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A War Like Love

Officer Do Kyungsoo of the Republic People’s army of North Korea was lured into the idea of marriage by taking the chance of being able to travel to South Korea. He was lured into the idea of being able to meet the “dancing men” whom are called, Bangtanseonyeondan. But, of course they weren’t sole main reason he took the offer. 

For the main reason why he had taken the offer was to see his one and only brother Jo In Sung. When they announced that they would be taking 5 people from the army into the South to join an event the UN had arranged, he had immediately scrambled into taking the opportunity and has worked hard to earn the spot like the others despite his father’s placement as the Head General Commander for DKFR. Kyungsoo was rather terrified and enthralled at the same time, having to be able to travel outside of his country for the first time.




“Come on, Jongin. It’s not that bad.” Joonmyun spoke as the king of South Korea spoke towards his younger sibling.

“Hyung, you don’t understand. I don’t want to be stuck with males. I want to hook with some girls. Have . Not fight and roll in the mud with some random dude. I like s. Like, the ones on females? I miss some action.” The younger whines and slumps onto the leather sofa. 

“Jongin, come on. Just give it a chance, I don’t think they’ll be that bad. This whole thing was to promote our peace and show that both our countries don’t hate each other that much, yes?” Joonmyun tries again placing his pen down beside his papers on the mahogany table and giving the younger his full attention. 

“Plus, I know your scandalous escapades with that male, what was his name again— Oh. Something.“ The king teased and walking towards the exit passing by the sulking male on the sofa. He pauses as he grabs hold of the door handle giving the younger one last look.

“Also as the current King of South Korea I command you, Prince Kim Jongin to take the liberty and responsibility of restoring peaceful terms with our brother nation. Good luck, younger brother.” Joonmyun orders and smirks as he leaves his younger sibling baffled on his seat.

“It’s Oh Sehun! Hyung! He’s your right hand!” Jongin yelled as he rushes out of the room in pursuit of his older sibling.




Kyungsoo could feel the stuffiness and the tension of his muscles as he slowly realizes that they’ve crossed the 38th parallel. He felt rather conflicted as he sees the numerous numbers of propaganda or what the south tends to address it as, “Advertisements.” Kyungsoo couldn’t believe his eyes as his favorite— no. His brother In Sung sending smiles and smirks on the giant LED screens. He watched with full intent as the bus passes by the “advertisement.”

“Comrade, calm your eyes and don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by this. We’re in the territory of an enemy.” Kyungsoo heard one of his comrades, Kim Jongdae speaking turning his head to meet the team leader as a counter. 

“The south has been known for their marine troops and I’ve heard from other comrades that they were quite the handful. Pity that, Brother Insung had been discharged from the army a year ago. I would have had the pleasure to work with him.” Kyungsoo spoke fondly of the said Actor from the republic of Korea to only gain rather strained looks from the team. 

North Korea had been rather private when it came to bed relationships and personalized relations but, as a nation has long embraced the existence of Homouality from their history. The idea of hetero-normativity was not introduced, and religious beliefs were prohibited. This led them to be more socially accepting of the idea. But of course, they were silently embraced and accepted. As a society, North Korea was more personal and closed off where couples regardless of orientation would only enjoy each other in private. But, Kyungsoo was not ashamed to admit that he might be a bit fonder of males rather than females.

“Don’t be so frivolous— What is that!” Kyungsoo turned his eyes towards the direction in which his comrade glued his eyes on. It was another of the LED screens except it was an old cut from the famous South Korean group, F(x). The song if Kyungsoo was not mistaken called, Red Light. Kyungsoo smirked and looked at his comrade in recognition, “It’s called, dancing. Specifically, if I am not mistaken Hip hop. Based and inspired from their western comrades.” 




“Hyung come on— You can’t do this! I don’t want to join this! I just got out of military. You can’t do this.” Jongin went in front of Joonmyun in defiance and glared at his older sibling. 

The WOC is a friendly match created by the UN to promote friendship between all the nations in the world. During the arrangement, the UN has included South and North Korea to be one nation as this brought a temporary truce between the two countries. Jongin was completely caught off guard when Oh Sehun, his brother’s right hand had announced that he was included as one of the members to participate in the friendly exchange with the North Koreans.

“I won’t do it.” Jongin clenched his fist and glared at the older, placing his foot down. Joonmyun stared at the younger and shook his head. They had been walking towards a function room while, Jongin had quarreled one-sidedly. Joonmyun brushed him off, opening the door to the function room. Jongin’s face scrunched in frustration turning his whole body to follow the elder into the room, only to be greeted with a salute by soldiers whom he had recognized by red and brown colors of the North. 

“Welcome to South Korea, comrades. Well, let’s skip my introduction with the assumption that you know me. Let me introduce you to my brother whom will be participating the WOC along with you, Kim Jongin and my right hand man, Oh Sehun.” Joonmyun turned towards the younger male and pulled him forward to stand beside, Oh Sehun that had stepped up to greet the soldiers with a solid salute. The younger Kim looked at the soldiers with hesitation and gave them a halfhearted bow and a salute.

Jongin raised his head gaining contact with a rather stiff expression from one of the North Korean soldiers, catching the male’s gaze, which faltered slightly before he cleared his throat. The North Korean stepped up silently, Jongin observed. The way his heel hits the marble flooring of the function room, silently but deadly. Jongin felt the tension as in a few steps towards the King, Sehun tensed and move into action stepping in front of Joonmyun and raising an arm to warn the male to stay back.

The North Korean male raised his hand against his forehead and clicked his heels against the marble floor, sending his salutations. “Officer Do Kyungsoo of the Special Forces from the Republic People’s Army of North Korea. Here to report that, I am to be of your service, Your Highness.” He takes his hands off his forehead and takes a deep bow before, taking a look at Jongin and Sehun. 

Joonmyun smiled and brushed the younger away before shooting Kyungsoo a pleased smile and bowing back to the male in respect. Kyungsoo, the north korean male gave a brief nod to Joonmyun before extending his hand towards Sehun for a firm handshake.

“It will be our pleasure to cooperate with each other, comrade.” He spoke and offered his hand towards the man in front of him. Jongin saw the exchange from the two soldiers and his face stiffens noticing the gaze the North Korean soldier threw at him failing to noticing the extended hand waiting to be held and stares back petrified before snapping back into reality of Joonmyun’s not-so-discreet clearing of the throat. 

Kyungsoo felt his nerves consuming sensing the tense atmosphere in the room before him, he took a step forward towards the King to greet the male only to be told to step back by the South Korean male. Kyungsoo ignored that movement understanding why the male had stepped up since, it was rather rude of him to step up towards a king of a country. He had concluded that it was especially rude with the defensive stance the male in front of him portrayed. Kyungsoo deduced that by staying in his spot would be the best move that would please the South Korean male.

Kyungsoo gave the king his salutations, feeling his nerves slowly consuming him only to stop after noticing the way the King had returned his greetings his heart gave a soft thump of relief before extending his hand towards the other man, named Sehun who shook it firmly. Confidently, Kyungsoo turned and extended his hands towards the Prince only to be left hanging, Kyungsoo could feel his eyes slowly faltering at the feeling of his extended hand left hanging before, he pulls his hand back rather awkwardly as he hears the King clearing his throat.

By this time, Kyungsoo has concluded that the Prince of South Korea is a rude and conceited brat. Lowering his hand, Kyungsoo clenches his hands from the empty feeling before giving the King his full attention and a full salute.

“Alright! Your first training together will be tomorrow, Jongin will help you with the proceedings this evening for the dinner. Enjoy, gentlemen.” The king announced before he retreats from the room with his right hand man, leaving Kyungsoo and his team in the room with Jongin and the other South comrades. 

Jongdae stepped up to ask where the bathroom and Kyungsoo raised his head to look at Jongin, who’s stepping up to grab Jongdae’s hand, giving it a firm shake and speaking to Kyungsoo’s friend as if they’ve known each other making Kyungsoo wonder on whether they’ve met in the field before. Of course, that was before Kyungsoo heard what came out of the prince’s mouth that further ticked him off. 

“Oh, dear comrade! Don’t you remember? Your unit sent spies down, and our unit killed twenty of your men! What a coincidence!” Jongin replied with an emphasis on his volume. 

Kyungsoo clenched his fist as an act of suppression of his temper and raised his voice, giving his full attention to the prince, “Comrade, I believe Our comrade Kim could show us to the banquet ball first then, maybe you might be able to ask the waiters for the bathroom.”




Arriving in the banquet hall, Jongdae and Kyungsoo’s other comrades left to socialise with the south soldiers for the sake of cooperation during the WOC and Comrade Jongdae completely forgot about his trip to the toilet, leaving Kyungsoo with the bratty prince, Kim Jongin.

Jongin couldn’t help but notice how stiff the officer was and decided to lean into his ears knowing that the officer won’t do anything rash.

“Say, I heard from your comrade’s chit chats about your endeavours and how you like to take up the .” Kyungsoo turns his head to looks at the prince to only be taken by surprise from the distance of the prince’s face against his, noticing the rather beautiful tan skin and flawless face. Kyungsoo couldn’t lie that the prince of South Korea is attractive and handsome but, his ugly personality cancelled out the all attractiveness. The north korean officer completely flustered red from the distance pushes the prince away from his face and out of his personal space, causing the latter to stumble on his foot before regaining balance with a slightly pissed off face.

“Comrade, I’d really appreciate if you would mind your own business. I’m sure my endeavours in bed would only be my personal affair, definitely not yours.” Kyungsoo looks at Jongin with a light glare before going towards the nearest table to take a seat. Jongin embarrassed and completely annoyed by the audacity of the north Korean to push him away like that, trails after the officer towards the table before placing his hand onto the officer's shoulder, squeezing it tightly.

“You know, I’d love to around with you someday-“ Jongin spoke before he notices how the north korean soldier smoothly stands up, grabbing his whole entire arm and slams him down painfully onto the soft carpeted ground before sitting on top of him and leaning into his face. Pinned with a butter knife pressed tightly against his neck and the close proximity between Jongin and the male officer causes cold shivers running through his body. Opening his eyes he notices the crowd around him and the gun barrels pointed towards the male officers head, before he feels the soft warm breath blowing against his earlobes and his blood rapidly travelling south.

“You know, I love taking and giving to the needy so, my dear prince. Either you take out that stick from your bum hole or wait in line to be ed because, my dear Comrade. This is what we do to s in the North except we’re often less extravagant and more silent.” Kyungsoo whispers softly onto the younger man’s ears before taking the butter knife slowly away from the prince's throat and throws it to the corner of the room, smirking in amusement. Removing his body away from the prince’s body and stepping on the side of the still grounded prince, brushing away the non-existent dust on his uniform and clearing his throat. 

“No worries, dear comrades. The Prince and I were just having a little banter. I personally think that he has a thing for me.” Kyungsoo offers a hand to the grounded male and pulls him up from the ground before smacking the prince’s bum in a playful manner causing the gun barrels to be lowered, smiling warmly. Jongin flinches from the pat before looks at the officer in be wilderness.

“What? Uh. Yeah. Please go on and enjoy.” Jongin meekly speaks, clearing his throat and repeating his sentence out loud, dispersing the crowd around them.

The whole night, Jongin didn’t know what to do but stare at the North Korean Officer either from awe or just fear. He watches as the North Korean male socialise with Sehun and some of his other troops. Jongin that night went to bed with a back pain and the memory of being flipped and pinned by a gay North Korean officer in his mind.

 

———



That morning Jongin woke up with a sour mood, having to lift weights and carry sacks of cement from one end of the field to another was torture, he felt like he was in the army all over again and wouldn’t stop whining towards his brother’s officer. Before the north korean officer came that is. Jongin notices from the corner of his eyes the North Korean officer from last night that flipped him and placed a butter knife onto his neck entering the field using his sweats and grey t-shirt. Slightly agitated, Jongin ignores the other’s presence and continues his whining towards Sehun but, begins to pick up his pace by jogging slightly from one sack of cement to the other side of the field. Kyungsoo looks at the sacks and lifts one with his hand before observing his surrounding, noticing how the south soldiers carried one sack each over their shoulders.

“Oh! Are we carrying sacks? I remembered preliminary trainings for Special Forces when Head General Commander Do made us carry 4 sacks all day around the capital. That was terrible, I remember some people fainted from dehydration.” Jongdae spoke beside Kyungsoo who was eyeing the South Korean troop some struggling to bring one sack to the other side. Kyungsoo soon zeroes his focus onto the South Korean prince who was whining towards the king’s personal agent if he recalls named, Sehun. Smirking, he turns his head and chuckles towards Jongdae slapping in on the arm lightly before looking at his comrades.

“Let’s show the South, how to carry a sack of cement properly.” Kyungsoo spoke softly earning a few chuckles from his comrades and a huge laugh from Jongdae. Kyungsoo picks up one sack and holds it onto his shoulder before jogging towards the other side and returning quickly to grab another sack of cement, the pile of cement from the North Korean side soon defeats the South Korean pile by a large number. 

Jongin looks at the pile that was made by the team of 4 from North Korea and raises his head at the leading officer which was Do Kyungsoo, sending a glare in his way. Before picking up two sacks of cement and running to the other side of the field to drop it and running back to pick another two. Kyungsoo notices how the prince sent a glare that only made him more smug, caught in awe he watches as the prince lifts two bags of cement and run towards the other side of the field to drop it and evening out the numbers of sacks the North and the South has compiled on the other side of the field and before both realises the sacks of cement compiled were completely finished with both of them breathing heavily and sending sharp glares toward each other.

“Not bad!” Jongin yells across towards Kyungsoo and huffs out a breath before pulling himself up and patting the dirt from the field off his bum. Kyungsoo copies the same movement and smirks in pride before both went off to the gym to do a few laps on the treadmill.

Kyungsoo takes a towel from the counter and puts it around his neck as he gets onto the treadmill and start the machine, pacing himself with the speed of 8 on the treadmill. Jongin follows in pursuit as he gets onto his own treadmill, starting up the machine watching Kyungsoo pacing himself with the speed of 8 on his treadmill, Jongin feeling competitive and stuck up as usual, decided to up the game with Kyungsoo starting right off the bat with the speed of 10 on his treadmill. Kyungsoo peers over to Jongin’s treadmill to see the absurd starting speed of 10, raising a question toward Jongin. 

“Are you serious? Do you usually start right off the bat with a 10?” Kyungsoo asked in disbelief and squinting his eyes at Jongin. Seeing the prince smirk in ego from the question, he felt something in his mind tick as if challenged by the speed increasing his speed adding 5 more digits equalling to a speed of 13 on the treadmill. Hearing a scoff from the other side made Kyungsoo smirk in pride as he continues to pace along with the treadmill, hearing the machine clicks from the other side he notices how Jongin has also increased his speed into a number of 14.

“Are you challenging me?” Kyungsoo speaks loudly and grinds his teeth together before putting it up all the way to 18 as the speed. He runs heavily onto the treadmill as he watches Jongin adding up his speed onto 18 also, sending an annoyed look over to the younger as he continues to run for at least 30 minutes with the speed of 18. Over that 30 minutes, Kyungsoo gets awfully drained as he continues and persevere on the treadmill before looking to his right where Jongin looks equally as drained from running as he does.

“Hey. Are you ok? You know you can stop, you don’t have to keep on running-“ Kyungsoo speaks meekly his tone edged slightly with worry as he nudges the already exhausted Jongin who looks at him and grabs onto the treadmills trying to keep up with the pace of the machine.

“, I can’t do this anymore. I’m lowering my speed.” Jongin speaks as he tilts his head back and takes deep gulps of air before reaching out to the button that will decrease the speed of the treadmill as his finger touches the surface of the button, a loud stomping and smashing enters the room and a loud shout was given towards the both of them.

“PUT YOUR HANDS UP, DON’T PRESS ANYTHING AND KEEP ON RUNNING!” The men in armors spoke, Kyungsoo startled placed his hand up and looks at Jongin who turns his head around and raises his arms, his feet still moving in pace with the treadmill. 

“Comrade, state your business.” Kyungsoo spoke loudly as he lowers his hands and kept on running in pace with his treadmill, looking at the prince who looks terrified from the multiple machineries pointed at him.

“The treadmill that you’re on is latch with a bomb, Officer. You cannot leave from it or decrease the speed of the treadmill for it will trigger the bomb inside.” The South Korean officers replied as they lower their gun and begin to enter the premises both on the Prince’s treadmill and Kyungsoo’s treadmill, starting to disassemble the treadmill to meet with the ticking time bomb.

“WHAT THE .” Jongin screams and keeps on running as he paces with the treadmill in fear for his life as he watching the Bomb squad slowly configuring the bomb attached to his treadmill. Jongin looks at Kyungsoo who was stuck in the same situation as he is, the north korean looks at the officer grimly before going back to pace with the machine looking at Jongin.

“You can do this. A tip is to breath through your mouth. Inhale, Exhale, Jongin.” Kyungsoo looks at the younger seriously before looking back at the bomb squad as they start the procedure to disarm the treadmill.

 

———



Kyungsoo could feel his legs tiring and burning but for the sake of his life and the nation, he pushed himself to as he listened to the exhausted puffs and whines of the prince, as the male goes on about how he still had a life to pursue. 

“, damn it. Why did I become a target of a damn bomb, why do I need to be surrounded by guards 24/7? Since I was 10, learning about the damn government was more important than math, war tactics became my main course instead of art or dance. I want to learn simple subjects like any other child would! I wanted to become a dancer, I wanted to stand on the stage and do recitals not become a prince of a nation and a bomb target damn it!” Jongin bawled loudly as he runs exhaustedly on the treadmill, Kyungsoo could hear the male’s exhausted pants and turns his head to check on the younger. Kyungsoo let out a short scoff as he notices the tears rolling down the younger’s face and huffs out a question. 

“Comrade, Are those tears? Our Comrade, The prince of the oh-so-great nation South Korea crying over a bomb?“ He grins widely watching the younger reach up to his face and wiping the waterworks away and chuckles softly expressing his fully amusement at the younger. 

“Shut up, Kyungsoo. All this running made you hallucinate, it’s only sweat.” Jongin responded in defense as he repeatedly wipes his sweat and tears away.

Kyungsoo grinned at the younger’s reply and continued to focus on his steps, taking a deep breath of air as he continues to run even though his body begins to tire out. He kept on going, and as if his body was begging to stop exhorting himself physically. He could feel his hearing doubling on the swat team that is working on his treadmill’s conversation, distracted. He felt a sharp pain shoot from his ankle, causing him to bite his lips as he winced loudly and stumbles on his treadmill. Kyungsoo felt his heart drop as he stumbles, and felt a strong slap on his back and a grip pulling on his shirt to keep him up and the sharp intake of breath in the room. 

“HYUNG!” He heard the prince yell in panic, feeling the tight grip on his shirt from the young prince. Kyungsoo grabs onto the treadmill and pushes himself quickly retaining his previous pace, noticing how the prince removes his hand from his shirt rather hesitantly. Kyungsoo felt his heart drop when he stumbled and raised himself quickly and before continuing to run with the sharp shooting pain on his ankles, gripping onto the handles attached to the treadmill tightly. Kyungsoo’s body was now incredibly aware of his ankles as every step in the run causes a sharp throbbing pain travel through his legs and his body each step causes the officer to whimper in pain and bite on his lips painfully. Raising his head to smile and assure the younger that he’ll be fine.

“You’ve never called me Hyung before.” Kyungsoo spoke softly and snickers holding back on the throbbing pain and looks at the younger’s worried face. Before going back to focus pacing himself with the throbbing pain that from his ankle and travelling through his body. 

It was a few minutes or even seconds before he hears the soft off-tuned melody from the prince. The younger picked a song from the sub unit group, pcbbeats from Exo’s recent hit, Monster and chuckles as he raises his pained face to meet with the prince’s worried gaze before humming along with the prince in soft puffs of breath. 

“Du, dum. Duu, dum. Du, dum. Duu dum. She got me— gon’ crazyyyy—“ Jongin sang loudly in between his breaths and out of tune, causing Kyungsoo to laugh in amusement and forgetting the sharp throbbing of his legs and scream out the fan chants of the song.

“CRAZY, BYUN BAEKHYUN!” Kyungsoo screamed out his frustration and pain from his legs, throwing his head back as he lets out the throbbing pain. Jongin continued to sing the lyrics and Kyungsoo chanting and singing along with the man, gaining some smiles from his comrades and Jongin, himself. 




They’ve been running for 2 straight hours on the speed of 10 in their treadmills and Jongin swears once he gets of this treadmill, he’s assured that his legs will fall off willingly. Then, Jongin’s heart leaps in hope when the SWAT team announces that they’ve deactivated the bombs but with a certain repercussion that causes Jongin to internally scream in frustration.

“Comrade Do, We’re short on time, we’ll need you to jump away from the treadmill since, we’ve managed to only deactivate the bomb that will cause you the most damage, which was towards your legs but the bomb attached away from your legs and around the treadmill are still active and will trigger from the loss of weight. We will clear the area and give you and the prince space to jump away from the machines on our signal.”

Kyungsoo grabbed Jongin’s arm to wound it against his hips, startling the younger who flinched and pulls his arm away, “What the -“ He hears the younger mutter softly before he raised his head to speak towards the prince with a piercing glare, “I don’t need your homophobic antics right now, If you want to live then better wrap your ing arm around my waist right now so we can jump together on signal. I want to live and I’m ing sure you do too.” Kyungsoo hisses as he felt his fume rise and patience run thin from the pain as he grabs the younger’s arm and winds it around his waist, watching the SWAT team closely for the signal. 

“You know we can jump by ourselves.” Jongin tries to reason with the older that held his arm tight and painfully but holding onto the older’s waist securely. Jongin looks at the older as he tries to raise his head to listen to Jongin’s words, noticing the way the older’s legs buckle yet again from the pain caused by his sprained ankle, making Jongin wrap his arms around the older’s waist more tightly. Watching the agent's signal them, he held onto Kyungsoo carrying his weight slightly and jumps with the older. Using some of their dead weights as a momentum to throw their bodies further from the machine and they crash into the concrete ground meters away from the exploding machines.

Jongin shut his eyes briefly as he came into contact with the concrete, feeling the hot small debris hit his skin and burning it slightly causing him to open his eyes and pat it off and away from his body. Raising his head to look around he notices through the smoke, the north Korean Soldier a few meters away from him. Getting up to his knees he rushed towards the elder and kneeled beside the body checking for any injuries. “Kyungsoo— can you hear me.” Jongin spoke tapping onto the older male’s cheeks, and his heart drops in fear from the lack of response. . It’s not a concussion, is it? - Jongin rushes and leans in to check and listen for the older’s heart beat, hearing the soft thumps before hovering his head onto the man’s face to check for breathing to find that there’s still soft laboured breaths coming from the north korean. 

In an emotional rush, he leans into the male’s face, before resting his own forehead onto the older’s forehead and shuts his eyes tightly as he softly breathes a sigh of relief. Jongin noticed the lack of distance from each other as their noses touch letting out a soft chuckle, looking at the dirty and soot covered male as the way his chest rise and heart shaped lips open in soft laboured breaths, Jongin notices the way he stares at the male and felt his cheeks warm and heart thump erratically before he felt the darkness seep into the sides of his eyes and collapses beside the older male in exhaustion, grasping onto the older male’s wrist feeling the soft pumping of blood coursing through his veins and listening to the multiple stomps entering the clearing smoke and exhaled in assurance.

 

———



The day after the incident, they were called by Joonmyun to gather in one of the function rooms that the blue house provides for a brief meeting. Jongin recovering with slight scratches on his face and Kyungsoo limping away into recovery. As the south team and the north team merges together as they walk in one hallway and into the function room, Jongin couldn’t help but profusely check on the limping North Korean Officer who still looks dead pale and his face marred with light scratches from the sharpnels of metal from the exploding treadmill. 

Jongin blushes from the memory after the blast when he was consumed with the feeling of relief when he listened to the deep laboured breaths from the older male and the rush of feelings when he clashed their foreheads together in relief before he delved into an unconscious state. Jongin remembered waking up in the middle of the night where Joonmyun rushed in a hugged him tightly before promising to find out who had latched those bombs in there but, all he could think of was Kyungsoo and what state he was in. 

To which, Sehun shot down telling him that he’s grown fond of the man and how he’s alright, resting in his own quarters. Jongin blushes at the statement before denying the man’s statement earning a teasing nudge and whistle from Joonmyun which made him slightly agitated that he threw his pillow at his brother’s face.

Kyungsoo feels the eyes on him and turns to catch the prince’s worried gaze that sends his heart into gazillion frantic thumping. He remembered what Jongdae had discussed with him when he had regained consciousness about how the young prince hand passed out beside him and held onto his wrist tightly as if to feel the thumping of blood coursing through the veins in his wrist. Kyungsoo persistently kept his eyes on the prince trying to read the younger’s intention even though his face was completely turning into a cherry tomato with a menacing glare he himself presumes. Feeling the tension between the prince’s and his eye contact, simultaneously breaking the eye contact as they enter the the younger looks away as they enter the function hall. 

“Tonight, you will be attending the preliminary rounds where two representatives one from the south and other from north to represent Korea as a nation. Officer Do and Prince Jongin will be the representatives. I will see you tonight. That is all, you are dismissed.” Joonmyun announced as not so subtly winked at Jongin who freezes in fear from his brother’s antics before he exits the area with Sehun walking beside him as they enter into a conversation whether he’d like to eat chicken or beef for the night. 

Kyungsoo noticed the not-so-subtle wink from the King to his younger sibling. He became slightly flustered and more confused as he trails his gaze towards the Prince who was rushing to stand up leave the room.

“Wait—“ Kyungsoo stood and grabbed onto the younger male’s arm before he could move farther. Kyungsoo held onto the hand tightly before he watches the Prince turn and look at him with an agitated expression. Kyungsoo felt his heart drop slightly at the agitated expression and his grip on the hand loosens. The north korean man was never really good at reading signs since, he was not really accustomed to the culture of flirting thinking to himself that he had probably thought wrong from the worried gazes to what Jongdae had told him.

“What do you want from me.” Jongin spoke, his words coming out harshly than he intended it to sound and watches as the shorter male retracts his hand as he raises his head to meet with his eyes and clear his throat to speak. Jongin looks at the male’s eyes in confusion and hesitance before he takes back his wrist and stands to face the older male.

“I-I was just gonna say, I’ll see you tonight and don’t be late, Comrade Kim.” Kyungsoo stuttered, his ears flushing read before he gives the man a salute and an awfully awkward bow. Jongin watches the male bow in awkwardness giving out a few laughs of uncomfortableness.

“Are you okay? There’s nothing wrong with your brain right? Or was there something wrong with the CAT scans of your brain? Did you hit your head too hard when you landed on the concrete yesterday?” Jongin speaks loudly before he throws Kyungsoo a weird look before leaving bowing Kyungsoo alone in the function room with his North Korean Comrades looking at him in pity for the poor kid.

 

———



Kyungsoo arrived first with his comrades at the event where the preliminary rounds will be chosen, he wore his dirt green military suit that had a north korean flag pinned onto his chest and a hat that had a bright red strip across the hat with a gold crest lying on the middle. Kyungsoo looked around the room to find only the chefs and waiters preparing for the food and placing knives and forks onto the other tables.

“Comrade, I told you that we were too early.” Jongdae whined and slumped onto his seat beside him and fidgets with the utensils placed on the table. Kyungsoo ignores his comrade’s words and looks around before he noticed the familiar figure of the King’s personal bodyguard, Sehun. Sehun approaches their table and sits on the table before starting small talk with Jongdae and the other soldiers in the table before the topic of last afternoon came up from Jongdae.

“I think Our Comrade Do here has grown fond of the Prince and I’ve heard that you’ve dated him before? How was he?” Jongdae raises his eyebrows in curiosity and leans in towards Sehun curious about the Prince’s love affair. 

“Well, we didn’t really date that long if you consider 5 days as dating then I guess. I was the one who broke it off with him but, there were no hard feelings. We were just doing it for honestly. He’s been on and off with females but, he’s also always in denial, he tries to convince himself that he’s straight but in reality he’s actually attracted to men too.” Kyungsoo stops fidgeting with his utensils before he raises his head to listen carefully to Sehun’s words, his heart beating tenfold as his eyes widen in curiosity.

“Comrade Oh, it would really do me a great favour but, what is his “ideal” type?” Kyungsoo hopes that he’s using the right terms as he looks up at Sehun who smiles wickedly and leaning close to him. 

“He likes men who are very seductive who can lure him in. Good in bed too. He has a thing for being enticed by someone.” Sehun replies and nods at his answers, pursing his lips together before clicking his tongue agreeing with his own response. Kyungsoo listens intently and draws back slightly when he realised that he’s been anything but seductive towards Jongin.

“Has he said anything about me towards you?” Kyungsoo asks carefully as he listens to the South Korean male’s answer. 

“He’s complained and whined towards Joonmyun-hyung about how you’re scary, stiff, boring somewhere along the lines of ‘He flipped me and placed a butter knife on my ing throat’, ” Kyungsoo caves in and looks down, embarrassed and slightly sad for that was what his impression on him before raising his head to frown deeply.

“It wasn’t my fault, he was being awfully rude for asking me about my life. And you!” Kyungsoo spoke bitterly and pointed at his Comrades.

“I would really prefer it if you’d stop talking about me behind my back. FYI, I don’t take up as much as you think I do.” Kyungsoo scoffed before crossing his arms distastefully. His thoughts filled with Sehun’s words and those worried soft gazes were completely deleted from his mind to be filled with the Prince’s annoying whines and presence as all of the South Korean team presents themselves including the handsome but bratty prince, Kim Jongin. 




The Selections began and each country was sent up to the podium to grab their opponent balls in the glass bowl. Each countries were placed into an island where they were to battle out for 3 days with their opponents and it serves as a friendly match between the countries and creates strong relations with the opponent country. As Korea was called onto the podium loud cheers increased Kyungsoo’s nerves as he stumbles slightly around his table and rushes to walk beside Jongin before the younger male leans in and puts his arm around Kyungsoo’s waist, whispering softly.

“Take my hand, Hyung. We will take the ball together.” Jongin whispers as he removes his arm from Kyungsoo’s waist and extends it for Kyungsoo to be able to hold onto the male’s palm. Kyungsoo looks at the large palm and reaches out and held it tight earning a few whistles that had him blushing like a tomato as he goes up the podium to place his and Jongin’s hands into the bowl to pick up a blue ball that their opponent country’s flag on it. Kyungsoo felt a strong magnetic pull from Jongin’s hand raising his head to look at the Prince in uncertainty feeling the blue ball already held into both of their hands he couldn’t do anything but pray for anything but what he fears. Taking the blue ball out from their grasp, Jongin and Kyungsoo felt that they had jinxed their choice as they looked at the country on the ball in their hands before showing it towards the audience. 

“Korea vs. The United States of America.” The announcer announced in English and the translators for the other countries translates the words into their mother tongue for them to be able to understand. Kyungsoo felt something was increasingly off with the result when he felt his hand was pulled into the ball as if there was some kind of magnetic pull on Jongin’s hand that made him grasp for the blue ball but, he brushed it off as a mere delusion.




That night, the thought of Jongin’s opinion of him lingered more on his mind rather than the pending worry of having to fight the United States of America in the WOC. He took a shot of Soju in his table as he continues to eat the provided bulgogi from the banquet menu and before he knows it, he’s drunk more soju than consume meat leaving him slightly tipsy as the whole Selection ends.

Kyungsoo was absolutely drunk from the maekju shots he had been given by his South Korean Comrades taking 6 full shots in less that 5 minutes, Jongdae slightly drunk too had tried dragging Kyungsoo back to his quarters only to lose him halfway and deciding to it, assuming that the older male would be alright. 

The north Korean male doesn’t remember how he ended up on the kitchen floor against the shelves beside the refrigerator, his throat was dry and he needed water, reaching up to grab the bottled water, he was dragged by another person whom had opened the fridge and grabbed a bottled water for him, squatting down to his level before uncapping it and handing it to the male. 

“6 maekju shots and you’re already like this? I wonder how vodka and gin would work for you.” Kyungsoo takes the bottled water and chugged half of it down his system as he listens to the voice, recognises it he puts down the bottled water to the side and grabs onto the male’s face, squinting his eyes leaning close into his face. 

“Kim Jongin.” Kyungsoo spoke softly before he repeats it again and again, removing his hand from Jongin’s face and blinking with a pout on his face before he sends a glare towards the younger male, his face scrunched up in anger. 

“My prince. Kim Jongnononono-“ Kyungsoo repeats and giggles at his words, earning an eye roll from the South Korean Prince. The North Korean sits silently and leans his body onto the shelves closing his eyes and dozing off slightly.

“Alright, Comrade Do. It’s way past your bedtime.” Jongin speaks as he leans forwards to carry the older only to be pushed away and sent tumbling onto the ground much to the prince’s annoyance and convenience. Pissed Jongin was about to throw himself into a fit of Why am I doing this, why do I even care before he was beat into words from the north korean officer. 

“Jongin-ah, I heard from Sehun that you like seductive people. If I become more seductive and less- hic- stiff would you like me? I know I'm stiff, totally un-fun and boring.” Kyungsoo tilts his head slightly, pouting before putting down the bottle of soju in his hands. Jongin watches the drunk male raise his head and throw a glare looking down on his button up shirt, begins to ing it carelessly, trying to grab the right buttons to undo his shirt muttering a soft, I’ll show you, I’m attractive. I can be attractive. 

“Kyungsoo--“ Jongin tries to speak before Kyungsoo stops undoing his buttons and wraps his arms around Jongin’s neck pulling him close into the male’s face. shush. Jongin freezes on his spot as he places both of his arms underneath Kyungsoo’s arms against the shelves below of the kitchen sinks to avoid crushing the male underneath him with his weight whom was wrapping on his arms around Jongin’s neck. Jongin felt Kyungsoo’s soft breath against his lips and Jongin unconsciously eyes the flushed plush heart shaped lips, his own lips unconsciously.

“I’m attractiv—" He doesn’t hear Kyungsoo’s full sentence before he dives into the soft lips and tastes the lingering alcohol from the elder’s lips, pulling against the other’s lips softly. He coaxes the older male’s lips to respond to his kisses, feeling the soft hesitant responses. Jongin travels his hands up towards his face and cups it softly, leaning into the elder's lips as he pins the other onto the counter. Delving deeper into the soft lips, he onto Kyungsoo’s bottom lips, feeling the elder’s rough palms run through the back of his neck and grasping onto his ombre coloured hair, both lips mouthing and against the other before parting slightly from the aching of their lungs, heaving breaths linger again before Jongin pulls the older into his lap, one arm cupped against Kyungsoo’s jaw, pulling him in for another kiss and his other arm slipping into his shirt running them up and down the side of his torso. Jongin slipping his tongue into Kyungsoo’s lips earning a soft moan from the elder, before he hears a loud shout that is way too familiar to his ears, causing him to removes his lips immediately from the other male. Pushing him away completely to remove the older from his lap, causing Kyungsoo to slam his head sober onto the shelf behind him and whine in pain as he grasps his injured head, hiding his face in his knees.

“! Wow. Okay, Holy , brother. Don’t mind me, . I’m so sorry. It looks like you’re in a pretty intense make out session—“ Joonmyun yelled and speaks in panic, causing Jongin to flush red from embarrassment. 

“Shut up, Hyung. We were just talking—“ Jongin replies, flustered.

“Well, brother. That’s a pretty unique way of talking, I’ve never seen anyone talk that closely to even mouth each other that deeply, damn Kim Jongin.” The King retorted, teasing his baby brother in amusement. Watching the younger male blush profusely that he might worry that it’ll permanently leave him red.

“Continue with your ‘talking’ and don’t mind me. Have a wonderful night.” Joonmyun grabs a bottle of water and exits the kitchen with a soft chuckle. 

Jongin stands up in a rush and hesitates slightly before running out of the kitchen completely ignoring Kyungsoo, wincing on the ground. Kyungsoo raises his head and watches as a blur of Jongin rushes out from the kitchen, his heart throbs in pain as the younger walks away to chase after the king with no consideration towards the male he had just injured a few minutes ago from pushing him away physically and hurting his feelings emotionally. Mentally scolding himself for getting too intoxicated from alcohol despite knowing about his limits and stands up to head toward his own room, hurt and completely sober. Not noticing Jongin’s slight hesitance to leave and worried gaze before he leaves to chase after his brother.

“Do you like him?” Joonmyun questions his younger brother personally not as a King.

“What?” Jongin taken back from the question looks at his brother as if to ask the man if he was being serious or not.

“You know, If you do then I’ll just have to warn you that you’re playing with the peace of the nation. He is the Head General Commander’s son.” Joonmyun teases as he continues to walk back to his room, opening the water of bottle in his hand.

“I do know. I’m just trying to figure out myself.” Jongin answers silently before he stops on his tracks looking at the ground.

“It’s okay, Jongin. If you like males, it’s alright we’re in the 20th century. No one’s gonna hurt you for liking .” Joonmyun speaks and chuckles as he stops walking towards his brother and faces him, patting him on the shoulder giving it a final squeeze before he leaves for his room. Jongin looks at Joonmyun and felt his heart swell in gratitude to have approval and understanding from his only family member.

“I love you, Hyung.” Jongin replies with a smile as he watches the man wave back nonchalantly and enter his room. Jongin goes to bed that night with the question in mind and his feelings for the North Korean officer.

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olio_beesz
#1
Chapter 2: Aww, i love this!! But what happen to junmyeon then?
Rikasan #2
I like this concept, and it is so well written :-) i'm glad they got their crap together because i was about to smack them upside the head!