Letters From War Chapter 5a
Title: Letters From War
Length: [6a/?]
Author: HolyStarDown
Pairing: Yunjae, Yoosu, Teukchul
Rating: Overall NC-17
Genre: Romance, angst, drama
Disclaimer: i only own them in my dreams
Summary: In the breaking point of the Korean war, two brothers get drafted into the military and forced to fight for the lives. literally. punishment in camp 409 is just as unforgiving as its officers. attraction? frowned upon. affection? unheard of. love? strickly forbidden. But the training camp they thought they knew gets turned upside down when six of them decide to leave no rule left unbroken
Author's Note: obviously i didn't live in the 1950's and certainly was not in Korea during the Korean war, so some of the details are going to be inacurate... just bear with me :]
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5a
Yunho and Jaejoong just stared at each other. Yunho was horrified to move and force himself into the fight. He scanned his eyes over Jaejoong’s slim, feminine body very slowly. It just looked so… breakable. And he knew that once he was into a fight, he didn’t think about his actions and certainly wouldn’t think about not hurting someone. Yet at the same time, he didn’t want Jaejoong to make the first move and possibly get a hit on him; he didn’t want to fight, but he was too proud to lose on purpose.
The corner of Jaejoong’s mouth curved up into a forced half-smile as he shifted his stance. If Changmin told him to fight, he was going to do it. He started making mental notes as he took in every inch of Yunho’s physique; the muscular arms and calves, the way he stood and shifted that stance ever so slightly. But most of all Jaejoong looked at his eyes. The other’s dark brown orbs were flitting back and fourth over his body, resting on a spot for only a few moments.
“Come on Yunho! We don’t have all day,” Changmin called with his fist high in the air and a smile playing with his lips.
Both Jaejoong and Yunho only spared the Jungnyeong a quick glance before returning their eyes to each other. Yunho made the mistake of taking a slight step forward and not even a half a second later found himself being flipped over the trainee’s shoulder and on the ground. The air was forced out of his lungs when the dirt slapped his back and he stared up at Jaejoong with wide eyes. Holy crap… he thought. Yunho quickly composed his face, making it completely emotionless as he rose to his feet and brushed off the back of his thigh indifferently. He slowly lifted his gaze to an evidently scared-but-so-totally-trying-to-hide-it Jaejoong. A smirk graced his lips. “Nice.”
Jaejoong bowed his head slightly, not trusting his mouth enough to try to say thank you. They stared at each other for a moment longer before Jaejoong swung his foot up, only able to get as high as Yunho’s chin. The Soryeong’s arm instantly blocked the kick, and slid his forearm up Jaejoong’s calf. Jaejoong was slightly thrown off balance, but the move was quickly recovered. He brought his knee up to Yunho’s stomach and, just as Yunho was moving to block it, he extended the rest of his leg, crashing it into Yunho’s side. The latter staggered sideways slightly and wrapped his arm around his side. Jaejoong’s eyes widened at the thought that he might have hurt his superior- the superior that he just so happened to like. Momentarily preoccupied with his thoughts, he barely saw Yunho lunge toward him before his body reacted, twisting out of the way and latching his hand on the back of the Soryeong’s collar while throwing Yunho forward. Yunho stuck out his arm and hooked it around Jaejoong’s neck, bringing him down also. Two small hands smacked the dirt beside his head as his back hit the ground, and beautiful deep brown eyes filled his vision.
**~**~**~**~**
Leeteuk reached for the doorknob of Heechul’s room with the truth on his tongue and his head held high. He was going to tell Heechul everything about Changmin’s plan and he was going to do it with more joy than should ever be allowed when he watched the Daeryeong’s admiration for Changmin crumble before his eyes. Oh yes Heechul sir, I watched everything. He made out with a trainee and then forced Soryeong Jung to do it, he thought with his smile stretching even further. He was glad to have Changmin’s friendship, but the fact that Changmin was more to Heechul burned envy into the back of his mind. His hand closed around the knob, just barely.
“Go away Leeteuk.”
Leeteuk froze for a moment. He had heard that deathly hollow tone in Heechul’s voice before and he knew that it changed the meaning into something completely different:
Please help me Leeteuk.
The Jungnyeong slowly opened the door, shutting it as soon as he was in the room, and saw exactly what he expected; Heechul was sitting at his desk and staring at the window with a blank expression. The razor-sharp tip of his pen was pushed against his fingertip and three crimson drops stained the letter below his hand. The only light source in the room was a few rays of sunlight trickling through the tiny spaces in between the tightly shut blinds. The Daeryeong’s lips were pressed together in a hard line, and he didn’t move an inch when Leeteuk entered the room.
“Chullie-ah…” Leeteuk murmured as he took careful steps closer to Heechul.
Another drop of his blood splattered on the white paper.
The ever-present needle jabbed at Leeteuk’s heart as he watched the drop hit the letter. He reached out his hand and gently pried the pen from Heechul’s taunt grip.
Heechul’s hand snapped back at the loss of the pen and a small gasp escaped from his lips as the tip grazed the length of his finger, drawing a deep line in his flesh. The cut allowed several more drops of blood to fall on the paper, but it seemed the Daeryeong took no further notice of it.
Leeteuk dropped the pen. “I’m sorry! I-”
“I don’t care,” Heechul said blankly as he brought his finger to his lips and licked the blood off.
Leeteuk winced slightly. He loved times like these when Heechul showed that he still needed him more than anyone else. He could get closer to the Daeryeong than he ever could when the latter was in his right state of mind, but seeing the one he loved so dearly in such a state tore him apart. He had never seen Heechul cry and this was as close as it got to that. And there was only one cause for it: the letter with four drops of Heechul’s blood.
“I only have forty two days…” Heechul said. He put his hand back on the desk and continued to stare at the window with his eyes just as emotionless as his words.
“Forty two days until what?” Leeteuk walked around the desk between them and kneeled in front of Heechul, taking his injured hand in both of his.
Heechul still didn’t look at Leeteuk, but he rested his free hand on the letter. “Read it.”
And just like Leeteuk did every time this happened, he let go of Heechul with one hand and took the letter in it. The crimson drops on the paper started to run to the bottom as he read.
Daeryeong Kim Heechul,
After all that I have heard about your short leadership over camp 409, I have decided to bring it upon my self to come for a visit to make sure that your training methods are up to standard. I understand that you have recently lost two of your Jungnyeongs, but have not yet replaced them. If that is the case, I will take note of how you are fairing without them and appoint replacements where they are needed. The same will go for any other person I deem unfit in their position. When I was active Daeryeong, camp 409 was the best out there and I can only hope that you are maintaining that reputation. As of now, I am unsure as to how long I will be staying, but I will be arriving at 0800 hours on August 31. I hope that my visit will not be disappointing.
Active Wonsu* Kim Sunghe
“The… Wonsu is… coming here?” Leeteuk asked, his eyes wide with shock.
Heechul gave a solemn nod.
“But everything here is fine! There’s nothing to worry about, right Chullie?”
Heechul’s voice came out as no more than a strained whisper. “Apparently not.”
Leeteuk desperately searched his mind for something, anything, he could say to reassure the Daeryeong, but nothing came to him. He glanced at the Wonsu’s letter again, harshly chewing on his bottom lip and tightened his grip on Heechul’s lifeless hand. “Everything will be fine. We don’t need to worry about Wonsu Kim coming here. We’ve kept this place in order for over a year and it won’t be any different forty two days from now”
Heechul’s eyes finally moved to look at Leeteuk. “Yet we both know that’s not good enough for him.”
“Then we’ll make it good enough.”
Heechul returned his gaze to the blinds and raised his bleeding finger to his lips again, capturing it between his teeth. “I can’t,” he whispered.
“You already have.” There was a very long, gloomy silence. The only thing that ever left Heechul like this was getting a letter from the Wonsu, no matter what it said. Even though those letters were rare, Leeteuk hated what their arrival put Heechul through. It went the same thing every time; Heechul would tell Leeteuk to go away, Leeteuk would come in anyway to see a letter on the desk and a sharp pen pressed into Heechul’s left index finger, Leeteuk would read the letter (which always had something negative written along with some form of saying Heechul was a disappointment or disgrace) and say whatever he needed to Heechul to slowly wiggle him out of his distant state, which sometimes meant saying nothing at all. Then Heechul would burn the letter and send Leeteuk away.
But they sat together in silence for long after Heechul would have normally sent him away. Leeteuk resorted to gently rubbing the other’s hand with his thumb as the clock ticked the minutes away. Finally Heechul stood up and slipped his hand out of Leeteuk’s with a sigh. “Are Jungnyeong Shim and Soryeong Jung in the training fields?” he asked with his voice only a sliver away from being back to normal.
“I believe so, yes,” Leeteuk answered, also rising to his feet.
“Good. I need to talk to them immediately,” Heechul said. He pulled the chord to open the blinds and light flooded into the room.
With a hint of resentment in Leeteuk’s voice, he asked, “Do you want me to get them for you sir?” He hated bringing formalities back after they had been so close, but now Heechul would have scolded him if he didn’t.
“No. I’ll get them myself.” Heechul held his hand toward Leeteuk with his eyes focused on the small, burning stick of incense on the corner of his dresser.
Just like always… Leeteuk thought as he handed Heechul the letter. “Do you need me to do anything for you then?”
Heechul touched the corner of the letter to the tip of the incense, and a line of bright orange began to creep across the page, leaving nothing in its trail. Heechul watched the letter slowly burn and then let it fall from his fingertips before there was nothing left. “Not at the moment, just come with me to the fields. I might need you to take their places.” With that Heechul exited his room, Leeteuk only inches behind.
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*Sunghe: Wonsu ((American equal is General of Army))
Heechul: Daeryeong ((American equal is colonel))
Changmin: Jungnyeong ((American equal is lieutenant colonel))
Leeteuk: Jungnyeong ((American equal is lieutenant colonel))
Dongwook: Jungnyeong ((American equal is lieutenant colonel))
Yunho: Soryeong ((American equal is major))
Yoochun: Sangdeungbyeong ((American equal is corporal))
Donghae: Sangdeungbyeong ((American equal is corporal))
Jaejoong: Ideungbyeong ((American equal is private))
Junsu: Ideungbyeong ((American equal is private))