Webs
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Title: Webs
Pairing: Chanyeol/Baekhyun
Rating: PG-13 (for implications of sex and violence)
Genre: Drama, Psychological, AU
Summary: Under the tyranny of a crazed king, Baekhyun finds himself in a curious position he’d never thought he would.
Baekhyun wakes, a sour taste in his mouth. He coughs, rubbing his face as he turns towards the hand shaking him, staring into the eyes of a servant girl.
“He’s calling for you.” She whispers, and there’s no need for anything else. They both know what that means and what Baekhyun needs to do.
She holds out a stack of neatly folded garments, making Baekhyun realize that under the silk covers, he is completely naked. That and the sharp pain that shoots up his back remind him of the activities that he’d done last night. He winces, and the servant winces with him. He wishes they would stop that - their sympathy only added to Baekhyun’s shame.
He changes while the servant’s back is turned. The clothes are simple, not a tassel nor stitch of embroidery on them - but they’re made of materials softer and more expensive than Baekhyun would ever be able to afford in his life, and they fall around his frame - fitting, colours vibrant and complementing, bringing out the best in his features. Just the way the king likes it.
The servant girl leads him down to the great hall, although there is no real need for her to. Baekhyun has been here long enough to know the way. So instead, he watches the servant girl creep ahead in front of him. No one here walks, he notes to himself, his head turning to watch the people who passed by them. Everyone here creeps, frightful and cautious. Baekhyun wonders if he too creeps, without realizing it.
The double doors swing open, and his name is announced. All protocol. And Baekhyun follows as he is expected, moving forward, shoes silent on the plush red carpet, to kneel, bowing at the throne.
Only, the throne is empty. Baekhyun doesn’t see the king anywhere, but it doesn’t surprise him when arms slide around his shoulders and a pair of soft lips nip at his ear. “You certainly took your time, Baekhyun.”
“I’m sorry, your majesty.” Baekhyun demurs, not turning to look around. There is no doubt as to who is.
“Sure you are.” The voice drawls, and then the pressure lifts to be replaced by another - one of tugging, and he has to get up, pulled forward into an awkward run towards the throne.
“Come! You must be hungry!” The king gestures to one of the servants that line the room even as he places Baekhyun at his feet, sitting majestically upon the throne. “Bring some food. We can’t have Baekhyun fainting in front of the soldiers out of hunger. Why, that would damage my image!”
Baekhyun realizes then, finally having gotten a good look at the king, that he is dressed for a military inspection. The king looks good, as he always did, more so now, dressed in smart white and red, a simple circlet adorning his head amidst the brown curls of his hair. After a moment, Baekhyun realizes that he shouldn’t stare and adverts his eyes to the floor. But a hand tugs the back of his head, forcing him to look up again, into the enigmatic expression that is the king’s.
“Come. Eat.” The king takes a bunch of grapes from the platter that arrives. And Baekhyun obediently opens his mouth as the King plucks a single fruit from the bunch, knowing this routine as much as the rest. But just before it touches Baekhyun’s lips, the grape is suddenly pulled away.
There is a loud crash, and a startled shriek. And it takes Baekhyun a second to realize that the king had suddenly turned violent, pushing the platter of food off the servant’s hands and was now holding a sword to the poor girl’s throat.
“Your majesty?” Baekhyun asks carefully. The tension in the room is so thick, he could have cut it with a knife.
“The grapes weren’t fresh.” The king growls out, the sword biting deeper into the girl’s neck, a thin trail of blood trickling down. “How could you feed us grapes that weren’t fresh?”
Old fruit usually wasn’t something worth personal execution - and the situation, taken out of context, would have seemed absurd. But they all know that the danger is real, and the terror in the servant girl’s eyes is even more so. For the man that held the sword at her neck was Park Chanyeol, 5th monarch of the Park reign of the Kingdom of Chousen. The king, who had taken over from his father after his parents died from a tragic accident at the age of 16 and in his youth and grief, turned to insanity. The king, who, in a fit of rage, had executed all his advisors and ministers for the misspelling of his name on one of the meeting’s minutes - much less a servant girl with no significant importance. The king who had thrown his fiancé from a window, telling her that she was going to learn how to fly.
This was that king. The Mad King of Chousen.
And Baekhyun, in the face of all this, sighed and put a hand on the king’s shoulder. “Your majesty. It’s fine.”
“No it isn’t.” The king repeated - but his voice is like that of a petulant child. “The grapes weren’t fresh.”
“I didn’t feel like grapes anyway.” Baekhyun shrugs.
The king turns around, sword sliding away from the servant girl’s throat. “Oh? What are you feeling like anyway?”
“Just bread and cheese. Something simple.” Baekhyun states, watching the girl nearly collapse from relief from the corner of his eye.
“Bread and cheese. I see. Go get some for him then girl!” The king suddenly turns around, cultured voice turning harsh, a hard kick aimed at the girl’s side, making her scramble to her feet. “And make sure it’s fresh this time!”
He feels the stares, even as he returns to the king’s side, sitting on the man’s lap at his bidding. He can feel the pity in those stares, as the king takes the bread and cheese, biting them before pushing his lips onto Baekhyun’s, feeding him, pushing the food with his tongue, lingering longer than needed. They do not understand how Baekhyun can be so passive in such a cruel, terrifying man’s arms. Pliant to his every wish.
But they do not know, that despite how cruel they look, Baekhyun can sense no harm in the king’s actions - only protectiveness and care. After the initial fear of coming to the palace and being subject to the king’s whims. Baekhyun is beginning to sense something beyond the king than what he shows. It is something that Baekhyun has yet to make sense of yet, and he knows he will get no help from those pitying stares.
After all, they do not truly care, beyond their pity. The king is beyond their realm of actions and understanding. For them, all that matters is that Baekhyun has bought them yet another day.
~*~
That night, after the inspection and dinner and another round of fresh food fiasco, Baekhyun is sent to the king’s chamber early, told to get some sleep and not to stay up. The king had work needed to be done in his study.
Lying on the bed, clean and relaxed from his bath, Baekhyun thinks that for a king as mad as a hatter, he did an awful lot of consistent paperwork. It is one of the many inconsistencies that Baekhyun has been noticing over the months.
He doesn’t realize he had fallen asleep until he is woken by a weight climbing onto the bed and arms wrapping around him. And the most puzzling of all - the sound of soft sobs and a sudden growing wet in the back of his clothes.
“Your majesty?” He whispers softly, slightly frightened - because of all the strange things that has happened, this is new.
“B-baekhyun?” The king half chokes in what sounds like surprise. “Oh… I woke you… I’m sorry…”
The king has never apologized before. “T-there’s no need for apologies, your majest-”
“Chanyeol.”
“What?”
“Call me Chanyeol. And please, don’t turn around. I don’t want you to see me like this.”
And this is the first time that Baekhyun has heard so much authority in a voice. There is much more here, in this quiet, private whisper, than even the first time Baekhyun had seen the king - surrounded by pomp and glitter, dancing madly on his throne, the official crown eschew on his head, a gleam of madness in his eyes, ordering Baekhyun to be his pet for all eternity.
So Baekhyun obeys.
“C-chan…yeol.” The name feels heavy on his tongue, yet it feels right. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything? When has anything been right?” The king, Chanyeol, whispers, a wry irony in the curious words. “But you don’t need to worry about it. I’ll be myself in the morning. Just let me… stay like this for a while.”
They stay like that, as the king asks, the young man sobbing softly into Baekhyun’s back. Then finally, Baekhyun gathers enough courage and turns around, pulling the king into his arms. For a moment the king resists, and Baekhyun thinks that perhaps this is where the moment breaks, and the king will rise in all his glorious insanity, and order Baekhyun to be executed for his audacity.
But then, the king gives in, and falls into Baekhyun’s arms, sobbing even harder. Baekhyun calms him the way his ma did when he was young, singing a soft lullaby into the king’s ear.
Finally, when the king’s sobs fade off, and his breathing evens, does Baekhyun allow himself to let out a breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding.
The king is serene in his sleep, even with tracks of tears staining his cheek. and Baekhyun catches himself smiling, rubbing circles into the other man’s side. He realizes, that he’s picked up that habit from the king himself, comforting and soothing after nights of hard sex - the action had been puzzling as the situation now.
He’s heard of this before. Stockholm syndrome, he believes it’s called.
And as he stares at the mop of hair under his nose, he thinks of a sight he’d once seen when he was young. A spider web, glittering silver after the rain. An insect, caught in the slim strands, struggling, only to get more tangled in the web. It had stopped struggling after a while, awaiting it’s fate while the spider sat at the far end, watching…
He wondered then, when it was that he’d stopped struggling inside this mad king’s web. And when it was, that he’d fallen in love with him.
[A/N: So I actually have a little 'contest' for anyone who stumbles on this fic. And it's to hazard a guess why Chanyeol is behaving the way he is. I have thought of an actual reason, but I thought it might be fun to see what you guys think. So, just write your answer in a comment and in a week, I'll pick the one I like best. The 'winner' can request a fic of any pairing and any theme. So, enjoy ^^]