Jongin practically floats to breakfast the next morning, pointedly ignoring Baekhyun’s Cheshire Cat grin when he takes a seat at their low table. Sehun sits at his usual spot, head bent low over his steaming bowl of soup. Jongin thought he was enjoying the warmth rising from the bowl in the autumn morning chill, but when the younger boy startles up as Jongin joins the table, the carpenter realizes his friend had been sleeping. 

“Jongin,” he says, blinking dozily at the tan young man, “nice to see you.”

He goes back to hovering his face over the steam, inhaling deeply before reaching for his spoon. 

“Indeed,” says Baekhyun, eating grin still in place. “Wonderful to have you join us, Jongin-ah, considering that you’ve been oh so busy recently. Especially productive night, hmm?”

Jongin fights down the heat creeping up the back of his neck with a cough and physically turns his body away from the eldest at the table. 

“Where’s Moonkyu?” He asks Sehun. 

“Hmm? Oh, probably sleeping. The kitchen staff left side dishes and soups prepared for all of the staff last night so they can rest today. With all of the birthday celebrations, it’s been non-stop work recently.”

The pale boy gives a cavernous yawn and Jongin realizes absently that he did see less servants than usual on his walk from his room this morning. It makes sense that the palace staff would take advantage of the monarchs’ absence.

“That’s right, other than the guards most of the staff will take the next two days to rest and visit family. But wouldn’t it be nice, Jongin-ah,” Baekhyun gives Jongin a strangely loaded look, contrasting the frivolousness of only a moment before, “If you could have the Queen’s sculpture waiting for her upon her return?”

“I guess?” Returns the carpenter, frowning. Ten days was not a long time, especially for the task that stood before him. Besides, he had been rather tempted by the King’s offer to visit home as frequently as he liked. And he also wanted to take advantage of spending uninterrupted time with Kyungsoo. 

At the thought of the little lord, Jongin remembers again the previous night and he can’t stop the foolish smile that spreads onto his face. If he’d been paying attention, he’d have seen a look of fond frustration pass over the shorter attendant’s face, but Jongin is too busy pushing himself away from the table.

“Jongin? You’re not finishing your breakfast?” Sehun eyes Jongin’s untouched soup greedily and the carpenter pushes it towards his younger friend. 

“You have it, I’ll eat later. I need to get something from my room right now.”

Baekhyun snorts but Jongin was already walking jauntily across the yard back towards the hallway to his bedroom. He veered down a hallway he knew well, footsteps speeding up to match the beating of his heart. Just before he reached his desired destination there's a tug at the back of Jongin’s shirt and he falls into something sturdy and warm.

“Boo.”

Jonging turns to find Kyungsoo smiling behind him, hands fisted in the fabric of Jongin’s hanbok. The little lord is wearing grey baji and brown joegori. His usual top knot is neat as ever but lacking the usual ornate pins and decorations. His face is free of any makeup, under eyes slightly puffier than Jongin has seen them, evidence that the Lord had been asleep until recently.

He looks perfect.

“Kyungsoo,” says Jongin. His arms ache to embrace the smaller man but he holds himself back, still unsure of the boundaries that exist between them. Kyungsoo seems to have no such reservations, however, as he crowds further into Jongin’s space. 

“Did you have breakfast?” He asks.
“Not yet, I thought we could eat together.”

Kyungsoo smiles at this. His fingers unwind from Jongin’s clothes as the carpenter turns to face him fully and dance fleetingly over the front of the taller man’s jeogori. It’s like they have a mind of their own, unable to stray from the younger man’s body. Jongin doesn’t mind. 

“I thought,” begins the lord shyly, “of having breakfast outside. There is a tea house at the base of the mountain that serves the most wonderful gamjatang. On a cold morning like this, there is nothing better.”

Looking at Kyungsoo’s rosy cheeks and shy smile, Jongin thinks that there are many things better to warm him than a simple broth of meat and potatoes. But he does not say it out loud, knowing he will only be laughed at. 

“I would like nothing more,” he says instead and is met with a brilliant smile. Jongin wants to kiss Kyungsoo, and glancing quickly around them and finding no one, he decides there is no reason not to. 

**********

“It’s Saturday tomorrow.”

“Hmm?” Jongin hums distractedly. His vision swims for a moment as he averts his eyes from the delicate grooves of oakwood to look down at Kyungsoo’s clover framed face. The Lord smiles up at him patiently from his position laying in the grass. 

“Tomorrow. It’s the weekend. The street market will be open.”

The new lovers had spent the last three days in blissful solidarity. After their Tuesday morning breakfast in the town, they had not left the palace walls, enjoying the lull of the monarchs’ absence. Kyungsoo had taken to keeping Jongin company as he carved under the now barren oak tree where he and the Lady Chen often sat and consulted. The hair and face of her wooden likeness were well underway, Jongin currently painstakingly carving her kittenish lips. He somehow couldn’t bring himself to carve the eyes yet, unable to capture the playful glimmer without the queen in his presence. Earlier that morning, Kyungsoo had commented at the strangeness of the eyeless wooden face and nestled into Jongin’s side for a nap on the grass in favor of watching the younger man work like usual. He smiles sleepily up at the carpenter now, effectively distracting him.

“Do you want to go, My Lord? You haven’t been since before the Queen’s performance.”

“Don’t call me that,” says Kyungsoo, frowning as he drives his finger into Jongin’s side. The younger only laughs and accepts the weight of the older man as he sits up and leans lazily against him. 

“Kyungsoo,” he coos, pressing plump lips against a pale forehead, “You want to go to the market?”

“I do,” says the Lord. He pulls away from Jongin and looks at him, expression wavering for a moment. 

“What is it?” Asks Jongin, putting down the knife he was working with to give the other man his full attention. 

“I want to… go to your father’s stall. To meet him.”

The two look at each other in silence, Jongin’s gaze curious and Kyungsoo’s seemingly impassive. He breaks after a moment, though, smiling hesitantly and looking away. 

“Though, I guess I’ve already met him quite a few times, haven’t I? Sorry, it was a strange thing to say. It will be fun to walk the market together rather than as a merchant and customer, won’t it! Ah, I haven’t seen Baekhyun today, I should check on him.” He moves to get up but Jongin stops him with a gentle hand around his wrist. 

“You want to…” he stops himself, watching heat and regret flush Kyungsoo’s face. He pauses to interlace their fingers and give Kyungsoo an easy smile. 

“That would be fun,” he says instead. “Actually, the King had mentioned to me I could return home freely in his absence, and I’d thought to help my father in the market this weekend, as I used to.”

“Oh? I’m sure he would appreciate it,” responds the singer, disappointment in his voice as he rips at the browning grass by his knee. Jongin shrugs noncommittally.

“Maybe, I think the old man’s wares have experienced more success without having mine to compete with.”

Kyungsoo finally looks up at him at that, laughter in his eyes. 

“Humble as ever, Jongin-shi,” he teases. The carpenter laughs.

“I’d thought to spend tonight at home, so that I can wake up early in the house and help my father prepare. Would you join me?” He rushes out the last question when the smile begins to slip from Kyungsoo’s face. The shorter man’s face freezes, almost comically caught between humor and despondency. 

“I would very much like for you to join me,” Jongin amends. “It’s not quite a palace kitchen, but there is plenty of room for one other to spend the night and I dare say my mother’s cooking can compete even with Moonkyu’s.”

The lord opens and closes his mouth a few times, swallowing uncertainly. 

“Your family… won’t mind?”

“Not at all!” Insists the carpenter. “I’m more worried about you minding their lack of manners. They can be a rowdy bunch.”

“I think I’d like a little rowdiness, it’s been too quiet around here.”

They smiley goofily at each other, in the way that two people drunk in new love often do. 

“Well, no reason to wait. You go find Baekhyun and I’ll finish what I’m working on here. We’ll meet at the front gates when the sun dips below the top of Bugaksan. We’ll still have light but it’ll be dark enough that we can pass through the town without much notice.” 

Kyungsoo smiles animatedly at him and with another squeeze of the taller’s hand, he’s gone. 

Jongin’s lovestruck smile only falters when he looks back at the eyeless bust of the queen, the half finished lips seeming to ask him a question he doesn’t have an answer to. 

*******************

“Are you going somewhere?”

Kyungsoo jumps a little at the voice, in the process of rolling a spare servant’s hanbok into his bag. Baekhyun is standing in the doorway to his room, lips upturned humorously at having startled his usually unperturbed friend. 

Kyungsoo only rolls his eyes before answering, excitement clear in his voice though he tried to keep his expression neutral.

“I’ll be accompanying Jongin at his house tonight. He’ll go into the market with his father tomorrow and asked me to join him.”

“What? You’ll join him at the stall? Him and his father?” The brunette attendant is suddenly alert.  Kyungsoo continues packing, shrugging one shoulder distractedly.

“I’m not sure, actually. Jongin mostly mentioned helping his father set up, so maybe we’ll help for a while then look around?”

“In a servant’s hanbok without your mask on? Kyungsoo, will you look at me when I’m talking to you!”

The singer finally turns to blink in surprise at his friend. It was unusual for Baekhyun to ever be agitated. 

“It would call less attention than with the mask on, wouldn’t it? No one in the town knows my face to recognize it. Come on, Baekhyun, it’s not like we haven’t done it before.”

It was true. Since the summer they were fifteen and the King had first ventured away from the palace for a long trip to the island territories, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo would often sneak away from the palace in peasants' clothing and explore the towns beyond the walls. It was on one such expedition that Kyungsoo had discovered the restaurant at the base of the mountain where he’d taken Jongin a few days ago. 

“At night, Kyungsoo, always at night. What will people think of a servant with a topknot parading the market in pure daylight? And how long does Jongin think he will abandon his work for, exactly?”

“Well, aren’t you suddenly diligent? Jongin has been working, not that it shuold matter to you at all,” Kyungsoo defends.

“But it matters to you! Kyungsoo, has love made you stupid?”

The attendant slides the door closed behind him and strides into Kyungsoo’s personal space, lowering his voice to a hissing whisper. 

“King Minseok will be back in just over a week’s time, and then what do you think will happen? Do you think he’ll allow for you and Jongin to continue this ridiculous honeymoon phase, mooning after each other like lovesick children? You’ll be fine of course, but what do you think he’ll do to Jongin? To his family? Wake up, Kyungsoo!”

The singer does not answer immediately, struck dumb by the ferocity of his friend’s tone and the truth behind his words. Baekhyun’s expression softens at the singer’s despondent gaze.

“The King has been good to you until now, Kyungsoo. Do not test the depth of his affection.”

*****************

Bugaksan is a mountain that's visible from Gyeongbokgung palace in Seoul. I want to remind everyone that I am taking some serious liberties with geography and significance of Joseon Dynasty hair styles, the histoircal accuracy in this fic is slim to none ;p

I am doing my UTMOST to finsih this fic this summer. sorry and thank you all who are still reading, i hope you continue to enjoy this story as i have enjoyed writing it.