wild_terrain | Echo of Dusk - Chapter III (SECTION 2)

Title: Echo of Dusk
Author: wild_terrain (ie. fi_chan)
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Chapter: [3/20?]
Rating: M15+ --> R18+ (this chapter)
Genre: AU
Summary: Two men met one cold, winters day. One, a cook's assistant, the other a young lawyer. The year was 1950, when this instant attraction occured... However, the threat of civil war loomed and the two found themselves faced with the risk of seperation. Yunho swore he'd protect JaeJoong at all cost...but can he really?

EDIT: UNFORTUNETLY LJ is being an arse and saying it’s too long to post…so I’ve had to cut it into two parts. Bare with me here haha.
THIS IS THE SECOND PART!

SECTION TWO

(memory cont.)

As soon as I relieved MinWoo of his duty and checked (briefly) that there were no communists lurking in the bushes, I did something that no Captain should ever have done – I stopped keeping watch that could ultimately protect this camp to watch someone else instead. I watched that person as he carelessly unbuttoned his dirty shirt and threw it behind him on the bank. I watched as he slipped his army pants off with just as much confidence and stepped, finally naked, into the cold river.

I kept my eyes firmly on him as I got up from the grass and started removing my own uniform. I barely even noticed the almost freezing temperature of the river, too preoccupied by the stunning creature in front of me.

Just as I was about to reach out for him, he disappeared under the water. I waited impatiently for him to re-emerge and caught him immediately in my arms when he did. His slippery back was pressed against my chest, and I could have sworn that his slick, wet skin was glowing from the moonlight’s touch. I bent over to kiss the corner of his neck and felt his head tilting backwards in approval.

As I suckered more forcefully over his moistened skin, his hand flew up to grasp the small spikes of my dry hair, wetting me more in the process. But I didn’t mind because the warmth radiating off JaeJoong’s arm was enough to counteract the chilly droplets of water he left on me.

Finally losing some patience of his own, JaeJoong forcefully tilted his head further towards me so that I had no choice but to pay all the due respect to his awaiting lips. My JaeJoongie was so impatient when it came to my slowly bestowed affection. Whatever he wanted, he’d make sure he got it - when he wanted, as soon as he wanted it. My lips curved into a fond smile against his lips as I felt him proving my thoughts even more accurate, with the sudden grasp of my free hand, hastily lowered until it made contact with his rapidly warming hard-on.

The moan that escaped from his lips into the silent night at the feel of my warm fingers stroking his penis was enough to drive me completely crazy. There was no way I had actually planned to have sex with my lover in the middle of the night, in a river, vulnerable to the attack of communists…and yet he was making things increasingly difficult. I wanted him, needed him so desperately I could think of nothing else. I couldn’t move unless he was moving with me. I couldn’t control myself enough to stop this foolishness.

“JaeJoongie…” I groaned, frustrated that I couldn’t stop caressing his erection. “We have to stop.”

“Fuck that.”

So blunt as always. I would have smiled if I hadn’t been stuck in such a frustrating situation.

“No-one’s on guard and people can see us,” I pointed out with a sigh.

“Fuck them.”

“What about the communists?” I tried, indignantly.

“They can join in if they really want. I won’t complain...just as long as you’re completely inside of me in the next five seconds.”

“JaeJoong, I’m a Captain, I have responsibilities and examples to set.”

“Five…”

“JaeJoong stop,” I pleaded, slowly losing willpower myself. If I lost all my willpower then who would be left to stop me from satisfying my selfish needs?

“Four…”

“I’ll give you a rain check.”

“Three.”

“Isn’t it better to do it in privacy?”

”Two.”

“This is so wrong.”

“One.”

“I refuse to-” My valiant refusal was completely interrupted as a sudden burst of warmth flooded my whole body. I couldn’t even breathe as JaeJoong slowly started moving without me, already sending a million sparks of pleasure all over me. He was so devious. I was surprised that JaeJoong hadn’t hurt himself more with his sudden, impatient...hospitality…for my hard-on – I suppose I had the slippery water to thank for that. Who knew that fucking in a river would end up being so practical?

Finally breaking through the distraction of immense pleasure, I took charge once more and powerfully pushed further into him. His needy groaning echoed loudly in the dusk – never had I needed to silence his constantly loud decibels as much as in this moment, where handfuls of soldiers would be able to hear us perfectly in the still night.

“Shh babe,” I whispered urgently, but my pleading was met with stubborn, unhearing ears. In desperation I hurriedly covered his wet mouth with my large hand. Apparently this desperate action of mine only managed to increase his eroticism – I barely was able to contain my own moaning as he arched his back further backwards into my chest, resting his head on my shoulder, his soaked strands brushing harshly against my vulnerable skin.

I don’t know how we managed to keep quiet for the rest of the night - especially when we both reached climax. If anyone had heard us we would have been in deep trouble – not only would they have seen their previously respected Captain riding a lowly private with not much dignity; but they could have also misinterpreted our desperate moans to be our last dying words as we slid down into the river, the communist knives spearing our insides.

They wouldn’t have understood it. They wouldn’t have been able to fully comprehend the love we had for each other. They wouldn’t have been there those days when the two of us happily sacrificed everything to meet at the newspaper stand. They wouldn’t have been there those days when we were training and I had anxiously embraced the stunned kid who had accidentally fallen into a bear trap. And most of all, they wouldn’t have understood how much we needed each other – mentally, emotionally and of course physically.

I smiled at him, suddenly slightly self-conscious, as we both tumbled onto the grass and tried to pull the stubborn, thick material of our uniforms back over our soaked skin.

“No communists,” I heard him tease.

“Yes. No communists,” I agreed with an amused shake of my head. “Yet.”

I began to smile as an amusing thought crossed my mind. “Until the night when they will sneak into my tent and try to steal me away.”

“Like hell they will.”

I found myself grinning enormously. “Are you trying to say that you’d protect me desperately, from the enemy?”

“Naturally, fool.”

“My hero~,” I chuckled, kissing his cheek.

My own sigh broke the bittersweet memory as I moved away from the map to sit down on my bed and stared glumly at the many piles of papers at my bedside. All of them were telegrams from the Korean War Bureau saying the same, old, empty phrase: NO VALID DATA. No valid data…no information on his whereabouts. No lift on the MIA status either. But I suppose that also meant that there was no news on his death.

I continued staring lifelessly at the crumpled piece of paper at the top of the haphazardly placed pile of telegrams, before picking a few up and furiously ripping them into small pieces of twos and fours.

I was getting too tired of this. I was getting too tired of having my heart crushed every week. I thought I had succeeded in making my damn heart cold enough…but every time I was given those special telegrams bearing the same three words, I discovered painfully that no matter how rigid I had made my heart, the confirmation and reminder of his bleak disappearance always managed to affect me.

I really was Changmin…foolishly asking the same questions even though I knew I’d only ever receive the same answer every time I’d ask.

Maybe this time I’ll be wrong!

Maybe this day!

Maybe this…

Maybe…

The next day I received yet another telegram. But this time I decided not to open it straight away. This time I wouldn’t be foolish enough to rip it open only to thoroughly disappoint myself – especially since I was already so vulnerable from the exposure of yesterday’s memory…the last time we had made love.

Unfortunately, my good intentions sank like a heavy pebble in a river, as my resistance wore down and I picked the folded paper up with a sigh. I sat down on the floor next to my unmade bed and closed my eyes. Leaning comfortably into the darkness I imagined myself slowly opening the soft paper and folding the creases out. On it, it would say: “DATA OBTAINED” or maybe even “WE’VE FOUND HIM YOU LUCKY S.O.B!”

I smiled pathetically and reopened my eyes. I was much too tired to be playing such games with myself. Was I that much of a masochist?

I yawned and let the unopened telegram slip from my fingers and onto the hard floor. There was no harm in a little pretend suspense of the actual possibility that the telegram would be different to usual. Maybe I’d sleep better that night if I had hope.

I rolled onto my bed and buried my head into the pillow, pretending once more that the obvious solitude I was experiencing was only due to JaeJoong taking a random toilet break before he came back to bed with me. He’d be back soon. He would.

I always had the worst luck as always. If I only hadn’t been so tired and glum that night maybe I would have realised much sooner the one excruciatingly important fact that had lain undiscovered until the next morning when my brain was fresh.

WHY would a telegram have been sent to me from the Korean War Bureau if I had never had a chance to ask them for another update after I had received the last telegram?

WHY would they waste money on me with the same information?

Had they anticipated my weekly request too early?

No.

There was something new. There was new information.

Scrambling off my bed, I fell painfully onto the floor, desperate to seize last night’s discarded telegram…

……………. ……………. ……………. …………….

The young doctor knelt down next to the boy. It was hard to see him in the harsh unrelenting lighting seemingly too stubborn to reveal the boy to anyone; preferring to keep him a secret only it could gain access to.

The young doctor didn’t need a lot of light to start assessing the boy’s condition though. He could hardly ignore the strong stench of vomit, nor the strong heat jumping off the boy’s forehead into the young doctor’s gentle hands.

Clearly another case of mistreatment… the young doctor noted. But what could he do? He could treat the patient and do nothing more.

“You’ll be okay, little one,” the young doctor comforted, after hearing the boy whimper. “You’re just in shock. And soon I’ll be able to get your fever down.”

The young doctor carefully pressed the wet cloth against the boy’s burning forehead, sighing as he felt the boy trembling underneath his fingers. At first he had thought that the boy was shivering from the fever but…no, it was definitely a tremble.

“I’m sorry, Yunho.”

The young doctor looked down in surprise at the sound of the boy’s voice.

“Sorry little one, but I am not Yunho. I am not even Korean.”

“Don’t look at me, Yunho!” he was begging, seemingly deaf to the doctor’s words. The young doctor grimaced. Deliria too?!

“Stop Yunho, stop! Don’t look at my body like that! It wasn’t my fault! It wasn’t my fault!” He was crying.

The young doctor stared down in such sympathy. So young. So scared and helpless. So humiliated.

“I am really sorry, but like I have tried to explain, I am not your Yunho. My name is Hangeng, I am a Chinese doctor. Now let me wash you and examine you. I won’t harm you; I won’t touch you like those brutes. You can trust me, I am here to help.”

The boy wouldn’t uncurl his body though. Almost in a nightmarish trance, the boy’s deliria continued and the young doctor helplessly listened as his crying grew louder.

“Now that you’ve seen this…you don’t love me anymore, do you…”

“Of course your Yunho would still love you, little one.” The young doctor rubbed his trembling shoulder, already so used to comforting the sick. “Whoever he is…” he muttered, starting to pack up his medical bag.

“NO stop!” the boy begged in a blind panic. The young doctor looked up in surprise at the sudden outburst. “Don’t leave me, Yunho!” he cried, reaching up and pulling the helpless doctor downwards, crushing his broken-hearted lips against the elder man’s. The young doctor pulled back as carefully as he could, trying to ignore his pounding heart. He really needed to cure this delirium as soon as possible.

……………. ……………. ……………. …………….

////TBC////

A/N: Aiya, don’t go freaking out now. There is certainly not going to be JaeJoongXHangeng in this story at all. JaeJoong’s just delirious and paranoid about Yunho becoming disgusted at the state he’s in. As we all know, Yunho wouldn’t be that cruel, ne. ^^

And….I’ve been in a state of complete uncertainty whether to keep the original plot. As you can see the issue is quite heavy – yes he was raped and yes that is certainly not something for the faint-hearted… ^^;;. But after much nail biting and trying out different scenarios I decided that what happened to JaeJoong was an important part of this story – POW camps (especially in North Korea) were one of the most notoriously horrible ones, so there’s no way he would have been fine.

I promise you now that I’m not about to go describing anything – what’s happened has happened, hense a lot of silence from JaeJoong’s end before this chapter. What’s left now is for Yunho to find him, which he will, and for both of them to recover with the support of each other as citizens of a post-war South Korea (half this fic is in fact situated after the war.)

I hope you’ll keep with me, I just wanted to explain what was happening in case you were really confused and/or freaked out by this new revelation of JaeJoong’s situation… ^^;;

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