Up In Our Bedroom, After the War
Title: Up In Our Bedroom, After the War
Rating: Nc-17
Summary: Maybe if Changmin hadn’t been so stubborn they would have been fighting on the winning side.
Pairing: OT5
A/N: MORE NOTES UNDER THE CUT. The last installment of army!verse. Comes after
this.
vaguelynormal WROTE THIS FIC TOO. BUT BECAUSE SHE’S TOO LAZY AND DOESN’T WANT TO POST IT ON HER OWN, SHE’S GIVEN ME THE LIBERTY TO DO IT FOR HER. so there. Jsyk :D
The soldier falls to the ground, wheezing out blood as the blade is withdrawn from his stomach where it had sliced him open, his intestines spilling outwards onto the marsh, blending with the mud. Yunho watches as the man’s eyes close, his body still before he turns to survey the field.
He’s the last soldier left standing and he’s barely holding up. If he doesn’t bleed out from the deep tear in his thigh or pass out from the bullet stuck in his right shoulder he’ll be lucky not to join the bodies littering the ground. He moves quickly, abandoning his ammunition- he’d lost his gun a long time ago, shortly after losing his horse. He tosses away his helmet and his long blade, his movements too slow to be stifled further by excess weight as he tries to balance his way over the mountains of bodies, feeling them crush beneath him. He almost falls, sliding his way through congealed blood, turning men wearing uniforms like his own, searching desperately for that one face that’s been beside him for the past six months.
The tanks are rumbling off in the distance- retreating, Yunho thinks bitterly- even though they had been of no use in the marshland, unable to travel through the mud without sinking. The white flag had been raised over an hour ago but Yunho couldn’t bring himself to stop fighting, to surrender after all he’d been trained to do. He’d rather die, but here he was still breathing when it seemed like the one person he wanted to fight for was dead.
He can hear the horses coming nearer- the victory party- coming to collect their wounded, pilfer anything of worth and probably capture their last remaining enemy but Yunho doesn’t care. He walks faster, his throat beginning to catch and tears brimming in his eyes as despair begins to settle in.
‘Changmin,’ Yunho calls out, half-sobbing.
The Brigadier had to be here somewhere, even just his body although Yunho knew from sparring that the man would not be easily taken down. When the General and two Lieutenant Generals had left, Changmin had been the one to console Yunho. In his anguish Changmin had comforted the soldier all through the night and kept him distracted throughout the day with exhausting training.
The soldier tries not to think of his last argument with the General but the memories come flooding back in, adding to his despair.
Jaejoong had tried to convince Yunho to leave the army- to desert the cause and join the other side and truthfully, Yunho had no loyalties to this particular army but he had deep loyalty towards Changmin and he knew the Brigadier would never leave. Changmin had been born into the military; his father ranking higher than Jaejoong’s before his retirement and Changmin would never betray the cause- it was too deeply ingrained within him.
‘They’re going to kill everyone with their reckless war, Yunho. They don’t plan on winning this with the deaths of just two regiments,’ Jaejoong had yelled.
‘It’s war, sir. Losses are expected on both sides,’ Yunho had accepted dying a long time ago.
Yunho had watched as the General paced back and forth, pulling at his own hair and letting out exasperated shouts of frustration.
‘Why do you have to leave?’ Yunho asked quietly, head down.
Jaejoong stops pacing and turns to cup the soldier’s face in his hands, staring intensely. Yunho is surprised to see that the man has tears in his eyes.
‘They’re attacking our home- Yoochun’s, Junsu’s and my village. Just to rape the land for resources we no longer need, just because they’re powerful enough to do it,’ Jaejoong says crying.
‘It’s hard enough to watch them do it to other towns, but these are our families, our friends who will suffer- who will be sold as slaves and whores as the spoils of war. It’s our houses and churches that will be burnt to the ground just for an advantage. I can’t let that happen, Yunho.’
Yunho had watched as they begged Changmin to understand, to come with them but he flatly refused, telling them to leave before he notified the higher ups about the insurgents in their midst.
And Yunho had stayed, sadness, loss and something close to love stirring in his heart. The sex alternated between insanely cold and violent -leaving Yunho to curl in on himself, alone- and oddly tender, Changmin holding him impossibly close at night. But it couldn’t fill the gap- they both felt lonely and lost without the three men.
Yunho can’t help but think if the men had been fighting by their side, they’d all have made it out of this war alive.
He picks through the bodies, most of them dead or dying- already unconscious- his own wounds restricting his movements, his right arm hanging limply by his side. If they’d stayed maybe their side would have won- the loss of three high ranking officers had damaged morale and the General had left with all their battle plans, Jaejoong without a doubt the mastermind in staging this battle on such unsteady ground- the type of land only locals would fight well upon.
The enemy had certainly grown in number, the villagers taking arms with anything they had. Men, women, elderly and children fighting with tools to protect their homes and certainly there had been great losses but here, in this battle of men trained by Jaejoong’s hand, people spurred on by their growing allies and worthy cause had won.
Yunho’s army had surrendered after four hours of fighting- they’d lost everything except for the war machines, machines that couldn’t even enter the battle ground and all their horses had been brought down within the first hour. They’d scrambled for purchase on muddy ground, fighting hand to hand, their combatants- at ease with the soft ground- had the advantage and they had been slaughtered all too easily.
Maybe if Changmin hadn’t been so stubborn they would have been fighting on the winning side but Yunho can’t worry about it now, he can’t lose Changmin. Tears pour down his face as he scrambles his way over bodies, calling out. He knows if he finds the Brigadier alive and conscious he’ll be scolded for crying but he can’t bring himself to stop.
The horses are getting louder as Yunho pulls a body out the way, trying to see the face wearing the colours of his army, his heart races when he spies familiar insignia on the arm. He rushes to shift another body to find his Brigadier underneath and Yunho’s heart almost stops when he finds the man still breathing. Changmin’s leg is trapped beneath a fallen horse and Yunho desperately tries to push it off, using his shoulder as a bolster, almost blacking out from the pain and exertion- lifting the carcass just enough to slide the leg out.
The soldier drags Changmin’s body out of the pile and cradles it in his arms, he can’t see any fatal wounds but the Brigadier won’t wake up and Yunho doesn’t know what kind of damage he has acquired there, being crushed underfoot.
‘Changmin, Changmin please,’ Yunho sobs, tears falling from his face onto his officer, smearing the dried blood and dirt.
He’s not aware that he’s being surrounded by the riders or ordered to stand down; he’s listening desperately for his Brigadier’s breaths- in, out, in out. Suddenly he’s being pulled away, a soldier striking him in the nose with the butt of his rifle when he crawls back towards Changmin’s body and he’s held down physically, a knife to his throat.
‘Don’t kill him,’ Yunho hears a familiar voice order and the knife is gone, his hands wrenched behind his back and bound as he kneels in the dirt and blood. A rider dismounts and inspects the Brigadier’s body, checking the pulse.
‘He’s alive, but barely,’ He hears the man he recognises as Yoochun say.
Yoochun moves to check on Yunho, lifts his head to make eye contact but Yunho can’t bear to drag his eyes from Changmin, watching like a hawk for the rise and fall of his chest.
‘We’ll take them with us,’ The General orders, ‘Any survivors, alert the med team. Anything valuable, take it with you. Don’t feel bad about taking from the dead- wedding rings, gold teeth, weaponry- take it all, they’d have done it to you and you’re going to need money to rebuild.’
The men move out, releasing Yunho into Yoochun’s hold to begin methodically scanning the bodies. Yunho immediately breaks free from Yoochun to crawl back to his Brigadier, falling because of his bound arms but determined to reach the man. He feels Yoochun pull him upright by his arms, wincing as the strain on his injured shoulder intensifies and suddenly the ropes are cut, his arms swinging free, wrapping around Changmin’s body protectively.
The General dismounts and moves over the bodies towards Yunho.
‘Yunho, it’s over. Let’s get you fixed up- Changmin too,’ Jaejoong soothes, gently prying the soldier’s hands from the Brigadier’s shirt.
Yoochun and Junsu gently lift Changmin onto a carrier, brushing off other soldiers who offer to take the wounded man for them and begin trekking to drier land where a vehicle waits. Yunho cries harder at the separation, stretching his arms out wanting to follow them.
‘Shh, you’ll be okay,’ The General lifts the soldier up off the ground and places the man on his horse sidesaddle before mounting, holding Yunho’s slack body carefully on the steed as he rides home.
--
Yunho slips in and out of consciousness. He’s aware he’s behind enemy lines and he’s also aware that they’re supposedly no longer enemies. He feels an intense pain in his shoulder, at times waking him from his deep sleep, his own screaming foreign to his ears. He hears Junsu singing him soft songs in a language he doesn’t know or is too incoherent to understand and at times Yunho thinks he hears Yoochun and Jaejoong join in. Sometimes he’s simply haunted by the sound of gunshots, feeling the spray of bullets enter his skin, the scent of brain matter flooding his nose, clogging his senses.
Sometimes, he dreams of Changmin.
Changmin calling to him in an empty field, holding out his hand as his hair shines in the sun, smiling brightly. Changmin lifeless and unmoving, his skin pale and eyes glassy, his whole body drenched in blood. Many times when Yunho dreams of Changmin, the man is dying and when Yunho tries to say all the things he’s ever wanted to, no words come out, just a static silence.
When Yunho does wake up- finally lucid- it’s to a pretty young woman changing the dressing on his thigh, the soldier glimpsing at a long line of thick, black stitches. The woman startles slightly but continues when the solider says nothing, just lays still.
Eventually Jaejoong makes an appearance, he looks a lot worse for wear- like he hasn’t been sleeping whilst Yunho has done nothing but.
‘How are you feeling?’ He asks, resting his hand over the soldier’s on the bed.
‘Fine, sir. Is-is the Brigadier-‘ Yunho chokes, can barely stand the thought of a life without his officer.
‘He’s fine, recovered a lot faster than you. He took a few blows to the head and his leg had some nerve damage but he’s more than okay, just…stubborn.’
‘Can I see him?’ Yunho asks quietly.
‘That’s difficult, Yunho. Changmin is resisting, he won’t talk to us- he doesn’t want to accept that the war is over,’ The General says. ‘Do you, Yunho?’
Yunho thinks about it for a moment. He thinks about the lies-propaganda spread throughout the army, turning men to monsters- he thinks about his own losses of his family and friends, the poverty caused by it all. He thinks about the wreckage out there on the battlefield: the lives lost on both sides, their blood spilt just the same. Truthfully he’ll be glad to be over with it all.
‘I don’t think there are any men left to fight it, sir,’ Yunho answers.
The General laughs, ‘Yes, well that may be the case. You don’t have to call me sir anymore then, Yunho. You’re no longer a soldier.’
‘Okay,’ Yunho replies, beginning to feel sleepy again.
‘Another week and you can get those stitches out. You really worried us, losing so much blood like that,’ Jaejoong says, taking a seat beside Yunho as the man falls back to sleep.
--
Changmin wakes a few hours after his arrival in the med bay with a splitting headache and little recollection of how he got there. He pulls out the IV, shifting to sit upright though his head spins from the action. When an officer wearing the enemy uniform pulls back the curtain surrounding his bed, Changmin instinctively reaches for his knife. He finds it gone, along with his own uniform and medallions- grave robbers, Changmin thinks bitterly.
He’s more than a little bit outraged when Jaejoong comes into the room and tells him that the war is over. His side has surrendered and signed a treaty; their army will be dissolved. The General is trying to put it gently but it burns Changmin all the same, the bitter sting of betrayal, loss, the hurt of loneliness when his senior officers - his friends- left him. To give in is a weakness Changmin was not taught to allow and the defeat weighs heavily inside him, shame boiling in his gut until he seethes with hatred.
He’s shown to a room; clean like the barracks, cold, a single cot bed and open bathroom. There’s no mistaking the room for anything but a holding cell- a prison. The Brigadier refuses to eat, to cooperate- instead he spits out hateful slurs that have Jaejoong back handing him repeatedly.
As he’s sleeping on the cold floor one morning, half-delirious from hunger he sees a soldier kneel down next to his form. He lashes out with the last of his strength, kicking the soldier in the ribs and jumping on top of the wheezing boy, throwing punches as strong as he can muster, sometimes hitting the concrete floor instead. He’s quickly pulled off, Yoochun striking him a blow to his head, his world turning black as he watches Junsu cradle the boy on the floor so tenderly. He thinks briefly before he blacks out that he has never seen these men be so caring towards another person.
When he wakes again he finds himself strapped to a bed, an IV in his arm and Jaejoong standing over him.
‘You’re very lucky we’re not executing you after that little episode,’ The General warns, his tone filled with underlying anger.
‘You re-opened his stitches and he doesn’t deserve that from you, not after he risked his life to drag your sorry ass to safety. We wouldn’t have found you for another week buried underneath that pile of bodies, you owe him your life- at least make sure you do survive to repay him,’ Jaejoong taps at his IV as Changmin tries to wrap his head around the information.
‘Yunho?’ He grunts out, throat dry.
‘Yes, Yunho. You’d think you would stop thinking about how treacherous we are for a second to worry about your lover. You were all he was worried about.’
‘He made it?’ Changmin can’t help the disbelief that trickles into his voice.
‘Yes, you two are the only survivors but he has severe injuries. I knew we shouldn’t have let him see you, but he insisted,’ Jaejoong says sounding exasperated and Changmin can tell Yunho’s health is wearing on the General’s last nerve.
The Brigadier feels guilty for not thinking of Yunho sooner, for immediately suspecting that he had either died or returned to camp whilst he had been captured. Had he spared only a moment of pride to ask the General, he doubts the man would have lied about the soldier but he no longer trusts in the officers. There are many extreme lengths men will go to in war to extract information and how can he have faith in men who have already deceived and deserted him?
And now it seems Yunho has forsaken him to join their side. He knew when the three officers left there were gaps he couldn’t fill, that he wasn’t enough for the soldier, but this blow hurts more than any received in battle. He feels hot tears surfacing and clamps his mouth shut in an effort to hold them off, his throat aches as he’s wracked with grief at the loss of his lover and friend. It would have been better if he had died, the direct loss far easier to mourn than healing the wound of betrayal, Changmin thinks.
The General leaves him alone with his grief, the Brigadier left unable to move and wipe the tears from his own face.
--
A few days later Yunho visits the Brigadier, he’s sporting a black eye and his lower lip is slightly swollen but he smiles his brightest at Changmin. The man is still tied down on the bed and his hand twitches in the leather restraints when Yunho goes to hold it, yet the soldier doesn’t let go.
‘You really should eat, I brought you some broth,’ Yunho says, winding the bed up until Changmin is in a sitting position.
Changmin doesn’t say anything but he still refuses to open his mouth when Yunho holds a spoon up for him. He won’t make eye contact, even as the man strokes his cheeks and brushes the hair out of his eyes.
‘You have to let go, Changmin,’ He sighs. ‘The war is over, there are no sides left to take.’
Yunho forces the Brigadier’s jaw open, tilting his head back and trickling the warm, salty fluid down his throat, giving him no choice but to swallow. It’s undignified and Changmin can’t fathom where his soldier got the nerve to be so disrespectful with him. He suspects everything has changed, he’s no longer the man’s superior but he didn’t think Yunho would be so quick to belittle him, so easily corrupted by his new allies.
‘Let go, Changmin. All the times I stayed when we were together, I never asked for much but I need you. I need you to be strong and fearless where I’m not,’ Yunho says quietly, his eyes on their joined hands.
‘You- You all made me give up my pride as a man to be with you. I’m asking you to give in a little now. I need all of you. If this war has taught us anything, it’s that all the things we are, we are together,’ Yunho says before standing, leaving the med bay.
The next day Yunho spends with Jaejoong, the General taking a day off from his duties. Jaejoong accompanies Yunho to the med bay where he has the stitches from his shoulder removed before cooking up a feast for Yunho, Junsu and Yoochun. The meal and companionship serve to comfort the soldier and Yunho is grateful but he still misses Changmin. They pass the afternoon playing cards, Yunho’s head resting on Yoochun’s lap, enjoying the way the men sing along to the radio in harmony.
Two weeks later, Changmin finds himself being hauled out of his cell by Jaejoong. He’d been moved out of the med bay and back into his room the day after he started eating but no one has visited him since that time with Yunho. He’s thought a lot about the soldier’s words; he’s had nothing else to do locked up. He can’t deny he still wants Yunho, a part of him loves the man but a large part of him feels too stubborn to move on, to forgive the other officers.
Jaejoong pulls him roughly by the arm into a hallway, opening a door to a suite that is painted a deep red. Rich tapestries hang on the walls and cover the floor- it’s vastly different from the cold, barren barracks and the General’s minimalistic apartment back at base- the colours and culture vibrant and exotic. The whole apartment screams of old wealth and a deep culture but Changmin barely has time to glance at it as he’s thrown onto the floor of a bedroom.
The walls are a deep royal blue, murals painted intricately over the entire expanse of the wide ceiling. The carpet is thick and plush, the colour of blood and Changmin’s knees sink into it where he crouches. A large bed takes up most of the room, the frame carved from deep mahogany and with wide enough birth to lay seven men with ease.
In the centre of the bed, panting heavily is his Yunho, bent over on his hands and knees as Yoochun takes him from behind. Each thrust sending him forward where the soldier mouths at Junsu’s cock, the man smoothing Yunho’s hair back, gently guiding Yunho to take his erection back in his mouth.
The General pushes a familiar strip of leather into his hand and Changmin almost smiles at the sight of the dark green collar.
‘This is your last chance, Changmin. The war is over- you can choose to relive every second of it or you can choose to be free with us,’ The man says quietly, removing his own clothes and joining the others on the bed.
Changmin watches as Yoochun spends himself inside Yunho, pulling out to lift the man up, turning him to rest against his chest as Jaejoong and Junsu begin an assault on Yunho’s legs with their mouths. Yunho wriggles in their hold as the tongues and teeth near his crotch, whining loudly as Yoochun scratches at his chest, nails running over his nipples. Yunho looks up to see Changmin standing at the foot of the bed, his eyes calling out to him, dripping with lust and his mouth watering as he longs for his Brigadier to touch him. He reaches a hand out towards him and Changmin finds himself crawling onto the bed into Yunho’s arms, crushing the man against his body. There are tears in his eyes when he pulls back, hand brushing over the long scar on Yunho’s thigh, tracing the bumps caused by the stitches running alongside.
Junsu is pulling off his shirt, soothing hands over his back whilst Jaejoong presses the collar back into his hand.
‘Do you really want this?’ Changmin asks, his hands hesitating.
‘Yes, I need it- please,’ Yunho begs, bearing his neck to allow the collar to be placed on him.
Changmin fumbles a few times with the clasp; Jaejoong had always been the one to collar Yunho and Changmin is unsure if he’s fastened it too tight. He presses a kiss against the tag that reads his name, flashing brightly as though written in bold amongst the others.
Changmin switches with Yoochun, content to hold Yunho closely to his chest, hiding tears in the man’s shoulder when he finds another scar. Yunho can feel Changmin lick at the mark on his shoulder just as Junsu lifts his legs and thrusts home hard. He cries out, back arching, but he’s soon muffled by Jaejoong straddling his torso, cock sliding down his throat so fast he doesn’t have time to gag. He does his best to suck on the man, trying not to bite down when Junsu rams in particularly harsh.
Yunho can feel Changmin’s erection, pressing against his back through the cloth of his pants. He wants to run his hand over the length but he’s too busy gripping onto the man’s biceps as Jaejoong fucks his face, Junsu’s thrusts rocking his whole body. Jaejoong pulses in his mouth and releases his load, riding out his orgasm as Yunho desperately tries to swallow the fluid flooding his throat.
‘Good pet,’ Jaejoong praises, pulling out of his mouth to lie on his back next to Yoochun.
Junsu yanks Yunho upwards to sit on his lap, the soldier immediately bouncing on the officer’s lap. Yunho arches his back with the next roll of his hips and almost topples backward as he’s overcome with pleasure, Changmin catching him just in time. They all glance over to see Yoochun with his legs spread, cock leaking in his hand and Jaejoong’s fingers pumping in an out of his hole.
The sight has Junsu coming, snapping his hips faster and faster until he’s filled the boy up, cum sliding down the soldier’s straining thighs. Junsu pulls out and shimmies down to take Yunho in his mouth, his hand twists at the base as he sucks at the crown, tongue running beneath the thick ridge of flesh.
‘Enough, Junsu,’ Changmin barks out, he’s rock hard and damned if it isn’t his turn yet.
Junsu moves away, laughing at Yunho’s anguished expression over the loss.
Changmin pushes Yunho forward, the soldier quickly balancing on his hands and knees whilst Changmin discards his pants. He’s about to plunge into Yunho, hands on the man’s hips, when Jaejoong calls to them.
‘Come here, Yunho,’ He orders and Yunho obeys, crawling toward the General. ‘Yoochun wants you to fuck him.’
The General guides Yunho over Yoochun’s body, reaching down to slick up his cock and guide him towards the man’s entrance. Changmin’s in no mood for hesitating, so he lines up and shoves in, the force propelling Yunho into Yoochun. Both men groan loudly at the stretch, Yunho overwhelmed by the intense heat surrounding and gripping at his length, the mere thought of being allowed inside his officer already has him teetering over the edge.
Changmin’s movements are unerringly accurate, each thrust rendering Yunho inarticulate with pleasure, the man burying his cock impossibly deep. Yoochun pulls him down roughly for a kiss, teeth tugging and biting at the plump flesh of his bottom lip, tongues colliding. His upper body collapses under Yoochun’s grip, crushing the man beneath him until he can feel Yoochun’s cock rubbing against his stomach, hot spurts coating his abdomen as the man twitches in climax.
Yunho’s worried he’ll come before Changmin is done with him and tries to wrap a hand around the base of his dick, cutting off his pending release but Changmin grips his hands, pinning them to the bed. The man thrusts forward with brutal force, each shove stretching Yunho open with an intense burn, the friction almost excruciating. He feels hot heat burst deep inside him and he moans, pushing back against the Brigadier’s cock, wanting to feel more.
He feels warmth on his body, Jaejoong and Junsu tugging themselves off beside him, marking him with their cum, decorating the side of his face and chest. Changmin moves back to smear the last string of cum connecting his cock to Yunho’s hole over the man’s ass, rubbing the head over the curve and Yunho feels his own release exploding, spilling out onto the bed and over Yoochun’s open thighs.
His body shakes as he’s maneuvered to lie down, squashed but sated beneath the four bodies. Yunho closes his eyes, sleepy, but he can feel the men press soft kisses, whispering gratitude against his skin and he can’t help but smile in their embrace. There’s no place he’d rather be.
The war is over, and they are just beginning.
aaaaaaaand it’s DONE. Sad, but true. All things must come to an end, and unfortunately for all of us diligent readers, vaguelynormal says this one has run its course. At least it’s a happy ending? though I can’t say the same for the boys in real life D:
Comments are ♥’d and appreciated. Also, look forward to more-from the both of us ;)
Rating: Nc-17
Summary: Maybe if Changmin hadn’t been so stubborn they would have been fighting on the winning side.
Pairing: OT5
A/N: MORE NOTES UNDER THE CUT. The last installment of army!verse. Comes after
this.
vaguelynormal WROTE THIS FIC TOO. BUT BECAUSE SHE’S TOO LAZY AND DOESN’T WANT TO POST IT ON HER OWN, SHE’S GIVEN ME THE LIBERTY TO DO IT FOR HER. so there. Jsyk :D
The soldier falls to the ground, wheezing out blood as the blade is withdrawn from his stomach where it had sliced him open, his intestines spilling outwards onto the marsh, blending with the mud. Yunho watches as the man’s eyes close, his body still before he turns to survey the field.
He’s the last soldier left standing and he’s barely holding up. If he doesn’t bleed out from the deep tear in his thigh or pass out from the bullet stuck in his right shoulder he’ll be lucky not to join the bodies littering the ground. He moves quickly, abandoning his ammunition- he’d lost his gun a long time ago, shortly after losing his horse. He tosses away his helmet and his long blade, his movements too slow to be stifled further by excess weight as he tries to balance his way over the mountains of bodies, feeling them crush beneath him. He almost falls, sliding his way through congealed blood, turning men wearing uniforms like his own, searching desperately for that one face that’s been beside him for the past six months.
The tanks are rumbling off in the distance- retreating, Yunho thinks bitterly- even though they had been of no use in the marshland, unable to travel through the mud without sinking. The white flag had been raised over an hour ago but Yunho couldn’t bring himself to stop fighting, to surrender after all he’d been trained to do. He’d rather die, but here he was still breathing when it seemed like the one person he wanted to fight for was dead.
He can hear the horses coming nearer- the victory party- coming to collect their wounded, pilfer anything of worth and probably capture their last remaining enemy but Yunho doesn’t care. He walks faster, his throat beginning to catch and tears brimming in his eyes as despair begins to settle in.
‘Changmin,’ Yunho calls out, half-sobbing.
The Brigadier had to be here somewhere, even just his body although Yunho knew from sparring that the man would not be easily taken down. When the General and two Lieutenant Generals had left, Changmin had been the one to console Yunho. In his anguish Changmin had comforted the soldier all through the night and kept him distracted throughout the day with exhausting training.
The soldier tries not to think of his last argument with the General but the memories come flooding back in, adding to his despair.
Jaejoong had tried to convince Yunho to leave the army- to desert the cause and join the other side and truthfully, Yunho had no loyalties to this particular army but he had deep loyalty towards Changmin and he knew the Brigadier would never leave. Changmin had been born into the military; his father ranking higher than Jaejoong’s before his retirement and Changmin would never betray the cause- it was too deeply ingrained within him.
‘They’re going to kill everyone with their reckless war, Yunho. They don’t plan on winning this with the deaths of just two regiments,’ Jaejoong had yelled.
‘It’s war, sir. Losses are expected on both sides,’ Yunho had accepted dying a long time ago.
Yunho had watched as the General paced back and forth, pulling at his own hair and letting out exasperated shouts of frustration.
‘Why do you have to leave?’ Yunho asked quietly, head down.
Jaejoong stops pacing and turns to cup the soldier’s face in his hands, staring intensely. Yunho is surprised to see that the man has tears in his eyes.
‘They’re attacking our home- Yoochun’s, Junsu’s and my village. Just to rape the land for resources we no longer need, just because they’re powerful enough to do it,’ Jaejoong says crying.
‘It’s hard enough to watch them do it to other towns, but these are our families, our friends who will suffer- who will be sold as slaves and whores as the spoils of war. It’s our houses and churches that will be burnt to the ground just for an advantage. I can’t let that happen, Yunho.’
Yunho had watched as they begged Changmin to understand, to come with them but he flatly refused, telling them to leave before he notified the higher ups about the insurgents in their midst.
And Yunho had stayed, sadness, loss and something close to love stirring in his heart. The sex alternated between insanely cold and violent -leaving Yunho to curl in on himself, alone- and oddly tender, Changmin holding him impossibly close at night. But it couldn’t fill the gap- they both felt lonely and lost without the three men.
Yunho can’t help but think if the men had been fighting by their side, they’d all have made it out of this war alive.
He picks through the bodies, most of them dead or dying- already unconscious- his own wounds restricting his movements, his right arm hanging limply by his side. If they’d stayed maybe their side would have won- the loss of three high ranking officers had damaged morale and the General had left with all their battle plans, Jaejoong without a doubt the mastermind in staging this battle on such unsteady ground- the type of land only locals would fight well upon.
The enemy had certainly grown in number, the villagers taking arms with anything they had. Men, women, elderly and children fighting with tools to protect their homes and certainly there had been great losses but here, in this battle of men trained by Jaejoong’s hand, people spurred on by their growing allies and worthy cause had won.
Yunho’s army had surrendered after four hours of fighting- they’d lost everything except for the war machines, machines that couldn’t even enter the battle ground and all their horses had been brought down within the first hour. They’d scrambled for purchase on muddy ground, fighting hand to hand, their combatants- at ease with the soft ground- had the advantage and they had been slaughtered all too easily.
Maybe if Changmin hadn’t been so stubborn they would have been fighting on the winning side but Yunho can’t worry about it now, he can’t lose Changmin. Tears pour down his face as he scrambles his way over bodies, calling out. He knows if he finds the Brigadier alive and conscious he’ll be scolded for crying but he can’t bring himself to stop.
The horses are getting louder as Yunho pulls a body out the way, trying to see the face wearing the colours of his army, his heart races when he spies familiar insignia on the arm. He rushes to shift another body to find his Brigadier underneath and Yunho’s heart almost stops when he finds the man still breathing. Changmin’s leg is trapped beneath a fallen horse and Yunho desperately tries to push it off, using his shoulder as a bolster, almost blacking out from the pain and exertion- lifting the carcass just enough to slide the leg out.
The soldier drags Changmin’s body out of the pile and cradles it in his arms, he can’t see any fatal wounds but the Brigadier won’t wake up and Yunho doesn’t know what kind of damage he has acquired there, being crushed underfoot.
‘Changmin, Changmin please,’ Yunho sobs, tears falling from his face onto his officer, smearing the dried blood and dirt.
He’s not aware that he’s being surrounded by the riders or ordered to stand down; he’s listening desperately for his Brigadier’s breaths- in, out, in out. Suddenly he’s being pulled away, a soldier striking him in the nose with the butt of his rifle when he crawls back towards Changmin’s body and he’s held down physically, a knife to his throat.
‘Don’t kill him,’ Yunho hears a familiar voice order and the knife is gone, his hands wrenched behind his back and bound as he kneels in the dirt and blood. A rider dismounts and inspects the Brigadier’s body, checking the pulse.
‘He’s alive, but barely,’ He hears the man he recognises as Yoochun say.
Yoochun moves to check on Yunho, lifts his head to make eye contact but Yunho can’t bear to drag his eyes from Changmin, watching like a hawk for the rise and fall of his chest.
‘We’ll take them with us,’ The General orders, ‘Any survivors, alert the med team. Anything valuable, take it with you. Don’t feel bad about taking from the dead- wedding rings, gold teeth, weaponry- take it all, they’d have done it to you and you’re going to need money to rebuild.’
The men move out, releasing Yunho into Yoochun’s hold to begin methodically scanning the bodies. Yunho immediately breaks free from Yoochun to crawl back to his Brigadier, falling because of his bound arms but determined to reach the man. He feels Yoochun pull him upright by his arms, wincing as the strain on his injured shoulder intensifies and suddenly the ropes are cut, his arms swinging free, wrapping around Changmin’s body protectively.
The General dismounts and moves over the bodies towards Yunho.
‘Yunho, it’s over. Let’s get you fixed up- Changmin too,’ Jaejoong soothes, gently prying the soldier’s hands from the Brigadier’s shirt.
Yoochun and Junsu gently lift Changmin onto a carrier, brushing off other soldiers who offer to take the wounded man for them and begin trekking to drier land where a vehicle waits. Yunho cries harder at the separation, stretching his arms out wanting to follow them.
‘Shh, you’ll be okay,’ The General lifts the soldier up off the ground and places the man on his horse sidesaddle before mounting, holding Yunho’s slack body carefully on the steed as he rides home.
--
Yunho slips in and out of consciousness. He’s aware he’s behind enemy lines and he’s also aware that they’re supposedly no longer enemies. He feels an intense pain in his shoulder, at times waking him from his deep sleep, his own screaming foreign to his ears. He hears Junsu singing him soft songs in a language he doesn’t know or is too incoherent to understand and at times Yunho thinks he hears Yoochun and Jaejoong join in. Sometimes he’s simply haunted by the sound of gunshots, feeling the spray of bullets enter his skin, the scent of brain matter flooding his nose, clogging his senses.
Sometimes, he dreams of Changmin.
Changmin calling to him in an empty field, holding out his hand as his hair shines in the sun, smiling brightly. Changmin lifeless and unmoving, his skin pale and eyes glassy, his whole body drenched in blood. Many times when Yunho dreams of Changmin, the man is dying and when Yunho tries to say all the things he’s ever wanted to, no words come out, just a static silence.
When Yunho does wake up- finally lucid- it’s to a pretty young woman changing the dressing on his thigh, the soldier glimpsing at a long line of thick, black stitches. The woman startles slightly but continues when the solider says nothing, just lays still.
Eventually Jaejoong makes an appearance, he looks a lot worse for wear- like he hasn’t been sleeping whilst Yunho has done nothing but.
‘How are you feeling?’ He asks, resting his hand over the soldier’s on the bed.
‘Fine, sir. Is-is the Brigadier-‘ Yunho chokes, can barely stand the thought of a life without his officer.
‘He’s fine, recovered a lot faster than you. He took a few blows to the head and his leg had some nerve damage but he’s more than okay, just…stubborn.’
‘Can I see him?’ Yunho asks quietly.
‘That’s difficult, Yunho. Changmin is resisting, he won’t talk to us- he doesn’t want to accept that the war is over,’ The General says. ‘Do you, Yunho?’
Yunho thinks about it for a moment. He thinks about the lies-propaganda spread throughout the army, turning men to monsters- he thinks about his own losses of his family and friends, the poverty caused by it all. He thinks about the wreckage out there on the battlefield: the lives lost on both sides, their blood spilt just the same. Truthfully he’ll be glad to be over with it all.
‘I don’t think there are any men left to fight it, sir,’ Yunho answers.
The General laughs, ‘Yes, well that may be the case. You don’t have to call me sir anymore then, Yunho. You’re no longer a soldier.’
‘Okay,’ Yunho replies, beginning to feel sleepy again.
‘Another week and you can get those stitches out. You really worried us, losing so much blood like that,’ Jaejoong says, taking a seat beside Yunho as the man falls back to sleep.
--
Changmin wakes a few hours after his arrival in the med bay with a splitting headache and little recollection of how he got there. He pulls out the IV, shifting to sit upright though his head spins from the action. When an officer wearing the enemy uniform pulls back the curtain surrounding his bed, Changmin instinctively reaches for his knife. He finds it gone, along with his own uniform and medallions- grave robbers, Changmin thinks bitterly.
He’s more than a little bit outraged when Jaejoong comes into the room and tells him that the war is over. His side has surrendered and signed a treaty; their army will be dissolved. The General is trying to put it gently but it burns Changmin all the same, the bitter sting of betrayal, loss, the hurt of loneliness when his senior officers - his friends- left him. To give in is a weakness Changmin was not taught to allow and the defeat weighs heavily inside him, shame boiling in his gut until he seethes with hatred.
He’s shown to a room; clean like the barracks, cold, a single cot bed and open bathroom. There’s no mistaking the room for anything but a holding cell- a prison. The Brigadier refuses to eat, to cooperate- instead he spits out hateful slurs that have Jaejoong back handing him repeatedly.
As he’s sleeping on the cold floor one morning, half-delirious from hunger he sees a soldier kneel down next to his form. He lashes out with the last of his strength, kicking the soldier in the ribs and jumping on top of the wheezing boy, throwing punches as strong as he can muster, sometimes hitting the concrete floor instead. He’s quickly pulled off, Yoochun striking him a blow to his head, his world turning black as he watches Junsu cradle the boy on the floor so tenderly. He thinks briefly before he blacks out that he has never seen these men be so caring towards another person.
When he wakes again he finds himself strapped to a bed, an IV in his arm and Jaejoong standing over him.
‘You’re very lucky we’re not executing you after that little episode,’ The General warns, his tone filled with underlying anger.
‘You re-opened his stitches and he doesn’t deserve that from you, not after he risked his life to drag your sorry ass to safety. We wouldn’t have found you for another week buried underneath that pile of bodies, you owe him your life- at least make sure you do survive to repay him,’ Jaejoong taps at his IV as Changmin tries to wrap his head around the information.
‘Yunho?’ He grunts out, throat dry.
‘Yes, Yunho. You’d think you would stop thinking about how treacherous we are for a second to worry about your lover. You were all he was worried about.’
‘He made it?’ Changmin can’t help the disbelief that trickles into his voice.
‘Yes, you two are the only survivors but he has severe injuries. I knew we shouldn’t have let him see you, but he insisted,’ Jaejoong says sounding exasperated and Changmin can tell Yunho’s health is wearing on the General’s last nerve.
The Brigadier feels guilty for not thinking of Yunho sooner, for immediately suspecting that he had either died or returned to camp whilst he had been captured. Had he spared only a moment of pride to ask the General, he doubts the man would have lied about the soldier but he no longer trusts in the officers. There are many extreme lengths men will go to in war to extract information and how can he have faith in men who have already deceived and deserted him?
And now it seems Yunho has forsaken him to join their side. He knew when the three officers left there were gaps he couldn’t fill, that he wasn’t enough for the soldier, but this blow hurts more than any received in battle. He feels hot tears surfacing and clamps his mouth shut in an effort to hold them off, his throat aches as he’s wracked with grief at the loss of his lover and friend. It would have been better if he had died, the direct loss far easier to mourn than healing the wound of betrayal, Changmin thinks.
The General leaves him alone with his grief, the Brigadier left unable to move and wipe the tears from his own face.
--
A few days later Yunho visits the Brigadier, he’s sporting a black eye and his lower lip is slightly swollen but he smiles his brightest at Changmin. The man is still tied down on the bed and his hand twitches in the leather restraints when Yunho goes to hold it, yet the soldier doesn’t let go.
‘You really should eat, I brought you some broth,’ Yunho says, winding the bed up until Changmin is in a sitting position.
Changmin doesn’t say anything but he still refuses to open his mouth when Yunho holds a spoon up for him. He won’t make eye contact, even as the man strokes his cheeks and brushes the hair out of his eyes.
‘You have to let go, Changmin,’ He sighs. ‘The war is over, there are no sides left to take.’
Yunho forces the Brigadier’s jaw open, tilting his head back and trickling the warm, salty fluid down his throat, giving him no choice but to swallow. It’s undignified and Changmin can’t fathom where his soldier got the nerve to be so disrespectful with him. He suspects everything has changed, he’s no longer the man’s superior but he didn’t think Yunho would be so quick to belittle him, so easily corrupted by his new allies.
‘Let go, Changmin. All the times I stayed when we were together, I never asked for much but I need you. I need you to be strong and fearless where I’m not,’ Yunho says quietly, his eyes on their joined hands.
‘You- You all made me give up my pride as a man to be with you. I’m asking you to give in a little now. I need all of you. If this war has taught us anything, it’s that all the things we are, we are together,’ Yunho says before standing, leaving the med bay.
The next day Yunho spends with Jaejoong, the General taking a day off from his duties. Jaejoong accompanies Yunho to the med bay where he has the stitches from his shoulder removed before cooking up a feast for Yunho, Junsu and Yoochun. The meal and companionship serve to comfort the soldier and Yunho is grateful but he still misses Changmin. They pass the afternoon playing cards, Yunho’s head resting on Yoochun’s lap, enjoying the way the men sing along to the radio in harmony.
Two weeks later, Changmin finds himself being hauled out of his cell by Jaejoong. He’d been moved out of the med bay and back into his room the day after he started eating but no one has visited him since that time with Yunho. He’s thought a lot about the soldier’s words; he’s had nothing else to do locked up. He can’t deny he still wants Yunho, a part of him loves the man but a large part of him feels too stubborn to move on, to forgive the other officers.
Jaejoong pulls him roughly by the arm into a hallway, opening a door to a suite that is painted a deep red. Rich tapestries hang on the walls and cover the floor- it’s vastly different from the cold, barren barracks and the General’s minimalistic apartment back at base- the colours and culture vibrant and exotic. The whole apartment screams of old wealth and a deep culture but Changmin barely has time to glance at it as he’s thrown onto the floor of a bedroom.
The walls are a deep royal blue, murals painted intricately over the entire expanse of the wide ceiling. The carpet is thick and plush, the colour of blood and Changmin’s knees sink into it where he crouches. A large bed takes up most of the room, the frame carved from deep mahogany and with wide enough birth to lay seven men with ease.
In the centre of the bed, panting heavily is his Yunho, bent over on his hands and knees as Yoochun takes him from behind. Each thrust sending him forward where the soldier mouths at Junsu’s cock, the man smoothing Yunho’s hair back, gently guiding Yunho to take his erection back in his mouth.
The General pushes a familiar strip of leather into his hand and Changmin almost smiles at the sight of the dark green collar.
‘This is your last chance, Changmin. The war is over- you can choose to relive every second of it or you can choose to be free with us,’ The man says quietly, removing his own clothes and joining the others on the bed.
Changmin watches as Yoochun spends himself inside Yunho, pulling out to lift the man up, turning him to rest against his chest as Jaejoong and Junsu begin an assault on Yunho’s legs with their mouths. Yunho wriggles in their hold as the tongues and teeth near his crotch, whining loudly as Yoochun scratches at his chest, nails running over his nipples. Yunho looks up to see Changmin standing at the foot of the bed, his eyes calling out to him, dripping with lust and his mouth watering as he longs for his Brigadier to touch him. He reaches a hand out towards him and Changmin finds himself crawling onto the bed into Yunho’s arms, crushing the man against his body. There are tears in his eyes when he pulls back, hand brushing over the long scar on Yunho’s thigh, tracing the bumps caused by the stitches running alongside.
Junsu is pulling off his shirt, soothing hands over his back whilst Jaejoong presses the collar back into his hand.
‘Do you really want this?’ Changmin asks, his hands hesitating.
‘Yes, I need it- please,’ Yunho begs, bearing his neck to allow the collar to be placed on him.
Changmin fumbles a few times with the clasp; Jaejoong had always been the one to collar Yunho and Changmin is unsure if he’s fastened it too tight. He presses a kiss against the tag that reads his name, flashing brightly as though written in bold amongst the others.
Changmin switches with Yoochun, content to hold Yunho closely to his chest, hiding tears in the man’s shoulder when he finds another scar. Yunho can feel Changmin lick at the mark on his shoulder just as Junsu lifts his legs and thrusts home hard. He cries out, back arching, but he’s soon muffled by Jaejoong straddling his torso, cock sliding down his throat so fast he doesn’t have time to gag. He does his best to suck on the man, trying not to bite down when Junsu rams in particularly harsh.
Yunho can feel Changmin’s erection, pressing against his back through the cloth of his pants. He wants to run his hand over the length but he’s too busy gripping onto the man’s biceps as Jaejoong fucks his face, Junsu’s thrusts rocking his whole body. Jaejoong pulses in his mouth and releases his load, riding out his orgasm as Yunho desperately tries to swallow the fluid flooding his throat.
‘Good pet,’ Jaejoong praises, pulling out of his mouth to lie on his back next to Yoochun.
Junsu yanks Yunho upwards to sit on his lap, the soldier immediately bouncing on the officer’s lap. Yunho arches his back with the next roll of his hips and almost topples backward as he’s overcome with pleasure, Changmin catching him just in time. They all glance over to see Yoochun with his legs spread, cock leaking in his hand and Jaejoong’s fingers pumping in an out of his hole.
The sight has Junsu coming, snapping his hips faster and faster until he’s filled the boy up, cum sliding down the soldier’s straining thighs. Junsu pulls out and shimmies down to take Yunho in his mouth, his hand twists at the base as he sucks at the crown, tongue running beneath the thick ridge of flesh.
‘Enough, Junsu,’ Changmin barks out, he’s rock hard and damned if it isn’t his turn yet.
Junsu moves away, laughing at Yunho’s anguished expression over the loss.
Changmin pushes Yunho forward, the soldier quickly balancing on his hands and knees whilst Changmin discards his pants. He’s about to plunge into Yunho, hands on the man’s hips, when Jaejoong calls to them.
‘Come here, Yunho,’ He orders and Yunho obeys, crawling toward the General. ‘Yoochun wants you to fuck him.’
The General guides Yunho over Yoochun’s body, reaching down to slick up his cock and guide him towards the man’s entrance. Changmin’s in no mood for hesitating, so he lines up and shoves in, the force propelling Yunho into Yoochun. Both men groan loudly at the stretch, Yunho overwhelmed by the intense heat surrounding and gripping at his length, the mere thought of being allowed inside his officer already has him teetering over the edge.
Changmin’s movements are unerringly accurate, each thrust rendering Yunho inarticulate with pleasure, the man burying his cock impossibly deep. Yoochun pulls him down roughly for a kiss, teeth tugging and biting at the plump flesh of his bottom lip, tongues colliding. His upper body collapses under Yoochun’s grip, crushing the man beneath him until he can feel Yoochun’s cock rubbing against his stomach, hot spurts coating his abdomen as the man twitches in climax.
Yunho’s worried he’ll come before Changmin is done with him and tries to wrap a hand around the base of his dick, cutting off his pending release but Changmin grips his hands, pinning them to the bed. The man thrusts forward with brutal force, each shove stretching Yunho open with an intense burn, the friction almost excruciating. He feels hot heat burst deep inside him and he moans, pushing back against the Brigadier’s cock, wanting to feel more.
He feels warmth on his body, Jaejoong and Junsu tugging themselves off beside him, marking him with their cum, decorating the side of his face and chest. Changmin moves back to smear the last string of cum connecting his cock to Yunho’s hole over the man’s ass, rubbing the head over the curve and Yunho feels his own release exploding, spilling out onto the bed and over Yoochun’s open thighs.
His body shakes as he’s maneuvered to lie down, squashed but sated beneath the four bodies. Yunho closes his eyes, sleepy, but he can feel the men press soft kisses, whispering gratitude against his skin and he can’t help but smile in their embrace. There’s no place he’d rather be.
The war is over, and they are just beginning.
aaaaaaaand it’s DONE. Sad, but true. All things must come to an end, and unfortunately for all of us diligent readers, vaguelynormal says this one has run its course. At least it’s a happy ending? though I can’t say the same for the boys in real life D:
Comments are ♥’d and appreciated. Also, look forward to more-from the both of us ;)