adorn

chapter 13

when butterfly found his flower ( haruto and doyoung chapter, you can skip if you don't enjoy haruyoung content, thank you < 3 )

the day of yoshinori and haruto's visit 

haruto got dragged out of the room, a smaller hand attached to his long fingers, the feeling very confiding and soft. he didn't even know where he was being pulled to, he just mindlessly followed the other. his eyes watching the figure in front, thinking about the days they used to play on the rug whilst their fathers were in the adjacent room. when they were children it was all easier. doyoung could visit haruto anytime, haruto could take him in and enjoy the company of his friend to his heart's content.

the last time they saw each other before saying goodbye – or without saying goodbye cause what happened next couldn't have been foreseen – was four years ago. fifteen-year-old prince went out of his carriage, paying more attention than usual not to stain his garment with soil or dust. his younger for a year friend, who managed to already outgrow him for some inches was standing by the main gate. two guards on his both sides, expressionless even upon seeing how the high-born boys greeted each other affectionately.

haruto extended his arms to let doyoung soon sink into them. the boy with a periwinkle shirt felt intoxicated with the fresh fragrance of peonies the other's skin had. the younger smiled, no one could notice how this smile differed from any other smile he would give to his brother, father, servants. this sweet smile said, "I am relieved I have you back in my arms."

a week after, a day before their next planned meeting, where haruto was supposed to go to the southern palace and see how doyoung's flower bed enlivened with every shade of purple, blue, and pink, his father died. after mourning, the funeral was attended only by close relatives and loyal reports, when yoshinori still had traces of tears on his cheeks, a crown was passed onto his head.

haruto was standing next to his brother, his hand on the other's arms, squeezing it lightly from time to time. they only had each other now, their mother had died years ago. the picture of a perfect family now showed only two boys, one with a crown, and gloss, baggy eyes, the other with orbits which turned gray, bland, the deep shade of brown lessened, weakened.

haruto didn't have a chance to see doyoung's flowers, he didn't have a chance to cry into the fabric with embroidered edges belonging to the boy who would place comforting kisses on the other's crown of the head, assuring that it will be fine because they were together. they weren't together.

the moment his brother owned the kingdom, he became a crown prince. the one to inherit the throne if anything happens. he was only fourteen, his brother merely eighteen, and now everything they said decided whether their kingdom remained mighty, respectable, the one to protect its habitats, the one to give them shelters. from that day haruto could barely witness his brother smiling again. the stern expression he had to wear seemed to blend in, never washed off. haruto tried to brighten him up with quirky, excessive cheerfulness but he got defeated every time.

only today did he see a slight tremble of the king's lips as if trying to remind themselves how to go up when yoshinori's eyes met hyunsuk. yoshinori has regained his source of life, his solace. haruto wanted to have his back too, back in his embrace.

haruto understood that they reached the destination only when he bumped into doyoung who was examining something with a proud gaze. the younger prince mumbled a short apology, suddenly feeling bashful for he let himself muse a little too much.

"I wanted to show it to you back then too, but couldn't. they wouldn't let me." the sentence made haruto follow where doyoung's eyes were adjusted on.

it wasn't easy, for haruto first wanted to admire doyoung's beauty a while longer. the breath-taking side profile, sunk in rays of sunshine and green surroundings of the palace garden, the one cherished by doyoung the most in this world. his eyelashes curled on the tips which had lighter color than black, now prettily bleached by the sun, his skin glowing, immaculate, his lips reminding one of the flower petals, kissable, tender.

"aren't they beautiful?" haruto nodded with affirmation being unaware that doyoung asked about the flowers he was now pointing at. "I planted them earlier this year to make sure if you happen to be here, we will admire them together, as promised four years ago."

haruto got curious, and wanted to discover what was the flower doyoung was so fondly and with so much care talking of. he looked down, met familiar shape, pink petals, healthy stems. peonies.

"their smell is so beautiful. it calms me down, makes me forget many, but makes me remember someone too."

haruto's breath deepening, his hand which was still fastened to the other's felt sudden shivers. a ripple went down his fingers.

"doyoung-ah..."

it was a whisper only flowers could hear. the boy whose name was said in such tender, mellow voice turned his body towards the other. before haruto realized, the south prince held him tight in an embrace, his lips less involuntarily touching the other's neck.

"you still have that sweet smell of peonies my haruto..."

a sudden squeeze of a hand, a wind ruffling their hair, doyoung's giggles, and guards' pleads for them to "slow down dear prince, slow down!", they made it to doyoung's room, locking themselves in before any eyewitness could join the scene. the guards lost their track, no one was at the door, it was only them and the growing comprehension of how much they missed each other throughout these years.

they grew up now, and when haruto buried his face in the other's frills, kissing it, implying that it's the obstacle he wants to get rid of, the boys which used to be children, experienced feelings stronger than some adults could only dream of. the periwinkle jacket on the floor, button opened one by one, creamy shirt with some suggestive marks on it soon occupying another space beneath the bed.

doyoung bit his lower lip, wriggled, gasped softly. his body has never been treated so affectionately before, no hands have ever touched him with such tenderness, care, caution. no lips have ever whispered so many compliments and apologies, no body has ever reached this proximity with his. but as the beads of sweat appeared, the weight lied down on the side and they locked hands again, doyoung's faint voice sounded.

"n-never leave me again."

haruto kissed the hand held in his embrace, placed another peck on the damp forehead, another on the collarbones where the pearls remained on the spot. the one element that haruto decided to keep on the other's body. doyoung trembled again, as haruto's hand wrapped around his waist, wet tongue drew way to his lower belly.

no one will dare to stop haruto again from seeing doyoung's flowers, breathing the fragrance, tasting petals. he was a butterfly, he needed his flower to live. 

// ✧ //