Olden times AU

The blistering hot sun turns the wheat fields a shimmering gold. The wheats there are almost riped. The other end already started harvest. Yongguk peers out from his window, resting his eyes from the text he has been sitting to for the past three hours. The sky is a calming shade of blue but pleasant to his eyes is not only the scenery.

The cloudless sky is not kind to the workers on the field. They stand, hunched, under the merciless sun, tending to the crops. Yongguk is a sympathetic man, sometimes his mother tells him he that is not good for the family business. But Yongguk knows his sympathy and tenderness is only reserved for one, somebody he can only speak of such to himself.

The lovely shade of tan over his skin has always fascinated Yongguk, who appears to be more pale and sickly due to the long hours of scholarly activity. Daehyun is oblivious to Yongguk's attention from the second storey of the house with his back turned. His calloused hands are quick in picking, plowing and digging. He is strong with a healthy glow mimicking the shade of the wheats but when made fun of, he turns the color of riped apples. He may be physically strong but inside, he still harbours the innocence of a child. Daehyun is clumsy in conversations for his lack of practice in exchanging words and limited knowledge in the current affairs. Born into a family of farm hands, he did not school but learns only the basics of reading and writing from Yongguk.

The difference between them did not put Yongguk and Daehyun very far apart. They can be said to have grown up together under the same roof. Daehyun is one of the many farmhands owned by the Bang family but only Daehyun's family, the Jung's, is trusted enough to house in a small quarter of the large mansionette. Their quarters are a lot less well furnished, some would call shabby, but it is truly already luxurious for farmhands. Daehyun grew up close to Yongguk for the latter does not have siblings and Daehyun is the only child close to Yongguk's age compatible with his temperament. 

Mr. Bang always thought of Yongguk's lone nature to be a peril to their family business for a good businessman and the head of the household has to be good with socialising and be well-liked amongst people. Besides, it is never healthy for a young boy to be alone in the absence of a playmate in his growing years. Daehyun was Yongguk's companion and the only one who could become close to Yongguk. Daehyun, among the other children, was the only one who could be smart enough to understand Yongguk and be kind enough to tolerate his nature which many thought to be peculiar. 

However, the Bang's worrying over Yongguk's shortage of words prove to be excessive as it morphed into maturity and reliability in the air he carries himself today. He speaks more but still little although in a very efficient manner where information is conveyed without frills. Many enjoys his quiet company, especially important guests in the household who has seen too many attempts to court their favours. Yongguk's reserved nature puts him away from the company of the opposite . He is pestered constantly by his poor mother to be married soon. He is of twenty four years of age and to him, still many years to come. He is not interested in the topic marriage and wards off any conversation of that with one stony stare. Yongguk doesn't mean to shoot the messengers but he has to send a message back to his mother.

He goes downstairs as the workers move unanimously to the sound of the bell for tea-time. He is already waiting at the porch when Daehyun comes to sit down beside him, holding a cornbread in his hand while gulping down water in thirst. He carries a subtle smile on his full lips as usual and Yongguk merely watches him as he eats. Their silent company is comfortable enough as Yongguk waits for Daehyun to finish before he could began their small talks. Daehyun is chatty, only with familiar people. He is rather quiet before authority. The heat radiates off of Daehyun's golden skin onto Yongguk. Daehyun, warm and he, cold under the shade long hours into his books. And Yongguk absorbs his heat like a lizard, comfortable. 

Night falls and it is Daehyun's turn at the desk. He concentrates deeply in the imitation of Yongguk's letters like a well-behaved child. Yongguk lounges in his bed, relaxed as he traces the outline of Daehyun's shape in front of the candlelight. The curve of his arms are hidden under more covering clothes compared to the ones he wear for manual labour. The shape of his small face illuminated under the soft candle glow is almost mesmerising if Yongguk allowed himself to be obvious with his affections.

Let me have a look, Yongguk says as he slides the paper from under Daehyun's hands. Daehyun stares at him with anticipation. Did he do good, or did he make many mistakes? Yongguk peers up from the paper and smiles, always generous with the gesture towards Daehyun. He circles out a few errors, mostly spelling errors. Daehyun revises them attentively and Yongguk can't help but put his hands to the other man's shoulders to ease some of the tension out of it. Daehyun touches his hand with a chuckle without realising the turmoil in Yongguk's mind. He longs for more of Daehyun's touch yet he needs to keep a secret. 

Daehyun is dilligent with his work. Yongguk finds him asleep with his face against the table and the candle fluttering with its last flames in the middle of the night. He must have fallen asleep as well. He goes up to touch Daehyun's shoulder, wanting to wake him. He pauses at the sight of Daehyun's lashes making fluttering shadows, the freckles a chaotic scatter across his cheeks. His biased heart carries Daehyun into his bed and rests the boy under his covers. He ends the flame of the candle with a breath and ponders in the darkness if he should join Daehyun under his own covers. He is fatigued from interrupted sleep and lays down beside Daehyun, feigning the innocence which cradles his conscience to sleep. 

The next morning finds him against Daehyun, tightly pressed together for warmth in the cool air. He takes the liberty of putting an arm around the sweet boy who suddenly jolts awake from the sound of knocking against the bedroom door. The housekeeper wakes Yongguk at eight every morning. Yongguk answers back to the man behind the door and listens as the footsteps diminish, the clatter of the hard soles travelling down the stairs. He recollects himself locking the door last night and heaves a sigh of relief from the memory. He shuffles quietly in bed, panic and thrill butterflies in his stomach. He hesitates to wake Daehyun, who is deep in sleep. Yongguk can only imagine how much more comfortable his bed is compared to the servant quarters'. 

Yongguk whispers his name and Daehyun stirs, eyes open a slit. He rubs off a silver of saliva from the side of his lips, setting off a tinge of amusement on the corner of Yongguk's lips. Yongguk's eyes roam Daehyun's chest, the sweet honey tan beneath the agape shirt. Yongguk allows himself the liberty in the privacy of his room where he's pushed away what is frown upon and what is not. He cups Daehyun's face tenderly as the other boy stirs to wake, and presses a kiss to a corner of the beloved lips. Daehyun's brown eyes dart across Yongguk's face as if searching for somebody he used to know. Panic are in his hazel brown eyes and Yongguk knows he has made a drastically wrong move when Daehyun shoves him off his bed and dashes out of the room in a frenzy.

That becomes the last time Yongguk and Daehyun met eyes until two weeks and a half later where Yongguk peers down from his window once more to find Daehyun watching him. Like a lightning bolt had struck him, Daehyun jumps and turns away immediately, terrified of whatever intimacy shone in the yards in between them. It confirms that Yongguk's feelings are conveyed, perhaps excessively. He draws the curtains, redrawing into his books where he finds solace from his misery and lovesickness. 

Yongguk waited for the confrontation that never came. He resigns to his rejection and cuts off any false hopes when Daehyun keeps his distance. He is sent away to the academy, much to his own willingness. He returns with news of marriage. For the first time he plays along with the matchmaking. It was the only reason they would send him away to the academy in the middle of the year, so far away, into the city. When he sat in the wagon, looking at the people waving him goodbye, Daehyun's distracted fidgeting killed off any residual pinings. It was obvious his affections are only trouble to both of them, an inconvenient rock between what little friendship he still could savage.

He returns with the fiancée, the kind of prim and proper girl his mother loves and his father would approve of. He can live with practicality, a housemaker, a woman who will count their expenses and raise their children. They make