Touch the Sky (Hyunjin X Felix X San X Juyeon)

|Third Act - Take Hold Of My Own Dream|

Fate worked in strange ways.

Hyunjin hadn't expected to run into either of his fellow suitors while roaming the gardens at night, but he ended up running into both. It was actually quite humorous, the three of them none the wiser of the others' presence until they all reached the very same fountain at the very same time.

There was a moment of awkward silence as they all silently gauged each other, calculating their next move carefully. They'd never interacted before, and only caught brief glances of each other in passing. They were all courting the same man, but had yet to say a single word to each other. What should they do?

In the end, it was San who broke the weird status quo.

"So. Heard you offended His Highness, General."

Juyeon instantly scoffed. "Heard you didn't do any better, Second Mate."

"Rumors didn't exactly favor you either, Prince," retorted dryly Hyunjin.

There was another moment of silence. Then, as one, their shoulders slumped, and they all heaved out matching sighs.

"He's annoying."

"He's confusing."

"He's stubborn."

They all shared mildly surprised looks at that, none of them exactly planning on sharing their real thoughts, but the words slipping through, nonetheless. They all instinctively glanced around, to ensure no one else was listening in, but it was late and there would be no reason for a servant to roam the gardens in the middle of the night.

"We had a little argument," then admitted San, much to the surprise of the other two, who hadn't expected him to be so forward with it. "He kept on insisting that his new responsibilities are more important than anything, even himself. How does that make any sense? Why would anyone willingly put that kind of burden on their shoulders?"

San was so genuinely annoyed, he couldn't help but seek counsel from the other two. He had no personal quarrel with either and, though the situation was weird, they were truly the only ones capable of understanding what he had to deal with.

"We argued on our way back of town," then admitted Juyeon, seemingly in a similar boat. "He thinks of peasants as equal, and we couldn't bring ourselves to see eye to eye about that particular vision. There are those at the top, and those at the bottom – surely we can all agree on this, yes?"

"Depends on how you told him that," mused San, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you said it the Bloom way, then he's obviously going to take it wrongly."

Juyeon narrowed his eyes at that. "And what is the Bloom way, exactly?"

"The one where you sound all arrogant and full of yourself, duh."

"Why, you—!"

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Second Mate San?" mused Hyunjin, his tone a little dry. "What with being from Bloom yourself."

"How do you even know that?" replied San, genuinely curious.

"Let's just say that you're not the only one who left their noble name behind."

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying that you're both from Bloom?" exclaimed Juyeon.

"My family was killed by bandits while on a trip on Miroh territory. I ended up being found and taken in by a group of soldiers, who brought me back to the capital where I was raised and trained in the arena along with other orphaned children," explained Hyunjin, unperturbed.

"I ran away," simply answered San, shrugging. "Nobility wasn't it for me."

"This is a little ridiculous," sighed Juyeon, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, I suppose it explains why your manner of speech differs from that of your comrades, at the very least..."