This whole weekend calls for rain yuck.

Chapter 30 is done. Guess what that means? Yep. An update.

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Junmyeon's POV

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"Are we sure this is really necessary?" I asked, watching through slitted eyes as palace staff shuffled my belongings back and forth. At mother's insistence, I was being moved the the grand suite at the top of the palace. "Really, my old room is perfectly fine," I tried reasoning.

"After that anonymous tip we got, we can't take any chances," she told me. "Don't worry. I told your father it was because moving you up there would likely entice you into finding a wife sooner than later. I just want what's best for you. That's all I want." I resumed watching them whisk my stuff away. I guess one good thing that came out of this was now I'd have a large, private space, away from the general humdrum of the palace. It also had an attached bathroom, and a library, painstakingly built up by the generations before me. Even if a lot of the country's history was just a click away, some things were very closely guarded. And that's where those books came in.

"I suppose it is about time I move up to that room anyway," I sighed, accepting my inevitable fate. "It's a lot more convenient anyway." I glanced sideways at her. "But I want to keep my office space the same."

"Of course sweetheart," she replied. "Not everything has to change." I fixed my gaze straight ahead, working through a list of appropriate responses. Maybe in her mind it didn't, but I honestly felt that things were constantly changing now. And maybe not always for the better. Maybe she sensed my weird mood, because she gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Baekhyun's here," she told me. "Why don't you go see him? Your father and I have this under control." I accepted her offer of escape, making my way to the longue he favored when he came here (large in part because he got to hook up his PlayStation to the TV).

"Hey Baek," I greeted when I saw him sitting on the couch. He glanced over to me as I sat on the other end, groaning slightly. "Why are you here?"

"How was London?" he asked instead, avoiding my question. A frown made its way to my face. He sounded strangely subdued today. "How was meeting King Henry?" I decided to leave the matter for now as he clearly didn't want to talk about it, but I would get him to open up before he left tonight.

"A bit surreal," I replied. "He and Queen Allison are so nice. They invited me over as a kind of 'get-to-know-you' kind of thing, and make sure that we started off on the right foot as well, since he was allies with my father." I paused. "I'm sure you don't want to hear all about the technical stuff, so what's up?" For a good long while, all he did was stare at his hands on his lap. "Baek?" I prompted gently.

"Remember my friend I was telling you about?" he asked at last. "That goofy giant of a boy, Chanyeol?" I waited patiently as he collected his thoughts. "I...I kissed him." That took a second to sink in.

"You kissed him?" I asked. Baekhyun groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"Yes," he answered. "I don't even fully understand what happened. We were sitting on my bed playing video games, just a normal every day activity for the two of us. He comes over all the time to play with me. I just glanced over and suddenly had this overwhelming urge. So I got his attention, kissed him quick, and then freaked out and sprinted out of my room." He groaned again, and I winced. "I can't face him. What if he hated it?"

"What if he didn't?" I countered. Baekhyun glanced up to me. "You never know Baek. Maybe he likes you too and you don't know it. I certainly didn't suspect anything from Yixing. Maybe this could lead to the best thing that's happened to you."

"I don't know Junnie," he said. "I'm so scared I fucked up with him. What if, you know, he's a normal human and decides to hate my guts after this."

"If he's really your friend then he would at least wait to hear you out," I told him. I loved Baekhyun, but sometimes his mind jumped to illogical choices first. "I don't think you should count him out. From what you've told me, he cares a great deal about you."

"You should have seen him Junnie," Baekhyun answered, gaze fixed to the TV, though he looked far away from here. "We weren't even doing anything special. But the way he looked in that moment, with his dumb grin and sparkling eyes and just...him...I don't know what came over me. I've never even thought of him as anything more than my friend. But in that instant, when I turned to him and saw him so happy about something so mundane..." He sighed.

"I get it," I replied, also focusing on a point straight ahead of me. And I did. Because it wasn't anything grand that Yixing had done that got my attention. It wasn't our dance. It wasn't even the first few nights he'd stayed here. Not really. It had been little things. Like the pride on his face when he talked about his good relationship with Luhan, or the way he smiled when he thought I wasn't looking. It was the way his eyes crinkled in the corners when he was genuinely happy. It was the way his touch lingered longer than necessary. It wasn't anything big and bold and grand. It was a bunch of things that made him who he was. "Hey," I said quietly, puncturing the silence. Baekhyun glanced over to me. "Mother and father are switching rooms with me."

"No way, you get the huge room upstairs?" he asked, seeming more like himself now that our heart to heart was over. I nodded. "That's awesome! Now you have so much room for yourself."

"Yep," I replied. "Me, myself, and I, since I can't seem to find a suitable partner to save my life." His gaze turned slightly sympathetic. He reached out and patted my shoulder.

"You'll find her one day," he said. "Come on. Let's go take a good look at your room." I allowed myself to be hauled up by him and to be dragged towards the staircase. Leave it to Baekhyun to be his curious old self after everything we'd discussed.

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Yixing's POV

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I'd been kicked out of my room while they did some deep cleaning, so I was contenting myself by sitting in the longue on my laptop, looking at wedding venues once again. We were inviting plenty of people to the reception, but only a select few I wanted at the wedding itself.

"Hey." I looked up as a voice spoke. I smiled when Zitao sat beside me. "Mother said I could stay here for a few days," he continued. "So get used to this beautiful face because you're going to be seeing it a lot."

"Just like old times, huh?" I asked him. "That's good though. I love Ying Yue, I do, but sometimes I need some guy interaction as well." I paused when I realized what I'd said, blinking slowly at my laptop screen. I'd just said I loved her. Indirectly, sure, but the fact remained that I had said it. It fell so easily from my lips when I wasn't aware of it. Would it be this easy when I said it directly to her? "I hope you're not expecting a terrible amount out of this," I added. "I have a wedding to plan after all." Tao quickly shut the lid of the laptop. "Hey!" I protested.

"You have four months for that," he said. "I haven't seen you in years. I want to do something with you." And now I felt guilty. I set the laptop aside. "That's better," Tao said with a smirk. "Let's say we explore the towers again. We haven't done that since we were little."

"Yeah, cause we got caught and got grounded for a month," I reminded him. "Besides, we aren't kids anymore. We shouldn't be sneaking around causing mischief like we're five. We have responsibilities."

"Ugh, old age turned you boring," he replied. I felt insulted. "Come on Xing, think about it," he said. "In four months you're going to be married, and in five you'll be king. When are you going to be able to do something like this again?" I opened my mouth to answer, then promptly closed it when I didn't have one. "Be a kid for a bit longer. Even if you're a prince, you're still a kid. Live your life a bit before it's consumed by running a country and starting a family."

"I..." I sighed. "Alright," I agreed. "But if we get caught this was all your idea." He laughed and nodded, grabbing my hand and pulling me along behind him. And suddenly I was six again, being pulled by a five-year-old Tao up to the towers for the first time. I remembered the simultaneous thrill and terror at seeing the creaking wooden steps. I remembered the musty spell of dust. And I remembered a time where I didn't have to worry about planning weddings and running a country.

"Just like I remember it," Tao said as we emerged into the tiny room at the top. "Except there's another layer of dust." He broke away and made a beeline for the window, the floorboards creaking under every step. I gazed around at a room of memories. Old pictures, bookshelves teaming with books, boxed packed full of things, you name it, it was in this room. Tao threw back the curtains and a cloud of dust exploded around him. He seemed unaffected however, as he opened the window itself and looked out. "I remember it being a lot higher when we were little," he said.

"That's because we were five and six years old," I replied, walking over to a cluster of boxes. I opened the top one, not sure what to expect. I smiled when it appeared to be a box of my old toys. "I didn't realize they'd stored all this stuff away," I mumbled to myself. "They said they sold it." I opened another box. Clothes. Mostly my old stuff. "Remember when we'd both dress up in my formal clothes?" I asked Tao. He turned to me. "And you would be a 'prince' too?"

"Yeah," he said, coming to stand beside me. "I still kind of wish I was, but I can't complain too much. I've had everything someone my age could ask for. But maybe then we could've seen each other more often. Maybe we could've continued to be best friends as we got older, when teaching and coaching began to take over your life."

"Maybe," I said quietly, closing the box once again and moving to a different one. Decorations from my room when I was a kid. "I never realized they kept any of this," I said to Tao. "They always told me they sold it."

"Maybe they wanted your future kids to have some of it," he rationed. Maybe. I closed this box too.

"Yixing!" I whipped around when my name was called from seemingly nowhere. "I know you're up there," the voice continued. Luhan. "I, uh, have something to show you." I looked to Tao, who shrugged.

"Coming," I called back. I made my way down the stairs, with Tao following behind me. When I emerged, I saw Luhan wearing a frown, holding something in his hands. "What's this?" I asked.

"They were cleaning, you know," he began. "Moving things around and such. And they bumped your nightstand. This fell off." He held the object out to me. The music box from Junmyeon. I took it from him, inspecting the outside. A small scratch across the top, but that was about it. "Open it," he instructed. I did so.

And no sound came out.

"Can we see about getting it fixed?" I asked him as calmly as I could manage when all I wanted to do was scream. "If this was any other music box I wouldn't care so much. But this was my present from Junmyeon. I use it to get to sleep. I can't have it broken. Please Luhan." He carefully took it back from me.

"I'll see what I can do," he assured me. "I just wanted you to know what happened so you didn't freak out. You're taking it surprisingly well."

"Oh trust me, it's taking a lot of will power to not just explode on the spot," I responded. "I hope it gets fixed." I didn't see why it wouldn't, unless they'd really messed with the mechanics of it. Then I was screwed. And then I was sad. Luhan left with it, no doubt seeking out someone who could possibly fix it for me.

"So, I take it that wooden box is special?" Tao asked. All I could do was nod. I sighed. They'd better get it fixed, or there was going to be hell to pay.

...

Yes, hopefully they do. It's almost time for me to work, but I wanted to finish this up first.