Make me eat my words || Taegyu

Chapter 2

The skies hung heavy with thick, dark clouds on the day the Dragon Kingdom's royal family arrived, which Beomgyu found quite appropriate, since his mood was equally as dreary. He'd been up since eight with Soobin and his recently hired stylist Ryujin fussing over him, and he was starting to get tired of his own face in the mirror.

"The king and the queen literally gave me direct orders to put him in navy blue, Soobin. That's the color of our kingdom." Ryujin smacked the taller male on the back of his head with a hairbrush, then lowered it guiltily when Beomgyu turned his gaze on her. "Erm. Sorry, your highness. Do you mind?" She held up the dark navy suit jacket, bowing as he stood up, and he gave her a grateful smile.

"Nah, Ryujin, don't apologize. He usually deserves it." He ignored the indignant "hey!" from Soobin as he shrugged the jacket over his shoulders and let Ryujin button it for him. He didn't miss the smile that flickered across her lips as she tucked a pocket square into his jacket.

Ryujin gave him a once-over, then grabbed Soobin's arm and hauled him up from where he was sitting on Beomgyu's bed, arms crossed and lips pushed into a pout. "What do we think, huh, Soob?"

His eyes narrowed, Soobin scrutinized Beomgyu. "I still think we should've gone with the dangly earrings. Just saying."

"God, no wonder they hired me," Ryujin groused. "You don't even know the formal dress code." She bowed again to Beomgyu, smiling. "You look great, your highness. Your beauty will charm them. Or perhaps scare them, depending on your intent."

Beomgyu got the feeling Ryujin struggled with behaving so formally towards someone the same age as her. Lucky for her, he didn't really care. Titles were so old-fashioned. "Definitely trying to scare them. Thank you, seriously." He tried to sit back down, then winced when the fabric didn't stretch.

"Oh, um, yeah, it's kind of stiff," Ryujin said apologetically. "You can probably change after the initial meeting, which is..." She trailed off, looking at Soobin, who sighed and looked at his watch.

"In thirty minutes."

Beomgyu's stomach twisted. "Oh, god." He glanced at himself in the mirror, examining his outfit. A long, blue coat over white pants, his dark  hair parted neatly in the middle of his forehead, his eyes brightened by a little bit of glitter on his eyelids. He did look pretty, albeit a bit uptight. He turned back to Ryujin and Soobin, who were watching him with varying levels of worry. "Would either of you rat me out if I jumped out my window right now and escaped?"

"Yes," Soobin said immediately. Beomgyu gave him a sullen look, and his cheeks puffed out as he tried to hold back his laugh.

Beomgyu let out a resigned sigh. "Well, we should probably go. I wanna talk to Yeonjun before those assholes they call a royal family get here." Ryujin bowed again, shooting a glance at his vanity, and Beomgyu gave her a knowing smile. "You know, Ryujin, you can stay here and 'practice' on yourself if you want. Get familiar with all my makeup. You know."

"Oh, no, I shouldn't, sorry, there's..." She cast a dreamy look back at the palettes of eyeshadow. "Just so much. Can I really stay?"

"Yeah, duh. Just don't steal anything. If anyone asks, you're practicing." She nodded enthusiastically, and Beomgyu winked, giving her a wave. "Alright, Soobin, let's go behave passive-aggressively towards a powerful enemy nation's leaders."

"Can't wait," Soobin responded dryly, opening the door for him and leading him out to the hallway. Since they were having visitors, the halls were bustling with activity; maids running to and fro with feather dusters and vacuums, servers with trays of food, attendants to the lords and ladies fussing over them in the most inconvenient of places. Times like these were when Beomgyu was most thankful for the sprawling size of the palace and its domed marble ceilings.