Dance into the Fire

~*~

Love can strike without warning

Even if it’s not entirely appropriate

For it to do so

~*~

Chapter Nine

~.~

Staring out at the vibrant green, neat cut gardens with their precisely kept flower beds, Daehyun couldn’t quite believe his eyes. It had been so long since he had looked upon the gardens of his aunt and whilst he was sure that he recognised some of the plants and the layout, it was all so alien to him that he very nearly wanted to break down and cry. Just the simplistic beauty of the grass, the vibrant colours of the flowers that he was sure that he’d never be able to full name or understand the true purpose of and the fresh scent made his senses feel completely alive.

Actually ever since stepping off the ship and into the fresh crisp air of home, Daehyun had just wanted to break down and cry. Whilst he knew that part of this was a perfectly natural reaction as he had been on the other planet for so long, there was something far greater at work here. Finally, he knew that he was home, he knew where he stood in the grand scheme of the complicated social structure and he didn’t have to think before he spoke or worry that he was doing something out of turn to offend someone. Not that his time on Exo had been hard, he would never claim it to be that but it had been…surreal.

Growing up on an alien world was no small undertaking but he had barely been back in the company of Yongguk and the other high ranking personnel more than five minutes before he noticed the startling change. Anyone could speak to the General whilst aboard ship, to pass on a message or else to give him just a simple greeting out of respect or an apology if they were running around trying to get more kudos points in order to sort out a problem in record time. Everyone talked to each other, in some form or other whether it be pleasant or adverse and they passed information on swiftly. Granted there were those out of the loop, kept in the dark but a solider was still seem as a man, or woman as he had happily noted more than a few times even being told off by one for trying to go down the wrong corridor before she had realised who he was and apologised profusely.

Daehyun had just laughed because he was overjoyed at finding some normality, something that he actually recognised from his childhood before leaving and it was a sensation that he did not wish to lose ever again. He now understood how scary it was for Yifan to even begin to think about attempting to leave, how it conflicted against everything that he had been brought up in and how strange a planet like Matoki would appear to someone like him. No one talked to the Princes on the Exo planet, excluding themselves and the Government, no one dared to acknowledge their presence or make themselves known for the pure terror that they would be reprimanded and crushed.

Beauty was on that planet but it was directed, dictated and kept very much in the hands of the controlling powers and anything that naturally appeared that broke the trend or did something it should not would be eliminated. Daehyun realised as he leaned on the fence overlooking the gardens that it had taken more than guts for Yifan to try and break free, it had meant losing everything. His home, his brothers and virtually his life. A small part of the Matoki boy did still wonder as to why he had yearned for it but upon seeing him returning so dejected Daehyun figured that he could understand.

Why live in a world where everything was controlled down to the last raindrop when you could be surprised by the rain coming teaming down from the skies above?

Broken out of his musings by just that very thing, Daehyun jumped and laughed as the glorious sunshine disappeared behind a stream of water droplets that formed seemingly out of nowhere and sent everyone scattering inside. It was a joyous feeling, just being able to stand there and feel the freshness hitting his skin because he had not expected it to rain and that was indeed something to marvel out.

“Daehyun! You silly goose!” Yongguk called, rushing out with a coat to throw over his cousin’s head even though he was still laughing gleefully like a child, “Come indoors this second before you give my mother a heart attack and land yourself with the biggest cold.”

“One can come to me in any form and I shall still laugh throughout it,” Daehyun replied with yet more laughter as he hurried to follow Yongguk inside, seeming to become more joyous with each passing second, “Oh Yongguk, you do not know what it is like to actually feel the rain.”

Frowning towards his cousin who was really not making any sense at the moment, though he had made little to no sense on the journey home if he was completely honest with himself, Yongguk hurriedly bundled the younger man inside and pulled the door to the patio swiftly closed as the rain became harder. Instead of dropping the coat like he expected the other to do, Daehyun merely wrapped himself in it tighter and snuggled against it, “So warm.”

Raising an eyebrow in complete confusion, Yongguk was about to berate his cousin for acting like a complete child when his mother came around the corner looking a mixture between anxious, flustered and overly keen. “Daehyunnie!” Seunghyun cried, rushing forward in a series of blue silks to embrace the boy in a full on hug, “Oh my boy, you’ve grown up so much! Let me take a full look at you!”

Standing where he had been left, Yongguk did not know what to make of the situation as his mother fussed over the other and sprouted off a thousand different phrases about how he had his mother’s eyes, fathers nose and a bunch of other rather sissy things that whilst not uncommon to hear from the carrier were still highly strange as they were being directed towards Daehyun. Thankfully Jiyong’s laughter brought him around and he smiled at his father who was shaking his head.

“Your mother has always adored your cousin, you know that Yongguk,” he smiled brightly and ruffled his eldest son’s hair, “I think he has truly missed him.”

“We all have but I’ve never known him to become so…” trying to find the right word to say about his mother that would not result in him getting hit for being rude was rather hard and Yongguk did adore his mother so he didn’t want to insult her either.

“Girlie?” Jiyong laughed again as he shook his head, “Seunghyun doesn’t show it that often but he does have an extremely girlie side to him. But whilst he’s distracted with your returned safely to our hands cousin, I need you to do me a favour Yongguk.”

Holding out a fine but rather plain mint green coloured cloak with soft white fur lining, Jiyong smiled softly, “Can you go and fetch Jongup from the Palace? I’m sure that he’ll have left early and I dread to think what type of cold he’ll catch when caught out in that rain.”

Yongguk nodded, taking the cloak and immediately forgetting about his cousin’s strange behaviour, “I’ll go and fetch him now. Hopefully he will be under some form of shelter.”

Jiyong nodded, smiling as Yongguk hurried off to grab his own cloak and go in search of his bastard brother whom he adored just as much as his real one. A part of Jiyong was glad for that fact but another part of him always worried about what would happen on the day that Jongup’s true heritage was fully exposed. Though his friend the king had promised him a long while ago that his family’s safety would be guaranteed because they would have kept the secret far longer than anyone else could have possibly done.

Pushing the thought aside, Jiyong headed over to save Daehyun from being too smothered in kisses by his wife as he felt a slight twinge of jealousy but nothing that a night alone with his wife wouldn’t resolve.

~*~

The rain had come so unexpectedly on that day that Jongup had not thought to bring any type of cloak in order to keep him dry. Though since it was completely unexpected there was little that he could do in terms of actually keeping himself dry anyway so he wasn’t too disheartened. Plus, he thought brightly to himself, it would be only a small shower that would be gone in a few minutes and then the sun would come back out to grace the land and he would be dry by the time he reached home.

That had been over half an hour ago and now Jongup looked like some kind of drowned puppy and felt just as miserable as one. His blond hair was plastered to his face, the cotton of his hanbok was sticking directly to his skin and making the white sleeves virtually invisible and already he could feel the shudders beginning to develop. He would not be brought down by a cold however, if he could avoid it and there was only a little more of a walk to go. Plus, his feet were not that cold and there wasn’t snot beginning to trickle down from his nose…

A sigh escaped his lips because Jongup knew that he was fighting a losing battle and no matter how dry he got before he got home he would be once again in the tender loving care of his foster mother because he just could not withstand the slightest bit of cold. Whether it came from wind, snow, rain or even just a cold enough drink the young man would end up snivelling and feeling downright awful no matter what he tried.

The rain was pelting down heavier now and Jongup found that it was harder to see as the clouds closed in and cast a murky grey gloom over everything and it was severely dampening his mood. Even the oil lamps that hung on poles to light the way during the night had been snuffed out virtually and for a second Jongup feared that he was strayed off the path he was supposed to take. Until his shoe caught on a small rounded stone which had been set into the ground as a marker and was a virtual guarantee that Jongup would trip over it. He did not know why he always tripped over the stone, he knew it was there, always reminded himself to avoid it and yet still he would gravitate towards it and fall flat on his face. This time though there just had to be the misfortune of a rather large, deep and very soggy puddle which the young handmaiden crashed face first in.

Pulling himself up sharply, Jongup frantically pushed himself back into a sitting position before wiping away the clinging pieces of icky water from his face before finding that hot tears escaped from his eyes at the exact same moment because he was just so wet and miserable right now that nothing worse could occur. He could not understand how he was so unlucky to constantly trip over that stone and he was sure that by the time he got home he wold be off sick for a month.

A beam of light from a personal lantern gently caressed his face and he turned slowly to look at the figure who was already kneeling down to wrap a familiar cloak around him. “Oh dear, looks like our clumsy puppy has fallen in the mud again,” Yongguk smiled softly towards the other and leaned forward to press a kiss to the boy’s forehead, “Come on Jongup, let’s get you home before anymore mishaps occur huh?”

Nodding towards his elder half-brother, Jongup stood up and then threw his arms around the others neck as he felt the familiar waves of warmth, affection and protection that was always there within the man. Yongguk laughed and returned the hug, though it was only with one arm before pulling the youngsters hood up and tugging him along the path with the other. “Daehyun is going to be thankful for the distraction I think.”

“Daehyun?” Jongup asked, sure he recognised the name but not able to place it as he sneezed.

“Yes, our cousin who went away to the Exo planet has finally returned and mother is fussing over him worse than he does with you,” Yongguk said affectionately, “Though it shall be interesting to see the two of you actually meet.”

“Meet?” Jongup asked, blinking at the elder as he tried to fight off sniffles.

Yongguk nodded, “The last time he was here you were barely toddling about with assistance. You’ve both grown up a lot since then.”

Any counter arguments that Jongup could have come up with at that point were lost as he sneezed five times in a row and grumbled incoherently as he was pulled into a warm hug by the other as they made their way down the path towards home.

~*~

Daehyun was almost glad to hear the door click open and hear Yongguk’s voice call out that they had returned as it gave him a good chance to peel himself out of his aunt’s grip and head towards the front door. He initially expected to find Youngjae in company of his elder brother, as he knew the younger of the Bang brothers was out on patrol and was due in sometime soon but instead there was a rather wet and sorry looking figure in a mint green cloak whom caught him off guard.

Seunghyun brushed past him rudely upon noticing the figure and seemed to be already fussing over him as he pushed back the hood but blocked his view, “Oh Jongup! Why did you not wait out the rain in one of the huts or something? You’re soaked through! Yongguk, go and fetch some warm coats and you mister are going right next to the fire whilst I draw you a hot bath because we cannot have you brought down with any sickness.”

Daehyun blinked as Yongguk did exactly what he was told as he took off the heavy outdoor cloaks for the pair of them and disappeared and faintly the former ward thought that he could hear Jiyong rattling about in the kitchen. The Bang family had only ever had one official servant their entire lives, a nanny who had helped out when the boys were a little too rascally to keep track of but she had been more of a tutor as well so it was not really surprising that everyone was running around after this Jongup. Seunghyun smiled as he sat the boy down next to the fire and gently brushed the streaks of blond hair away from the soft round face, “There, now you stay here and talk to Daehyun, I’m sure you two have a lot of catching up to do.”

Light brown eyes, like melted chocolate turned to look at Daehyun with confusion and the elder felt his heart stop. Everything around him seemed to fade away until there was just him and this rather soaked to the bone angel sitting in front of him with wide eyes, soft curves to his face and full on lips that were just made for kissing. The boys light figure complimented rather than hindered and despite looking as though he had been through several puddles, there was still something incredibly puppy like about the youngster than just made Daehyun’s heart beat rapidly.

Jongup blinked at him in curiosity, staring at this seemingly tall figure with broad shoulders and a defined strong body that made the young handmaiden curious to prod and tease it just to get a reaction which was not anything normal in the slightest. But before Jongup could react, Daehyun was suddenly only a few steps away from him, shucking off his outer coat of dark green to wrap it securely around his shoulders and Jongup could not help but stare at the fine physic that was now even more on display than it had been before. He also noticed the fine ebony hair that the other had and those mysterious deep brown eyes that drew him in so tantalisingly close.

Something felt right about this moment, despite it being far too intimate and personal for a first meeting and for a second Jongup thought he saw flickering images of their bodies intertwined on a series of white bedsheets doing things that were sinfully appealing.

Suddenly though an extra set of cold hands latched onto his shoulders and Youngjae pulled him protectively backwards, a familiar scowl set on his face as it was well known that the youngest Bang brother protected his bastard brother like he was a precious gem who was not to be sold off to anyone.

“And just who in the hell do you think you are to even try and touch my brother?” Youngjae seethed towards the apparent intruder with no recollection look in his eyes at all.

Yongguk was swift to smack his younger brother around the ear, “You can’t seriously not recognise your old partner in crime, can you Youngjae?”

Daehyun blinked in surprise, having been thrown completely off guard by this whole situation and then he took another glance at the other. Auburn hair that looked completely different to his brothers and dark eyes with sharp angles to his face and a look which could kill one second and then be elated the next. He had lost the puppy fat which had plagued him for the better part of their childhoods and Daehyun was genuinely surprised at how good looking it had made the other. “Hello Pipsqueak,” Daehyun stated rudely towards the other, having always made fun of Youngjae’s height when they were younger, “Looks like you finally beat me in that respect.”

Youngjae blinked in surprise before throwing himself towards Daehyun with a cry that was half familiarity, a quarter indignation and a quarter of a battle cry as the pair of grown men began to tussle about on the floor. Yongguk couldn’t help bursting into laughter at the sight as he took hold of Jongup’s hand and helped him up, “Come on, your bath is ready and these two will be like this for hours.”

Glancing back over his shoulder as they made their way out of the main sitting room, Jongup did not know what to make of the sudden encounter. Although he was certain that he wanted to get to know Daehyun in so many more ways than were probably appropriate.

authors babbling: a little bit of a quiet chapter with the main focus on being starting the whole Daeup cause I completely just threw it out there last time and that needed fixing. Plus i was having some fun with the brothers being silly. You'll be glad to know that the meetings between Himchan, Youngguk and Zico are now planned out and so far I'm up to chapter 20 and things will get fun indeed. Though I get the feeling this will be a long fiction but you know me. 

hope you enjoyed and see you on the next chapter. 

love Chia