aka the chapter where woosan acts like the proper adults they are.
also guys THANK YOU SM FOR 1K??? WTF???genuinely never thought that much ppl will like the story. thank u smsmsmsm. i hope u enjoy the chapter!!
—
a series of small knocks came on san's door that evening. san went to open the door without thinking much since he thought it might be his sister coming back for more ranting, which he definitely would not have minded at all. however, to his surprise, it was wooyoung standing there, shuffling with his feet and picking his fingers.
"hey, cinnamon," san smiled softly at the birthday boy's appearance, "what are you doing here?"
wooyoung lifted his head and asked, "can i—can i come in first?"
san, without any proper lighting, could not see wooyoung's face but he could already imagine how the boy's brows would be knitted and lips slightly pouted. that worried san. those were obvious signs of stress and san had never seen this being portrayed on wooyoung before. what could wooyoung possibly be stressed about?
"i thought about what you said, about our fate," oh. that made sense. "i'm sorry, sannie. i'm so sorry."
san didn't even get to wooyoung on time before the moon dust bursted into tears. that's not good, san thought. he guided wooyoung to his bed and sat them both down, wooyoung on his lap as he hugged the shorter male. san rubbed circles onto wooyoung's back, hoping that would make him feel better and just waited it out. he didn't know if he could kiss the younger, knowing that the two were in an awkward position where they didn't know what their relationship was exactly.
after a while, when wooyoung calmed down, san smiled upwards at the younger, "feeling better now?"
wooyoung sniffed, nodding before shaking his head. san frowned, what was wooyoung apologising for at the first place? and why was he acting like this? "wooyoung, you know you can tell me anything, right? tell me what's bothering you, we'll sort it out together."
wooyoung still stayed quiet, his lips sealed shut as he tried to look away from san's questioning gaze. san held onto wooyoung's jaw with one hand and turned the smaller's face towards him, "don't tell me you came here just so you could spend a night with me." a playful smirk was present on his lips, making wooyoung blush hard. not that san could see it, and wooyoung would like to keep it that way.
"n-no. i came here because, because..." wooyoung sighed, dropping his head to san's shoulder as the older's hand on his jaw slipped down to join the other one on wooyoung's waist, "i went to see the moon goddess."
that made san sit up straighter all at once. that wouldn't be good. "what did you find her for?"
"i talked about us. our fate. how—how much you're hurting from it." wooyoung confessed. san's hands went up to wooyoung's shoulders and pushed the younger away slightly, making the two face each other, "hurting? i'm not hurting from our fate."
wooyoung chuckled lightly, "no, you're not. not from our fate. but from me. from my beliefs of you deserving someone better than me. that you deserve a royal like you and that you should be marrying and bonded with a royal blood."
san frowned, "wooyoung-"
"i know. i know you're about to tell me that you don't give two shits about that. and i admire you a lot because of that. but i do. and i think it really gets to me if i think too much about it — how the people would look at me when they see that the prince has a commoner as his soulmate. not only that, but he has a moon dust as his soulmate. ah, they'll think, he must've asked for a favour from the moon goddess. on top of that, he's a sorcerer, too. ah, they'll think again, maybe he slipped one or two love potions into the prince's drink when he wasn't aware of it.
"i don't mind these slander. yes, they are a lot since i'm both, but they're fine. i can live with them. can you though, san? you, as a king, whose supposed to be loved by all in this kingdom? what would you do if they started to disobey and rebel just because you have me as your soulmate? what if they overthrow you just because of that?" wooyoung took in a deep breath and saw the look on san's face: the prince was not impressed.
"then what did you discuss with the moon goddess?" san tightened his grip on wooyoung's shoulders. wooyoung winced at the slight pain that was seeping through, but it was fine. san wouldn't hurt him. at least he hoped he wouldn't.
wooyoung cleared his throat, "you, uh, you won't like it." wooyoung sneaked a peek at san's eyes through his overgrown bangs and indeed, the prince was slowly losing his control, "i, um, i asked her to change your soulmate to someone of royal blood."
san didn't speak for a while. that made wooyoung even more anxious. he knew san wasn't going to like it. he knew it the moment, no, even before he went up to visit the moon goddess. wooyoung knew that san was going to be mad at him. and to be honest, that's good. that's good, isn't it? that means that san would hate him and perhaps banish him from the kingdom. that way, no one would be harmed when their bond fades away. san probably wouldn't even remember wooyoung was his soulmate when he marries his new soulmate, which would be of royal blood.
"you did what?" san asked through gritted teeth. he gripped onto wooyoung's jaw and jerked the younger towards him, "so what? our bond's just gonna break now? are you even my soulmate anymore? or was that immediately effective?"
wooyoung shook his head. well, as much as he could in san's iron grip, "no, the moon goddess said she was going to discuss it with the other gods. see, i was blessed by multiple gods and goddesses so she would like to discuss it with them first. then they'll have to go through the whole process of deciding who would be your new soulmate. it's—it's gonna take a while."
it was like the thing that wooyoung just told san broke him completely. the prince loosened his grip and hung his head low. his shoulders started to shake and wetness fell onto wooyoung's thighs. wooyoung let out a small gasp of realisation and hurried to wrap san in his arms, tugging the two of them closer as he wrapped his arms around san's neck.
"that's why i'm sorry, sannie. i—i just thought of what's best for you, of what would benefit you in the long run. i know this isn't ideal at all and that you are hurting a lot from it. and i'm sorry for that, choi san. i'm sorry for allowing you, or even just being me to the point where you would show just a bit of interest in me. i regret it. i regret it a lot. i shouldn't have came in the first place. my—my arrival just made everything so difficult and-"
wooyoung paused when he felt lips on his own, the tears that were streaming down san's cheeks making the kiss a bit salty. it was soft, just a mere brush of lips, but it spoke a thousand emotions: sorrow, anger, guilt, and most of all, hopelessness. san was losing hope, he could tell, but something in san just wouldn't allow himself to do that. no, he wouldn't just allow someone else to write his fate completely. he spent his entire life living by the rules even when he knew he hated every single bit of it. he hated how demanding his father was, he hated how he wasn't allowed to interact with the commoners, he hated his father's way of thinking and acting. and after nineteen years of living, there was finally this chance — this one, golden chance — for san to make his own decision. to twist his fate so that he might not have to just stick by his father's rules. and it just slipped away. just like that.
san knew it was a hopeless cause, that he'd be assigned a new soulmate in no time and that he'd probably start forgetting wooyoung bit by bit. although he would never want that to happen at all, it was inevitable. his path was, once again, written out by someone else.
"i'll court you." san muttered against wooyoung's shoulder. wooyoung tensed, the older sitting up straight again and stared into wooyoung's big, round, beautiful eyes, "i'll court you, jung wooyoung."
wooyoung frowned, "but—but courting's for-"
"for marriage, yeah." san replied, his eyes serious and not at all joking about this, "i will court you. i won't just give up on you so easily. how about this: i'll court you for six months and if the moon goddess still haven't presented a soulmate to me before the six months end, i'll marry you. on the other hand, if the moon goddess presents me with a soulmate within six months, then i'll say goodbye to you and court the new soulmate instead. how does that sound?"
wooyoung could feel how heartbroken and sorrowful the older was feeling. wooyoung was starting to regret his decision of asking the moon goddess at all, but he knew it was only the right thing to do. that the king would never allow such union between the two.
"the moon goddess isn't going to like-"
san captured wooyoung's lips in another kiss, this time his arms securely around wooyoung's waist and pulled the other impossibly closer to him. san placed a few kisses down wooyoung's neck and placed a one right on his collarbone, then looked up at the moon dust, "i know. but i only ever want to be with you. if she strips me of my title as a prince, so be it. i'd rather be with you than be with someone i don't love."
wooyoung frowned, but nothing came out of his mouth. san smiled, a little pained from the heart wrenching news. their fate was deemed to fail since the very beginning. they were never supposed to be together. was this some kind of sick joke the gods played on them? perhaps just to get a laugh from it? or maybe, just maybe, the moon goddess wanted wooyoung to have a taste of how people felt like when he tells them they're not fated soulmates.
but wooyoung knew it was none of those. in fact, the gods and goddesses gave him a chance to love, to be human, and he just threw it out of the window completely. it'll be okay, he kept on telling himself to hopefully convince his hurting heart that it will. everything will turn out okay and later, perhaps in a few years, he'll come to terms with this being the right thing to do.
"okay, deal." wooyoung squeaked out, his voice soft and quiet like the slightly chilled breeze outside of san's room, outside of the comforts of their arms around the other.
san smiled, a genuine one this time. "i'll start tomorrow," he whispered, "let's just sleep for now. please, can you—can you sleep with me?"
wooyoung chuckled, kissing san's forehead, "of course, your highness."
—
a/n: ok this was a MESS i don't think half of it even made fucking sense. i don't know. i hope you understand a bit ab both sides and that both reasonings r sorta making sense. i'm definitely siding with san on this one tho, and yes, it's normal to feel like u wanna punch red string!wooyoung. but i gotta somehow make this an angst, right :D