⁺◦ 𝔥𝔬𝔱 | 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 .

↳ 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐲𝐮 .

a crowd of faces huddled over you isn't the first thing that you see once you recover from your fainting spell. bustling nurses that move around the medical wing, trying their best to find a remedy that'll revive you, isn't what pulls you out of the darkness either.

when you feel his calloused hand squeeze some kind of life into your freezing one, you slowly start to awaken. the action was so simple, something someone would naturally do, yet it seems to be more effective than any medicine that the nurses probably used to restore you.

interestingly enough, all you needed was his touch to wake up.

"i'm right here, (y/n). i don't care how long it takes for you to wake up because i've got all the time in the world to stay right by your side." the words slide through trembling lips.

"mingyu," you test out your voice first, then your eyesight.

with nothing but darkness surrounding you and mingyu, you're not sure if this is entirely real or not.

are my eyes still closed or is it pitch-black in here?

"(y/n)," he says your name with such relief that you almost don't recognize the sound of your own name. "i'll tell the nurses that you're awake, so they can tell the king and queen that you can have visitors now."

if this is real— which you're eighty percent sure it is —then you know that the last thing that you need is for the nurses or your parents to find out that you're awake. more than that, they don't need to know that you're in love with someone who's a non-royal.

he can sense your apprehension, but you make it pronounced once you shoot up.

mingyu places his hand on your shoulder, then eases you backwards. you back goes flush with the soft cushioning that nurses opted to add to the beds where patients lay.

you remember back to when your father allowed you to voice your opinion on that issue, and now you're so grateful that he did.

"(y/n), they're your parents, so they should know that you're awake." mingyu speaks in a hushed whisper.

besides the sound of his voice splitting the air, it's awfully quiet in here.

i must've been out for so long that the nurses clocked out for the day.

"they're probably upset with me because i ruined the welcome dinner that they'd planned with the prince and his family for years. they don't need to know that i'm awake."  you respond to mingyu with same softness that he had in his voice when spoke to you.

some emotion that you can't detect is gnawing away at mingyu. he would never tell you what it is that's upsetting him, but you know that something is when he peels his fingers off of yours. "(y/n), please just let me—"

"i need you to stay with me, mingyu. you're the only person that i want to be in this room with, okay?" you reach for him in the darkness, your arms swinging about wildly.

only when he slips into the bed with you does your mind begin to chase your fear into oblivion. mingyu's arm sweeps over you, coaxing you to get back into a comfy laying position. with the same arm, mingyu pulls you against him. you press your back into him, then you feel yourself flush once you realize that you're not wearing a gown with a frivolous amount of tulle. you're not sure if mingyu can tell that he's almost made you forget how to breathe, but he certainly doesn't help when his hand makes slow, soothing circles on your stomach.

this is real. this feels far too good to be true, but it's real.

"i'm sorry for fainting. i wasn't planning on doing that or anything, it just happened." your apology comes out in one short exhalation.

you shove as much air as you possibly can into your body when you inhale. the scent of mingyu, an odd mixture of spices and bread,  is intoxicating. it's so intoxicating that you're not sure if breathing deeply is what you should be doing.

"are you honestly apologizing to me for fainting?" mingyu sounds surprised, but also hurt.

"yeah, i am. i'm really sorry."

"when you fainted, i felt my heart sink. i caught you just before you fell, but the king and queen wouldn't allow me to take you to the medical wing of the castle." you feel mingyu's intake of breath, then hear him try to keep his voice balanced before filling you in on how you got here. "they gave that honor to your future husband, (y/n). i know that you wouldn't apologize to him for fainting, so please don't apologize to me either."

you and mingyu avoid saying the prince of allitora's name, almost as if it's the plague. you two had done this of for quite some time: acted as though the prince didn't exist and you weren't destined to become his wife. now, the crisis is too imminent to deny its existence.

"god, don't call him that." you can't help but shake with anger.

"i know that you don't want to hear it, but he is your future husband." mingyu repeats himself, but you don't want to hear what he has to say.

"i don't want him to be. you know how badly i wish things were different, mingyu."

all in a blurry moment, mingyu stops his hand from gliding across your stomach and kisses the back of your head. he sighs longingly, then goes to comfort you. "i know, (y/n). i wish things were different, too, but—"

"no, don't finish that thought. can't we just pretend that things are different?"

"okay, like how?" the hint of hope in mingyu's voice sounds like a symphony to you.

"like imagining the future together. you know, like people do in movies?" you offer a crazy scenario for mingyu. "for example, how many kids do you want to have?"

"however many you're willing to carry." mingyu responds.

you're just about to hit mingyu's arm when you hear the sound of awarded medals clinking. you squint, as if that'll help you see in the darkness, but you can't make out anything. even though you can't someone else, you can't shake the feeling that you and mingyu aren't the only ones in the medical wing.