Not for you. | Changjin

15

The two boys entered the dining hall cautiously, hoping to see that Mr. Yang had indeed left for the day. Thankfully, Jisung's prediction seemed correct as the only remaining people sitting at the table were Changbin and Jeongin. Everyone's eyes turned towards the returning pair, causing Hyunjin to cough in embarrassment.
They arrived at the table and Hyunjin sat down in front of Changbin, who was staring him down intensely. The tension in the air could be cut with a butter knife, but it seemed the prince was about to break it.

"Hyunj—"

"Lets talk about it later, okay?"

"O-Oh, sure." Changbin responded, glancing over at Jisung who was rounding around the table to stand beside him again. The younger gave him a reassuring smile and it helped calm his nerves a bit.

"So, Jeongin. I'm uhh... sorry, about today? I'm usually not this.... embarrassing?"

"It's okay hyung, I would've been mad too. Good on you for standing your ground." Jeongin responded with a genuine smile that he hadn't shown in his father's presence earlier. It took Hyunjin by surprise but he quickly returned the gesture nonetheless.

"Thank you!"

The food arrived after a short wait and Hyunjin took the time to get to know Jeongin better. Spoiler alert; he doesn't like his father at all. The man never shows any care towards his son because he is the youngest of the family and therefor he 'adds no value' to them 'unless his older brother dies unexpectedly'. Needless to say, that's kind of messed up. It seemed like Jeongin was already used to it, but Hyunjin couldn't help but feel bad toward the younger. He'd always had a loving family with great parents, he couldn't imagine being treated as property by someone that is supposed to love you. Any intimidation or potentially negative feelings towards Jeongin instantly dissapeared and Hyunjin felt his older brother senses kick in.

"I'm glad you got some time away from home then, I can't imagine that having such a negative aura around you can do you much good."

"For real." Jeongin groaned in annoyance. "Plus I'm glad to hang out with Changbin hyung, Jisungie hyung and Channie hyung again. It's been way too long."

"You were shorter than me last time you were here, what happened?" Chan joked sulkingly.

"You definitely just shrunk." Minho deadpanned, causing everyone around the table to laugh whilst Chan just glared at him. "You better watch your mouth Minho, or I'll take Jisung with me on every little order I have to do."

"Take him, he could use some fresh air."

"Wha—?! Min?! I'm not an animal." Jisung sulked, pouting dramatically to seem extra sad. Minho just rolled his eyes before he shot a quick wink over at him as everyone dining return their attention back to their food.

"I think it's time I'll be heading to my room, I'm exhausted from all the talking my dad did today." Jeongin announces after everyone finished up, maids coming in ready to clean up the table.

"Alright. Felix, Chan, could you show him to his room? I'll be heading to Hyunjin's room for a bit, so I'll be fine."

"Of course." Felix and Chan responded in unison, before everyone got up from their seats. The large group moved together out of the dining hall and up the grand stairs before splitting off, Hyunjin and Changbin going to their rooms alone.
The walk to Hyunjin's room was uncomfortably quiet, probably because it was just the two of them this time around.

"So..." Hyunjin said as he closed his bedroom door behind them.

"I'm sorry." "I would like to apolo— what?" Changbin looked confused, wondering why Hyunjin was apologizing to him.

"I shouldn't have blown up like that in front of your guests and make you look bad. I could've also just told you afterwards that what you said hurt me, so I'm sorry that I acted immaturely."

"I see... I'm sorry too. I'm used to agreeing with everything the council says because they're all annoying old men that don't care about anyone that isn't noble. It's easier to just go along with it than pick fights, I've been told it keeps them on my good side. However, I now realise it's not the best way to handle them, so I'll be more thoughtful in the future. Please accept my apology, I was stressing out because I was scared you'd hate me now." Hyunjin chuckled slightly, stepping closer towards Changbin.

"I wouldn't go around hating anyone for something like this. I overreacted because I've been pretty anxious recently."

"... I'm sorry to hear that Hyunjin. Do you want to talk about it?" Changbin asked quietly as he dared to be brave, softly grabbing onto the taller's hand to show his silent support. The younger instantly sighed as chewed the inside of his bottom lip anxiously.

'Well, might as well tell him. You've been here too long with no progress... who knows how Minho is doing?' He concluded within himself.

"It's my little brother... he's very sick..." The soft hold of the prince instantly tightened—but not to the point where it hurt, before he quickly untensed his muscles.

"Sick? How long has he been?"

"Pretty much his birth... I... I came he—"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"What?" Stunned, Hyunjin's gaze left the ground as he looked up (a little) to lock eyes with Changbin.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He repeated.

"Well I... I didn't want you to..." Hyunjin couldn't finish his sentence, feeling bad as it probably painted a negative image of him.

"You didn't want me to think you were just here for your little brother?" He could only nod, to which Changbin scoffed slightly. It caused Hyunjin's heart to skip an anxious beat as he gulped. He wasn't ready to have the prince hate him yet.

"Hyunjin, I didn't expect anyone to come here for me. Of course I understand that this whole thing is mostly only favorable to one involved party, but I had accepted that before the plan was even set into motion..." He stopped talking for a moment, looking away for just a quick second before he looked back at Hyunjin. "I'll send a doctor to your family straight away, just give Minho all the details of your little brother's condition and I'm sure the doctor will be able to provide at least something to him."

Hyunjin's jaw drops for a moment in contrast of his rapidly increasing heartrate. He could swear he felt another skip as he looked Changbin in the eyes, but he quickly blamed it on his happiness over anything else. Without hesitation he pulled the prince into the tightest hug he could muster, catching Changbin off guard as he stumbles a bit. He feels the other's arms snake around his waist as they land on his shoulderblades, both hugging each other tightly.
Tears of happiness form in Hyunjin's eyes as they fall quicker than he can blink them away. In a hushed voice he whispers out,

"Thank you."

At first the prince doesn't respond, just letting Hyunjin hug him for however long he needed. But then he softly replied with a simple "don't worry about it."

And they stood like that for a while.

A while longer than what was probably appropriate. But neither of them really cared that it lasted that long. If anything it felt good to stand like that, which is most likely why they continued to stay like that for a little longer.

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Ya boy's back from the ded. Sorry this took ages to upload ㅠㅠ