Royally Screwed (TaeGyu)

ARC 2: Part 6

The weeks following the conversation between Sunghoon and the three princes were busy. As the days melded into November, the temperature dropped even more and the Royal Academy students could be seen bundled up in thicker, warmer coats and sweaters.

The two week vacation usually took place in the last two weeks of November. Beomgyu had already sent a letter back home detailing the conversation and plan they had had to his brother. The next letter that came back was full of protests but before Beomgyu could respond to it, he had received another letter, this time from his mother who had written that she had convinced his father and brother for the time being.

"...and the only condition I have is that you take care and don't hurt yourself," Beomgyu finished reading out the letter, smoothly ignoring the last para that was his mother asking him about Taehyun. The said boy nodded, looking up from where he was penning his own letter back home.

"Alright, then we have both got permission from our families," he murmured, letting his pen run over the paper again while he spoke. "Kai is talking with his family about the possible illnesses and cures too but the answer they all have reached is that nothing can be said or confirmed without actually looking at her."

"I see," Beomgyu frowned. "I certainly hope that whatever this is… won't end with anyone dead."

Even as he said those words, Beomgyu felt an off feeling in his gut. It made him shiver for a second but he brushed it off when Taehyun asked if he was feeling cold. As long as he protected Taehyun, Soobin and Kai, Beomgyu decided that whatever happened would be fine. To him, their lives were important.

Keeping those thoughts to himself, Beomgyu decided to bury back into the homework they had received before the term ended. At the Royal Academy, exams didn't exist. What they needed was to fill the attendance of classes and finish their homework on time. So in the blink of an eye, they had already reached the end of the term.

They were going to make their way to the Ice kingdom on the first day of the vacation. The plan was to leave from the kingdom of Knowledge together with Sunghoon and to meet Soobin at the airport of the Ice kingdom.

The entire morning, Taehyun had been unusually quiet and stiff and Beomgyu wasn't sure why. He didn't want to press because he was confident Taehyun would tell him when he's ready but it didn't erase the worry he felt for the younger. Silently, he offered hugs and hand squeezes to reassure Taehyun whenever they were close enough. Every time, Taehyun gave him a fake smile and returned the action.

With their bags packed, they waited together in the terminal lobby where the plane going to the Ice kingdom was waiting. Kai and Sunghoon were taking time so the two were playing a game of figuring out which song the other was mouthing. It was a silly game they had come up with when bored, but it was a good excuse to stare at each other's lips and get away with it so they enjoyed it more than they would admit to anyone, even themselves.

"Yes, yes, you want to eat each other's faces out, we get it, but this is not the place," Kai's announcement the moment he was close enough to them interrupted the game. The two flushed at the insinuation and were about to deny it when they noticed Sunghoon lingering behind Kai nervously and kept quiet. They had to pretend to be in love in front of him especially.

"Your crude language makes me wonder how you're a prince sometimes," Taehyun shot him a playful glare as he stood up. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, the boarding will be open in five," Sunghoon said, checking his watch. Beomgyu looked around the empty lobby in confusion.

"Aren't there any Ice kingdom noble children with you?" He asked. Usually, the planes that made their way to and from the kingdom of Knowledge were meant to be used by all the students from one kingdom. Beomgyu being from the kingdom of Air, who had been the ones to invent the aeroplane, knew this because it was the rule they had placed to make sure fuel won't be wasted.