A crown or this? | minsung

🌙ride in the sunset

Minho had organized a small gathering to travel back to the sun lands together. He had told Jisung to join him in the wagon he would be in and he had accepted. They left the palace and crossed the snow fields.

Jisung stayed quiet and looked out the small window, emotionless again. Like he had let the mask off his face slide for just a second before sliding it back on.

"You're quiet..." Minho spoke first, the calm sound of the wheels dragging them forward.

"Because I don't want to say too much. You tend to ask questions...too many"

"I'm here to listen, you don't have to answer anything you don't want to"

Jisung paused for a moment and looked at the man sitting in front of him, sighing deeply.

"I met him at the stables, he taught me how to ride horses for the first time. He quickly became fond of me and I wasn't old enough to understand what I was feeling back for him." Jisung took a small pause and looked at Minho, who had a puzzled look on his face. "His name was Laurel, he...made it clear that he wanted me, but that no one could know. So we would meet in secret at night, in the barn"

"You were so young..." he tried to place a hand on his knee but Jisung backed away.

"I gave him permission to touch me."

"You were eleven Jisung, that is far off from concent. No wonder it hurt you..."

"This is why I didn't want to speak about this..."

"Why? Because I'm scared for you?" Minho frowned.

"Because it doesn't matter...it happened and I was truly happy. I didn't care that it hurt, that it felt like I was being torn from the inside...as long as he was happy, I couldn't care less, so I lied and said it felt good."

Minho stared at him in silence, he didn't know what to say to this.

"But I know it was wrong..." he admitted and let Minho touch him finally.

Minho was about to take him close to him when the door opened, both of them separating.

"We are almost at the borders" the guard said and jisung nodded awkwardly.

"Yes t-thank you" he spoke, he was emotional even now.

They were left alone again and Minho sighed.

"What happened to you is horrible...I'll make sure it never happens again. I vow to protect you."

"Minho there are some things we can't control. Even the king can lack power over what happens. Can lose the people he loves most even by keeping them close. Like you m-..." he held his tongue and regretted even speaking in the first place. "I'm sorry..." Jisung continued.

"You were going to say what happened to my mother...?" Minho said.

"Yes. I did not mean to bring it up."

"It's alright, I have mourned it already...a long time ago."

"You do not speak of her often..." Jisung said, a dry voice pushing the words out.

"I see no point to it...she passed protecting me, she did her duty as queen"

"And as a mother...how was she?"

"I don't remember much sadly, only that her skin was soft and her voice was calm, alluring, beautiful..." 

"We've all heard tales about her across our kingdom, how heroic she was..."

"I loved her very much..." Minho quieted down and Jisung went to the seat besides him, laying a head on his shoulder. Unexpectedly, Jisung turned his way and cupped his face.

"I'm sure...she would be so proud of you Minho" he placed a strand of his brown hair behind his ear and the older one melted against his hand.

"Could you...please...say that again...?" He had small tears in his eyes as he looked straight at his gaze.

"You are doing so good...she would be proud, I am proud of you. You've accomplished so much and you're still so young." Jisung resisted the urge to smile. "I will follow you until the end of the world, to every war we face together, I'll be there by your side-"

Minho pulled on his collar and kissed him deeply, cupping his face and feeling his heart beat against his chest. For a moment he forgot he was on his way to a terrifying and unsafe place, because he had Jisung right next to him, comfortable and close.

"We'll get caught one day if you keep kissing me-" he got another rough kiss on his lips and didn't complain, he only made the kiss more tender.

"Ill stop when I hear you laugh..." he smiled and kissed him.

"You know that will never happen..."

"Exactly" he felt Jisung smile against his lips, which made it feel all the more better.

<3

The rest of the three day trip went well, they slept close to each other for most of the time they headed there, until one night they stopped the horses to rest.

"I'm going to go stretch my legs for a little bit, want to join me?" Minho asked and Jisung nodded simply.

They stepped out of the carriage and went to the woods, no one tried to stop them.

They walked along the river side and Jisung took his hand gently, not once looking into his eyes, his gaze was too strong to hold.

"Jisung...?"

"Yes?" He almost hummed it, it was nice to see him this calm and reassured around him.

"You look beautiful tonight love"

"Do I...?" He batted his lashes calmly and Minho melted.

"Yes, which makes it even harder to move forward knowing that as soon as we step foot in the sun lands, we will be watched relentlessly."

"Then love me here and now..." Jisung took him to sit on a rock and Minho followed his movement.

"What are you suggesting?"

"To make the best out of tonight..." as he spoke, the light of the night sky shined in his eyes and Minho smiled. "I...I'm still.." Jisung trailed off and Minho caught his mind.

"Don't worry, I will not do anything...let's just enjoy the night, it's beautiful"

"You didn't once look at the forest..." Minho had not taken his eyes off of Jisung the entire way.

"I know." He smiled and cupped the younger's face, pulling him into a sweet kiss, smiling into it.

"Why must this ever come to an end?" Jisung mumbled and Minho sighed.

"It won't...you'll be my adviser, a couple of meetings in the library won't harm anyone...a couple of kisses nobody will ever know about"

"You are lovely...prince of crows"

"And you are..." he paused for a moment, smiling widely before pulling on his chin. "Beautiful...prince of the sun..."