugging down the red liquid. “JONGDAE!”

“Calm down, Yeol, it’s cranberry juice. Thanks creepy young guy, I’ve been thirsty since earlier today.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Yixing said sweetly as he then offered the other cup to a still hesitant Chanyeol. The knight slowly took the drink and began to chug it down as well, whilst the mage worked on preparing a pot full of special ingredients to work his magic.

-------------------

Chanyeol and Jongdae were sitting on the floor when Yixing arrived with the pot now full of who knows what. Now while many could have imagined that the pot would be one of those stereotypical pots that witches use when they make dark magic, in reality, Yixing was using a normal cooking pot and a wooden spoon. The Chinese mage set the pot down in the middle and then sat himself down. “Okay, so there’s not much to this spell, I just need to add the finishing ingredient and then we’ll see where the Prince is in no time. Dae grinned up at Chanyeol, pleased with himself for having remembered the wizard story. 

Yixing showed the two the final ingredient, onions. The jester made a face, scrunching it up a bit at the strong odor of the onions. Chanyeol didn’t care, he just wanted Yixing to throw the damn onions in the pot so they could find Prince Kyungsoo.

The mage threw the onions in and began to stir the pot. Jongdae and Chanyeol waited with anxiousness as they began to bite their nails, eager to see the magic unfold in front of them. But the two remained staring for a little too long to the point that it got awkward.

“Yixing.”

“Yes?”

“Why is nothing happening?” Chanyeol said, worried that perhaps the Prince was already dead and so they couldn’t identify where he was.

“I don’t know… I think I forgot something…” Jongdae got up after hearing that and he offered his hand out to Chanyeol,

“Anyway we’re leaving.” The joker said as he looked at Chanyeol, the latter took his friend’s hands and then got up. Yixing looked at the two and frowned but nodded.

“Come back whenever you like” He brushed some hair out of his eyes as the duo nodded and left quickly. Yixing remained seated in silence as he looked at the recipe he had for the potion. He scanned it over until he came across the title of the potion.

---------------------

It had long since become night time and the duo was still walking around pointlessly trying to find some lead on where the young prince had gone. At long last Chanyeol had called it quits and they sat down to rest, laying down to look up at the empty sky. Chanyeol wanted to grasp at anything, anything that could save him from being banned from the kingdom. Then again, nothing was really waiting for him back at home anyway. Just more ridicule. So who was he kidding? It didn’t matter if he found the prince or not, he was still just a joke.

“I guess he really was just a creepy guy who lived in the forest. At least he didn’t lure us in to do inappropriate things to us.” Jongdae laughed as he patted a now disheartened Chanyeol. It was like the world was against him. His last ounce of hope just went out the barn door the minute the mage turned out to be a fake.

“I’m never going to redeem myself.” He said with shame and his shorter companion couldn’t help but frown.

“Come on, Yeol, look I know we probably haven’t had the best luck at the moment, but tomorrow is a new day for us. Let’s rest, get our energy, and then go back to finding Prince Kyungsoo!” He said, trying to give the other some form of energy. The knight looked at his only friend and frowned. Could he really do it? Find the Prince? Seeing the other smiling and attempting to encourage him, seemed to put Chanyeol at peace for a few moments, enough so that he could just close his eyes for a bit and relax.

“You’re right, tomorrow is a new day.” He murmured sleepily, and before long he allowed his tired body the rest it so desperately longed for.

In the morning, the duo woke up early to get a head start on finding the Prince. The two shared stories about their lives, Chanyeol told Jongdae about the bee incident and Jongdae told Chanyeol about that time he jokingly told a farm worker that the king liked camellias only to later see the king break out in rashes from his allergies.

The days went on like this but every day the knight seemed more and more disheartened, Jongdae had tried to keep the mood light but after three days, Chanyeol looked ready to wait for death from how little faith he had in finding the Prince. Oh how the jester wished he could cheer the other up, they’d only known each other for more or less four days but Chanyeol was his best friend. Only friend to be exact. The way the lanky man in front of him trudged around like he was dying made the shorter male feel bad.

It was like Chanyeol was going hysterical. Literally. Jongdae noted that the other had suddenly began to slap around the air, as if swatting away at something. Oh no, what if he really was going insane? Dae had to act fast, he wasn’t losing his only friend this early in the game.

“Chanyeol, bud, it’s okay, don’t beat yourself up over this, we’re doing this together, we have just as much of a chance of finding him as anyone else.”

It was then that Chanyeol slapped his own face and the jester was horrified. The other was being so violent, but before he could say anything, a hand was swung at him too, Jongdae just barely ducking to avoid a red cheek that equaled the one Chanyeol now had.

“Yeol stop it! I get this is driving you crazy, but you can’t start hitting people for the hell of it!”

The knight suddenly stopped as he looked at his friend. “No, I’m not going crazy, don’t you hear that? There’s like a weird buzzing or flapping sound of some sort. It’s like some sort of mosquito is nearby and it keeps bothering me.” Chanyeol finally said, annoyed with whatever it was that was around him.

The other remained quiet so he could listen and well what a surprise, he heard the same noise. But where was it coming from? They both looked around to find the source with no luck whatsoever. But as Chanyeol turned around to talk to his companion that perhaps they were just imagining things, he saw something he had never seen before. A fairy. Blonde hair and a Cheshire smile played on the tiny being’s lips, his skin was a smooth and lightly tan in color.

“Well hello, handsome~” Came the smooth voice of the tiny person.

“Jongdae remind me never to accept cranberry juice from strangers ever again.” Chanyeol said as he began to take a step away from the fairy.

“Yeah I need to remind myself too, it gave me a sore throat.” The latter replied as he looked away. When he looked back he saw the little person floating closer to the knight and Jongdae questioned whether he’d had any alcoholic beverages lately. How could he? They were in the middle of a forest.

“I’m glad I could finally catch up to you two.” The small figure laughed as the giant took another step away.

“Yeah, my parents always taught me not to talk to my hallucinations” Chanyeol felt more than just a little uncomfortable about the situation, he turned to look at the jester who now seemed confused.

“What sort of childhood did you have?” Jongdae asked as he raised an eyebrow at the other male.

“Oh you two, I’m not a hallucination. I’m going to be your new compan-” before the tiny male could continue, Jongdae had attempted to smash the other inbetween both of his hands, the fairy just barely dodging for his life.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” He screamed at Jongdae.

“Yeah, Jongdae, don’t do that!” Chanyeol chided his friend and the fairy smirked as he nodded in approval. The cute guy was on his side. “It could have diseases. If you’re going to do that, make sure to wear gloves.” The giant pointed out and Jongdae nodded as he began to pull out his gloves, the fairy’s smile long since having disappeared, only to be replaced by a scowl.

“Okay listen here, Dumbo and Mr.Goblin, I didn’t get sent here by Yixing to be rudely insulted and brutally murdered, if you don’t want my help then fine. Good luck finding your Prince.” The small being complained as he looked at the duo.

“Yixing? That fake mage?” The shorter male asked as he crossed his arms.

“He’s not a fake, he’s a real wizard, he’s just… a little slow. But anyway, he sent me here because you needed help finding some Prince right?”

There was a double nod as the fairy looked at them.

“Then I’m here to help.”

“So you know where he is?”

“No, of course not.”

“But you have magic to help us?” Chanyeol reasoned.

“Not at all, just because I’m a fairy it doesn’t mean I can use some hippity hoppity spell to find everything. I don’t have magic but I have a sixth sense for this stuff.” The male quipped as he crossed his arms. Neither of the other two seemed convinced that this little fairy could help if he was as worthless as he sounded.

“Look, it’s either all three of us look for him, or only you two look for him. The increase in numbers is bound to boost up your chances of finding him.” With that, Chanyeol and Jongdae nodded in agreement to allow the other to join them.

“You know what they say, right, Jongdae?” Chanyeol said happily.

“Three’s a crowd?”

“No, I meant, the more the merrier.” The giant puppy pouted lightly. He then looked to see the fairy seeming slightly concerned with the two men he was asked to follow.

“What’s your name anyway? You have one right?” Jongdae asked as he looked at the little being that now sat on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

“Of course I do. It’s Baekhyun. Byun Baekhyun.” 

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Author's Note: A double update because I still can't sleep and I had this chapter half done since earlier. Why wait for the Xiuhan? nobody has time for waiting when love is in the air