Tyranny

Chapter-14: Different When You're Here

Hyunjin felt.. cold. All the damn time. He felt as if he needed warmth, every single day but he never took care of his need.

All the blankets in the world couldn't, wouldn't get rid of the empty hole in him that made him so lifeless. If he was set ablaze, he doubted he would feel it.

There he was, thinking on the balconey once more.

Talking to the moon, thinking of the air as his audience as he recited his poem of life created by his trauma of past experiences. He was a bright boy, but he wasn't allowed that. He was stripped of happiness, stripped of light, warmth.

He held the bottle of strong wine in his hand. He gulped it down. He drank it all. He drank his sorrows away, as usual.

He drank, he passed out. Thankfully he was in bed as he was taken to sleep.

Seungmin. The boy the king found interesting. He was supposed to be lonely, but he wasn't... as much as people who lose both parents would. He had Minho, and Felix. They filled him with a distraction called happiness, and he couldn't be more thankful.

Occasionally, Soonie, Doongi and Dori would play with him, and he would feel happy and special. Felix and he would always tease Minho about forgetting the number of wolves they had just to enrage him, all for fun.

But.... now that he was separated, loneliness consumed him. He couldn't help but stuff his head in books to avoid any thoughts that reminded him of his friends.. and parents.

Books, in a way, were an escape from the real world, and where he would get traces if not fake memories of how things would be in some other universe. A universe.. where everything gets better, a universe where he was the lead getting the best things in the end. His universe.

Thoughts like those only made him despise life, but he couldn't help it. He distracted himself from those thoughts, too, or things would seem worse than they already are.

He sat at the library that was now his favorite place in the castle, where solitude was given and calamity was abundant.

The height of where it was situated, the slight breeze when he opened the window, the beautiful harmony of birds chirping as they enjoyed their life, and the smell of books that seemed to calm his nerves; everything seemed perfect about this library.

He put down the book he just finished reading, sighing in content and smiling. He stood up to put it back where he got it, and to grab more books.

He made his way towards the specific shelf, tiptoeing as he put the book where it belonged. As he pushed the book in place, he stumbled slightly, but landed on someone's chest, and that person's hand on top of his hand that was on the shelf.

“Enjoying the books, pup?”

He turned his head so quick you could almost hear a crack, and his eyes found their way to Hyunjin's face.

Well. There goes solitude.

"Wh- What are you doing here-?” He almost punched himself from stuttering, but that wasn't the first thing in mind as he focused on the god's sculpted face and plump lips, and eyes as deep as the depths of an ocean.

Those plump lips formed a smirk.

“To see how my pup's been doing all alone in this place of course”, he answered.

Seungmin snapped out of his fixed gaze and realized their position. His face started to flush again, the one thing he hates most that happens whenever Hyunjin comes near him. And this time, it seems he lost sense of personal space.

He turned himself to face Hyunjin, putting his hands on the latter's chest, looking down.

“I-I.. I'm not your pup!”, he shouted, but it seemed soft as compared to how he intended it to be.

He snapped his head up when he heard a chuckle, but his eyes suddenly found what his hands were doing, taking them back. He slipped out under Hyunjin's arm, flushed, and went towards his table to grab his book as he went out, leaving Hyunjin alone in the library.

When it was sure the smaller had left, Hyunjin attempted to calm his beating heart that suddenly acted that way when he smelled Seungmin's scent. It just felt so.. warm and safe he couldn't help himself.

A smile made way to his face.

“I'll be sure to explore you more.. my little pup”

He put his hands behind him, walking away outside slowly, a smile still stuck his face. 

And from then on, Hyunjin sneaked around just to be near Seungmin, annoying him you could say.

One of those times, he had sneaked his arms around the puppy like boy's waist, startling the living shit out of him. He had laughed at the pouting flushed face he had been given that day.. but he continued to do so. To mess with him so he said.

In reality, to him,  it was an excuse to ease his stress without alcohol. Yes.. that's how Seungmin's scent and warmth got him.

There was this other time when he had went to sneak up on him, but Seungmin had fallen on him, both falling with a thud.

Hyunjin's hand found it's way to the back of his head, the other propping him. Seungmin's hands balled on his clothing, his head on his chest. It took a little while for Seungmin to look up to face him, face flushed and they held their eyes to stare at the other's for just a little while, before Seungmin abruptly got up and ran.

'at least he isn't hurt i guess..’

Seungmin's presence had messed with him to the point where he felt a physical need for him. Like.. he couldn't breathe without him or everything would go bad again.

While with Seungmin, he had noticed the king's presence a lot more than before. Everywhere he went, it felt like he was being watched, and in the end it would be Hyunjin.

One time he had been too into his thoughts, and he fell. Instead of kissing the cold hard ground, he felt himself on someone's clothing.

The impact had gotten him so shocked he had to take a few minutes to register what the hell just happened and when he did, he ran for his life.

The more he found Hyunjin's presence around him, the more he felt his heart beat get quicker. First it was vague, but as time went by and their interactions increased, it almost felt as if he had the thrill he had when during missions again, but in a different way.

What's clear, is that.. these two men are just exploring more of not only the other, but of themselves.

𝔱𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔢𝔡. . .

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𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆

Red Lights
- Bang Chan, Hyunjin
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