His Highness

Chapter 8: Two Birds

The night fell silent and the stars came out of hiding again. Every being at the campsite was passed out except for one person. HyunSoo had been tossing and turning about for the last four hours before admitting defeat. He got out of bed and strolled around before settling near the river bank. The breeze kissed his face and let a chill down his spine. Leaves rustled in the wind and the waters rippled. All that could be heard was the silence the night held and he could not have been happier. This was all that he had been craving for and now that he had it, he could not be more content. Until, a voice shattered his happy bubble.

"Yah, what are you doing here at 3am?" A familiar voice asked and approached him.

He sighed and turned around to see the elder male yawning and walking towards him.

"Why are you awake then?" He asked back.

"Why can't I be awake?"

"Yea, so why can't I be here?"

"Yah, you brat. Do nice things ever come out of your mouth?" He cursed and stood next to HyunSoo.

"Yes. Just not for you."

He gawked at him and pouted.

"Is this the way to treat the person who took care of you when you were sick?" He crossed his arms and turned away.

"And who made me sick in the first place?"

"Yah Im HyunSoo!"

The younger male smirked and booked it. Enraged, MingGi immediately chased after him through the river bank, forgetting that slippery rocks and sandels were not a good mix. Within seconds, he slipped on a rock and came crashing onto the floor. Alarmed at the sudden thud, HyunSoo stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Hyung!" He rushed to his side and knelt down. "Are you okay?"

He groaned and held onto his knee. To his horror, there was a gash on it and the other was scratched. He helped MingGi up and brought him back to their room. He immediately got the first-aid kit and dressed his wounds to the best of his ability. Somehow, the sight of worry on HyunSoo's face made his heart flutter and it felt like there was a warm embrace around him. Sure, being worried was a normal human emotion but there was something about him specifically that tickled his insides.

"HyunSoo-ah, when you're like this... I like it much better you know?" He said.

The younger male looked up and their eyes met. His world stopped spinning and their breathing synced. Those eyes felt familiar and that gaze fired up his insides. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and an unexplainable feeling brewed in his heart.

"Why? Does it...turn you on?" HyunSoo replied and inched closer to his face until he eventually fell onto his back.

He leaned in slowly until their lips met. Though MingGi was stunned at first, his heart controlled his mind and he reciprocated. He dug his hand into his hair and slightly tugged on it, earning a soft moan from the male above him. HyunSoo's lips slided away and he peppered kisses from his neck down to his collarbone. He gingerly dug his teeth into his neck and a moan escaped the elder male's mouth. A smirk materialized across his face and he snaked down to his abdomen, pressing kisses on his bare skin along the way. His hands glided down into his sweats but a pair of hands roughly grabbed his.

"S-Stop. We should sleep. We have intense activities tomorrow." MingGi stuttered and pulled his shirt down before tucking himself into bed.

Annoyance filled him and he glared at the elder male before cleaning up the mess and drifting off to sleep as well.

When the day arrived again, everyone ate breakfast and made their way to the nearby village.

"Alright everyone. Today, we will be helping the elder folks here with some basic capentry or farming. We will have a break in the afternoon and later in the evening, the villagers have kindly volunteered to prepare dinner for us! For now, I will tell you all your groups and you can get to work." MingGi explained before splitting them up.

Unfortunately for him, the groups were finalised way before the camp so he happened to be in the same group as HyunSoo. The entire time, there was tension in the air and even a fool could sense it. The younger male did not even bat an eye towards him and MingGi was busy ignoring him the entire time. Only their reasons for this coldness were poles apart. Lunch time rolled around and everyone got to resting and eating.

"Yah, why aren't you eating with your group?" ChaeIn suddenly approached him and asked.

"I just didn't feel like it." He lied.

"Yah, do you think I'm an idiot? Literally anyone can tell something is up." She replied and sat next to him. "You were all up on him the past two days and now you look like you have never seen HyunSoo before. So what's the deal between you two?" She continued.

"It's really nothing. I was just worried about him as a senior." He lied again.

"Oh worried as a senior? Then what's that on your neck?" She asked.

"What..." It dawned on him. "It's an insect bite. There's alot of mosquitoes here you know?" He laughed nervously and hoped she would buy it.

"Insect bite? It has a very uniform shape for an insect bite you know? It must be experienced." She laughed and teased before getting up. "MingGi-ah, I don't know what happened but learn to use your heart sometimes." She continued then left.

But that was much easier said than done. The rest of the camp, there was an unbreakable wall between the two. MingGi hated it but could not gather the right words to explain himself. And HyunSoo was no less. He wanted to clear the air but his ego had stopped him from even saying a word. This went on until the second last day of the camp, when their little cupid could no longer stand the tension between the two.

When the rest were eating their last lunch, ChaeIn noticed that HyunSoo had finished eating and asked him for help to move the decorations from the store room. He made his way to the store room but as if God was unhappy with him, the door stopper dislodged and the door shut, locking it from the outside. 

"ChaeIn-ah, can you take these first- HyunSoo?" MingGi turned around and was stunned to see the younger male there.

He placed the boxes down and approached HyunSoo but he turned to leave. He tried to open the door but to his horror, the door was locked.

"Shit. How did it lock?" He cursed under his breath.

"The door stopper dislodged." MingGi explained.

"Door stopper?" He looked down and it dawned on him.

"I'll call for some help." 

The elder male was going to call ChaeIn but luck was definitely not by their side as his phone had died. And the freshmen had to leave their phones in their rooms so HyunSoo obviously could not call for help. They banged on the door and tried to scream for help but given that they were far from the campsite, there was no one around. And evenly, they just admitted defeat. The two sat in silence for awhile until both could not stand it anymore.

"I'm sorry." They said simultaneously.

Both chuckled and faced the other.

"You go first." HyunSoo said.

"Well I'm sorry for reacting the way I did. I was kind of out of it and when I came back to my senses, you were already on top of me so I panicked." MingGi explained as his face turned red.

"It's fine. I should be the one apologising in fact. I should have asked for your consent first. So, I'm sorry Hyung." He said.

"Let's just forget it okay? Let's start over." He smiled and adjusted his body to face HyunSoo completely.

"I'm MingGi. A year 2 Film student." He said and stuck out his hand.

"I'm HyunSoo. A year 1 Architecture student." The younger male replied and shook his smaller hand.

"Oh my gosh guys, I'm so sorry you guys were stuck in here-" ChaeIn opened the door but took a double take when she saw the two shaking hands and smiling. "Guess my plan worked alot better than I thought." She giggled and rested on the door frame.

"Plan? What plan?" MingGi said and stood up.

"Plan? I mean accident. It was purely an accident." She panicked and ran off.

"Yah, Jung ChaeIn!" MingGi exclaimed and chased after her.

HyunSoo smirked at his childish behavior and got up as well.

"Thank you for giving me hope again, Hyung." He whispered under his breath and left.