A Knight of Fire 1/?
Title: A Knight of Fire 1/?
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yoochun/Junsu, Changmin/Junho
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and I can't even claim the idea as mine because it is all devilaugh's fault.
Summary: Jaejoong is a scribe in King Ahn Chilhyun's court. He is sent to small seaside village to teach the people how to read, and instead finds a lover who has a secret that will end up endangering the entire world.
A/N: This fic is all devilaugh's fault. It was her idea on the post about the picture of Jaejoong, so this fic was partially inspired by this picture
Fanfic poster by back_to_five!!! Perfection! <3 <3
Part 1:
A knock at the heavy wooden door disturbed the quiet of Jaejoong’s study. The delicate touch of brush on paper jarred and the ink blurred at Jaejoong’s surprise. A mild curse escaped his lips while harsher ones flew through his mind. A scholar did not curse out loud.
He bade the intruder enter and was even more surprised at Jihye bearing a tray of dinner many hours before dinner.
Or so he thought. The light in the window burned gold with the sunset, and his stomach grumbled loudly. How many times had that happened without Jaejoong noticing?
Letter ruined, he put aside the parchment and smiled at Jihye. She wore the heavy frock of the village, the brown linen a far cry from the softer and more varied colors of the city. But her hair was covered by a vibrant red shawl, a color worn and displayed proudly in the village.
Jaejoong learned the color represented knights of the past who had settled the village after helping the king defeat invaders from the sea. That was a long time ago, before the current king and before the current king’s grandfather, before even kings before that had fought their own wars to secure tithes and territory.
But the settlers in Knights Village (as they called it but it was labeled as Borandoon on the maps) were all descendants of these original settlers, mostly. Or at least as far as Jaejoong was able to tell from the decaying documents that he planned to transcribe before the parchment they were on crumbled to dust.
King Ahn Chilhyun did not care who they were descendants of. He only cared if they paid their tithe and they were able to read his missives and laws. The previous king had been little more than a tyrant. King Ahn planned to change many things, and one thing was education. He expected to rule an educated people.
Jaejoong, one of King Ahn’s many scribes, had been sent to this seaside village to teach them all to read the King’s Language. They used their own writing system, one Jaejoong had studied as a hobby in the city.
He had been welcomed graciously and even given his very own rooms in the Lord Jung’s manor to live in. Most were excited to learn that someone from the city knew how to write and speak in their language. But they did not want to learn the King’s Language. They were educated in what mattered: fishing and farming. It did make Jaejoong’s task difficult, but he was determined.
“Thank you, Jihye,” Jaejoong said. Of course, it was Jihye to bring him dinner. When the women of the village discovered he was unmarried and nearing twenty-five they had been almost parading the younger women of the village in front of him. It appeared the Lord’s daughter was the favorite.
“Do you require anything else, Master Jaejoong?” she asked with a hopeful note in her voice.
Jaejoong smiled at her. “No, thank you. I’m going to attempt to sleep before the sun rises.”
She laughed and bobbed in a curtsy before leaving him to his dinner.
It wasn’t that the girl was not pretty, she was, just that she wasn’t quite what Jaejoong wanted in a partner.
Now, her elder brother, on the other hand--
Jaejoong did not blame himself for his desires. It hadn’t been fair at all that the first time he had met the Lord’s son, Yunho, the man had been shirtless, hefting an ax and splitting firewood. Yunho had been curt and aloof, and even after a few months, their relationship hadn’t changed much.
It was yet another thing that Jaejoong was determined to accomplish before his two-year assignment in the village ended.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Elusive.
Jung Yunho was elusive.
Jaejoong thought, in his more selfish moments, that the Lord’s Heir avoided him on purpose. But being the Lord’s Heir meant work: helping other villagers on their farms, building houses for newly married couples, collecting the king’s tribute, and watching the children of those out at sea.
Jaejoong admired Yunho a lot and he understood, but it was Yunho, future leader of Knights Village and future Lord under King Ahn, who needed to learn to read and speak in the city’s language.
When the Lord’s Heir showed up for his scheduled lesson, Jaejoong figured his father had something to do with it. And maybe it had been a bit underhanded when Jaejoong had mentioned to the Lord that if Knights Village did not follow the new creeds and could not read future missives, then King Ahn may send soldiers next time instead of a scholar.
But Jung Yunho, looking surly and utterly handsome, sat next to Jaejoong at the desk and crossed his arms. He wore a tunic and breeches, both loose on his body, but Jaejoong knew what muscles hid underneath.
“Will this take long?” Yunho demanded in lieu of a hello. “Blacksmith Lee needs my assistance making more swords.”
Jaejoong smiled. “Only an hour. There will be plenty of daylight left for work.”
Yunho said nothing.
Clearing his throat, Jaejoong asked, “Have you been studying the letters?”
Yunho leaned over the parchment, pointed to each character, and correctly named them.
Surprised, because Jaejoong had only shown Yunho the letters one time before, he stared, mouth open, before remembering that he was a king’s scholar who did not gape at handsome, smart men.
“V-very good,” he said and covered his sudden lack of brain power with retrieving a blank sheet of parchment. “Now, write.”
Though his hand shook and he wrote slowly, Yunho completed each character, in order without forgetting one, and without having to cross it out and start again. His stroke pattern was off on just a few of the more complicated characters. He had obviously been practicing.
“You’ve been practicing.”
“Aren’t I supposed to?”
Jaejoong smiled. “Yes. I just did not expect you, too.”
“Why not? Are you implying that I am undisciplined and lazy?”
Jaejoong pondered him over the tops of his glasses. “Of course not. You have not been coming to lessons, so I assumed you had not been practicing.”
“This is important.”
“As I’ve been saying for three months only to be told you are busy elsewhere.”
“The needs of my people are more important than this.”
“The needs of your king are more important--”
“He is not my king.”
Jaejoong inhaled quickly and sharply. Yunho did have the courtesy to realize he had said something so very wrong but he did not look away. He did not take the words back.
“Be glad it is only me, a scholar, who has heard you say such treason.”
Yunho smiled, though it was not kind. “I do not serve a man I have never met or a man who sends others in his place to meet his subjects. I serve my people.”
Jaejoong had no reply to that.
“Are we through for the day?”
Jaejoong did not want to let Yunho go just yet, but by practicing and studying, he was already ahead of where Jaejoong expected him to be. “Yes, but ...” He stood up and turned his back on the tense energy radiating heat from Yunho. He went to his bookshelf and reached for a scientific tome. At the last moment, he changed his mind and took down one of his favorite books of stories and legends.
“Read this. I want you to write down the words you do not know even if you can figure them out with context. Practice your stroke order. I expect you here next week without me having to manipulate your father.”
Yunho’s eyes narrowed, and then he nodded in understanding. “Very well.”
He stood up and Jaejoong’s breath caught. How did a man grow so tall, so handsome, so strong? It was not fair at all.
Without looking back, Yunho left his study and practically slammed the heavy wooden door behind him.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
As promised, a week later, Yunho returned on time. There was a black smudge on his cheek, and he had obviously been working somewhere. His clothes were dirty and his skin was sweaty. Jaejoong immediately offered him water from his pitcher and Yunho grunted in thanks before drinking it all.
“Busy day?”
“A horse was in labor with a breached foal. Both are fine now, but be glad I at least washed my hands.”
Jaejoong scrunched his nose in distaste and almost preened when Yunho actually smiled.
“That book ...” Yunho said and was glad to see it on the table. Jihye had brought it and explained that Yunho had been working.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“It was interesting. You do know we have stories of our own here.”
Jaejoong smiled. “Yes, but I have not been told I could read them.”
“You can.”
“Thank you. Which was your favorite?”
Yunho looked at him for a moment and then said, “The Element Warriors.”
Jaejoong smiled even wider and propped his hand on his hand, elbow on the table. “Mine, too. The magic is fascinating to consider. It’s ... it’s ... almost believable that there are people in the world that can control the elements like fire, water and air.”
“That is the basis for a good story, right? That it is believable?”
“Yes.”
“And what is your story, Master Jaejoong? Is it believable?”
Jaejoong shrugged. “That is up to you.”
Yunho leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Jaejoong tried not to stare at the flexed muscles.
“I was born into a family with too many daughters, and they were excited to finally have a son, but being the youngest of nine meant I was left alone a lot. I read. I studied history and music. I learned. It was what I enjoyed most. When King Ahn came into power, after usurping the last king, he called upon everyone that could read, to go through the history.”
“Rewrite it, like many kings.”
“Maybe a little, but King Ahn is frustrated with how many holes there are in history and he is frustrated that his people are not educated in sciences, mathematics, reading, and instead rely on superstitions and shaman for their beliefs.”
“Hence, why you are here, to fix our bastardly ways, is that it?”
Jaejoong smiled even though Yunho was anything but humorous in his accusation. “No. There is nothing wrong with your village or villagers, Yunho. I am only here to make sure you can follow the king’s, your king’s” he added pointedly “orders and decrees. If you do that, you’ll be left alone to do things as you wish, as you have always done. Successfully, I might add.”
Yunho stared at him, eyes hard, face still. And god, so handsome.
Jaejoong cleared his throat and said, “Now. Words you did not know.”
They worked together well, Jaejoong decided. Yunho was very smart, and he asked the right questions, any questions, about words and character choices, and how to group them together. He wrote the characters faster than he had the week before, and did not protest when Jaejoong switched from the village dialect to the city dialect, even speaking a few words here and there.
He was a perfect student and it was with disappointment that Jihye entered with a reminder to Yunho that before dinner, he had cows to milk for the Kims who were out at sea.
Yunho stood quickly and headed for the door. Something caught his eye, and he walked slowly to Jaejoong’s bookshelf. Jaejoong watched as he looked at the books and then took one off the shelf. He glanced at the cover, and then over at Jaejoong.
“You can read that one,” Jaejoong said, finally seeing which book he chose. Its title was “The Science of Fire” but talked more of what was unknown about that powerful force. It was beyond his capabilities, but if Yunho was interested, Yunho could read it.
“Thank you,” he said and quickly left the room.
“His best friend died in a fire,” Jihye whispered in the silence.
Jaejoong spun around and stared at her with wide eyes.
“Four houses burned. We thought everyone had been pulled to safety. It was an accident.”
Jaejoong pondered the girl and this new information. Did Yunho feel guilty for an accident? Had he started it? Was that why Jihye was so firm in that last declaration?
“Do you want to come to the dining room for dinner?” she asked.
Jaejoong cleared his throat and decided that yes, he needed to be around people for a little while.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
There were more words in that book that Yunho did not understand, and their lesson ran long. Jaejoong did not mind at all. In a moment of Yunho’s visible frustration trying to understand a complicated string of grammar and characters, Jaejoong said, “Jihye told me that your friend died in a fire.”
“Jihye likes you and will tell you anything when prompted.”
“I know, but it isn’t her that I want to tell me. You don’t trust me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Did you like the book?”
“It was interesting.”
Jaejoong wanted to ask what that meant. Instead, he said, “It is. I have quite a few books about science. You’re more than welcome to read anything on my shelf that you’d like.”
Yunho looked at the shelves and stood up. He moved to the window, letting the red glow of the sunset paint his skin. “Thank you,” he said but did not take another book when he finally left, keeping the book about fire in his hands.
Part 2: Flare
.
Pairing: Yunho/Jaejoong, Yoochun/Junsu, Changmin/Junho
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and I can't even claim the idea as mine because it is all devilaugh's fault.
Summary: Jaejoong is a scribe in King Ahn Chilhyun's court. He is sent to small seaside village to teach the people how to read, and instead finds a lover who has a secret that will end up endangering the entire world.
A/N: This fic is all devilaugh's fault. It was her idea on the post about the picture of Jaejoong, so this fic was partially inspired by this picture
Fanfic poster by back_to_five!!! Perfection! <3 <3
Part 1:
A knock at the heavy wooden door disturbed the quiet of Jaejoong’s study. The delicate touch of brush on paper jarred and the ink blurred at Jaejoong’s surprise. A mild curse escaped his lips while harsher ones flew through his mind. A scholar did not curse out loud.
He bade the intruder enter and was even more surprised at Jihye bearing a tray of dinner many hours before dinner.
Or so he thought. The light in the window burned gold with the sunset, and his stomach grumbled loudly. How many times had that happened without Jaejoong noticing?
Letter ruined, he put aside the parchment and smiled at Jihye. She wore the heavy frock of the village, the brown linen a far cry from the softer and more varied colors of the city. But her hair was covered by a vibrant red shawl, a color worn and displayed proudly in the village.
Jaejoong learned the color represented knights of the past who had settled the village after helping the king defeat invaders from the sea. That was a long time ago, before the current king and before the current king’s grandfather, before even kings before that had fought their own wars to secure tithes and territory.
But the settlers in Knights Village (as they called it but it was labeled as Borandoon on the maps) were all descendants of these original settlers, mostly. Or at least as far as Jaejoong was able to tell from the decaying documents that he planned to transcribe before the parchment they were on crumbled to dust.
King Ahn Chilhyun did not care who they were descendants of. He only cared if they paid their tithe and they were able to read his missives and laws. The previous king had been little more than a tyrant. King Ahn planned to change many things, and one thing was education. He expected to rule an educated people.
Jaejoong, one of King Ahn’s many scribes, had been sent to this seaside village to teach them all to read the King’s Language. They used their own writing system, one Jaejoong had studied as a hobby in the city.
He had been welcomed graciously and even given his very own rooms in the Lord Jung’s manor to live in. Most were excited to learn that someone from the city knew how to write and speak in their language. But they did not want to learn the King’s Language. They were educated in what mattered: fishing and farming. It did make Jaejoong’s task difficult, but he was determined.
“Thank you, Jihye,” Jaejoong said. Of course, it was Jihye to bring him dinner. When the women of the village discovered he was unmarried and nearing twenty-five they had been almost parading the younger women of the village in front of him. It appeared the Lord’s daughter was the favorite.
“Do you require anything else, Master Jaejoong?” she asked with a hopeful note in her voice.
Jaejoong smiled at her. “No, thank you. I’m going to attempt to sleep before the sun rises.”
She laughed and bobbed in a curtsy before leaving him to his dinner.
It wasn’t that the girl was not pretty, she was, just that she wasn’t quite what Jaejoong wanted in a partner.
Now, her elder brother, on the other hand--
Jaejoong did not blame himself for his desires. It hadn’t been fair at all that the first time he had met the Lord’s son, Yunho, the man had been shirtless, hefting an ax and splitting firewood. Yunho had been curt and aloof, and even after a few months, their relationship hadn’t changed much.
It was yet another thing that Jaejoong was determined to accomplish before his two-year assignment in the village ended.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
Elusive.
Jung Yunho was elusive.
Jaejoong thought, in his more selfish moments, that the Lord’s Heir avoided him on purpose. But being the Lord’s Heir meant work: helping other villagers on their farms, building houses for newly married couples, collecting the king’s tribute, and watching the children of those out at sea.
Jaejoong admired Yunho a lot and he understood, but it was Yunho, future leader of Knights Village and future Lord under King Ahn, who needed to learn to read and speak in the city’s language.
When the Lord’s Heir showed up for his scheduled lesson, Jaejoong figured his father had something to do with it. And maybe it had been a bit underhanded when Jaejoong had mentioned to the Lord that if Knights Village did not follow the new creeds and could not read future missives, then King Ahn may send soldiers next time instead of a scholar.
But Jung Yunho, looking surly and utterly handsome, sat next to Jaejoong at the desk and crossed his arms. He wore a tunic and breeches, both loose on his body, but Jaejoong knew what muscles hid underneath.
“Will this take long?” Yunho demanded in lieu of a hello. “Blacksmith Lee needs my assistance making more swords.”
Jaejoong smiled. “Only an hour. There will be plenty of daylight left for work.”
Yunho said nothing.
Clearing his throat, Jaejoong asked, “Have you been studying the letters?”
Yunho leaned over the parchment, pointed to each character, and correctly named them.
Surprised, because Jaejoong had only shown Yunho the letters one time before, he stared, mouth open, before remembering that he was a king’s scholar who did not gape at handsome, smart men.
“V-very good,” he said and covered his sudden lack of brain power with retrieving a blank sheet of parchment. “Now, write.”
Though his hand shook and he wrote slowly, Yunho completed each character, in order without forgetting one, and without having to cross it out and start again. His stroke pattern was off on just a few of the more complicated characters. He had obviously been practicing.
“You’ve been practicing.”
“Aren’t I supposed to?”
Jaejoong smiled. “Yes. I just did not expect you, too.”
“Why not? Are you implying that I am undisciplined and lazy?”
Jaejoong pondered him over the tops of his glasses. “Of course not. You have not been coming to lessons, so I assumed you had not been practicing.”
“This is important.”
“As I’ve been saying for three months only to be told you are busy elsewhere.”
“The needs of my people are more important than this.”
“The needs of your king are more important--”
“He is not my king.”
Jaejoong inhaled quickly and sharply. Yunho did have the courtesy to realize he had said something so very wrong but he did not look away. He did not take the words back.
“Be glad it is only me, a scholar, who has heard you say such treason.”
Yunho smiled, though it was not kind. “I do not serve a man I have never met or a man who sends others in his place to meet his subjects. I serve my people.”
Jaejoong had no reply to that.
“Are we through for the day?”
Jaejoong did not want to let Yunho go just yet, but by practicing and studying, he was already ahead of where Jaejoong expected him to be. “Yes, but ...” He stood up and turned his back on the tense energy radiating heat from Yunho. He went to his bookshelf and reached for a scientific tome. At the last moment, he changed his mind and took down one of his favorite books of stories and legends.
“Read this. I want you to write down the words you do not know even if you can figure them out with context. Practice your stroke order. I expect you here next week without me having to manipulate your father.”
Yunho’s eyes narrowed, and then he nodded in understanding. “Very well.”
He stood up and Jaejoong’s breath caught. How did a man grow so tall, so handsome, so strong? It was not fair at all.
Without looking back, Yunho left his study and practically slammed the heavy wooden door behind him.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
As promised, a week later, Yunho returned on time. There was a black smudge on his cheek, and he had obviously been working somewhere. His clothes were dirty and his skin was sweaty. Jaejoong immediately offered him water from his pitcher and Yunho grunted in thanks before drinking it all.
“Busy day?”
“A horse was in labor with a breached foal. Both are fine now, but be glad I at least washed my hands.”
Jaejoong scrunched his nose in distaste and almost preened when Yunho actually smiled.
“That book ...” Yunho said and was glad to see it on the table. Jihye had brought it and explained that Yunho had been working.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“It was interesting. You do know we have stories of our own here.”
Jaejoong smiled. “Yes, but I have not been told I could read them.”
“You can.”
“Thank you. Which was your favorite?”
Yunho looked at him for a moment and then said, “The Element Warriors.”
Jaejoong smiled even wider and propped his hand on his hand, elbow on the table. “Mine, too. The magic is fascinating to consider. It’s ... it’s ... almost believable that there are people in the world that can control the elements like fire, water and air.”
“That is the basis for a good story, right? That it is believable?”
“Yes.”
“And what is your story, Master Jaejoong? Is it believable?”
Jaejoong shrugged. “That is up to you.”
Yunho leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Jaejoong tried not to stare at the flexed muscles.
“I was born into a family with too many daughters, and they were excited to finally have a son, but being the youngest of nine meant I was left alone a lot. I read. I studied history and music. I learned. It was what I enjoyed most. When King Ahn came into power, after usurping the last king, he called upon everyone that could read, to go through the history.”
“Rewrite it, like many kings.”
“Maybe a little, but King Ahn is frustrated with how many holes there are in history and he is frustrated that his people are not educated in sciences, mathematics, reading, and instead rely on superstitions and shaman for their beliefs.”
“Hence, why you are here, to fix our bastardly ways, is that it?”
Jaejoong smiled even though Yunho was anything but humorous in his accusation. “No. There is nothing wrong with your village or villagers, Yunho. I am only here to make sure you can follow the king’s, your king’s” he added pointedly “orders and decrees. If you do that, you’ll be left alone to do things as you wish, as you have always done. Successfully, I might add.”
Yunho stared at him, eyes hard, face still. And god, so handsome.
Jaejoong cleared his throat and said, “Now. Words you did not know.”
They worked together well, Jaejoong decided. Yunho was very smart, and he asked the right questions, any questions, about words and character choices, and how to group them together. He wrote the characters faster than he had the week before, and did not protest when Jaejoong switched from the village dialect to the city dialect, even speaking a few words here and there.
He was a perfect student and it was with disappointment that Jihye entered with a reminder to Yunho that before dinner, he had cows to milk for the Kims who were out at sea.
Yunho stood quickly and headed for the door. Something caught his eye, and he walked slowly to Jaejoong’s bookshelf. Jaejoong watched as he looked at the books and then took one off the shelf. He glanced at the cover, and then over at Jaejoong.
“You can read that one,” Jaejoong said, finally seeing which book he chose. Its title was “The Science of Fire” but talked more of what was unknown about that powerful force. It was beyond his capabilities, but if Yunho was interested, Yunho could read it.
“Thank you,” he said and quickly left the room.
“His best friend died in a fire,” Jihye whispered in the silence.
Jaejoong spun around and stared at her with wide eyes.
“Four houses burned. We thought everyone had been pulled to safety. It was an accident.”
Jaejoong pondered the girl and this new information. Did Yunho feel guilty for an accident? Had he started it? Was that why Jihye was so firm in that last declaration?
“Do you want to come to the dining room for dinner?” she asked.
Jaejoong cleared his throat and decided that yes, he needed to be around people for a little while.
_-/^/^¯^\^\-_
There were more words in that book that Yunho did not understand, and their lesson ran long. Jaejoong did not mind at all. In a moment of Yunho’s visible frustration trying to understand a complicated string of grammar and characters, Jaejoong said, “Jihye told me that your friend died in a fire.”
“Jihye likes you and will tell you anything when prompted.”
“I know, but it isn’t her that I want to tell me. You don’t trust me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Did you like the book?”
“It was interesting.”
Jaejoong wanted to ask what that meant. Instead, he said, “It is. I have quite a few books about science. You’re more than welcome to read anything on my shelf that you’d like.”
Yunho looked at the shelves and stood up. He moved to the window, letting the red glow of the sunset paint his skin. “Thank you,” he said but did not take another book when he finally left, keeping the book about fire in his hands.
Part 2: Flare
.