blood of royalty • svt

ix

jisoo leaned on the wall behind him, waiting patiently in the dark. he heard the running water stopped abruptly and he turned in time to see jeonghan walking out of the bathroom. jeonghan offered him a small smile and jisoo happily mirrored it back.

"let's go?" jisoo leaned away from the wall and nodded. "let's go."

jeonghan hooked his arm with jisoo's and glanced over jisoo. "ready when you are."

jisoo chuckled in return. "i'm always ready." before jeonghan could counter back, jisoo had already pictured the familiar halls that is where their rooms were located in his mind and they were jumping into space and dropping down to solid cement.

jeonghan stumbled for a moment, not yet acquainted to jisoo's gift. jisoo let jeonghan put his hand on the wall for support as jisoo pulled away from him. jisoo twisted the knob of his door and turned to look at jeonghan.

"uh... see you tomorrow?" jeonghan looked back at him and smiled before nodding. jisoo entered his room.

"hey, soo?" jisoo turned to jeonghan again. soo? that's new. no one's ever called him that. jeonghan was behind his door as well when he looked and jisoo gave him a questioning look.

"will you wait for me tomorrow? i'm not quite the morning person." jeonghan had a nervous smile embellishing his features and jisoo couldn't help but find it endearing.

jeonghan looked shy, compared to his previous persona earlier. the complete opposite. jisoo smiled himself and nodded.

he closed the door with a soft click and sighed.

the dinner? it wasn't eventful. nothing quite intriguing to pinch his interest a tad bit. the dinner was too formal considering they sat together with the king and queen to eat. all of them were too stiff. he was glad that jeonghan had pulled him into the seat next to him so he didn't feel as anxious as he thought he would be.

the whole five minutes they were eating was one of the most awkward silence that jisoo had ever experienced. all that they've ever talked about was about the competition they were going to participate in which jisoo had expected they would converse about.

"so, how are you going to determine who among us is fit to be the next king?" he remembered jihoon asking earlier.

"that depends. if you've managed to prove yourself worthy by the end of the year, you get the throne." the king calmly answered, his eyes focused to each and every one of them.

"how are we going to prove ourselves?" minghao asked next, successfully slicing a small portion of the stake and putting it in his mouth delightfully.

"you're going to have to impress us." the queen replied next, sipping on her red wine.

"how are we going to impress you?" mingyu queried, looking up to the king and queen for an answer. king pledis met his eyes and smirked. "through your gifts." he then tapped his head where his golden crown rested. "and your knowledge."

jisoo paled. he had no academic experiences. well, he had, but that was when he was what? eight? nine? he couldn't even remember. he was still too young when he stopped his studies. how was he going to impress the royalties with those?

the queen seemed to read his mind as she quickly added, "do not worry. we have provided you advisors to guide you through your competition." everyone looked up in interest.

"but... we've already studied..." seungcheol spoke with no particular thought. the queen giggled. "what they taught you in your school is different than what the advisors we have provided you will. have your old school taught you about your powers?"