“Do you want me to help you wash dishes?” Donghyuck asked Xiaojun, standing next to him in the kitchen. The latter was scrubbing intensely at a pot that was used for frying some vegetables. “I already cleaned the table.”

Xiaojun shook his head. He had come back inside after seeing that two different princes from two different kingdoms were on his porch, and the last thing he wanted was to ridicule himself outside. “Don’t worry, I’m good,” he said, grabbing another handful of homemade soap. “You can, uh, how would your brother say it… chill.”

Donghyuck wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Please don’t use slang with him, that’s weird.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Xiaojun said, rolling his eyes while smiling. “Look, just do me a favor and get Kun for me, I guess, but yeah, feel free to do whatever, especially with Mark. He looks like he needs a friend.”

Donghyuck turned around to see Mark in the living room, staring out the window. The superhuman robot cyborg whatever thing… damn, he didn’t have a past or memory like the rest of them. 

“Mark’s cool,” Donghyuck said, which was true; he liked hanging out with the superhuman. “He’s nice and I can finally tell someone my jokes without them getting worried.”

“You can what now-” Xiaojun set the pot down and turned to look at Donghyuck, who was already skipping away, arms behind his back. “I- this generation, I swear….”

Donghyuck made his way to the living room, whistling at Mark. “Yo, do you see outside, it’s almost getting dark! We go outside and catch fireflies.”

Mark turned to face Donghyuck once he realized the latter was speaking to him. “Oh, hey.”

“You know, for someone who’s supposed to be a superhuman, you have bad social cues,” Donghyuck said, picking up a small glass jar that he had prepared earlier. It had a lid with holes on it so that the fireflies could live.

“That was a problem with the four of us,” Mark mentioned. “If I recall correctly. Model R bit J- the assistant.”

“Oh, wow, now I have to be wary of the teeth now, don’t I?” Donghyuck held the glass jar above his head. “I’d be more scared of someone biting metal.”

Donghyuck skipped his way back towards the kitchen, grabbing his jacket that he had left on the table with his free hand, still holding the glass jar. “Xiaojun, Mark and I are going to go outside-”

“DO NOT go outside,” Xiaojun interrupted him, immediately turning around. He still had a plate with soap in his hands. “I am begging you, do not-”

“Uh… okay…” Donghyuck said slowly, stepping out of the kitchen backwards slowly. “Are you afraid I’m going to get murdered or something-”

Xiaojun bit his lip, turning back around to finish the dishes. “Yeah. That.”

Donghyuck sighed, heading back into the living room. “Forget about the fireflies,” he muttered, sitting next to Mark on the sofa. He tossed the glass jar from one hand to another, his jacket now forgotten besides him. “Might call it a night.”

Mark blinked a couple of times. He heard what Xiaojun told Donghyuck in the kitchen, but the latter pulled a complete 180 on his sudden change of mood.

“What do you want to know about fireflies?” Mark asked him suddenly, not knowing how to change his mood. Jaehyun didn’t teach him enough about this. 

Donghyuck raised an eye. “Do you have, like, an encyclopedia about them in your head?”

“Uh… I mean, the royal scientist put a huge database of information in my infrastructure,” Mark explained slowly, wondering if it was an insult. “But his assistant Jaemin found fireflies fascinating and would ramble about it while conducting tests on me-”

“Woah, woah, tests?” Donghyuck asked, raising an eye. “What do you mean, tests? Tests for what?”

Mark shrugged. “If I could detect concentrations, detect weight, my eyesight, just… I guess my capabilities, if you want to call it that.” He looked at Donghyuck, who was just staring at the jar in his hand. “They weren’t inhumane, if that’s what you were thinking.”

“I- well, I was hoping you would say that, not gonna lie,” Donghyuck said, looking at Mark’s hand. “Can you detect the composition of this?” he said, lifting the jar up.

“Glass is just molted sand,” Mark explained. “I mean, they could have added materials but I don’t think so…”

“Oh, well, duh, I knew that.” Donghyuck slouched against the couch, carelessly throwing the jar on his jacket besides him. “Well, tell me what you know about fireflies.”

Mark cleared his throat. “They are in the Lampyridae family-”

“Oh my god, you can be funny?” Donghyuck asked, laughing. “Mark, you’re hilarious, I hope you know that.”

Mark was taken aback, realizing that Donghyuck was complimenting him. “Is this me understanding social cues?”

“I think it’s you being a dork,” Donghyuck said, grinning. “Don’t worry Mark, I think you’re funny.”

Donghyuck, still smiling, grabbed his jacket besides him, playing with the sleeve, and Mark didn’t know why his heart felt like being tugged, but… he really did like that smile. 

***

“I think I burned the pasta,” Jaemin admitted, staring at the perfect meal in front of him. 

Renjun glared at him. “If you say burned one more time, I swear I will burn something else-”

“But it’s true!!” Jaemin exclaimed, holding up a tiny black speck on his finger. Despite Renjun having better eyesight, he could barely see it. “What is this, then?? It’s everywhere!”

“THAT’S BLACK PEPPER!” Renjun yelled at him. “IT’S NOT BURNED!”

Jaehyun grabbed the bottle of parmesan and held it out for Taeyong. “Here, you should try it with this,” he suggested. “Not a lot, but a little.”

Taeyong hesitated, grabbing the bottle from Jaehyun slowly. “Is it good?”

“Aren’t they acting weird to you?” Jaemin whispered to Renjun, even though the other two could hear him perfectly well. 

“I am not acting weird,” Jaehyun said, watching Taeyong who shaked the bottle twice on his pasta. “Yeah, that’s good enough.”

“Oh, come on, you need to add a lot more to that,” Jaemin said. “You’ll barely taste anything!”

Renjun made a disgusted face. Jaemin had him try parmesan earlier, and it almost made him want to throw up. “I think that’s much more than enough-”

Right then, the bell started ringing, meaning that someone was waiting for them at the door.

“JENO!!” Jaemin screamed, jumping out of his chair as he ran towards the entrance. 

“Wait, wait for me!” Renjun yelled after him, also getting out of his chair to follow him, leaving Jaehyun and Taeyong alone at the table. 

Taeyong scooped up some of the pasta with his fork, making sure to get the parts with parmesan. Renjun and Jaemin had made fettuccine alfredo with shrimp, and Taeyong thought that it was delicious and wondered what the parmesan would do. 

He took a bite, chewing on it slowly before swallowing. “It’s really good with parmesan!” he said, happily scooping up some more. “You were right.”

Jaehyun nodded, grabbing the parmesan bottle to pour some for himself. “Yeah, I like how it enhances it,” he said, adding a lot more of the cheese on his pasta than what Taeyong added. “Which is funny, because I don’t think I eat cheese that much, to be honest.”

Taeyong, who was in mid-chew, swallowed again to respond to Jaehyun. “It just depends on what you eat it with,” he said. “Aren’t there, like, more than 300 cheeses?”

“Yeah, there’s a whole ton,” Jaehyun agreed. “It’s, like, insane.”

The two stopped talking when they heard a squealing Jaemin who was no doubt embracing a poor Jeno at the moment, with Renjun yelling at him to have a turn hugging Jeno. 

Taeyong, who was scooping up another bite, paused. “Jaehyun, you keep- nevermind.”

“Hmmh?” Jaehyun asked, out of his daze. He had been too focused on staring at Taeyong. “What’s wrong, what am I doing?”

“You-” Taeyong let his fork drop, rubbing his cheeks which were getting warm. “Nothing. I’m- I’m just feeling… self-conscious.”

“Self- self-conscious?” Jaehyun asked. “Why?”

Taeyong reached for his glass of water that he poured for himself earlier, taking a long swig before setting the glass back down on the table. “You’re just… looking at me, I guess, and I keep thinking about earlier.”

Oh, right, what happened earlier. 

To be fair, Jaehyun had been feeling uneasy these days. Thanks to him, there had been an assasination attempt on the king, and Jaehyun has been pressured to have it not get it, since not only he would get affected, but also Jaemin, Renjun and Taeyong. He didn’t know if he was coming off as rude or not to him, but it definitely wasn’t malicious.

Though, hearing Taeyong say he was worried about him, that he cared about him, that he loved him… it did things to Jaehyun.

He really wanted to kiss him again. 

“Do you… regret it?” Jaehyun asked slowly, not wanting Taeyong to feel uneasy. They haven’t spoken to each other about the incident, since Jaemin and Renjun came to say the food was ready. 

“What? No, no, no!” Taeyong waved his hands in front of him. “I, uh, um… sorry, I just don’t want to ruin anything or make you hate me, I guess-”

“Taeyong.” Jaehyun scooted his plate back to cross his arms over the table, looking at Taeyong. “I… I really doubt I could ever hate you.”

“But you might,” Taeyong whispered. He stared at his own plate in front of him, pushing some of the pasta around. “If...  Lee-eun continues with his plan and controls us again…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jaehyun said. He wrapped his hand around Taeyong’s arm, rubbing soothing circles on it. “I’m thinking about how to deal with him, don’t worry about it.”

“But- but what if he has you control us again and we have to kill someone or- or you and-”

Taeyong didn’t finish his sentence, as Jaehyun pressed their lips together without a warning, Taeyong instantly reacting to it, kissing him back. 

It only lasted for a few seconds until Jaehyun pulled away. “Honestly, at his rate, you can kill me and I’ll say thank you,” Jaehyun whispered to him. 

Taeyong widened his eyes. “What- why would you thank me?”

“I mean- it’s just an expression,” Jaehyun explained. “But, I mean, if you do, it’s not because you wanted to, I wouldn’t hate you because of it.”

Taeyong nodded. “I- I mean, that’s true, I guess, I would never hurt you.”

“Me neither,” Jaehyun said, letting go of Taeyong’s arm. He picked up his fork again, stabbing a piece of shrimp. “We have to stop Lee-eun, I’ll make sure of it.”

***

They stepped a good few yards away from the two Chinese friends, who remained talking to themselves, watching as the two princes stepped away. 

Both princes have their hands on their swords, not as a symbol of hostility towards the other, but a step of precaution. Despite being friendly, neither of them had forgotten that their respective countries were not in good terms with each other. 

“What did you wish to speak to me about?” Prince Jisung asked Prince Hendery. The latter had asked to speak with him privately, and unfortunately, Jisung did not know what he wanted to talk to him about. 

Hendery took another glance at the two Chinese friends. “I hope this doesn’t seem like a personal question,” he started. “And I do remember that this is your land, but, may I ask… what exactly do you know about their origins?”

Jisung raised an eye. “Uh… do you mean those two?” he asked. “Not the exact specifics, but some. How much do you know?” 

“I… know enough, I suppose,” Hendery muttered. He removed his hand on his sword besides him and crossed his arms, looking at the ground for a moment as if in thought. “But, anyways, do you know anything about how your orphanages are one? I’m not criticizing you or anything, I’m sure you have your own matters to worry about-”

“Wait, did you say- you said… orphanages?” Jisung repeated. “What… what exactly are you proposing your highness?”

Hendery sighed. “They said they were kicked out of my country’s orphanages at a young age, which startles me. I want to get to the bottom of that, no child deserves to be on the streets.”

Jisung nodded, stuffing his hands into pants pockets. “I will admit, I… I know I am the heir,” he stated, “but I am not really, how can you say… exposed to such types of matters in my father’s kingdom, and although a lot of the general public think I play an important role in royal affairs, my opinion isn’t often that valuable.”

“That’s mildly excruciating,” Hendery muttered under his breath. “I know you guys have different customs and such, but I didn’t know how different, your highness.”

“No, it’s just- well, I’ve been trying to do some reports on my own time,” Jisung added. “But I don’t make it public knowledge.” He paused. “I’m hoping that I can trust you, Prince Hendery. These days, I don’t know who to trust.”