Your Divine Grace {NamJin}

four

The sun had set on Seokjin's last day as a noble, leaving the stress of the world on his shoulders like waves gently pushing wet sand back to the beach. His glowing skin mirrored the lowering sun, slowly losing its luster as the night dawned on its first hour. The dwindling glow on his skin soon left, taking the day's warmth with it. As if on signal, his heart began to pump faster, pushing blood through the unseen channels of his chest.

"Three days..." he sighed, pacing around Namjoon's mahogany table. Catching sight of a pack of playing cards on the table, he stopped, remembering the first time Namjoon had offered to play cards with him. That day, he banished the bane of their existences.

"Seokjin, would you care for a game of cards?" he had said, before discovering the cuts on his hands. That time, Seokjin had been afraid of what might've transpired had he lied to his beloved, more afraid than anything Sura could've done physically to him. 

"P-Please...d-don't be angry at me..." he had whimpered, hoping Namjoon wouldn't turn against him when he told the truth. Instead, he had caressed him, cradling his small body in his strong arms.

What was it he had said that day?

"Let anyone intend ill on you, and they will feel my anger. Worry no more, Seokjin. I will protect you with my life."

That was the moment Seokjin knew Namjoon had his back. And each time he needed him, he was there. Despite the short-lived yet agonizing nightmare on the evening that Namjoon had chastised Seokjin, tearing at his heart and robe of innocence with the false pretense of promiscuity -- which in truth, wasn't Namjoon's fault -- he had taken care of Seokjin each and every time.

He would die before losing Namjoon to an assassin, or failing to carry out his last command.

"You've realized something," Namjoon said, looking up at the future regent pause in front of his mahogany table and reading the halt carefully. "What's on your mind, love?"

"Do you remember...that day when you told me you'd protect me with your life?" he asked, falling lightly to his knees in front of the table and the pack of cards. Namjoon stood from his seat on the edge of his bed, wandering behind his other half.

"Of course, I remember. That was the day I exiled...the snake."

Seokjin's silence told Namjoon everything he needed to know: he was thinking about the night he told Seokjin to leave and never come back to the palace; the night he pulled Seokjin from the grasp of his own suicide.

"What happened...that night, when..."

"I had received Sura's last will and testimony from the prison below us," he said, his voice beginning to falter with the burn of guilt in his throat. "I was obligated to read it, thinking it was actually a will. It was a forged letter, exaggerating your relationship with the younger noble, Second Lord Kim."

Seokjin's heart suddenly felt lighter -- Namjoon's explanation of unfortunate, conspired events took a burden off the noble's chest that he didn't know was there.

"You and Lord Kim are close friends, yes?"

"Yes."

He finally knelt behind Seokjin, unsure of whether or not he wanted the embrace Namjoon so desired to surround him with. He dejectedly kept his hands at bay.

"I should've seen the lie...Sura made you look like a slut."

Seokjin remained silent, glad that Namjoon didn't just decide to hate him out of the blue.

"I don't know what was worse-- me going off on you like that, or actually believing her--"

"I feel better," the noble said, smiling a little. "I'm glad that you at least had to be tricked to lose love for me."

With those words, Namjoon pulled Seokjin towards him, holding him once more in his arms.

"At this point...I'd have to die to lose love for you. And even then...I'd break the rules of heaven to be next to you."

Seokjin smiled wider, his cheeks flushing crimson as Namjoon's warmth washed his back in affection.

"Namjoon, I have no doubt that you love me. I know, with every ounce of my being, that you love me with all your heart. I hope you know that I love you too, with everything I have."

With a silent roar of thundering fervor, Namjoon showered kisses onto Seokjin's cheek, making the noble giggle shyly like a little boy meeting a new friend. The lightning flashed in the king's soft eyes as they opened, looking down at the dark chocolate planets in the galaxy of Seokjin's face.

"I'm sorry"--

"Don't be, Namjoon. I forgive you for that night, it was just a misunderstanding."

Namjoon placed another kiss on Seokjin's thick, baby pink lips, unable to satisfy his hunger for their softness.

"We made love that night, you know."

The pureness of Seokjin's smile subtly fell into a mischievous lust, remembering the first time he laid with Namjoon in the waterfall grotto. His body suddenly shivered, spasming with the pleasurable memory of Namjoon's hands on his back and around his rear.

"I remember," he sighed, closing his eyes. "I'll never forget the first night we made love."

Namjoon leaned his head down towards Seokjin's neck when a digit met Namjoon's lips instead.

"Don't I have something planned tonight?" he smirked, leaning back against Namjoon's chest. "Some kind of...crowning ceremony?"

"We have hours, love," Namjoon whined, begging for a recreation of the first night he took his partner. "I can have someone set up a bath"--

"Namjoon," Seokjin whispered, catching his attention by turning himself to face Namjoon. Leaning in to speak softly into his ear, he continued.

"While I'd love to feel you in me again, I'm going to be crowned in four hours. I need a bath, clean and tied hair, four layers of robes and time to collect myself."

Nodding in understanding, Namjoon placed a final kiss on Seokjin's forehead, rocking him slowly back and forth.

"Let's get you ready, my future king."