Part 1 / The Call

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Alberu was stressed. Nobles were pressuring him from all over to choose a wife, and he was not interested in the slightest. He would have ranted for hours to his aunt Tasha, but she was visiting the dark elf village for a few days, leaving him all by himself.

His office was too large. His bedroom felt empty. The entire goddamn palace seemed more like a prison.

"Haaaaa."

Stacks of blank paperwork sat unattended to in front of him. His hand was sore from signing so many documents, and he had a headache from the constant expectations he had to live up to.

Alberu glanced around his office. Maybe he should get some flowers to brighten up the room. Everything seemed too muted. Maybe a nice blue, or a bright yellow.

'Hmm... what about red?'

The image of a single person flashed through his mind. Cale Henituse had a nice shade of red hair. That color would look quite good in this room, actually. Or any room.

But sadly, his break from writing forms was nearly finished. He couldn't afford to get distracted over... room design. Picking up his fountain pen, he realized he was out of ink.

Now that he had worked for so long today, little things like this started getting on his nerves.

He reached for the drawer which held extra ink cartridges, but accidentally pulled on the handle a little too hard. As a result, a box of sweet tea slid towards the front of the drawer, revealing itself to him.

Alberu glanced at it as he fixed his pen.

'So that was where the last box was. Cale wanted some last time he was here but I couldn't find it. I should make sure to stock up.'

"Haaa."

Alberu sighed again. He was experiencing too many distractions, first room decor and now tea flavors? Maybe he just needed a longer break. Internally, he knew he couldn't afford one, but he wished he had all the time in the world.

Maybe then he could finally relax.

He leaned back in his chair. The next thing that caught his eye was an empty jar on the table next to the couches.

'Tsk. I need to refill the cookie jar for Cale too. And the kids, the kids like those the best as well.'

Alberu was slightly annoyed at himself for not being able to focus on his tasks properly. Maybe he should give Cale a call, to update him on the recent war rumors...

That would be a productive break, and he would get to see his cute dongsaeng.

It was a win-win.

So, Alberu retrieved his communication device and called Cale Henituse.

It rang for a good 5 seconds before Alberu remembered that it was currently 9pm, Cale would surely be asleep by now. Fuck, he was such an idiot for not looking at the time, now he would wake up Cale for no good reason.

Surprisingly, the call went through. The first thing Alberu saw as it connected was Raon's face extremely close to the screen.

"Cookie prince? Why are you calling?"

Alberu smiled at Raon's happy expression.

"I just wanted to talk with Cale for a bit, but if he's sleeping then it can wait."

"No! Human is not sleeping!"

"Oh? Then where is he? Is he busy?"

"My Human is not busy either! He just finished his shower, I can hear that the water is turned off."

Alberu's train of thought momentarily halted. There's something he'd never actually thought of before. For some reason, the topic of showers had never came up the entire time he'd known Cale.

'Cale taking a shower...'

*SLAP

"Cookie prince! Why did you slap yourself?!"

"My face muscles fell asleep, so I had to slap them awake."

"You're weird, human does that too sometimes, but only on his legs or arms. Cookie prince, you are weirder than Human!"

"Who is weirder than me?"

Raon turned around to face Cale, who was off camera.

"Human! Cookie prince called! He wants to talk to you!"

"Oh, thank you for answering him then, Raon."

Cale then walked within range of the screen. At the same time, Alberu's breath hitched.

There, in all his glory, stood Cale Henituse in a bath towel that was held loosely around his waist. Dripping wet hair was smoothed back with his hand, but fell in front of his eyes anyway. Porcelain smooth skin was unconsciously flaunted to anyone watching, and his tattoo from his ancient powers sat on his pale chest.

"..."

"Your highness?"

Alberu had to struggle to regain his composure. If the wrong person saw this, who knows what might happen. His dongsaeng is really careless.

"Hyung."

"Yes, hyung. Are you sick? Your face looks a bit red and you're blanking out."

"Maybe, I haven't had a proper break from work in a while."

'Nice. That was a smooth recovery. Just keep talking normally.'

Alberu was coaching himself in his mind throughout the whole conversation, which was why he was repeatedly a few beats late at responding to Cale, which made his cute dongsaeng even more concerned for his health.

"That's it. Tomorrow, I'm coming over."

"...What?"

"You're spacey and red, you look like you have a fever. The brightest sun of our kingdom can't rule with grace and beauty if he's sick."

"Oh...o-okay. When will you get here?"

"I'm not sure. I guess it depends on when I wake up, but I'll try for 11AM. How's that sound?"

"Perfect, good, alright. I'll uh, see you then."

"Alright then, goodnight hyung."

"Ah- yeah, see you tomorrow, Cale."

Both screens shut off at the same time, leaving poor Alberu with an elevated heart rate, and Cale with a look of concern.

"Hey Human, can I come along with you?"

"No, I don't want you to get sick. Children should be healthy at all times."

"Hmm... okay..."

Raon sulked a bit, but quickly rejuvenated after Cale mentioned that he'll bring back cookies from Alberu's office.

Alberu on the other hand, had to splash water on his face in order to cool off. He looked in the mirror with his hand over his mouth.

"Haaa. Why did I have to call at that time!"

But secretly, Alberu was extremely glad he had called at that time.

~~~~~

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⏰ Last updated: Oct 18, 2022 ⏰

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