A youthful man with blonde hair gazed out the library window to the green-filled grounds of the palace, watching a group of farm boys tend to animals. He enjoyed watching them when he was bored, a very short one in particular, and had learned their daily work schedules. The man laughed to himself when he noticed the short one stumbled into the muddy pig pen.

The man set down his book and left the library after that, calling his knight to follow him.

Out on the fields, the short farm boy angrily wiped the mud off his closes with his hands, huffing in irritation at the other boy working with him. “Baekhyun, why did you trip me?!” he scolded the other, who was laughing his head off a safe distance away from the pen.

“I-I didn’t trip you!” the assistant Baekhyun gasped out, trying to stop his laughter. “I just casually adjusted my foot so it was in your pathway.”

Kyungsoo climbed crawled out of the pen and threw a handful of dirt at his friend who dodged it expertly.

“Is that all you got?” Baekhyun teased, smirking mischievously.

Kyungsoo crossed his arms and smirked back. “I think a more suitable revenge is maybe slipping some top secret information to a certain tall knight….,” Kyungsoo said nonchalantly before laughing at Baekhyun’s mortified expression.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Baekhyun shrieked.

“I don’t know,” sang Kyungsoo. “Maybe I’ll tell him it was you who slipped the flower into his room.”

Baekhyun slapped his cheeks to his face to hide the growing redness from his embarrassed flush. “I would die if he found out,” he whined loudly. “He’d never let me live it down.”

“Oh he’s so wonderful!” Kyungsoo squeaked in a high pitched voice, mocking Baekhyun as he impersonated him. “He has those funny ears but they make him look cute! Chanyeol is perfect! Chanyeol has such a handsome smile! Chanyeol—”

“Someone say my name?”

Simultaneously, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo nearly fell to the ground as their whipped around to see Chanyeol smiling like his usual self, adorning his Knight wear and sword to his side.

“N-No, you didn’t!” Baekhyun squeaked, wide eyed.

“Er, just forget what you heard,” Kyungsoo advised him shyly, bowing his head in greeting.

“Perhaps you two should be punished for talking about my knight behind his back,” another voice came from behind Chanyeol, appearing to the other servants as he walked proudly in his regal attire. The youthful, blonde male smirked as he noticed his short servant boy stare widely at him. 

“M-My apologies, Your Highness,” Kyungsoo stammered, bowing deeply as he apologies, Baekhyun following in suit.

“Prince Yifan,” Baekhyun greeted. “Are you enjoying a walk this fine afternoon?”

Prince Yifan shrugged. “I became bored of my studies. I came out to find something to entertain myself.” He looked at the servants’ muddy clothes and smudges of dirt on their faces. He silently appreciated the look on his short boys’ especially. “I think maybe I’ve found it for today.”

Kyungsoo awkwardly looked away from the prince, knowing fully well he was the one being examined. “T-There are some freshly bloomed hibiscuses in the garden,” he suggested.

The prince hummed in thought, nodding to himself. “Hibiscus…It symbolizes delicate beauty, correct?”

Baekhyun nodded, “Indeed, Your Highness.”

Prince Yifan smiled softly. “Will you have some cut for me?” he asked Kyungsoo, who nodded in agreement. “Perfect.”

His knight Chanyeol then cut in. “Prince Yifan, I must remind you that you are meeting with His Majesty in an hour.”

“Ah, yes,” Yifan remembered his father telling him about their tea meeting earlier.

“The meeting is about a bride, is it not?” Chanyeol asked curiously.

Yifan grimaced, “Indeed. It won’t be very enjoyable.” Yifan glimpsed at Kyungsoo briefly, noticing a frown on the other’s face.

“You,” Yifan called unto him sharply, causing Kyungsoo to whip his head up to look back at him. “Deliver my flowers to my room at ten o’clock sharp this evening. If not, I’ll have you fired. And make sure you change clothes before entering the palace or you’ll be cleaning up the dirt you track in,” he demanded before leaving the servants’ as he walked back to the palace, his knight following him.

Baekhyun sighed heavily before looking to Kyungsoo in pity. “He always seems to pick on you,” he noted, clucking his tongue. “It’s unfair.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Kyungsoo replied quickly, picking up a pail of feed before walking along with his friend. “He’s the prince and that’s that.”

“I know, Kyung, but he’s never threatens to fire any other than you!” Baekhyun complained, feeling bad for his friend. “Is it your huge eyes? Maybe that make him feeling uncomfortable…”

“My eyes aren’t that huge!” Kyungsoo argued, his frown deepening. “And I doubt that’s the reason. I think it’s just me in general.”

Baekhyun draped a comforting arm over his friend’s shoulder. “Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. I think the prince is just lacking in brains.”

“Shut your mouth!” Kyungsoo gasped, slapping Baekhyun’s arm. “Don’t let anyone else catch you saying things like that!

“Well it’s obviously true if he—”

“Say another word or I’ll tell Chanyeol—”

“Noooooooo!”

That evening, Kyungsoo carries a bouquet of hibiscus flowers through the palace halls in his cleanest clothes that don’t have a single tear in them. It’s nearly ten o’clock and he’s rushing along as quickly as his short legs can take them so he doesn’t miss his deadline.

He winds up at his destination just barely on time, huffing as he knocks on the prince’s bedroom door. “Y-You’re Highness,” he pants, trying to catch his breath. “I-I’m here w-with y-your flowers.”

He hears a deep voice saying to enter from the other side of the door, and he turns the door knob to let himself in.

Prince Yifan is sitting in a chair by the window with a book in his hands. He looks to stunning as his hair shines in the candle light and his long legs crossed comfortably as he sits.

“Close the door.”

Kyungsoo does as he’s told, before taking a few steps forward to present the flowers. “Y-Your flowers, Your Highness.”

Prince Yifan set his book down on the table beside him, before walking towards the shorter male, stopping only an inch in front of him. He feels amusement as he can tell the farm boy’s heart must be racing so quickly, being in his presence.

“The flowers aren’t for me,” he says coolly, watching the questioning looks on the other’s face.

“Um…”

Yifan took the flowers and set them down on the wardrobe, before turning back to the other. He brought a hand to Kyungsoo’s cheek, caressing his face as he admired his clean skin. “They’re for you,” he admitted. “They’re for you to make you realize just how beautiful you are.”

Kyungsoo smiled shyly, pressing his face into Yifan’s shoulder to hide the flush that crept to his face. “You shouldn’t say sappy things.”

Yifan wrapped his arms around the younger, pulling his close. It was moments like this he wished he wasn’t a prince, but a normal person so he could hold his lover all the time. No one knew of their secret affair, for avoiding a disaster, but he wanted nothing more than to scream it to the world.

“I’m a prince, I do what I want,” he said, smiling when he heard Kyungsoo’s laughter.

“Thank you for the flowers,” Kyungsoo told him appreciatively.

Yifan leaned down to kiss his lover, holding Kyungsoo close as he felt the other melt into the kiss, wrapping his arms around the prince’s neck.

“I don’t want you to marry,” Kyungsoo whispered, pouting sadly as he remembered Yifan’s meeting earlier.

Yifan sighed, frowning as well. “I don’t want to either. I’m trying to hold off picking a bride for as long as possible,” he said.

Kyungsoo nodded, understanding that there would be a time when Yifan would have to marry to produce an heir. He knew they couldn’t be this way—have each other—forever. He just didn’t want that time to be soon. He didn’t want to lose the man so quickly.

Yifan noticed the sadness in his lover’s eyes. He pulled the younger to his bed, laying him down on his back as he laid beside him, pulling him close. He pressed his lips to Kyungsoo’s lips before whispering in his ear, “I love you so much.”

Kyungsoo nodded, smiling softly. “I love you too,” he mumbled back, wrapped his arms around the taller man’s neck before closing the distance between their lips once more.

A prince and a farm boy stayed together that night, whispering sweet words as they danced together beneath the silk sheets. Overwhelming passion deluded them, not giving a worry in their treasured moments together.

During the night, they loved. During the days, they were silenced. Fantasies of a life together were only realistic in their minds.

A prince and farm boy was all they could ever be.