My Prince | sunwon

10

Sunoo groaned as he buried his face further into his pillow, perturbed by the sun feeling it was necessary to bust through his window. His head throbbed, his stomach churned, and his mouth was dry and sticky. "Gross," he muttered. He groaned again as he stretched out and threw his pillow over his head as he tried to recount the previous night. He hadn't been completely out of it, but the edges of the night were a bit hazy. There were plenty of pints, a lot of darts thrown, and enough laughter that it almost filled the gaping hole left behind by Jungwon's absence. The princess. Sunoo huffed a small chuckle through his nose before tossing his pillow aside and raking his fingers through his hair. She was a princess unlike any other.

He heard his mother calling him from the kitchen and he rolled out of bed. "Well, here we go, I guess," he mumbled as he readied himself to face the day. The day that would lead up to the feast. A soiree of royalty and nobility trying to one up each other, and countless of them vying for Jungwon's attention. Sometimes Sunoo wondered if this were truly a feast to prepare for the tournament or simply a reason to gather more people before Jungwon. Part of him wished Jungwon would just announce he'd chosen Naeun so that Sunoo no longer had to watch people fall over themselves for the prince's attention. He could deal with Naeun. Maybe. At least better than he could handle others. Like Lady Ara or...or Prince Sim . It was harder to imagine Jungwon with a man because then Sunoo couldn't hide behind his gender as the reason it could never be him with Jungwon.

~*~*~*~

Jungwon sipped his morning tea as he stared out at the slowly lightening of the sky over his kingdom. He hadn't slept well the previous night, not that that was surprising. Echoes of Naeun's words, and flashes of Sunoo both past and present filled his mind and prevented enough peace to allow him to slumber for longer than twenty minutes at a time. So, there he was, barely at the edge of dawn, unsure of how to navigate the day. Because he knew what he should do—and if he were honest, what he wanted to do—which was to speak with Sunoo, but seeing how it was feast day, Jungwon knew he'd be pulled in endless directions and none of them would be his own.

As the sky continued to fill with rich oranges and songbirds filled the silence with their songs Jungwon was pulled back to an early morning just over five years ago.

He remembered how Sunoo had carded his fingers through his hair as morning trickled into his chambers. "It is time for me to go, Bunny."

"Not yet."

"It is," Sunoo had whispered. Jungwon could never forget the way pain laced through every word. "I wish it weren't so, but the birds call me, and the guards will soon come to get me on my way. I am sure that all my belongings are already within the transport. I still must bid my parents farewell."

Sunoo had bit his lip and drew in a long breath through his nose as Jungwon stared at him in hopes of memorizing what his best friend looked like. The other boy reached forward and pulled Jungwon into his hold. "You are my best friend, Bunny, don't ever forget that. Don't...don't forget me, okay?"

Jungwon had never once thought it could have ever been possible to forget Sunoo, or the friendship they shared, but there he was, five years later with only a ghost of those years of friendship to keep him company. He promised Sunoo they'd be okay, they both promised they'd remain as they always were. It wasn't right to be stuck like this, in these spaces between strangers and friends filled with history. So, he moved with more purpose, determined that he would speak to him as soon as possible. Naeun was right. Something had to change.

Before Jungwon could seek out the knight he was summoned by his mother.

"Darling, Prince Sim has requested your presence at the arrival of more Proaven Pier guests."