“How are you supposed to wear this?” Baekhyun asked, holding up a very formal, form fitting robes that was edged with fine lace and had a series of interlacing bows on it. Yifan looked up from his current task of attempting to get Kyungsoo to stop fidgeting so that his shirt could be adjusted properly and raised his eyebrows at the garment which the light dragon was holding up.

If there was one thing that the young prince had come to learn over the course of the last few days, it was simply that his dragons had no real idea of gender or the types of clothes that they were supposed to wear. This had become apparent when he had walked in to find Xiumin and Chen dressing Tao and Sehun in full flowing Cheongsam’s and whilst Yifan had to secretly admit the fact that both had looked simply stunning in them, he had spent a very long hour trying to explain to the pair the difference in the clothing. Then had spent practically the rest of the evening explaining to all the other dragons about it as well.

However, the garment that Baekhyun had was at least similar to a hanfu so it made sense why the light dragon had made the mistake. Yifan still sighed slightly though and shook his head, “You don’t wear that Baekhyun. Unless you’re actually a female dragon and are very good at hiding it.”

Baekhyun was quick to drop the robe to the floor before he quickly bent down to fold it away neatly, “I am not. I’m male.” He sassed in a familiar style before moving to another box and frowning, “Why are there so many types of clothes in here anyway?”

“Because Baekhyun,” Yifan started in a civilised manner as he pulled Kyungsoo back by the straps of his shirt before lightly batting the earth dragon’s hands away from the silks, “As I’ve explained before, we humans generally wear more than one outfit per day and we can’t just turn into a form that does not need for clothes. Even if I achieve this inner fire thing that you all keep going on about, I will still be needing them myself so get used to seeing them.”

The light dragon pouted by then thankfully got distracted by the appearance of Kai as over the last few days the pair had formed an unlikely friendship and got on just fine.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Yifan turned back to Kyungsoo and practically groaned, “Soo! You’re not supposed to keep undoing all the straps, we’ll never get you fitted at this rate.”

“It’s itchy,” Kyungsoo pouted dramatically, clearly not impressed with this situation at hand in the slightest, “Why do we have to go through all of this anyway? Why can’t we wear the usual robes?”

“Because this is a formal ceremony, Kyungsoo, I have to have my dragons looking absolutely stunning, fearsome and more than capable of protecting me and the rest of the kingdom in line with my brother else there will be an uprising,” Yifan said with patience in his voice despite the fact that it was beginning to wear thin as practically all of the dragons were being whiney little sods at the moments and he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with them. “Plus, this is just a shirt to get your measurements correct, so you will not be wearing it for long. If you think this is bad, wait till you see what I’ve got to go through for my own fitting.”

Kyungsoo opened his mouth to say something though was quick to close it when one of the dressers entered with a thunderous expression that clearly spoke of how unhappy he was. Yifan was quick to rally, “Was Chanyeol that bad?”

“Oh, he’s fine,” the man snapped, trying to remember to be polite but clearly not in the mood right now, “It’s the crown Prince who’s being a pain.”

“Luhan?” Yifan asked in surprise, wondering if he had heard the words right before hearing Kai groaning as he rose up from his seated position.

“What’s wrong this time?” Kai spoke, his words laced with a fatality that was long established and known.

The tailor paused and then sighed, “He is refusing to wear the colour yellow. Says it makes him look like some kind of useless doll and is just being a stubborn…”

“I’ll go talk to him,” Kai said, cutting the man off with a wave of his hand before glancing to Yifan, thinking very quickly on his feet, “For now, I think these two are about reading for their own fittings so you can work on their uniforms if you like.”

“Will it get me out of this itchy shirt sooner?” Kyungsoo immediately cut in, eyes set in a look which made him appear to be already fearsome as the tailor.

Kai did not respond, instead quickly grabbing hold of Yifan’s hand to head out of the room before the tailor exploded over the fact that his clothing had just been called itchy. He could probably do with letting off some steam and anyone who could argue with a dragon for five minutes would soon be firmly back in their place. Yifan was glad to be out of the stuffy room and smiled as he passed by the others where the rest of the dragons were being fitted for their matching uniforms. After much debate, Yifan had opted to go for a traditional formal style of uniform for the nine dragons but had requested that the undershirts match their respective colourings so that no one would be under any illusion about which one of the nine they were dealing with.

This naturally proved to be somewhat of a trouble with Sehun given his rather unique colour but the seamstresses were working hard to sort that particular issue out so that would be fine. As they passed by the room where Sehun was currently standing, Yifan could not help but allow his eyes to linger on the lean human form that the other possessed. It was still young, growing and needed fleshing out but instinctively Yifan somehow knew that it would be a body that he came to adore which made him flush a little when the dark eyes of the dragon who proclaimed him as ‘Mine’ caught sight of Yifan looking in the reflection and a sensual smile crossed Sehun’s face.

Kai was quick to pull Yifan along, “You two can work out your hormones later. I’m going to need your help to stop Luhan throwing a tantrum because we do not have the time for it.”

“What do you mean by hormones?” Yifan asked, reluctant to leave for a few seconds before he remembered just how stubborn his elder brother could be and followed easily behind the only dragon who was not his.

For a few seconds, Kai debated telling Yifan before shaking his head, “Ask Suho about it once you’re back on the Isle. I’m only thankful that Sehun is still a little too young to understand what he’s done but once he matures…at least we won’t have a worry over any fighting over you. But never mind that, let’s deal with this.”

Kai knocked on the door which lead to the royal dressing room and let himself in before anyone even answered.

There was Luhan standing in front of the mirror with a huge pout one his face that suggested that he was anything but happy at the moment. He was glaring at his reflection, almost as if it were possible for him to change it and for a few seconds Yifan could not understand why. He was dressed in the traditional yellow robes of office which identified an emperor and they were stunning with fine detailing and the most exquisite of embroidery everywhere. But the longer he looked at the whole picture, the lesser the overall affect became. Luhan looked as every big as regal and stunning as he should have done but there was something missing. This outfit looked more like something a noble would wear despite it being the most perfect of garments.

That was when Yifan clicked to what it was that was wrong about the outfit. It followed all those who had come before Luhan but it did not follow his elder brother in the slightest. He was respected and well liked throughout the whole Kingdom for being different from what had come before and it was clear to anyone with eyes that dressed like the older Emperor’s would not do. Luhan was a force for change and he had to reflect that in everything that he did.

“It needs to be red,” Yifan broke the silence which had hung over the whole room, “Or maybe blue. You always look amazing in blue, but make it a dark blue so that no one thinks that you’re trying to be offensive or anything.”

Luhan had jumped when he heard the voice but he was grinning from ear to ear as he heard the words that his younger brother said. Turning back to the mirror, he nodded, “You’re right, Fanfan, that’ll make things perfect.”

Kai raised his eye brows up towards Luhan, “That did not take you long to get out of.”

“When I have someone, who can easily point out what’s wrong, then I don’t have to huff and wait for slow thinkers to get into the right mindset,” Luhan said rudely, sticking his tongue out towards his bodyguard before turning to look at the tailor’s assistant, “Tell the Taylor that we shall go with dark blue. I don’t care if yellow is the traditional colour or anything like that.”

Yifan left the room quickly after that, thinking that he couldn’t rightly be done with dealing with the squabbling over anymore clothes only to find himself coming face to face with Sehun who was thankfully dressed in a plainer robe as he was probably going to be fitted properly in a while. The rainbow haired boy smiled softly towards Yifan, raising his fingers to touch the soft cheek and gently dragged them across in a smooth motion that made the young prince’s knees go weak but he somehow managed to remain standing.

“Red,” the word spoken made Yifan open his eyes and stare at Sehun in shock, “or white gold. For my Yifan.”