Wonwoo sighed deeply as he sifted through piles of paperwork, trying to organize everything and separate the unnecessary complaints from—if he were being completely honest—ignorant citizens and matters that were actually important. He didn’t hate his job, quite the opposite actually, as he always enjoyed getting the important Kingdom details from his father while his old man still worked at the Palace. He especially enjoyed being an important asset to the King, someone that counted on him for advice on certain issues when the decision seemed too tough to make on his own. But it did get tiring, going through the same issues over and over again.

 

“Jeon Wonwoo, the King’s trusty Palace Advisor, I seek your assistance this instance,” Wonwoo paused what he was doing and smiled to himself, nose scrunching at the sound of a fake-deep voice he knew far too well. This was just what he needed.

 

“And may I ask what for, Kwon Soonyoung, former Palace Knight, now known for being Palace Entertainment?” Wonwoo steeled his face before turning around, as he always did.

 

“It seems that the Palace Entertainment needs some entertaining!” Soonyoung kept up his fake deep voice, which was in fact one he used to imitate Wonwoo, as he exclaimed his reason for calling upon Wonwoo.

 

Wonwoo resisted the urge to let out a laugh. “You do know that I’m an extremely busy person, right? And that my affairs aren’t to be easily meddled with? The fate of the Kingdom essentially rests upon my shoulders,” Wonwoo got up from his seat, his bones popping more than he’d like while he was trying to intimidate Soonyoung. He stalked over to the other male who had his usual smile on his face; it was one where he scrunched his face up, eyes disappearing and mouth curling in a way that allows for his teeth to peek through just a bit. It was a cute image, always will be, and it almost broke Wonwoo down.

 

“You do know that I was one of the highest ranks of Palace Knights, essentially an aid to the King himself? You could say that the fate of the Kingdom has rested upon my shoulders once upon a time. Maybe that’s why I got injured,” Soonyoung burst out into laughter at this, but Wonwoo was far from amused.

 

“Soonyoung—” Wonwoo dropped his facade faster than he dropped everything he was doing when he heard about how Soonyoung had been injured all that time ago.

 

“Relax, Wonwoo, you’re too serious,” Soonyoung brought his hands up to Wonwoo’s face and pulled him close. Wonwoo sighed once more and wrapped his arms around Soonyoung’s waist, holding him tight.

 

“I don’t understand how you can joke about that. You worked so hard to be the best of the best, and because of the tiniest accident, it all just—” Wonwoo’s frown grew deeper and deeper the more he recalled the incident.

 

It had initially happened while sparring.

 

Soonyoung was going up against Jihoon as the two were top of their class; it was a close match as it always was, but Soonyoung had swung his arm a bit too much and dislocated his shoulder. It was a simple fix, and Soonyoung was back at it, but that was exactly his problem. Soonyoung kept going back at it, putting everything into his training to the point where his shoulder dislocated several more times.

 

It turned out to be a problem when he dislocated it the latest time and it had him writhing on the ground in pain, screaming for no one to touch him. This was the incident that had Wonwoo’s heart dropping and him abandoning his work upon hearing the news, running as fast as he could to the Medic room to see if Soonyoung was alright. He’d never forget hearing Soonyoung’s screams even from across the Royal Courtyard.

 

“Listen, Nonu.” Soonyoung softened at Wonwoo’s eyes that began to tear up and he nuzzled his nose against Wonwoo’s to help cheer him up. “I get it. What happened back then was…” Soonyoung paused to take a moment to swallow his own emotions. “It was the worst moment of my life. I was in so much pain, and then when I was told that I couldn’t continue being a Palace Knight, everything hurt even more. If I couldn’t be a Palace Knight...then what did I spend practically my whole life doing, you know? But even more than that...what would I do without you?”

 

“Oh, please,” Wonwoo rolled his eyes, but he ended up regretting it soon after because the tears that were teetering on the edge ended up falling free. Wonwoo hugged Soonyoung close to him, Soonyoung burying his head into Wonwoo’s shoulder and clinging onto Wonwoo with everything.

 

It might’ve been stupid to others, but losing each other was the scariest and most painful probability of the whole incident.

 

The two of them grew up together since young; both hailing from one of the smaller farming villages farther away from the Palace. They got the opportunity to move up in society when Wonwoo’s father happened to impress the King with his knowledge during one of the King’s usual strolls through the Kingdom. Of course, being proud of his son, Wonwoo’s father made it a point to mention how Wonwoo learned everything he did, so he was just as smart, if not more so. Soonyoung also happened to catch the King’s eye when the King saw him fending off a wild animal with a wooden sword he had made himself.

 

Ever since then, the two of them had been training at the Palace—Soonyoung as a Palace Knight and Wonwoo as a Scholar, initially, but when the time came for Wonwoo’s father to settle down back home, he began training to be an Advisor for the Palace.

 

“I can’t believe you made me cry,” Wonwoo groaned as he pulled away slightly, Soonyoung immediately going to wipe away his tears.

 

“Don’t blame me! You’re the one that couldn’t lighten up a little,” Soonyoung whined with tiny bouts of laughter in between.

 

“Well, sorry for loving you too much then,” Wonwoo sneered playfully.

 

“Oho, you said the love word,” Soonyoung whispered out the word ‘love’ before giggling childishly.

 

“If I recall correctly, you were the one to say it first, no? When was it...A few years back, at the one Knight’s party that you were invited to and you brought me along because I’m “no fun”. I remember very clearly how you got really inebriated, declared your undying love for me, and then started strip—”

 

“ Okay! Okay, okay, n-no need to bring that up again! Sheesh , I never hear the end of it from Jihoon or Seungcheol, I don’t need you terrorizing me, either,” Soonyoung pouted, ears flushed a deep red from obvious embarrassment.

 

“If it makes you feel better, I still think of that time quite fondly. Because if it wasn’t you who was going to get drunk and spill some secrets, I was seriously debating on it being me.” Wonwoo admits with his own flushed pink ears. “I’ve adored you for so long, Soonyoung….I don’t know what I would’ve done without you either,”

 

“Here we go again.” Soonyoung scrunched up his face and huffed out a sigh. “Loosen up for once, Nonu! Take some advice from my shoulder,”

 

“Soonyoung,”

 

“Kidding, kidding,” Soonyoung burst out into laughter once again, and while Wonwoo was upset with the jokes Soonyoung kept making, he couldn’t resist joining in with his lover’s glee.

 

“Uh, are you two done? I needed Wonwoo to record these books for me ages ago,” Mingyu popped up from behind a shelf holding recipe books, looking quite annoyed.

 

“Why do you even need these books,” Wonwoo made his way over to Mingyu with Soonyoung latching onto him still.

 

“Because, Wen Junhui thinks he can best me in my craft, and I need to teach him a few things,” Mingyu responded with more bitterness than the two of them had ever seen come from the younger before—and there had been a time when Mingyu got scolded by the King and Queen for giving the Princess more pudding than she ought to have, despite the fact that she acted somewhat like a brat that day and threatened his position as the Palace Cook if he didn’t give in to her wishes.

 

“Amazing, you’re going to teach him things you’ve just learned yourself,” Soonyoung teased, making good use of his position behind Wonwoo, and for extra measure, he even weaponized his shoulder injury.

 

“Whatever the case, just have these back by next week, or I’ll send Jihoon after you... again,” Wonwoo warned as he finished making note of the books Mingyu was taking out of the Palace Library.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Mingyu simply responded before rushing out of the Library.

 

Wonwoo shook his head before turning back around to Soonyoung. “This was fun, but I still have a lot of work to get done,”

 

“Can’t I stay with you? I can even help? There’s nothing for me to do until the King or Queen needs me, and lately, they haven’t needed Seok or I at all,” Soonyoung pouted again, poking his lips out to appeal to Wonwoo’s emotions even more.

 

“Fine.” Wonwoo gave in easily. “But no messing around until I decide the next break. These are important Kingdom matters,” Soonyoung brightens up immediately and nods, dragging Wonwoo back over to the table he was at before and sitting himself very closely. Before he got back into his work, Wonwoo turned towards Soonyoung and placed a quick kiss on his forehead, smiling softly at the other.