halcyon || seungjin

05: It's Quiet Tonight

Seungmin has been on high alert since Jisung's warning that Hyunjin wants to meet him. He shouldn't be nervous, he knows. Hyunjin, from everyone's descriptions of him, is just an easygoing guy who hates his position in the royal family. He's admittedly gorgeous, but also humble and down to earth. He's nice and likes to paint, and really doesn't take his role as a prince seriously at all. He's a few months older than Seungmin but they're still the same age, and he likes dancing as much as Seungmin likes singing. Really, they could be good friends, Seungmin thinks.

But he's still a prince. Nothing can change that. And because nothing can change that, Seungmin's mission to avoid Hyunjin remains.

Seungmin spends the next few days working as usual, eating dinners with Felix or Jisung or sometimes both, and on occasion they drag along a few other guards Seungmin has come to know as Chan and Changbin.

One night, Seungmin eats at the same table as Prince Jeongin and his personal guard, Minho- or rather, they see him and Jisung eating alone together and decide to join them- causing Seungmin to almost faint as they do. Jisung abandons Seungmin at the table as soon as he sees them approaching, making up some excuse about forgetting to do his laundry for the week which strikes Seungmin as strange- maybe even a little bit hypocritical- and he makes sure to make a mental note to interrogate him on it later.

Seungmin manages to keep his composure through dinner, somehow. Jeongin is a year younger and his smile never fades from his face. Minho is a couple years older but his serious expression certainly doesn't match his teasing demeanor. They're both very nice, and they try to joke and converse with Seungmin, but he feels like his spine has locked into place and he can barely manage normal replies. Seungmin says "your highness" more times than he blinks throughout the course of dinner, even though Jeongin insists that he drops the formalities. And while Jeongin's laxity helps to put Seungmin at ease, the hairs on the back of Seungmin's neck stand pin straight for the entire meal. After they leave the dining hall, Seungmin can't help but wonder why they weren't with Hyunjin, since Felix has told him that the two brothers almost always eat together- but he's not complaining.

The night of Seungmin's first meal in Jeongin's company, he decides he'll visit the garden again before he sleeps, just to unwind because the tension in his whole body after trying to execute the most perfect posture he's ever had for a whole hour during dinner is no joke. It's earlier now than it was when he went on his first night in the palace, so he's pretty confident he won't catch Hyunjin there, with the moon still resting low in the sky and only the brightest stars starting to shine hazily.

Seungmin walks through the courtyard doors and immediately scans the balconies to ensure that Hyunjin isn't out. Luckily, they're all empty, so Seungmin makes his way to the fountain and takes a seat on the edge, craning his neck up to look at the night sky, more stars beginning to emerge beyond the wispy noctilucent clouds.

It's quiet tonight, Seungmin notes. Quieter than usual. No breeze, no quiet brush of flower stems or bush leaves grazing against themselves, just the low whoosh of the fountain waterfalls. The garden is completely still. Seungmin feels like he's in an oil painting, a still drawing, a single living element of a diorama, all alone in the vast yard.

But then, he hears rustling. It's coming from one of the morning glory arches in front of him. It could just be an animal, an insomniac squirrel perhaps, Seungmin tries to assure himself, as his heart rate inches up. He doesn't move from where he sits, but his eyes survey the greenery around him warily.

It goes quiet again. No rustling.

Seungmin exhales. Can't have been anything but a squirrel-

"Seungmin."