Falling If You're Around To Catch Me - hnjislibrary (2024)

🎀

Andalasia is a magical place full of enchanting energy. The meadows are green and blooming with daisies, snapdragons, poppies, and all sorts of beautiful flowers. The forests are aligned with the tallest of trees that provide the most refreshing shade. It’s always sunny and hardly ever rains. And the lakes are as clear as crystals.

The cats and birds can speak and sing together in blissful harmony. Trolls roam the land and fairies flutter with the wind. Andalasia is home to people who just want to live happily ever after. People like Lee Minho.

To Minho, “happily ever after” means meeting his one true love. He dreams of it.

Every night he dreams of holding soft, warm hands that would fit perfectly in his. He dreams of dancing to harmonious music in which he would be spun around and lifted up just to be gracefully brought back to his feet. He dreams of effortlessly being dipped and met with true love's kiss.

Minho always sees a handsome man in these dreams, with a stunning heart-shaped smile, fluffy hazel hair that frames the most adorable round, rose-tinted cheeks. He has the prettiest brown eyes that sparkle like gems, so much so that Minho could see his own reflecting back at him. The man is the epitome of a charming prince. Just the thought of him makes Minho’s heart soar. He can’t stop the exhilarating feeling that blossoms in heart from believing that a man so perfect for him exists and is dreaming of Minho, too.

Minho hums to himself, a simple tune he's made up as he fantasizes about his happily ever after. His deer, rabbit, and bird friends lounge around listening.

“What are you all giddy and smiley about?” a voice says, causing the clouds around Minho’s head to poof away. He turns to see a mostly orange cat jump up onto the sage green, wooden windowsill where he is sitting.

“Jinnie, Hi,” Minho smiles, petting the cat gently on the head. The cat purrs and lifts its head up for Minho to scratch under its chin. “Nothing, just daydreaming,” he sighs, trying his best not to get lost in thought again as he now has company.

“Must have been daydreaming about something special, I’ve never seen you look so… Fond?” Another orange cat with a white nose jumps up onto the windowsill, followed by a smaller gray cat.

“I want a turn!” The gray cat whines, pushing past Jinnie to get pet, too.

Minho chuckles, finding it adorable how much they want his attention, “Everyone can have a turn, Binnie,” he says as the gray cat rolls into Minho's lap. He pets all three cats affectionately before getting up to serve them some food.

“Fond is a good word for it, Minnie,” Minho hums, filling up the cat bowls with some tuna. “I was thinking about a dream I've been having.”

He places the bowls on the floor and all three cats come running to their designated bowls.

“A dream? About what?” Binnie asks in between bites of crushed up tuna.

Minho chuckles at the question. All three felines are always so eager to know about his life. They’re his best friends after all, and, although they’re cats, they always seem interested in human nature.

Binnie is the oldest and also the loudest. He's always making noise whether it's meowing at ungodly hours of the night for attention, or being destructive and breaking something loudly. He is also quite caring and strong, always noticing when something is wrong with his friends and doing what he can to cheer them up.

As for Jinnie, he is the most dramatic. Though tends to keep to himself and relax on his own, he doesn’t hesitate to share any of his thoughts and act as theatrical as ever.

Lastly, Minnie is the youngest. He also enjoys being on his own, but even then he always manages to gravitate towards Binnie. Whether it be by tagging along on Binnie’s adventures or simply choosing to lay in the spot right next to him. Minnie enjoys teasing the other cats which oftentimes leads himself into getting chased around. Nevertheless, they all adore each other, and Minho adores them as well.

“Tell us about your dream, Minho!” Jinnie exclaims. Minho laughs at his enthusiasm.

He clears his throat, “I’ve been dreaming of a true love's kiss and a prince I'm hoping comes with this,” Minho sings. He feels his ears go warm as he remembers one of his dreams being set in the meadow where he and his true love picked daisies and made pretty flower crowns for each other.

The cats gasp in awe at his voice. They’ve always enjoyed Minho's singing. Of course Minho is also bombarded with questions of what a true love's kiss is, and who said prince is.

“Well, you see… When you meet someone who is meant for you, there's always something you must do. Kiss! It's sweet and one of the most lovely forms of affection,” Minho explains. The cats all listen to him as if he just told them the most amazing thing in the world (which, to Minho, it definitely is).

Minho had first read about true love in storybooks. Reading about being in love in such a grand and fulfilling way sparked so much joy in Minho. He’s been fixated on the concept ever since.

“That's what brings ever-afterings, so happy,” Minho twirls around as he continues his song, “So, to spend a life of endless bliss, just find who you love through true love’s kiss.”

“I want a true love's kiss!” Jinnie whines.

“I’ll give you one!” Binnie shouts, tackling Jinnie. The two cats roll around the ground as Jinnie tries to release himself from Binnie's cuddles and kiss attempts. Minnie rolls his eyes at the pair and climbs onto a nearby chair, curling up comfortably.

Minho laughs and leaves the cats to it. He goes into his study, decorated with long green vines and gorgeous flowers, and takes a seat at his desk. Opening up his sketchbook, thoughts of the man in his dreams fill his mind once again. He begins sketching out the outline of said man's face; his hair that has just the right amount of fluff, the fullest of cheeks, and a small yet strong figure.

Minho looks over at the dress form he has where a navy blue tailcoat hangs over a matching vest and silky white tunic. The coat goes down to the mid thigh, it has a curved opening and gold buttons, with silver accents along the seams. The collar of the tunic spills from the neckline of the vest allowing its ruffled front to be seen and its flared cuffs peek out from the coat's sleeves.

With the little resources he has (mostly found by the cats which were brought to Minho) the outfit doesn’t look too bad. Apart from the dreams of falling in love, Minho also dreams of one day opening his own boutique. Although he is not from the wealthiest part of the kingdom, he's managed to create some rather beautiful garments, ranging from everyday outfits in all sorts of styles and colors, to fancy ballroom attire. He’s always experimenting. Fashion is Minho's strong suit, it's what he loves doing—other than thinking of his handsome prince charming.

👑

Over in the forest not far from Minho's treehouse, a Prince, Prince Chan to be exact, roams the land in search of giant trolls to catch. It’s a task given to him by his stepmother, the Queen of Andalasia, to distract him from the real duties he should have as a prince. Duties like looking for his prince or princess to marry in order to inherit the crown.

The Queen is very well aware that the time when she must pass down her crown is approaching. But what good would that be? Ever since the King's passing she’s worked hard to fill his shoes, there’s nobody better fit for the role than she is. It doesn’t matter if Chan is the heir, she has claimed the throne and she would be damned if anyone else took it from her.

The Prince rides his horse as he and the Queen's royal servant, Haru, are chasing after a rather mischievous troll. Haru follows him on her feet. Her black boots and the edge of her long black skirt are covered in. mud from running to catch up with the Prince. She stops in her tracks as she sees him getting ready to capture his target. When Chan gets close enough, he throws his lasso around the troll's legs causing it to tumble face down onto the dirt.

“Aha! That's what? The seventh one of the day?” He pridefully chuckles, as he climbs off his horse and walks over to mindlessly tie the rope around the troll's arms, securing them to his back.

“I believe so, sire. Amazing! That's a new record,” Haru responds tiredly, yet trying to be as enthusiastic as she can to keep the Prince's spirits up. She holds onto the horse's saddle.

“Ah, troll catching…” Prince Chan shakes his head looking up at the clear, blue sky in thought, “It's getting a bit old don't you say, Haru?”

He scratches the back of his neck, fixing his eyes on the trees of the forest in search of anything other than an ugly troll that might pique his interest.

He’s been doing the same thing as his weekly routine for the last few years of his life. Catching trolls, riding his horse, going out to the lake. Up until a few days ago he hadn't even noticed how repetitive his days had become.

Except, he’s been having these dreams. Dreams about finding true love, sharing a true love’s kiss, dreams of being joined by someone with a delightful voice who could finish his duets. Prince Chan has always been a determined Prince, and he is determined to make his dreams come true.

“What? No! You’re good at this, we should keep going, maybe you’ll make it to ten trolls today!” Haru rushes to say, turning away to tie her long brown hair up. While the Prince's task is to catch trolls, Haru has been assigned to keep the Prince's mind away from anything that could lead him to want change. “Or maybe we could go to the river! It's been awhile since you’ve practiced swimming- Oh- Your highness?”

The Prince disregards her words and climbs back onto his horse, “Ride, Destiny!” He shouts after swinging his leg over and getting settled onto the saddle.

The breeze blows through his curly black hair and flows through his velvety cape while he rides as fast as he can towards who knows where. It doesn’t matter because for once Prince Chan has done the unexpected and he's not stopping now.

“Prince Chan! Where are you going?!” Haru shouts. “Oh, no, the Queen is not going to be happy, what if he finds a maiden? A lad? Agh, quick Haru, think!”

She looks over towards the troll, who is now half asleep with its arms still tied up. Its eyes slowly droop shut and drool pools around its yellow crooked teeth. A smirk spreads across Haru’s face as she runs over to it and unties the rope. The action alerts the troll, waking it up, and bringing it back on its feet. It runs in the same direction the Prince had gone.

Haru often feels bad for keeping the Prince so tight knit, they’ve managed to form a good friendship. Yet her love for the Queen runs much deeper, so she does anything asked of her.

🎀

“So, your dream man, do you think he really exists?” Minnie asks, climbing up onto Minho's desk. Minho smiles, finishing up a stitch on another suit he’s been working on.

“Well,” He pauses, pursing his lips, “I know he's out there somewhere, just gotta be patient.” Minho secures his stitch and uses a blade to cut the excess.

The current piece he's working on is white, another suit he had seen in a dream. It has silky, flowy sleeves, with a long transparent cape, and glitter sequins scattered across the pearl-colored fabric.

This time it was him wearing the suit in the dream. He wore it as he walked down a stone path towards the reception hall of a castle, flower petals falling on either side of him. The train of the cape dragged beautifully behind him, the glitter shimmering perfectly under the sunlight peeking through the castle’s windows. Wearing it—although only in his dream—made Minho feel like a pretty prince. He just had to recreate it.

“What do you think?” Minho asks the cats, turning his dress form so the suit is on full display.

“Oh wow,” Minnie gasps in awe, “It's beautiful! When are you going to wear it?” The cat noses the sleeve of the suit and purrs as he rubs his head against the pole holding up the form.

“Hey! You’re gonna get your fur all over it,” Minho laughs, picking the cat up and setting it in his lap as he sits at the desk. “I hope I wear it if I ever get married. That's the feeling I get from it. Like I'm falling in love and my heart is pounding,” He feels warmth bloom in his chest. “Wow, just thinking about it gets my heart soaring,” Minho beams, patting his chest over his heart.

He looks down at the cat, who has perked up with his ears bent back a little. “You know, my heart is kinda pounding now, too,” Minnie mumbles, jumping off Minho's lap and going over to the window sill. “I have a feeling like…”

“Like?” Minho asks, furrowing his eyebrows at the cat's sudden seriousness.

Suddenly the ground is rumbling and the other two cats come running into the room. “Earthquake!” Jinnie shouts, curling up underneath the desk with Binnie.

Minho gets up and rushes out of the room, but briefly loses balance due to the way the ground is shaking. He steps out of his treehouse and onto the balcony to get a better view of what could possibly be causing the ground to shake.

A few yards away he spots a man dressed in a red tunic, with probably the puffiest sleeves Minho has ever seen, riding a horse at full speed. Behind him is a giant green troll stomping its way towards the treehouse. Before he's able to go back inside to gather the cats, the shaking causes him to fly up and out of the balcony.

Yelling out of sheer fear and panic, Minho searches for any way to catch himself so that he doesn’t tumble 80 feet down to his death. He manages to latch one of his hands onto a nearby thin branch.

“Fear not fair maiden! Uh, fair… fair lad! For I shall rescue you!” The horse rider shouts in a thick, posh accent, as it picks up speed.

Minho blushes for a split second upon hearing the words, but today must not be his lucky day because just a few moments later the branch cracks, sending a screaming Minho to his doom.

Minho mentally replays every aspect of his life as the ground gets closer and closer. He remembers the time he first met the cats out in the forest as they were chasing butterflies playfully, when they helped him decorate his newly built treehouse with random trinkets they found, the time he made his first blouse out of old and patchy materials. These are only a few of the cherished memories that run through his mind. Closing his eyes tightly, he braces himself for the impending impact of his body hitting the solid dirt. But it never comes.

Instead, Minho finds himself in a solid embrace. Confused, he slowly opens his eyes. But the last thing he expected to see was a man with the most adorable dimpled cheeks, the curliest flop of black hair, and pretty brown eyes that form crescents as he smiles.

“Oh my gosh, it's you,” Minho gasps, smacking a hand over his mouth.

The man in front of him looks almost identical to the man in Minho's dream. It has to be him.

Oh no… No. Minho must have hit the ground. He must have plummeted 80 feet down from his treehouse and is now dead. He died and this must be the afterlife because seeing this man is just too good to be true. That means the afterlife would be where Minho got his true love's kiss. This is where he would be in endless bliss.

Except it’s not. The man speaks again and it's enough to whip Minho’s focus back to reality, where he in fact did not hit the ground and is very much alive.

“Um, yes, it's me, Prince Chan,” the man- or Prince Chan, says with a soft chuckle, Minho can see the fondness in his eyes, “And you are?”

It takes Minho a second to process what was just asked, trying to wrap his head around the fact that the man just said he’s a ‘Prince.’ He can’t believe he fell from his treehouse and landed in the arms of a Prince . Surely this is the Prince that's in his dreams.

When he's recovered, he wraps his arms around the man's neck and smiles, “Minho.”

“Oh! Minho!” The Prince shouts gleefully, grabbing Minho's hands from his neck and interlocking them with his own, “You’re the fairest man I’ve ever met,” He sings, “You were made…”

“To finish your duet!” Minho sings back, excited to see the Prince's pleasantly surprised expression when he completes the line.

Minho can’t help the wide smile that spreads across his cheeks. Finally, he meets the man of his dreams. It only took a huge troll to run through the forest and shake him out of his treehouse, but his dreams are finally starting to come true. It’s love at first sight. And just when he thought this day couldn’t get any better the Prince says:

“What do you say we don’t waste another second and get married?”

Marrying the Prince? The Prince, the man of his dreams, wants to marry Minho? There’s only one answer Minho thinks of giving him, “Yes!”

The Prince beams and hugs Minho tightly, “We shall be married in the morning!”

Prince Chan knew he was destined for something, someone more and at last he holds that person in his arms as a joyful feeling courses through him.

The pair ride off into the sunset, singing their hearts out about how their love would grow and grow through true love's kiss. They look forward to waking up and hearing wedding bells as they prepare for the biggest day full of love.

(Minho's cats safely made it out of the tree house, although Jinnie might be a little shaken up. They follow behind the Prince’s horse basking in the love filled air.)

But what they don't know is that the Queen had been watching them through a crystal ball. “So this is the rat that's going to attempt to steal my crown,” She shakes her head, “We’ll see about that.”

🎀

Minho stumbles out of the carriage with glitter slipping from his suit behind him. Haru runs over to escort him from where she had been waiting near the entrance to the castle.

Impatient, Minho runs right past her, quickly making his way up the stone, white colored stairs. The daffodils wrapped around the railings are in full bloom and there are large concrete planters filled with them as well. Their sweet scent fills Minho with more happiness.

“Oh! I can’t believe this is happening, Chan and I are getting married!” He exclaims as he tries to adjust his tiara. He’s so delighted to be able to wear the suit he was just working on. He finalized it late last night, adding a bit more gems and stitching where needed, and it turned out as perfect as he imagined. He feels exactly like royalty.

“Wait! We’re not finished!” Minnie shouts jumping out of the carriage followed by Binnie and Jinnie. Their animal friends; the birds, rabbits, and deer all flee out after them. They run into Haru, who is only halfway up the stairs leading towards the doors, causing her to trip and fall.

The birds catch up to Minho with pins ready in order to secure the tiara within the strands of his burgundy colored hair. By the time they finish, he has already made it right in front of the large door. It's made of wood and intricate designs of flowers and lines are carved into it.

Minho sets his hand on the polished doorknob, but doesn’t turn it. A weird feeling settles in the pit of his stomach. Why is he hesitating to open it?

He’s getting married. Minho is living his happily ever after. The one thing he's dreamed about is finally happening. So why does it seem like something’s missing?

As Minho is about to shake the feeling and just pull the door open, he hears unusually loud steps coming from his right.

When he turns his head, he's met with an old lady wearing a long dark hood. “Oh! What a handsome groom,” she smiles widely—there are gaps in her crooked yellow teeth where some are visibly missing—but her smile doesn't make it to her eyes. “Come! I have a wedding gift!” She squeals, harshly grabbing Minho's arm and dragging him over to a side gate of the castle which leads out to the garden. The three cats keep their distance as they follow behind them, sharing concerned looks with each other.

“Um, actually I don’t want to be late, M-Miss? Could you let go?” Minho stutters, attempting to pull his arm back. He’s supposed to be in the castle when the clock strikes twelve in the afternoon and there's only about ten minutes left.

“Don't worry, dear, it will only take a second!” The lady reinforces her grip on his arm and pulls Minho through the gate. He doesn't notice when Haru locks it shut behind them, keeping the cats out.

“Hey!” Binnie shouts. He runs over to the wall surrounding the garden and climbs up, Minnie and Jinnie doing the same.

They stand on the wall and keep their ears open for what the lady and Minho could be talking about. They watch as they approach a waterfall.

“Here is a wishing well! Just make one wish while getting as close to the edge of the well as you can and it’ll come true!” The old lady enthusiastically drags Minho over. Minho is astonished by how clear the water courses from the well. It's glistening as if loads of diamonds were flowing out.

Because Minho doesn’t want to seem rude, he decides to indulge the old lady. Maybe a wishing well is exactly what he needs to get rid of the nagging nerves. “Yes, get a little closer,” the lady snickers as Minho gets as close to the edge as he can without falling, “Make a wish!”

He looks down into the darkness of the well. Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath. “I wish… to live happily ever- Ahh! ” Minho feels a strong push against his back and next thing he knows, he's falling over the edge and into the darkness. He feels his arms flail and legs kick around for anything to grab onto, but there's nothing.

Darkness is all that consumes him as he continues to fall.

Back at the top, the old lady laughs. There's a poof of green fog, and the old lady disappears before the fog clears, revealing none other than the Queen.

“Oh no!” Binnie shouts.

“We have to get Prince Chan!” Jinnie yells, running back to the wall.

“Prince Chan! Minho is in trouble!” The cats shout as they climb down the wall and head towards the castle's main entrance, going unnoticed by Haru as she runs over to the Queen.

“Your majesty! Where did you send him?” She gasps, looking down into the well hesitantly. Her long dark hair blows in her face as the water rushes down.

The Queen adjusts her crown so it sits secure atop her head, and with a smug smile on her face she says, “To a place where there are no happily ever afters.”

🎀

With a harsh thud, Minho finds himself face to face with a concrete floor. “What- Where-” he mumbles, trying to catch his breath. Everything is dark save for the littlest bit of light shining through small holes that cast onto his face. Loud unfamiliar sounds ring through his ears. He reaches his arms up and feels around with his hands, finding the cold imprint of something round.

Cautiously, he pushes against it and it opens up. Minho peaks his head out, and the noise becomes blaringly louder. Slowly, he pulls himself up and out of the hole. With his mouth agape and eyes wide, he inspects his surroundings looking back and forth from the left to the right.

Huge structures, bigger than the trees in Andalasia, with colorfully blinding lights are on every side of Minho. People are swarming around, yelling and frantically walking to who knows where.

The sky is dark, but no stars are glistening. Minho thinks if there were stars he wouldn’t even be able to see them due to the buildings.

Minho turns around and gets met with a flash of light before a loud horn pounds through his ears. He yells, running out of the way when whatever is coming at him doesn’t seem like it's going to stop.

“Hey! Get out of the street!” Someone yells as Minho runs without knowing where to go. There are so many of those fast carriage-like things in his way. They speed past him in all sorts of colors like red, blue, yellow; all colors he’s never seen on carriages before. Where is he supposed to turn?

“Are you crazy?! ” A person quickly passing by shouts at him, before they take off in their carriage thing.

Minho pants, running towards all the people. He stops for a moment to catch his breath, debating if he should ask any of them where he is. Some of them are talking into a small device held in the palm of their hands, while others are looking down at said device. They all look to be in too much of a hurry to notice him.

“Move it!” Someone shouts, pushing him.

“Whoa! Wait!” Minho scrambles as he gets pushed around and down the street by the sea of people.

“Can someone tell me how to get back to Andalasia?” He asks, turning towards every person he can, but they just ignore him or give him a strange look.

Minho feels the panic rise in his chest. He pushes his way through the crowd feeling a bump on his shoulder coming from one direction and a weight on his foot coming from the other. The tail of his suit is being pulled, making it harder for him to move.

“Geez, where is everyone going in such a hurry?” Minho sighs once he manages to get out of the crowd and wanders onto a street with barely any people.

He scoffs as he flattens his suit with his palms and adjusts his tiara. After looking around he sees an older man sitting against a worn brick wall. This man looks to be less frantic and pushy, so Minho hopes he can help.

“Excuse me!” Minho shouts, skipping over to the man. “Ugh, I’ve been asking for help, but everyone has been so mean… Do you think you could help me?” Minho squats down to the same level. The man is quite dirty, Minho notices. His clothes are a murky brown color, and he appears to have scars on his face.

Nevertheless, the old man gives Minho a wide smile, “Oh! A smile, thank you!” He returns the smile, “Everyone else around here doesn’t seem to know how to smile...” Minho's eyebrows furrow, but he quirks up when he makes eye contact with the man, “Does that mean you’ll help me?”

The old man nods, appearing to listen intently to Minho. Finally, someone in good spirits.

“Great!” Minho claps, tone much more gleeful, “You see, Mister, I'm getting married! But I seem to have gotten lost on my way to the castle. Do you know how to get there? To Andalasia?” he inches a bit closer, a small grin on his face.

The old man starts to laugh, shaking his head. He seems mischievous as he looks up at Minho's head where his silver studded headpiece sits. He reaches his hand up and swiftly plucks Minho’s tiara off his head, pushing him out of the way, before running down the street laughing maniacally.

“Hey! ” Minho shouts, getting up and running after him. “Come back! I need that!”

The old man raises the tiara up as if to show it off as his and continues running into the darkness of the night.

Minho stops, feeling the soles of his feet ache and the back of his ankles burn, “Ow!” he hisses, noticing the slight scar forming on his ankle from his shoe. When he looks back up the old man is nowhere in sight.

“You are not a very nice old man!!” He shouts. Minho huffs, trying to catch his breath.

Suddenly, a loud thunder echoes against the buildings and the noise causes Minho to jump in surprise. He feels cold and wet droplets begin to dampen the lace fabric on his shoulders and before he has time to take cover, rain pours harshly down over him.

Minho groans as he wipes his face and limps back over to a bench where he sits down. The bench has an overhead cover that stops the rain from soaking him even more. He takes his shoe off to assess his scar and hisses when the slight bleeding makes it burn.

Minho slumps his head back with a sigh, closing his eyes. He feels tears brimming, but he squeezes his eyes together. No crying, he can figure this out. Andalasia can’t be too far.

He has dreamt for so long to finally have this. To get married to the love of his life. There is no way he’s letting anything get in his way now, not even oddly shaped carriages, mean people, or the heavy rain.

He looks up and his eyes roam over his surroundings. Tall dark buildings are all that's in sight, except for a smaller building with light up words reading “Kwik Mart” in neon green. Minho looks further up the building and that’s when he sees it.

He gasps, standing up quickly and putting his shoe back on, “A castle!”

Relief washes over him. This may not be the castle in Andalasia, but maybe whoever lives there can point him in the right direction! Then he can leave this terrible place where no one smiles and everything is so murky and makes him feel gross.

He runs over to the building and finds a ladder on the side. He wastes no time in climbing up onto the top of the building, right in front of the gates to the castle. Its shimmering and is a bright pink color with blue accents.

Minho takes a deep breath and then raises his hand, knocking loudly on the castle's wooden door.

“Hello! Is anyone in there? My name is Minho!”

⭐

“So, Jeongin?” Jisung says, turning in his seat to face his seven year old son who’s currently occupied with his toy horse. He quickly closes the divider that separates the passengers from the driver in the cab.

Jeongin looks up with a hum, “Yes?” He adjusts the seat belt that is digging into his neck slightly.

He just got picked up from his sitter’s apartment after Jisung had to work overtime at his job. Normally, Jisung wouldn't need to do overtime, but the divorce case he's been dealing with has been a lot harder to sort out. The couple can't seem to settle on any sort of agreements. Jisung is surprised he even managed to get out of the office before ten o'clock. It's days like these that make him question becoming an attorney.

That is what happens when couples get married on a romantic whim. If the couple was more rational, maybe they wouldn’t have gotten married in the first place and Jisung wouldn’t have to sit through ridiculous arguments over who gets what in the divorce.

Rationality over fantasy doesn’t lead to issues. Jisung learned that the hard way.

“I got something for you,” Jisung smiles, opening his bag and pulling out a wrapped up gift. “Ta-da!” He sets it onto Jeongin's lap.

Jeongin's face lights up, quickly tearing the green and pink striped wrapping paper off. But the smile on his face falls when he realizes what the gift is. “A book?” he eyes it wearily, turning it to read the title.

“‘Famous Buildings?’” He reads skeptically, opening it up to see photos of skyscrapers and glass buildings with more words than actual photos.

“Yeah! Listen, I know it’s not the fairytale book you wanted, but I figured this would be a little more beneficial, no?” Jisung suggests, “You know, since you like building stuff with your blocks and such? Thought it would be better for you,” He enthuses, taking the book and pointing at the photos. He looks over to read his son's expression and frowns.

“I do like building… but I like building magic castles,” Jeongin says, one corner of his mouth slightly lifting in an unsure smile, “For my prince and princess to live in.”

“Right, well magic isn’t exactly real, but you can still find the magic in these buildings!” Jisung gives him a playful nudge.

Jeongin purses his lips, “I guess… Thanks, dad.”

Jisung nods, he knew Jeongin would be somewhat hesitant over this gift, but he’s getting older. So, Jisung wants him to start getting into some older kid literature and hobbies, apart from playing with dolls and reading about fairytales.

Of course he wants Jeongin to be a kid and have fun, but sooner or later reality will hit. He won’t always be seven years old. Jisung doesn’t want his son caught up in fairytales that simply don’t last.

Apart from that, Jisung needs to have an important conversation with Jeongin and he figured giving him a gift would help him ease into it.

“Ah, Innie… I actually have something to tell you...” Jisung waits for Jeongin to look at him before continuing. His palms suddenly feel clammy and he feels his heartbeat pick up.

Clearing his throat, Jisung continues, “Um, You know Felix?” Jeongin nods, eyes looking to the side for a second. “I’ve been thinking and I think I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level... I'm... I'm going to ask him to marry me...”

“What?” Jeongin's eyes go wide.

“Yeah,” He confirms softly, “You like him don't you? We all get along and have fun together when he visits, right?” Jisung smiles, hoping he’s being encouraging.

“But... Where is he gonna live? With us?” Jeongin asks, fiddling with his fingers.

“Yes!”

“What?? Will I have to give up my room and take down my castles??” Jisung can hear the worry in Jeongin's voice.

“No, of course not!”Jisung chuckles, ”He's going to stay in my room. Come on, it’s gonna be great!” He ruffles the younger's hair.

He feels a vibration in his pocket and reaches inside to pull out his phone. A smile forms on his face when he reads the caller ID.

“Felix! Hey!” Jisung answers, happy that he called. He hasn’t had a chance to talk with his boyfriend all day, it's nice to hear his voice.

“Hey! Just wanted to make sure we were still good for 7:30 tomorrow! Did you talk to Jeongin?” Felix says through the line, sounding cheerful.

“Yes, 7:30 tomorrow is still good! I was just about to let him know.” Jisung says, rubbing his ear lobe.

“Okay, then. See you guys tomorrow!” Jisung can practically hear Felix's smile through the phone.

“See ya!” Jisung hangs up, putting his phone down on his lap. He shifts his focus back to his son for a second, “Felix is gonna take you to school tomorrow, so you can bond some more. How does that sound?” He asks Jeongin and mindlessly picks up his book and flips through it again.

“Oh... okay, it’s good,” Jeongin gives another half smile before turning to look out the window to the empty street as the cab comes to a stop at a red light.

It doesn’t go unnoticed to Jisung that Jeongin is feeling a little uncertain about spending time with Felix. His son can be shy at times, which would explain the hesitation, but Jisung hopes it’ll go well anyways. “Great! I promise you’ll have lots of–“

Jisung is interrupted by Jeongin jumping in his seat and rolling down his window. “Woah! Dad! Why is there a prince on the castle billboard?!”

“Hm? It’s an advertisem*nt, probably just a mannequin,” Jisung says, barely glancing towards the billboard—his attention now on a page about the Empire State Building.

Jeongin squints his eyes as he inspects the ‘mannequin’ up and down. That definitely looks too real to be a mannequin he concludes, “No! he’s really there!!”

Unbuckling his seatbelt, Jeongin opens the car door and runs out to the building, almost slipping on the puddles in the street.

“Jeongin! Hey!” Jisung shouts, frantically unbuckling his own seatbelt and getting out of the car and running over to Jeongin. It’s way too unsafe for Jeongin to just up and run out like this, especially alone. What is he thinking? It’s almost the middle of the night. “Stop!”

“Hello! Anyone there? Do you know Prince Chan?” The person on the billboard shouts, continuing to knock on the fake castle door, not having seen the two below him yet.

Jisung grabs a hold of Jeongin's arm turning him to face him, “Jeongin! Don’t you ever do that again, that could have been really danger-“

“Look!” Jeongin yells, completely ignoring Jisung’s scolding, and points up to the billboard.

Jisung looks up, seeing the billboard with a large pink castle plastered on it shimmering with lights and glitter. He spots a man dressed in white, shining from head to toe in sparkles, and drenched as he pounds his fists on the board. Okay, maybe that is an actual person.

“Stay here,” He says, walking Jeongin over to the sidewalk before getting closer to the building.

“Um, excuse me! What are you doing?” Jisung shouts, cupping his palms over his mouth hoping it’ll magnify the volume of his voice.

The rain has stopped, but the harsh winds still blow loudly. Minho stumbles slightly as he turns around after hearing someone yelling.

On the ground he spots a little boy and an older man. Oh! Maybe these people know who lives in the castle!

“Ah! Hello! Do you know who lives in the castle?” Minho asks, shouting down and carefully trying to turn around. He doesn’t process a response though as another gush of wind hits and he feels his foot slip from the edge.

Jisung furrows his eyebrows, but before he can think of a reply, the wind strikes up and the man is yelling and flailing his arms.

He loses his balance and slips off the ledge of the building with a yelp, before his reflexes kick in and his hand latches onto anything he can get a grip on.

“Oh no! He's gonna fall!” Jeongin yells, his palms coming up to cover his face.

Jisung gets closer, right under where the man is hanging from. “Hang on!” He shouts. The long train of the man’s suit blowing with the wind doesn’t really give Jisung a good view, but the scream he hears is enough for him to know he needs to be prepared to catch him.

Or so he thought he was prepared.

The man's fingers slip and he falls too quickly, not giving Jisung enough time to put himself in a better position.

“Dad! Catch him!” Jeongin shouts, eyes wide and mouth hung open.

“I got you, I got you!” Jisung yells, throwing himself closer with his arms stretched out. And… Well, Jisung got him alright. For a brief second the man was in his arms, but the impact of him crashing into Jisung’s chest caused him to slip on the wet cement and they both went tumbling down.

“Ow! Ow!” The man groans, his arm reaching to his lower back.

“Ow!” Jisung for sure broke something. His elbow is killing him and god, his knees . Why did he think this would be a good idea? He should have just left this man to fend for himself.

“Dad!” Jeongin calls as he runs over, “Are you okay?” he asks crouching down next to them.

Jisung gets up, stretching his wrist and elbow around. It hurts really bad, but at least he can still move it, “Ah, I think I'm fine.” He looks down to the man, who’s got himself all tangled up by his cape.

“Are you okay?” He asks, holding his other arm out for the man to grab onto.

“Oh, I’m- I’m fine,” The man says, smoothing his suit down after finally finding his way out of the cape. He wipes the rain from his face with his sleeve.

Jisung thinks the man looks fairly young, late twenties to early thirties maybe? Definitely around Jisung’s age.

“What were you doing up there?” Jeongin asks, looking in awe at the man.

“Well, I was looking for help!” He says, looking down at his shoes. “You see, I've been wandering far and long tonight and I'm afraid nobody’s been very nice to me,” He pouts.

Jisung chuckles, adjusting his coat, “Yeah, welcome to New York.” It's typical behavior for people here in the city to be rather impolite.

The man looks up and a wide smile forms on his lips, his bunny-like teeth on full display. “Thank you,” he says softly, his tone a little too kind that it catches Jisung off guard.

“Right… well my name is Jisung, this is my son Jeongin,” Jisung says, gesturing to himself and then to Jeongin, placing his hands on his shoulders.

“What’s your name?” Jeongin asks, a bright smile on his face as his eyes roam over the man’s sparkly suit in awe.

“I'm Minho! It's very nice to meet you,” Minho smiles back.

Although he's smiling, Jisung notices how troubled Minho seems. He explained that he was looking for help so he must be new to the city. All the streets being crowded and intertwined do make it confusing and easy to get lost.

“Okay well, you sure you’re okay? Need me to call someone for you?” Jisung asks, hoping to get this man help as quickly as possible since it’s late.

The street is empty and the businesses surrounding are all closed down for the night.

“Oh, I don’t think anyone would hear you from here,” Minho says with a frown.

Jisung and Jeongin share a strange look. Either this guy seriously hit his head during the fall, or he’s on something.

“Um, okay-“ Another loud crash of thunder startles the three.

Jisung looks back to where the cab was, surprised to see that it's now parked on the sidewalk. He half expected it to have driven off, but the driver hasn’t been paid, which, now he’ll probably charge more for the wait. Just Jisung's luck.

⭐🎀

The elevator dings as the doors open on the 7th floor. Jisung walks out first, looking back to make sure the train of the suit doesn’t get stuck in the crevices of the door.

“Jeongin, why don’t you show him the way?” He says, making room for Minho and Jeongin to come out of the elevator.

“So then, the old hag told me to look into the wishing well and make a wish, but I must have leaned too close to the edge because I fell… down, down, down,” Minho continues his story, following Jeongin into the hallway. “And then I climbed out of this big round hole, fell off the castle, and now here I am! With you guys!” He finishes cheerfully.

Jisung snorts, “Is that a habit of yours? Falling off things?”

“Mm… well usually someone catches me,” Minho says as if it's supposed to be obvious.

This man is so strange yet interesting. Jisung is sure the fall must have loosened a few screws in his own head because why would he think to bring a complete stranger back to his apartment? Is he out of his mind? He doesn’t know, but it’ll only be for a second.

Listening to Minho explain his extravagant story in the car made him feel a little bad for the guy. First his wedding hadn’t gone as planned, then he got soaked in the rain and almost got seriously hurt falling off that billboard. If it was Jisung in that place he would want the help, too. He just needs to be a little cautious of Minho.

“But not to worry, I’m sure Chan is on his way here right now and no doubt by morning he’ll come to rescue me from this strange land,” Minho sighs, his tone lovestruck, “And take me home where the two of us can share true love’s kiss.”

Jeongin smiles, absolutely entranced by Minho's story. “True love’s kiss?”

“Yes, it’s the most powerful thing in the world,” Minho nods, smiling back.

“Right…” Jisung mumbles as he fidgets with his keys to unlock the door. True love's kiss is a little ridiculous and dramatic, he’s starting to wonder if he actually brought back some sort of stoner. He knows for sure that he definitely isn’t the only one who lost a couple of screws.

“Now, if only I can find some place to rest my head for the night,” Minho says, biting his lip nervously as he remembers the places he passed by. Nowhere really looked cozy enough.

“What kind of place?” Jisung asks, pausing with his hand on the door knob.

“Oh… maybe a nice meadow, or a hollow tree?” Minho nods, remembering his treehouse back home and the meadow he would take naps in not too far from it. It had the greenest, thick grass that made for a good, cushiony place to rest his head. The wind would whistle a gentle tune that made the atmosphere peaceful and easy to fall asleep in.

Jisung furrows his eyebrows, “A hollow tree?” What an odd place to want to sleep, wouldn’t it be full of spiders or something? Now Jisung really believes Minho is on some strong stuff. Maybe the guy just needs to sit a second and sober up.

“Mhm,” Minho smiles. Paying no mind to the confusion in Jisung's tone.

Finally, Jisung opens the door, “Well, I can only let you in for a minute,” He hangs his keys up on their designated hook, “Dry yourself up and use the phone if you need to. But we have our own sleep schedule to stick to, especially since it’s already so late,” He explains, ushering Jeongin inside.

“That’s very kind of you,” Minho says, taking his first steps into the apartment.

Jisung steps back into the hallway, allowing Minho to walk in front of him. However Jisung forgets to watch his step and doesn’t realize he’s stepping on the train to Minho's suit, until he hears a harsh tear of fabric and suddenly Minho is falling to the ground with an “oof” in the foyer.

“Oh! Gosh, I’m sorry!” Jisung gasps, gathering up the torn fabric and taking it inside, closing the door behind him. He holds out his hand to help Minho get up. Hearing the commotion, Jeongin runs back over to them after placing his stuff down.

Minho giggles, clasping his hand and pulling himself up, “I'm alright!”

“What’s with your suit anyway?” Jisung asks. He’s never seen a suit quite so elegant and fancy, he wonders what kind of money Minho must have to be able to afford it. Oh no, did Jisung just accidentally damage a really expensive suit?

“I made it! I spun the silk on my spinning wheel and sewed the sequins by hand!” Minho beams, always happy to talk about his work.

“You did it all by yourself?” Jeongin asks, mouth agape.

“Well the mice and birds did help me! And my cats pitched in some ideas, too!” Minho smiles fondly, remembering how the kitties gave him the great idea to make the tail of the suit long.

“Wow... they’re good...” Jeongin says with his eyes wide.

Mice and birds? Cats? What do they know about sewing? The thought that maybe the suit is stolen crosses Jisungs mind. Whatever, he’s too tired to deal with this.

Jisung sends Jeongin to his room to get ready for bed and directs Minho over to the living room so he can take a seat and rest up for a moment. He has endured a few too many falls in the past half hour. Jisung then brings him a glass of water, which is accepted with a quiet ‘thank you.’

The floor creaks as Jisung heads into his study where he places his bag down. He pinches the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he looks over the paperwork he has to finish up.

He could have been done with this earlier if it wasn’t for a really pretty dude falling off a billboard. Wait ‘pretty’? Jisung throws that thought far far away.

Once Jeongin has gotten into his race car themed pajamas he goes into the study. “Can’t he sleep here, dad?” He asks, tone full of hope.

“Uh, no, that’s definitely a no,” Jisung says, looking up from his desk.

Jeongin sighs in a defeated manner and walks back into the living room. Minho is sitting on the couch looking out of the large window. The sprinkling of the rain outside fills the silence. He turns around with a small smile when he hears the soft padder of Jeongins feet approach him.

“Are you a real prince?” Jeongin asks, playing with the strings on his pajama pants.

“Not yet,” Minho yawns, stretching his arms out, “But I will be soon,” He smiles, laying down on his side. He clasps his palms together and tucks them under his head as he lays down on the pillows leaned against the armrest.

Jeongin blinks, woah , that’s the quickest he's ever seen anybody fall asleep.

He goes over to the study again, “Wow, dad, he must’ve been really sleepy, he fell asleep on the couch!”

Jisung looks up and raises his eyebrows, “What?” He places his papers down and walks into the living room. He groans when he sees that Minho has indeed fallen asleep on the couch, great , “No, no, I can’t have this right now.”

Alright, Jisung will call him a taxi and once it arrives that will give him the excuse to wake up the other man, yeah okay, that’s the plan.

“Are you really gonna make him leave, dad?” Jeongin whines, hands rubbing over his eyes.

“Jeongin, I think you should go to bed now,” Jisung ignores his question, only making Jeongin frown.

“But— But I think he might be a real prince,” Jeongin mumbles, looking down.

Jisung sighs, he kneels down to Jeongins level and places both hands on his shoulders, “Jeongin, just because he has on a funny suit doesn’t mean he’s a prince” He shakes his head, “He might be under the influence of something. We can’t let him stay.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jeongin is making this whole encounter something it’s not. He sees a guy in a sparkly suit and of course he’s gonna believe the guys an actual prince.

Jeongin's frown deepens, his dimples still popping out. He walks away into his room with his head held down.

Jisung pulls out his phone and dials the taxi service number. After one ring there's an answer, “Yes, hello. I’d like to arrange a cab within the next few minutes?” Jisung responds, putting the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he folds back the sleeves on his dress shirt.

“Sure, sir, what will the address be?”

Minho slightly adjusts his arms from where they’re tucked under his head. The movement catches Jisung’s attention. He takes a moment to just look at the sleeping man.

He notices how sharp Minho's features are, almost cat-like. Yet, in the dim light of Jisung's apartment Minho looks so soft. Fast asleep he looks so at peace with his eyebrows slightly furrowed and his lips in a pout. He has to be one of the most beautiful people Jisung has ever seen.

In the last hour Minho has gotten absolutely drenched, he fell off a billboard, and then Jisung accidentally caused him to trip. It would be cruel to send him back out there like this.

“Sir? Are you there? What is the address-“

Jisung hangs up the phone. Taking a deep breath he walks over to the closet in the hallway and pulls out a fluffy blanket before going back and gently draping it over Minho. It’s the least he can do right? He didn’t even offer up a change of clothes. The suit is likely dry by now, but it must not be the comfiest to sleep in.

Jisung gives him another once over. His hand instinctively reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind Minho's ear, but as soon as he notices it he pulls away quickly. Instead he turns off the lamp and goes to Jeongin’s room.

“Hey, Innie, why don’t you come over and sleep in my room tonight,” He says from the doorway.

Jeongin looks up from where he was tucking in his stuffed dragon under his blanket, “Why?” he asks, confused.

Jisung might be weak to let a pretty (alright, he’ll accept he thinks the guy is pretty) man sleep in his living room, but he still needs Jeongin to be safe no matter what. While he’s determined that Minho is most likely harmless, he’ll feel better knowing Jeongin is by his side.

“Just come on,” Jisung says.

👑

“What do you mean Minho fell down a well!?” Prince Chan asks, running his hand through his curly hair.

He had been waiting at the altar for Minho, worried he had been stood up when the clock struck twelve and his groom didn’t show. That's when the cats stormed into the castle and begged Chan to go out into the garden with them.

“He didn’t fall! He was pushed in by the queen! Come on, you have to go after him!” Minnie says frantically and runs up to the well.

Chan wasted no time, the love of his life could be seriously in danger. What if he landed into a dungeon with a terrifying dragon? What if there is a giant troll down there?

And how dare his own step mother do this to him? When he's back he’ll be sure to deal with her accordingly. A person so cruel should not rule over Andalasia.

Once at the well, Chan looks down into the darkness. He checks the buckle around his waist to make sure his sword is secure in its holster and then with no hesitation he throws himself in, “Fear not Minho! For I shall rescue you!”

The cats gasp. They hear the fading of his voice as they watch him fall deeper into the well until he can’t be seen at all.

“Uh, one of you should go with him,” Minnie turns to the other cats.

“What? Why don’t you go with him!” Jinnie says, backing up from the edge.

“Someone needs to stay here and keep watch… make sure everything runs smoothly,” Minnie nods.

“And that person would be you?” Jinnie glares at him.

“Yes, I think I’d be the most capable of staying here and-”

“I would be capable too!”

“Alright! You’re both pretty, just shut up and keep watch! I’ll go!” Binnie says done with the others’ arguing. He backs up for a head start before running and jumping into the well with a shout.

Jinnie and Minnie share a surprised look before going towards the edge, “Don’t forget to land on your paws!” Jinnie shouts.

“I always do-!” Binnie shouts until his voice fades out.

“I did not think he would do that,” Minnie says in disbelief.

When Prince Chan makes it to the bottom he pushes through the hole in the ground and shoots up onto the street.

People swarm around him. He quickly pulls his sword out in defense and points it directly at the man standing closest to him, “Woah! What are you doing?” the man shouts. He's wearing a funny looking white hat and a bright orange and yellow vest. A few other men in similar attire gather around him.

“Silence! Are you related to the wicked old hag who sent my poor Minho down to this foul place?” Chan shouts, standing his guard and pointing the sword closer.

“What!?” The man asks, putting his trembling hands up in surrender.

“What's your name?” Chan says, eyeing him up and down.

“Dave...”

“Dave! Where is Minho? Don’t make me ask you-”

Chan's threat is cut off by the screams of a cat before the latch he previously had come out of blows open and Binnie flies out. Chan manages to catch him in his arms.

“Binnie! Did this man help out that hag?” He asks the cat, if anyone knows who was involved it would be Binnie since the cats saw what happened to Minho.

The cat takes a second to pull himself together before speaking. When Binnie tries to say a word all that comes out are loud meows. He gives up and simply shakes his head.

“Speechless in my presence,” Chan smirks, making the cat glare at him.

He drops the cat onto the ground near him and then grabs the man- Dave again, bringing the sword up to his throat, “Now! Where is Minho!”

Dave stumbles, eyes wide, “I-I have no idea who that is!”

“He’s the love of my life! My one coquette, the answer to my love’s duet!”

Chan doesn’t understand why he needs to keep repeating himself so much. None of these strange people are any help.

“Um- I- Haven’t seen him, I swear! But I’d like to find the love of my life, too you know,”

Chan chuckles, “Well then, keep a lookout, Dave.” He lets go and helps the man adjust his vest. He must not waste anymore time with these men..

With a wave goodbye he darts out into the street with Binnie following close behind him. The cars honk their horns at him, but Chan is not afraid. He’ll go through whatever he needs to, to save Minho.

The construction men share looks with each other and debate calling 911, but it’s New York, they see crazy people all the time. So they shrug it off and continue trying to close up the sewage line these random people keep coming out of.

⭐🎀

The next morning Minho wakes up feeling surprisingly energized. Maybe it was nice to sleep on something fluffier than the little creaky bed he has in his tree, or maybe it was the fact that there weren’t crickets chirping so loudly. Who knows, but Minho hasn’t gotten this good of sleep in a while. He supposes the events of the night before did really tire him out as well, he doesn’t remember falling asleep in the first place.

He sits up, stretching his arms over his head and feeling his back pop. It takes his eyes a second to adjust to the sun shining through the large windows, but once he can see well he takes a second to look over the home he’s in.

To his right there are piles of old newspapers mixed in with what look like old food wrappers. To his left there are dishes and cups spread throughout the center table. Minho shakes his head, “This place is a mess!”

He should make himself useful and tidy up. He gets up and goes over to the window, unlatching it open.

If anyone can help him clean this place up it’s the woodland critters. He whistles a tune out the window and waits for the animals to hear his call. This always works when he wants to call upon them back home.

As he waits for them to come he steps away from the window and rolls up the sleeves to his suit. He’s surprised how comfortable this was to sleep in. Then again he did use the best fabric he could find in Andalasia,

Suddenly there’s a strong burst of wind and in come flying pigeons and crows through the window. He hears some clattering before mice and rats make their way in from the vents.

Oh great! They heard his call!

They all sit along the floor staring up at Minho, waiting to be told what to do. There’s no familiar faces unfortunately.

“Um... Hello," he says, scrunching his nose a little. These animals are quite dirty and smell a little odd. “Well, it’s always nice to make new friends,” He shrugs. Minho claps his hands together and begins humming a song.

He calls it his happy little working song. Minho has always found that singing makes doing things that aren’t usually enjoyable (like cleaning) more fun.

Together with his working friends, they clean up all the trash piled up in the living room and sweep and mop the floors. There's so much dust Minho gets a sneezing fit half way through.

He decides to open up the doors to the balcony and let in some fresh air.

Sighing, he looks down into the city where all the people and cars are bustling. For it being 6 in the morning, it’s already so busy. This place is quite strange.

It’s around this time his cats would barge into his room and climb on his bed with him.

Minho misses them deeply, never having been away for so long. His sadness lasts only a few seconds when he remembers that Chan is most likely on his way to get him. So, for now he should make the most of this experience.

While the animals work to clean the dishes and load the dishwasher, Minho busies himself in the bathroom. Humming his happy working song, he scrubs the tile and cleans the toilet and shower. These are very fancy appliances, Minho wonders where he’d be able to get some like these in Andalasia.

Once he’s done, he goes out to check on how the rest of the house is looking. He’s pleased to see that everything is almost squeaky clean, just a few more dishes and trash in the dining room to be picked up.

“Wow! Even though you’re all vermin, you sure can tidy up a place!” Minho smiles, clapping his hands as the critters chirp in delight.

Minho decides to leave them to it and go take a shower. He desperately wants to wash out the rain smell on him.

Jeongin is half awake about an hour later when he hears a loud crash come from outside his dads bedroom. That makes his eyes widen and he quickly throws his blanket to the side and gets up. Jisung stirs from the other side of the bed he is sleeping on.

Jeongin is not sure what he was expecting, but the last thing he thought he would ever see was a bunch of rats and birds scrambling around his home.

“What the…” He blinks, rubs his eyes to see if maybe he’s just imagining it. They’re still there. He runs back into the bedroom and climbs up on the bed, “Dad! Dad! Wake up, wake up!” He grabs his pillow and hits Jisung on the back.

Jisung immediately straightens up, “What? What happened!?” He yells, worry coursing through him. Now fully wide awake.

Jisung starts running through every scenario in his head. Is something stolen? Broken? God, he never should have let Minho stay here, what was he thinking?

“You have to come see this!” Jeongin says, running out of the room.

Jisung follows frantically, “What is it?” he stops in his tracks when he sees the animals everywhere. His eyes rove around his apartment. There are rats climbing up the television set, dusting it with their tails. Birds bringing trash from the dining room to the kitchen. Not even just one or two, there's many!

He grabs the newspaper on the coffee table and rolls it up to swat at the animals in the direction of the balcony door. The birds flap their wings and drop a few feathers as they escape.

Jeongin appears behind him.

“Jeongin, open the other door, get these things out!” Jisung rushes the rats towards the entrance of the apartment.

Jeongin runs to open the door and picks his feet up as the rats scurry out, he slams the door when the last one leaves.

Jisung feels anger flaring up in his chest. A rodent infestation is the absolute last thing he needs right now. He needs to get to work and Jeongin needs to get to school in an hour.

The sound of water running in the bathroom reminds him of their guest. Right, Minho. Another problem he has to handle. Jisung knocks on the bathroom door. Jeongin stands near him, waiting to see what happens.

“Oh! Come in!” He hears Minho yell from inside.

Jisung opens the door, ready to tell Minho off about leaving the balcony door open or something, but the words die in his mouth when he sees a half naked Minho getting out of the shower.

“Good Morning!” He says cheerfully, securing a towel around his waist.

Jisung blinks away his surprise, trying not to let his eyes wander down Minho's toned chest that's glistening with water droplets, “Um- Yeah- Morning?” He stutters.

The shower is still running so he goes over to shut it off while Minho grabs another towel and dries his hair. “This room is magical! The water is so nice! Where does it come from?” Minho asks with a smile on his face.

Jisung squats down, having grabbed one of the hand towels to begin drying the ground where water splashed.

“Um- it comes from the pipes?” He diverts his attention away from Minho's chest once again.

“Where do the pipes get it?”

Joengin hears a knock on the front door and runs over to open it. His nerves spike up as soon as he sees who’s on the other side.

“Hey, little man!” Felix greets him, letting himself inside.

“Hey… Felix,” Jeongin hesitantly smiles.

“You’re still in your pajamas?” Felix asks, he tucks a strand of his blonde hair behind his ear and looks around the apartment, “Wow, it's so nice in here? Did your dad hire a maid or something?”

Jeongin giggles, “Not exactly.”

Over in the bathroom, Jisung attempts to move around Minho, who’s hogging up some space near the sink, but his foot slips in some water. He tries catching himself on the edge of the sink, but his hand finds Minho's arm to grab instead, pulling him down with him. They both groan once their bodies hit the tile flooring with a loud thud.

Jisung lands on his back, while Minho lands right on top of him.

Jeongin and Felix hear the commotion from the living room and come over to the hallway, right in front of the bathroom.

Minho laughs, “Are you okay?” He sits up, straddling Jisung's lap. Their close proximity has Jisung at a loss for words.

Felix gasps, jaw dropping.

Jisung turns, eyes widening, “Felix!” He quickly attempts to get up, practically pushing Minho off of him. He feels heat swarm up his neck and to his ears.

“Who is this?” Felix points a finger at Minho, who's adjusting the towel wrapped around him.

Minho gets up rushing over to Felix, “I’m Minho!” he says at the same time Jisung shouts, “This is nobody! This is nothing!”

“I was just on my way to the castle to get married!” Minho begins to explain.

“He’s married?” Felix furrows his eyebrows, directing the question towards Jisung.

“No! I mean- Not yet!” Jisung stutters. Man, how is he supposed to get himself out of this.

“Yet?”

“No, listen, I was just trying to help him! He seemed lost and I-”

“Oh, lost trying to find the shower?” Felix asks in a sarcastic, disapproving tone.

Minho perks up, “The shower! The shower is amazing!”

Felix glares at him, “I’m sure it is,” he snips.

“Ugh! That’s enough-” Jisung cuts in, hands flying up in frustration.

Felix scoffs, turning and walking towards the door. Jisung has never seen him this mad, he supposes he has a reason to be, but Jisung just needs to explain and then all will be good.

Jisung grabs his wrist, “Wait! Felix just listen, calm down- let's talk okay?”

Felix lets himself be pulled for a second, “Talk about what, Jisung? The fact that you never let me sleep over?” He tugs his hand out of Jisung’s grasp, “We agreed Jeongin was here and it was good to maintain boundaries and I thought I was so lucky because you’re sensitive about this stuff but no! I didn’t realize you were just worried about crowd control!” He shouts and walks back to the door, hand twisting the door knob.

“Okay, we can talk about this later, but what about taking Jeongin to school? You know, for some bonding time?” Jisung puts his hand over Felix's on the knob.

Felix squints, “What- so you can have some bonding time?” He nods his head in Minho's direction, who smiles and waves at him from where he stands next to Jeongin. “I don’t think so,” Felix opens the door and walks out, slamming it shut.

Jisung brings both hands up to his face, pushing his hair back, he huffs.

“Wow, Felix seems lovely! He has the same accent as Prince Chan!” Minho nods, a genuine smile plastered on his face.

Jisung rolls his eyes, he remembers his son standing frozen near the couch, “Jeongin, get dressed, please, for school. Just- please.” Jeongin nods and heads to his room.

Jisung opens the door and runs out after Felix. He can still save this. Jisung will explain how this is all just a big misunderstanding. He prepares his explanation on his way down the elevator. The words die on his tongue when he makes it out into the lobby of the building and spots Felix getting into a taxi.

“No, no, Felix! Wait!” He yells and runs, waving his arm, hoping Felix might see him.

Jisung sighs, defeated, as he watches the car drive away. What has he gotten himself into? Felix definitely got the wrong idea just now. How could he not? Jisung put himself in a very compromising position. He was just trying to be a good person and this is what he gets?

Once back in his apartment Jisung sees that Minho is back in the bathroom. He knocks on the door.

“Yes?” Minho answers, voice muffled.

“Hey! You know what, you gotta go! I don’t know what your deal is, if you’re waiting on Prince Charming-”

“Prince Chan!”

“Whatever! Listen, I’ll call you a cab or take you to a bus or a train or or- Wherever! But after that- that's it! I can’t be involved anymore!” Jisung shouts, pacing in the hallway.

The door opens and out comes Minho dressed in a light blue type of blouse, with beige flowy pants. Jisung furrows his eyebrows, “Where did you get that?”

Minho walks into the dining room, “I made it! I found some fabric when cleaning and a sewing machine! The animals finished it up while I was in the shower, do you like it?”

Jisung turns in the direction of the dining room where some old curtain scraps he had put away are laying out on the table. He takes a deep breath, feeling his chest tighten in anger. This just keeps getting worse and worse he fears.

Minho's smile drops, sensing the change in atmosphere, “You’re unhappy…”

“You made an outfit out of my curtains?” Jisung says, clearly annoyed. He walks over and picks the scraps up.

“Ah, you are unhappy, I’m so sorry-”

“I'm not just unhappy! I’m angry!” Jisung shouts, throwing the scraps in the garbage and slamming the lid shut. He really can’t believe this guy.

Minho gasps, “Angry?”

“Yes, ever heard of it?”

“I have heard of it but-“

Jisung cuts Minho off, “You have created a huge problem between Felix and I, and I don’t even know how I'm going to resolve it!” He paces again, “See, I was getting ready to take a very serious step forward— I was going to propose!”

“Oh!” Minho claps his hand together, cheerful demeanor coming back over the excitement of a proposal.

“Yeah, well now he thinks that you and I- we-”

Jisung sees the flash in Minho's eyes when it clicks, “...Kissed?” Minho says, bringing a palm to cover his mouth in shock.

Jisung diverts his eyes for a second, “Sure, something like that.”

Minho grits his teeth, “Oh no..” Guilt comes over him, he hadn’t realized the implications him being there could have. He thinks about how he would feel if he saw Chan with anyone else that way… he would certainly be unhappy. Minho would need a lot of reassurance to forgive and forget. Like maybe in the form of a nice song. That’s it!

“You should sing to him!” Minho nods happily, “To reassure him about your affections!”

Jisung laughs, a disbelieving type of laugh, “I don’t sing.”

“Trust me!” He walks over to Jisung, turning around and leaning his back against the others chest, “You go to his side and hold him in your arms,” Jisung's arms instinctively find Minho's waist, heartbeat picking up, “And sing your heart out about how much he means to you! Then he’ll know for sure...” Minho says in a very daydreamy tone.

Jisung quickly pulls away as if he’s been burned once he realizes where his hands went. He blinks, looking curiously over Minho's face. There is no way this guy is real.

“Why are you staring at me…” Minho asks, voice turning serious again.

Jisung shakes his head, “I dont know it's just… it’s like you came out of a Hallmark card or something.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

Jisung opens his mouth to respond, but closes it unsure if it is a bad thing or not.

The floor creaks, bringing Jisung out of his thoughts. He looks over and sees Jeongin. He’s all dressed with his school uniform and backpack. It hits Jisung, “School! Oh man, we’re gonna be late!”

He runs into his room and slams the door shut. He takes a second, willing his heart rate to slow down before rushing to get dressed.

👑

“Ugh! I’m sure he just wishes he could be back here stealing the crown from me like a thief!” The Queen says, crossing her arms. She watches Minho through her crystal ball before casting the image away.

“Perhaps… Prince Chan won’t find him? From what I’ve studied of the real world, it's huge, there are millions of people in every city. Especially one as busy as New York, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.” Haru says as she polishes the Queen's dinnerware.

Minnie and Jinnie slowly creep inside the Queen's chambers. They found an entry on the side of the castle near the kitchen, a small hole big enough for them to slip through in the pantry.

Jinnie almost got them caught by knocking over a coat rack on their way to the Queen, but thankfully no one heard.

They slip under a side table, listening intently to what Haru and the Queen are discussing.

The Queen hums, “What if he does? He’s determined,” She sighs, thinking of what to do. It hits her, “If you know about what it's like over in that world, why don’t you go after him? Make sure he doesn’t find Minho. If you manage to be of good use…” She changes her tone, sounding more serious, “I’ll give you anything you want.”

Haru raises her eyebrows. Anything she wants? Is it delusional to think Haru could ask her to love her back.

“I’m serious,” The Queen says. “You want there to be an us right?” Haru makes eye contact with her and it's like the Queen can see right through her. Like Haru has been wearing her heart on her sleeve this whole time.

The Queen smirks, “Look, I’ll give you three poison apples, so you have three chances to find Minho before Chan does. You get him to eat an apple…”

Haru's eyes widen, “You want me to kill him?”

Minnie and Jinnie share a worried look.

The Queen scoffs, “No, no, don’t worry, darling, the poison won't kill him, just put him in a deep deep slumber. Then when the clock strikes 12, there will be no way of getting him out of it and I will live on as queen.”

Haru takes a second to think it over. All she would have to do is get him to take a bite. It won’t kill him, just make him go into an eternal sleep. Prince Chan wouldn’t even have to know about it if she gets to Minho first. She can always convince him to find another groom or bride. In the end, Haru will be able to live with herself knowing the man is alive at least.

“If you manage to do it… there will be a chance of a happily ever after for us…” The Queen says, coming to stand right in front of Haru. She tucks a strand of black hair behind Haru's ear and her palm comes down to caress Haru's cheek, “What do you say?”

Haru nods without a second thought. When the Queen looks at her like that it’s hard to even try and deny her requests. She’s guided outside by the queen and they make their way over to the well.

Once the Queen and her servant are out of sight, the cats come out from their hiding spot.

“Poison apples! Did you hear that Minnie?” Jinnie whines, “She’s gonna try to poison Minho! What are we gonna do?”

Minnie looks around the room, his eyes landing on the shiny crystal ball in the middle of the dining table.

“We have to contact Binnie!” He says, jumping up on the table and going to the ball.

“How do we get it to work?” Jinnie asks, jumping up on the table, too.

Minnie rubs his head against the crystal, and it begins to glow, revealing a bright light in the center. Words begin to appear in the light.

State what you wish to see.

“Show us Binnie and Prince Chan!” Jinnie shouts eagerly, earning a nudge from Minnie for being loud.

The center begins to morph and before they know it, Binnie appears.

“Binnie! Wow, he looks great,” Jinnie smiles, missing his older cat friend.

Minnie mirrors his smile, “How can we talk to him?”

The ball once again answers their question.

Place your hand on top and speak clearly to communicate.

Minnie gets on his back paws to place a front one on top of the crystal.

“Binnie,” He says, they watch as Binnie begins to look around.

“Binnie! Over here!” Jinnie says a bit louder.

Binnie runs over to a puddle of water that glows, it begins to morph and suddenly he sees his younger brothers. “Minnie! Jinnie!”

“Oh! We’re so glad you’re okay!” Minnie smiles.

A thud can be heard from outside, panic surging in the two cats.

“Listen! We don’t have a lot of time! Haru is on her way there and she has poison apples!” Minnie says, worry clear in his voice.

“Poison apples?” Binnie gasps.

“Yes! You have to tell Chan!” Jinnie shouts, getting his face super close to the ball.

They hear another thud followed by footsteps.

“Okay,” Binnie says, looking behind him where Chan has started to wander off. “I can’t exactly talk to humans as easily here, but I’ll do whatever I can!”

“You got this, Bin! We miss you! Go save our Minho!” Minnie exclaims, a warm smile on his face.

“We love you!” Jinnie says, before the door opens and they let go of the crystal and run back under the side table.

The Queen walks in and the cats slip out of the door just before it closes.

On the flip side Haru now finds herself in New York City with a bag of poison apples hanging off her shoulder. She pushes through the crowd of people, looking for a man in an extravagant red outfit.

As expected he’s not too hard to find.

“Ahahaha! You’ve met your match, you foul beast!” She hears Prince Chan shout.

Haru looks in the direction of the voice and there she spots him, on top of a bus with his sword drawn out. Binnie climbed up the back of the bus watching him. Haru runs over to them quickly.

Prince Chan stomps on and hits the top of the bus with his sword, “Run everyone! I’ll keep the beast distracted and save you all!” He yells, continuing his actions. Once he feels he’s done enough he lays on his stomach and looks down into the door of the bus, “Minho? Are you here?” The passengers look at him warily, an older lady holding a bag of seed trembles slightly near the door.

The driver angrily steps out and looks up at where the Prince is, “Are you crazy?” She shouts, “Get off of my bus right now! I’ll tear you to pieces!”

Prince Chan's eyes widen, he gets up looking around, wondering who the woman is talking to.

“Get down now!” She yells, Chan points at himself in question, “Yes you!”

“Your highness!” Haru appears next to the woman, “I’m so sorry, he’s my friend, he’s a bit you know…” She attempts to reason with her.

“Get your friend out of here or I’ll tear you both to pieces!” The woman screams one last time.

Binnie jumps down the bus first, aggressively meowing at Haru. Haru pays him no mind.

“Sire, maybe we should look for your groom elsewhere?” she suggests, pulling Chan away once he's down from the bus.

“Haru! Oh am I glad to see you, mate. I was trying to help these people from the giant beast, but they didn’t want to be saved!” Chan shakes his head. Binnie comes to his side, brushing against his leg. “Binnie! You would be grateful right?”

Binnie purrs as Chan scratches over his ears.

“That wasn’t a beast your majesty, it was a bus! It's the type of carriage they ride here,” Haru explains.

Chan gives her a look, “Looked like a beast.”

Haru laughs, reaching out to pet Binnie, too. She retracts her hand as soon as the cat hisses at her. Now that Binnie knows what she plans to do, he won't let his guard down around her.

“Anyways, are you hungry? I’ve heard of a nice burger spot we could go to,” Haru suggests. It would be a good distraction, set the prince a few steps behind Minho.

“A burger?” The prince questions, “What is this burger you speak of?” Curious, he lets Haru lead him. He holds onto Binnie as they walk.

Binnie meows, Chan looks down at him, “What is it? Do you miss Minho? I sure do, I can’t wait to see him,” The Prince sighs dreamily.

Whipped, Binnie thinks. He’s happy for Minho, truly.

Binnie meows again, pointing his paw at Haru.

“Haru? You want her to pet you?” Chan asks.

No, Binnie snarls.

He’s unsure how to communicate to Chan that Haru is bad news. He looks around. They’re currently walking through a street full of what seems like small markets. Bread, flowers, books, fruit. Fruit!

Binnie jumps out of Chan's arms, running over to the stand of apples in front of the building. There are other fruits, too, like bananas and oranges, but Binnie wants Chan to see the apples.

“Woah! Where are you going?” Chan startles, following the cat. Haru turns around, seeing Chan take off in the opposite direction, she runs after him.

Binnie puts his front paws up onto the stand, meowing.

“Apples? Can cats have apples?” Chan raises an eyebrow, he looks at Haru questioningly.

“I’m not sure,” Haru replies, gripping her bag. Why is this cat suddenly crazy about apples?

No! Binnie internally groans. He shakes his head, meowing again. He points his paw at the apples in the bin and then goes over to Haru, standing up on his back paws to swat at the bag hanging off of her shoulder. He makes a show of hissing and flaring his fur up.

“Is there something you don’t like in Haru's bag?” Chan asks, eyeing Haru.

Haru grips onto the bag. Does the cat know? How?

Binnie perks up, he walks over and brushes against Chan's leg. Hoping he gets the hint that that's exactly what's wrong.

Chan chuckles, squatting down to run his hand along the cat's back, “Maybe Binnie doesn’t like apples, you have apples in your bag Haru? Binnie apparently doesn't like them.”

We’re getting somewhere, Binnie almost feels proud of Chan for catching on.

“What! No- no! Why would I have apples? I don’t like them either…” Haru stumbles, moving her bag behind her back.

Chan gives her a look, “I was joking, but now we know. No apples for Binnie!” He picks up Binnie in his arms and continues walking the way they were originally going.

Ugh, almost. Binnie will just have to get the bag himself somehow.

Haru lets out a relieved breath. She looks up at the cat hanging on Chan’s shoulder. It hisses at her. She sticks her tongue out mockingly.

⭐🎀👑

Jisung pulls Minho inside his firm's building. It was an interesting drive over here, with the man asking many questions about things he saw outside the window. How do you operate one of these colorful carriages? Did a giant build these huge structures? Why is that person dressed up as a red monster?’ Jisung did his best to answer, but half way through his response another question would pop up. Minho is very easily distracted and Jisung is trying to get through the day.

Like now, they go through the revolving door and Minho is in awe as it spins around. Jisung needs to yank his wrist to get him to continue walking. They don't make it very far though as Minho notices a large statue of a woman holding flowers. He stops to stare at it in admiration.

“It’s just a statue!” Jisung groans, once again pulling him. He’s already half an hour late, any longer will make him lose his mind. He barely got Jeongin to school on time.

“It’s beautiful…” Minho says as he’s dragged away.

Jisung leads him up to his floor. As soon as the elevator opens he marches right up to the front desk, “Hey, Ben, please tell me the client isn’t here yet,” He says to the receptionist, setting his leather briefcase on the desk.

Minho notices a giant tank full of water and walks over to it. There’s fish, too, yellow and white ones. Minho watches as they swim around.

“Client’s here…” Ben says, giving him a sorry look.

Jisung mentally face palms, “Okay, Minho! Don’t drink that!” He yells as loud as he can when he notices Minho taking a paper cup and dipping it into the tank.

“Who’s he?” Ben asks, as he gathers paperwork to give Jisung.

Jisung motions for Minho to come over, “Ben this is Minho, Minho this is Ben. Listen, I need you to find out where he lives and book a train ticket or flight— or something, but just— make it cheap please. I'm gonna have to pay for it. Okay?” He rambles, tapping his fingers against the desk.

“Uh- okay,” Ben says, giving Minho- who waves- a tight smile.

“Great! Minho, stay out of trouble, please,” Jisung says, leaving him to it and speed walking to his office.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Minho smiles.

“Yeah, you, too.” Ben says, “So, where are you from?”

Jisung exits his office two hours later, “Um, well I think that went well!” He says, to his client and the other attorney representing his clients ex partner. His eyes immediately land on Minho who’s staring at the big fish tank in the corner of the lobby. If he's being honest, Jisung couldn’t focus at all during the meeting, his thoughts only being filled with worry as to what he's going to do with Minho.

“Yes, I believe we may be close to a settlement-” The attorney says.

“Right, yes, yup, excuse me for a moment,” Jisung says mindlessly before approaching Ben, not giving the attorney another glance.

Please have good news. The look on Ben’s face is not promising.

“What do you got?” Jisung asks, biting the inside of his cheek, a bad habit he’s picked up.

“So, the guy has no drivers license, no passport, nothing! I can’t even find the place he says he comes from!” Ben whispers, a smile on his face so as not to concern the clients.

“What place?”

“Andalusia?”

“Anda-lay-sia” Jisung corrects.

“Whatever! I called every train station, airline, everywhere! And nobody knows where it is. I can’t tell if it’s a city, country-“

“Could it be a state?”

“More like a state of mind…” Ben mumbles, they both turn to look at Minho who’s frolicking around the lobby like a princess— prince, “He said it’s beyond the meadow of joy and the valley of contentment,” Ben says the last part in a higher pitched voice, making tiny jazz hands, “I mean what?!”

They’re brought out of their conversation at the sound of Minho's voice.

“Oh wow! Excuse me, can I just say your hair is lovely!” He says, walking up to Jisung's client and running his hands down her curly hair.

The client, Phoebe, raises her eyebrows, a blush forming across her cheeks, “Oh... thank you,” She smiles.

“Of course! You’re beautiful! The person who holds your heart is so lucky,” Minho nods.

Phoebe scoffs, “Yeah, will you try telling him that,” She jerks her head behind her to the other attorney and his client.

“I’m sure he already knows!” Minho smiles, “Oh? Are you him?” He gasps, walking over and putting his arm around the other client bringing him closer, “You are so lucky! Just look at how her eyes sparkle, ah I just love, love! You guys make a perfect match!” Minho swoons.

Ben smacks Jisung on the shoulder, eyes motioning for him to do something.

“I got it, I got it,” Jisung rushes over, “Excuse me! Minho, over here, please?” Not waiting for a response he grabs Minho's wrist and pulls him away.

The clients watch with annoyed faces. God, he’s so gonna hear about this later, there goes the promotion he was working towards!

“It’s not like that, alright? They’re not together anymore. They’re getting a divorce,” Jisung explains, leaning in to Minho.

“What? I don’t understand, what do you mean?” Minho asks, confusion written across his sharp features.

“It means they’re separating, no longer in love,” Jisung attempts to keep a smile on his face, again so as not to alert the clients.

“What! No longer in love?” Minho gasps, his palm flying up over his mouth. He looks back at the clients, shaking his head. How could it be possible to fall out of love?

“Shh! Yes,” Jisung nods.

Minho blinks, eyes beginning to water. The idea that a person could stop loving someone they once cherished is too devastating.

“What are you doing? Don’t cry,” Jisung mumbles, turning Minho towards him. He's making a scene right in the middle of Jisung’s workplace. Jisung regrets bringing him here. Jisung is starting to regret meeting him at all.

“Is he crying?” Phoebe asks.

“No-“

“I’m sorry, it’s just so sad!” Minho cries, walking past everyone and sitting on the couch in front of the fish tank. He sobs into his hands.

It’s at that perfect moment that Jisung’s boss decides to walk out of his office. Oh this is where he’s gonna hear it for sure.

“What is going on?” His boss asks, eyeing Jisung and the clients.

“If this is some way of manipulating us then the deal is off!” The other attorney snaps, he walks out of the office with his client in tow.

“This is so unprofessional,” Phoebe shakes her head, “I expect to hear good news soon,” She says before walking out, too.

Jisung's boss raises his eyebrows, “What is going on? Jisung, you asked me to put you on this case and I come out here to see the client angry and some random guy is crying? I expected better from you, you’re supposed to be one of our top attorneys, but you’re making a fool of us both!” His boss says angrily.

Jisung has worked far too hard to get the position he’s in now, his reputation can not be ruined like this.

“No! No, no, everything’s gonna be fine, trust me, I’ll take care of it,” Jisung insists, not sure if he believes it himself.

His boss glares at him , “ You better.”

Jisung watches him walk back into his office. He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and turns back to Ben, eyes pleading for any kind of saving.

“I’ll clear your schedule… go figure this out,” Ben sighs, giving Jisung the most pitiful look.

“I owe you.” Jisung smiles and runs to his office.

Jisung says goodbye once he’s cleaned up his things, Minho follows behind with his head held low, eyes red rimmed and sniffling.

They walk into the elevator and as soon as it closes Jisung turns to Minho, “What is wrong with you?”

“Me?!” Minho yells, clearly offended.

“Yes you! With your sunshine and rainbows, lovey-dovey routine! Those people are in real pain-”

“Well of course they’re in pain! They’re separating and aren’t in love anymore. What sort of terrible place is this where love can be so beautiful one day and then broken the next!” Minho throws his hands up in despair.

Jisung almost laughs at how shocked Minho is. Has he never experienced heartbreak? This is why he wants Jeongin to grow out of the fairytales. He doesn’t want him to have to receive that slap in the face of what real life is like. It’s not full of unicorns and yellow brick roads. It’s not waiting for a knight in shining armor to slay the dragon and save you. It’s not falling in love and being together forever.

“It’s reality,” Jisung deadpans.

Cold, hard, grueling reality.

Minho shakes his head, “I’d prefer to be in Andalasia.”

“Yeah, well, I’d prefer that, too.” Jisung rolls his eyes. The elevator dings and they walk out of the building.

Jisung's firm building is near central park. It’s a busy area with lots of tourism and businesses around. There are carriages giving people rides, people on skateboards, small food vendors. People are everywhere. So, they don’t notice Prince Chan, Haru, and Binnie walking up the sidewalk.

“Where do you suppose I should look, Haru?” Chan asks, stepping up onto a small ledge.

Binnie climbs up a statue, sitting at the very top. He looks out into the crowd. His eyes scan across every person. That's when he sees him, he could spot his dark red hair in any crowd.

Minho! He meows happily, jumping down the statue.

It catches Haru’s attention, she turns in the direction Binnie was looking at and she sees Minho, too. He’s being led away into the park by another man. Oh no. Prince Chan cannot see this. She scans her eyes through the crowd and spots another man with hair similar to Minho's, just a slightly lighter shade, who’s getting into a carriage

Binnie runs up to Chan, ready to swat at him and lead him in the right direction, but he doesn’t get to because suddenly he's being nudged away.

“Your highness! Look!” Haru shouts, pointing in the direction of the man in the carriage.

Prince Chan gasps, “Minho!” He makes a run for it, following the carriage in the opposite direction of where Minho went.

“Run, sire! There’s not a moment to lose!” Haru encourages. She looks down at Binnie, “Stop getting in my way.”

Binnie snarls and hisses, getting up from where he had been pushed.

Haru decides to try out her luck with her first apple, she leaves Chan to it and goes into the park.

Meanwhile, Jisung tries to think about what exactly he could do at this point.

No train or plane will take Minho where he wants to go. Jisung has no idea where it is, he’s not even sure Minho knows. This whole thing has been nothing but problems and Jisung is at a loss for solutions.

“I’ve been trying to be nice,” Jisung mumbles, mostly speaking to himself.

“You have been very nice to me,” Minho answers. Jisung ignores him.

“And I’ve been severely punished for it-” Jisung stops in his tracks and lets go from where he had been holding onto Minho's hand. When did he even grab it? He shakes his head, “Okay- look, Minho, I can’t help you anymore,” He pulls out his wallet, taking out a few dollar bills and a couple of tens, “Here's some money, okay? Take it and go call your prince, have him come bring his horse or whatever, and pick you up. Alright?”

Minho takes the money.

“I honestly just can’t handle this,” Jisung crosses his arms over his chest and lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Minho nods, he lingers, unsure of what to say. He doesn’t want to upset Jisung anymore than he already has. In the end he knows leaving is for the best. He sighs, “Jisung?”

“Just go,” Jisung uncrosses one arm, signaling in the direction of the park.

“I’m so sorry,” Minho says, this is the least he can say after everything, “You’ve been such a kind friend to me when I had no one else to turn to. And I don’t want to make you unhappy or cause you any more trouble, so… I’ll go,” Minho feels his eyes start to brim with tears again.

Jisung feels a pull on his heart, wishing he could reach up and swipe the stray tear trailing down Minho’s softened face.

“I wish you every happiness,” Minho gives him a tight lipped smile and one final nod before turning on his heel and walking away further into the park.

Jisung watches him leave for a second before beginning to make his way back to the firm. That’s it. He doesn’t have to deal with this anymore. He can go back, fix things with his client, sign the deal, and live his normal life. No more talks about princes and talking animals and ruining his curtains. Should be a huge weight off his shoulder.

So, why is he feeling the need to turn back? Why is every muscle in his body pulling at him, wishing for him to turn back?

Maybe he’ll just look back to make sure Minho is going in a good direction.

His body moves without thinking and his eyes instantly land on Minho, on the flowy blouse that blows with the wind, and his feline-like eyes that curl when he smiles. He’s talking to an older lady on a bench who's feeding the birds.

Jisung watches as the lady says something to him and then Minho is handing her the money Jisung just gave him. Jisung can’t help but chuckle and shake his head. This guy is not going to survive around here by himself.

“Minho!” He shouts, jogging the steps to catch up to him, “What are you doing?”

“Jisung!” Minho jumps up from the bench delighted, “This is Clara! I asked her if she’s seen Chan and she said yes!”

Jisung looks at the older lady, “Mhm.” People will say yes to anything for money.

“He was on top of the bus this morning! He tried to hijack the bus!” The lady— Clara— insists.

“Oh! Great ! That's wonderful, thank you,” Jisung rolls his eyes, he grabs onto Minho's arm and walks away. That lady clearly also has some issues. “Minho, you can’t just give people money.”

Minho furrows his eyebrows, “But you gave me money?”

Jisung blinks, “That was different.” He lets go of Minho's arm as they fall into step together.

“She was very helpful, though.”

Right, the prince on the bus, so helpful.

It would probably be good if Jisung learned more about him, maybe new info can help Jisung help Minho. Now he’s aware that he had the opportunity to let all of this go, but it just wouldn’t sit right in his conscience, that’s all. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with the fact that a Minho shaped mark has begun to form on his heart.

“So, what's the deal with this prince of yours? How long have you been together with him,” Jisung asks

Minho sighs, that lovestruck aura blooming in his face again, “Oh... about a day.”

Jisung stops in his tracks. Did he hear that right?

“Do you mean it feels like it's been a day because of how in love you are?”

Minho shakes his head, “Nope, it’s only been a day and tomorrow will be two days!”

Jisung laughs, “You’re joking, right?”

Love at first sight could be an actual thing, Jisung supposes. But that’s only ever happened in movies, books, fairy tales. Outside of these types of media, falling in love is a long and complicated journey.

Minho frowns at the way he isn’t being taken seriously, “No, I’m not.”

Jisung stops smiling when he hears the humorless tone of Minho's voice, “You’re telling me you’re gonna marry someone after a day of being with them? You fell in love with him in just one day?”

Minho grins, nodding happily, “Yes!” He continues walking.

They walk past several people in fun colorful costumes. Minho says something smells good, so they go in the direction of a churro stand. Jisung buys him one which Minho instantly loves. It’s nice outside, Jisung doesn’t remember the last time he took a walk in the park. The flowers are blooming yellow and red. And the lake glistens as fish swim around.

“I just don’t get it. How can you fall in love and marry someone you don’t even really know?”

“Well, I know what's in his heart,” Minho swoons, waving at a few other people who walk past in costumes. One of them sends him a wink and Minho giggles.

“Oh okay, sure, cool,” Jisung says sarcastically. He doesn’t understand how it's possible to know what’s in someone’s heart on the very first day of meeting them.

Minho takes the last bite of his churro, humming, “This was so good! I’ve never had anything like it.”

Jisung reaches his hand out, “You're done? Let me get that for you,” He takes the trash from Minho and throws it in the bin next to a park bench.

“Thank you,” Minho says, clearing his throat, “So, what about you? How long have you known your Felix?”

“Um, about five years?” Jisung thinks. They had only started dating three or four years ago, though.

“And you haven’t proposed?” Minho asks, shocked like it's the craziest thing he's ever heard, “No wonder he’s angry.”

Jisung opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted by a woman wearing a face mask with a green hat and apron, “A gift for the very handsome man!” She exclaims. She holds her hand out, offering a caramel apple on a stick, “Free of charge,” She winks.

“Wow!” Minho gasps, taking the apple.

“Free? Really?” Jisung questions, looking at the vendor cart behind the woman suspiciously. It’s filled with other caramel apples and popcorn. He has never once seen a park vendor offer up things for free like this.

“Of course! It’s…” The woman stops to think, “Free caramel apple day!” She cheers.

Minho looks up at her, “Oh! Thank you!”

Jisung nods as a way of acknowledging the woman before they continue down the path.

Haru pulls her mask down and watches them leave, the apple clutched in Minho's hands. All he needs to do is take one bite, that's all it will take.

She hears meowing and looks down to see Binnie making his way over. He sees the look in Binnie’s eye when he spots Minho walking away with the apple. Before Binnie can take off, Haru takes off the apron she stole and uses it to snag Binnie up.

Binnie meows and hisses attempting to scratch at the fabric.

“Haha! Good luck getting out of this!” Haru snickers, tying the apron strings to secure Binnie in.

No! Minho! Binnie hisses, once he gets out of here he’s so scratching up Haru's face.

Haru opens up the half empty popcorn machine and throws the apron with Binnie in there before closing it up. She’s surprised that the worker who was here before hasn’t showed up yet. It was pretty easy to get him to go away.

Haru was walking around the park in search of Minho when she saw a younger guy at the apple stand on his phone. All she needed to do was flutter her eyelashes at him until he agreed to let her help out. Men were so easy. He was happy to let her and even took advantage of her being there to go use the bathroom.

She saw Minho and the other man approaching and that's when Haru decided to make a caramel apple using the supplies with one of the poison ones. It was the perfect disguise. Now that she's planted the seed, she just needs to see her plan grow.

Haru watches Minho and the other man talk as they walk. Minho still hasn’t taken a bite out of the apple.

“You know… most normal people get to know each other before they decide to get married,” Jisung continues their conversation, “They date.”

“Date?” Minho asks, confusion clear in his tone. He’s heard of this term from some of the women in his hometown, but he’s never experienced it or learned what it entailed.

“Yeah! You know, date!” Minho raises his eyebrows curiously, “You go somewhere special, like a restaurant, or you go see a movie, or a museum. You hang out and talk. Ask each other questions and such,” Jisung explains.

“What do you talk about? What kind of questions do you ask?” Minho looks deep in thought.

“Just anything about each other. What you like, don't like, things like that, you just talk!” Jisung laughs, not seeing what's so confusing about this.

Minho laughs with him, “Wow, you have such strange ideas about love.”

Talk? Minho questions. All it really takes to fall in love is gazing into that person's eyes and seeing your whole world in them. That’s how Minho knew he needed to marry Prince Chan, right?

“I guess maybe we should just do what you do. Meet and instantly decide to get married.” Jisung entertains the idea.

“Oh! And live happily ever after.” Minho smiles widely. Bunny teeth on full display again.

It's cute, Jisung thinks.

“Ah, forget happily ever after. Doesn’t exist,” Jisung shrugs.

Minho gasps, “Of course it does!” He throws his hands up in the air, the apple flying out of his hand and into a patch of mud in the grass behind them, “Oops..”

Haru sees it and her jaw drops, No! She was so close! She runs over to retrieve it when Minho and the man don't spare so much of a glance back at it. It's covered in mud and definitely not salvageable. She sighs as she tosses it in the trash. Abandoning the apple stand, she takes out Binnie and walks away in search of Chan. She’ll try again later.

Jisung hums, “Minho, I’d hate to disagree with you, but marriages are only successful if they manage not to end. And on average 50% of them do. They end. So, you can forget about happily ever after.”

He almost feels bad when he sees Minho frown. But it’s just the truth, there’s no need to sugarcoat it.

“What about you and Felix? You’ll live happily ever after.”

Jisung tsks, “Well I don't even know if I’ll be able to get him to speak to me today.”

Minho nods in understanding, remembering the events from this morning, “Does he know how much you love him?”

“I mean, of course. I don’t tell him every minute of every day, but I’m sure he knows,” Jisung isn’t sure if he’s trying to convince Minho or himself.

He does love Felix. Felix is sweet and funny. He approached Jisung one night after a few years of being friends and confessed his feelings. Jisung wasn’t sure if he was ready to date again, but he knew Felix had a very big and good heart. So, he went for it. Years have gone by and everything is steady. Felix understands how Jisung isn’t that much of a romantic or how he doesn’t like to openly discuss his feelings. Felix respects that even if he himself is into the cheesy stuff and does lay his heart out on his sleeve. It’s okay because at the end of the day Jisung knows how Felix feels. He doesn’t worry about getting his heartbroken. Felix is safe for Jisung.

“How?” Minho asks, searching for the answer to his question in Jisung's eyes.

“What do you mean how?”

“How does he know you love him? ” Minho sings, in a rather high octave.

Jisung's eyes go wide. Oh here we go with the unicorns and rainbows, “Don’t sing, please.”

“How does he know he’s yours?” Minho continues. People walking past give them strange looks.

“Okay, people are staring, let's just keep walking,” Jisung grabs him by the shoulder and steers them in another direction. He most definitely does not need attention drawn his way right now.

“Well does he?” Minho asks.

“Mhm, yup-”

“How does he know that you love him?” A man sings, his band mates playing their instruments in a very upbeat and fun tune.

“Oh!” Minho gasps, going up and singing with them.

“How do you show him you love him?” They do a little hip move type of dance.

“He knows the song, too?” Jisung's question is ignored as Minho keeps dancing and singing with the band, “I have never heard this song.” He likes to think he’s caught up pretty well on what songs are trending now since Jeongin loves to play the popular radio stations. This song must have just come out, that's why he probably doesn't know it.

When they don't stop Jisung figures they’re waiting for a tip, “Alright, that's enough, let's go,” He says, slipping a ten dollar bill in the little bucket next to one of the instruments and pulling Minho's wrist.

Jisung thinks that should do it, but the band continues to play and sing along with Minho. Minho, who has now begun twirling and singing and smiling so wide. A small crowd has even started to form, everyone dancing and nodding along to the music.

Minho sings about needing to remind one's significant other about their love. About not taking love for granted and always being sure to send them flowers because that is how they’ll know you love them.

Jisung knows he’s not the best at showing his affections, but he’s sure Felix knows he loves him without the need to send flowers and constantly say it aloud.

As Minho runs into the grass, the band follows and plays, the crowd growing as everyone joins in and sings along. How does everyone but Jisung know this song?

Leaving little notes is apparently another good way to show his partner they’re on his mind, Jisung has learned from the song. So is sending yellow flowers when the sky is gray. He’s never really thought to leave Felix little notes, unsure of what he’d even write on them. And he thinks sending flowers out of the blue would be a bit odd, wouldn’t it?

“See?” Minho laughs, pulling Jisung's arm.

“I’ve seen quite enough, let's go now,” Jisung plants his palm on Minho's back, bringing him forward. They walk past a table that has a sign on display.

Join us tomorrow night for The 25th Annual King’s and Queen's Ball, it reads.

Minho gasps, “A ball? That sounds so fun!”

Jisung rolls his eyes, “It does not sound fun, let’s go, please!”

The band continues to play in the distance as they finally walk away.

Jisung thinks the singing is over now, but they walk past a few people who are taking wedding photos and suddenly Minho is singing again.

“Everybody wants to live happily ever after,”

A mariachi begins playing the same tune as the band, the crowd once again forming to dance and sing along with Minho.

“Everybody wants to know their true love is true,”

Jisung groans, he must be dreaming. There is just no way he is witnessing a complete flash mob right now. People don’t just burst out into song this way.

Minho sings about going out dancing to be close with the love of your life. To which Jisung responds with, “I don’t dance,” Even though the crowd has managed to pull him in.

Jisung doesn’t think going out dancing is the only way he can hold Felix, he gives him a hug every time they meet and surely it's more than enough.

Minho continues, “ Dedicate a song with words meant just for you,”

“I definitely don’t sing either,” Jisung finds himself trying to catch up with the other man, as Minho runs into the crowd and everyone cheers.

At this point Jisung has no choice but to pretend to be enjoying the chaotic and somehow very coordinated routine. He puts his hands up in faux excitement. It's quite interesting to see how everyone has been brought together over this random song about showing love.

If you ask him the song is a little exaggerated but he’ll digress.

In the distance, Prince Chan has somehow made his way inside the park. He’s half away across a bridge when he stops in his tracks, a beautiful voice he can recognize anywhere catching his attention.

“That's how you know, he’s your love!”

“Your highness!” Haru calls from behind him. She scurries over to help him up, the bikers dusting themselves off, “Are you okay?” She stifles her laugh at the way the Prince's hair has gotten all disheveled.

Chan groans, “No! I’ve fallen on my royal-”

“Yes, yes, I see, you should really watch where you’re going,” She holds her hand out for Chan to grab onto, “Okay, let's go,” Haru says, helping him up and holding him by the waist.

Chan completely forgot what he was doing as they began to walk away. He massages over the arm he got hit with.

Back with Jisung and Minho, Minho has somehow got a free flower arrangement in the shape of a heart. It's light blue and white, Felix’s favorite colors as Jisung remembers. There's a small blue envelope attached to it, too. Jisung isn’t really sure what’s in it, but he's sure it's something cheesy.

He had told Minho that sending Felix flowers wasn’t really necessary, this type of gesture won’t exactly fix anything, They need to have a genuine conversation. Minho had simply shrugged him off, told him to trust him. Jisung isn’t sure if he should, but they’re already here.

Minho sings a small tune and a pair of doves appear, as if summoned. He holds up the arrangement and the birds pick it up, one on each side. “Please deliver these flowers to Felix,” He nods, gesturing to the birds to fly away.

“Are you crazy? They don’t know where Felix is,” Jisung furrows his eyebrows, watching slightly in awe as the birds fly away with the flowers. Is Minho some kind of bird whisperer? He can sew, dance, sing, and communicate with birds?

Minho smiles, pleased with himself, then he gets up and runs back into the crowd to continue his song, leaving Jisung a little dumbfounded.

Jisung finally accepts his fate and watches as everyone dances and smiles brightly. He’s not sure what he did to deserve a full on flash mob to happen right in front of his eyes, but he’ll admit it's entertaining.

Minho looks in his element, dancing around with the kids, putting a smile on everyone's faces. He’s singing about wearing clothes that match your lover's eye color, planning private romantic picnics. It’s easy to be in awe of Minho and hard not to resist smiling around him.

Jisung lets his head sway back and forth to the beat. Apart from the cheesiness, this song has taught him alot about not assuming your partner is a mind reader, and remembering not to take their love for granted. He’ll have to look it up later and download it.

“That’s how you know he’s your love! ” Minho finishes on a high note, and everyone claps and cheers.

Jisung's phone rings in his pocket.

“Felix ?” He answers, he hadn’t expected to hear from him today.

“Jisung! Thank you so much for the flowers!” Felix says. Jisung can hear the smile on his face through the tone of his voice.

Jisung's eyes widened. No way those birds actually knew, “Um, yeah- you’re welcome. I’m glad you like them!” he smiles.

“Did I catch you at the wrong time?” Felix asks on the other end.

Felix invites Jisung over to his work so they can talk. Ever since Jisung has known him, Felix has worked for a design group under Vogue. He’s worked his way up to almost being a head designer. His designs are really impressive, he’s even modeled a few.

Felix gives him a kiss on the mouth, followed by a couple on his cheeks.

“Okay, okay,” Jisung blushes, grabbing Felix's hands from where they’re wrapped around his neck to hold them.

“Ah, I just love these so much,” Felix giggles, looking at the flowers sitting on his work table.

Minho somehow managed to get on some of the designer's good sides and is messing around with fabric behind them.

“Really?” Jisung asks. Felix has never really made gestures like this such a big deal, then again Jisung has never actually done a big gesture like this. He should have known Felix is a hopeless romantic at heart.

“Yeah! Usually you only send me digital flowers through emails,” Felix laughs.

Jisung cringes.. Yeah he does do that. He can’t remember the last time he actually bought Felix flowers. Maybe one of their first dates?

“Oh! And these?” Felix picks up the envelope and pulls out what's inside, “We’re going to a ball?” The biggest smile is on his face as he holds up the tickets.

Minho. Jisung internally rolls his eyes, he supposes he owes this to Felix after the mess he’s caused, “Uh, yeah, I mean if you want to! We don’t have to.”

“Are you kidding? That's so romantic, of course I want to!” Felix holds the tickets to his chest.

Jisung forces himself to smile, “Oh- okay then!”

“This is so spontaneous, I absolutely can’t wait,” Felix smiles, his freckles brightening his eyes.

“Great,” Jisung nods, he takes a deep breath, “And, um, as far as Minho is concerned,” He glances over at the man, who’s still speaking with one of the other workers, “I’m really just trying to help him out, honestly, nothing-”

“You know what if you say nothing happened, then nothing happened. I trust you,” Felix says, placing his hand on Jisung's cheek.

“Okay,” Jisung lets out a breath, “Then… I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Felix pulls him into a tight hug, “This is so unlike you, but yes!”

Great! Jisung thinks. He’s fixed things with Felix, things are starting to go back to normal and everything will be okay. Now he just… needs to find a suit for a ball. And shoes and he should probably practice some dance moves.

👑

The room rumbles as a train right across the street passes by. Chan has taken his boots off and has made himself comfortable on the motel bed. They walked all the way here from the park. His legs are killing him, he groans as he stretches them out.

He’s messing around with a little box that has all sorts of buttons on it. Chan presses one and the magic mirror in front of him turns on. It displays two women speaking. He presses another button and the image changes again. This time there is a man and a woman.

“Huh, it seems like this magic little box controls the magic mirror,” Chan chuckles, eyeing the object in his hands.

“I’ve always loved you,” The woman says to the man.

Haru stops organizing her stuff and listens to the television.

“You don’t mean anything to me, I used you,” The man spits at the woman, “ I only wanted you because you did everything for me, but not because I loved you.”

“Wow, that man is terrible,” Chan says, shaking his head. He presses another button to change the image again.

“Wait! Go back,” Haru says, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Chan shrugs and changes it back. He is kinda curious about the woman's response.

“I’m more than just a pawn,” The woman on the screen shouts, she begins to pick up all her things, “I deserve better than you!” She opens the door, walks out, and slams it shut.

Haru’s mind goes back to all those times the Queen has only really paid attention to her when she needed something done. Haru has always been the one to get her hands dirty with the Queen's vengeful work. And yet she has nothing to show for it.

She’s never received a thank you, not a single speck of gratitude.

She’s brought out of her thoughts when the image changes again. Ah, there’s no time to be thinking of these things, she has a job to do.

Haru tightens her boots and picks up her bag, she looks over at the bundle where Binnie has been in, most likely sleeping as he’s only moved a little bit. The ties are loose so he can breathe fine. She debates putting him outside, but she’s not that cruel. He’ll be fine there for now.

She’s about ready to leave- the Queen having sent her a message through the crystal ball on their way to the motel as to where Minho was headed- her hand is on the door knob when she finds herself asking Chan a question.

“Your highness, do you think the Queen could ever fall in love again?” She asks. Briefly remembering how the Queen loved the late King.

Haru was only there in the last few months of the King's life. Chan was only a teenager, she spent most of her time keeping him company, as assigned by his father. They would practice archery and swimming. Things to distract Chan from his father's illness. All the way until the end. By then she was told to work alongside the Queen because according to her highness, Chan needed to learn how to be a grown up. Haru believes he has handled himself quite fine, but sometimes she wishes she had been there for him in those final days. Especially because the Queen immediately began her royal duties, there wasn’t a long mourning period.

“Ha!” Chan laughs, “Please, she barely loved my father. The only person she has room for in her heart is herself.”

Haru feels her chest twist with an unpleasant feeling, “Oh… okay.”

Maybe this big gesture, saving the crown, is all Haru needs to do to get the Queen to open up her heart. To prove that Haru is worthy of it. With that, she opens the door and leaves.

Prince Chan continues to flip through the images. He hears a rustle in the side of the room where Haru's stuff had been, followed by annoyed meows. He gets up and goes over to the bundle that's twisting and turning.

Little gray ears pop out from the top of the bundle.

“Binnie!” Chan shouts, going over and untying the ties, “What are you doing in there, silly?”

Binnie jumps out, meowing loudly.

Agh! That witch! Binnie thinks. He had been waiting for the opportunity to escape.

Chan reaches out and scratches under his chin, “Now, now, Haru was giving you a nice warm place to sleep!”

No! She trapped me! Binnie tries to shout, instead it comes out as a low growl.

“Come on, what’s wrong?” Chan asks, hand gliding across Binnie's back.

Binnie meows, how can he get the message across? He scratches at Haru's bundle.

“Haru?” Chan questions.

Binnie meows in acknowledgment, Yes!

He then attempts to meow in the same beat of Minho's True Love's Kiss song. Come on, Chan knows this song he should at least recognize the tune.

“Why are you crying so much?” Chan asks, petting him on the head.

Binnie pushes away, No!

He scratches at the bundle and then meows the tune again and pretends to cough up a hairball, then flop down on his back, paws going limp and tongue sticking out.

Chan's eyes go wide, “Oh! How terrible!” He gets up quickly.

Yes, yes! He's got it!

He goes over and opens the door, “You need to use the bathroom, but you’ve been stuck here the whole time! I'm sorry, Binnie, here go ahead!” Chan motions out the door.

Binnie blinks, standing there bewildered. How did he get the bathroom from that? He was clearly acting as if he'd been poisoned and passed out!

Chan just smiles at him, still holding the door open.

Now that his attempt at notifying Chan of Haru's plans has failed again, he might as well go be more useful and catch up to Haru. No doubt she's off to find Minho.

Fine, Binnie groans as he walks out the door.

“Just scratch at the door when you’re ready to come back in!” Chan says, that toothy smile not slipping once.

🎀⭐

After visiting Felix, Jisung and Minho went off to pick up Jeongin from school. Usually the sitter picks him up since Jisung doesn’t get off work on a normal day till around 5:00 and Jeongin gets out at 2:30. So, Jeongin was more than ecstatic when he saw him at the pick-up zone. Although Jisung isn’t so sure if it's because he was there or because Minho was.

Jeongin has kept Minho busy, asking all sorts of questions about Andalasia, Jisung had never seen him be so talkative with someone. Minho didn’t seem to mind at all, in fact he was bubbling with just as much excitement to answer all the questions.

“Are there fairies?” Jeongin had asked, his eyes shining.

“Oh yes! There are tinkers, water fairies, garden fairies, light, weather, and so many other different types! They have such pretty designs on their wings to show off their jobs, too!” Minho answered, going into full detail.

“What about dragons? I have this book that taught me how to draw them, I can show you my pictures back home!”

“I would love to see your pictures! But dragons.. Oh now those are very scary, I have never seen one in person, but I hear they live in some of the darkest magical caves,” Minho says.

Everytime Jeongin gasped in awe, it brought a little smile onto Jisung's face.

He decided to treat them to dinner. The best pizza spot in New York, a little on the pricey side, but he’s in a good mood for once today, so who cares! Plus the owner of the place has grown quite fond of Jeongin. She’s currently sitting with him in a booth listening with a smile on her face as Jeongin shows her the school project he's been working on.

Jisung and Minho are sitting at a table talking. He decides to show him some of his own magic and do the good old coin behind the ear trick. He used to do it alot with Jeongin until he caught on.

Minho, however, is fascinated. He places his palm over his ear, jaw dropping when Jisung pulls his hand back, the coin in between his thumb and pointer finger.

‘How did you do that? Do it again!” Minho claps excitedly. His smile is so wide.

Jisung does it again. He shows Minho his empty hand first and then reaches behind his ear before bringing his hand back, showing off the coin. He grins at Minho.

“Wow! You must be a wizard!” Minho laughs, Jisung joins him. His cheeks hurt from how much he had been smiling.

Minho stops laughing and his eyes go wide as if he just remembered something.

“What?” Jisung asks, his smile dropping for a second. Hand grabbing onto the coin to twirl it around between his fingers.

“This is a very nice place…” Minho points out, looking around the restaurant.

“Yeah,” Jisung nods, amused once again.

“And we’re eating dinner together...” Minho continues. Jisung isn’t really sure where he’s going with this.

“Yeah.”

“So, this is a date!”

“Yeah!” Jisung smiles before he quickly processes what he just said and back tracks, ”I mean no! No, no, no. We’re just… having dinner as friends.”

“Ohhh,” Minho nods in understanding, happy at the fact that Jisung considers them friends.

“Plus, people don’t really bring their children on dates, so,” Jisung chuckles, looking over to the booth where Jeongin is still showing off his project.

“Awe, well that’s too bad.” Minho glances back, “Jeongin is such a lovely kid, he’s so kind and sweet.”

Jisung’s heart swells with pride, “Yeah, he’s the best.”

Minho doesn’t have much experience with children. They all usually live closer to the castle, but getting to know Jeongin has been such a delight for him. He finds it so endearing how creative and friendly the little one is. Minho hopes he never changes. Even through any problems Jeongin might face, Minho hopes he never loses sight of his imagination and kind heart.

He admires how much of a good job Jisung has done at raising Jeongin on his own, too. It must not have been easy.

“What?” Jisung asks, questioning the way Minho has gone quiet.

“Does Jeongin miss her terribly?” Minho asks hesitantly.

Jisung furrows his eyebrows in confusion, “Miss who?”

“His mother.”

Jisung’s breath hitches, the coin he was fidgeting with drops to the floor, the noise it makes as it hits the ground rings in his ear despite the restaurant being filled with chatter.

He clears his throat, bending down for a brief second to pick up the coin, “Oh, um, we just— we don’t talk about it.”

“Oh.” Minho feels guilt creeping up on him, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

Jisung frowns, “No, no, it’s okay. It’s just more like… I don’t talk about it- to Jeongin or to anybody really.”

“Because it was sad?” Minho’s voice is soft as if speaking any louder would break the bubble of comfort that has surrounded them.

Jisung clears his throat, “Not at first.” He thinks back to his past relationship. The beginning of it was good. He cared about her and he was positive she cared about him, too at some point.

“You were in love?” Minho's eyes light up.

Jisung smiles softly at the idea, “Yeah.” The memory of how everything went down catching up to him, “Yeah, that was the problem.”

He had been in too deep.

“How could love be the problem?” Minho's forehead creases, genuinely concerned.

“Because love— the ‘lovey-dovey, happily ever after’ version you talk about— it's all just a fantasy, something that only lasts in dreams,” Jisung explains, he pauses in thought, “And one day you have to wake up and… remember you’re in the real world.”

“What made you wake up?” Minho asks.

“Well…” Jisung breathes in, “she left.” He shakes his head lightly at the memory.

It’s in the past now, almost six years ago, yet the wound it left on his heart still stings. He had been starting law school. It was a stressful time having so much paperwork and a one year old baby to take care of. Jeongin's mother worked as well and Jisung understood she was stressed, too. But he thought they were on the same page. That as long as they had each other the stressful days would turn easier, as long as Jeongin was safe and happy then it would all be worth it.

Jisung believed the love they had for each other and the love they had for Jeongin would make everything okay. He believed that wholeheartedly. Until one day he woke up with the right side of the bed empty and cold. The closet was halfway cleared and their shoe rack kept by the front door was missing a pair. There was no note and every phone call was sent to voicemail. It was like a bucket of ice cold water was thrown at him, waking him up from his fantasy. But he was foolish to fall for it in the first place.

He tried looking for her, for the sake of Jeongin, but also because he wanted answers. When everyone Jisung thought he could go to just turned him away, it hit him that he would need to pull himself together and do this all on his own. He accepted that he would never get answers.

“I'm sorry, for you both,” Minho says, almost in a whisper. He looks into Jisung's eyes like he can read every emotion he’s feeling perfectly.

Jisung shakes himself out of his thoughts and breaks eye contact, “It's okay, I’m a grown up, I can handle it…” He looks over at his son, “it’s Jeongin I worry about, though. I know he can be shy, I know he doesn’t have many friends. I understand it can be hard, but I just want him to be strong, you know? I want him to be able to face the world for what it is,” He shrugs, “That's why I don't really encourage all the fairytale stuff. I don't want to set him up to believe in the whole ‘dreams come true’ nonsense.”

What he means to say is that he never wants Jeongin to feel as hopeless and alone as he once did.

“But dreams do come true, wonderful things happen all the time,” Minho nods.

Of course he would say that. Jisung blinks, “Yeah, well, I forgot who I was talking to.” He runs a palm across his face.

“Well, I like talking to you, I hope you don't forget-”

“A free drink for the beautiful man!” a woman’s voice interrupts breaking their bubble and placing a very bright red colored drink in front of Minho.

Jisung raises an eyebrow, turning to look up at the woman, he does a quick double take wondering where he’s seen this woman previously before looking back down at the drink, “It’s free? Again? What’s with people giving you free stuff?”

Minho doesn’t hear his question, he looks in awe at the drink, “Wow, what is it?”

Haru is wearing a mask over her face again, but her eyes form crescents indicating she’s smiling as she says, “It’s an apple martini!”

Minho leans in close to breathe it in, “Woah, it smells really good!” He lifts the glass up to his mouth level getting ready to take a sip.

“Ah be careful, could be poisonous,” Jisung remarks playfully, quirking an eyebrow.

Haru and Minho suddenly go very serious. Minho sets the drink back down and gives him a look that shows he didn’t pick up on the joke. Haru internally panics, wondering how he knew. Jisung gives them a small smile to ease the tension.

“Oh, you’re joking!” Minho laughs, Haru feels relief, awkwardly following along and laughing, too.

“Yeah, but seriously I'd be careful,” Jisung teases again, eyeing the very bright drink.

Jisung is very much aware that Minho is handsome, he’s noticed the way everyone's eyes draw to him instantly. He didn’t realize the attention would bring so many free things.

Minho gives him a look and then once again brings the glass closer to him, “I’ll just have a small sip.”

Haru leans in to watch as the edge of the glass gets closer to Minho's mouth.

He's just about to take a sip when a loud thump on the table causes the utensils to clatter to the ground and startles Minho, sending the drink flying out of his hands.

Minho gasps as he watches the glass break into pieces and the liquid that was once in it burns into the carpet of the floor, “Oh my-“

“A cat!” He hears Jeongin shout, who has made his way over to Jisung.

Minho turns back to the table and sees a small gray cat hissing at the woman who served him the drink. His eyes widen when he realizes exactly who the cat is, “Binnie!”

Jeongin gets closer, excited to see the fluffy gray cat.

“Hey, that’s a stray cat! What if it bites you? It could have rabies or something,” Jisung says, he picks Jeongin up into his arms and pulls him away from the feral cat.

Binnie lowers his guard and cries as Minho picks him up into his arms.

Minho scoffs, “What? No! Binnie would never bite me and he doesn’t have rabies!” He cuddles Binnie against his cheek, the cat instantly nudges his own head to Minho.

“It could scratch him!” A random person in the restaurant shouts, “Get that cat out of here!”

“No! Wait- He wants to tell me something!” Minho shouts as Binnie continues to meow. He holds the cat out and listens as Binnie meows in the tune of Minho and Chan's song. Minho gasps and he smiles widely as he instantly recognizes it, “Chan is here?”

Binnie meows happily, Finally! Someone who understands!

Haru groans, she quickly runs to the counter where the bartender is and grabs a broom, “Don't worry I’ll get rid of that thing!” Binnie's eyes widen when he sees her coming at him, he flails out of Minho's arms and jumps under the table.

Haru thrusts the broom under the table, the remainder of the glasses on top falling down as the table shakes while she tries to get Binnie out.

“Minho, watch out!” Jisung yells, grabbing onto Minho's wrist to pull him back when Haru swings the broom around.

People around them yell as Binnie runs out from under the table and jumps up from one table to the next. Glass and utensils clatter everywhere.

Haru continues to chase after him, another waiter in the restaurant opens the double doors that lead outside. Just as she's about to slam the broom down onto Binnie, he speeds up and runs right out of the door, the broom only managing to whack down on the end of his tail.

Binnie cries out in pain, but continues running.

“Nice job, man I hate cats,” the other employee says, slamming the doors closed.

Haru thrusts the broom into his arms and struts back over to where Minho was sitting. She sees the spilt drink all over the ground, the poison in the apple having burnt a patch of the carpet.

She rolls her eyes, she worked so hard on that drink after sneaking in behind the restaurant's bar. Now she's only got one apple left. One more chance to impress her Queen.

Haru looks over to where Minho is, already beginning to think of her next plan.

“Hey! Don’t just stand there, help clean this mess up,” Someone in a uniform says shoving another broom and dustpan into her hands.

“Oh, Binnie…” Minho says, shaken up from the chaos that had erupted.

Jisung puts his arm around Minho, “What's wrong, are you okay?”

Minho shakes his head, feeling tears come, what if Binnie is seriously hurt? How will he ever find him again?

Jisung frowns at how both Jeongin and Minho look so visibly upset. He concludes it's time to go home. Thankfully their apartment building is just across the street.

When they walk out of the restaurant there's a news truck, the newscaster rushes over to catch up with them and ask them questions.

👑

“Tell me magic mirror, what is this awful place?” Chan says, still hooked onto the television. He’s moved to laying down on his stomach, feet kicking up in the air. “Why is everything so hard here? Am I ever going to find my love’s duet?” He hits another button on the remote, hoping the next image will give him the answers he seeks.

“After a thorough check nobody else in the restaurant seemed to have been injured by the feral cat, however it did manage to run away so this is everyone's warning to keep an eye out,” A man dressed in blue and wearing a gold badge says.

Chan listens intently, his head resting on his palm.

“Thank you, officer. Now joining us is the man who was actually attacked by this cat-” A woman holding a microphone says, the image pans out and in walks the person Chan has been searching far and wide for.

He gasps, springing up onto his knees, “Minho!”

“Tell us, how does it feel knowing this dangerous animal is still out there?” The woman asks, pointing the microphone in Minho's direction.

“Wonderful! Binnie is one of my very best friends-” Minho talks into the mic, he's mid-sentence when another man holding a young child comes over.

“Minho, let's go home,” He says, grabbing onto Minho's hand and pulling him away from the woman. They walk to a building across the street.

“Oh, if I could ask just one more question-”

Chan’s smile fades as he watches Minho be taken away, he gets up onto the bed and pulls his sword out of its holster, “What type of villainy is this?!” He shouts, pointing the sword down at the television.

Once Minho is out of frame, Chan gets off the bed and kneels in front of the box, hands coming up on either side, “Magic Mirror! I am begging, tell me where my Minho is!”

“Reporting from 116th and Broadway-”

“116th and Broadway! Oh, thank you Magic Mirror!” Chan praises, he gets up quickly, almost slipping as he rushes to put his boots back on. He makes sure to put his sword back into its holster before hurrying over to the door.

He opens it, but is stopped in his tracks when he sees a small black shadow making its way to the door. The shadow meows.

Chan sighs, “Binnie, you’re back! Are you okay? That was a long time to use the bathroom!”

Binnie approaches him and begins to meow again.

“No, there’s no time! I know where Minho is, I must hurry!” Chan runs off, leaving Binnie who rolls his eyes at the prince's foolery before turning to walk into the room and devise his next plan to stop Haru.

🎀⭐

“We sure had quite an adventure today, were you scared earlier?” Minho asks, sitting on the side of Jeongin's bed where he’s tucked in and ready to sleep.

Jeongin sits up, “a little bit, but do you think Binnie will be okay?” There's a worried look in his eye, he clutches his stuffed dragon in his arms.

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about Binnie, he is a very brave cat- strong, too!” Minho reassures.

Jisung stands in the doorway, smiling softly. He listens as Minho tells a story about how Binnie taught the other cats exercises to be able to outrun the Big Bad Wolf. Jisung wonders how he can easily come up with these extravagant stories.

“The cats encountered the wolf on their way to visit Little Red Riding Hood one time and oh I don't know how they would have escaped if Binnie hadn’t taught them or been there to lead them away,” Minho shakes his head.

Jeongin giggles, “I don't remember there being cats in that story.”

“Well, Red doesn’t tell everyone about everything I guess,” Minho says.

Jeongin hums, “okay, good night, Minho. Thank you for the nice story.” Before he lays back down, he scooches closer to Minho and gives him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

Minho gasps, he smiles and smoothes out Jeongin's blanket as he lays down, “Good night, Joenginnie.” He gives him a gentle pat on the head.

Minho gets up and makes eye contact with Jisung who’s still by the door way. They exchange smiles as Minho walks over and hits the lightswitch before stepping out into the hallway and closing the door carefully.

Jisung ends up letting Minho borrow some pajamas. He goes into his own bathroom to shower while Minho gets settled for the night. When he comes back out he finds Minho sitting on the couch, pajamas now on and a blanket wrapped around him as he cradles an open book. There are a few other books from the shelf in the corner of the living room stacked on the coffee table in front of him.

“Hey, Minho,” Jisung says, approaching the couch and catching Minho’s attention from the book. Jisung recognizes it as the book he had gifted Jeongin.

“Hi,” Minho smiles looking up at Jisung.

“Look, uh, that was a really nice story about your cat friend and all,” Jisung smiles, he means it, even if it was too fairytale-like for him. Jisung never quite knows how to tell the right stories for Jeongin, it was nice to see him so interested.

Minho hums in acknowledgment before going back to reading the book.

Jisung has been thinking to himself about how Minho’s prince or whoever he is, is yet to show up. It’s only been two days, but Minho has been so adamant about him coming.

He clears his throat, “You know- I know what it's like when someone disappoints you,” Minho looks up at him once again, “It can be tempting to see things the way you wish instead of how they really are.”

That can be the only explanation for why this guy hasn’t shown up yet. Just because Minho is hoping he comes doesn’t mean he actually will. People break promises and don’t keep their word.

Minho blinks, his heart sinks when he realizes what Jisung is implying, “I don't wish that he’s coming, Jisung. I know he is,” he insists.

Jisung raises his eyebrows, he smiles, amused, “Right, because the cat told you so.”

Minho nods, “Yes, Binnie actually said-”

Jisung sighs loudly, “Okay, I can’t tell if you’re kidding or being ironic or what- because cats don’t talk.” He steps closer towards Minho.

Minho closes his book, “Not here they dont,” he mumbles.

Jisung adjusts his navy blue robe around himself taking another step, now standing right infront of Minho, “Well, in lieu of taking advice from wild animals, I just wanted to tell you that, um, if it doesn’t work out with your prince and you decide to stay in New York then, uh, I’d be happy to help you.”

Jisung just wants the best for Minho. At first he really found all of this to be a burden, it messed up his routine, cost him money, almost caused a fight between him and Felix. He should just take Minho's word for it and be happy to get him out of his hair.

Yet in the short time he’s known him, Jisung has noticed how much light Minho has brought into his life. With his wild stories about talking animals, his singing (although Jisung would never say how entertaining that is outloud), and especially his way of getting Jeongin out of his shell. Jisung can’t ignore that Minho has become a good friend. That's the only reason why he's offered his help.

Minho nods, “That's very kind of you, Jisung,” He sits up, “But Chan is coming for me.”

Jisung can’t encourage this and watch Minho get let down, “But what if he doesn’t?”

Minho slams the book on the couch next to him, “Why do you keep saying that!” He’s clearly frustrated now.

“Because I deal with this everyday, relationships that don’t work out from the beginning never end up getting any better,” Jisung explains, sitting on the coffee table.

Minho ignores him, instead getting up in Jisung's face when he says, “He is coming.”

Jisung shakes his head, “Minho, I don’t think he is, no,” his tone is calm and collected. Jisung knows the truth hurts, but it’s necessary.

Minho feels a strange feeling simmer in his chest, “Yes!” he shouts.

He is so sick and tired of Jisung demeaning everything. Speaking to him like he’s a child. Like everything Minho tells him is some joke.

Jisung shrugs his shoulders, “I disagree. No.”

“No?”

“No.”

Minho gets up, he towers over Jisung, “Is that the only word that you know? No?”

Jisung leans back, “No!” he responds, “I mean- no as in-”

“Aha! Yeah, see!” Minho points his finger in Jisung's face.

Jisung gets up to avoid the close proximity, Minho follows him. He only has an inch or two over Jisung, but he all of a sudden seems so much taller as he continues to shout.

“No, no, no, over and over again! Every word out of your mouth is no!” Minho begins to pace around the living room, the pressure in his chest builds, like a boiling kettle on the edge of whistling, “Ah! It makes me so- Sometimes you make me so-”

Jisung didn’t know he could get this upset, he must have really set Minho off, “I make you so what?” Jisung says, grabbing a hold of Minho’s hand to steady him, he’s warm to the touch.

Minho shoves his hand away, choosing instead to ball them up in fists at his sides “You make so- so-” His emotions bubble up and burst out of him, “Angry!” He shouts.

They stare at each other for a second, Minho's hand coming up to cover his mouth shocked with the tone of his own voice.

He's never felt this way before. Happy, scared, sad, he’s felt all those emotions at some point in the last few days. Mostly happy, he’s had so much to be happy about. But anger is different. He’s never had a reason to be angry.

Nobody has ever made him feel this way. His heart is racing, hands slightly shaking. It’s so new and it strangely feels good .

Suddenly Minho bursts into a maniacal laugh, “I’m angry!” He announces as if he’s celebrating great news.

Jisung opens his mouth to say something, but closes it when Minho grows serious again.

“I’m angry!” He shouts, fist hitting Jisung in the chest lightly.

Jisung flinches, he’s unsure whether he should be concerned or scared right now, “Are you alright?”

Minho stops laughing. His breath slows.

“I’m-“ Minho is… relieved.

It can be a lot to constantly feel the need to put up a happy face when sometimes things just aren't going well. It feels good to feel something other than cheerful and giddy. It feels good to not have to pretend like everything is perfectly fine. It’s relieving. To know that Minho can feel this way.

“I’m fine,” he says, his hand instinctively comes up and lands on Jisung’s chest where his robe has fallen open slightly, “I’m perfectly fine.”

His finger twitches where it makes contact with Jisung’s warm, honey-toned skin. Minho looks up, not realizing exactly how close Jisung’s face is to his. This close he can see the beauty mark on his cheek and the shadow of stubble above his lip, every little detail that makes Jisung so perfect.

Jisung holds his breath, his eyes roaming over Minho's face. From his long lashes, the light blush painting his cheeks, down to the beauty mark on the side of his nose, and finally settling on his lips. He notices how Minho's upper lip is much plumper than the bottom, his bunny teeth peak out ever so slightly.

Jisung isn’t sure who begins to lean in first, but as soon as he realizes the distance between them keeps getting smaller and smaller, he turns his face away, blinking himself back to reality.

He steps back, “It’s getting late,” Jisung goes back into the hallway, stopping to give Minho one last glance and wish him a goodnight, before he speed walks to his room and shuts the door.

Minho is left standing in the middle of the living room, mouth agape.

His knees feel weak, he sits back down, staring at the spot Jisung had been standing in, willing his heart to beat at a normal pace.

It dawns on Minho that it’s Jisung who has made him feel all these new emotions.

Jisung, who saved him from the cold and darkness of the night. Jisung, who opened up his home to Minho when he had nowhere else to go. Who taught him about how complex and complicated the real world is. Taught him how complex and complicated love can be. But he’s shown Minho how beautiful it can be, too. Reality and love.

“Oh my…” Minho whispers into the air.

👑

Prince Chan pants as he makes it to 116th and Broadway. To his right there's a restaurant, the neon red and green pizza sign in the front of the window blinking brightly. He turns to his left and recognizes the giant building that he saw that man drag Minho into on the television.

“I found it!” He says, running to the building. He presses his back up against a pillar right in front of the door. There's a man, most likely keeping guard, standing near the entrance to the building. Chan can’t risk being caught, not when he's so close to saving his Minho.

He waits a second until he sees a woman walking by with a dog. Chan watches as the dog begins to do its business on another pillar further to the left. He hears the man shout and peaks behind the pillar he's hiding from to see the man now going over to the woman and scolding her. Chan takes this opportunity to run into the revolving door, it spins and when he steps back out he's once again outside the building. He tries again, going into the revolving door and calculating his stop. As soon as the door opens to the inside of the building he quickly steps out.

“Haha! I made it!”

Chan climbs up a flight of stairs, and walks through the hallway that leads him to a door.

He takes it upon himself to knock loudly, “This has got to be where Minho is!”

He hears footsteps on the other side and begins to collect himself, a big smile ready for when he comes face to face with his love. Except when the door opens he’s met with a woman and four children.

“Can I help you?” She asks, annoyance clear in her voice.

“No, my apologies,” Chan frowns as the door gets closed in his face.

He sighs, moving to the next door, he knocks again but this time is scared off by the sound of several barking dogs. There's no luck with the next door either, just an old man. And on the next one there's a hissing cat whose paw reaches under the door, sharp claws out on full display.

After quite a few doors and no Minho, Chan takes a break, sitting on the floor in the hallway.

“Minho has to be through one of these doors, I will stay up all night knocking on each one till I find him!” Chan says once a few minutes pass to no one in particular. He gets up quickly and is already moving onto the next door.

🎀⭐👑

In the morning, Jisung wakes up rather late. Later than he usually does. Thankfully he doesn’t need to be in the office till noon.

He just couldn’t sleep, not with so many thoughts racing through his head, so many feelings coursing through his body.

After his conversation with Minho he went into his room and sat on the edge of his bed just thinking. He could still feel the warmth of Minho being so close to him and the ghost of Minho's fingertips on his chest.

Jisung was taken aback with how badly he wished he could have taken Minho's hand into his own and closed that gap.

They were just tired thoughts is what he tells himself.

He gets up and puts on a simple white t-shirt and his navy blue robe. Walking out of his room he looks straight into Jeongin's room to see his bed is made, but his beige silky curtains are thrown on the floor, patches cut out to form another blouse.

Jisung shakes his head but he can’t shake the small smile that spreads across his face.

He follows the scent of pancakes and coffee into the kitchen where Jeongin, all dressed up in his school uniform, is seated at the table, “Good Morning.”

Minho walks out with a few mugs as Jeongin greets Jisung, “Good Morning” He says softly, almost sounding shy.

Jisung smiles, “You made breakfast?”

The table is nicely set up with place mats, plates, and mugs. In the center there's the plate full of pancakes and sliced up strawberries on the side. It’s a much fancier breakfast than what Jisung and Jeongin are used to having.

Minho blinks, “Um, yeah, well Innie and I did, he showed me how to make the pancakes and use the coffee machine and we did it together, right?”

Jeongin hums, “Yes! Minho is a very fast learner, dad, he made the pancakes perfect and fluffy!” He stuffs another slice in his mouth.

Jisung laughs, “I’m glad.”

Silence falls over them save from Jisung clanking his spoon around in his mug trying to dissolve the sugar he just added to his coffee.

Minho pulls his chair out and takes a seat. There’s a knock on the door, most likely the front desk alerting them of some mail waiting for Jisung. That’s the only reason they ever get someone at their door this early.

“I’ll get it!” Jeongin says, running out of his seat.

“Thank you!” Jisung calls out after him, he turns to Minho noticing his blouse, “That’s a nice shirt,” he says to break the silence between them.

Minho smiles, a blush creeping up his ears, “Thank you.”

Jisung smiles back, stomach fluttering. He begins to dig into his own pancakes. They’re warm and as fluffy as Jeongin said they would be. Jisung is filled with a cozy feeling as soon as he takes a bite. He wishes every morning could be this sweet.

“It is I, Prince Chan of Andalasia and I've come to rescue my lovely groom, the fair Minho!” A loud voice echoes from the living room, breaking the comfortable, quiet bubble.

Minho's smile fades and his eyes widen, Jisung's hand stops mid air from where he was about to take another bite of his food.

“Oh my- He’s here?” Minho panics, getting up and taking a peek out into the living room, he catches a glimpse of the prince's red suit.

“Apparently,” Jisung frowns, also getting up to see the commotion.

Minho's thoughts have been so occupied with other things, it hadn’t crossed his mind at all that Chan could show up even though the day before it was all he was looking forward to. His stomach twists, nerves heightening.

He fixes his hair a little and smoothes out his shirt, “Um, how do I look?” He turns to Jisung.

Jisung stops in front of him, eyeing him, “Uh, slightly stunned?”

Minho gives him an unimpressed look, “No. I mean how do I look?” He motions to his face.

“You look…” Jisung examines him up and down. Minho's shirt is loose yet it hugs around his waist nicely where it's tucked into his pants. There's a ribbon curled around his neck, the end pieces flow down his chest. It fits him perfectly. His auburn hair is styled neatly, his bangs frame his face in a way that makes him look just, “Beautiful.”

Minho smiles, genuine and pleased, his shoulders instantly relax a little. He's about to say his thank you when a gasp from behind them pulls him out of their conversation.

“Minho!” Prince Chan shouts, his arms flying open for Minho to run into.

“Chan!” Minho runs to him and wraps his arms around Chan's shoulders. He yelps when Chan lifts him up into the air and spins him around.

Jisung rolls his eyes, “Okay, okay! Can we be careful please?”

Chan spins Minho around one more time before setting him down gently. He notices Jisung approaching and the prince remembers that this was the guy who had been dragging Minho away.

“You!” Chan's demeanor turns serious.

“What?” Jisung asks, cautious.

Chan pulls his sword out from the holster pointing it directly at Jisung, “You are the one who has held my Minho captive!”

Minho gasps, “No!”

Jisung puts his hands up in surrender climbing over the coffee table to get away, “Woah! Okay, uh, let’s stay calm now!”

Chan directs his sword back at Jisung, “any last words before I dispatch you?”

Jisung furrows his eyebrows at the choice of words, “You’re joking right?”

Chan shrugs, “Strange last words.” He brings his sword back and swings it forward but is stopped by Minho getting in front of Jisung just as Jisung’s arms come up to shield himself.

“No! Chan, these are my friends!” Minho says, Jeongin running over to them. Jisung puts his arms over Jeongin protectively.

Chan brings his sword down, “Oh! Well why didn’t you say so!” He puts the weapon back into its holster and listens as Minho introduces them.

“This is Jisung,” He motions to the man, “And this is Jeongin,” The child gives a toothy dimpled smile, “And this is Prince Chan,” Minho finishes.

Chan takes his introduction as his cue to break out into song, “I’ve been dreaming of a true love's kiss! And my mister I’ve begun to miss!”

Jisung nods, “Oh he sings, too.”Great.

Minho gives him an apologetic smile. This must be so much for them so early.

Chan twirls his way over and grabs a hold of Minho's hands, “pure and sweet waiting to complete my love song!”

Jeongin can’t help but giggle, finding every second of the prince's routine entertaining.

“Somewhere there’s a man I’ve never met,” Chan sings , “Who was made…” He looks deeply into Minho's eyes, giving him a signal Minho doesn’t quite catch.

“What?” Minho asks when Chan doesn’t continue.

“You aren’t singing…” He frowns.

Minho's eyes widened in realization, “Oh, I’m not.”

It hadn’t even occurred to him that he could join Chan's duet. He doesn’t even remember his line.

“I’m sorry, I was just… thinking.” Minho explains.

“Thinking?” Chan asks, the word foreign on his tongue.

Minho nods, “Before we leave there’s something I’d really like to do with you.”

Chan smiles sweetly, he gets down on one knee in front of Minho, “Name it, my love, and it is done.”

“I want to go on a date,” Minho tells Chan confidently. He had been thinking about it a lot ever since Jisung told him what a date was. Minho wants to have this experience. He wants to be able to get to know someone on a deeper level, learn about their quirks and passions, what gives them the twinkle in their eye or what makes them feel blue.

“Ah! A date!” Chan exclaims, he sounds excited until he realizes it’s once again a word he’s never heard, “What’s a date?”

Minho glances over to Jisung for some reassurance, he receives it in the form of a small nod and an encouraging smile.

“Well, on a date we go out to dinner or just somewhere nice and we talk about ourselves! Our likes and dislikes, the things we’re interested in,” Minho explains. He hopes the prince understands.

Chan immediately agreed upon learning he would get to spend all this time with Minho.

After everyone cleaned up from breakfast and Jisung got dressed for work they made their way outside the apartment building.

Chan checks his reflection on the polished silver of his sword as he waits for Minho to finish his goodbyes.

“Please remember that you guys can come visit me in Andalasia anytime you want,” Minho insists, his hand resting on Jeongin's shoulder giving him a comforting squeeze.

Jisung nods, “And if you’re ever back in New York we should, um, all get together for dinner.” He sighs, noticing the way Minho’s eyes are glossy. Jisung nudges Minho’s arm playfully, catching his gaze and smiling to lift the mood, “Hey, we’ll see eachother again. It's not like we’re talking, you know, forever.” He shrugs.

Minho gives him a feeble smile, “Right.”

There’s a beat of melancholy silence, a bit awkward. They both know it's time to part ways, but there's an energy keeping them right in front of each other. Jisung feels it in his heart, a type of magnetic pull that won’t let up, making it difficult to want to walk away.

He spares a glance behind Minho and makes eye contact with the prince who sends him a gummy smile and a nod. It’s enough to break the tension and remind Jisung of his place. He clears his throat, “Um, good luck on your date.”

His words bring Minho's attention back, too, “Oh, yeah, and you with Felix.” Minho looks down at Jeongin. He’s been visibly upset this whole time, his head hanging low as he leans against Jisung's side, “And you. I had so much fun spending time with you,” Minho crouches down to Jeongin's level, ruffling his hair gently and pulling him into a hug, ‘I’ll never forget you.”

Jeongin doesn’t say anything, just squeezes Minho as tightly as his small arms can. It pulls at Minho’s heart strings. He lets go when he feels a tap on his shoulder, the prince alerting him it’s time to go.

Chan sends Jisung and Jeongin another smile, “Thank you for taking such good care of my groom, peasants.” He holds his arm out for Minho to link his own on.

Minho does so, he spares one last look as the pair begin to walk away.

Jeongin lets his tears fall, “I’m really gonna miss him.” He tucks his face into Jisung's side.

Sighing, Jisung wraps his arm around his son's back, “Me, too, love.”

The pull on Jisung's heart doesn’t go away the further Minho goes, in fact he feels it more strongly, the need to run after him and say all the things he’s been harboring, lay his heart out and not look back. He’s unsure how it's possible for him to feel this way for someone he’s just met only a few days ago. But the feeling won’t let it up, he fears if he doesn’t let go now then it never will.

👑

Binnie’s back had been hurting pretty bad from getting whacked in the tail, so he gave himself the night off to rest and took a long nap. Now that he’s well rested it feels much better. He’s ready to continue his plan to stop Haru.

He gets up from where he had been laying under the bed and walks over to the bowls of food and water the Prince had set out for him. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he started eating. He’s on his last bite of turkey ham when his water bowl starts to bubble, then there's a poof of purple smoke.

“Binnie! Are you there?” His tail perks up as he recognizes Jinnie's voice. Looking into the water bowl he sees his two best friends' faces.

“Guys!” He exclaims.

“We’ve been trying to get access to the crystal ball to check up on you, but this is the first the Queen has left her chambers, how are you doing?” Minnie says.

Binnie explains to the other cats how he managed to see Minho and tell him that the Prince was here. They asked how Minho was and Binnie was happy to tell them that he seemed to be doing good. When he explained the attempts of stopping Haru with the apples they scowled and agreed to hunt her down as soon as she got back to Andalasia. It made Binnie’s heart jump knowing how much his friends cared about him.

“I hope you’re able to come back soon with our Minho, it's been getting hard to deal with Jinnie, mister drama queen over here,” Minnie rolls his eyes to which Jinnie sticks his tongue out at him.

“I’m the drama queen? Binnie, you have to get back and help me deal with this menace,” Jinnie retorts.

Binnie laughs, “I know you guys miss me, I'll be home as soon as I can!”

Binnie sees the other cats start to scramble at the noise of footsteps.

“Uh oh, we gotta go! See you soon, love you!” Jinnie says quickly.

Before Binnie can say goodbye the image of his friends fades away in the water. He hopes they make it out of the Queen's chambers safely, he can’t wait to be reunited.

A few minutes later, Binnie is in the middle of scratching up the door in an attempt to get it open when the doorknob starts to rattle. He picks up Haru's scent and quickly goes to hide under the bed once again. If she catches him here she’ll surely trap him again.

“What do you mean you only have one apple left!” The Queen shouts, her reflection visible in the water of Haru’s drink.

“Your majesty I-”

“I sent you there to stop them from finding each other, can’t you get that straight!” Haru's heart rate spikes at the way the Queen is yelling. She thought she could explain the situation calmly, but she hadn’t realized the prince had been successful in finding Minho. It caught her off guard when the Queen had revealed she saw them through her crystal ball.

“I can still find a way to get Minho the last apple, just give me a bit more time-“

“I’ve given you enough time! You wasted two apples, what do you think poison apples grow on trees?” The Queen says, tone full of vile. “I’m going over there and doing the job myself!”

With that her face disappears in the water. Haru groans as she sits down on the bed, it's bad enough to get scolded from a distance, but now she's gonna have to hear it in person, too?

Her eyes widen when she remembers the Queen will probably come out from the sewage drain and is likely expecting Haru to meet her there. She’ll be in even more trouble if she doesn’t show up.

Haru quickly gathers her stuff and makes way to the door. Just when she has her hand on the knob she hears a small sneeze come from under the bed followed by a tiny meow, she stops in her tracks, slowly turning around and bending to look under the bed.

Uh oh, Binnie thinks when he makes eye contact with Haru.

⭐️

Jisung tries to hold his smile as he listens intently to his client and her husband. Her husband, who she was fighting with and on the precipice of filing for divorce with just a few days ago, is now holding her hand and gazing into her eyes.

“You see, I just couldn’t get that guy's words out of my head, I kept thinking about how he was right. Phoebe's eyes really do sparkle,” The husband says, giving Phoebe's hand a squeeze. Jisung glances down at their hands, a wedding band on each of their left ring fingers sparkles.

“It was one of the first things I noticed when I first met her,” The husband continues. Phoebe giggles, a wide smile on her face.

Jisung hums, lifting his head from where it was perched up on his palm. He can’t believe what he’s hearing.

The couple share a kiss, not once, but three times. Just a few small pecks. But it’s a huge contrast to the way they had been shouting at each other two days ago.

“Okay, listen Phoebe,” Jisung tries to pull his clients attention, but her eyes never once leave her husbands. “As your attorney, i should advise you that letting this chance encounter-“

“What if it wasn’t chance? What if us meeting that guy was a sign?” Phoebe says.

Jisung sighs, “You guys had serious problems-“

“Oh, everybody has problems, bad times, bumps in the road. Should we really sacrifice all those good and memorable times over it?” Phoebe looks back at her husband.

“No.” They say at the same time before diving back into each other for another kiss.

Jisung should really be upset to have to drop a case as big as this one. Yet he feels a fondness bloom in his heart to see how the couple was able to get back their true love. Minho really has a way of bringing light everywhere he goes and bringing people together. Jisung smiles, remembering exactly how Minho brought light into his own life. He wonders what he must be up to right now.

🎀

Minho and the Prince had gone on a walk around Central Park for their date. They saw the ducks, watched a few street dancers, enjoyed the slight breeze, got some food from the vendors. The Prince also found a fun green hat in the shape of a crown.

Even though they didn’t really talk- except for a few small comments here and there- or get to know each other as much as Minho wished, it was still nice. A bit awkward at times, but Minho enjoys Chan's company.

“So, how did you like your hot dog?” Minho asks as Chan takes his last bite.

He stops mid chewing and his eyes widen. It clicks to Minho that he just had a big misunderstanding.

“Oh! It’s not actually a dog! They just call it that,” He laughs, Chan relaxes and continues to chew.

“It was quite excellent, I never knew food could taste this way,” Chan nods, savoring the last few bights.

Minho laughs a little, “Right!”

They fall silent as they walk across a rather long and big bridge, Minho can’t really figure out why he's had such a hard time talking and making conversation.

Chan speaks up again when they’re about halfway across, “Well! This has been a splendid date. Shall we go?”

Minho frowns, “Uh, go where?”

“Back to Andalasia of course! We have a wedding to hold,” Chan smiles, dimples on full display.

Just a day ago Minho wanted nothing more than for the Prince to show up and take him back. Now the idea of leaving causes a sunken feeling in Minho's heart. It doesn’t feel right.

“Oh… we don’t have to go back right away!” Minho rushes out, turning and continuing the walk.

“Well, how long do these dates usually last?” Chan asks, catching up to Minho.

Minho doesn’t really remember if Jisung had mentioned that part to him before. He comes up with an answer on the spot, “They can last however long you want! As long as we keep finding things to do they can go on and on and on!”

The prince nods seeming to understand, “Okay, what else would you like to do then?”

Minho thinks, “Um, Jisung told me about this museum the other day, or he said the theater is fun,” He smiles, remembering how Jisung told him how those would have been better tickets than tickets to a ball (Minho believes he was just trying to get himself out of it). Wait, That's it! “Or there’s this ball?”

Chan perks up at that, “A ball!”

Minho turns to him, “Yes! With dancing and music, you like those things!” He looks at Chan, trying to find any sign that he would be willing to go.

Chan nods, “I suppose I do-“

“Wonderful! Let’s go!” Minho grabs his hand and begins to walk them quickly across the bridge.

“Wait, Minho,” Chan stops them, “And then we can go home to Andalasia?”

Minho hesitates, he knows there’s only one right answer, “Yes, of course.”

Once Minho and Chan got their own tickets to the ball back at the park, Minho needed to find the perfect suit. There was only one person he knew he could turn to to show him the way around.

He knocks on the door to Jeongin's bedroom before opening it and stepping inside. Jeongin is standing at his mirror wearing fairy wings and twirling around a toy wand. His eyes widen when he sees who has walked into his room.

“Minho! Minho! You’re back!” He shouts excitedly, running over and wrapping his arms tightly around Minho.

“Jeongin! Oh, I’ve missed you so much! Your wings look lovely,” Minho squeezes him, “I need your help! I’m going to the ball and I’m not sure what to wear. I mean where am I going to find a fairy godmother on such short notice?” Minho says, frantic.

Jeongin's eyes light up, “I know something better than a fairy godmother!”

They walk into Jisung's room and Jeongin goes straight to a specific drawer on the nightstand. He digs his small hand around the socks and underwear until he comes back up with what looks like a gold card.

“Dads credit card,” Jeongin smirks, sly like a fox. His dimples pop out adorably, it makes Minho want to coo at him, “He says it’s only for emergencies, I think this is definitely an emergency.”

Minho grins, pulling him into a victory hug.

The rest of the day consisted of Jeongin and Minho walking to a plaza with many different boutiques and jewelry stores. They tested out several perfumes in one shop, Jeongin suggesting one that had a soft vanilla scent, it smelled beautiful so they purchased it and tried it on immediately after. The next shop was for shoes and Jeongin helped Minho pick out the perfect black dress shoes. They had a small heel that made Minho feel a bit taller. They went to three more boutiques in which Minho tried on a couple blouses and dress pants, Jeongin once again helping him pick the ones that made him look “like a pretty prince.”

After the boutiques Jeongin told him about the hair salon his dad takes him to when he needs a trim. Minho got his hair styled and is now waiting for his makeup to be done. He listens intently as Jeongin gives him advice for the ball.

“And you never wanna give the guys the wrong idea, they say they’re only after one thing,” Jeongin says, a serious look on his face.

“What are they after?” Minho asks, curious.

Jeongin thinks for a second before shrugging, “I don't know, I’ve only heard that be said in dramas.”

Minho hums, he’ll have to find out another day.

Jeongin closes the magazine he had picked up, “So, is this what it's like?” He asks.

Minho gives him a confused look, “What, honey?”

“Having another dad? Getting to go shopping together and gossiping about things?”

Minho raises his eyebrows, “Oh, I've never been shopping with my parents so I don't know…” He notices a frown begin to form on Jeongin's face, “But if this is how it is, then I like it.” He smiles, patting Jeongin’s fluffy hair.

Jeongin's smile comes back, Minho feels a warmth in his heart, “Me, too.”

“If you think about it, soon you will have another dad!” Minho reminds him, remembering Jisung's plan to propose to Felix. A strange feeling comes over him at the idea, but he pushes it away.

Jeongin frowns again, “You mean I’d have a step-dad. Step-dads are always the bad guys in fairy tales.”

Minho has heard that before, his friend Snow back in Andalasia had quite a wicked stepmother, but it's not true for all step-parents, “That’s not always the case, I’ve met some very kind step-moms and dads!”

Jeongin doesn’t seem phased by this.

“Oh! Chan has a stepmother, I’ve never met her, but I hear she's lovely!”

👑

The ground rumbles as a puff of green smoke leaks from the sewage hole before bursting open. The smoke spreads and green lightning strikes all around as the Queen appears from out of the hole.

People in the road scream and run away from the lightning strikes. The Queen smirks, basking in happiness at people's fear. She makes her way over to where she saw Haru in the crystal ball.

“I don't know Binnie, I feel like I treat her so well, but lately it’s like there's a whole other side of her where nothing is ever enough and all she cares about is herself,” Haru sighs, she's sitting on a bench with Binnie next to her wrapped in a bundle.

Binnie groans, he's been hearing about this for the last half hour. On one hand, it's interesting to learn that this woman indeed has a heart. How she fell for the Queen is beyond him, but on the other side Binnie refuses to feel pity for the person who has purposely been trying to hurt Minho.

“I’m starting to think she's not the woman I believed her to be.”

Haru doesn’t get to finish her thoughts as the person she was just thinking about pops out right in front of her. Her thick black heels clacking on the pavement. The Queen's pointed finger lands right under Haru's chin, lifting so that Haru looks directly at her.

She smiles, an evil, mocking smile, “Hello worthless, did you miss me?”

The Queen uses her powers on a water fountain in the middle of a park to open up the crystal ball. The reflection shows a tall building before fading and showing the image of Minho hand in hand with Prince Chan, in the background there is a sign with the name of the Ball.

“Ah-ha!” The Queen laughs maniacally.

⭐🎀👑

The ballroom music blasts and everyone cheers as they lift their partners in the air, spinning once, before bringing them back down and continuing the dance.

Jisung laughs when Felix stumbles, his arm coming up to stabilize him. As much as Jisung protested coming to this thing, he finds himself actually enjoying it. The navy blue victorian style suit he's wearing is a little tight and itchy, but he does think he’s pulling it off.

Felix looks handsome, too in his suit. It’s much more stylish and decorated than Jisung’s. His long golden hair is styled with braids and fake pink flowers. Felix really went all out. Jisung only picked out the suit he thought he looked the least ridiculous in and styled his hair the way he usually does for work.

The music is nearing the end. Jisung pulls Felix in by the arms and then extends them out again, walking in a circle before letting go and bowing down with his arms folded across his stomach. He lifts his head, prepared to ask Felix if he wants to go get a drink, but his mind goes completely blank and words become nonexistent when his eyes land on the person at the top of the stairs.

Minho allows Prince Chan to take his dark purple coat from him. As Chan walks away, Minho turns to the crowd at the bottom of the stairs. A blush creeps up from his neck to his ears when he meets Jisung’s eye. He tucks a strand of his autumn hair behind his ear and looks away.

Jisung is in awe. Minho showed up to the ball in a silky purple dress shirt, a loose bow formed at his collar with a silver diamond shaped broach in the middle. The sleeves of the suit puff out just a little and cuff at his wrists. His ears are decorated with teardrop shaped silver earrings that bring out the sparkle in his eyes. He’s stunning. Jisung can’t take his eyes off him.

Felix begins to clap as the song ends and fades into another, bringing Jisung out of his trance. Jisung claps too and smiles down at Felix before being pulled into a tight hug.

When Felix lets go he turns around and spots Minho walking down the steps hand in hand with Prince Chan.

“What is he doing here?” Felix frowns.

Jisung stutters as Minho approaches them, “Uh, I have no idea,” He thought Minho was surely back in Andalasia by now, “I’m surprised to see you here!”

Minho laughs, “I’m surprised at you, I thought you couldn’t dance?”

Jisung smiles, “I said I didn’t, not that I couldn’t.”

Minho and Jisung can’t seem to hold back from smiling and taking each other in. The Prince clears his throat, reminding them of who they’re accompanied by.

“Oh! This is Chan… he’s my, uh, prince?” Minho introduces to Felix, not exactly sure what term to land on.

Felix nods his head and gives them a tight smile.

“And this is Felix, my... well he’s my-“ Jisung wills his mind to stop feeling mushy.

“We’re together,” Felix finishes for him, grabbing Jisung’s hand and giving it a squeeze.

“Right,” Jisung chuckles, it’s still difficult to form words around Minho.

“And this is Minho, the love of my life, my heart's true desire,” Prince Chan declares poetically, gazing at Minho.

Felix gasps, “Wow.”

The Prince shifts his attention, “Is something wrong?”

Felix shakes his head, “No, just the way you said that, so serious and not a hint of irony. It’s so… romantic.” He feels his face get warm.

The Prince smiles, charming. Jisung spares another glance at Minho and they share a small smile, too.

Their conversation ends as the ball's host speaks into the microphone, “Alright folks! It’s that time of the night where we’d like to ask you to invite someone you did not accompany this evening to dance, The King and Queen's waltz!”

The beat to a song Jisung recognizes as So Close by Jon McLaughlin begins to play.

“Well, may I have this pleasure?” Chan extends his hand out for Felix to take.

Felix giggles and takes Chan's hand, “Please.”

As they walk away, Jisung shuffles closer to Minho's side. Despite feeling overcome with nervousness he offers his hand and timidly asks, “Shall we?”

Minho places the palm of his hand gently on Jisungs, the first brush of their fingers sends a spark up his arm, he wonders if Jisung can feel that electric charge, too. He meets Jisung’s eyes and receives the kindest smile, heart-shaped. Just like Minho dreamed.

The performer begins to sing while Minho and Jisung make their way to the center of the room hand in hand, sparks ignited.

You're in my arms and all the world is gone

The music playing on for only two

So close together, and when I’m with you

So close to feeling alive

Once at the center, they stand face to face. Not once breaking eye contact. Jisung extends his left arm outwards and Minho grabs a hold of it again. Jisung’s other arm comes to rest on Minho's waist while Minho rests his on Jisung’s shoulder. He pulls him in close and when the piano chord drops, they begin to waltz.

A life goes by, romantic dreams must die

So I bid mine goodbye and never knew

So close was waiting, waiting here with you

And now forever I know

Everyone else fades into the background as Jisung lifts his arm up to turn Minho around. His back leans against Jisung’s chest and their arms stretch out in front of them. They dance in this position, back and forth. Jisung’s hold on Minho is warm and tender, gentle yet firm.

Felix and the Prince waltz passed them. Their eyes are supposed to be on eachother, but they can only see Minho and Jisung. Their eyebrows furrow and they frown, the pair at the center look lost in their own world.

All that I want is to hold you so close

So close to reaching that famous happy ending

Almost believing this ones not pretend

Minho spins away from Jisung, once, twice, before meeting him face to face again. Hands linked together, they sway to the beat. Eyes staying only on each other, locked in a cocoon of intimacy.

“Now you’re beside me, and look how far we’ve come,” Jisung sings along, softly, only for Minho to hear, “So far, we are so close.”

Minho can’t help but smile at Jisung’s voice, without realizing he nuzzles his face in the space between Jisung’s neck and shoulder. It’s comfortable and exactly the place Minho wants to be. Wrapped in Jisung's arms as he’s guided through the steps, so close together.

The lights dim down. Minho comes back to face Jisung, his eyes gazing down at his lips. Then the music grows louder and Jisung spins him again. They dance across the center of the room, as if everyone has cleared the space just for them. Bodies pressed together like chopsticks never meant to be split. The spotlight only illuminates them while they glide gracefully from one side of the ballroom to the next.

Jisung lifts Minho up and then brings him down gently, their faces only centimeters apart, a blush adorning both of their faces.

Jisung never wants this to end. He wants to be locked in this moment with Minho for as long as he can. Just the two of them. But like all good things, it does have to end because this is not Jisung’s life. Jisung’s life is not ballroom dancing, romantic whims, or true love’s kiss.

“Hey, do you mind if I cut in?” Felix taps on Jisung’s shoulder, reminding him that Jisung’s life now is safe and steady. He shouldn’t think of jumping into something so precarious.

Oh how could I face the faceless days

If I should lose you now?

Minho quickly lets go and catches his breath, “No, of course not.” He links his arm with Chans.

Felix smiles and pulls Jisung away. Jisung watches as Minho walks up the stairs with Chan.

Felix clears his throat, Jisung looks back at him and there’s a knowing expression on his face that Jisung can’t quite read. Felix raises his eyebrows and holds his hand out.

Oh, right, dancing. Jisung pulls him in and they continue the waltz.

We’re so close to reaching that famous happy ending

Almost believing this one’s not pretend

Let’s go on dreaming though we know we are

“You’re sad?” Chan asks, voice laced with concern when they make it to the top of the stairs.

“Hm?” Minho blinks, “No, I'm not.” He musters up the best smile he can.

Chan seems to believe him as he returns the smile and nods, “I’ll get your coat then.” He walks away leaving Minho to turn back around and watch the people dance.

His eyes find Jisung in the center with Felix. Felix wraps his arms behind Jisung's neck and pulls him in for a deep kiss. Minho sucks in a breath, his eyes watering at the sight.

So close, so close, and still so far

Applause rings throughout the room as the song comes to an end. Minho waits for the prince at the balcony next to the stairs.

“Child?” An old, familiar voice says.

Minho gasps, thunder crashes from outside. He turns around and spots the same old woman from the wishing well, “You! You sent me here!” He points, backing up from the woman.

“Oh! I’m so glad to see you, I've been so worried,” She gets closer, “It was such a terrible accident that brought you to this horrible place!” She wraps her cold, bony arms around Minho, in a way that’s supposed to be comforting but Minho feels quite the opposite.

“This world has so much sadness and brings so much pain, doesn’t it?” They look out from the balcony and down at the dance floor where Jisung and Felix continue dancing, “Oh… yes… to never be with the one you love, doomed to forever be with another.”

Minho feels his heart break at the words, he scoffs and attempts to get rid of the old lady’s arms, but she only holds on tighter, “But it doesn’t have to be that way, my dear! I can stop the pain from hurting you and make all these tragic memories disappear,” She snaps her fingers, “Just like that!”

Minho listens intently. She reaches her hand into her pocket and pulls out a deep red apple.

“Just one bite! And all of this will go away, everything you experienced here, all the people you met will disappear, like it never happened,” She nods, holding the apple up, “All you’ll be left with is sweet dreams and a happy ending.”

The apple shines in front of Minho's face, he considers it, sparing a final glance at Jisung. It hurts so much to see him with someone else. It hurts Minho knowing he’ll have to go back and pretend like Jisung doesn’t have a space in his heart. Forgetting would be the best possible solution wouldn’t it? He’ll never know about Jisung, there will be no love to mourn.

“Oh but you must hurry! The magic won’t work if you don’t take a bite before the clock strikes 12! Hurry, hurry!” The old lady rushes, shoving the apple into Minho's hands.

Minho holds it and thinks it’s over for a second before ultimately deciding that he would rather forget then pretend.

He takes a large bite of the apple, chews, and swallows. It burns his throat a little and his eyes widen as thunder crashes again. Minho's head begins to throb and his eyes begin to feel heavy. The last thing he thinks of is how bad he wishes he could just lie down for a second. And then his vision goes black and he faints to the ground, the apple slipping out of his hand and falling right down the stairs.

It rolls across the dance floor and is kicked around until it hits Jisung's foot.

Jisung comes to a halt and looks down. His eyebrows furrow when he sees the apple, bending down to pick it up and eyeing it warily.

“Out of my way!” The old lady shouts and people scatter, she mustered the strength to lift Minho up over her shoulder and take him to the elevator, throwing him onto the floor. She casts a spell, returning her to her form as the Queen before hitting the button to close the elevator doors.

Just as they’re about to shut a sword lodges itself between the iron doors stopping them from shutting and two hands spread them apart.

“Chan?” The Queen says as he comes into view.

“Mother?” Chan is confused.

“Chan!” The Queen exclaims. The prince's eyes cast down to Minho on the floor, “Oh, don’t worry about him, I’m taking him down for some fresh air, I think he swooned, he’s fine though!”

Chan grows concerned, going over and lifting Minho up in his arms, “Somebody help me!” He shouts.

“No, no, he’s fine! Just give him a slap or some water maybe? He’s fine really!” The Queen ushers out of the elevator with Chan.

“Help me, please!” Chan shouts again.

Jisung hears the shouting from the dance floor and looks up, he spots as Chan sets Minho down on a couch next to the elevator, “Oh no…” He takes his phone out and hands it over to Felix before sprinting off to the top of the stairs, “Call 911!”

Felix dials the number quickly.

“Minho,” Jisung says, hand coming up to feel Minho's forehead and clear the hair from his face. He was fine just a few minutes ago, now he’s burning up. Is he dehydrated? Maybe the spinning was too much?

“Hello, a man has fallen unconscious,” Felix says into the phone next to them, “I don’t know what happened, I didn’t see, he’s just not responding.”

“He just fainted but-“ The Queen starts.

“No, he didn’t!” Haru pushes through the crowd that has formed.

The Queen's eyes widen, “Haru, go back outside,” She grits her teeth and gives her a serious look.

“I will not!” Haru stands her ground, “You poisoned him!” She points at the Queen.

The Prince gets up from where he was kneeling down next to Minho to listen intently.

“She’s the evil hag, sire, she did this to him!” Haru sighs, “With my help I regret to inform.” She feels nothing but guilt.

“You did this?” Chan says directing his attention to the Queen, anger flaring up in his tone. He knew she sent Minho here, but poison him?

“No! She’s lying, why would I align myself with her? She’s crazy- I mean think about it-“

“Silence!” Prince Chan shouts, making the Queen shut her mouth, “You’re a lying, murderous, wretch!” He jabs a finger at the Queen, “Once we return to Andalasia everyone will know of your treachery and your days as Queen will be over!”

The Queen gasps, offended at such words, “You dare take my crown?”

Chan raises his eyebrows, “I will see to it that you’re removed from the throne immediately! Forever!” He spits out, glaring at her before coming back to Minho's side.

She rolls her eyes, using this time that he’s distracted to attempt a mind controlling spell on him.

Haru sees the green smoke appear and immediately puts a stop to it, grabbing the Prince's sword he had thrown to the ground and lining it up to the Queen's neck, “That’s enough from you! You viper!”

The Queen surrenders, the spell fading away.

“We have to do something to help him!” Chan shouts, looking to Jisung for any kind of answer.

“I don’t know what to do. What do we do?” Jisung shakes his head, he feels his eyes prickle with tears at the sight of Minho so lifeless.

“There’s nothing to do… what’s done is done,” Haru frowns, regretting absolutely every step that led them here. If only she stuck up for herself and went against the Queen sooner none of this would have happened.

Jisung thinks, what is the key factor in every fairytale? No, he shouldn’t think of a fairytale, this is real life. In fairytales there are knights in shining armor, fairy godmothers, magic spells, none of those make sense here. The one thing he can think of to have any sort of semblance would be- he gasps, “True love’s kiss.”

The Prince gains a hopeful look, “What?”

Judging by the Queen's look of bewilderment he has to be on the right path.

“It’s the most powerful thing in the world,” Jisung repeats what Minho had told him that night they first met. At the time he didn’t care, he didn't believe in that, it was nonsense. Now, it’s the only thing he has hope for.

Chan's eyes widen, “Yes! Yes, of course!” He makes quick movements onto the other side where Jisung is in front of Minho. Jisung gives Minho one last look before moving out of the way.

The prince places his hand gently on Minho's waist, he closes his eyes, leans in and kisses Minho. He waits a few seconds before pulling back. There's no movement. Chan frowns, before leaning in and kissing him again then again and again. Still nothing.

Jisung furrows his eyebrows. Was he wrong? He couldn’t be.

“It’s not working!” Chan shouts, looking to anyone for any other kind of idea.

The clock chimes, signaling five minutes till midnight.

The Queen laughs at their failed attempt, “You will never save him now! When the clock strikes 12 he’ll be in an eternal sleep.”

Chan sighs in disbelief, then he gets a sudden thought, “Unless…” He turns to look back at Jisung, nodding towards him.

Jisung’s eyes widen, “Unless what?” It takes him a second but then it clicks as to what Chan could possibly mean, “What, no, that’s not possible. It couldn’t be me,” He shakes his head adamantly. I

“You have to try-“

“No! That’s crazy, I’ve only known him for a few days, it couldn’t be-“

“Kiss him, Jisung!” Felix shouts, arms at his side, defeated, “It’s okay.”

Jisung blinks, looking to Chan who nods and motions for him to come to Minho's side. Jisung bites the inside of his cheek out of nervousness.

He kneels down by Minho, the back of his hand resting on Minho's cheek gently, “Please,” He whispers, “Don’t leave me.” Jisung and Jeongins world has become ten times more colorful with Minho, he can’t imagine going back to living so monochrome without him.

Jisung fights the tears threatening to escape and moves his hand to cradle the back of Minho's head and lift him up to meet Jisung half way. He brings his lips against Minho's and it’s a perfect fit. Minho's top lip is plump and fits perfectly with Jisung’s plumper bottom lip. Like two pieces of a puzzle. Jisung feels a tear run down his own cheek as he kisses Minho.

The clock chimes again, and Jisung pulls back, holding on to every ounce of hope he possibly can.

Nothing happens.

Chan sighs, looking down at his boots.

Just when Jisung feels the heart ache burn in chest, Minho gasps.

Jisung tenses his arms and holds onto him as he comes back into consciousness and opens his eyes.

When their eyes meet, Minho gives him the most beautiful tearful smile, “I knew it was you,” He says before wrapping his arm around Jisung and pulling him back in for another, deeper kiss.

Jisung smiles into the kiss, pulling Minho closer against him.

The people in the ballroom clap and cheer.

“That was wonderful! So much better than last year's half-time show!” A woman says. The people next to her agree and smile.

Prince Chan is flooded with relief. Felix is happy, too, but he can’t help the wave of sadness he gets.

There’s no room to cry as the Queen shouts.

“No!” She pushes Haru as hard as she can, causing her to stumble away and drop the sword.

The Queen catches it and points it at Minho and Jisung. Jisung pulls Minho behind him, Chan coming up in front of them.

“The most powerful thing in the world?” The Queen asks mockingly, she smirks, “I don’t think so!”

She points the sword at the crowd yelling at them to back up, “You want a show? I’ll give you a show.”

She chants out a spell and the green smoke and lightning crashes around her. The crowd screams and scatters away when a puff of fire flares up. The Queen's silhouette can be visible through the flames as she transforms and the shadow gets bigger and bigger.

Jisung's eyes widen, mouth falling open when the fire burns out and the large head of a black and green dragon peaks through.

“All this talk about ‘true love’s kiss’ is so annoying, it’s really bringing out the worst in me,” The Queen- or dragon- speaks, coming closer to Jisung and Minho.

“Stay back,” Jisung tells Minho, a protective arm crossing in front of him. Felix stands to the side of them, wide eyed and stranded out of fear.

The dragon hisses, “You know, I'm gonna need some kind of story to tell when I get back to Andalasia if I plan to keep my crown,” She pretends to think before continuing, “What if… a giant vicious beast shows up and kills everyone! And the poor, poor Queen just couldn’t save any of them… they all died one by one,” She looks over to Minho, “Let’s begin with the man who started it all, shall we?”

“Over my dead body!” Jisung shouts without thought.

The Queen stops in her tracks, she blinks before saying a simple, “Alright.” And before Jisung has time to process, the dragon's clawed hand jerks forward and wraps around Jisung, picking him up and flailing him in the air.

“Ah! Let me go!” He screams, trying to push and wiggle his way out of the grip.

The dragon moves towards the giant glass window on the side of the room, “Follow along now, Minho, I don’t want you to miss this happy ending… Well, happy for me!” She cackles as she breaks the window and begins climbing up the side of the tall building the ball is being held at.

Without a second thought Minho runs in the direction the crowd is running away from. His left heel breaks and on a whim he decides to abandon his shoes completely, throwing them to the ground. They land right next to the prince's sword in the middle of the ballroom. He's run away from monsters and been the damsel in distress for far too long now. Minho takes in a large breath preparing himself to go out and face the beast.

He picks up the sword, getting a good grip on it before running out to the window and using the building's many ledges to make his way up. There's a thunderstorm- the rain drenching Minho and making it far too slippery- but he doesn’t give up, not when he spots the dragon's tail so close by. He uses his strong legs and upper arms to hoist himself up, thankful now for all the exercise he’d wake up early to do back home.

“Put me down! You're crazy!” Jisung shouts, he takes a look over the side of the claws and sees nothing but ground. He fights the nauseating feeling he gets at the sight.

“No! Spiteful, vindictive, very large. But never crazy,” The Queen holds Jisung up to her face, she begins another sentence but yells when she feels a sharp pain.

Jisung looks down and sees Minho has made his way onto one of the building's balconies where the dragon's tail is hanging off from, the sword pierced through.

“Minho!” He shouts, unsure if he feels relieved or even more terrified to see him out here.

“Well, if it isn’t the brave little princess coming to the rescue,” The queen remarks, “Guess you’re the damsel in distress now,” She says to Jisung, shaking him up before ascending further up to the top of the building.

Once at the very top, she leans over the edge and lets out a booming roar, the thunder echoes and lightning crashes only making the Queen sound even more vicious.

Down at a lower balcony, Prince Chan, Haru, and Felix watch as Minho makes his way up the tower. Felix uses his coat to hold over his head and protect himself from the rain, Haru doing the same with her own cloak.

Their attention is brought down when they hear meows. Binnie runs out from inside.

“Binnie!” Chan exclaims, picking him up, Felix moves his coat to cover over Chan and the gray cat.

Binnie meows, I’m here to help Minho slay the beast!

“You’re gonna help Minho slay the beast? Aren’t cats afraid of water?” Chan asks, Binnie surprised he was finally understood by the prince.

He rolls his eyes at the water comment. Afraid of water? Binnie? No, he isn’t afraid of anything! Especially not water, out of the three cats, he loves it the most actually. He would have helped sooner if it wasn’t for the bundle he was trapped in, but with everyone distracted he managed to claw his way out.

Now, He can put his strength to the test! Binnie darts out from Chan's hold and climbs up the tower to catch up with Minho.

“Jisung!” Minho shouts when he gets closer to the dragon, “Jisung! I’m not going to let her take you!”

The Queen laughs, leaning down from the top of the tower and getting up in Minho's face. Minho uses the opportunity to swing the sword at her, he barely grazes the side of the dragon's cheek.

“Oh, Minho you have no idea what you’re dealing with,” She says through gritted teeth, “Keep up, now, aren’t you just dying to see how this ends?”

When the dragon goes back up the tower, Minho hears a meow, he turns his head to the side and sees Binnie sitting on a pillar, “Binnie!”

Binnie nudges his head against Minho's arm, I got this!

He meows before climbing to the dragon's level.

The Queen wraps her free claw around the building's antenna structure at the very top, using it to lean against. She roars and fails to realize the way it cracks and breaks from the bottom, “How does the saying go? Oh right, and they all lived happily ever after!” She holds Jisung up and smirks, “At least I did.”

Distracted with her own monologue, she doesn’t notice when Binnie reaches her leg, pulls his claws out and uses them to drag along the side of the dragon flesh and scales.

She hisses in pain, her sudden movement causing the antenna to break more, “What?” She gasps, when she realizes it’s on the verge of completely cracking. The claw being used to hold onto Jisung let's go in an attempt to grab onto something, anything to keep the Queen from falling 10,000 feet.

Jisung yells as he begins to fall, hands going up into the air.

Minho's eyes widen, his reflexes kicking in as he throws the sword and miraculously it catches onto Jisung's sleeve, pinning it to the side of the building.

Minho looks over the edge where the Queen is still falling, her dragon body hits another pillar, before ultimately falling past Chan, Felix, and Haru and hitting the ground with a green poof, and she disappears into thin air.

“Ah!” Jisung shouts, bringing Minho's attention back up. The sword is beginning to rip through Jisung’s sleeve, meaning he’ll most likely fall, Minho tries to align himself just underneath him so he can catch him.

The sword cuts through the last thread, sending Jisung falling down. Minho raises his arms up in an attempt to catch him, but the rain makes him lose his balance when Jisung lands in his arms, causing them both to slip down a drainage roof. They scream into each other’s arms as they slide down, barely managing to halt the rest of the descent by planting their feet down.

The rain stops and once they determine they won’t be slipping anymore, they take a second to catch their breaths.

Minho looks over at Jisung, hand coming up to cup the side of his cheek and wipe the water from his eyes. They’re both breathing heavily. Jisung’s wet hair is stuck to his forehead and his suit is all dirtied up and soaked, yet Minho thinks he looks beautiful.

“So, is this a habit of yours? Falling off of stuff?” Minho asks, grinning.

Jisung’s mouth spreads into that heart-shaped smile Minho adores so much, “Only if you’re around to catch me.”

Minho laughs, wrapping his hand behind Jisung’s neck and diving in for a searing kiss. True love’s kiss he should say. It’s everything Minho dreamed of and more.

Felix sighs as he makes his way back inside the empty ballroom. His eyes catch sight of the heels Minho was wearing. Exhausted and still slightly shaken up, he sits on the ground, picking up the shoe and examining it.

The prince walks over to him and kneels down on one knee in front of him, “Why so sad?”

Felix gives him a sad smile, he holds up the heel, “He forgot his shoe,” He laughs in a way that makes it seem ironic, “Figures.” He’s seen this in a fairytale or two.

Chan takes the shoe from his hand and looks down at Felix’s bare feet. He had abandoned his own heeled shoes while he was running away from the dragon.

Gently, the prince picks up Felix's right foot, “May I?” He asks, Felix blushes and nods. The prince slips the shoe on. He smiles, “it’s a perfect fit.”

Felix’s eyes light up.

Next thing he knew, they’re running, laughing, hand in hand across the middle of Times Square. Felix doesn’t know what came over him to follow the Prince, but he does know that he’s experienced more romance with him than he has in his last few years of a relationship with Jisung. Felix has never got to do anything spontaneous out of love. He’s never had the chance to until now. After everything, he believes he deserves his happy ending, too. If the handsome prince who spews out romantic poetry so effortlessly is willing to give that to him then he’ll take that chance.

The prince opens up the sewage hole, motioning for Felix to grab onto his hands and jump in. Maybe Felix should consider things, his apartment, his job? Ah who is he kidding, he’s gonna be marrying a prince! Without a second thought he jumps in. Prince Chan follows right behind him. There’s a poof of white glitter and just like that they’re sent right back to Andalasia.

It’s a few days later when wedding bells ring, Felix is adorned in a beautiful white and silver suit he designed, Prince Chan in a white version of his puffy sleeved suit, and the marriage officiant has just given them the go to for a kiss. They’re in the middle of leaning in when they’re interrupted by the sound of Felix’s phone ringing.

“Oops, I’m sorry,” He pulls it out of his pocket and flips it open. He’s shocked by how good the reception is, before silencing the call and throwing his phone to the side where it breaks into pieces.

Felix yanks Chan down, he gasps, and then Felix is dipping him into a deep kiss. Chan melts and wraps his arms around him.

The crowd, mostly made up of friendly animals including deer, birds, and rabbits, all cheer and clap, honoring the new Kings of Andalasia.

👑

Months after the events of the Queen, Haru took a long time to reflect and find herself. She had been in so deep, putting her own wellness and feelings aside just to do whatever the Queen wanted. All in hopes of showing she was worthy, and yet the Queen never once spared her more than an eye roll or rude remark. She didn't deserve to be the center of Haru's affection.

Haru made the decision to stay in New York, having found an interest in writing and modern literature. Specifically the world of self-help books. These books all helped her in realizing her self-worth and she found her place in a welcoming community of fellow readers.

It’s there where she met the most beautiful woman who loved sci-fi books, coffee (which Haru has also discovered a love for as well), painting, and most importantly saw Haru for who she was on the inside, never expecting her to change or meet her every demand.

They fell in love and now Haru has the most amazing support as she embarks on a journey of publishing her own book. Haru never would have thought this is the path her life would take, but she couldn’t be any more grateful.

🐈‍⬛

“Binnie! Sign here, please!”

“Binnie you’re a hero!”

“Binnie, you’re amazing!”

“Alright, alright, everyone settle down please there’s plenty of me to go around!” Binnie laughs, pressing his paw into black ink and stamping his signature onto the book cover.

When Binnie came back to Andalasia he had quite the story to tell about slaying the dragon and saving Minho. Everyone would gather around to hear him tell it and ask him about how he has managed to garner so much strength.

He decided to publish a book with the best tips and tricks to exercise and gaining muscle. It became a best-seller and Binnie is now one of the most influential felines in the land.

“I think the fame is getting to him,” Minnie remarks sarcastically as they watch Binnie give out autographs.

Jinnie laughs, high-pitched, “We should humble him.”

They give each other a mischievous look before each going on one side of where Binnie is and at the same time pouncing at him.

“Hey!” Binnie shouts as he’s wrestled to the ground.

Minnie bites at Binnie's tail and runs away as Binnie shrieks, Jinnie laughs maniacally and follows Minnie, Binnie not far behind.

🎀 Two Years Later ⭐️

“There, all done!” Jisung wipes the sweat off his forehead as he finishes adding the last decal to the boutique's window.

Minho and Jeongin come over and look at his work.

Andalasia Fashions , the newly added gold decal reads. It's in a very fancy and pretty font and is exactly what the boutique needed to be complete.

“It’s so good, dad!” Jeongin claps.

“What do you think?” Jisung asks Minho, his arm snaking around his husband's waist.

Minho sighs, “It’s perfect!” He gives Jisung a kiss on the cheek.

They had been working on opening this boutique for months now. Jisung quit his job, tired of having to help people tear their romance apart and instead invested in this business with and for Minho.

Minho is extremely talented in the world of fashion and design, Felix even praised him and gave him a hand on getting his name out there. With so much help Minho's dream of opening his own fashion boutique is now coming true. The grand opening will be in just a few days and Minho is beyond excited to share his work. He's prepared many different suits, dresses, blouses all ranging from kids to adult sizes. His only hope for this business is that it can reach as many people as possible and build a wonderful community of fashion.

Minho has truly never been happier than he is now. He has a beautiful loving husband and their adorable son. Together they have fun making a mess in the kitchen trying to make breakfast, spend hours playing games, laughing so hard till their stomachs hurt, and having late night dance parties.

Minho thought he knew everything there was to know about love. He spent years dreaming of his prince charming with whom he’d share true love’s kiss with. The real thing, he's learned, is so much better than any kind of dream and he’ll cherish it for the rest of his life.

And with that they all lived happily ever after.

The End.