"far, far away but close, close to you" part VI
Fandom: EXO
Title: Far, Far Away but Close, Close to You
Pairing(s): chinguline, major Baekhyun/Jongdae, minor Jongdae/Kyungsoo and Chanyeol/Kyungsoo (+ additional pairings in further chapters)
Genre: comedy, humor, prince!au, crack for occasional bad Kpop references
Length: Chaptered
Summary: Being a middle child sucks. Being a middle prince is even worse. Jongdae knows it well especially when his parents leave him with choices A) go and find your inner peace in a monastery and B) go and find your own fairytale. No wonder what he chooses but what follows is beyond everything Prince Jongdae, 2nd Prince of Far, Far Away has ever expected...
Disclaimer: I do not own EXO. Hell I would though. I love fairy tales and such even though I handle them in this story carelessly and a bit lame. The idea has just popped into my mind, any similarity with other works must be an accident.
Rating: PG-15
Warning(s): sexual references, massive hurt/comfort (with flirting in the mix)
Word Count: 2,750 (altogether ~20,000)
Previous Chapters: part I / part II / part III / part IV / part V
“I can’t believe we’re alive.” Chanyeol says, plopping down onto a chair - wait that’s actually a rock. “OUCH!”
“Watch what you’re doing.” Kyungsoo scolds him but there’s no reprimand in his voice. He looks around with his big eyes. “Do you think this will be safe enough?”
Baekhyun ruffles his hair in order to get some dirt out of it (it’s a lost case really) and sighs.
“How would I know? Ask the mastermind over there.”
Said mastermind doesn’t even listen, just is sitting on the cold ground of the cave, eyes looking distant, arms locked around his knees.
“Jongdae?”
Jongdae hears Kyungsoo calling his name but he just can’t answer.
It took three hours to find the most suitable place for hiding as Sehun had suggested they should do. The cave was enormous and Jongdae knew for sure it’ll be so dark by night comes that they won’t even find themselves but at least it was far from the camp and up on a mountain.
At the moment his environment was the last thing which disturbed Prince Kim Jongdae though. The object of his bad feeling was in his head - Sehun’s hurt face.
Jongdae has always found the biggest goal in his life (besides singing) helping others, not hurting others. The way he dealt with Sehun is simply impermissible. The kid was serious. He trusted Jongdae, truly wanted Jongdae and he just… played with his feelings and even worse, took advantage of him instead of refusing nicely or something.
“Maybe we should leave Prince Jongdae alone.” Chanyeol suggests in a little voice. “How about we go and collect some firewood?”
Kyungsoo pulls his look away from his prince’s sad form.
“Yes, maybe we should. Baekhyun, you’ll come too.”
Said boy shakes his head with a snort.
“Prince Baekhyun, my dear henchman. My name has ‘Prince’ before it so I can’t hurt my hands by rough wood… Chanyeol is enough of a help for you. Go!”
Kyungsoo is eyeing Baekhyun doubtfully but when Chanyeol pulls on his arm, lets it be as the prince wants and soon the two of them are walking down the mountain.
Baekhyun turns around to face Jongdae. He takes a deep breath and sits next to him.
Jongdae looks up from staring at nothing sensing another presence.
“What?”
“You look down.”
“I’m tired.” Jongdae lies. His conscience is a bad company enough, he doesn’t need another person to hear how wrong he did. “The day was long, we were kidnapped and -“
“I know there’s something on your mind, Jongdae.” Baekhyun insists and leans closer to indicate he’s there and he surprisingly cares. “Tell me about it.”
Jongdae still holds back. Just because Prince Baekhyun, 2nd Prince of Never, Never Land is the most beautiful specimen Prince Jongdae, 2nd Prince of Far, Far Away has ever laid his eyes on he’s not in the position to have heart-to-heart with him. What knows Baekhyun about him? Nothing. He might even laugh on Jongdae and really his conscience…
But at the same time Baekhyun looks different. He looks the same he did when Luhan dragged him away and his eyes met Jongdae’s but very different from the Baekhyun Jongdae met in the morning.
Something has changed when Jongdae wasn’t listening. Something was born in Baekhyun’s eyes and in his own heart when Jongdae wasn’t looking.
“I feel bad for betraying Sehun.” Jongdae blurts out into the silence of the cave.
Baekhyun tips his head to the side with a half-smile. It’s not the mocking one Jongdae was expecting so he doesn’t comment on it.
“You shouldn’t. He took your belongings, held you captive and threatened your and your companion’s lives. He wasn’t good to you.”
Jongdae bites his lip and meets Baekhyun’s eyes.
“Well, he wasn’t that bad either I mean… I was afraid but not all the time. He said nice things.”
Baekhyun now laughs for real but it’s bittersweet.
“Luhan said nice things too at the beginning.”
Oh right.
“Was he that bad to you?” Jongdae asks hurriedly and roams his eyes over Baekhyun’s small and pretty face. No scratches or bruises, thankfully.
Baekhyun looks back at him. His voice feels raw when he says:
“Was Sehun that good to you?”
Jongdae unconsciously blushes as after-images run through his head. The way Sehun looked at him, Sehun held his hips, the sound Sehun made when Jongdae had kissed his neck…
“I assume he was.” Baekhyun answers his own question cheekily. “You’re lucky. Luhan doesn’t look bad but his manners are nowhere close to his looks. He made me undress him and then wanted me to lick his toes… What is that really? Thank God you came and I could spare that experience. Your hit was awesome by the way. Were you practicing before or something? That’s why you made me wait?”
Jongdae smiles at Baekhyun’s rambling. The prince can be quite cute if he forgets being proud and acting superior.
Jongdae relishes the feeling but there’s something he catches which makes him curious.
“You were waiting for me? You knew… I would save you?”
Baekhyun opens his mouth but then closes it just as quickly. And here we go, his face is the familiar flaming red.
“You… don’t like a person who would leave behind anybody.” He answers carefully. “You were rude in the bathroom but -“
“Can’t we forget about that?”
Jongdae knows his question is useless. He thought so much of what he saw inside there that they’re probably tattooed to the inside of his eyelids. But of course he can’t say that after all Baekhyun probably didn’t enjoy the situation as much as him… (Probably? Definitely not.)
“We can.” Baekhyun replies quickly.
(See? Definitely not.)
“Why did you save me?”
Jongdae shrugs to look nonchalant and cool. (He’s none of that but it’s something Baekhyun doesn’t have to know.)
“I think I’m not a person who would leave behind anybody just like you said… which also explains why I feel bad for Sehun.”
Very smooth change of topic, Prince Jongdae, very smooth.
“He’s a bandit and you’re prince.” Baekhyun speaks up after some time, looking outside. “You wouldn’t work out.”
Jongdae has “we’re both princes and we wouldn’t work out either” on his tongue but changes his mind at the end because what is he thinking?
“It’s not like I’m in love with him. Sehun is just a nice kid with very effective vocabulary and advanced body language for his age but the thing is…”
Jongdae stops. Should he really say it out loud? To Baekhyun who he peeped on just this morning? Okay, it’s not like Jongdae had an inkling of what’s going on with him but Baekhyun might misunderstand him. If he successfully survived a bandit gang, Prince Jongdae shall not die by a hand of a fellow prince. That would be so ridiculous.
“I’ve told you Luhan wanted me to lick his toes.” Baekhyun turns towards him with a straight face. “Now twice.”
Okay.
“I enjoyed it at least half as much as he did.” The words flow out of Jongdae. “Weird, isn’t it? I mean Sehun kidnapped me, was in the position to kill me but then he pins me down and does things to me… which was also killing but in another way. And then I pin him down too like it would be nothing scandalous and do the same to him and though I’m aware of what I’m doing is wrong I keep going. And now I’m feeling bad because even though it was enjoyable I still took advantage of somebody, of somebody who did and said such nice things to me nobody has ever done, who looked at me like nobody has done before and… I’m feeling bad for letting down such person. I went nuts, didn’t I?”
Baekhyun doesn’t say anything for a while but Jongdae knows what he’s thinking. Baekhyun does think Jongdae went nuts and Baekhyun is thinking of leaving as soon as the sun is up tomorrow to get as far as possible from such idiot…
“Have you ever been in love with somebody, Jongdae?”
What?
“You mean…”
“Is really Sehun the first person who has looked at you like that?”
Jongdae slowly nods his head.
Baekhyun looks a bit taken aback and… curious.
“Really?”
“Um…”
“You’re just kidding, right?” Baekhyun continues leaning closer and closer. “Don’t say nobody thought… that nobody even attempted to…”
Because he doesn’t finish his sentences Jongdae can’t figure out if Baekhyun is mocking him or he’s really surprised.
But one thing for sure, Baekhyun is close like close and Jongdae can witness the way his eyelashes are fanning his cheeks, can see some almost invisible freckles scattered around Baekhyun’s nose and a very little pretty mole just above his upper lip…
“Attempted what?” Jongdae says in an unsure voice before the infection he got from Sehun could make him jump on Baekhyun. (Is it really “the infection” though?)
Baekhyun’s eyes flicker from his nose to his eyes, from his forehead to his lips. Otherwise he doesn’t move but he really should because the closeness feels tempting for Jongdae.
“Now it’s easy to understand why you reacted the way you did around Sehun.” He whispers then adds. “You’re stupid, you know?”
Jongdae scrunches his face up in distaste. Prince Byun Baekhyun sure knows how to change the mood.
“I know! That’s what I was saying through the last three minutes.”
Baekhyun smiles. His eyes are gentle and his smile lights up the cave for a second. (Not for real but… ah, Prince Jongdae might be deeper than he has previously thought.)
“I’m not talking about that. I mean that you’re… you’re…”
Welcome back unfinished sentences.
“You don’t really know how to express yourself, do you?”
“No… It’s just that you can’t describe everything with words.”
The cave is dead silent so Jongdae hears his heartbeat accelerate. The little bandit leader surely confused him.
At the moment Jongdae wants nothing but to reach out and draw Baekhyun’s face closer. He wants to hold him and get a touch of his skin, caress it to see Baekhyun smile and when he does, lean closer to have a taste -
Before things could step a level up (or more like levels up) Baekhyun suddenly goes rigid and gives out a full body shiver. It’s so cute (he’s almost vibrating omg) that Jongdae chuckles and gets back to his senses.
“You’re cold?”
“This cave is worse than the forest.” Baekhyun folds his arms before him with an awkward smile, hands coming to his biceps in order to warm himself up. “You don’t feel it?”
Prince Jongdae shakes his head. He felt practically hot just a second ago (and probably will as long as Baekhyun says things he just had done and remains in his personal space).
“Nah I’m fine. It was worse in the forest I think… Hopefully Kyungsoo and Chanyeol are back soon and we can set a fire.”
Well, wherever Kyungsoo and Chanyeol went, they probably didn’t stop at the first tree they’d seen because an hour later at most (none of the princes has a clock with them) both Jongdae and Baekhyun are on their way to become little icicles in the dark. (Yeah, it’s not just cold but even dark... Life is not easy on fairy tale-seeking princes.)
“If they don’t bring at least a tree back, let’s set them on fire.” Baekhyun grits his teeth.
Jongdae would laugh but his face is too frozen for that. (Speaking is hard enough already.)
“They have to be cautious. There are bandits around here after all.”
“What kind of sidekicks they are if they can’t take care of their princes?”
“They went for fire as an act of taking care of us -“
“I don’t care, I can’t take it anymore!” Baekhyun whines in frustration and curls up into a ball of sulk on the hard floor. “I feel the tip of my nose falling off.”
Jongdae shuffles closer and though Baekhyun’s nose is at its place the tip of it is unhealthy blue. Prince Jongdae hasn’t learnt that much of medicine (there are physicians in the palace who know enough) but Nanny Warts had told him enough times at winter on her shrill voice that “Get inside, you little rascal, before your nose gets blue and falls off!”.
“Hey, come here.”
Baekhyun looks up from where he’s lying and seeing the other prince’s spread arms doesn’t hesitate a bit, just lunges forward and attaches himself on.
Jongdae is a bit surprised at how quickly that escalated but he can’t really complain when the body he has just seen in the morning with the face he has also found pleasure in is pressed to his side and touching his skin. His hands automatically lift and wrap themselves around Baekhyun’s form. Surprisingly they’re a fit.
“Oh, you’re warm.” Baekhyun murmurs. The tip of his nose isn’t just blue it feels cold too on Jongdae’s neck. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“You say it like it’s the first thing you can like about me.”
Baekhyun squirms under Jongdae’s touch so the latter thinks they’ve entered the you-shouldn’t-have-said-that territory but Baekhyun only does that to get more of his warmth.
“It’s not. You’re likeable… when you don’t just stop and stare.”
Jongdae snorts.
“I think it hasn’t been an hour since we’ve agreed not to talk about that anymore… Did I leave such a deep impression?
“You did.” Baekhyun smiles with his hands to Jongdae’s chest. “Tell me, Jongdae, is my… body really nothing to be sensitive about?”
Now they have truly entered the you-shouldn’t-have-said-that territory.
Jongdae clears his throat. Should questions like this be answered at all? I mean it’s nonsense personal.
“Of course nobody wants to be seen naked by anybody.”
“It doesn’t answer my question.”
“Chanyeol has said all.” Jongdae whines, burying his face in the fluffy black hair under his chin. “You have a… hot little body.”
Jongdae has never felt more embarrassed than as he does now after saying those words out loud. Sure, Sehun did inappropriate things and it was also embarrassing when the Queen found him probing one of her dresses (he was five and the purple one looked great, okay?) but those weren’t this.
Baekhyun chuckles against his neck, his hands grasping the hem of Jongdae’s shirt.
“It’s the first time you’ve seen somebody naked, isn’t it?”
Jongdae has exactly three questions ask: 1) Why does this question imply Baekhyun has seen naked bodies a lot? 2) Why does this idea hurt? And 3) Why are they still talking about this when they’ve agreed not to talk about it? Huh?
But Jongdae somehow is afraid of the answers he could get so he buries them deep in his mind.
“It’s not.”
Baekhyun lifts his head up, almost bumping into Jongdae’s jaw.
“But you said -“
“My brother had been adventurous before his marriage.”
“Oh… But I was the first who you liked to see naked, right?”
Jongdae doesn’t answer verbally - his flushing face tells him on but thankfully the sun has gone down, Baekhyun can’t see it to call him out on it.
“I know, we’ve made an agreement.” Baekhyun sighs, and realizing he won’t get an answer, changes the topic back to where they’ve started off. “You don’t have to feel guilty about Sehun if you’re sure you don’t feel the same way. If you led him on, it would be worse.”
Jongdae is surprised at the useful advice (or more like at Baekhyun can be nice if he wants).
“Well, I led him on already.”
“He was all over you and you had no choice but play along if you wanted to save us… which I’m thankful for, by the way… The point is you shouldn’t go meet him tomorrow.”
What is going in Baekhyun’s head really?
“I’ve promised.” Jongdae says matter-of-factly.
“What if he’ll wait for you with Luhan and his gang?”
“He won’t.”
Baekhyun makes a noise of disagreement.
“You think too highly of him. Just because he touched you places -“
“Do you feel cold still?”
The answer is obvious - Baekhyun had long stopped freezing and now both his nose and hands feel warm and pleasant on Jongdae’s neck and chest - but Jongdae has to ask to shut Baekhyun up somehow. Why is he back being mean? He was so nice just a second ago. He should have remained that way.
“I’m cold.” Baekhyun murmurs, not backing away an inch.