“I’m going to repeat this one more time,” Yuta said to Prince Jisung. “You’re not going.”

Jisung rolled his eyes at the guard. “I know what you said the first time,” he said. “And I’m choosing to ignore it.”

“You got to be- your highness.” Yuta gave Jisung one of his fake, forced smiles that he often used around petty nobles who wanted to talk to the prince. “You don’t want to risk your life while there are potential rebels causing treason and wanting to assassinate you and your family, do you?”

Jisung pouted, sitting down on the chair in his room at the inn. “It’s not fair,” he muttered. “I want to see him.”

Yuta raised an eye, crossing his arms over his chest. “Excuse me, who’s him?”

“Ch- no one,” Jisung said, stopping himself. “It’s no one important, hehe.”

His bodyguard didn’t say anything, turning around to face the mirror in the room, where he could see their reflections. “Is it the one who you gave tea?” he said. “The person who you mentioned to Prince Hendery when we saw him?”

Oh, sweet sprinkles, Jisung had forgotten about that incident. “Well,” he started to explain. “You see- it, yeah.”

That surprised Yuta momentarily. The royal family was not supposed to be using foul language and they rarely used it, much less Jisung, the young prince. 

After a short silence, Yuta spoke up again. “Do you like him?”

“No!” Jisung interjected, standing up again. “I don’t like him, he’s just- he’s just an interesting fellow, I assume,” he trailed off. “I don’t fancy him in that way if that’s what you’re implying.”

“I’m not implying anything, I’m just asking,” Yuta corrected him. “I don’t think you recall, your highness, but I’ve been your personal guard for some time now, and I know you don’t see people regularly, so this is quite honestly the first time you're begging me to let you see someone.”

“Which is why you should let me go on my own,” Jisung pleaded again. “Like you said, my life is at risk, and I don’t want you to be involved.”

“You don’t want to- your royal highness, that is my job,” Yuta reminded him. “To save your life. Why would I not follow you somewhere dangerous? Which, again, you still shouldn’t be making public appearances that often anyways. “

Jisung played with the sleeve of his shirt. “I just want to see him and get to know him a little,” he mumbled. 

Yuta sighed. “Look,” he explained. “You’re still the prince and I am to obey you, so at the end of the day, you can still ignore my suggestion-”

“Now you’re just making me feel guilty,” Jisung said. 

Yuta squinted his eyes at the younger. “You’re not happy with anything.”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I- look,” Yuta pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing himself to take a deep breath. “If you hide two more daggers than usual we can go.”

***

Yangyang grabbed a tiny dandelion that was on the floor. “Oh, no, this must have been ripped sometime ago,” he said, clutching the tiny weed in his hand. “Poor little thing.”

Prince Hendery, who was kneeling on the ground besides Yangyang, reached out his hand. “May I?” he asked. 

Cupping the fragile weed with both hands, Yangyang handed into to Hendery’s palm. “Be careful with it!” he warned the prince. “It’s a delicate flower that deserves respect.” 

“Why, of course,” Hendery said, staring at the weed in his hand. 

Without thinking, brushed some of Yangyang’s hair behind his ear and placed the flower there, brushing some more strands away. “There you go.”

Yangyang didn’t say anything, smiling as he patted down the soil on the Earth. “Thanks.”

“CHEN LE, YANGYANG!” Both Hendery and Yangyang looked up to see Xiaojun outside of the porch, calling for them. “I have dinner!! You guys don’t have to work the whole day, you know!” 

“Oh, that’s Xiaojun, the guy who lives here!” Yangyang explained to Hendery. “Since me and Chen Le are homeless, he’s letting us stay here if we help him with his plants.”

Hendery frowned. “H-homeless?”

Yangyang shrugged. “Yeah, as in the streets,” he explained. 

“I- your friend told me you were orphans but…” Hendery trailed off.

 “It’s in the past,” Yangyang said cheerfully. “All that matters is that Chen Le and I are alive, right?” 

Before Hendery could say something in response, he could see Chen Le come up behind Yangyang, clapping his hand on the latter’s shoulder. “Yangyang, Xiaojun is calling for us.”

“Oh, I forgot about Xiaojun!” he exclaimed, getting up from the ground. “Hendery, you should meet Xiaojun, he’s really nice and he’s also Chinese! I think he also speaks Cantonese, right Chen Le? Prince Hendery here says he knows Cantonese."

“Yeah, cause the royal family has to know a lot of languages, Yangyang,” Chen Le said, pulling Yangyang’s arm. “Come on, I’m hungry for dinner.”

“Oh yeah, dinner!” 

Yangyang let Chen Le pull his arm towards the house towards where Xiaojun was standing outside, leaving Hendery in a very awkward position of whether to follow or stay back. 

On one hand, no one knew the Chinese prince was here; he had lied to his bodyguards about meeting familiar friends and came here to see if Yangyang would be here again, which he was to his delight. If word were to get out that he had been here alone and it reached his father…

On the other hand, he still did not wish to part with Yangyang for the day just yet. 

Ignoring the rational side of his brain, Hendery jogged up to Yangyang until he reached up, continuing the conversation. “Do you like this fellow that you’ve been staying with?” he asked him.

“Yeah, Xiaojun’s really cool,” Yangyang said, Chen Le still pulling his arm; Chen Le didn’t make much effort to make conversation with Hendery, only being polite when talked to. Plus, it was obvious that Hendery had some type of weird feeling for Yangyang. “He gave us good soup the other day, I love it. Ah, Chen Le, I forgot to ask him the name of the dish.”

“You can ask him later,” Chen Le reminded him. “I’m sure he’ll give it to you.”

At that moment, they reached up closer to the porch, where Xiaojun saw them. “Oh, Chen Le, Yangyang- holy -”

Ah. Hendery had forgotten that he was a common face among the public. Though… this was a different Kingdom, though. 

“Oh, Xiaojun, this is Prince Hendery, he was helping us outside!” Yangyang exclaimed, pointing at Hendery besides him. “He’s really nice-”

“He-helping?!” Xiaojun shouted. “Your- oh , ah , I didn’t mean to- your highness-”

“We can drop the formalities,” Hendery said quickly, hoping Xiaojun wasn’t going to faint like how Yangyang has in the past. “Huang Guanheng, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he added, bowing down. 

“Oh- uh, nice to meet you too!” Xiaojun said, bowing down frantically as well. Even though Hendery wasn’t the prince of their kingdom, he was still a prince regardless, of the country of Xiaojun’s descent as well. “It’s- it’s an honor, sir.”

Hendery straightened his back up, nodding at Xiaojun. “I have heard good things about you from these two,” he said. “I really appreciate it.”

Xiaojun’s face was getting red. “It’s- it’s completely fine, I think they exaggerate-”

“You’re, like, the only one who’s bothered to help us in our entire life, Xiaojun,” Chen Le spoke up. 

“Uh- oh, your highness, did you bring people with you here?” Xiaojun asked, changing the subject. Yes, he liked helping people but he hated accepting compliments and praises. 

Hendery frowned. “No, I- I came alone,” he explained.

“A-alone?” Xiaojun asked in disbelief. Since when do royals travel alone without bodyguards?? Shouldn’t Hendery of all people know about the recent assassination attempt on the Korean royal family??

Then who was the noble who got out of the carriage a little far ahead? It was getting dark, so Xiaojun couldn’t see that far and see the person’s face.

“Yeah, we were with Hendery all day,” Yangyang explained, titling his head. “Why, what’s wrong-”

“Chen Le?” 

The four of them turned around, though Hendery, being prepared and having recognized that voice, took out his long sword, surprising them as he pointed it at Park Jisung’s face. 

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one to think that way, as he caught himself staring at another sword in front of him. 

Xiaojun’s eyes widened even further. “Prince- Prince Jisung?!” 

Jisung didn’t say a word, his eyes solely focused on Hendery. “No means to hurt you, your Highness,” he said with caution. “But what are you doing here?”

“I could say the same to yourself,” Hendery replied, tightening his grip on his sword. “I don’t mean harm to them or your people, but you did startled me.”

The two princes stared at each other, not breaking eye contact, when Chen Le spoke up. “Okay, is this you guys trying to prove dominance or something-”

“Chen Le!” Xiaojun harshly whispered to him, obviously not wanting to upset the two princes; he didn’t know that Chen Le had already met them. Multiple times. 

At the mention of Chen Le, Jisung put down his sword to look at him. “Chen Le, I- uh, I came- I came here to look for you,” he stuttered. 

Um, what?

That was a first. “Uh… that’s cool,” Chen Le said, hands behind his back. “Nice.”

“You guys are all boring,” Yangyang said, ignoring the punch that Chen Le gave him on his arm. “Well, Prince Jisung, Xiaojun, we have been taking care of the plants and I found a lot of worms.”

“Yangyang does have a thing for worms,” Chen Le added. 

“Your highness, may I request a moment with you?” Hendery said, stepping backwards a couple of steps. “In private?”

Jisung looked back to where his carriage had stopped, where his guard was leaning against it, watching him. “If you must,” he said, following wherever Hendery led him.

***

Johnny grabbed the nicest jacket that he owned that he brought with him and put it on. “I’ll be right back,” he said, looking for his shoes. 

Donghyuck, who was at the table eating noodles, looked at him, quickly swallowing the noodles in his mouth. “Excuse me, what?”

“I said I’ll be back,” Johnny reiterated, making the I’m-watching-you signal to Mark, who was seated besides Donghyuck at the table. “If you hurt him, I’ll ing kill you-”

“That’s the brother I know, all right,” Donghyuck mumbled before picking up some more noodles with his fork. “Look how high I can carry this, Mark-”

Johnny walked through the living room and opened the door, already knowing who was going to be at the front porch. 

Ten didn’t bother to speak until Johnny closed the door behind him. “You didn’t even let me knock.”

“You didn’t have to,” Johnny said. “I’ve been anxiously checking the time.”

“Of course you have,” Ten muttered under his breath. Johnny had an obsession with checking the time if he knew he had something coming up. 

Back in Neo City, before Johnny left with Donghyuck, Ten promised to meet at Xiaojun’s address at exactly 10 PM today, even though he himself didn’t know where Xiaojun lived. All he had to do was ask around, though, and that had been easy to do. 

Johnny walked towards Ten, pressing a soft kiss on his lips. “I missed you,” he whispered. 

Ten grinned, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s neck. “And so did I,” he said. “Man, I hate being busy, though.”

“Yeah, and I don’t really like being out here,” Johnny added. “But I can’t have anyone hurting Donghyuck, you know.”

“Uh, yeah, about that, how has your research been?” Ten asked him. “With you know, the robot.”

Johnny shrugged. “Not much. All I know is that he’s not a robot.”

“He’s- then what the is he?” Ten crossed his arms, tilting his head in confusion. “Didn’t he have wires and enhanced abilities or some ?”

“Yeah, he still has bones and blood and all that,” Johnny explained. “I think the term Donghyuck has been using is superhuman, which sounds fitting.”

Ten rolled his eyes, grinning as he looked away. “Your brother is definitely more creative than you.”

Johnny placed a hand over his chest. “You hurt me, you know that?”

“Crybaby,” Ten muttered. “Anyways, really? Nothing?”

Johnny nodded. “Yeah, not much, unfortunately. And, you know, it’s like I can tell anyone about him, you know.”

“Yeah, that’s true- WAIT!” Ten snapped his fingers at Johnny a couple of times. “! I- I think- do you know the royal scientist, Jung Jaehyun?”

Johnny frowned. “You’re going to ask him?"

“Duh, definitely!” Ten exclaimed. “The King gave him that position for a reason! But yeah, Jaehyun can help us, he knows everything, no doubt he’ll help, especially if it means finding out who is responsible for the attempted assassination on the King.”

Johnny nodded. “Yeah, sounds good- wait, everything?”

“Yeah, everything,” Ten repeated. “Why, what’s wrong?”

Johnny looked back at the house. “He better not pry or bring up stuff that the government officials have access to in front of Donghyuck,” he whispered. “Like him being adopted.”