*You can find their outfits at the bottom. (Yes, I hunted for their pieces and collaged them.) You can also find Jeongin and Hyunjin's character profiles here.
** Thank you in advance for reading and I hope that you enjoy it! ♡
As many times as he’s traveled past his kingdom’s walls, he can’t say he prefers one over the other and, as easy as it would be to say that he has the best of both worlds, he doesn’t believe it at all. Maybe that’s the downside to being undead for so long. There are things that you miss out on from not being among the living. Maybe when your heart doesn’t beat the same way everyone else’s does, your mind runs a different track as well. It could be that being among the royal all the time has only taken away what humanity he could possibly have otherwise.
“You hate to be late, your Highness, and we’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on now,” Jeongin calls from his doorway.
Hyunjin doesn’t look over, pretending he doesn’t hear him. It agitates Jeongin when he does that, they both know it does, but they both also know that you don’t repeat yourself to Hyunjin. He always hears you the first time.
“What if I don’t want to go today,” he finally speaks, turning his attention to his bodyguard.
Jeongin is in all black, a low-rise fitted turtleneck, slacks and a trench coat that reaches to his calves. Even his brogue boots are fully black. Completely sleek. The only accessory to break it up would be the two silver rings on the simple harness he’s donned over his turtleneck. With his hair black and his lips bloodstained, his skin looks borderline translucent against it all. It doesn’t help that his eyes look as though they’re carrying the depth of the night inside of them either.
It’s not the first time that Hyunjin’s paid attention to his appearance. It’s hard not to when they spend almost every waking moment together. Even when he’s resting, Jeongin is watching over him. Despite being so close to him all the time, the prince can’t help but to realize that, even if he hadn’t already known that Jeongin carried royal blood in his veins, he would always see royalty in him. Vampire royalty isn’t easy to come by. The looks and the air are beyond different from the average vampire that humans are used to encountering. The prince has seen it and known it and lived it his entire life. The few rare occasions where he’s gotten to meet those of non-royal descent, he can tell the difference, much too easily.
Jeongin has the entire package minus the desire to be king.
“You’ve never wanted the throne? Wanted to see what it was like?”
The bodyguard just looks at him for a moment, expression blank, before he shakes his head, “Not at all. It may not seem to be the most forgiving to be a bodyguard, your Highness, but, I assure you, I wouldn’t want to take your place on any given day.”
“As prince, it’s quiet.”
“Until you have to take the throne.”
“That may never happen. We all live forever after all.”
“Living forever doesn’t mean that we can’t die. We’re just not as weak as the humans.”
They haven’t had this conversation before but, for some reason, it feels like they have.
Drawing the heavy wooden doors closed behind him, Hyunjin quiets and makes his way from his balcony to his mirror to finish getting himself ready for the day. Eyeing his own reflection, he ties his hair back with a black ribbon, half up and half down as he then adjusts the way his bangs lay at the sides of his eyes. He’s in a fitted black button down, the sleeves lace but striped so only some of his skin shines through. His slacks are fitted with a belt at the waist, the sleek silver buckle and accent on the belt drawing him to his accessories. The prince slips on a silver watch with a black face and silver numbers and a few silver rings as well. His earrings are pearls with silver cuffs, the double cuffs having pearl accents as well. It doesn’t take him long to find the shoes that he intends to wear: a pair of black velvet loafers with a crystal chain across the bridge.
He’s then going for his last accessory; it’s always his most important. He goes through his drawer of masks, finding one that he’d recently been gifted but hadn’t worn yet. Slipping the straps over his ears, he tilts his head from side to side as he adjusts it to his liking, letting the long silver chain swoop down toward his abdomen. Hyunjin only glances at his appearance one more time. It takes only a moment of looking over the mask before he finally notices the family crest among the spikes on the sides of it, reminding him of just who he is.
Not that he could really forget.
“Your Highness,” Jeongin calls from the doorway, “Your ride is waiting for you at the front.”
“Well, then, I guess we should be going then,” Hyunjin states, slipping his hands into his pockets as he walks out of the room, Jeongin in tow after closing the prince’s bedroom door.
As they reach the vehicle, Jeongin opens up the door and Hyunjin slides into the back with the bodyguard following after. The two sit in the back in silence as the car proceeds to make its way into town. Hyunjin can tell not too long into the ride that the other has something on his mind, waiting at the tip of his tongue.
“Just go ahead and voice it. You don’t usually bite your tongue with me,” Hyunjin states, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Jeongin presses the button to put up the divider between them and the driver, a special one that silences things even for the sharpest of vampire hearing. He then looks at the prince, deciding to go ahead and ask now.
“Would you really give up being king?
“Why would you ask that?”
“You don’t seem to run from your responsibilities but it seems that you’ve been questioning them a lot more lately.”
“I’ll always do what I have to do. If it ever comes down to it, and I need to be the king, then I will take the role I’ve been produced to fit.”
Jeongin’s expression fills with concern and he shakes his head a bit, “Is that what you believe? That you were only born if the throne were to need a successor?”
“Jeongin, that’s the only reason an heir is ever born. We are born to make sure no one outside of the bloodline can take the role and for the ruling monarchs to feel their throne is secured, whether they step down on their own or have to by other circumstances.”
“As often as we travel out, you never once are filled with wanderlust?”
“I travel to test my abilities. I am only fit to be king if I have no weaknesses. As the son of monarchs, my only purpose for traveling is to better myself in every possible way.”
“You sound more like a robot than a prince.”
Hyunjin raises a brow and then lowers it as he looks over at the other, “I don’t believe there is much of a difference.”
The car falls silent after that and it’s clear they are both lost in their thoughts as they gaze out of their respective tinted windows. They don’t shake from it either until the car comes to a stop.
“We’re here, your Highness,” Jeongin points out, spotting their familiar destination outside of his window.
He proceeds to lower the divider, telling the driver that he can leave as usual once they exit the vehicle. The bodyguard then proceeds to exit the vehicle, standing at the door as Hyunjin steps out behind him. Neither of them have to really look to see the eyes on them. They feel them and it’s nothing new. This part of town doesn’t get too many people that, well, look like them. Whether those watching know the two are vampires or not, their aura has undeniably drawn them in.
Hyunjin proceeds up the steps to enter the academy, Jeongin tailing closely behind him. He proceeds to follow the prince down the corridors, both of them looking for one specific room for the time being. As usual, once inside the academy, Hyunjin doesn’t speak aloud. He doesn’t want to chance anyone learning the sound of his voice, not that many, if any at all, would even know who he really is. He’s heard the talk among the students and other attendees and staff. Most simply believe him to be the son of some big mogul in the city, just another kid born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Hyunjin sees similarities but the rich of the humans isn’t nearly the same as being vampire royalty; even the royalty of humans wouldn’t be a proper comparison. After all, none of their monarchs are practically eternal beings.
Upon reaching the correct room, Jeongin opens the door and follows Hyunjin inside, where the prince takes his seat and his bodyguard sits more to the back so as not to disturb in any way. The class is empty at the moment, people filing in here and there. The classroom is also being cleaned and straightened up from the previous group that had been in the room. Hyunjin is used to the whispers as everyone had opted for that instead of just staring at him, all of them assuming that both he and his bodyguard couldn’t hear them. He feels eyes on him though and, as he glances up, they make eye contact but for a brief moment. The stranger smiles at him and he simply looks away, chin in his palm as he props his elbow up on the table and looks out of the window.
The gaze doesn’t disappear quickly or easily and it’s a bit off-putting.
One thing is for sure: Hyunjin has a very strong and unsettling feeling that this human will be one of the few he’s met that will learn just how curiosity killed the cat.
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