❄  A day without you  ❄

Minseok’s still quietly laughing to himself as he closes his bedroom door behind him and sits down on his bed.

After the ball had wrapped up the day before, he and Luhan went to bed after midnight. But today they finally managed to put in action what they didn’t have time to do after the ball.

It was raining—hard. Luhan had come back into the castle dripping and muddy, and he and Minseok then promptly began the tedious task of re-painting the entire great hall in muddy brown, footprints and water all over the previously shining, marble floor.

Gerda’s going to kill Luhan.

It’s great because everyone knows the difference between the two cousins—Luhan’s far more boisterous, mischievous and childish, so no one ever shoves the blame on Minseok’s shoulders.

He glances out the window, able to hear the wind howling, flying past the walls of the castle.

He wasn’t so affected by the cold, with the window wide open, but he didn’t want anything on his desk to get wet from the rain, so he’s just making a move to get up and shut the window before his jaw drops, eyes widening.

“Jongdae??” Minseok gaped. “What—how—”

Jongdae was clambering through his window.

Minseok’s window was on the third floor.

And even more, how did he get in the gates?

Even more, there was a heavy storm brewing outside—the chandeliers were shaking so heavily Minseok was surprised Jongdae’s small frame hadn’t been picked up and hurled away.

“Sssshh,” Jongdae gently shushes him, pressing a finger to his lips. Minseok’s voice died almost instantaneously. “Can I come in?” he whispers.

Minseok quickly moves away from his window, to let Jongdae haul himself through the frame and stumble into the middle of his room.

“Oh I’m so sorry about my shoes…” Jongdae was saying as he hurriedly takes them off, though not stopping them from having left smudges of the mud on them on Minseok’s carpet. But he could hardly care less.

“No worry about that—why… and how did you come here??”

Jongdae grins, though Minseok’s always found it more similar to a smirk.

“Do you remember what you asked me a day ago at the ball—about where I lived?”

“Ahh, we’ll probably have to go early, before the party finishes…” Jongdae mutters, evidently upset.

“Oh, really? Where do you live?”

“Across that sea… way on the other side.”

“That seems far.”

“That is far… I guess. But by ship it’s not too bad, especially since the winds have been pretty good, and we’re going faster than normal.”

“Then how have I never seen you before? Auntie holds a lot of parties like these.”

“Mum and Dad just tell me not to come—apparently they’d used to come to these parties, but just a bit before I was born, they stopped coming. It’s a trek anyway.”

“…What about it?”

Jongdae grinned wider. “Did you ask that because you wanted me to come?”

“Does that mean I won’t see you very often then? Like… you won’t come to my Aunt’s events all that much then… right?”

Minseok swallowed and smoothed his side burns. “N-no.”

“Anyhow, do you remember what I said after that?”

“Yeah, I suppose… but I’ll come see you! I can always drop by whenever I want.”

“Is that why you came all the way? Just because you wanted to?” Minseok gaped in disbelief. If he were Jongdae, he wouldn’t have wasted his time talking to such an antisocial potato, let alone coming all the way.

“I said I’d come see you.”

“I didn’t expect you to come through my window in the middle of the night one day after the ball!” Minseok peeked out of his window, and turns back inside to stare wide eyed at Jongdae, unbelieving his eyes. The ground looked a lifetime away. “How did you get up here??”

Jongdae shrugged. “Your bricks are these huge slabs—easy to climb, I mean.”

“How did you get past the guards??”

“They deserted their post.” That was infact true. There were no guards when Jongdae had arrived—mainly because Jack Frost had said it was unnecessary, with such a violent storm. But Minseok didn’t and didn’t need to know that.

“Then how’d you get past the gates??”

Jongdae scowled, pouting. “You just don’t want me here.” Then he made a move to hop back out of the window.

“No, no, no!” Minseok hurriedly grabbed onto the back of his tattered dark grey jacket. “I don’t mean that—but you had to come in the middle of this storm…!”

“Mmm.” Jongdae nods. “And?”

Minseok blinked. Jongdae, he decided, was weird. He couldn’t understand how Jongdae survived, let alone seemed unfazed by the winds, but no matter that, Jongdae needed a hot drink.

And right on time—a knock sounded on Minseok’s door.

His eyes widened, and hurriedly pushed Jongdae flat on the carpet, hidden behind the curtains of his raised bed. He didn’t have time to be embarrassed as their noses brushed together the slightest as he forcefully knocked Jongdae to the floor, being able to feel Jongdae’s breath on his lips—a worried voice called from the other side of the door.

“Master Minseok? Are you alright in there?”

“I’m fine!!” Minseok raises his head and calls back. With a dip of his head, he was back to staring Jongdae in his perfect green eyes, a few centimetres from having their faces press together…

“Be quiet,” he whispers before clambering off him.

He gives Jongdae on the floor a quick glance before sprinting to the door.

“Master Minseok!” the head maid that had brought him up, Gerda, was looking at him, clearly concerned. “What was that noise?”

“What noi—oh,” he quickly changed smoothly. “I had forgotten to close my windows, and you know the wind—a few books fell off my bookshelf when it’d swayed,” Minseok lied, adding a quirk of his lips.

“Oh dear—are you alright??”

“I’m fine Gerda.” He reassured with a smile.

“Would you want some help? I’ll get some people to come up and—”

“No, no, don’t worry yourself,” Minseok quickly intercepted, holding the door strictly against his body. The only thing preventing the maid to see Jongdae lying in the middle of his room was his door, himself, and his bed. “Though… maybe bring up some hot tea and cookies, and I’ll just close my window now.”

“Oh of course master Minseok.” Gerda bowed respectfully.

Minseok dipped his head, as per usual, but watched her hurry out of his sight, and only then did he quickly slam the door shut behind him.

“You can come out.”

And when Minseok receives no reply, he wonders if Jongdae’s fallen asleep as he deals with his maid.

“Jongdae?”

Then Minseok takes a look at the open window—what if Jongdae’s gone? What if Jongdae had realised that he didn’t really want to stay for a cup of tea afterall?

But Minseok isn’t given the chance to begin his self-blame, as he had just rounded his bed, and before he could react, a hand darts out to grab his wrist, and he feels the familiar peculiar sensation of his feet being pulled out from under him. But instead of landing flat on his face on his carpet, he falls straight into Jongdae’s open arms, back on a similar position on the floor.

Jongdae was grinning, a sly smile playing on his lips. “This is nice.”

Is it? He wanted to say, but doesn’t sum up the power to, somehow.

“Let’s stay like this.”

Minseok had his eyes widened, face reddening faster than when Luhan told him his first innuendo.

“Jongd—”

And there goes the knocks on his door.

He could hear Jongdae groan loudly in irritation, and freezes up. He presses his index finger to his lips, telling himself it wasn’t right to take note specifically of the shape of his lips.

“Your house workers are so annoying.”

Minseok shoots him a disapproving look. He loved his house keepers—it was them who raised him when his parents were busy running the country. “I’m coming!!” he quickly shouts, and pulls himself from Jongdae’s arms. The temperature seemed to drop a few good degrees.

This time, he was greeted with a silver tray of a delicate porcelain rimmed with gold tea set, with a plate of chocolate chip cookies to the side. Looking closer, Minseok smiles, seeing how they didn’t only bring him tea, as he asked for, but also a cup of hot chocolate.

Thanking the maid, he quickly closes the door.

This time, Jongdae approaches him, thanking him for the food, and they both take their seats on the carpet in the middle of Minseok’s room (though not before Minseok locks the door).

Jongdae was warming his hands with the hot chocolate, with Minseok choosing the tea for himself. Usually it was a much more difficult choice, and the kitchen hands probably knew so brought him both, but with someone to share it with, Minseok was perfectly content.

“Your house is cold.”

“Outside is cold!”

“Your house is colder.”

“My house houses Jack Frost, Queen Elsa and me.”

Jongdae laughs. “That’s right—I should’ve dressed more warmly.”

“…Do you want a blanket?”

“Oooh!!”

Minseok then tugs his blanket off his perfectly done bed and giving it to Jongdae, who trips and flails with the giant, fluffy blanket, getting tangled in it then eventually inviting Minseok under the blanket with him, having plenty of space as the blanket was much too large anyways.

They spend hours huddled together, sipping on their hot drinks and munching on cookies as they talked, chatted. They would quiet down, giggling in hushed whispers as the footsteps of the maids came and passed outside the door, then resume their conversation.

Funny thing was, Jongdae was able to get Minseok talking. Really talking.

When the two of them fall quiet, they would silently drink and eat until one of them come up with another topic to talk about again.

It was almost two in the morning when Minseok pipes up about Jongdae’s hometown.

“It was really funny actually,” Jongdae chuckles. “Mother told me this story about her being kidnapped by this witch when she was a baby and locked up in this giant tower. Her real parents would then send these lanterns into the sky on every one of her birthdays… and that’s why she escaped her tower with dad….”

Minseok’s eyebrows go up. “Because she wanted to see lanterns?”

Jongdae laughs. “Yeah… I guess. But then on that journey, she finds out her real identity with being a princess and all… and she sees the world! And goes on epic chases with a horse!”

Minseok snorts into his now cold tea.

“I know right, dad was telling me about fighting a horse that knew how to fight with a sword with a frying pan…”

But despite the ridicule, Minseok was listening, highly attentive.

“What’s your country like?”

“Mmmm…” Jongdae pauses, staring off into the distance with a small smile, as if conjuring a mental image. “Oh there’re so many trees… there’s a great big lake too… it’s quite tropical, actually. The town I live in with the royal castle is really nice, with little houses and warm people and cobbled paths with horses and carriages and music playing and people singing and dancing together… children playing skipping rope or tag…” he smiles, before turning to look at Minseok.

Minseok was fixing him with a look of dazed longing. Jongdae’s hometown simply sounded so… beautiful. Oh how he wished he could just…

“Minseok?”

“It sounds absolutely wonderful, Jongdae,” Minseok whispers in a hushed tone, eyes shining. “It sounds perfect… warm, sunny, full of life…”

Jongdae is quick to change the subject. “Then tell me about Arendelle!” he chirps quickly.

“Well, you’re in it.”

Jongdae laughs and nudges him with his elbow. “I haven’t gone to look around yet.”

“Well the tid bits you’ve seen basically represent this place,” Minseok mutters, eyes downcast. “Cold. Winter. Snow. You know.”

“Hey, you get to build snowmen,” Jongdae nudges him, with cheekily raised eyebrows. It’s almost funny how Jongdae could get his mood right back up again with a simple sentence.

The two of them talked until the break of day, and only when the sun’s beginning to rise did they fall asleep, curled up in Minseok’s thick duvet on the carpet together.

A few hours later, at 9 o’clock in the morning, servants were bustling around, whispering to each other about the young prince’s whereabouts.

Minseok, meanwhile, was hopping around his bedroom trying to pull up his jeans, pack away the now empty tray from the night before and attempt at cleaning the muddy footprints Jongdae left.

Any moment and a servant could come bursting in and then—

“Master Minseok? Are you alright? Queen Elsa told me— oh my goodness I’m so sorry!” the poor servant girl squeaks, instantly shutting the door again, finding Minseok still in the process of buttoning up his shirt.

Minseok tried to will away his immense embarrassment—it bought him time to cover up Jongdae’s tracks at least.

The two of them had fallen asleep together, yet Minseok woke up alone, with only a postcard plastered on his forehead of the view of a sea from a balcony with the words ‘sorry Minseok—I have to be back home in a few hours, so I need to go’. Minseok, to say the least, felt too disappointed.

“It’s okay!” he quickly says, throwing open his cabinets and fishing out a pair of briefs to throw on the carpet, covering the mud—he made sure to enforce that the servants don’t touch his underwear when he first reached teenage years. “What did my mum say?”

Of course, sleeping only at like dawn, Minseok accidentally slept too far over his usual time—from 7 to 8 AM usually. He never really has anything to do though.

“S-she s-said you should come d-down for brunch,” she stuttered from behind the door before quietly bidding him farewell.

Minseok listens to her hurried footsteps fade away, probably rounding a corner or doing down a flight of stairs…

He relaxes, letting out a sigh. He glances towards the tray the servant had brought up, the midnight snack he and Jongdae shared, and decided to bring it down later to avoid giving any maid an excuse to go into his room.

Jongdae, obviously, knows enough about him. He knew he was the Prince—hard to miss with the boy’s blue eyes and shining white hair—and thus must know his name and identity.

But Minseok in return knew much too little about Jongdae himself.

❄

Merry Second Day of Christmas

Have an enjoyable Boxing Day for those who celebrate it :)

(cr.)

❄