Letters From War Chapter 6
Title: Letters From War
Length: [7/?]
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
Chapter 5b
Chapter 6
Changmin stared at the man in front of him in complete disbelief. “You did not just say that.”
Yunho briefly lifted his shoulders with a weary smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “As far as anyone else is concerned, I didn’t.” He turned away from the younger and reached out for the door handle, grasping it tightly in his hand. “I just wish you would have picked a better time… I mean really Changmin, does your subconscious mind ring an alarm every time a chance for bad timing comes up?” he asked with a half-hearted laugh.
Changmin rolled his eyes and sighed with exaggerated annoyance. “My so called bad timing won’t be a problem as long as you learn how to keep it in your pants Hyung. If you can’t, then it’s really not my fault.”
Yunho rolled his eyes and pushed Changmin’s shoulder. “Aish, what am I going to do with you and your colorful yet completely wrong imagination?”
With the younger’s remorse almost completely gone, a grin turned up the corners of his lips. “You just wait Hyung; you’ll see how right I am when you get Jaejoong alone somewhere.”
“Don’t get carried away now…” Yunho warned even though the thoughts of completely ravishing Jaejoong in an abandoned room had already been planted in his mind and his heated blood already rushed southward. He could feel the softness of Jaejoong’s lips caressing the skin on his neck and trailing down his shoulder at a painfully slow pace. Those sweet, sweet rose petals tracing down his chest…
Changmin’s grin stretched further when he saw Yunho’s eyes sliding closed and his lips parting for a low sigh. He just loved to be proved right when Yunho didn’t want to admit it. “Alright alright, stop daydreaming. We still have to go back to the fields with the others,” Changmin said, hitting Yunho’s arm in attempt to pull him out of his fantasies.
Yunho shook his head, erasing most of the erotic visions of Jaejoong from his freshly-corrupted mind. “Right…” he muttered. He walked down the halls with Changmin as he tried to think of anything besides the beautiful trainee. Come on Yunho, you’re acting crazy. You’ve never thought things like this about anyone before, Jaejoong should be no different… Just think of something else. Cold showers, ice, Leeteuk, Heechul, cafeteria food, anything but Jaejoong. Jaejoong… And his mind began to wonder yet again.
**~**~**~**~**
Jaejoong’s legs were on fire at this point. His muscles were screaming, begging him to stop running but he pressed on for fear of being a victim of Leeteuk’s wrath. The sun’s heat merged with the heat from the bodies surrounding him and made his skin endlessly pour salty tears in a vain attempted to bring him relief. All of them had begun to slow down significantly after their fiftieth lap and a few had even stopped. Leeteuk was constantly at their heels though, constantly yelling at them to keep running and screaming directly into the faces of the trainees who dared to stop, even smacking a few of them that refused to go on. He ran several laps with them and made sure to shoot a glare at Jaejoong every time he passed and yelled mainly at him when he felt necessary.
The physical exhaustion was finally taking its toll on Jaejoong. His breath was coming in short, painful gasps that set his lungs on fire with each intake. He began slipping farther and farther behind Junsu, and even fell behind Yoochun who was only motivated by the kamo butt bouncing in front of him. Jaejoong’s legs eventually gave out completely, sending him to the floor and not moving an inch further.
Yunho and Changmin had just stepped out of the officer’s quarters when Jaejoong smacked against the compacted dirt. In an almost knee-jerk reaction, Yunho broke into a desperate run toward the fallen angel just as Leeteuk jogged over to begin his yelling.
“Get up!” Leeteuk shouted. He loomed over Jaejoong’s still body with the concern in his face hardly evident behind his restraints. He swung his foot back, intending it to whack against Jaejoong’s side, but instead it met with Yunho’s arm. He locked eyes with a pair of flaming black jewels that were only gateways into the inferno of Yunho’s soul and he felt the tidal waves of mixed anger and concern rolling off of the Soryeong. Only then did it become very clear to Leeteuk that he and Heechul weren’t the only officers with dirty little secrets. He stared at Yunho with shock striking his face; all thoughts of punishing Jaejoong like Heechul had ordered flying out of his mind.
“Kicking him won’t make him get up Leeteuk,” Yunho stated with his voice strained from repressing the other words desperate to escape his lips. Leeteuk was still speechless.
“I think he’s unconscious,” Changmin said. Yunho and Leeteuk turned to the spot where the young Jungnyeong suddenly appeared. He had one hand delicately placed behind Jaejoong’s limp head and the other on his shoulder, shaking it slightly.
Yunho directed his flaming glare back to Leeteuk. “What did you do to him?” he hissed.
“I didn’t do anything. None of the others passed out,” Leeteuk argued, gesturing to the other trainees who were still struggling to take their next steps.
Changmin ignored Leeteuk and sat Jaejoong upright with his arms wrapped around the trainee’s chest. “Yunho hyung, we need to take him to Eunhyuk. He’s probably dehydrated or something,” Changmin said calmly.
That’s right… Yunho thought. They don’t give you food or water in the chambers… He shuddered at the thought and kneeled beside Jaejoong. He carefully slipped his arms around Jaejoong’s almost feather-light legs and rose to his feet while Changmin did the same with the upper half of Jaejoong’s body. “Tell the rest of them to retire for a while,” Changmin ordered the older Jungnyeong as they set off for the small medical building.
Junsu stopped dead in his tracks (much to his legs’ relief) when he noticed his twin’s presence no longer beside him. Several trainees shoved past him as he scanned through them for Jaejoong with no avail. Only Yoochun stopped beside him, tugging at his damp sleeve. “Junsu come on. We have to keep going,” the taller man urged quietly.
“Where’s Jaejoong?” Junsu asked, but as soon as the question left his mouth the crowd of trainees had passed, revealing the training officers with his unconscious brother in their arms. “Hyung!” Junsu squeaked. He broke out into a run toward them with renewed energy pulsing in his veins. The pain attacking his body was doused by worry. “What’s wrong with him?” the frantic trainee asked between deep breaths as he skidded to a halt beside Changmin and Yunho.
Yunho ignored Junsu and continued walking without a word. He rubbed his thumbs in small, soothing circles on the sides of Jaejoong’s knees, hoping that it would relieve some of the pain running had forced the seemingly frail things to endure and muttering in the softest voice he could manage. “Come on Jaejoong… Please be okay…”
All the while, Jaejoong faded in and out of consciousness. The pounding in his head was in perfect sync with two sets of unified footsteps. The steady rhythm mixed with low voices floated over Jaejoong’s head saying words his mind was too exhausted to understand. He let a soft groan pass his dry lips and his eyes opened a fraction of an inch, revealing a blurry world.
“Jaejoong?” he heard the lower of the two voices call. He lifted his gaze and saw an out of focus Yunho staring back at him.
Changmin shifted his hold on Jaejoong to open the door of the medical ward and lead the other two inside. He and Yunho carefully laid the trainee onto one of the small beds scattered around the concrete room. Yunho kneeled beside the bed as Changmin directed the head medic’s attention away from his work. “Soryeong Lee, get him some water,” Changmin ordered softly while he began unbuttoning Jaejoong’s shirt.
“What are you doing??” Yunho hissed through his teeth when he noticed the younger’s fingers working at Jaejoong’s buttons.
Changmin rolled his eyes and continued until the last button was released. “Honestly Hyung. He’s dehydrated and overheated; taking some of his clothes off will help him cool down.”
Yunho hung his head and muttered a quiet “oh” as he watched Changmin reveal more and more of Jaejoong’s pale glistening skin. He marveled at the rapidly moving chest, and Jaejoong watched him as well. He felt even more heat rush to his face as Yunho’s dark eyes lapped up the sight of his exposed skin, not really sure if exhaustion was the reason why he didn't mind. He was so absorbed in the emotions flitting through Yunho’s eyes that he didn’t notice someone holding a cup of water in front of his face.
“What happened to him?” an unfamiliar voice asked. The cup was pushed closer to Jaejoong’s lips.
“He passed out on the fields after Jungnyeong Park made them run for too long,” Changmin explained to the medic. He draped Jaejoong’s shirt on the bed’s steal-barred headboard and took the water. “Jaejoong-ah?” he called, swirling the water slightly.
Jaejoong tore his gaze away from Yunho to look at Changmin. “Yes?” he said softly.
“Did you drink anything at lunch?” Changmin asked, almost sounding completely indifferent.
“No,” Jaejoong answered, shifting uncomfortably. “I didn’t have anything.”
“Nothing to eat either?” Jaejoong hesitated a second before shaking his head. Changmin clicked his tongue. “Not smart Jaejoong.” Pushing the water into Jaejoong’s hand, he spoke a soft command. “Drink it all.” And the trainee complied without any protest.
Eunhyuk crossed his arms and glared at Changmin. “Why did you need me if you’re just going to do my job for me?”’ he complained. “I do have other people to help you know. There was an air raid three days ago.”
The Jungnyeong waved his hand at nothing in particular, his eyes fixed on Jaejoong’s lips softly sucking on the rim of his drink. “They’ll be fine, just go get some food for Jaejoong.” He paused for a second and perked up a little. “And for me; I’m starving.”
Eunhyuk rolled his eyes at the youngest, but the medic listened nonetheless and went out of the room.
Yunho couldn’t believe how much seeing Jaejoong’s harsh breathing both worried him and turned him on at the same time. He had seen hundreds of soldiers and trainees in the medical ward in far worse condition, some even having their arms blown completely off, yet none of their cases bothered him at all; he actually couldn’t have cared less. But this beautiful man’s slightest ailment stabbed needles into his heart. The muscles rippling down Jaejoong’s neck with every swallow sent Yunho’s mind into a frenzy of lust. He imagined his tongue teasing the expanse of milky white skin, sending a shiver down his spine.
“Now Hyung, I’m going to leave you with Jaejoong for a few minutes. Please don’t take his innocence while I’m gone,” Changmin said as he refilled Jaejoong’s cup and headed for the door.
Yunho’s head snapped up to look at Changmin with his eyes wide with shock. He stuttered incoherently while his dongsaeng snickered and left them as well.
Jaejoong had dropped his cup at Changmin’s words, spilling the water all over himself. The tension in the air grew unbearably thick as Jaejoong and Yunho stared at the door, desperate to avoid seeing the other man. “He was just being stupid you know… Jungnyeong Shim is…” Yunho trailed off when he found that his eyes had wandered back to Jaejoong, whose neck was now fully exposed and head leaning to the side.
“Yun- ahem- Soryeong Jung?”
Yunho reluctantly lifted his eyes from the beautiful pale skin on Jaejoong’s neck to the endless dark eyes. “What?”
“Can… I have some paper and a pen?” Jaejoong asked meekly, slightly chewing on his bottom lip.
Yunho raised an eyebrow, just like Jaejoong expected him to. “Why?”
Jaejoong dropped his gaze to the thin white sheets beside his hips. “I… I want to write a letter my mother,” he admitted sheepishly, twisting the sheet with his finger.
Yunho laughed and shook his head. “Letters from here don’t get to the person it’s sent to for a loooong time. That is, if it gets to them at all.”
“I understand… I just…” Jaejoong sighed deeply before continuing. “I want to do it anyway. It would make me… I just want to. I don’t care how long it takes to get out of here.” The bottom of Jaejoong’s eyes shimmered very slightly, but he quickly blinked it away before he looked back up at Yunho.
“Alright.” Yunho surrendered instantly when he saw the light reflect off the premature tears threatening to spill onto Jaejoong’s flushed cheeks. He quickly rose to his feet and snatched a piece of paper and pen from Eunhyuk’s desk along with the clipboard attached to the foot of Jaejoong’s bed.
“Thank you…” Jaejoong mumbled when he took the clipboard and began writing.
**~**~**~**~**
Dear Umma,
Junsu and I have been drafted into the military, just like you feared we would. I’ve only been here for two days, but it already feels like forever. Junsu has managed to stay out of trouble so far as usual even though I haven’t. You can’t blame me though; all I wanted to do was take a shower without fifty other men watching me. The officers are not very bad, just… odd. Especially Jungnyeong Shim; he has a weird way of doing things around here. Jungnyeong Park is pretty strict and kind of bitchy, but I guess that’s how officers are supposed to be if they want anyone to listen to them. I haven’t really seen the others more than once or twice, and even then it was only for a few seconds. Well except there is one other: Soryeong Jung Yunho. He’s… attractive to say the least. He was like Jungnyeong Park the first day, but I think he’s warmed up to me after I got out of my original punishment. He and Jungnyeong Shim had a substitute for what the Daeryeong sentenced me to. I’d much rather not go into details about that since I know you disapprove of the lifestyle I chose. All I’ll say is that he’s a really good kisser. And… well… It’s a little awkward now that I think about it but… he saw me after I took a shower last night. I wonder if that had anything to do with him softening up. I know you’ll never get to read this no matter how much I wish you could, so I guess holding back on what I say is a little pointless. I just don’t have enough energy to write more right now. Junsu and I think about you all the time and miss you every day. We might be seeing you sooner than we thought if the war continues though. Maybe it won’t be so bad.
All of my love,
Jaejoong
**~**~**~**~**
Jaejoong folded the piece of paper and set it on the small table beside him along with the pen just as Eunhyuk came back in the room with a tray of food. “Drink some more water alright?” the medic said to Jaejoong, handing over the tray. The trainee thanked him but ignored the food, merely staring at it in a state of gloomy thought. Eunhyuk muttered something about having something “more important to do than babysitting” to no one in particular and left Yunho alone with Jaejoong again.
As soon as the medic was out of sight, Yunho scowled at Jaejoong. “I thought you said writing that letter would make you feel better,” he said in a semi-upset voice, folding his arms across his tones chest. He would have pushed his bottom lip out into a pout, but of course, Yunho was far too manly to even think of doing that.
But Jaejoong ignored the Soryeong. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts. His eyes watched a single grain of rice as he pushed it around his tray with a lazy finger. A thought that he couldn’t ignore started pulling at him as he wrote the end of his letter, and only part of him wanted it to go away. He was alone with Yunho, and he just had to make the uncertainty in his mind go away. Either he would go on for the rest of his time at camp 409 holding back and wondering, or he could act on his curiosity and either be horribly punished or have the best two months of his life since his parents’ death. “Soryeong Jung, do you ever break the rules?”
“Of course not. I’m an officer,” Yunho replied automatically. “If I broke the rules I wouldn’t be here.”
“Homosexuality is against the rules, right?”
“Strictly.”
“Is lying against the rules?”
“Yes.”
“Then you do break them,” Jaejoong said, finally looking up to meet Yunho’s confused gaze. “You just lied to me. And you kissed me before. As far as I know, we’re both guys, so that would be homosexual,” he stated, answering Yunho’s unspoken question.
Yunho couldn’t think of anything to say to that. He stared at Jaejoong with his mouth opened slightly for an answer that died on his tongue.
“Do you always punish people for breaking a rule?” Jaejoong asked as he slowly got off the bed and stood only inches away from Yunho, looking up into Yunho’s uncertain eyes.
“Y-yes,” Yunho stuttered. His legs were frozen in place, unwilling to move away from Jaejoong even though half of his mind was screaming that it was a horrible idea to stay put. He managed to lean back far enough to be unbalanced and trigger his foot’s automatic reaction to step back, but Jaejoong only moved forward to make up for the distance.
Jaejoong managed to keep his face straight despite the millions of thoughts racing through his mind. He knew his next move could be the worst thing he would ever do, but he wanted to risk it. The exhaustion meant nothing to him now that he was over taken with this sudden wave of undeniable lust. “As you said Soryeong, I lied to you…” Jaejoong began as he rose on his tip toes and tilted his head back slightly to get his lips as close to Yunho’s as possible. He stared at those lips with half-closed eyes and a seductive smile. He willed his voice to go as low and soft as possible, and spoke again, saying two simple words. “Punish me.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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))
Eunhyuk: Soryeong/ Head Medic ((American equal is major and... head medic))
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))