Counting Stars ?

twenty-one

"You have embarrassing stories?" Rune chuckled, "I can't imagine."

"You'd be surprised," King pouted. "I'm quite the clumsy one."

Rune smirked, planting a kiss on the back of King's neck. He passed the towel back to King to allow him to put it away. Moving over, Rune waited for him to slide back onto the bed before proceeding to hug him tightly. At this point, it was clear he no longer had the intention to find another apartment to move to.

He'd be insane to move out and decrease their time to cuddle and fall asleep next to each other. And he knew for sure he wanted to keep waking up to King in his arms as well.

~

"Baifern is coming over today," King stated, sweeping the floor. Rune who had been washing the dishes looked at him in shock. He wasn't expecting for her to want to meet up so soon. Heck, it had been less than twenty-four hours since he and her spoke.

Seeing his expression, King shrugged, "She has to leave soon so today is the only day she's available to meet up."

Nodding, Rune quickly finished the dishes so he could help King clean the apartment. After they finished with the chores, they took their turns taking a shower. Of course, Rune did ask to join King in the shower, but was sadly shot down by the blushing boy. So for now, he settled with seeing the boy shirtless from time to time.

It was a little bit past lunch by the time the singer arrived. "Hey," Baifern greeted Rune, walking into the apartment. She took off her sunglasses and hat, as well as her shoes. Rune pursed his lips, and nodded.

They walked into the living room where King sat waiting. He raised his hand, giving an awkward smile. Baifern walked over, about to give him a hug when she remembered Rune's presence. Instead she moved to sit down, allowing enough space for Rune to sit between them.

She knew better than to act overly familiar with another person's love interest. Jealousy was never a pleasant thing. She would know.

"Alright," Rune gulped. He grabbed King's hand, "Sorry about this King. But I actually asked her to meet with us to discuss..."

"My mother?" King guessed. Rune nodded, heaving a sigh at the situation. Before he could say anything else, there was banging on the door. The three of them jumped in alarmed. King got up to get it, leaving Rune and Baifern to look at each other awkwardly.

King frowned as he opened the door. Fah came barging in, making sure to take off her shoes before marching into the living room. Fang, who apologized for his sister's rude behavior, quickly followed after her. Closing the door and locking it, King pursed his lips in confusion.

The five of them found themselves gathered in the living room - the atmosphere heavy.

Fah looked at Baifern in curiosity but even then, her anger didn't diminish. She frowned, crossing her arms. "I found out who the bitch King is engaged to, and I'm not impressed."

Both Rune and King's eyes widened, "What-"

"Me!" She pointed to herself. "I'm that bitch! Can you fucking believe they set me up for an engagement? 'it will teach you to be lady-like', the fuck it will!"

"Woah, slow down" Rune raised his hands. He turned to Fang who clearly looked ready to leave and lay down to sleep away his troubles - which consisted eighty percent of his sister driving him crazy. "What happened?"

"We were called back last night," Fang sighed. "They didn't tell us why until this morning to inform us they plan to have Fah get engaged to Khemkhaeng. In other words, King."

"Hold up," Baifern gasped, "engagement? What engagement?"

"Apparently our engagement," Fah exasperated, pointing back and forth between her and King.

"She's really trying to pull this stunt?" Baifern put her hands onto her hips, furrowing her brows. There was visible anger in her expression, and through her voice, "Just how much of your life does she plan to control?"

"Okay, okay," Rune tried to calm down the rising tension in the air. "Let's all talk this through calm-"

"Calm down?" Baifern raised her voice, making everyone flinch. "The hell we're going to calm down. No, we're going to go and immediately tell her to stop the nonsense! He's already an adult with the abilities to make his own decisions!"

"Fern," King stressed. "We can't just jump in and be reckless. You know how calculative my mother is. One wrong move, and we can all end up being locked up, or thrown into an asylum for all we know."

"Then we can contact Khun Rain!" Baifern tried to argue. The name made both Rune and the twins freeze up. Rune stepped closer to her, looking down at her smaller frame. "How can my grandmother help?"

Baifern blinked in confusion before her jaw dropping in shocked. She quickly found her composure, focusing on the main topic.

She turned to look at King who had his fists clenched, looking at her with warning eyes. But she continued to speak, "Look, Khun Rain has enough power as your mother, perhaps even more. Even if your mother tries to do anything, she can help you out - you know she would."

Rune pursed his lips, debating. The fact that he wasn't the only one who considered asking his grandmother for help was more than enough to help him make up his mind as to how to get King out of the engagement.

Baifern was right. His grandmother held great influences and power - much more than a lot of the other people Rune had considered going to for help.

He looked at King who clearly was distressed and was on the verge of shutting everyone out once more. Reaching out, he wrapped his arm around his waist, pulling him close in a comforting manner.

"Let's do it," he said softly. "Let's ask my grandmother for help."