Firmly Trapped 2/?
Title: Firmly Trapped 2/?
Pairing: Kai/Taemin (Exo/SHINee), [Side Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Changmin/Jaejoong]
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These two definitely do not belong to me, but I'm borrowing them for the joys of this story.
Summary: Taemin doesn't want to be a prince, living in the shadow of his perfect father and his father's consort. He wants to be free, no matter the price he has to pay.
A/N: This story takes place about 16 years after Tightly Bound's epilogue. Taemin is 17 years old at the beginning of this story, with Baekhyun at 18 and Kai at 16. Taemin's older sisters are 21 years old.
A/N2: Inspiration for this fic came from the first few minutes of the movie The Clown and the King ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zdMgghw4VY ) and from its portrayal of the Namsadang.
Warnings: Prostitution
Part 2: The Hidden Trap
Summer
“He’s fine,” Jaejoong told his lover and held out his hand. “Plus Baekhyun has not come back, so you know that Baekhyun is with him.”
Changmin continued to pace their room.
“You need to sleep, my love.”
“How can I sleep?” Changmin asked and sank down to the bed. He put his head in his hands. “My son has been gone for two months. My son hates me. He hates his position, and I can’t do anything about that. He’s the heir. He has to be ... he ... he hates me.”
“He does not hate you,” Jaejoong said. “You do push him too much, though, and you know that. I tell you that all the time.”
“I know, I know.”
“He is not you. And he’s afraid that he will never be as good a king as you are. You were lucky to be so very good at everything you do. Taeminnie is not. He struggles.”
“He’s a good archer!”
“He is. Almost as good as you were when you were seventeen, but he is not a scholar nor is he a singer. He has no affinity for an instrument. He loves horseback riding, but not jousting ... he is not you, and the people in this castle need to remember that.”
Changmin flinched when Jaejoong touched his back, hands soft, up and down his skin.
“He’s still alive,” Jaejoong said, moving his fingers in a light touch over his lover’s chest.
“I know, but he’s ... he’s been gone for so long. What if he never comes back?”
Jaejoong shrugged. “He will.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“How can you be so paranoid?”
Changmin sighed. “For the first time, I feel so very burdened. So very old.”
“I can send him a message if you want.”
“How?”
Jaejoong smiled. “Tomorrow, from the highest tower, I’ll send a leaf upon the wind. It will find him. He will not be able to send anything back, but he will at least know that we miss him and we want him to come home.”
“We should send soldiers after him and drag his ungrateful teenage ass back here.”
“And he’ll run away again. What do you expect to do? Lock him away? Keep your own son a prisoner because he is rebelling?”
“I hate it when you make sense,” Changmin muttered.
Jaejoong laughed and lay against his chest, mouth following the invisible trail of his fingers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“It will be okay. Taemin is smart. He’s good with his bow and his sword. He’s very nice to people. He’ll be okay.”
Changmin swallowed roughly and nodded. “I know.”
“Come to bed. I’m going to put you to sleep tonight.”
“I don’t like your sleeping spells,” Changmin said even as he let Jaejoong drag him into the bed.
Jaejoong pressed him back to the bed and slinked under the blanket with a smirk. “I know you much prefer my mouth. May I, master?”
Changmin groaned and nodded.
--
Taemin ran after his arrow, crowing in victory when he found the poor rabbit that was now going to be their dinner.
“Lucky shot,” Baekhyun said, his own bow held loosely in his hand.
Taemin stuck his tongue out. “That’s three for me this month.”
“Yeah, yeah. Shut up, ass.”
Taemin laughed again. With the sun fading, they were running out of time to find a place to camp and have a fire.
“Hey, look,” Baekhyun said and pointed north.
A thin line of smoke rose into the clouds. They looked at each other and shrugged. They had shared fires and meals before with others traveling. Sometimes. Sometimes they steered clear depending on who it was.
“Worth a shot.”
Taemin nodded. He grabbed their dinner and swung back up onto Meadow’s back. It took almost until sunset for them to read the camp, and when they did, it was much larger than he was expecting. Colorful tents were scattered in a circle around a main fire, and then other tents dotted the land around it. Stands of sticks and ropes held everything from drying meat to drying laundry. People moved from around the camp with food and firewood. Music and singing lifted from an unseen area.
“It’s the namsadang,” Baekhyun said suddenly.
Taemin smiled, remembering the boy who had recognized him, but had not bowed, and trotted Meadow a bit faster. They were hailed a few moments later, and Taemin got off his horse to bow.
Most of the people around had stopped to watch, and Taemin swallowed down his nervousness. The two men who seemed like they were in charge scrutinized Taemin and Baekhyun. They wore loose clothes with their hair pulled up in a bun on their heads. Both had their arms crossed.
“My name is Taehyun,” Taemin said, “and this is Byunggak. We’ve been traveling around and saw your fire, and hoped we could share.” Taemin held up his rabbit.
One of the older men smiled. “Sure, kid. Where are you two going?”
“Wherever the horses take us,” Baekhyun said.
“A fine way to live,” another man said.
Taemin smiled over at Baekhyun. Music started somewhere, and he glanced around. It was like the Caravan almost, but much smaller. There were only about forty people, and most were men, young men in their twenties and thirties. A few women walked between the colorful tents and wagons. There were some young children playing nearby.
“You two interested in joining the namsadang?” a man asked. “We need more performers.”
“No thank you,” Baekhyun said. “We’re just passing through.”
“That is all we do. You may find you like it.”
Taemin smiled at Baekhyun. “Yeah, hyung.”
“Ass,” Baekhyun muttered and that made the older men laugh for some reason.
The fire grew as more fuel was added. Taemin skinned and cleaned his kill, tossing the innards for the namsadang’s dogs. It was roasting over the fire, the sun setting in brilliant oranges like the reflection of the flames, when Taemin caught sight of the boy.
And he looked over at him, eyes wide, and then he smiled and scurried around the bonfire and almost barreled into Taemin.
“Hi,” he said and almost bowed.
“Hi,” Taemin replied.
“You lost your cloak.”
“Yeah. Left it somewhere.”
“Good, good. We were not introduced last time. My name is Kai.”
Taemin grinned. “Taehyun. This is Byunggak.”
“It’s nice to meet you. How old are you? You look older.”
“I’m seventeen. Byunggak is eighteen.”
“I’m almost seventeen, so that means you are older than me! Can I call you hyung?”
“Be silent,” one of the men said.
“It’s okay,” Kai continued. “I met Taehyun before, at the river bend a few months ago when were were in Sodal.”
“Stop bothering him.”
Taemin laughed. “He’s not bothering me.”
“Are you going to stay? You should stay, hyung.”
Taemin glanced at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun glared at him. “We’re just passing through,” Taemin said.
But with just that look, Taemin knew that he wasn’t and that Baekhyun was going to have to stay with him, and Baekhyun was going to punch him really hard when they were alone.
---
Autumn/Winter
Taemin loved living with the namsadang. This was life. Carefree and yet structured. They woke and prepared breakfast, broke camp and moved to a town or a village or to nowhere. On days they did not perform, they practiced, and as soon as Taemin’s proficiency with the bow was discovered, the leader of the namsadang declared him as part of the act.
Taemin loved it. He shot at moving targets, wooden boards that other performers carried, and then he shot at Kai. He did not much like that, but Kai danced and twisted, a combination of martial arts and dance. Kai dance around him, Taemin shot arrows at him that thunked into targets just beyond him.
It was almost sensual, the way Kai moved. He was incredibly clumsy when he was not performing. As soon as he got in front of other people, he changed, and Taemin fought the urge to just stare at him forever. Sometimes he failed.
But never with his bow.
Baekhyun’s talent had always been with his sword. He staged mock battles with other performers that included flips and twists and martial arts, and he started to practice cutting down Taemin’s arrows in the air.
Taemin’s clothes grew tighter, smaller, more colorful. His favorite pair of pants were dark blue and clung to his thighs and hips. His favorite tunic glimmered a brilliant pink with hand stitched vines over the sleeves.
More months flew by, winter came and went with the namsadang, and Taemin could not believe he had been away from the castle for so very long. Winter was harsh on them without a place to call their own, but they stayed in the south, in the warmer temperatures. Taemin loved performing, and he loved the people and the camp. He loved traveling and seeing all the small villages and homesteads spread through the country. He wondered many times if his father had every just traveled, left the castle to wander just because he could. Taemin doubted it.
The camp was currently between towns, and Taemin walked around the edge of it, just enjoying the sight of the people laughing and relaxing. The wind picked up, bringing with it the warmth of the impending spring. It blew through his long hair, and Taemin grabbed it and twisted it up around his head with a leather tie. As his hair grew longer, the single patch of white that was mostly hidden when his hair was short had spread down the left side. Kai liked to braid it, just the white part, and wrap it around his head in some way.
Kai.
He did not know if anyone in the namsadang recognized him besides Kai. He did not know if they even cared. He had not been confronted about it and it was very easy to respond to the name Taehyun, like it was his own.
Taemin stood on the river bank, the wind picked up, blowing his hair from its bindings, and then a broad, fat leaf smacked into his face and he almost fell over. He sputtered and ripped the leaf away, set on tossing it to the side.
And then he noticed writing on it.
Curious, he turned it over, right side up, and then he shouted in surprise and fell to his ass, gaping at the leaf in his hand that had a message to him from Jaejoong.
Taeminnie~
I hope you are well. We miss you dearly. Your father is insufferable without you here. He worries for your safety. If it is possible, please write to us and let us know that you are well. I can feel it. I have a spell on all three of you brats, so I know you’re alive, but that is not enough for your stubborn dad. Your mothers and sisters will be at the palace for the harvest moon. It would be very good to see you then. Come home soon. We love you so much.
~Daddy Joongie
The harvest moon, that had already been so many months ago. He had been gone for almost an entire year. For the first time in a long time, Taemin missed the castle. Well he missed his father. He missed Jaejoong.
Jaejoong had always been so good to him.
Growing up, he had always called Jaejoong “Daddy” just like he had with his own father. Until he learned that Jaejoong was not actually his father. Just like Jinri was not actually his mother. He understood the situation, but he felt a little betrayed, a little lied to. His mother once told him though that just because Jaejoong had not been part of his making, it was the things he did that made him a father, not bloodlines.
And Taemin knew that. Jaejoong was a good father.
Taemin did not know he was crying until hands wiped at his cheeks, and he glanced over to see Kai sitting next to him. Taemin crumpled the leaf in his hand and leaned against Kai’s shoulder.
“May I?” Kai whispered.
Taemin did not mind, since Kai already knew who he was.
Kai took the leaf from him and read it silently. He set it on the ground and put his arm around Taemin’s shoulders, and Taemin leaned into his arms.
“Why did you run away?”
Taemin swallowed. “I don’t want to be a prince. I don’t want to be a king.”
“You need to leave.”
Taemin sat up, eyes flashing in anger. “What? Why?”
Kai shook his head. “It isn’t because I want you to, but both you and Baekhyun.” Kai huffed and ran his hands through his hair. “You’ll be used soon.”
“Used?”
Kai shifted away from him and sat with his knees bent and elbows on his knees. “You’re not stupid, Tae. You’ve seen sometimes how the men go off after performances. How I disappear and come back to the tent exhausted and sore. We’re sold to village leaders who want something pretty to fuck. It is how we get most of our money. I’m really surprised that you have not been sold yet.”
Taemin sighed. He did know that because Baekhyun had warned him just a few days ago with that same observation.
And many times, the village leaders had stared at him in lust. He knew that.
He wondered if he cared.
“Have you ever done that before?” Kai asked. “Sex, I mean?”
Taemin shook his head. “I’m supposed to marry a princess, and then ... yeah, I don’t want to do that.”
“You should leave before you’re sold to someone for a quick fuck. If you refuse, you will be punished and hurt.”
“What about you?” Taemin asked.
Kai flushed and looked away. “I’m pretty,” he whispered, “and I make the namsadang a lot of money. They sell me almost every evening.”
Taemin scowled and ripped up a few pieces of grass. “Will you come with me, if I leave?”
Kai glanced over at him. “I can’t. I owe them a debt.”
“A debt that they do not let you see and just tell you to work harder to get it paid off.”
Kai shook his head. “Maybe.”
“Come with us.”
“I cannot.”
“I’ll protect you.”
Kai smiled at him and once again put his arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “I know. But I cannot.”
“Then I will stay.”
Kai sighed.
---
Baekhyun was first. They both knew it was going to happen eventually, but Baekhyun was more experienced than Taemin in everything. Taemin snuck close to the tent that Baekhyun had been called to and he listened to his friend whimper and moan, listened to the sound of skin slapping together.
Taemin kept asking Kai to come with them when they left.
Kai kept refusing.
Taemin did not know why. Kai would not say why. It was frustrating.
When Baekhyun almost-crawled back to their tent, Taemin held out his arms and let his friend curl into his body.
“Are you hurt?” Taemin whispered.
Baekhyun shook his head. “A bit sore. I’ll be fine.”
“Was it ... was it ... horrible?”
Baekhyun chuckled. “It was bearable. Many men think they are amazing lovers, Taeminnie, and they are not, of course, you can’t tell them that, but it makes everything bearable.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I am being stubborn. We should have left before you had to--”
Baekhyun laughed. “I know you very well, asshole. You are very stubborn, and you won’t leave until Kai agrees to come with us.”
Taemin sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I am sworn to protect you and stay by your side. It is my duty, and my honor, and all that other bullshit.”
Taemin’s laughter turned into quiet sobs, and it was Baekhyun’s turn to comfort him.
Part 3: The Pleasure Trap
Part 1: The Honor Trap
.
Pairing: Kai/Taemin (Exo/SHINee), [Side Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Changmin/Jaejoong]
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These two definitely do not belong to me, but I'm borrowing them for the joys of this story.
Summary: Taemin doesn't want to be a prince, living in the shadow of his perfect father and his father's consort. He wants to be free, no matter the price he has to pay.
A/N: This story takes place about 16 years after Tightly Bound's epilogue. Taemin is 17 years old at the beginning of this story, with Baekhyun at 18 and Kai at 16. Taemin's older sisters are 21 years old.
A/N2: Inspiration for this fic came from the first few minutes of the movie The Clown and the King ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zdMgghw4VY ) and from its portrayal of the Namsadang.
Warnings: Prostitution
Part 2: The Hidden Trap
Summer
“He’s fine,” Jaejoong told his lover and held out his hand. “Plus Baekhyun has not come back, so you know that Baekhyun is with him.”
Changmin continued to pace their room.
“You need to sleep, my love.”
“How can I sleep?” Changmin asked and sank down to the bed. He put his head in his hands. “My son has been gone for two months. My son hates me. He hates his position, and I can’t do anything about that. He’s the heir. He has to be ... he ... he hates me.”
“He does not hate you,” Jaejoong said. “You do push him too much, though, and you know that. I tell you that all the time.”
“I know, I know.”
“He is not you. And he’s afraid that he will never be as good a king as you are. You were lucky to be so very good at everything you do. Taeminnie is not. He struggles.”
“He’s a good archer!”
“He is. Almost as good as you were when you were seventeen, but he is not a scholar nor is he a singer. He has no affinity for an instrument. He loves horseback riding, but not jousting ... he is not you, and the people in this castle need to remember that.”
Changmin flinched when Jaejoong touched his back, hands soft, up and down his skin.
“He’s still alive,” Jaejoong said, moving his fingers in a light touch over his lover’s chest.
“I know, but he’s ... he’s been gone for so long. What if he never comes back?”
Jaejoong shrugged. “He will.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“How can you be so paranoid?”
Changmin sighed. “For the first time, I feel so very burdened. So very old.”
“I can send him a message if you want.”
“How?”
Jaejoong smiled. “Tomorrow, from the highest tower, I’ll send a leaf upon the wind. It will find him. He will not be able to send anything back, but he will at least know that we miss him and we want him to come home.”
“We should send soldiers after him and drag his ungrateful teenage ass back here.”
“And he’ll run away again. What do you expect to do? Lock him away? Keep your own son a prisoner because he is rebelling?”
“I hate it when you make sense,” Changmin muttered.
Jaejoong laughed and lay against his chest, mouth following the invisible trail of his fingers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“It will be okay. Taemin is smart. He’s good with his bow and his sword. He’s very nice to people. He’ll be okay.”
Changmin swallowed roughly and nodded. “I know.”
“Come to bed. I’m going to put you to sleep tonight.”
“I don’t like your sleeping spells,” Changmin said even as he let Jaejoong drag him into the bed.
Jaejoong pressed him back to the bed and slinked under the blanket with a smirk. “I know you much prefer my mouth. May I, master?”
Changmin groaned and nodded.
--
Taemin ran after his arrow, crowing in victory when he found the poor rabbit that was now going to be their dinner.
“Lucky shot,” Baekhyun said, his own bow held loosely in his hand.
Taemin stuck his tongue out. “That’s three for me this month.”
“Yeah, yeah. Shut up, ass.”
Taemin laughed again. With the sun fading, they were running out of time to find a place to camp and have a fire.
“Hey, look,” Baekhyun said and pointed north.
A thin line of smoke rose into the clouds. They looked at each other and shrugged. They had shared fires and meals before with others traveling. Sometimes. Sometimes they steered clear depending on who it was.
“Worth a shot.”
Taemin nodded. He grabbed their dinner and swung back up onto Meadow’s back. It took almost until sunset for them to read the camp, and when they did, it was much larger than he was expecting. Colorful tents were scattered in a circle around a main fire, and then other tents dotted the land around it. Stands of sticks and ropes held everything from drying meat to drying laundry. People moved from around the camp with food and firewood. Music and singing lifted from an unseen area.
“It’s the namsadang,” Baekhyun said suddenly.
Taemin smiled, remembering the boy who had recognized him, but had not bowed, and trotted Meadow a bit faster. They were hailed a few moments later, and Taemin got off his horse to bow.
Most of the people around had stopped to watch, and Taemin swallowed down his nervousness. The two men who seemed like they were in charge scrutinized Taemin and Baekhyun. They wore loose clothes with their hair pulled up in a bun on their heads. Both had their arms crossed.
“My name is Taehyun,” Taemin said, “and this is Byunggak. We’ve been traveling around and saw your fire, and hoped we could share.” Taemin held up his rabbit.
One of the older men smiled. “Sure, kid. Where are you two going?”
“Wherever the horses take us,” Baekhyun said.
“A fine way to live,” another man said.
Taemin smiled over at Baekhyun. Music started somewhere, and he glanced around. It was like the Caravan almost, but much smaller. There were only about forty people, and most were men, young men in their twenties and thirties. A few women walked between the colorful tents and wagons. There were some young children playing nearby.
“You two interested in joining the namsadang?” a man asked. “We need more performers.”
“No thank you,” Baekhyun said. “We’re just passing through.”
“That is all we do. You may find you like it.”
Taemin smiled at Baekhyun. “Yeah, hyung.”
“Ass,” Baekhyun muttered and that made the older men laugh for some reason.
The fire grew as more fuel was added. Taemin skinned and cleaned his kill, tossing the innards for the namsadang’s dogs. It was roasting over the fire, the sun setting in brilliant oranges like the reflection of the flames, when Taemin caught sight of the boy.
And he looked over at him, eyes wide, and then he smiled and scurried around the bonfire and almost barreled into Taemin.
“Hi,” he said and almost bowed.
“Hi,” Taemin replied.
“You lost your cloak.”
“Yeah. Left it somewhere.”
“Good, good. We were not introduced last time. My name is Kai.”
Taemin grinned. “Taehyun. This is Byunggak.”
“It’s nice to meet you. How old are you? You look older.”
“I’m seventeen. Byunggak is eighteen.”
“I’m almost seventeen, so that means you are older than me! Can I call you hyung?”
“Be silent,” one of the men said.
“It’s okay,” Kai continued. “I met Taehyun before, at the river bend a few months ago when were were in Sodal.”
“Stop bothering him.”
Taemin laughed. “He’s not bothering me.”
“Are you going to stay? You should stay, hyung.”
Taemin glanced at Baekhyun, and Baekhyun glared at him. “We’re just passing through,” Taemin said.
But with just that look, Taemin knew that he wasn’t and that Baekhyun was going to have to stay with him, and Baekhyun was going to punch him really hard when they were alone.
---
Autumn/Winter
Taemin loved living with the namsadang. This was life. Carefree and yet structured. They woke and prepared breakfast, broke camp and moved to a town or a village or to nowhere. On days they did not perform, they practiced, and as soon as Taemin’s proficiency with the bow was discovered, the leader of the namsadang declared him as part of the act.
Taemin loved it. He shot at moving targets, wooden boards that other performers carried, and then he shot at Kai. He did not much like that, but Kai danced and twisted, a combination of martial arts and dance. Kai dance around him, Taemin shot arrows at him that thunked into targets just beyond him.
It was almost sensual, the way Kai moved. He was incredibly clumsy when he was not performing. As soon as he got in front of other people, he changed, and Taemin fought the urge to just stare at him forever. Sometimes he failed.
But never with his bow.
Baekhyun’s talent had always been with his sword. He staged mock battles with other performers that included flips and twists and martial arts, and he started to practice cutting down Taemin’s arrows in the air.
Taemin’s clothes grew tighter, smaller, more colorful. His favorite pair of pants were dark blue and clung to his thighs and hips. His favorite tunic glimmered a brilliant pink with hand stitched vines over the sleeves.
More months flew by, winter came and went with the namsadang, and Taemin could not believe he had been away from the castle for so very long. Winter was harsh on them without a place to call their own, but they stayed in the south, in the warmer temperatures. Taemin loved performing, and he loved the people and the camp. He loved traveling and seeing all the small villages and homesteads spread through the country. He wondered many times if his father had every just traveled, left the castle to wander just because he could. Taemin doubted it.
The camp was currently between towns, and Taemin walked around the edge of it, just enjoying the sight of the people laughing and relaxing. The wind picked up, bringing with it the warmth of the impending spring. It blew through his long hair, and Taemin grabbed it and twisted it up around his head with a leather tie. As his hair grew longer, the single patch of white that was mostly hidden when his hair was short had spread down the left side. Kai liked to braid it, just the white part, and wrap it around his head in some way.
Kai.
He did not know if anyone in the namsadang recognized him besides Kai. He did not know if they even cared. He had not been confronted about it and it was very easy to respond to the name Taehyun, like it was his own.
Taemin stood on the river bank, the wind picked up, blowing his hair from its bindings, and then a broad, fat leaf smacked into his face and he almost fell over. He sputtered and ripped the leaf away, set on tossing it to the side.
And then he noticed writing on it.
Curious, he turned it over, right side up, and then he shouted in surprise and fell to his ass, gaping at the leaf in his hand that had a message to him from Jaejoong.
Taeminnie~
I hope you are well. We miss you dearly. Your father is insufferable without you here. He worries for your safety. If it is possible, please write to us and let us know that you are well. I can feel it. I have a spell on all three of you brats, so I know you’re alive, but that is not enough for your stubborn dad. Your mothers and sisters will be at the palace for the harvest moon. It would be very good to see you then. Come home soon. We love you so much.
~Daddy Joongie
The harvest moon, that had already been so many months ago. He had been gone for almost an entire year. For the first time in a long time, Taemin missed the castle. Well he missed his father. He missed Jaejoong.
Jaejoong had always been so good to him.
Growing up, he had always called Jaejoong “Daddy” just like he had with his own father. Until he learned that Jaejoong was not actually his father. Just like Jinri was not actually his mother. He understood the situation, but he felt a little betrayed, a little lied to. His mother once told him though that just because Jaejoong had not been part of his making, it was the things he did that made him a father, not bloodlines.
And Taemin knew that. Jaejoong was a good father.
Taemin did not know he was crying until hands wiped at his cheeks, and he glanced over to see Kai sitting next to him. Taemin crumpled the leaf in his hand and leaned against Kai’s shoulder.
“May I?” Kai whispered.
Taemin did not mind, since Kai already knew who he was.
Kai took the leaf from him and read it silently. He set it on the ground and put his arm around Taemin’s shoulders, and Taemin leaned into his arms.
“Why did you run away?”
Taemin swallowed. “I don’t want to be a prince. I don’t want to be a king.”
“You need to leave.”
Taemin sat up, eyes flashing in anger. “What? Why?”
Kai shook his head. “It isn’t because I want you to, but both you and Baekhyun.” Kai huffed and ran his hands through his hair. “You’ll be used soon.”
“Used?”
Kai shifted away from him and sat with his knees bent and elbows on his knees. “You’re not stupid, Tae. You’ve seen sometimes how the men go off after performances. How I disappear and come back to the tent exhausted and sore. We’re sold to village leaders who want something pretty to fuck. It is how we get most of our money. I’m really surprised that you have not been sold yet.”
Taemin sighed. He did know that because Baekhyun had warned him just a few days ago with that same observation.
And many times, the village leaders had stared at him in lust. He knew that.
He wondered if he cared.
“Have you ever done that before?” Kai asked. “Sex, I mean?”
Taemin shook his head. “I’m supposed to marry a princess, and then ... yeah, I don’t want to do that.”
“You should leave before you’re sold to someone for a quick fuck. If you refuse, you will be punished and hurt.”
“What about you?” Taemin asked.
Kai flushed and looked away. “I’m pretty,” he whispered, “and I make the namsadang a lot of money. They sell me almost every evening.”
Taemin scowled and ripped up a few pieces of grass. “Will you come with me, if I leave?”
Kai glanced over at him. “I can’t. I owe them a debt.”
“A debt that they do not let you see and just tell you to work harder to get it paid off.”
Kai shook his head. “Maybe.”
“Come with us.”
“I cannot.”
“I’ll protect you.”
Kai smiled at him and once again put his arm around Taemin’s shoulders. “I know. But I cannot.”
“Then I will stay.”
Kai sighed.
---
Baekhyun was first. They both knew it was going to happen eventually, but Baekhyun was more experienced than Taemin in everything. Taemin snuck close to the tent that Baekhyun had been called to and he listened to his friend whimper and moan, listened to the sound of skin slapping together.
Taemin kept asking Kai to come with them when they left.
Kai kept refusing.
Taemin did not know why. Kai would not say why. It was frustrating.
When Baekhyun almost-crawled back to their tent, Taemin held out his arms and let his friend curl into his body.
“Are you hurt?” Taemin whispered.
Baekhyun shook his head. “A bit sore. I’ll be fine.”
“Was it ... was it ... horrible?”
Baekhyun chuckled. “It was bearable. Many men think they are amazing lovers, Taeminnie, and they are not, of course, you can’t tell them that, but it makes everything bearable.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“I am being stubborn. We should have left before you had to--”
Baekhyun laughed. “I know you very well, asshole. You are very stubborn, and you won’t leave until Kai agrees to come with us.”
Taemin sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I am sworn to protect you and stay by your side. It is my duty, and my honor, and all that other bullshit.”
Taemin’s laughter turned into quiet sobs, and it was Baekhyun’s turn to comfort him.
Part 3: The Pleasure Trap
Part 1: The Honor Trap
.