notes: for HakYona Week: prompt protect. (with all apologies, I offer this short piece. so many fandom weeks in the summer! I must admit that I'm getting fatigued, ahhh.)
expecting
He isn't going to protect anyone else but her. Well. Then there's him.
And while every single thing about Hak's life has changed more than he would have ever guessed in his life, the one thing that remains is his habit of waking up just minutes before dawn comes.
So, like any other morning as the sun steadily rises above the horizon, Hak overlooks the kingdom from inside the castle. Soft scarlet sunlight covers the very tops of the tallest trees and the edges of the highest roofs. Everything is enshrouded in a deep calm peaceful red for just a moment before the sun crawls completely over the mountaintops of the east, and in what seems like a flash, the sky turns blue and the world is alight in white.
It's a sight that he's learned to value, even more from within the kingdom after the many months beyond its borders, after days and days of sleeping on the cold hard ground and worrying about if every step they were taking was one in the right direction.
Then, they could have only hoped that all the stars would align and fate would roll into place, but even now when the crown has been finally delivered to the rightful heir and everything else has been said and done, come and gone, loved and lost.
None of this had been planned from the beginning, he supposes. None of-
"Hak," she calls from behind him.
Thoughts interrupted, he looks behind him, turning his entire body in her direction.
He admires for a moment the way that the morning light glows over Yona's sleep-flushed cheeks and shines off her wavy red hair.
There aren't many other sights he wishes to wake up to every day and the fact that he does reminds him that yes everything is right with the world at least and that yes they can lie in bed together comfortably for another five minutes if they wanted to because yes they have worked to get to this point and finally finally got there.
And while even he couldn't deny he had been hoping for all this in the darkest, smallest, most-tucked-away corner of his heart, he most certainly had not been expecting to be able to also hold her small hands without a pang of guilt, without an afterthought of shame, without a single hesitation for what his display of affection might mean between them.
Yona was, is, and will always remain the only person he wants to protect but well…looking at her gravid stomach and seeing her small proud smile at thinking of the son soon to be in her arms, he supposes that he'll soon have to make room in his heart for another one.
as always, with much thank yous for reading and comments greatly appreciated.
thir13enth