sandbox | dotae

XII

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Although they had planned for a run in with the guards, they didn’t expect it to happen within the first two hours of travel. While walking, Taeyong noticed the slight green hidden behind black clothing. The point of these guards was that someone not in the palace, like an assassin, wouldn’t know that the clothing belonged to the guards. It is a deception to get people who think they are safe on the run captured and imprisoned. 

Taeyong knew that the man was a guard and knew no one else would know, and quickly tightened his grip on Doyoung and pulled on the back of Jaemin’s sleeve as he started to notice more. Doyoung notices the prince’s sudden tense state and looks up to only see normal looking people walking, he guesses that it's just because he is nervous, until he notices the male tugging on Jaemin’s shirt.

Jaemin turns around and looks at the prince with a small smile that quickly fades when his rainbow eyes meet the prince’s enlarged ones. He scrambles back to the prince and leans towards him, trying to make it not too obvious he is talking to the male.

“What’s going on,” the male asks. Jaemin continues to look as if he didn’t ask a worrisome question to the male as he keeps a straight face. He doesn’t know that there are palace guards that are continuously getting closer and closer to. 

“Those guys up there,” Jaemin takes a quick glance that goes unnoticed by everyone except the prince. “They are undercover palace guards. Look at the bottom of their right leg, that green thing. It is used for the undercover guards of the palace.” Jaemin nods slowly before quickly letting out a small whistle.

When the palace guards turned their head to where the whistle came from, they see a group of guys, the majority of them with their faces covered. They look between the males, analyzing Jaemin and Jeno’s face, along with the eyes of Jisung and Chenle, then finally Yangyang and Renjun. Not seeing their intended target, they walk by calmly, but occasionally look back to see any suspicious behavior.  

Jaemin made another whistling tone a bit later, and about a minute afterward, Taeyong and Doyoung joined the group of men. The group sighed in relief, happy that no one questioned the others, but sadly, the trip didn’t go smoothly after the first run in. Many other undercover guards would go by, however, thankfully, they would just look over them and pass by when they don’t see anything they are looking for. 

Although, that can’t be the case for everytime they pass by someone. After Jaemin made the whistling noise, the regular palace guard’s eyes went to the group leaving Jaemin to have to hide Taeyong as originally planned, the past few times, they have had time for Doyoung to sneak off with the prince without getting noticed. This time, however, the moment the guard looked over, their eyes made contact with the assassin’s. 

After hiding Taeyong within some trees, Jaemin quickly goes to Doyoung and tells him where the prince is located before walking towards Jeno to be prepared to distract the guard. All the younger did was slightly brush their shoulders and the guard was looking at Jaemin square in the eye. The other palace guards hadn’t noticed the presence of Doyoung yet, so they were able to keep their attention on the young male who was staring at the main guard with his eyes raised. Doyoung took this time to quietly go to Taeyong and the two sat and watched the scene, unable to do anything.

“You little shit,” seeing the guard taking steps towards Jaemin, Jeno quickly grabs his boyfriend’s hand and brings him closer in worry. The guard notices and directs their attention to the other, quickly recognizing the boy. “Ah, where’s your brother Kim?” 

“I'm Lee, not Kim,” Jeno responds calmly as if he doesn’t understand. It wasn’t a lie, Jeno had taken his mother’s surname instead of his fathers so that if the business was ever caught he, being the youngest, could get out the easiest. 

“Where. Is. Kim. Doyoung?” The guard is threatening, not one ounce of mercy left in them after the many days and weeks of trying to find the prince. Taeyong draws in a nervous breath at the sound of the guard. They were one that worked for Taeyong rather than the queen, one that really worried for the Prince’s safety, not of the kingdom having no king, but as much as Taeyong would like to step out there and tell him he is doing fine and to just let them pass, he can’t. The guard may want Taeyong’s safety over anything, but they are also a strong believer that the prince will be the safest in the palace, and most importantly, away from Doyoung. 

“I don’t know,” Jeno quickly tries to give Chenle and Jisung a glance, he wants to tell them to change plans, he wants to tell them that they no longer know of what happened to Taeyong. He wants to tell them that they shouldn’t pretend like they threw them in the lake. He wants them to make it seem like they too are looking for Doyoung and the male the guard saw in the group was just their eyes playing with them. 

To Jeno’s disliking, Chenle and Jisung began to walk over while talking. Jaemin noticed the younger’s panicked state and let out a whistle that normally means surrender. Taeyong and Doyoung notice as the two stop in their tracks. Jeno looks at the two and gives them a look they understand too well, they quickly walk over to Yangyang and Renjun. Their masks were off unlike before and they quickly put smiles on their faces and held each other’s hands.

“There you guys are,” Chenle speaks in an excited tone, not one note out of place, as if he really meant it. “We were looking for you everywhere. Did you tell the village that you wouldn’t be home for a while?” Yangyang and Renjun quickly nod. They look to the side and throw an apologetic look at the guards before they continue walking and talking about their honeymoon. 

This is when Taeyong notices something, the guard is already beginning to cuff Jaemin and Jeno, while letting the other four pass, and Mark and Donghyuck, as well as Jaehyun and Yuta are gone. As the guards walk away with the two, Taeyong starts to walk out of his hiding spot, but Doyoung holds him there.

“Wait,” Doyoung puts his hand on Taeyong’s, trying to calm the prince. Taeyong looks at the assassin beside him, and his eyes don’t leave the other's face even when he looks forward and observes. It was this moment. This time when Taeyong’s heart began to pound, he knew he fell in love with the assassin before him. 

“Doyoung,” Taeyong talks softly, too softly. It is more of a mumble than a voice, one that Doyoung doesn’t quite catch.

“Let’s go,” Doyoung stands up, his hand still in Taeyong’s. “We should walk off the trail for now, it's too dangerous to walk on the path. Plus the other’s have an alibi and I don’t want to ruin-” the assassin stops talking as he notices the prince’s frozen state. He follows the prince's eyes down to their locked fingers. He quickly lets go of the other’s hand and mumbles a quick apology, but Taeyong grabs his hand again and intertwines their fingers.

“Let’s go?” Taeyong looks at Doyoung, this time he is the one frozen, and gives him a reassuring smile. The two begin walking through the trees, but Taeyong can’t help but think of the others as they go.

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