pleia | svt

27

"you guys have libraries?"

"why wouldn't we? we're not uncivilized."

"no one said that you're uncivilized, it's just that-"

"you clearly hold no respect for me or my kind."

"it's really not that serious, woohoo. no need to be so upset."

"and that's just it! i'm a prince, but you make a joke out of me. what's the point of bringing you to my favourite place if you're just going to disrespect it- mingyu? where'd you go?"

the blue-haired fae whipped his head around so fast he could've given himself whiplash, but still couldn't find the imanity that slipped out of his gaze.

"min... gyu? where- how- mingyu?!" he yelled, his feet lifting off the ground slowly as he tried to get a better view of the library.

in the corner of his eye stood mingyu, staring intensely into a book he found in one of the shelves.

"hey woohoo!" he called out, motioning his hand over to him lazily as his eyes were still glued to the book. "what kind of fruit is this?" he pointed out, his finger plopped on a picture in the centre of the page.

the fae chuckled lightly, "that's the gooberry."

"gooberry? that doesn't sound appetizing at all!"

the faint smile on wonwoo's face rested there, and mingyu did his best to not draw too much attention toward it since he didn't want to scare it away.

"it's not actually called a 'gooberry', it was just what dino- ah- chan- called it when he was small. it's actually called a custardberry, and it was jeonghan hyung's favourite. chan kept asking and asking 'hannie hyung pleeeaaaaaaase i want to eat it too!' and when he finally did- blehhh! " he laughed, "he spat it right back out! it was priceless! he asked why it was so gooey- and the name gooberry just stuck."

mingyu tried his best to laugh along and keep the moody boy's spirits up, since this seemed to be a rare occurence. "you really love your brothers, huh woohoo?"

"i really do, they're genuinely my entire world. and my job- my only job- is to protect my world. that's why i can't have you here, you being here jeopardizes my one and only job."

with each word, wonwoo's demeanor eased back into its cold, harsh state. mingyu understood the facade, but wanted nothing more than to make him smile again.

"so this custardberry- do you cook it?"

"you can. it tastes juicy and fresh if you eat it raw. if you cook it though, or put it in a cake or pie it tastes really smooth and sweet. it's honestly a really weird thing to explain. why?"

"can i try to make something with it? it'd be nice to incorporate some tastes that you're all used to, as a sort of thank you for having us here."

wonwoo thought on it for a second, before shaking his head. "that's a nice sentiment, but i cannot let you. the custardberries are grown outside along the fiducia tree branches, and that's too much a risk of having people see you."

a small frown hit the brunette's face, his eyebrows furrowing in deep thought. "do you have cookbooks in this library?"

"this is the distinguished library of our dignified family line! to carry cookbooks in here would be a shame on many levels so-"

"woohoo, this place is ginormous. you're gonna tell me there's not one cookbook in here?"

the boy rolled his ocean blue eyes, "back left corner, third shelf above the self-help books." he grumbled, his forehead held softly in his hand in disappointment.