“How did this happen?” Sunggyu and Woohyun stood to the side, watching Dongwoo animatedly talking with Cecile. “Wasn’t Dongwoo at the party? How come he never heard about the whole thing with you and the princess?”

“He left the party before you showed up.” Woohyun explained. “He went home to have dinner with his family.”

“So…so he doesn’t know?” Sunggyu massaged his temples. “Damn it…”

“What’re we going to do?” Woohyun glanced in their direction, and noticed Cecile looking at them, or to be more specific, at Sunggyu. She then met Woohyun’s gaze, looked him up and down, and Woohyun could have sworn she rolled her eyes. He almost forgot about Princess Cecile basically stating that she wanted Sunggyu and that she was going to get him.

He hastily grabbed onto Sunggyu in a fit of jealousy, wrapping his arms around the older man’s waist protectively, and turning in Cecile’s direction and sticking his tongue out at her.

“Yah!” Sunggyu shoved him off. “What’re you doing at a time like this?”

Woohyun pouted, when he noticed Cecile smirking at him.

“I just…”

“You need to tell him.” Sunggyu decided.

“What?”

“Tell Dongwoo about what happened.” Sunggyu explained. “He likes her, and it’s not fair to keep something like that from him.”

“B-But…” Woohyun frowned. “What would that do? It’ll just make him sad. I mean look at the guy.” He gestured to Dongwoo who was practically jumping around in excitement. “He looks so happy…but if I tell him…he’ll be crushed.”

Sunggyu sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I know, but…”

“Besides, shouldn’t she be the one telling him, if she likes him and all.” Woohyun said, but then paused, when he realized that Cecile probably wasn’t interested in Dongwoo at all. After all, she did tell Woohyun that there was many men before him, and implied that there would probably be many more in the future.

“I guess…Dongwoo really doesn’t know how she’s really like…besides didn’t he say, he hadn’t met with her in over a year?” Sunggyu sighed. “This must be what the Sunflower Queen was talking about…”

“But, it doesn’t mean he’s necessarily being manipulated by her, or taken advantage of.” Woohyun reasoned.

“Well, in any case, we should just observe for today.” Sunggyu decided, and Woohyun nodded in agreement.

*

“C’mon hyung.” Woohyun held out his hand. Sunggyu merely stared up at the chocolate brown horse, and Woohyun perched on top. “Just hop on.” He kept his hand reaching out for Sunggyu to take hold off.

“Apple Dew is very gentle. She won’t hurt you Ssaem.” Dongwoo, who was standing in front of the horse, and holding the reins, patted the mare’s nose.

“Apple Dew?” Sunggyu frowned. “Its name is Apple Dew?”

“Yeah, see hyung? She’s not dangerous.” Woohyun told him with a smile. “And besides, I won’t let anything happen to you hyung. I’ll protect you.”

Sunggyu snorted. “What’re you going to do?”

“I’m your knight in shining armor.” Woohyun grinned.

“Stupid. I don’t need a knight! I’m not a damsel in distress!”

“Then stop acting like one, and get on.” Woohyun retorted.

Sunggyu pouted at Woohyun’s rather firm tone, but proceeded to climb on the back of the saddle behind Woohyun.

“You’re kind of mean sometimes…” He murmured.

“I got you to get on, didn’t it?” Woohyun smiled, before taking the reins from Dongwoo.

“Just follow everyone else.” Dongwoo instructed with a smile and went to his own horse.

“Got it!” Woohyun called out. Apple Dew took a step forward, and Sunggyu panicked and gripped on tight to Woohyun’s waist, startling the younger man as well. “C-Calm down hyung…” Woohyun sighed.

“Sorry…” Sunggyu mumbled into his shoulder.

“It’s ok.” Woohyun said quietly. “Just hold on tight ok? I’ll protect you.”

Sunggyu wrapped his arms around Woohyun’s waist and it made him realize how small it was.

After a few minutes they set off down a dirt trail leading into the forest. It was quiet and peaceful. Most people were talking amongst themselves or with the person riding beside them. The birds were singing, as if greeting them and the sun was shining warmly.

Sunggyu rested his chin on Woohyun’s shoulder and it actually didn’t feel scary at all. He almost kind of forgot he was on a horse and was just enjoying the warm sunshine on his back and the scent of Woohyun’s shampoo mixed with the pine trees.

“Were you always this thin…?” He murmured into Woohyun’s ear. He wasn’t even sure if Woohyun had heard him, because he didn’t get an answer. “Yah…” He leaned closer, unintentionally pressing his chest closer to Woohyun’s back. “Are you listening?”

Woohyun almost dropped the reins and shifted uneasily at the sudden pressure and warmth behind him.

“Y-Yeah, I heard you…” He cleared his throat.

“Are you ok?”

“I-I’m fine.” Woohyun tried really hard to ignore Sunggyu’s breath tickling the back of his neck and Sunggyu’s chest pressed to his back, and something else of Sunggyu’s that was unintentionally brushing up against him in way that made him feel more than just a little uncomfortable.

“Are you sure?” Sunggyu began to absently rub his fingers along Woohyun’s waist, which his hands were gripping securely onto. And Woohyun had to try really hard to not be affected and to not react. He ended up biting his lip so hard, that he swore he tasted blood after a while. He really didn’t understand why Sunggyu was breathing in his ear in such a slow, teasing way.

“Can you not…b-breathe like that?” Woohyun mumbled.

“I can’t stop breathing.” Sunggyu retorted, stubbornly. “I’ll die.”

“Just…can you give me some space?”

“Space?” Sunggyu frowned, unintentionally resting one hand on Woohyun’s thigh, the other still holding onto Woohyun’s midsection. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re on a horse. I can’t really move or I’ll fall off.”

“T-Then just stop…touching me like that.” Woohyun felt his cheeks grow hot, just muttering such words.

“I can’t! I’ll fall off, if I don’t hold on!” Sunggyu groaned. “Yah, do you want me to die or something?”

“What a stupid question.” Woohyun sighed. “Obviously not! But you’re too close! I-It’s making me uncomfortable!”

“You’re the one who told me to ride with you!” Sunggyu argued.

“That’s because you were acting like a scaredy cat!”

“Was not!”

“Was too!”

“Um…” Dongwoo guided his own white horse, beside them, watching them nervously. “Are you guys ok?”

“We’re just fine, thank you!” Sunggyu huffed, eyes focused sharply on the back of Woohyun’s head.

“Yup, just dandy.” Woohyun snorted, with a frustrated frown.

“Uh ok, because…” Dongwoo glanced ahead at his parents who were leading the group on beautiful matching chestnut horses. “You’re being kind of loud.”

*

When they reached the campsite, a rather private space nestled in the heart of the forest, the servants immediately went to work preparing the tents and campground.

“I hope you don’t mind sharing a tent.” The Sunflower Queen smiled.

They could already see the King and Queen’s tent being set up. Though tent was a loose term, since it seemed more like a house made of a tarp. There were even different sections inside complete with furniture: a bedroom, a kitchen area, a lounge, etc.

Sunggyu and Woohyun exchanged a glance, both clearly not minding if their tent was anything like the one they were seeing being assembled.

“Bill will show you to it.” The Queen told them and gestured to a gangly man in mustard yellow shorts, a pale yellow t-shirt, and a red ascot. He bowed regally to the Queen as she made her exit, before turning to Sunggyu and Woohyun. “This way.” He gestured for them to follow, rather casually. He led them to a space that was quite far from the King and Queen’s tent and the campfire that other servants were building.

“There it is.” He pointed to a wrinkled up gray tarp that was mangled up on the floor.

“What?” Sunggyu frowned. “Why is it—?”

“You have to make it yourself.” Bill explained in a deadpan tone. “You can manage that much, can’t you?” And without waiting for their response he turned and strolled off.

“The hell is this thing?” Sunggyu kicked the tarp with his foot.

“The difference between royalty and peasants…” Woohyun sighed, kneeling down and inspecting a thin metal rod—one of the parts of the tent.

“But I’m not a peasant!” Sunggyu frowned. “I’m in one of the highest earning tax brackets!”

Woohyun shrugged. “Your blood isn’t royal, so it doesn’t matter.”

“But, I didn’t think they would…I mean they’re even making us build it ourselves!” Sunggyu huffed, folding his arms. He watched Woohyun inspect the instruction manual that was so kindly dumped on top of the tarp. “How big is this thing even? I mean…is it going to be ok for you?”

Woohyun looked up and smiled. “You mean my claustrophobia?”

Sunggyu nodded quietly.

“It should be fine…” Woohyun looked down, murmuring, “As long as you’re there.”

Sunggyu knelt down beside him. “Really? Are you sure?”

Woohyun grabbed onto Sunggyu’s hand and squeezed it lightly. “With you, I’m always sure hyung.”

“Aish, cut it out.” Sunggyu nudged Woohyun, who merely laughed, embarrassed by his own words.

 “I want to sleep closely with hyung~” Woohyun chuckled, leaning his head on Sunggyu’s shoulder. However Sunggyu’s smile immediately faded, when he realized what that meant—how small the tent was, how close together they would be, all night long. He gulped and quickly stood up, biting his lip.

“That’s…”

“Hyung,” Woohyun stood up as well, clutching onto Sunggyu’s arm, with the same stupid grin plastered on his face. “Should we share a sleeping bag?”

“W-What’re you talking about dummy?” Sunggyu stammered, shoving him away in a flustered manner. “W-We’re not kids or something…sharing a sleeping bag. What a ridiculous—.”

He paused, when he noticed Woohyun not so subtly tugging on the collar of his t-shirt, allowing Sunggyu a glimpse of the hickey he had given him before. Then he intently looked into Sunggyu’s eyes as if attempting to remind him of what he had done earlier.

Sunggyu opened his mouth to say something, but Woohyun knelt down, and got to work on assembling the tent.

“So, we’ll be using your sleeping bag, right?” Woohyun piped up, then met Sunggyu’s gaze with a mysterious glint in his eyes. “Because yours is bigger.” Sunggyu could have sworn Woohyun his lips, before focusing his attention on the instruction manual.

Sunggyu could only stare and was kind of speechless. He wondered if Woohyun was being like this on purpose. All he knew was that he was probably going to suffer a lot tonight.

*

While camp was being set up, Dongwoo led Cecile and his other friends—the Duke of the Petunia Kingdom, Sunwoo, or Baro, as he was usually referred to, and the Prince of the Hibiscus Kingdom, Jung Hwan, also more commonly known as, Sandeul—to the nearby lake to fish for some dinner.

Naturally Sunggyu and Woohyun tagged along, to observe Dongwoo and his friends.

Woohyun tried to help Dongwoo with the fishing lures, but somehow ended up dropping an entire box of bait into the water. No one even knew how it happened, but Sunggyu wasn’t surprised.

“I’ll get it, don’t worry about it.” Woohyun assured Dongwoo, and cautiously stepped forward onto one of the stepping stones in the lake. He knelt down, attempting to search for the bait. He managed to get a few of the colorful pieces from the water. “See, I got some already!” He looked up, only to realize no one was paying attention to him. Baro and Sandeul had their backs turned and were talking to Dongwoo, who was preparing a fishing rod.

Sunggyu was sitting on a plastic fold up chair and staring blankly into the sky. He might have been sleeping. It was hard to tell from a distance.

“Hyung!” Woohyun called out, but Sunggyu didn’t budge. Woohyun frowned, and was about to focus on finding the lures again, when Cecile, who’s denim shorts were far too short for a camping trip, strolled up to Sunggyu.

“Isn’t this so boring?” She hummed, obviously trying to keep it casual, while sitting down on the arm of Sunggyu’s chair.

“Huh?” Sunggyu sat up straight looking around sleepily. He rubbed his eyes. “Did they catch anything?”

“No, they haven’t even started.” Cecile giggled flirtatiously. “Were you really sleeping?” She not so subtly poked his arm, causing Woohyun to twitch in annoyance.

“This is bad…” Sunggyu thought. “I shouldn’t be sleeping right now. I have a job to do.” He reminded himself, oblivious to Cecile’s shameless flirtations. “But it’s so nice and warm and quiet…ahh.” He quickly shook his head to snap himself out of it. “No!” He clapped his cheeks. “Stay awake!”

While Sunggyu was in the midst of a war with sleep, Woohyun was in a different kind of war. A war against a princess.

“I can be cuter than her.” Woohyun told himself, glaring daggers at Cecile who shot him a snide look. “Ok I can’t be prettier, but cute I can do. And hyung likes cute, so I got this!”

“Hyung~” He called out in the cutest, aegyo filled voice he could manage.

Sunggyu looked up with a blank, sleepy stare, “What?”

“Look at me hyung~” Woohyun started doing some bunny aegyo and Sunggyu smiled slightly. Cecile frowned, seeing Sunggyu smiling at Woohyun.

“Yah, what’re you doing dummy?” Sunggyu called out. “Shouldn’t you be trying to find the bait?”

“Ah right.” Woohyun smiled stupidly, and stood up, but ended up getting his footing wrong and slipping off the rock into the water.

Sunggyu burst out laughing, and Dongwoo, Baro, and Sandeul turned to see what the commotion was.

They all chuckled as well at seeing the drenched Woohyun standing up in the lake and slipping again, creating another big splash.

“Are you ok?” Sunggyu suddenly stood up, still laughing. He accidentally knocked Cecile who fell from the arm of the chair to the dirt. “Ah,” Sunggyu turned with a worried look. “Sorry.” He said to Cecile, holding out his hand. “Are you ok?”

Cecile tried hard to hide her smile. She felt victorious that Sunggyu had seemingly forgotten Woohyun and was paying attention to her now. She was about to take Sunggyu’s hand, when a very wet Woohyun jumped on Sunggyu’s back, causing the older to take a few steps forward in the other direction.

“Yah!” Sunggyu laughed, as he tried to shove Woohyun off him. “You’re all wet! Cut it out!”

“How could you just laugh at me hyung?” Woohyun had his arms securely around Sunggyu’s neck. “This is my revenge!” He exclaimed and tried to tackle Sunggyu, but the older man had managed to squirm out of his grasp and escape. Woohyun chased him into the forest, but then lost sight of him after a while.

He glanced around, but could only see trees and dense lush greenery.

“Hyung?” He called out as he passed a tree. “Gyu! Where are—?” Suddenly a hand grabbed him from behind the tree, and he landed on the ground among crunchy brown leaves and twigs and so on. “Yah.” Woohyun frowned at Sunggyu, who was now lying on top of him smiling down at him. “I got worried for real.” Woohyun pouted. “Why didn’t you say anything—?” Suddenly Sunggyu’s lips were on his and his eyes fluttered closed almost immediately, melting into the kiss.

Sunggyu’s thumb brushed Woohyun’s cheek, and the other hand rested on Woohyun’s open palm, intertwining their fingers.

“Hyung…” Woohyun slowly opened his eyes, meeting Sunggyu’s gaze.

“W-We should probably get back.” Sunggyu’s cheeks were pink.

“…Yeah.” Woohyun answered dreamily.

“You might catch a cold in those wet clothes.” Sunggyu murmured as he sat up.

“Yeah…” Woohyun was smiling as Sunggyu helped him up.

They kept their fingers intertwined the whole walk back.

-----

Apparently woogyu have forgotten this is a work trip and not their honeymoon...

Anyways I guess there might be later on or maybe just allusions to it. Idk yet. I'm still deciding~