Honestly I like the sound of Baekhun more than Sebaek but Baekhun is too close to the spelling of Baekhyun and there is no selfcest in these drabbles!

Sehun/Baekhyun : Palace

Sehun trails behind his mother, clutching the herb basket with both hands. “Mama, can we please get father?”

“Someone could be hurt!” His mother insists, fighting her way through thorn bushes. “Come along now!”

But it’s getting dark, and Sehun didn’t like the scream they heard a few moments ago at all. He may be growing up, but he’s enough of a child to believe that the woods is full of monsters and wild animals, and every shadow he sees only makes him more afraid.

“Mama…”

“Come along, child!”

Sehun bursts into tears. “Mama, I’m scared!”

That finally makes his mother finally come to a stop. She walks back to where Sehun is standing, knees shaking and tears dripping down his cheeks, and takes the basket from his hands. “My son, nothing will harm you as long as I am here.” She his hair and kisses his forehead. “Sometimes I forget that you’re still so young. But it’s safe here, I promise.”

Sehun is slightly comforted, and he follows after his mother a little less hesitantly. After only a few more steps, she comes to a stop and gasps.

“Merciful Gods!” She lurches forward, and Sehun screams as she disappears from his view.

“MAMA!”

“I’m fine, child! Go get your father, and hurry!”

Sehun scrambles forward, and peers over the edge of an incline to see his mother cradling a filthy young boy in her lap. The boy lies still, with his eyes closed, and Sehun feels chilled to the bone at the stillness of his face. He doesn’t linger, he races back to the house, screaming for his father.

By the time the two of them get back to the woods, Sehun’s mother has hauled the young boy out of the incline and Sehun’s father helps her carry the stranger back to their house. Mother wastes no time, she clears her examination table and lays the boy out, cutting away his filthy clothes. Only then can Sehun see the faint rise and fall of his chest as he breathes.

“Sehun, get me water.”

Sehun doesn’t even have to think, he knows how to help his mother with her patients. She wipes the boy down with a white cloth dipped in a boiled herb mixture, and uses a swatch of undyed silk to dribble water into his mouth. The she cuts away the boys pants, and finds a deep wound on his calf. It isn’t festering, but it isn’t clean either. Mother claps her hands three times and begins a chant, asking for blessings from the spirits and gods. Then she begins treatment of the wound. During the middle of the cleaning, the young boy wakes up. He thrashes on the table and Sehun’s father pins him by his shoulders, and mother rushes to comfort him.

“You’re safe now, we’re taking care of your injury.”

The young boy looks around with wide eyes, and tears slowly roll down his cheeks. “Please don’t hurt me,” he begs, “I don’t have any money, I have nothing—”

“It’s alright,” mother soothes, “We’re not out to hurt you. I’m trying to help you, I’m going to treat your wound.”

The young boy takes one more look around the room, and he locks gazes with Sehun. At that moment, Sehun feels something strange in his chest, but it fades before he can even wonder what it is. And in the next second, the boy falls back against the table in a faint.

Mother sighs. “Well, let’s get on with it. Sehun, go to bed. You can help me in the morning.”

It’s been such a long day, Sehun barely manages to make it to his bed before collapsing. He doesn’t even change out of his dirty clothes.

In the morning, Sehun wakes up to his mother shaking him. “Come on now, up! I need you to sit with our guest while I go collect herbs.”

Sehun pushes himself up, rubbing his eyes and blinking in the bright light. Mother shakes her head.

“Look at you, you didn’t even change…well you can clean the sheets later. Come on, I’ve made you some tea and rice. Wash your face and get moving.”

It takes only a few minutes for Sehun to be ready for the day. He takes his place at the side of his mother’s young patient, and soon after she leaves the young boy wakes up. The first thing out of his mouth is a plea for water. Sehun gets a cup and is about to dunk it in the water jug, but the boy sees the jug and lunges for it. Sehun helps him hold the heavy container, and to his amazement the boy doesn’t spill a drop, in spite of how quickly he drinks. Sehun eventually forces the boy to slow down, and when he’s had his fill the jug is only a third full.

The boy gasps for breath, and finally he’s able to turn to Sehun and ask, “What town is this?”

“Miyang, in Anseong.”

The boy gapes. “Really? Oh…I went farther than I thought.” He sits up straight and inclines his head slightly. “My name is Baekhyun, I’m thirteen years old.”

“I’m Sehun, I’m eleven.”

“So I’m older than you,” Baekhyun says gleefully. He drops his formal speech, but even then the way he talks seems very polite. “I used to live in the capitol, but I’m running away. I’m trying to get to Jeju-do, do you think it’ll take me very long?”

Sehun laughs. “It’s an island! To even get to the sea, it’s a journey of a month on foot, maybe even more.”

Baekhyun slumps over, looking quiet put-out. “Oh.”

Sehun instantly feels horrible. “Why would you even want to go there? Why are you running away?”

Baekhyun sits up again. “Because…because my family is better off without me.”

Sehun is shocked. “How can you say that? I’m sure your family loves you!”

“Do you have any siblings?”

Sehun shakes his head. “No, I’m an only son.”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Then you could never understand. I’m a fourth son.”

Sehun is confused. “So? You’re still precious, all sons are. I wish I had a big family like yours, I’ve always wanted brothers.”

Baekhyun laughs. “You can have mine! Oh, the entire family was sure I was going to be a girl. The doctors, the aunts, my grandmother, even my father was sure I’d be a girl. Then I came along, and there were already three older boys, and everything had been given to them.” He sighs and looks down at his hands. “There’s nothing left for me. They don’t talk about it, but I know. They let me get away with everything, sometimes I act out on purpose to see if they’ll punish me, and they don’t. It’s because they feel sorry for me.”

“Are you nobility, then?”

Baekhyun’s head shoots up. “What? What makes you think so?”

“Everything,” Sehun answers. “Your speech, the things you’re talking about, you’re skinny and dirty but you’re not rough. You’re graceful, someone cares about you.”

Baekhyun makes a face. “No, no they don’t. They keep me presentable, but they don’t love me. Well, maybe my second-born brother does. Not the first-born, I’m just an added rival to him, and not third-born, because I get away with more than he does. My second brother is far enough away from everyone else where he feels sorry for me.”

“How old are your brothers?”

“First is eighteen, second is sixteen, and third is fourteen. I threw off the two year gap.”

Sehun giggles, and Baekhyun laughs with him. Not the harsh laugh from before, but a real one. It changes him, and Sehun likes Baekhyun better when he’s really laughing. Without even thinking, he reaches for Baekhyun’s hand. The moment they touch, that same feeling from the night before passes through Sehun again, and once more it passes before he can think about it.

There’s a noise outside and Sehun and Baekhyun jump apart. Mother is back, and she shoos Sehun away so she can continue her treatment.

On the second day of his treatment Baekhyun admits to having wandered for almost a week in the woods, and having run out of water on his third day and food on his fourth. Mother almost faints when she hears that and scolds Baekhyun fiercely for being so careless. Father tries to stop her, having also realized that Baekhyun is nobility and far above their own social standing, but mother cuts him off and scolds her husband as well.

“You think his own mother would tell him off any differently from me? Why I dare say the Queen mother herself would give this child a scolding so harsh his ears would turn red! No matter what class you belong to, a child who treats his own life so carelessly needs harsh words!” She rounds on Baekhyun. “Your mother must be worried sick about you!”

Baekhyun had tolerated the scolding quite well until that point, but at the mention of his own mother he suddenly begins to cry. “No, she doesn’t. She never once told me that she loved me, never!”

Sehun’s mother softens, and she holds Baekhyun in her arms. “Hush now, don’t say such a thing about the woman who gave you your life. Were you born from her body?”

Baekhyun looks at her in confusion. “Yes?”

“Then she loves you, don’t ever doubt it. She loved you from the first time she felt you stir in her body.”

And after he hears that, Baekhyun promises to be a good patient and heal quickly, and he agrees to go home to his family.

It takes two weeks for Baekhyun to recover his strength, and Sehun stays with him through all of it. They even share a bed, though they don’t sleep much, instead they stay up late, talking in hushed voices. Mother complains in the morning, asking what they talk about at night that they haven’t said during the day.

But there’s so much to say! Though Baekhyun never calls his siblings by their names or gives away details about where exactly he lives in the capitol, he talks a lot about his life. Stories of his brothers, of things he did to get in trouble, and of the books he’s read. Sehun can read, but there isn’t a lot to read in his town. Baekhyun writes him short stories, and Sehun keeps them in a box with his robes. And Sehun in turn tells Baekhyun about his life as an only child, and about his mother’s healing practices.

“She’s a shaman, as I’m sure you guessed. I’ve always watched her when she heals, and when she dances, but I never see her go to the spirit world, I’m not allowed.”

“I’ve never met a shaman,” Baekhyun says. “She’s not like what I expected. But I’m grateful to her.”

One thing Sehun’s mother does is interpret dreams, and Sehun wishes he could tell her about the dreams he keeps having, about Baekhyun and the color purple. But he never finds a good time to bring it up. And something always stops him from mentioning the dream in front of Baekhyun.

When Baekhyun recovers his strength and can walk unaided, Sehun’s father decided to bring him back to the capitol. The night before he leaves is probably the saddest night of Sehun’s life. He and Baekhyun don’t sleep at all. They lie side by side, hands clasped tight, each one fighting not to cry.

“I’ll never forget you,” Baekhyun vows. “One day I swear I’ll find a way to see you again. I’ll find you, I’ll find a way to bring us back together.”

Sehun nods, but he doesn’t have much hope, and Baekhyun can sense it.

“Believe in me, Sehun! I need you to, or it won’t happen.” Baekhyun sits up, dragging Sehun with him. Baekhyun fixes him with a pointed stare. “Swear to me that you’ll never lose faith in me. Swear that you’ll wait for me.”

“Wait for what?” Sehun demands.

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun admits, “But just…just wait.”

Sehun has no idea what he’s promising, but he swears not to lose faith in Baekhyun. They lie back down and spend the rest of the night in silence. At dawn, when they hear Sehun’s father stirring in the next room, they whisper goodbyes. And just before they leave the room, Baekhyun leans over and presses a kiss to Sehun’s lips.

Sehun doesn’t tell anyone about the kiss. When his father returns two weeks later without Baekhyun, life returns to normal, and for a while Sehun wonders if he dreamed it all. But he has Baekhyun’s stories, written down for him, as proof. So he never loses hope.

Sehun is fifteen, and he hasn’t seen Baekhyun in four years. He’s dreamed about Baekhyun every night, and cried every morning when Baekhyun wasn’t there. He get spends his day helping his mother with her healings and his father with the pottery, and at night he practices writing and reading. Those are his days, without fail. Sehun’s dreams get more and more vivid, yet their meaning remains unclear to him. He knows they mean something important, but he can’t decipher it on his own and he’s reluctant to speak about it. He’s reluctant to speak at all. It annoys his father to no end, he presses mother to heal her son somehow. She refuses and says that Sehun’s spirit will heal when it is ready. And Sehun remains silent.

Until one night when father looks up and says, “We should probably go see a matchmaker soon. Our son ought to be engaged.”

Sehun drops his bowl, puts his hands over his ears, and screams. He screams so loud and for so long that his throat aches from it, but he can’t seem to stop. He feels like he’s dying, like he’s been stabbed in the heart, and the only thing that eventually stops him is his mother forcing a warm liquid down his throat—he nearly chokes, but he stops screaming long enough for mother to slap her hand over his mouth and take him to his room. The tea she forced into him was calming, not enough to make him pass out, but enough to make him drowsy, and it takes effect right away.

Mother lays Sehun out on his bedroll and sits beside him, brushing his hair. “My son, have you come back to me at last? Or is your spirit still wandering? Should mama call it back, or can you find your way without me?”

Sehun grabs his mother’s hand. “I c-can’t get married,” he stammers through chattering teeth. “I can’t d-do it, mama. I pr-promised that I w-would wait.”

“Wait for who?”

Sehun chokes back a sob. “Baekhyun.”

Mother kisses his cheek. “Alright, dear son. It won’t be mentioned again.”

Sehun’s body goes limp, and he falls asleep.

A week after that incident, Sehun is out with his father chopping wood when suddenly he hears hoof beats—a lot of them. He looks up and sees a small cloud of dust over the tree tops. His stomach swoops, and he realizes that he’s excited.

A troop of about twenty men in army regalia come trotting up to Sehun’s front door, and the lead rider dismounts and walks up to Sehun’s father.

“I have been told that this is the Oh residence. Is that correct?”

“It is,” Sehun’s father replies. “What can I do for His Majesty’s army?”

“We have come to extend to you an invitation to the Palace, on behalf of the King and Queen. They wish to show their gratitude for your role in saving the Prince’s life.”

Sehun’s head spins. When did his father save the Prince?

“Go to the Palace?” Father asks. “I’m sorry, I must decline. I’m far too lowly to even think of stepping foot in His Majesty’s palace. A simple potter like myself could never.”

The leader bows slightly. “His Majesty extend his most sincere wish that you will accompany us back. And if not you, your wife, and your son, then he requests that you send your son in your place.”

Father stiffens slightly. “That won’t be necessary, we will all go.”

The leader smiles brightly. “Thank you, sir. We will take care of your transportation, and you will be provided for upon arrival to the Palace. Please prepare to leave by morning.”

Father bows, and Sehun copies him. As soon as the riders leave, Sehun runs into the house.

“Mama!”

He almost smacks into her and she steadies him with a wide smile. “Hurry up now, Sehun! We have no time to waste.”

The journey takes a week on horseback, and each member of Sehun’s family rides on their own horse. They stay at Inns overnight, and the troop of Palace soldiers pays for their room and food. Sehun knows that his father is wary of all this, but his mother is calm as ever.

“Things will work out,” She says on the final night before they reach the Palace. “I can feel it, this is how things should be.”

But she refuses to say more.

When Sehun enters the first gate of the Palace he’s already awestruck, and by the time they’re through the third gate and approaching the throne room, he’s feeling a bit like how an ant must feel in the woods. Tiny, and vulnerable. Even his mother has started to look a little nervous.

“OH SEHUN!”

Sehun whirls around and freezes. In an instant, time seems to stand still. It’s been four years, but he knows Baekhyun’s voice anywhere. And his face…he’s seventeen now, and he’s grown into a handsome young man. His smile is gorgeous and his eyes are bright, and that’s all Sehun can see because in the next second Baekhyun is crashing into him, nearly sending them both to the floor. Sehun clings to Baekhyun’s shoulders and Baekhyun squeezes him tightly.

“You came, you really came! Sehun, you’re here! I don’t believe it! I was half convinced you wouldn’t…but you’re here now, you’re here!” Baekhyun pulls back, his smile almost blinding. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too!” Sehun cries, tears threatening to fall. “I thought about you all the time, every day, I…” he stops and looks at Baekhyun. The clothes he’s wearing…that color…it’s the color from his dreams! And Baekhyun…Baekhyun lives in the Palace?!

Before Sehun can open his mouth someone yells, “His Majesty approaches!”

Baekhyun falls to his knees, as does everyone else in the hallway. Sehun keeps his head down and after a second he sees a bright red and green robe from the corner of his eye, and Baekhyun stands up.

“Father, look! I told you Sehun would come!”

The King chuckles. “So you did, my dear son. I’m sure you have a lot to say to your friend. Why don’t you go off and talk, while I speak to his parents.”

Baekhyun grabs Sehun’s arm and hauls him to his feet. Sehun doesn’t even glance at the King, not that he has a chance. Baekhyun has his hand, and together they sprint off. Sehun can’t even keep track of where they’re going, and eventually they come to a stop in front of a large red door. Baekhyun opens it, drags Sehun inside, and then closes the door again.

“This is my room,” Baekhyun says. “We have to keep our voices down, the walls are very thin.”

Sehun falls to his knees, shock making his legs weak. “You’re the Prince?”

Baekhyun nods and sits opposite Sehun. “Yes. The fourth born Prince of the King’s chief wife. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, but we had only met and…I was afraid you wouldn’t want to be my friend if you knew. I was afraid you would treat me differently. And honestly, I kind of hated being a Prince. Remember when I told you that everyone thought I would be a girl, and it would have been better if I was, because nothing was left for me? It’s true, even more so now that my oldest brother is married and has a son. Now I’m fifth in line, and my second brother is married and his wife is pregnant! If it’s a boy I’ll be sixth in line!”

He takes a deep breath. “So anyway, I ran away from home because I thought it would be better for everyone if I disappeared. But then your mom convinced me to come back. Your father took me as far as the market place outside, and then I told him that I could find my way back, and I promised that one day I’d find him again and thank him properly. I found my nursemaid in the market place, and when she saw me she screamed loud enough to wake the dead! She actually carried me back to the palace, and the entire way she was screaming, ‘A miracle from the Gods!’ She carried me straight to the throne room, and then my mother and father saw me and they started screaming too, and my mother…she held me for hours, she thought I was dead.”

Sehun shakes his head. “I never imagined you were the Prince…but looking back I suppose I should have. What must you have thought of me, of my family? We didn’t treat you like a prince at all.”

“But I loved that!” Baekhyun cries. “Sehun, I’ve never had a friend before, and you were so kind and so good to me, and I knew it was because of me, not because I was the Prince. I really am sorry that I didn’t tell you, but at first I was scared, and even when I wasn’t scared anymore, I didn’t want you to treat me differently. I hope you can forgive me for lying.”

“Of course I forgive you!” Sehun says. “I understand why you didn’t tell me, I really do, and honestly I’m so happy to see you again that I couldn’t be possibly be mad no matter what. But go on with your story! Were your parents upset with you when you came back?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Actually, I had never felt more loved before then. And when I came home, my parents both wanted to make sure that I knew how much they loved me. Father said that I could ask for anything, anything at all, and he would give it to me. And then I knew that there was only one thing I wanted more than anything else, and it was to see you again. When I told father about how your family had saved me, he said he would try to find you and he would bring your family here. He’s…he’s going to ask your parents if you can stay here. In the Palace.”

Sehun’s jaw drops. “What? Me? Stay here? But…but how? Why?”

Baekhyun laughs nervously. “Well…remember before I left, I asked you to wait for me?”

Sehun nods.

Baekhyun takes Sehun’s hand, and Baekhyun’s fingers are shaking. “Do you remember this?” And he leans over and kisses Sehun softly.

Sehun closes his eyes and presses more closely against Baekhyun, squeezing his hand tightly. He forgets that he’s kissing a Prince, and thinks only about how much he’s wanted to do this over the last four years. But eventually he realizes what he’s doing, and he pulls away.

“Baekhyun, we shouldn’t do that,” He says, putting his hand over his mouth.

Baekhyun looks pleadingly at Sehun. “Why?”

“You’re…unmarried, and so am I. We shouldn’t be…” Sehun’s brain slowly begins to catch up to the present. He gasps, and takes Baekhyun’s hand again.

“Baekhyun?”

“Yes?”

“Is the King…is he going to ask my parents…if they’ll let me marry you?”

Baekhyun swallows audibly. “What…what do you think they would say if he did?”

Sehun thinks for a moment. “They would say that it’s up to me. They would say that they would want me to be happy.”

Baekhyun grabs Sehun’s other hand and holds them both to his own chest. “Sehun, I’ve thought about you every day for four years. Even though I only knew you for a short time, you were a more dear friend to me than anyone has ever been and will ever be. I may be a Prince, but I’m going to end up living a quiet life in a place far away from here. It won’t be exciting, but it will be comfortable. It would make me so happy if you would share that life with me.”

Sehun closes his eyes and tears drip down his cheeks. “Is it really okay? It sounds wonderful…too good to be true.”

“But it’s real, and I promise you I wouldn’t dangle this in front of you only to yank it away. Sehun…I love you.”

Sehun wrenches his hands out of Baekhyun’s grasp and throws his arms around Baekhyun’s neck, sending them both to the floor. He sobs into Baekhyun’s shoulder, “I love you too, oh Baekhyun, of course I’ll marry you!”

Just as Sehun predicted, a few hours later he meets his parents and they tell him about the King’s request, and they say, “We told him that it’s up to you.”

Mother smiles knowingly. “But I have an idea of what you’ll say.”

Sehun nods. “Baekhyun already told me everything, and asked me to marry him. I said I would.”

Father sighs. “Your mother really does know you well. I wasn’t sure…the King said he was going to give me a title and land in the capitol, to thank me for taking care of his son. I wasn’t sure what to say, but when he said that he wanted to marry his son to you…I couldn’t believe it.” He put his hand on Sehun’s shoulder. “This will make you happy?”

Sehun nods again. “It will make me so happy. And you should accept the title, imagine how much pottery you could sell in the city!”

Mother laughs. “Oh, he accepted alright. If he didn’t then I would have! As if I’d go back to the woods and leave my son here all alone. Not that I have anything to worry about. I always knew you would have a great life, and you would be loved dearly.”

Sehun hugs both his parents. “This feels like a dream. I can’t believe how happy I am right now!”

Sehun’s mother kisses his cheek. “May you be happy for one hundred years, dear son.”

Those words stay with Sehun, and a few months later when he and Baekhyun move into their own villa, Sehun offers a suggestion.

“Let’s call it ‘The Place of 100 Years of Happiness.’” 

Happy 3rd Anniversary to EXO!!!

I don't know anything about the royalty of the ancient Korean empire TT~~~TT