𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1,800 words

𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨

The maid was looking puzzled at him as he asked her a question.

"Uh.." he said and rubbed the side of his neck with a hand, "You know, the one with short pitch-black hair, slightly narrow eyes, features very handsome, and around this.. tall," he gestured a height almost the same as his own with his hands.

It seemed to work, for the woman's eyes lit up the moment she knew who he was seeking, "Oh yes, I remember now, Your Royal Highness," she said with a hum and did a small curtsy, "Follow me."

Jongho squinted his eyes at her when they left the hallway he had found her in. He hadn't seen San the whole morning, and although his absence should've been a relief for him, he could only worry the more time passed without knowing what the hell he was up to.

The siren had a sketchy feeling about this as San never was one to skip his meals. And yes, compared to most of the other species here, the merpeople were awake at day and slept at night.

There was no convincing reason for San not to be up at this time of the day.

They strolled down another turn in the hallway and before the siren got to word his skepticism about the lead of the maid, she finally halted in front of a white double-doored room, her eyes wandering to his figure as she bowed her head at him. His eyes trailed the only bared skin of her neck as her hair was gathered on the back of her head.

"He should be in here, Your Royal Highness," she affirmed with her sight locked on the floor.

Jongho nodded at her, his brows still pinched, but nevertheless, he thanked her for the help and dismissed the maid. He gazed further down where the hallway abruptly ended with an enormous window that showed the beautiful view of hollow woods and writhing rivers. Mountains towered on the horizon, and how he wholeheartedly wished that he could have just glimpsed the ocean.

He sighed longingly, chin falling a tad bit down before he raised himself from the depths and decided to knock at the door. After a long wait, nothing happened and he started thinking if the door was too dense for the sound to go through. But it should be. Jongho gave it another try.

Had he died?

Then something thumped hard down against the floor, followed by one's shriek.

Alerted, all the siren's senses sparked alive, and without giving it a second thought, he threw his weight into the door. That was definitely San he had heard.

_____

𝐒𝐚𝐧

His body felt as if the weight of the seven seas was laying on him and pressing him down into the immeasurably soft bed. So heavy. He was numb - all over, and not even the blueish light shining in through the slits of the curtain would be enough to drag him out. San groaned as he rolled over, his arms hitting against a warm body he instinctively wrapped them around as he pulled himself closer again, cheek nuzzling against the bare shoulder as he smiled fondly. He could stay here for a long time; everything felt perfect here.

The man stirred as he must have felt the sensation of the other prince's hand resting against his stomach before slowly trailing upwards. He purred at the affection of the hand brushing against his warm skin and trailing the firm muscles of his chest, now and then crossing the sheeny gold patterns.

Suddenly the knock on the door was heard again, and San whined into Wooyoung's shoulder, refusing to let go of the warm body.

"San," the dragon said with his deep rumbling of a morning voice.

Shivers went down San's spine.

"Go get the door."

San pouted. It didn't take much persuasion for Wooyoug to have him reluctantly let go again before turning around and throwing his legs over the edge of the bed - of the only reason that San didn't want to know what would happen if he did not listen.

Wooyoung sounded fucking scary.

As his feet hit the cool floor he lifted his hands to rub the sleep out of his eyes, but in the move his little finger crooked around a solid item, dragging it along the bed's surface until it fell.

And Wooyoung's vast and expensive, god-damn heavy pure gold crown hit his foot. San was caught in a state of shock before his brain registered the immense pain alarming every cell in his body of the collision. The man cried out as his fingernails dug into his thighs while his foot continued aching like crazy. He swore over his breath between his clenched teeth.

"Are you always this loud when you wake up?" Wooyoung mumbled from behind him and San turned his head but was startled by the knock against the door which sounded more like a crash this time.

"What- no!"

Wooyoung shuffled a little under the covers until he glanced in the direction of the abused door, "Did you lock the door? Seems like someone really wants in..." he said.

With a last hard kick, the doors sprung open, lock tearing the wood it was fastened into in pieces and a rather fearful expression on the man's face changed into a disturbed one when he saw them both on the bed.

"What in the world.."

San's eyes widened all along with Jongho's as his own eyes flicked down of himself, thinking of how the other found two princes scandalously being in the same chamber, in the same fucking bed with barely any clothes on.

No, no this couldn't happen!

"San, what the fuck is this?"

Forgotten was everything about his throbbing foot; San only saw everything beneath his tall throne crumble until nothing was left. He was so engulfed by his own fear, that he never noted how the siren had charged forward, now grabbing his arm and hauling him out of the bed.

San gasped as Jongho's fingers suddenly threaded into his hair instead, "Ow ow ow, please Jongho-ya, I swear it's not what you think!"

"Huh, and how else should I be reading this situation?"

"Just, I-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before Jongho had his head pressed down under the siren's own, razor-sharp teeth bared at him as he sneered at him, "Shut up, I don't want to hear any excuses from you when you already know of the consequences. You are the damn Crown Prince, San! What don't you understand? You should not be sleeping around with the enemy!? Actually, you should not be sleeping around with anyone at all."

The merman groaned out loudly when Jongho's sharp nails began grinding down into his scalp.

"Please Jongho, listen!"

But the man only received a hissing sound from the back of the siren's throat, "No I will not. It is okay that you speak to others, or even befriend them for that matter - but you have to remember why we truly are here. What will the Queen say when she hears about this, or what about the King?"    

The resonance of his voice was dead point serious, forcing San to bow further down while he started trembling out of so much fear. They couldn't know - they couldn't, they would kill him.

"You will not tell them, I beg you! You know how they are... They will let Elwynn take the throne instead, and I..." San felt heavy, all waves swallowing him and pulling him deeper down in the darkest waters. His heart was racing in his throat as Jongho was still pressing down on him until his legs nearly gave away under him. San had never believed that Jongho would want this to happen.

"Do you wish me dead?"

San's throat clenched achingly when he swallowed in an attempt to keep the tears away.

Something bustled around in the background and quickly interrupted before any death sentence was declaimed.

"Hey now that I'm the only witness and the one who San fucked, I feel like I have the right to interfere in this discussion. This intercourse was not at all San's fault as he was clearly poisoned by something that made him concupiscent while not at all being in his right mind," Wooyoung exclaimed as he placed his hands on both of their shoulders, "Please let go, Jongho, you're hurting him."

Wooyoung must radiate very forceful energies, for Jongho let go of him almost immediately. San stumbled a few steps before he glanced up at the siren with wide fright-stricken eyes.

"Concu- what? Did you poison him!?" Jongho blurted, his head turning to the dragon as anger rose in his features.

Rolling his eyes, Wooyoung crossed his arms and looked bothered at the younger prince, "No of course I didn't, how egoistic do you think I am?"

San couldn't stand it any longer. He left them both to deal with everything that he had caused, limping all the way to the built-in bathroom in the chamber. Desperately, his fingers searched the light switch before he pulled himself into the spacious room and smacked the door close, and locked it behind him. No one had followed him.

The prince sighed heavily, winching for every step he had to take with his hurt foot until he reached for the sink and leaned on it. His droopy eyes raised to the mirror in front of him and he shrunk in his form. A trail of blood was running down over his forehead from presumably the wound that Jongho had made with his nails on his scalp. For a long time, he just stared into his own pupils, feeling how everything inside of him got sore and bruised until the feelings started draining and only nothing was left. He was a royal, and he was the heir to a genus of leaders of an ancient people. He had beat himself to this all his life.

But he didn't look like one.

And he definitely didn't act like one.

With another heavy sigh, he pushed himself off the sink and limped to the showerhead which he turned on and threw down at the bottom of the empty bathtub. His eyes started leaking at the mere thought of stepping down into the sheen layers of water. He threw off his underwear and moved down the few stairs before settling down in the running water, making his true form come through.

As the water slowly heaved, the prince washed the blood out of his hair, running his hands along his tail. He sank down under the surface.

All of a sudden, San wanted to drown. But he never could.

♛