mark was a royal, perhaps the most important royal from the kingdom of aes. he was one of the people everybody should listen to and ensure that he is well served and that all of his wishes are instantly fulfilled. he was one of the people that should be getting what he wanted in a snap of fingers, without anybody questioning the legitimacy of his sayings.

and yet, mark had somehow come up with a wish that no servant could fulfil – not that he could actually ask any servant to fulfil his wish.

he was waiting, sitting down in the backdoor's frame while staring at the lands of aes from the top of the hill on which the palace was, his eyes desperately searching for a smaller figure among the blossoming flowers. a figure that he missed dearly, and that he hadn't caught a glimpse of the past day nor the day before.

it had been three days since him and donghyuck had met, during this awful royal dinner with the regent queen. three days since donghyuck had left mark, the promise that he would be back someday hanging on his lips. it had only been three days, and yet mark missed the brunette so bad.

the uncrowned king didn't exactly recall when this happened, when he became so attached and dependent, as if seeing donghyuck at least once a day was a necessity for him to survive. because it was exactly this, these past three days that mark had spent on his own, impatiently waiting next to the backdoor of the castle for the tanned peasant to show up, these days had been hell for mark. it had felt as if something was missing, as if the highlight of his day didn't occur, as if a piece of happiness and giddiness had been snatched away from him. and he knew exactly that donghyuck would be the only one able to solve this.

"your highness?"

the future king abruptly turned around at the the voice, meeting eyes with a royal guard in attire standing a few feet behind him.

"yes?" the boy questioned not moving from his seated position in the doorway.

"i am sorry to interrupt, your highness." the guard spoke again. "i was asked to check up on you by her majesty."

"it's fine, i'm just enjoying the view of our lands." mark replied emotionlessly.

"i understand, your highness." the guard nodded. "however, her majesty invited you to join her on the front terrace of the castle. you would still have a beautiful view of the lands from there. and the seating would definitely be more comfortable than the doorway."

the uncrowned king let his eyes wander across the lands for a few seconds. he had been sitting there for at least two hours, waiting for donghyuck, the same way he had the two previous days. there was no way the brunette would show up today either it seemed.

with a heavy sigh, the prince pushed himself to his feet again, stepping back inside the palace and shutting the back door behind himself.

"please, lead the way." he informed the guard who bowed to his sire and guided him where he was expected.

♕

"we will be celebrating your father's death anniversary in a few days." the regent queen informed over dinner as mark and her ate in silence. "is there anything particular you would like the chefs to prepare that day?"

mark didn't even look up from his plate, his fork toying with the food mindlessly. "i thought we were having a banquet with royals from other kingdoms."

"we are." the queen assured. "i invited the flores kingdom as well as a few others that we share borders with. we could also invite the lumen king and his nephew if he's still there. that way you'd have your friend to hang out with."

the future king hummed. "yeah, whatever..."

"but you didn't answer." mark's mother stared at her son. "is there anything you'd like to eat? i notice that you didn't seem to have much appetite these past days. is something wrong with the food?"

mark stayed silent for a while, his fork tugging at the piece of meat that had been perfectly cooked in his plate.

it had been five days now, five afternoons spent sitting in the backdoor of the castle, waiting for a familiar mop of brown hair to appear between the blossoming flowers of aes. five days that he hadn't seen donghyuck, and let's be honest, his absence within the castle walls was starting to weight on mark like nothing ever before.

"i'm fine." the royal answered flatly. "just not feeling hungry."

"mark, my precious gem." the queen called, making the young boy look up at his mother. "don't be scared to tell me if something is wrong, alright?"

"mmh." he simply hummed.

his mother sighed. "i always feel down as well when we're approaching your father's death anniversary. it is normal, i guess. it's part of the grief and the pain that comes with the loss of a loved one." she stated. "but it will be better in a few days. we'll celebrate your father joyfully, honour him, and everything will be better, i promise."

the uncrowned king stayed silent, his eyes diverting back to the cold food on his plate.

for some reason, despite not having fully accepted the loss of his father after all of those years, it wasn't what had him in such a morose state. in fact, his pain did come from the loss of a loved one, but just not the one his mother had expected; not his father whom he knew would never be back in his life again, but rather from the beautiful peasant that he had grown attached to in such a short period of time, the one that had promised him that he would come back and make mark happy again.

♕

it is with distance and time that one can realise how much another might mean to them.

mark hadn't exactly understood the principles of these words at first, not getting how being far from someone would make him realise how he cared about them rather than staying by their side, but now he did.

after seven days of sitting in the doorframe of the castle's back door, eyes focused on the lands where he hoped a golden boy to appear magically, mark was starting to wonder whether donghyuck's promise had been some stupid words thrown at him without a true meaning behind them.

he hadn't seen the boy for seven days. it shouldn't feel that long, that unbearable; seven days was barely the time it took to get to the northern kingdoms. it was nothing in a royal's life and yet it felt like an eternity in mark's.

the future king didn't recall being this attached to the peasant that had started visiting him daily the past month. he hadn't realised how much the brunette truly meant to him before he got a taste of not seeing the boy anymore. it truly felt unbearable now, the royal yearning for the younger male like he had yearned for nothing before. it was almost a vital wish, something he desperately needed to keep going and to survive.

the inside of the royal palace was dull when donghyuck was not around, not there to prepare food for mark and warm-up his insides with loving dishes, not there to ask hundreds of questions that mark took a pleasure answering to, not there showing care and adoration for mark who could only reciprocate it...

it was crazy how the sole presence of the younger male had made the insides of the castle so much livelier – at least for mark – making him enjoy things as simple as taking a stroll around the corridors, something that he would never have taken the time to do if it wasn't for donghyuck. and despite having tried doing it on his own during the past days, it didn't feel as relieving as when donghyuck was around.

it must have been two hours again that he had been waiting in the door frame, like a watchdog ready to bark at the first sight of an intruder; two long hours on the seventh day, and yet, he was still miserably sitting there, sitting under the burning sun, doing nothing but realising how much he missed the peasant.

he was getting discouraged, slowly coming to the conclusion that donghyuck would never show up again, that he had realised how wrong it might be for a peasant and a royal to hang out, that he might have been so disgusted by his mother's words that he wouldn't want to show up at the castle ever again, or perhaps that he didn't even want to have anything to do with mark ever again, that he hated him and that he'd rather die than spend another minute with-

"hi..."

mark's head snapped to his right with so much speed and force that it could have cracked and caused him to pull a muscle. but honestly this was perhaps the least of his concerns now that his ears had been blessed with the honey voice he yearned to hear so much.

"d-donghyuck!" the royal exclaimed, first jumping to his feet and then on donghyuck, his arms circling over the boy's chest, one hand ending up pressing on his back while the other wrapped around his nape, caressing the boy's hair and skin in a soothing manner.

the peasant couldn't help but let a small huff as air was knocked out of his lungs with the force mark used to pull him closer and hug him. however, after a few seconds of surprise, he let himself melt into the future king's embrace, his own hands reaching around mark's torso to hug him back.

"i-i thought y-you'd never come..." mark stuttered out, his face hidden in the crook of donghyuck's neck as he never released his embrace, not even a bit.

the tanned male chuckled lightly. "i had promised you i would be back." he stated.

"i didn't think it would take you that long... i was losing hope..." mark admitted with a sigh.

"i'm sorry it took so long..." donghyuck spoke again as he felt something watery drop on in clavicle. "i'm sorry, mark, my father wouldn't let me alone for a few days, and i had a lot of things to deal with at the restaurant as one of our workers got badly sick..." he explained. "i would have come earlier otherwise."

a small sniffle escaped mark, allowing the royal himself to realise that he was crying. he definitely understood now how distance and time you help you realise how much someone meant to you. and all of those feelings came back at you twice harder upon reuniting with them, he was painfully aware of it now.

"i-i..." mark gulped, his embrace tightening a bit more. "i missed you..." he finally admitted.

donghyuck let out a breathy sigh, his heartbeat somehow accelerating in his chest at those words from the royal – those words he would never have dared to speak up first despite knowing that they were true. "i missed you too, mark..."

the two males stayed in that position for long minutes, enjoying the warmth provided by each other's embrace for as long as they could before mark came to the realisation that they were in a pretty much public place and that anyone could walk on them being so carefree.

the royal let go of the peasant and pulled away from the hug, his head lowering in shyness for a second before he lifted it again to make eye-contact with the other.

"s-sorry, i h-huh..." the royal stuttered. "got a bit carried away..." he added, rubbing his nape.

"y-yeah, it's okay..." donghyuck shrugged it off with a small chuckle.

"so... how about we go to my room...?" the royal suggested. "that way we- u-uh, you wouldn't risk getting caught."

"sure." donghyuck nodded, approving mark's words.

"alright." the future king nodded as well. "l-let's go?"

he looked down for a fraction of second, pushing donghyuck to look down as well and flush as he realised what mark was surely hinting. the royal's had was held out, as if it was reaching towards donghyuck, silently asking him to put his own hand there and allow mark to intertwine their fingers.

with a hint of hesitance and red cheeks, donghyuck's trembling hand lifted as well, the inside of his palm making contact with mark's before the uncrowned king clasped his fingers around donghyuck's smaller hand, his lips curving up in a smile and his heart missing a beat.

call him whipped, but it seemed like after seven days of being far away from the boy, mark couldn't go a minute without a sort of physical contact between the two of them.

and well, it wasn't like donghyuck's opinion differed from that either...

♕

it seemed like their life had gotten back to normal right the next day – or well, as normal as the life of a peasant and a royal hanging out could be.

donghyuck had appeared on time in front of the castle's back door, less than a minute after mark had reached there, and the two of them had headed to the kitchen together – hand in hand as well, something that might have changed from how normal things used to be in the past – donghyuck had cooked something for mark, and mark had devoured the dish made with love like it was his last meal. they had then strolled around the castle corridors, and ended up chatting in mark's room, both sitting face to face on the royal's bed, eventually getting up to reach for an object lying around – and mostly for mark to explain to donghyuck what royal thing it was and how it worked.

the afternoon was going pretty smooth, and mark already felt so much better now that he had gotten his donghyuck back, his appetite normal again, and the corners of his lips always curved up despite the fact his father's death anniversary was coming up.

in fact, it seemed like donghyuck was the perfect distraction for him. the past years, he recalled spending the days before the anniversary mourning in his bedroom, on his own, sometimes crying even, too sad to recall about this tragic day to be able to put on a mask and live a normal life these days. but well, it seemed like donghyuck was the perfect remedy to all of this, anything about him allowing mark to get distracted from the harshness of life.

whether it was the sound of his voice, the smell and taste of his food, the sight of his beauty, and the comfort of his touches... everything about the young peasant allowed mark to escape reality and feel like he was in a fairy-tale, his only worry in life being to make the ball of sunshine that was donghyuck happy.

and judging by the way donghyuck was laughing whole-heartedly at something silly mark had just said, it seemed like the future king did a good job at keeping the peasant the happiest he could be.

"can i ask you a favour?" the royal questioned as the tanned male's laugher died down after a while.

"of course." donghyuck nodded, shifting on the bed as he got somehow a bit taken aback by mark's sudden seriousness.

"well..." mark started. "the day after tomorrow is my father's death anniversary..."

donghyuck's eyes widened slightly, his mouth forming a perfect 'o' as he looked at the future king with pained eyes.

"i-i'm sorry... i didn't realise..." he murmured, his hand gently reaching forward to lay on mark's knee, rubbing the boy's body over the expensive fabric of his clothes to comfort him.

"i-it's okay." mark suttered out, his heart feeling all sorts of things at the touch of the younger. "y-you probably didn't know..."

the fact is, donghyuck should have known. his father and all of his followers had celebrated this day so bad these past years, feasting over a mutual success, the death of a royal that they wanted to get rid of more than anything else.

donghyuck was painfully aware of the date of this event, even though he didn't have the same interest as his father celebrating this very event.

"we're organising a banquet with royals for other kingdoms for the occasion." mark continued speaking, seeing that donghyuck didn't seem to have anything else to say. "a-and, well..." he paused, searching for his words. "h-huh... i...kind of... would be happy if you could be there with me on that event." by then end of his sentence, mark had found the courage to lift his head and look right into donghyuck's eyes. 

the younger boy was looking at him with eyes that held so much understanding and care, a way that mark hadn't been looked at in forever, a way that made his heart beat considerably faster.

there was no need for more words to be exchanged, just by the way donghyuck chocolate orbs were glued to him, mark knew that he had understood how much mark valued that day, how hard it would be for him to go through it in the middle of a hundred royals he couldn't care less about, how bad his heart would hurt if he wasn't accompanied by the right person. donghyuck understood all of that, he didn't need other words for mark to know how much his presence at that event meant for the future king of aes – blame it on all of those times he had listened to mark speak so lovingly about his father, all of those times donghyuck had wanted nothing more than being able to bring the boy's father back and see mark beam in full happiness again.

and so, despite knowing that he wasn't a royal and that he would definitely not fit in the middle of all of those stuck-up court people that thought so low of him, he decided to do it for mark's sake.

"i'll gladly accompany you." he replied simply, his hand leaving mark's knee to settle on his hands. "i want to be here with you during that day."

and well, as much as mark knew that donghyuck was the kindest soul he had ever met, he couldn't help but feel like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders' at donghyuck's response, going as far as making a happy tear roll down his cheek.

"thank you." he spoke with all of his heart, looking deep into donghyuck's eyes. "thank you so much, donghyuck."

at those words from the royal, it was only natural for the tanned male to grin, letting his body be guided by his erratic heart to reach forward and embrace the future king in a hug.

"anything for you, mark..."