Sungyeol hears the rumors of a new patient being moved in the east wing and everyone knows the east wing is where all the really messed up patients go to. Usually the ones involved in really traumatic stuff that scars them for life and never ever does someone who gets put into the east wing ever leave the east wing.

He’s glad that he works in the less mental side of the mental hospital though and he hears enough about the new patient from Sungjong.

“You know what he called me? A freaking princess.”

Sungyeol almost chokes on his Americano, “He called you a princess?”

“Yes. This morning when I walked in, he said to me, ‘oh hello my fellow princess!’ with this huge grin and now he won’t stop!”

Woohyun laughs, “But you are a princess.”

“Don’t ever call me that or I’ll castrate you,” Sungjong threatens and Woohyun shrinks in his seat, “I’m only allowing him because of his condition and all.”

“That’s totally unfair,” Howon grumbles, “I vote we all call Sungjong princess now!”

“I agree to that!” Dongwoo can be heard from somewhere in the hospital and everyone wonders how the hell he even managed to do that.

Sungyeol finds it hilarious that this new patient is pulling Sungjong’s strings and so he gets curious about it one day and tags along on one of Sungjong’s rounds.

“Won’t Sunggyu hyung get mad that you’re slacking off?” Sungjong asks as he leads Sungyeol down the hall.

“I got Woohyun to cover for me, I’m good,” he grins and greets an old man who passes them by.

“Be aware though, he also refers to himself as a ‘princess looking for his prince’.”

Sungyeol snorts, “Oh Lord, does he really? Poor fellow must have had it hard then. So, Jongie? Are you looking for your prince too?”

Sungjong stomps on Sungyeol’s foot before stopping in front of room 7L.

And Sungyeol’s face is red from pain and he’s groaning when he steps in with Sunjong and he probably looks really unpleasant and stupid but suddenly he sees the patient of room 7L and wonders what such a beautiful human being is doing here?

Except all of a sudden, the most beautiful human being ever drops his jaw and his eyes widen before he exclaims, “I’ve found my prince.”

Sungyeol stumbles and falls ungracefully on his bottom while Sungjong goes over and tries to talk to Myungsoo.

“Princess Jongie, would you please stop? I’m fine,” the patient says and tries to push Sungjong aside and get up from his bed.

Sungyeol stands up and Sungjong shoots him a glare and tells him to get out and so Sungyeol does as he’s told and returns quickly to his own station.

But it’s only ten minutes later that he gets a call from Dongwoo that he needs to report to one of the emergency care rooms and Sungyeol gets nervous because the last time he was in one the emergency rooms it didn’t end so well and he almost got a patient injured. Except this time Dongwoo says that it’s a direct order from Sunggyu and so Sungyeol makes his way over quickly and when he gets there he expects all hell to be loose but it’s surprisingly calm and collected in the room.

Sungyeol first notices Sungjong who looks like he has scratches all over his arms and Sungyeol just knows that Sungjong must be pissed because his beautiful arms are all ruined. Woohyun and Howon are also present and are the doctors currently talking to whichever patient is sitting on the white table. It seems civil enough and Sungyeol wonders why they need him and then Howon turns around and sees Sungyeol and quickly pulls him over.

“He’s here!” Howon announces and Sungyeol finally sees that the patient sitting on the table is none other than the princess of room 7L.

“Oh, my prince!” He smiles and it’s just darn right adorable but Sungyeol still doesn’t understand what’s going on.

“Starting today, you’re going to be in charge of patient Kim Myungsoo,” Woohyun says and hands Sungyeol his file, “Good luck with this one, Yeol. He’s freaking amazing.”

“What?” Sungyeol says and then Woohyun pats his back and leaves with Howon while Sungjong waits in the room for Sungyeol and Myungsoo to leave so he can clean the room and probably clean his arms too.

“I told them not to call me that,” Myungsoo purses his lips, “It’s princess Mingsoo!”

Sungyeol chokes on air before coughing and Ming- Myungsoo is leaping over and trying to soothe him and Sungjong pulls them apart.

“Mingsoo, this is Lee Sungyeol. He’s gonna take my place now, okay?”

Myungsoo nods and smiles at Sungjong, “I’m sorry about earlier.”

Sungjong smiles sweetly and Sungyeol notices that it’s a sincere smile and not one of the fake ones he usually fishes out, “It’s okay, I understand.”

“I just thought you were trying to steal my prince.”

“I would never, we’re friends, remember?”

Myungsoo nods and pulls Sungjong into a hug and Sungyeol almost screams and takes cover but when he realizes that Sungjong is not going to erupt in anger and only hugs Myungsoo back does he stop gaping like a fish to understand that Myungsoo has got some weird voodoo magic on Sungjong.

“Okay,” Sungjong says, “Hyung, take Mingsoo back to her room, I’ll brief you later on her care regime.”

“Er,” Sungyeol looks back and forth at both Myungsoo and Sungjong and he knows he works at a mental hospital but this is as crazy as he’s ever gotten close to. “Right, come on Myung- Mingsoo, let’s go.

Myungsoo only nods and clings onto Sungyeol’s arm who raises an eyebrow at Sungjong, but the youngest is already urging them out.

---

So because Myungsoo had had a fit over not getting to see Sungyeol, the latter had become his assigned nurse and this isn’t necessarily the promotion Sungyeol was thinking of.  

Myungsoo is a princess.

Or so he says.

He even refers to himself as a female and Sungyeol is losing his composure.

Myungsoo is a princess, but he’s somewhere in between a manly princess and a koala princess. There are times when Myungsoo has this intense gaze when he’s watching Sungyeol and other times when he’s hopelessly clinging onto Sungyeol’s back whenever the other has to go run another errand. Myungsoo is usually silent though, considering how much of a commotion he had caused the other day, but he becomes more silent and more observant as time passes and Sungyeol discovers that Myungsoo likes to watch more than he likes to interact.

Unless that something has to do with touching Sungyeol because he can never seem to get enough of that. Which freaks Sungyeol out sometimes because there are times when it feels like Myungsoo is flirting with him. And not like how a girl flirts with a male, batting eyelashes and giggling in a cute way. Myungsoo is in every way possible, a huge ert. Sungyeol can’t necessarily say anything about it and even when he asks Sungjong, “has Myungsoo ever touched your ?” Sungjong only stares at Sungyeol as if he’s crazy.

It isn’t like when Dongwoo touches or s their bottoms either, it’s completely lewd and makes Sungyeol feel weird.

Myungsoo leans in and his breath is always warm when it fans across Sungyeol’s neck and he presses his body real close and then just - boink. Cops a feel from Sungyeol’s flat and that is just not even close to princess behaviour.

“Myungsoo,” Sungyeol says but then Myungsoo scowls at him.

“It’s princess Mingsoo.”

“Princess Mingsoo,” Sungyeol says and then pats Myungsoo lightly on the head, “I’m afraid your mannerism is terrible if you’re already feeling me up. I’ve hardly known you!”

Myungsoo smiles coyly, “Usually it’s the prince who courts the princess, but you’re slow so I’m just speeding things up for you.”

Sungyeol finds out that day that Kim Myungsoo, patient in room 7L, princess Mingsoo, is a snarky little mother fudger.

---

“I think Kim Myungsoo is insane.”

Everyone just looks at Sungyeol as if that’s the obvious and it’s Woohyun who says, “Well of course he is.”

“No, I mean that he’s messing with me or something.”

“Sungyeol, are you okay?” Howon asks and takes his temperature with the back of his hand.

Sungyeol swats Howon’s hand away, “I’m serious here! He acts like a damn princess, but it’s like he knows exactly what he’s doing! It’s annoying!”

“Sungjong do you vouch for this?” Woohyun asks and Sungjong sets his magazine down.

“Myungsoo is perfectly insane and that’s why he’s in this hospital, Sungyeol hyung. Did you even read his file?”

Sungyeol thinks about the unopened file sitting on his desk that’s been untouched for the entire month that he’s been attending to Myungsoo.

---

Sungyeol leafs through the file and stops when he starts to read up on Myungsoo’s bio.

And he figures out why Myungsoo is so screwy in the head and suddenly something inside Sungyeol’s stomach knots up.

---

“It’s snowing today.” Sungyeol says when he walks into Myungsoo’s room that morning and Myungsoo is already awake and sitting up in bed.

“Can we go outside today then?” He asks and Sungyeol looks at the time. He can spare a few minutes to take Myungsoo out into the garden.

Sungyeol wheels Myungsoo around in a wheelchair even though it’s unnecessary but it’s hospital rules and so Myungsoo agrees and jokes that his prince is pulling him in a chariot and Sungyeol wants to tell him that there are so many things wrong with that statement but he lets it go and they enter the outside garden and Myungsoo smiles softly at the snow.

“Are you cold?” Sungyeol asks and hands Myungsoo his sweater. He kind of regrets not bringing out a blanket.

Myungsoo smiles at Sungyeol and takes the sweater and Sungyeol feels guilty for some reason even though he’s done nothing wrong.

“You’re such a gentleman today,” Myungsoo smiles smugly and Sungyeol feels like Myungsoo is such a little .

“I’m always a gentleman, you’d know that if you weren’t always so occupied with touching me.”

Myungsoo laughs lightly and taps his fingers against the armrest, “You’re a little slow, aren’t you?”

“I’m- what?”

“Sorry, I already knew you were slow. I meant that you’re incredibly slow.”

“Well, princess, you’re downright hurtful. I think I can feel the tears stinging my eyes right now.”

Myungsoo laughs again and Sungyeol thinks he could spend all day just making Myungsoo laugh at least until Myungsoo says, “You finally read my file now, didn’t you?”

Sungyeol almost chokes on the question but he clears his throat instead, “Yeah.”

Myungsoo hums softly in acknowledgment before closing his eyes, “Let’s go back inside, prince Sungyeol.”

---

Sometimes, Sungyeol wonders if it’s okay for him to be spending all this time with Myungsoo, because Myungsoo isn’t right in the head and yet he somehow still is. Sungyeol isn’t afraid of Myungsoo or what Myungsoo could possibly do to him, he somehow feels like he owes it to Myungsoo even though he really doesn’t.

Myungsoo never really mentions it though, doesn’t talk about why he’s in here. Most patients don’t recall what brought them to this hospital because they’re trying to recover from it, but Sungyeol thinks remembering is the most important part to recovering. Sungyeol is aware that Myungsoo knows why he’s here.

Sunggyu is the doctor in charge of Myungsoo, so periodically he checks up on Myungsoo whenever Sungyeol is in the same room as them.

“How are you feeling? What’d you eat today? Is your prince treating you well?”

Are the questions that Sunggyu usually runs through when he walks in and Sungyeol wonders why Sunggyu even bothers to do these things because they aren’t even real tests and Sungyeol knows Myungsoo isn’t ever going to get better.

“Your friend’s funny,” Myungsoo says one day after Sunggyu leaves.

Sungyeol opens the curtains just a bit to let some light in and Myungsoo squints his eyes, “Why’s he so funny?”

“I think he likes you,” Myungsoo says and there’s this strange glint in his eyes.

Sungyeol doesn’t think twice about it and only laughs, “Really? I’ve always figured he gets too annoyed of me because I slack off too much.”

Myungsoo smiles, “You don’t slack off around here.”

Sungyeol smiles back, “Of course not, I can’t slack off around my princess.”

---

Sunggyu is hospitalized the next week after he visits Myungsoo alone.

Sungyeol is the first to go visit him.

“I’m assigning you to a different patient.” Sunggyu says when Sungyeol walks into his hospital room (it’s a regular hospital, not a mental one).

“What?” Sungyeol asks as he sits by Sunggyu’s bed.

“I know it was dangerous to place him under your care, but I figured you could handle it. You handle almost everything I throw at you,” Sunggyu speaks slowly, “But he’s gotten too attached and now I’m concerned for your well being.”

“Oh,” Sungyeol says lamely and then, “Oh.” again.

“Dongwoo can take him now,” Sunggyu informs, “You can go back to your old post.”

---

Sunggyu gets out of the hospital rather quickly, he had only suffered from a few cuts and it wasn’t deemed as anything too serious.

Dongwoo replaces Sungyeol and Myungsoo isn’t as pleased but Dongwoo is informed to lie through his teeth that Sungyeol is away on some trip and can’t stop by.

Myungsoo isn’t as stupid though and only plays along.

Sungyeol doesn’t ask anyone about Myungsoo’s condition.

---

“You like him, don’t you?” Myungsoo says when Woohyun walks into the room to do what Sunggyu use to do.

“Hm?” Woohyun hums and he’s only half listening because he’s writing down little notes on his binder.

“Sungyeol,” Myungsoo says, “You like him, don’t you?”

Woohyun closes his binder and chuckles, “Everyone likes him. He’s a mood maker.”

The smile on Myungsoo’s face is a curious one, “Be careful or an accident might happen to you too, then.”

Woohyun leaves as quickly as he can.

---

“You like him, don’t you?”

Sungjong asks Sungyeol and Woohyun just happens to be sitting in the room as well, listening silently.

“Sungyeol hyung, you like Myungsoo, don’t you?”

“What?” Sungyeol asks and his head, “I mean, I guess.”

Sungjong sighs exasperatedly, “I mean you like him.”

“Oh,” Sungyeol says and then he gets really quiet for a while and is about to follow up his ‘oh’ with something else but Woohyun interrupts.

“I think we should have Kim Myungsoo transferred to a different hospital.”

Sungyeol doesn’t understand what any of this means.

---

Two weeks later and Myungsoo’s transfer is going through and Sungyeol stops by to visit him one last time.

“Hi, prince,” Myungsoo greets and is sitting upright in his bed as usual.

“Hi, princess,” Sungyeol greets back and then sits at the foot of Myungsoo’s bed.

“How was your trip?”

“Huh?” Sungyeol asks and then he remembers that he was supposed to be M.I.A.

But Myungsoo already knows and he just laughs, “It’s okay.”

Sungyeol smiles sheepishly, “Sorry. I hear you’re getting to move into a bigger castle though, with lots of more princes and even a dragon who guards the place.”

Myungsoo is staring blankly at the ceiling and it’s silent for a long time and finally he says, “If I told you the truth then could I be let out of here?”

It’s a surprise to Sungyeol but he places his hand on Myungsoo’s leg and squeezes it, “I don’t really think you want to be let out of here.”

“You’re right,” Myungsoo nods, “But if I could escape then I could take my prince with me.”

Sungyeol chuckles, “I can’t go anywhere with you, princess.”

“That’s a shame,” Myungsoo sighs and looks at Sungyeol with heavy eyes.

And he can’t take it anymore so he stands to leave, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“I already did.”

---

Name: Kim Myungsoo

Birthday: 3/13/92

Hometown: Seoul

Kidnapped at the age of six and tortured in a cell. Recently found and released as of last year. Admitted into several different institutes.

There’s a picture of the man who spent fourteen years abusing Myungsoo and he looks just like Sungyeol.