As usual, Jonghyun woke up hours earlier than most people would consider socially acceptable, and the sight he woke up to was not at all unwelcome.

 

Taemin’s head was resting on Jonghyun’s chest, slowly rising and falling with each breath he took. The first rays of dawn were just peeking through the curtains, covering Taemin in a soft glow that made him seem even more angelic than usual. His lips were parted slightly, and Jonghyun thought they looked softer and more kissable as light puffs of air escaped from them.

 

He could have happily stared at Taemin for hours on end, but unfortunately his body had other plans in mind, because his legs were starting to cramp. And he was faced with quite the dilemma; either risk losing feeling in his legs for the rest of his life, or get out of bed and most likely wake the beautiful young man sleeping on top of him.

 

The longer he waited, the more he leaned towards the latter.

 

Taking a deep breath, Jonghyun raised the hand not trapped underneath Taemin’s body and placed it on Taemin’s head. Running his fingers through the black waves of hair, he hoped it was enough to quietly wake Taemin up without giving him a mini heart attack.

 

Taemin hummed quietly, moving his head so his face was buried in Jonghyun’s chest. He quickly realized he couldn’t breathe in that position, so he raised his head and squinted against the light filling the room.

 

“Wha?” He mumbled, barely having the energy to move his lips.

 

“My legs are cramping, Taemin-ah.” Jonghyun replied in a soft voice.

 

“Good.” Taemin muttered, and laid his head back on Jonghyun’s chest.

 

Jonghyun fought the urge not to whine. “Taeminnie, please, I need to get up.”

 

“No.” Taemin said, and wrapped his legs around one of Jonghyun’s.

 

“Taemin please, I don’t want to push you off.” Jonghyun said, stopping his of Taemin’s hair and leaving his hand against his head as if he were about to do just that.

 

Taemin let out a sound that was half hum, half whimper. “But you’re waaaaaaaaarm.” He whined.

 

Jonghyun huffed. “Then at least let me move my legs a bit. My old man bones can’t take this much longer.”

 

In wordless reply, Taemin rolled off of Jonghyun’s chest and grasped Jonghyun’s arm from the side. Jonghyun breathed a sigh of relief and bent his knees, already feeling better.

 

“Done yet?” Taemin murmured against Jonghyun’s shoulder. Jonghyun scoffed as he spread his toes apart.

 

“My, you’re an impatient one, aren’t you?”

 

“Want my Jonghyun-hyung.” He breathed, lips tickling the skin on Jonghyun’s arm. Jonghyun would have rolled his eyes if the feeling of Taemin’s lips didn’t make his heart flutter.

 

Turning onto his side, Jonghyun faced his boyfriend, whose eyes were still closed. “Well your Jonghyun-hyung wants his Taemin-ah to be a little more patient.”

 

“But I’m a teenager.”

 

“Fair point.”

 

Taemin opened his eyes a little, just enough for the light from the windows to reflect on them, creating golden specks. Jonghyun placed a kiss on Taemin’s open mouth, lingering so their lips were just brushing against each other.

 

“I love you.” Jonghyun whispered.

 

A frown flashed across Taemin’s face for a split second.

 

“You don’t have to say it back.” Jonghyun said, finding Taemin’s hand under the covers and entwining their fingers.

 

“Thanks.” Taemin said, giving a weak smile and snuggling into the pillows. Sensing that Taemin was about to fall asleep again (or perhaps he already was?), Jonghyun let go of his hand, carefully leaving the bed so as not to disturb him.

 

He shut the door behind him quietly and sighed, closing his eyes in thought. He could definitely get used to waking up beside Taemin every morning.

 

 

---

 

 

Fully expecting everyone else in the mansion to be asleep, Jonghyun entered the kitchen without much thought about someone possibly seeing him in his dinosaur boxers and Evangelion t-shirt. So when he was met with Kibum and Minho sitting on the kitchen counter, sharing a tray filled with breakfast foods, he hurriedly placed his hands over his crotch in a feeble attempt to hide his undies.

 

“W-what are you doing up?!” Jonghyun stammered, face growing hotter by the second.

 

“I never went to sleep.” Kibum stated, using a fork to feed Minho a bite of pancakes. “Minho slept for a little bit, but that’s only because it takes a lot of energy to ride di - ”

 

“I don’t want to know.” Jonghyun interrupted, covering his ears with his hands. Minho swallowed his food and fed Kibum the next bite of pancake, turning his head to look at Jonghyun.

 

“Nice dino boxers.” He said, and Jonghyun quickly covered himself up again. “How’s Taemin doing? Did you talk to him?”

 

“He’s taking it well. Still kind of pissed at me, but I don’t blame him.” Jonghyun replied, then paused. “Wait, how did you know something was wrong with Taemin?”

 

Kibum swallowed the last of his pancake. “I kind of spilled the beans. I would say I’m sorry but I’m not really.” He fed a bite to Minho. “You should’ve told him right away.”

 

“I know.” Jonghyun mumbled, looking off to the side. “I would say thank you for forcing me to tell him something he should’ve known from the start of our relationship but I don’t like you.” Kibum flipped Jonghyun off. “Anyways, it’s between me and him now. We just...have to figure things out for the time being.” Hopefully.

 

Kibum snorted. “Yeah, okay. It’s between you, and him, and every citizen of Aellyn.”

 

Jonghyun’s eyebrows knotted together in confusion. “This has nothing to do with Aellyn. I can’t marry him so it has no effect on the country.”

 

“But you could, you know.” Kibum said, patting the side of his mouth with a napkin. “The law only applies to those who have formally accepted their role as a royal. Taemin obviously hasn’t done that yet.”

 

“So what?”

 

“God, you’re thick.” Kibum rolled his eyes, passing the fork to Minho so he could feed himself. “If Taemin decides by the end of his school year that he doesn’t want to inherit the throne, none of our laws will apply to him. Get the gist?”

 

“I’m not sure I like where you’re going with this.”

 

“If you just convince him not to accept his role by the end of the school year, he’ll be an ordinary kid like Minho.” Minho opened his mouth in protest, but was hushed by Kibum placing a finger on his lips. “Then you can ride your car into the sun and burn into a crisp, like in Grease.”

 

“You want me to what?!” Jonghyun asked.

 

“Well, you wouldn’t really ride your car into the sun, it’s supposed to be symbolic or some , I don’t know.”

 

“Kibum, you can’t seriously expect me to manipulate my ing boyfriend like that.” Jonghyun said, body tensing in irritation. “Especially after what I just did to him.”

 

“I wasn’t expecting you to do anything, it was just a suggestion.” Kibum replied flippantly, pointing at his mouth as a signal for Minho to feed him. “You still have like, a month before he graduates to decide. My point is, if you really like him - “

 

“I love him.” Jonghyun stated.

 

Kibum spoke to Jonghyun with his mouth full of chewed-up pancake. “Exactly! You are such a hopeless romantic, it’s disgusting.”

 

“Look who’s talking.” Jonghyun said, grimacing as bits of food flew out of Kibum’s mouth. “I hate the idea.”

 

“Well the idea doesn’t like you, either.” Kibum answered, turning away from Jonghyun in a huff.

 

Jonghyun rolled his eyes, then noticed a second plate of pancakes that hadn’t even been touched yet.

 

“This is mine now.” He said, snatching the plate away from the tray and heading back towards Taemin’s room.

 

“You’re welcome!” Kibum called after him, then focused his attention back on his boyfriend. Minho had his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

 

“What?!” Kibum demanded. Minho just shook his head.

 

“I’m just trying to give them options. As horrible of a person I may seem, I don’t actually live on other people’s misfortune.” Kibum looked to the side in thought. “Well, not most of the time anyways.”

 

 

---

 

 

By the time Jonghyun opened the door to Taemin’s bedroom, holding the plate of pancakes, Taemin was already sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

 

“Baby, I thought you were going back to sleep.” Jonghyun said, pouting slightly.

 

“I lost my heating pad.” Taemin mumbled, limply letting his hands fall onto the mattress.

 

“Sorry.” Jonghyun worried his bottom lip and looked to the side. His gaze landed right on the plate of pancakes and he remembered why he came to Taemin’s room in the first place. “Oh, right. I have breakfast for you.”

 

Taemin squinted at the plate of pancakes and Jonghyun handed it to him, making sure he had a firm grip before letting go.

 

“How’d you make these so fast?” Taemin questioned, picking the fork and knife up with weak fingers.

 

“Oh, you know.” Jonghyun drawled, lifting the covers of the bed so he could sit next to Taemin. “I stole them.”

 

“Nice.” Taemin said, cutting the pancake into smaller pieces. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

 

“There’s still a lot you can learn about me.” Jonghyun picked the second fork up and held a bit of pancake up to Taemin’s mouth. “And I still have things I’d like to learn about you.” He watched as Taemin’s lips closed around the fork and his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. “It’s too bad we don’t have the entire day to talk to each other. And cuddle. And maybe kiss a bit.”

 

Taemin rolled his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, what a shame.” He fed himself another bite of pancake, causing Jonghyun to pout.

 

“You’re not gonna feed me?” He sulked, trying his best to look like a begging puppy.

 

Taemin looked Jonghyun up and down. “Your arms aren’t broken.” He ate another bite.

 

Jonghyun let out a pathetic sob. “After everything I did for you…” He placed his hand over his heart as if he was in pain as the other wiped away a non-existent tear.

 

Taemin raised his eyebrows. “What are you gonna do about it?”

 

Jonghyun smirked. Oh, so that’s how he was going to play.

 

Being extra careful not to let any of the food fall from Taemin’s lap, Jonghyun grabbed both of Taemin’s wrists and pinned him onto his back, shoving him into the pillows. Before Taemin could react, Jonghyun was already reaching behind himself for the fork and keeping his free hand around Taemin’s interlocked wrists. He gave Taemin a cheeky grin and put the fork in his mouth, exaggerating his chewing as Taemin tried to push Jonghyun away.

 

“Hyung, get off me, I’m gonna get a .” Taemin huffed.

 

Jonghyun jumped away from Taemin faster than he’d ever moved off of another man before in his life.

 

Taemin sat up, snatching the fork from Jonghyun with a glint in his eyes. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”

 

“Yes yes, we’re all very impressed.” Jonghyun said, rolling his eyes as Taemin grinned mischievously at him. “Now eat your dirt.”

 

 

---

 

 

Seeing as it was Taemin’s day off from school and both he and Jonghyun felt too lazy to do anything productive, the two decided spend their day doing something familiar that required very little effort, watching Disney movies.

 

Well, it requires little effort as long as you don’t watch anything that will make you cry, which Jonghyun made absolutely sure he did as he sorted through his movie collection.

 

The first movie of the day was The Little Mermaid, and when Jonghyun played the DVD using his laptop, Taemin made himself comfortable by sitting on Jonghyun’s lap. Taemin’s wasn’t pointy like Jonghyun expected, which was a plus, but he was still taller than Jonghyun and made it very difficult for him to see the screen.

 

He settled for resting his chin on Taemin’s shoulder.

 

About halfway through the movie Jonghyun realized that every time a character said the word ‘prince’, his thoughts would wander to a certain someone he knew. Which was totally okay in his book. Except now he kept being reminded of the conversation he had just had with Kibum and it just made him curious. But how could he bring it up in a way that didn’t sound like he was talking behind Taemin’s back?

 

“Hey Tae?” Jonghyun said, chin bumping Taemin’s shoulder every time he moved his jaw.

 

“Hmm?” Taemin replied.

 

“So like…” Jonghyun started, unsure how to approach the subject. “All the talk about princesses in this movie has got me thinking…”

 

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Taemin snorted.

 

“Have you decided whether or not you’re going to take the throne?” Jonghyun questioned carefully, hoping it seemed like a casual observation and not something that could potentially dictate how the remainder of his life would play out.

 

“Umm…” Taemin hummed, pausing the movie. “I haven’t really thought about it much, to be honest.”

 

“Oh.” Jonghyun said, and cleared his throat. “I’m not trying to rush you, but you know you only have one month to decide.” , that sounded rush-y. “Just saying. You should be considering it.”

 

Taemin’s shoulders drooped as he let out a sigh. “I know. But I just. Don’t know right now.” Jonghyun noticed Taemin’s feet starting to bounce as he continued. “Like, I know I won’t have to rule for like, fifty more years. I’ll probably be mentally ready for it by then. Maybe. Hopefully.” Jonghyun ran his fingers up and down Taemin’s arm in a soothing motion. “And not gonna lie but I really like having all these nice things, and most of the people that work here are super nice, but…”

 

Taemin turned around so he could face Jonghyun, still sitting on his lap. “It’d be really nice to see you every day, even if we can never get married. And if I don’t accept the position, we’d be separated.”

 

Jonghyun tilted his head. “What makes you say that?”

 

“You’d move back to Aellyn, right?” Taemin said, tilting his head in a similar fashion. “And I’d stay here and probably go back to my old house.”

 

“Who said I was going anywhere?” Jonghyun asked, a smile forming on his lips as Taemin’s expression changed from confusion to shock.

 

“I don’t want you staying here because of me.” Taemin said, blushing despite himself. “You should be with your family.”

 

“But I want to be with you.” Jonghyun whispered, nuzzling into Taemin’s neck. Taemin’s grip on Jonghyun’s shirt collar tightened as Jonghyun’s lips brushed against his skin.

 

“Hyung.” Taemin gulped, prompting Jonghyun to raise his head. “What do you think I should do?”

 

“I think you should do whatever you think is right.” Jonghyun said, lowering his head again.

 

Taemin tried not to shiver as Jonghyun kissed his collarbone. “Hyung, I’m serious. If I wanted some vague- reply, I would’ve asked Minho.” He the back of Jonghyun’s hair and their eyes met again.

 

“I want you to tell me what you think I should do.” Taemin said, searching Jonghyun’s face. “Not as a friend, or a tutor, or as a citizen of Aellyn. Just as my boyfriend.”

 

Jonghyun sighed and looked away, unable to meet Taemin’s eyes. “If I told you not to accept your position as a royal, it would only be for my own selfish reasons.” Taemin was about to question him, but Jonghyun continued. “If you don’t accept the role, we can get married like any other couple.” He shook his head. “But I can’t do that to you. Not after what just happened.”

 

“Well, can’t we just stay a couple and not get married if I accept?” Taemin asked, trying to make Jonghyun’s eyes meet with his. “It’s not like we need to be married to be together.”

 

“We do if we want the same benefits married couples do.” Jonghyun said, focusing on Taemin with a sad kind of seriousness in his eyes. “Like, if I was in a some kind of accident, and my family didn’t have the money to pay the medical bills and you did, the hospital couldn’t legally accept your payment because you’re not family.”

 

“That’s bull.”

 

“That’s life, Taemin-ah.” Jonghyun sighed. “Also, I’m not sure if the older citizens of Aellyn would appreciate having a prince living with someone he’s not married to.”

 

“So what then?” Taemin’s voice quivered, body beginning to shake. “Can I just never be happy?”

 

“Breathe with me, Taemin.” Jonghyun spoke in a level voice, taking deep breath after breath with Taemin until he calmed down. “You can be happy. Just maybe not with me.”

 

“What are you saying?” Taemin whispered, voice raspy.

“I think you should accept your role, Taemin-ah.”

---

sorry this took so long, i got a new job because i'm unfortunately an adult.