"Do you guys wanna go get some dinner with us?" Seungmin in asked the group. All weighed down by shopping bags and tired from their day of walking around, they agreed to get food and decided to eat at the moonlight cafe, because Felix had never been.
"Okay, we'll meet you guys there!" Felix said, following Seungmin to the car. He climbed into the passenger seat and Seungmin immediately started driving to the little cafe.
"Did you have a good time today Felix?"
"Yes! I love Jisung and Changbin!" Seungmin swore he noticed Felix's eyes light up when he said Changbin's name, "Do you have any other friends outside the palace?"
"Not close friends. Their more like acquaintances. Changbin was the only close friend who wasn't from the palace, I actually only met Jisung yesterday at the cafe with Hyunjin" Seungmin answered. He became quiet. After saying his crush's name he got lost in thought, which Felix knew this, so he didn't say anything else until they got the the cute cafe.
When they walked inside, Changbin and Jisung were waiting for them. Felix loved the look of the place. The scenery, the decorations, even the lighting were all themed around the moon and outer space. The walls were made of wood, giving it a homey, log cabin feel, but the ceiling was decorated with stars hanging from string, lights twinkling inside the ceiling tile imitating stars. The ceiling was painted mostly black, with galaxy clouds painted and a little cartoon UFO in one corner. It sounds like it's be a lot to look at, but it was so well done that it was perfect! the bottom half made you feel at home, or like you were on vacation in the mountains, and when you look up, it's as if you're touching the stars from the mountain top. Felix loved the look and couldn't help but admire it. Even the paintings on the walls were adorable. Cartoon drawings of a little astronaut depicted in different settings. A field of flowers, the desert, a forest with a creek, and of course, the little astronaut in the UFO. Felix stood in awe until Changbin called his name and snapped him back to reality.
"Felix, are you ready to order?" Changbin put his hand on Felix's shoulder as he asked. Felix's heart raced and he stared at Changbin's hand for a moment before he collected himself.
"Uh, honestly I haven't even looked at the menu." He laughed nervously and apologized.
"It's okay, oh! Let's ask Jin hyung what the special is tonight. He always makes a special dinner option from 4:30 to 8:30 every day." Changbin said, making his way over to the counter. Jisung was the one in front so he ordered. (of course only because he knew Jin, if it was anywhere else he wouldn't order in a million years.)
"Hey, Jin hyung! It's your favorite employees!" Jisung greeted the owner of the cafe. Jin laughed at the latter's remark,
"Hey Jisung, Changbin. What can I get for you guys tonight?"
"What's on the menu for dinner?" Jisung asked. He always posed the question that way when he worked night shifts.
"We're having standard Kimchi with rice and ramen." Jin replied.
"Alrighty let's get 4 orders of that, uh i'll have a water," Turning to the other 3 he asked, " What drinks do you guys want?"
After everyone had finished ordering Jisung tried to pay, but of course Changbin got there first. Jisung just rolled his eyes as he stepped away from the counter.
"Oh, Changbin, you didn't have to buy ours, we could've gotten it." Seungmin said as Changbin was putting his card away.
"It's no problem. It's my way of saying thank you for letting us tag along today."
"Thank you for joining us! I don't get out much, so it's fun to hang out with Seungmin's friends." Felix said with a smile. And hanging out with people who don't know I'm the prince. Felix thought to himself.
"Here's your food giys. Enjoy!" Jin said bringing 2 large trays that held all the food. Jisung and Changbin took the trays and thanked their boss before they took the food to the table outside that they had sat at that morning.
Felix once again found himself admiring the scenery. Fairy lights hung from the roof and they twinkled lightly, like the ones inside. It was simple, but beautiful. It added to the view. Oh the view! The cafe sat on top of a hill, and Felix could see over half the kingdom from that one spot.
"I've never noticed how pretty it is." Felix muttered to himself
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Changbin asked softly. Felix got flustered for 2 reasons. 1. he didn't realize he said that out loud, 2. he could feel Changbin's breath on his ear and neck. Why the heck does that make me feel this way. It's literally just hot air. What's the big deal? Why is my heart still racing?! Felix's brain moved at about a million miles a second, and he quickly answered Changbin.
"Oh yeah, it is. I'm used to seeing it from the same place every day. It's a nice view, but it kinda gets old after a while."
"What can you see?" Changbin asked, still softly. He wanted to hear Felix's deep voice, and also wanted to get a bit of an idea of where he could possibly live.
"I can see the whole kingdom. I can see the ocean, and woods outside the city and the country where the farmers live, and then outside the border, everything. It's pretty, don't get me wrong, but after a while you kind of want to see it from someone else's perspective." Felix said with a bit of a sad smile. He looked away at the beautiful lit palace in the distance. Changbin knew Felix didn't want to talk anymore, and was lost in thought himself. He'd have to live pretty high up to see that much. The only place that could possibly be high enough to see that far is- Changbin's thoughts were cut short by Seungmin who asked
"So, Changbin, when did you start the doing the self-defense class at the gym?"
"About a year ago. I had been taught as a kid to defend myself and I taught myself more as I got older. I thought that everyone should have a chance to learn the things they ought to know in case of an emergency." Changbin replied. Felix was listening, and turned to face the group again.
"Wow, so you give people lessons for free?" Seungmin asked. When Changbin nodded in response he added, " That's really selfless of you. I agree, everyone needs to k ow how to defend themselves. You never know what could happen."
After a quiet but comfortable pause Jisung spoke.
"Hey, Felix, what do you do? Like for a living?"
"Umm, I don't really have a job. I help out where I'm needed, and people pay me for it. It's almost like my job is determined by who needs the most help." Felix said. It was partially true. He didn't have a "normal" job, and he did help put anytime he could, but he wasn't paid for it. Not with money, anyway. People always showered him with thanks and appreciation, which was more than enough payment for him. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't have any money.
"I could never do that." Jisung replied with a shocked look on his face.
"How come?" Felix questioned.
"I need to know exactly when my next paycheck is coming in, exactly how much it's gonna be. I plan everything accordingly. I base my life around my paycheck and planning out how much I can spend, how much goes to bills and food, you know. I can't survive without the certainty. I love to hell out, I volunteer sometimes on a day off, but I couldn't have a job where I didn't know if I'd have work or not. Another thing for me is that I can't just sit around and do nothing for long periods of time. I have to be doing something meaningful. I have to be working towards something. But I couldn't have a job where I didn't know if I'd get paid." Jisung shook his head in bewilderment. He wasn't even talking sense at the end. Even thinking about it gave him anxiety.
"I totally get it. My friend Chris is the same way. He needs to be certain. He also doesn't know how to put his work down and sleep, he's always up until 5 in the morning just to wake up at 7:30 to start it over again," Felix rolled his eyes then continued," I came from a very fortunate family and they taught me that while I do need to work for myself and not rely solely on them, I will always be taken care of by my friends and family. They told me that I could do whatever made me happy, and it would be fulfilling in some way, whether it be financially or otherwise. I've always loved by that, and even without a steady paycheck I do have enough to get by. I also feel that I'm always so content and happy that I think I should go and spread that joy, and giving to others is how I do that." Felix smiled at Jisung, who couldn't help but smile back. Felix practically glowed with how happy he was, it was impossible to not smile back if he flashed a smile your way.
"You do that without trying Lix!" Changbin said. Felix's smile only grew when he heard the nickname. Someone gave him a nickname that wasn't rude, and it was given by someone who didn't know his status, someone who liked him. not his money or power. What's better is that it was Changbin. That somehow made a difference, too. Why? He's just been so nice to me today. Yeah. That's it. You can't be having these thoughts about him, Felix. You're a prince. He's not. He doesn't even know about that. You're probably never gonna see him again so just let it go! Get ahold of yourself Lee Yongbok!
The group continued to talk and laugh for another hour and a half. The time flew by, and the only reason they stopped was because Jin came outside.
"Hey, sorry to bother you guys but the cafe is closed now. You can stay up here, just make sure you leave at some point." Jin jokingly added. The group chuckled and stated cleaning up their table. Felix jumped up and turned to Jin.
"What can we do to help?"
"Oh, you don't have to do anything. I'll be fine." Jin replied, waving off the question. Changbin motioned for Felix to follow him, and so he did, with Seungmin and Jisung following behind.
"Here," Changbin said as they entered the kitchen, "take these and you can start wiping down tables. Or you could clean the floors or do the dishes."
"I can start on the tables!" Felix said, grabbing the cleaning spray and paper towels from Changbin. Seungmin did the dishes and Jin started on the floors. Jisung and Changbin cleaned the front. Turning off the food warmers and coffee machines, cleaning them out, and wrapping any food that was still and putting it in the cooler for the next day. Within 20 minutes everything was done and they were all outside the cafe and Jin was locking the door.
"I can't thank you all enough! That was the fastest close we've ever had." Jin said for the millionth time.
"It was no trouble! I'm just glad to help." Felix replied with a smile.
"I like that about you. It's hard to find people like you these days." Jin said, shaking his head.
"You sound like my grandpa," Jisung said with mock disgust, "why'd you say that? Seriously you have no idea how old that made you sound." Everyone laughed at this, and Jin bade the group goodnight.
"This old man needs some rest. We open at 6 you know." Jin chuckled and waved goodbye before getting in his car and leaving.
Seungmin looked at the time on his watch 11:42
"We should probably get going. If we're gone much longer Chan's gonna kill me." Seungmin said to Felix.
"Okay, fine!" Felix said, a bit whiny. He turned to Changbin and Jisung, " Thanks for joining us today! I had a great time."
"Thanks for letting us tag along! I had a blast and I could tell Jisung was enjoying himself, too." Changbin replied. Jisung nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, today was fun! Thanks for inviting us to join you!"
After they finished their goodbyes they got into their cars and went their separate ways.
"What'd you think of Changbin?" Seungmin asked with a smirk. Felix blushed and got flustered
"Oh he was nice." Felix mumbled quickly. Seungmin noticed but didn't bring it up. The rest of the ride they were recapping the day.
Once they arrived back at the Palace, Seungmin took Felix to his room and bade the prince goodnight. Seungmin walked to Chan's office, and, as he assumed, the light was still on, meaning Chan was still awake and working. Out of habit Seungmin knocked twice before opening the door and letting himself in. He was surprised to see Minho looking over Chan's shoulder, apparently working on something with him. Minho looked up and greeted the dandy boy.
"Hey Seungmin. How was shopping with Felix" Minho asked.
"Good evening your majesty. We had a good time. We bumped into one of my old friends, which made prince Felix happy," Seungmin replied, "what are you guys working on so late?"
"We're finishing the advertisements for jobs. We've worked out all the details and these should be posted online and on the notice boards in the kingdom by tomorrow morning." Chan said, not looking up from his computer. Seungmin excused himself soon after and went down to the kitchen to find Hyunjin.
"Hey Hyunjin. You need any help?" Hyunjin whipped around, startled.
"Aish! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Hyunjin whined.
"My apologies your whininess," Seungmin bowed jokingly, and in his best posh voice said, "it won't happen again sire."
"Good otherwise If have to punish you." Hyunjin clapped his hand over his mouth. I can't believe I just said that. He probably hates me. Oh my gosh Hwang why do you have to blab your stupid mouth now he's never gonna like you back!
"So uh... Do you need any help cleaning tonight?" Seungmin asked, trying to change the subject.
"I'm fine tonight, there wasn't much to start with, we caught up so much last night. I just have to finish the Staff Kitchen and then I'm done for the night. You should go get some sleep, you look like you haven't slept in 2 weeks." Seungmin nodded and tha ked Hyunjin. Now that he thought about it, Seungmin couldn't remember the last time he got a proper night's rest. Hwang Hyunjin knows me more then I know myself. Ugh he's not making this easy for me. Seungmin thought to himself all the way to his room. Without even changing, he laid down and immediately fell asleep.
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As Jisung and Changbin arrived at their apartment l, Changbin turned to the ravin haired boy.
"Get changed then come out here and get comfy, because we're gonna hang out and play some Mario Kart." With that, Changbin went to his room to change. Jisung chuckled quietly to himself and went to do the same.
Jisung sat in his room and thought about the day. He could t remember having that much fun with new people before. Heck, he hadn't felt that relaxed and stress free for months! Jisung smiled to himself as he thought of the looks he caught on Changbin's face when he was looking at Felix. He totally has a crush on him, there's no way he doesn't! He was snapped out of his thoughts by a knock on his door.
"Ji? You okay in there? How long does it take to change into sweats?" Changbin asked in mock annoyance.
"Sorry, Sorry! I'm coming!" Jisung laughed as he walked out to the living room where he could hear the familiar tune of the Mario Kart menu screen. The two. boys played and laughed the rest of the night, while on the other side of town in the heart of the kingdom Seungmin was up and about once again, having had trouble sleeping, he noticed a message from the stable crew asking if he knew anyone who was available to help them.
I should start taking melatonin or something. Seungmin shook his head, knowing those 3 hours of on and off sleep wouldn't do much for him, so he began thinking instead of the 2 boys he spent the day with, when he had the best idea. Leaving the stables without a word he rushed to Chan's office, knowing he would still be awake, to tell him his brilliant plan.
a.n. sorry for taking absolutely forever to update! i slipped and bruised a bone in my hand which made it hard to type in my phone and computer. But it's getting better so here's another chapter for you guys!! I'll try to get chapter 4 out faster than this one.
how are you guys liking it so far? is it making any sense? idek ANYWAY thanks for reading! 🫶🏻