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run away with me | yeonbin

genre: fluff, royal! au, prince! yeonjun, servant boy! soobin

pairing: choi yeonjun x choi soobin

word count: 2.8k

the royal family would never have let the prince and the servant boy play together.

yet here soobin was in yeonjun’s room, playing with little wooden blocks. soobin’s apron lay crinkled in his lap and his chubby cheeks were still a little dirty from helping his mother in the gardens a while ago. his clothes were stained too, dirtying yeonjun’s pristine carpet. but yeonjun didn’t mind. he couldn’t care less if his mother would yell at him once she took a look at his room, or if his white shirt was stained from hugging soobin. all he could care about was his eight-year-old friend in front of him, playing with his blocks and trying to build another castle.

from the other side of the creation, yeonjun handed soobin a rectangular block for the gates, to which he mumbled a small thank you. his mother had told him that he should no longer be playing with blocks at nine years old, but yeonjun didn’t care much. he’d rather be playing blocks with soobin than reading whatever book his mother had set aside for him. yeonjun watched soobin’s eyes glitter with concentration as he tried to find a block to act as the watchtower but to no avail. rising from where he was sitting, yeonjun picked up a conical block and sat next to soobin, holding it right in front of his face. soobin’s face lit up in pure excitement, causing yeonjun’s features to mirror his smile.

“thank you hyung!” soobin exclaimed, placing the cone on top of a cylindrical one, finishing off his wooden castle. soobin leaned back into yeonjun and placed his head in the crook of his shoulder and sighed, admiring the culmination of the past two hours. yeonjun gently brushed his long bangs out of his face. he made a mental note to remind soobin’s mother to cut his hair. she was always too busy to do it, with the queen always adding to her to-do list.

yeonjun felt the pressure on his shoulder increase as soobin yawned. “are you tired? wanna sleep?”

soobin’s hair brushed against yeonjun’s chin as he shook his head. “can’t. ma needs me to help with the laundry in a bit.”

“you have to go?” yeonjun asked, turning to soobin with a deep frown. “can’t you stay a bit longer? i’ll help you with the laundry!”

soobin’s bunny smile revealed itself as he giggled. there were some things yeonjun didn’t understand as royalty that made up soobin’s reality. “you know you can’t, hyung. you’re a prince.”

“why can’t i do my own laundry?” yeonjun asked genuinely, eyebrows knitting together.

“your mother would kill my ma if she saw you doing laundry,” soobin laughed as he got up.

yeonjun sighed, giving up on pursuing his questions, and soobin was glad. there were some things that were better left unknown by yeonjun. if yeonjun had started acting different from how the queen had raised him, they would have suspected their friendship. and that would mean never being able to meet yeonjun, or stay in the castle, and then what would ma do? soobin was content with how things were now, where he knew his place and shooed yeonjun off to his own when he forgot.

as soon as soobin was on his feet, the ringing of a bell resounded throughout the castle. fixing his tiny apron, soobin sighed. “there it is, four o’ clock, i need to go.”

“you’ll be back later, right? once you’re done?” yeonjun pleaded, rising to his feet and placing a hand on soobin’s shoulder.

“of course i will! once ma says i can go!”

“promise?”

“promise.”

---

several years had passed them by, yet soobin and yeonjun had paid no attention to them.

“the roses are blooming so beautifully now,” soobin whispers, running his hands over the ruby petals.

yeonjun tucked a strand of soobin's hair behind his ears and whispered, “you’re even more beautiful."

soobin's cheeks were dusted a light shade of pink. his eyes darted downwards to hide his bashfulness, but to no avail. yeonjun had already seen his shy face, and giggled at how cute his love was. yeonjun took soobin’s hand in his as the boys waded through the garden under the cover of moonlight, their fingers interlaced.

muffled cheers and music wafted from the lit castle into the silent garden. there was a great feast to celebrate the visit of a royal family of a neighbouring kingdom. they were here to to establish a strong inter-kingdom relationship, and those plans probably involved yeonjun one way or another. but he hadn’t cared enough to listen. not when soobin was the only thing on his mind, and not when those bloody plans were the only thing keeping them apart.

seeing soobin’s angelic face illuminated by the moonlight made yeonjun’s heart flutter, the same way it had fluttered for the past 10 years (though yeonjun never got tired of the feeling). yeonjun pulled soobin closer and placed a kiss square on his plush lips. there they stood, lips and souls connected, letting both the wind and time pass them by.

that was until the bells beckoned for him.

yeonjun cursed them in his mind. he hated the bells. the queen had adapted to yeonjun’s habit of disappearing from the castle, using them to call yeonjun back whenever she needed him. those bells were always reminding yeonjun of the crown on his head and the burdens that came with it. most importantly, they always pulled yeonjun away from soobin, even more than the rules of castle did.

“hyung,” soobin muttered against yeonjun’s lips, “they’re calling you.”

yeonjun cupped the back of soobin’s neck in the palm of his hands and pulled him closer. “screw the bells.”

soobin let himself melt into the kiss, filled with guilt. he wished that they could do exactly that, but they hadn't been able to for their entire lives. and soobin knew better than to challenge the queen.

“you can’t do this." soobin nudged yeonjun's shoulder. "they’ll come out looking for you, and find us here like this. you wouldn’t want that, would you?”

yeonjun pouted as he took soobin’s hands. he didn't want soobin to be right, but he was. as always. distressed and disappointed, yeonjun ran his hands through his hair. “sometimes i just wish they would. then kick me out of the castle or something.”

soobin cast yeonjun a look that could kill, warning him of the true meaning of his words. yeonjun sighed as he got the horse ready. he helped soobin up before mounting it himself, sitting right behind him. with a steady flick of the reins, yeonjun sent the white stead bounding back to the castle. he placed his head on soobin’s shoulder, despite the bumpiness of the ride. soobin leaned back into his touch, as much as he could for someone being jostled on a horse. they stayed like that as the castle gates drew nearer and nearer, and ultimately appeared in its full glory before them. as the horse slowed down to a stop, yeonjun dismounted it before offering his hand to soobin.

“there’ll be a day,” yeonjun started, with fragility and love in his eyes, “when we’ll just be together, right? when we don’t have to do this?”

soobin wanted to burst into laughter and tears. he desperately wanted to say yes, take yeonjun's hand and promise him their dreams of a love as any other in the castle. instead, he took yeonjun’s hand, climbed down the horse, and placed a kiss on yeonjun’s cheek. "i hope so, hyung. i really do.”

even as soobin uttered those words, voice barely above a whisper, he knew he couldn't promise yeonjun anything. there had never been two kings in a kingdom, nor had there ever been a love between a crowned prince and his servant boy. soobin knew, with a pained heart, that as long as they both resided in the castle, yeonjun could not be his.

yeonjun’s polished boots clacked against the earth, collecting mud. he reached for the reins of the horse, but before he could take them, soobin stopped him, shaking his head. “i’ll take care of this. you go back in.”

yeonjun pouted, but released his grip on the reins. it had always bugged him how, no matter what, soobin always acted how he was supposed to, even when it was just the both of them. but of course, yeonjun knew why. he just wished they didn’t have to be this way. just as soobin turned on his heels towards the stables, yeonjun grabbed his free hand and looked deeply into his eyes.

“i love you.”

soobin’s face curled up in an assuring smile. “i love you too.”

---

"yeonjun, dearie, where have you been?” the queen says, fake worry lacing her eyebrows. “whatever, once you get fixed up, come into the great hall. there’s someone i want you to meet.”

the queen spun around and exited the room, waving her hand as a signal for the servants to help yeonjun. they started dusting the dirt off yeonjun, changed his boots into the pointy shoes he hated. his riding jacket was swapped for a ceremonial blazer and his breeches for trousers. yeonjun’s messy hair was styled to the side, taming it momentarily.

he really looked like a prince now, and he hated it.

as he stepped into the main hall, the eyes of all guests fell on him. he was the man everyone was waiting for. hushed whispers echoed throughout the hall as yeonjun made his way to where his mother was, with the other royal family standing next to her.

“ah yes, king gojong, this is my son, prince yeonjun,” the queen gushed, introducing yeonjun to the king of the neighbouring kingdom. king gojong, yeonjun thought, that kingdom, huh.

“and this is my daughter, princess deokhye,” king gojong said.

behind the king was a girl roughly yeonjun’s age, maybe a few years younger. out of respect, she curtseyed for yeonjun and the queen, and yeonjun bowed to return the favour.

"now that the both of them are here," the king chuckled, "i suppose we could tell them the good news."

yeonjun and deokhye shared the same look of confusion. why would they need to be here? all inter-kingdom related agreements were always discussed between the kings or queens. yeonjun hated it because he didn't care for expansion of the kingdom or the collecting of riches. deokhye hated it because listening to them made her want to say something, but they'd never allowed her the chance to. the two of them had been reduced to side pieces throughout their entire life, but this one statement hinted at an unknown change.

"to emphasise our loyalty to the kingdom of king gojong, as well as our commitment to harmony," the queen started off, smiling brightly while looking at the the two bewildered faces, "prince yeonjun and princess deokhye will be married next summer."

marriage?

yeonjun felt his chest cave in and his breathing felt heavy and restricted. marriage? with someone other than soobin? it couldn't be real? he would have known about it somehow? especially when it concerned pledging himself to a person for the rest of his life, even without love? he wasn’t even attracted to women? for goodness sake, he had just met her, and all he knew about her was her name. that’s barely enough for even a friendship. and soobin. he needed soobin.

the entire hall was celebrating, yet yeonjun's world was collapsing.

he looked up at the princess and saw her equally appalled face. swallowing the lump in his throat, yeonjun muttered an 'excuse me' before running out of the hall, ignoring the panicked calls of the queen behind him.

yeonjun ran, and just kept running, out through the doors of the castle and across the green field in front of it. tears were trickling down his face and his face felt numb. he ran until he reached the stables and busted the doors open. he stood in the doorway, panting, with his hair disheveled, boots muddy, and face wet.

soobin looked over innocently from feeding yeonjun’s horse, confused. but when he saw yeonjun's eyes glistening with pain, his own were laced with concern.

"what happened, love?" soobin said gently, setting the hay down and walking over to yeonjun.

yeonjun wasted no time in pulling soobin into a kiss by his white tunic. yeonjun's kisses were usually soft and filled with love, like sun-filled clouds and moon-lit gardens.

but this kiss had an edge. salty from yeonjun's tears, but now filled with passion. soobin thought it felt like breathing in a raging sea, with a siren singing his name. it felt like gravity had fallen in love with him and was giving him lover’s embrace. it was an intense call from his love, a delivery of all the pent up longing the two of them shared over a span of ten years, releasing itself until they pulled apart.

"they're marrying me off to princess deokhye."

soobin let out a choked gasp, a small cry of pain that only yeonjun understood. he glanced down at his feet, then into yeonjun’s pained eyes. he had no idea what to do. all soobin could do was take yeonjun's smaller hand in his and stroke his thumb over yeonjun's. silence in each other's company was all they needed to process the situation. and so in silence they stood, trying to wrap their heads around the situation, and if the prospect of a solution hung on the horizon.

soobin had always been the one to make sure yeonjun followed his duties as the prince, and the last thing he wanted to do was rob the kingdom of a great leader. and maybe it was foolish of them to every think an arranged marriage was never on the cards. for yeonjun was a prince, and these are the things the children of monarchies are subjected to.

even so, soobin couldn’t let yeonjun slip through his fingers, into a castle in a kingdom thousands of miles away. there was no escaping this situation if yeonjun walked back through those doors. the wedding would be arranged, and all their dreams would crumble in the name of inter-kingdom peace. but yeonjun and soobin knew that they deserved better than that. they deserved the happy ending that all king and queens before them received, so they had to create their own fairy tale. the one of two boys who finally, finally, get to love each other with all of their pure hearts.

"let's just run away."

yeonjun gasped and looked at soobin, mouth slightly agape and eyes widened. he searched soobin's eyes for any sense of a joke (though he hoped he wouldn't find it). instead, he found himself swimming in soobin's sincerity. it had shocked him that soobin proposed it, but he knew soobin wanted it as much as he did. he knew soobin had finally lost his patience, years after yeonjun had.

yeonjun glanced downwards at their clasped hands, then at soobin's face set with determination. his tongue darted out to swipe over his lips, before he nodded, sure of himself.

with a reassuring squeeze of yeonjun's hand, soobin whipped around to prepare the horse, leading it outside. he strapped the saddle back on and fixed the reins. yeonjun grabbed his emergency riding bag that he kept in the corner of the stable, full of supplies, before running out to join soobin.

soobin helped yeonjun helped up onto his horse, then swung his own legs over the saddle, sitting behind him. flicking the reins in his hand, soobin sent the horse bounding into the night. they rode past across the great field, through the barrier of trees surrounding the royal grounds.

feeling the evening breeze on his face, riding away from the castle, yeonjun leaned back and laid his head on soobin’s shoulder, imagining the laughter and confusion of the great hall fade away behind him. in the comforting silence, the both of them were registering the weight of what they were doing. they had no idea where they were going, or what they would do. all that they were aware of was that they needed to get away from what the kingdom had dictated for them. to love each other without hiding, and to spend the rest of their lives together. they were running away from the life they had always known into the arms of uncertainty, but at least they were running into the arms of each other. for now, and forever, they belonged together; yeonjun and soobin, as it had always been to them.

in the distance, yeonjun heard the bells started ringing, but he had already decided that the only thing that could call him back was the sound of his beloved’s voice.

---

a/n: heyhey!! this is my first full length fic on tumblr, i hoped ya’ll liked it :D please please send in an ask if you have any requests bc i’d be stoked to get some!! have a great day ya’ll filled with yeonbin muah <3

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