Jinyoung stared dreamily at the dark, early morning sky. It was too early for even a sliver of the sun to be seen. Instead, the indigo sky was densely decorated with sparkling stars and the dull outline of the new moon.

He always did like the darkness.

He was exhausted, having only gotten around an hour of sleep, but he was used to it. He did this often enough, after all.

The past year and four months was difficult, to say the least. After everything he'd done, he expected to be crucified by the court once they got their hands on him, but that didn't happen. Since nobody knew about Mark’s existence and even Jinyoung himself had no information on Yugyeom's brother, he was the only surviving elemental, as far as anybody knew. And being the lone surviving elemental, the court saw it fit to make him king.

He had laughed out loud, right in their faces, when they first suggested it. The whole reason he even was the last survivor was because he wanted to get out of the court's rulership. But things were different now. Seeing as how they couldn’t risk losing him, as they essentially had no backup elementals anymore, the court surrendered all major control to Jinyoung. He was king. He had the final say. He was allowed to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without being watched like he was a child.

Honestly, that kind of freedom scared him at first. History showed that he didn't exactly make the best decisions on his own, but the ring on his finger was a sobering reminder of the wrongs he was trying to make right by being the best king he could possibly be.

Doing things for the sake of the people became the basis for his existence, as ironic as that was.

Once again, life was not fun. Once again, he was not happy. But, for the first time, he had a purpose that was close to his heart. A reason for living.

The statue of the petrified elementals remained in the courtyard, even after the crater was filled. It had been made into a monument of sorts and Jinyoung still shivered whenever he saw it. He felt like it was a little morbid, but the fight between the two changed everything and the decision had been made to preserve them.

It took a little over six months, with a large group of people working, to rebuild the palace. It was a little different from the original building. It was smaller and less fancy due to the fact that Jinyoung's first order as king was to stop wasting money unnecessarily and use it to improve the towns instead. The only architectural request he had for his bedroom was a balcony facing the west because, even though he hadn't been to the town since that fateful night, he still liked to look at it. It was still a huge part of his history.

A couple of months after the palace was rebuilt, Jinyoung got married.

It came out of nowhere and he'd only known the girl for two weeks before they were engaged. The wedding was a month later.

She was the daughter of one of the court officials and the only person of high social standing that was in the same age range as the king. Much like how he was supposed to marry Jackson to boost morale and make people happy, his marriage to this woman was arranged for the same reasons.

He didn't love her. But the world didn't revolve around his feelings.

It was kind of a sad existence, when he thought about it. So, he just chose to never think about it. It worked for the most part, but there were moments like this, watching the stars in the silence of early morning, when he would entertain the idea of a better life.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, every fibre of his being telling him to stay where he was. That he belonged there.

In this old, rundown building with the missing roof.

Reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the beautiful sky, he turned to the side, eyes landing on the sleeping man next to him.

Every time they did this, Jinyoung felt equally guilty. But he couldn't stop.

He had managed to stay away from the town for eight months. Then, the day he got married, he and his new wife were paraded around on a float, much to the king's dismay. Still, in his efforts to be a good ruler, he had slapped a smile on his face and waved to all the excited bystanders.

Until he spotted a familiar face in the crowd and he felt like the whole world had come to a halt. It had to have only been a few seconds that they spent staring at each other, but Jinyoung felt like he had just lived those few crazy days from a year ago all over again.

Once the float had passed, he tried his best to go back to smiling and waving, but he couldn't shake that old familiar feeling that had returned with a vengeance, like a punch to his gut. That feeling of a deep, intense need.

Later that night, sometime after midnight when he should have been with his wife, he slipped out of the gate and, absentmindedly, his feet carried him down the long road, through the quiet town and straight to the old building that he had so many memories of. He had paused at the doorway for a moment as a hundred thoughts ran through his head. But then Mark rushed down the stairs, obviously having felt the other's presence, and suddenly none of the rational thoughts in his head were important in the slightest.

He felt guilty. He did. Sleeping with someone else on his own wedding night was lower than even he thought he'd ever stoop.

But then he came back a month later. And then another month later.

And then the queen got pregnant.

And Jinyoung went straight back to Mark. And then again, three weeks later. And then two weeks later. And then a week later. His visits were getting more and more frequent. And as much as the guilt ate away at him afterwards, being with Mark for those few hours every few weeks - whether they were talking, making love or just tangled together in silence - was the highlight of his life at the moment. He was calm whenever they were together. Content. Dare he even say happy.

But it only lasted so long each time and Jinyoung had a life to go back to. Nobody, not even his wife, questioned where he was all those nights beyond a simple ‘were you busy with something last night?’ and every time he would just nod and carry on with his day like nothing happened. He wondered sometimes if he was some sort of sociopathic serial cheater, but he quickly realized that, no, he was just meant for someone very specific. Someone that he would never actually be with – in the fullest sense anyway – but couldn’t let go of either.

Disguised as part of the palace's efforts to build up the town, the king had offered to revamp Mark's home; plaster and paint the walls, put in a door, a ceiling and windows, but Mark refused. There were too many memories in that building for him to just modernize it. Jinyoung understood that, but he convinced him to install a door with a lock at least. After all, he never knew who would want to burgle him. Or who could come barging in when the king was in his bed.

Jinyoung sighed. He knew he had to get out of there and go home before too many people spotted him. Every time he found himself in the roofless building, he considered just never leaving, but Jackson's face would pop into his mind and he remembered that his duty to him and his three other fallen comrades was more important than anything else.

He gently brushed Mark’s hair out of his face, causing him to stir sightly. His bright, sparkling eyes fluttered open as Jinyoung let his hand rest on the other man's cheek.

The king still found him beautiful. Even after everything they'd been through, he was still perfection in Jinyoung's eyes.

Mark made a soft, tired noise in the back of his throat and nuzzled against Jinyoung's hand before turning his head and placing kisses on his palm. He turned back to look at the other man, eyes still half closed. “Are you leaving..?” He asked softly, voice gravelly from sleep.

“Mm…” Jinyoung replied simply, moving his hand further back to play with the tips of Mark's overgrown hair. The light elemental had taken Jinyoung’s offhand remark about growing his hair seriously and, after almost a year and a half, it was now resting at his shoulders. Jinyoung liked it. And Mark liked it when Jinyoung combed his fingers through it.

The king held the back of Mark's neck and leaned in, brushing their lips together in a lazy, sleepy kiss.

“Please stay…” Mark whispered. The amount of sadness and pain in his hushed voice split Jinyoung's heart straight down the middle.

Every time. This would happen every time. Mark would beg him not to go, unable to handle the thought of him spending who knows how long away from him, going to bed every night with his wife by his side. Ever since Mark found out that the queen was pregnant, he had been even more desperate to keep Jinyoung with him, convinced that the dark elemental would stop going to see him once his child was born.

It hurt to see how much Mark was hurting. And it never got any easier.

Jinyoung pursed his lips together before pulling away from his other half and getting to his feet, feeling the telltale tight muscles in his lower back. He got dressed in silence, making sure that his clothes were laid properly and his hair was immaculate. In the off chance that someone saw him, he couldn't risk looking like he'd just come out of a brothel.

Grabbing the little jar that he had left there months ago, he opened it and dabbed a bit of perfumed oil on his skin to cover up the fact that he smelled like his secret lover. Mark didn't like the perfume. He'd hadn’t thought about it until Jinyoung brought it up, but he got some sort of ed up, smug validation from the thought of the king going home to his palace and his wife smelling like cheap oil and .

But Jinyoung had become far too calculated to risk that. Even if he did take a bath as soon as he got home every time, there was the tiniest chance that the queen would catch him before that. Even though he was pretty sure she – like everyone else – wouldn’t dare to go against her elemental king, he would not risk it.

Fully dressed, as if he'd spent the past few hours in some exclusive meeting, he picked up the last two pieces of his outfit; his rings. His wedding ring and Jackson's ring.

He still wore the ring almost 24/7, only taking it off if he really had to. His wife didn't seem put off at all by it, despite knowing that it was an engagement ring from a former lover. Mark, on the other hand, always requested that Jinyoung remove both rings when they were together. Much like the first night they'd slept together, Mark didn't want the reminder that Jinyoung belonged to someone else.

The king put the jar back in its place and paused for a moment, looking at the man lying on the bed, taking in his form to keep in his memory until the next time they meet.

“I love you…” Mark spoke, sounding miserable but sincere.

Jinyoung had the urge to reply, but held his tongue, opting to just turn and walk down the stairs before he lost the will to leave altogether.

He would go back to his perfect life for a while; shaking hands, sitting in on negotiations, eating dinner with the palace officials and curling up with his wife in front of the fireplace. And for that time, things would be as normal as they could be.

Until the next time he found himself lying on the pile of blankets, looking out through the missing roof.

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A/N: Hahahahahaha. Haha... ha... Yeah, no, we don't get happy endings in this fic XD I mean technically, its not THAT bad, they're still sleeping together *shot*
        Thank you guys for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it! And thank you for all the feedback, I'm very grateful.
        I dunno what else to say...
        I started this fic back in 2016, so it's a little bittersweet that it's over. But I'm happy I finished it.
        Anywho... uh... see you guys at my next fic? (Whatever and whenever that ends up being)
        <3<3<3