[Time: Takes place when they're about 16, before the coronation]
~
Dohyun loves his siblings, really, he did.
Why does this feel like he was trying to convince himself?
It was supposed to be another regular day, training with Chan seonsaeng-nim in the morning, school in the afternoon and then tea with their grandmothers in the garden. Maybe things got a little off course when Chan brought his other pupils to the morning session as well, but their teacher promised it was just this once, and he wasn't able to arrange any other time for his second batch.
The triplets always practiced by themselves with Chan, and they didn't have other students during their morning sessions. But it was fine really, besides, it was getting a little boring to see Hyunjun and Hyunmi trying to decapitate each other.
Ah, he should've just quit training and went to the forest to become a hermit when he had the chance.
"Prince Dohyun, you don't fight much do you?" The annoying boy sitting next to him quipped, smirking at the prince who had a book in hand and a sword lying next to him.
"I duel when I need to and when teacher Chan requires me to. You've been here sitting next to me for half the class, I guess you don't fight either?" Dohyun replies, trying to be as courteous as he possibly could. He didn't mind company, it's not his tree anyway, but this boy was asking him questions and annoying him every few minutes.
The alpha beside him looked offended at the question, narrowing his eyes at the prince.
"I was just trying to get to know you, prince. You seemed lonely sitting all by yourself here." The boy remarked, staring at the prince for a reaction, The prince remained as impassive as ever, although his brain was screaming at him to run. Also, how dare this random ass boy just assume he wants his company, he likes being alone for heaven's sake.
"Well, you're mistaken. I'm fine, thank you for your concern." Dohyun tries to get the boy to leave him alone, but the alpha doesn't relent, continuing to probe him annoyingly. Seriously, how does he not get the hint?
"My prince-", the alpha starts yet again, and Dohyun wanted to gag, "I'm simply looking out for you, besides as an omega prince, it must be difficult to-"
Dohyun reeled back, absolutely disgusted. As an omega prince? Does this dude think he's a damsel in distress just because of his secondary gender?
"You think-" The prince began, trying to think of the best way to get out of the situation without seeming like too much of an asshole.
"Lee Geonhee, teacher Chan was wondering where you went. I suggest you pay attention to class rather than sit here and prattle all day.' A voice interrupts Dohyun, and the prince turns his head to see another alpha boy approach them, sword in hand indicating he just came back from practice. Dohyun signs internally. Great, another one, he thinks.
"Yoo Jaehyuk, I was just giving the prince company." The other boy retorts, getting up from the ground and picking up his sword. He glares at the other alpha, although it's rather comical. Yoo Jaehyuk is taller, maybe two heads taller than Dohyun himself.
"I don't think his highness requires company. He seems alright without it." Jaehyuk comments, looking at the prince for just a second before glaring at Geonhee. The latter splutters, fuming now. Dohyun looks surprised, but schools his expression back to normal immediately.
"Lee Geonhee!" A voice calls from farther away, and teacher Chan looks a little mad at the delay. Geonhee clicks his tongue, annoyed at Jaehyuk for embarrassing him like this.
"Mind your own business Jaehyuk." He sneers, before walking away from the prince and said alpha, towards teacher Chan who begins scolding him for his tardiness. Dohyun watches Chan pull the boy by his collar, pairing him with Hyunjun to duel. Dohyun winced slightly. Geonhee wouldn't bother him for a week after a duel with his brother.
"Your highness, are you alright? I'm so sorry for intruding, you looked a little uncomfortable." Jaehyuk breaks the silence, and Dohyun looks up at his savior. Jaehyuk looked nervous, unable to look at the prince for more than a few minutes. The prince smiled warmly, nodding his head. He gets up from his seat on the grass and dusts his trousers.
"I'm okay. Thank you for helping me." Dohyun replies politely, and Jaehyuk smiles back, his cheeks dusted a faint pink as he rubbed his nape.
"Geonhee can be like that sometimes...I'm sure he doesn't mean harm but...well..." Jaehyuk tries to defend his classmate, but fails terribly as his expression betrays him. Dohyun laughs, and Jaehyuk perks up at the sound. The prince raises his hand to hide his grin, his eyes shaped into crescents. Jaehyuk looked absolutely awed, eyes wide as he stared at the prince. Realizing he was staring, he once again averted his eyes, his ears burning red.
"You're really nice for helping out like that. You didn't have to." Dohyun instead decides to say, making Jaehyuk go even redder. He coughed awkwardly, trying to compose himself. It looked adorable to Dohyun, how this tall and handsome alpha, someone he assumed would be cold and indifferent judging by his looks alone, was flustered so much by a thank you.
"Uhm, yeah, you're welcome-"
"Dohyun!" A familiar voice calls out, and Dohyun groans, watching as his sister comes running to him. Hyunmi reaches a hand around his shoulder, and Dohyun rolls his eyes at her obvious display of...whatever it was she was trying to show.
"Jaehyuk, right? What're you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your class?" Hyunmi asks, her eyes narrowing at the alpha. She looks cold, and Jaehyuk notices quickly. He steps back, creating some distance between the prince and princess.
"Yes, your highness, I should. The prince was just having some difficulties so I decided to help out. I'll take my leave now, sorry." Jaehyuk says, bowing his head towards the two and turning around to leave. Dohyun turns his head to glare at his sister, who shrugs at him and then notices the obvious hurt on his face. She looks at him questioningly, as Dohyun pushes her arm off and walks to Jaehyuk, grabbing his wrist. Jaehyuk startles, turning to face the prince, Dohyun's hand still around the other alpha's wrist.
"I'm sorry for my sister's rudeness. She didn't mean to hurt you." Dohyun says quietly, and Jaehyuk blinks, still as a statue, his eyes fixed on Dohyun's hand on his own. Dohyun notices, blushing as he removes his hand and awkwardly stands around waiting for a reply.
"I don't mind, it's fine." Jaehyuk replies just as quietly, and a few shouts from his classmates get his attention. It seems they're going to leave for their next class.
"Let's be friends then?" Dohyun asks quick, before Jaehyuk leaves. The alpha looks slightly shocked at the idea, swallowing thickly. He looked at the princess waiting behind Dohyun, who was looked annoyed at the two of them. She wouldn't like them being friends much, Jaehyuk deduced.
But the prince was asking...he couldn't refuse.
"O-Okay, your highness. Let's be friends." Jaehyuk stammered, bowing his head once again before running off at his annoyed classmates' shouts. Dohyun smiles to himself as his new friend runs away, his entire face feeling hot. Hyunmi grumbles behind him, glaring at Jaehyuk.
"Really, Jaehyuk?" Hyunmi asks, causing her brother to look at her with frustration.
"Hyunmi, I appreciate your help, I do, but can't I make friends?" Dohyun asks her, and Hyunmi furrows her eyebrows, frowning at her brother.
"Of course you can, but it's just Jaehyuk is an alpha-"
"So what?" Dohyun quips back, and Hyunmi is at a loss for words. Soon enough, their third part joins in, Hyunjun looking sweaty and disheveled from his last duel.
"That Geonhee kid is so annoying. Won't stop with his stupid commentary even as he's dueling. At least I've sent him to the infirmary, that should shut him up for a while. " Hyunjun says, wiping his forehead and bending down to re-tie his shoelaces. There's no response, causing the youngest prince to look up at his brother and sister glaring at each other.
"What's going on?" He asks, and both Dohyun and Hyunmi open their mouths to respond, closing it when they realize they're both ready to spill, glaring at each other again.
"Dohyun here was talking to Jaehyuk, and asked him to be his friend. Looked kind of too friendly to me. So I came in, to protect my little brother, but it turns out, he doesn't want my help and likes Jaehyuk over me." Hyunmi says, crossing her arms. Dohyun gapes at her, shocked.
"That's not it at all! Hyunjun, That Geonhee kid was being annoying, and I didn't know how to shoo him off, so Jaehyuk politely intervened instead. I was simply thanking him for his help, and he seemed really nice, so I offered to be friends. He's harmless, really. And Hyunmi's issue is that he's an alpha." Dohyun instead summarizes, and Hyunjun looks between Hyunmi and Dohyun, conflicted.
"As much as I would like to side with Hyunmi...", Hyunjun begins, after much thought. He looks at Hyunmi apologetically, "I've met Jaehyuk before and he's really nice, cold looks aside. Not a lot of people approach him because of his looks, since he can look a little mean when he's not smiling, but he's really polite and helps out a lot. He's also the only competent one in that class. Not as good as me with the sword, but he's quite decent." Hyunjun says, and Dohyun sighs in relief. Finally, someone understands him.
"But he is an alpha regardless..." Hyunjun says, looking warily at Dohyun. Their omega brother huffs, crossing his arms as well.
"It doesn't matter! Just because he's an alpha doesn't mean he's looking for some omega to harass. Heck, you're both alphas, do you go around omegas in your class? What makes you any different?!" Dohyun asks, glaring at his siblings. Hyunmi looks at him in indignation, gasping.
"We would never!"
"Exactly, so how can you accuse Jaehyuk of being dangerous when he helped me!"
Both of his siblings are quiet at that, and Dohyun huffs again, annoyed. He grabs his stuff, and walks away, waiting for his siblings to figure themselves out. He doesn't need to be treated like a doll just because he's an omega. He hates it.
Hyunjun follows behind first, nudging Dohyun by the shoulder. His brother turns to him, and Hyunjun apologizes silently, and Dohyun understands the gesture. He stops, looking at Hyunmi, who's following behind slowly. She looks at him, still wary and a little frustrated. But she apologizes as well. Mentally, she noted to tell dad of this development. Mum wouldn't be much help, he would just side with Dohyun.
Dohyun watches his sister carefully. Of course, she was planning something.
Oh well, he supposes, sisters will be sisters, realizing she's about to rat about him to dad.
"So, Yoo Jaehyuk huh. He's kind of good-looking isn't he, Dohyun?" Hyunjun asks, smirking at his brother. Usually, Hyunjun would be the one more mad than Hyunmi, but once someone's on Hyunjun's good side, well...
Hyunjun would be Hyunjun, Dohyun sighs.
AN: *crawls out of a hole* Guess who's back :3
Okay but seriously, I don't know what happened to me, but I have no clue what I'm doing. I've been wanting to do side stories to Mismatch for like a year, but I lost my motivation to write over the past few months and stopped writing altogether. However, I've decided to may start again, but not like properly. Here and there, start and do stuff. For those curious, I don't know if I'll continue my books on hiatus, I don't have the motivation or ideas to continue those, however I am trying my best to do something. Hope you all enjoyed reading this random work. Thank you for reading as well, stay safe!