"Enjoying the view? Hey, there's nothing bad going on that Tae-Yeon can't see!" Hak is red-faced and scowling.
Yona turns from his embrace to see Tae-Woo covering Tae-Yeon's eyes in the near distance. She'd completely forgotten Mundok had made Tae-Woo her temporary bodyguard since the night before. Cute little Tae-Yeon must have wandered over to visit.
"How was I supposed to know where that was going?! It looked a little-" a bar of soap narrowly misses Tae-Woo's head.
"Will you be Big Brother's bride?" Tae-Yeon asks with bright eyes as he comes closer. Yona opens her arms and pulls him into a hug with a great smile. Hak watches with a mix of affection and mild frustration that a small child just stole his thunder. He's the Thunderbeast, damn it.
"She's the princess!" Tae-Woo emphasizes the impossibility of such a thing to Tae-Yeon while narrowly dodging an entire bucket from Hak.
"Alright, outta here! I can take it from here on. If the Old Man asks, the princess begged me to help her with laundry."
"Wha-" Yona is cut off as Hak nudges her to go along with this.
Tae-Woo looks at Yona's sad pile of laundry and nods, "The princess thing actually explains a lot..."
"WHA-" Yona's stunned.
"We can help, too." Tae-Yeon offers sweetly.
"Yeah, Gramps said I couldn't leave the princess alone with you," Tae-Woo adds, "What's that about?"
Hak jolts. Ehhh, "There are... reasons." Oh shit - Hak notices Yona is turning red now too - she must have connected exactly what that's about. Hak puts his palm to his face in frustration - he's definitely not having the conversation of his life with Yona right here with these two doing laundry next to them.
"Please, Tae-Woo. For me, could you allow us a moment of privacy," Yona places her hand on Tae-Woo's shoulder and looks at him with her big amethyst eyes. His breathing quickens. Wow, can she affect a man. Yona leans down gives Tae-Yeon a kiss on the top of the head, "We'll be back to the great hall by dinner. Can I sit by you then?" Tae-Yeon beams at the invitation.
The two Wind boys find themselves walking away in a pleasant daze. Hak watches them go, feeling his usual pride about Yona's influence. He's watched it countless times and felt it as many himself.
"So we should talk?" Yona volunteers.
Hak slides a hand around hers, "Come with me."
"I'm really relieved we're not doing this over laundry."
"I couldn't risk you injuring yourself. That would be too distracting."
Yona smacks Hak, "I was doing my best!"
Hak cringes at that thought, then takes her assault hand back into his gentle hold. They're walking through the woods alone together, great speckled patterns of sunlight breaking through the leaves above creating beautiful patterns of light and shadows on the leaf-strewn ground below.
"This feels like old times, just you and me and the woods, " she smiles at the thought, then focuses on her hand in his as he leads. That is different this time. Back when he first lead her through the woods, he held her hand to guide her, steady her. But at this moment... it's completely unnecessary. They're just walking as friends. And yet she doesn't want to let go. He's hardly let her hand out of his. And each time they rejoin she feels an electric shock pulse through her body with warmth... and some foreign sensation she can't put her finger on, but that she wants more of in such a way she wonders if she'll ever reach "enough."
"We're far better dressed this time," Hak clarifies. He's totally right. They've been through some pretty rough times together in the hygiene and wardrobe department. Now they're adorned in fine Wind Tribe garments. Really fine, given Hak's status and that she no longer has to hide that she's the princess.
"I really like that on you..." Yona braves a compliment.
Hak's chest tightens, "Oh?"
"It suits you."
"I honestly shouldn't be wearing it..." Hak reflects he's already given back his name and title. Everything in Fuuga now is just borrowed.
Yona squeezes his hand, "Don't say that."
"If pretending could hurt people I care about... or someone I care about, then I'm happiest to be honest." Hak stops and smiles. Yona realizes what he's looking at - they're at what appears to be a secret shooting range, "I used to practice here when I was a kid."
"Taking me off into the woods alone and training me to fight. Mundok would kill you, huh?" Yona laughs.
"I figured if this gets awkward, it'd give us something to do that doesn't require talking. And I'm better at it than you, so I can regain my confidence."
Yona huffs, "You saw me in those contests! If we're shooting at targets, you can't outdo a bullseye," she nods towards the target in the distance.
"Then I'll challenge you to something harder."
"Cheater."
"How's that cheating?"
"Fine, then I can raise challenges, too. I challenge you to tell me why you really brought me out here. Be honest." Yona wants to die as she asks it, but she's so mixed up inside already she can barely contain it any longer.
"We should have brought alcohol," Hak realizes and laments.
Yona laughs nervously, "We have to loosen up before this conversation? Should I be afraid?"
Hak looks at her dead seriously this time, "I am."
This affects Yona in ways she can't quite understand. Her Hak, this man whom she can barely carry a thought without anymore, is standing before her... upset in some deep way. Without even processing, she finds herself at him, reaching up toward his face, putting her hands in his hair, barely breathing as she pulls his face near hers, foreheads together, "Tell me anything. Just don't ever look at me that way again."
Hak closes his eyes for a brief moment of gathering courage, then opens them to look at her sincerely, profoundly, "I'm in love with you."