sandbox | dotae

VI

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Just like the past week, when the prince walked into his room that night and shut his door, he was greeted by a Doyoung walking in from behind the piece of wood and he lazily walked to the other's bed. Taeyong followed suit and layed down on the opposite side of the bed Doyoung was sitting on. They sit in silence for a while and the prince takes the time to look at the other who is leaning back against the headboard of the luxurious bed and closing his eyes.

“Long day?” the prince talks in a soft voice that causes the other to look down and just nod briefly. “Do you wanna talk about it?” 

“I just had some errands to run for my dad,” Doyoung talks slowly as he leans his head on the others headboard and closes his eyes again. “I’m just a little tired.” 

Taeyong knew who Doyoung’s father was obviously, but when he looked at the other and actually inspected the sloppily cleaned up blood on the others shirt and hands, it really hit him. Doyoung was an assassin. One that would probably lead to his death in the end, but here he was, allowing him to sit on his bed and asking about his long day.

“Did you?” the assassin’s softer voice took the other out of his trance.

“There is never a day for me that goes by fast,” Taeyong says while sitting up. Once he is in a sitting position, he begins to fiddle with his fingers. “It just seems like, the older I get the longer my days go by, the opposite of most people. I would find it rather pleasing, but my day isn’t like most peoples. I’m living my life trying not to get decapitated.” 

Doyoung subconsciously puts his hands on Taeyong’s fiddling ones to make him stop. Taeyong looks up in surprise and their eyes meet and time seems to stop. As if on queue with time stopping, the prince’s heart begins to speed up slightly; which he just says is nervousness from being face-to-face with an assassin. 

Realizing what he did, Doyoung clears his throat while mumbling a small sorry and pulling his hand away from the others. A silence fills the room quickly after. It stays for a while until a soft knock is heard on the door. 

“Taeyong?” the prince hears the voice of his younger brother Sungchan, that literally no one in the kingdom other than the royal family knows of. “I’m going to come in.”

Panicked, Taeyong, instead of sticking Doyoung back into the hole in the wall he comes from, grabs Doyoung’s wrist and pushes him into the closet. 

“Stay there,” he says before quickly shutting the door. The last thing Doyoung sees before he is met with the darkness of the closet is Taeyong’s room door opening with a younger looking boy with a cute face and long limbs—in other words, he is way taller than the prince.

“Were you changing?” Sungchan looks at Taeyong’s panicked expression as he stands in front of the closet. “I am sorry, I can come back later if you would-”

“No, you are fine,” the older responds while putting on  a reassuring smile. The younger smiles in response and walks with his brother who makes his way from the closet to his desk. 

“What’s up?” The prince talks with a slightly worried expression. Doyoung, curious obviously, slightly cracks the closet door open and peaks around the corner at the scene laying out in front of him.

“I just talked with mom today” the boy speaks slowly with fear, worry, and sadness all lacing his voice. “She is just evil. I hate her. I hate that she is our mom. I hate that I can’t even have friends. I hate that we have to live with her. The thing I hate it most is that she told me that you were more than likely going to die soon and that I would have to get my quote on quote ‘bitchass in shape’ because I will have to become king.” 

The young prince’s voice began to crack as he talked to his older brother who was sitting at his desk, “is it true Taeyong? Are you going to die and leave me? As much as I am sad that I haven’t lived yet and I haven’t left the castle before, I don’t think I would be able to go on without you. Taeyong,” tears begin to fall from the younger’s eyes, “you are all I have.” 

An hour passes before Sungchan finally leaves to his own room and Taeyong lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in. After letting out a long sigh, he quickly stands up and opens the closet door to see Doyoung standing there with one of his eyebrows raised.

“You know,” Doyoung says, not moving from the darkness in the closet to the main part of Taeyong’s room. “I could have just left. I didn’t need to hide in your closet and find out about a secret brother you have.” Taeyong just sighs at Doyoung, he doesn’t want to argue, or beg for him to keep a secret. 

“Can you just come out of the closet?” Taeyong says, making way for Doyoung to come out. He tilts his head as Doyoung stands there and smirks slightly. 

“You want me to come out to you before my own family?” the male gasps slightly and puts his hand over his heart. 

“Doyoung that’s not what I-”  although Taeyong didn’t mean it in that way, and he knew in the back of his mind somewhere that Doyoung was joking, he still felt bad.

“I’m bi,” Doyoung says as he walks out of the closet. “Thank you for your question, it is more concern for my outside life than my own parents would ever ask.” Taeyong just stands there as he watches Doyoung walk back towards his bed and sit down with a plop. 

“You know,” Doyoung continues to talk rather than giving Taeyong any time to say anything. “I thought myself as asexual first, but then I met someone and found that not true. At first I thought I should not label my sexuality, but you asked so I will find a way to answer. I think if I had to choose one I would say bisexual.”

Taeyong doesn’t know what to say, so he just walks slowly towards his bed and sits down beside Doyoung. A comfortable silence set in for a while, but even if it was comfortable, Taeyong was nervous. He continued to fiddle with his fingers and direct his attention everywhere except the assassin beside him. He wasn’t nervous because he was alone with Doyoung, how could he be when he has been with him alone for the past week, but because he now knew of his brother. 

“Hey,” Doyoung speaks softly while grabbing Taeyong’s hands to stop them from playing with each other. “I’m not gonna go home and tell anyone you have a brother. I have more human decency than that. I also have a younger brother.”

Doyoung pauses for a second and Taeyong looks up at him. He obviously knew who his brother was, but hearing him say it was just different. He didn’t know if it was the fondness within the others words or the half smile that began to appear on his face when he thought of him, but it made Taeyong feel like he was hearing of the brother for the first time.

“When I turned sixteen,” Doyoung continues to talk, a little bit of sadness in his tone. “I was put on my first assassination mission. I remember my brother running in crying as he didn’t want me to get hurt. Too bad my first mission fell through after getting distracted thanks to you. When he turned sixteen not too long ago, I felt the fear he felt. I didn’t want him to go. I guess in a way, I still don’t want him to. I really try hard to get the family business so I can remove him from it.” Doyoung lays back on Taeyong’s bed as he talks, the prince continues to listen attentively. “I don’t want him to become what I have. He deserves to be happy with Jaemin, but they both insist on helping, and I don’t know why.” 

Doyoung looks at Taeyong who is looking at him with both confusion and sadness in his eyes. Doyoung gives a small laugh and sits up before slowly walking towards the wood piece he enters and exits the room from. 

“I guess,” Doyoung looks back as he holds the wood open. “I just want you to know what kind of person I really am, so that if you do die, the memory you have of me, isn’t one that brings pain.” 

Doyoung quickly turns around and leaves the room and Taeyong. The prince sits on his bed in silence trying to process everything that happened and that was just said to him. Doyoung wasn’t a bad person, he was just doing evil things to protect his younger brother, but at the same time, he was probably the person that was going to cut off his head. It left Taeyong, confused?

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