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"Someone will remember us, I say, even in another time."
"How inconvenient to be made of desire."
"It's me, hi, I'm the problem its me."
Calling all readers, lovers of poetry and music, screen and stage. Quote collecters and lyric hoarders, unleash your archive. For this round, every prompt must contain a quote - you can combine them, add commentary, link to articles, do whatever. Steal from a literary classic, or copy WeVerse drama.
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[FILL] a bleeding, loyal heart
Major Tags: explicit sexual content, minor character death
Additional Tags: royalty AU, junhui is a mercenary, non-linear narrative, once again nj writes about falling in love with the person you have to kill
Permission to remix: please ask
[1/2]
Junhui rolls over. Minghao is peacefully asleep next to him. The room is silent, save for the gentle sound of his breathing, steady and quiet. A sheet covers most of his slender body, coming up to the middle of his torso. Minghao’s skin is soft and clear, save for the wine-coloured marks Junhui sucked into his neck and collarbone not even an hour ago.
Part of Junhui wants to do it all again. He can feel the warmth radiating from Minghao’s lithe body, and he wants to put his hands on him again. He wants to take some of that warmth for himself, to run his fingers over Minghao’s chest and hips and thighs, to make Minghao come again and again.
But Junhui knows he shouldn’t. There’ll be no better time than this. Minghao is asleep, peaceful, and totally unaware of his sword gleaming in the corner of the room. Now is the time to act.
He slips out of bed, the chill stinging his feet. Carefully, he makes his way over to the corner of the room where Minghao’s sword stands. The royal sword. Junhui’s hands aren’t worthy of it, not for this. And yet use it he will. He has been given a job to do, after all. No bed, no body, is more important than his task.
He unsheaths the sword gently, not even daring to breathe as he does it. It’s heavy, but it sits well in his hand, and it has a sharp beauty in the glow of the candlelight. It’s a beauty befitting Minghao, Junhui thinks—cold, austere, and yet somehow radiant.
Junhui doesn’t want to think too much.
He slowly makes his way over to the bed. With each step, he takes a shallow breath. Now is not the time for nerves, and yet the thumping of his heart rings louder the closer he gets to Minghao. His shadow casts a gloom over the room, and Junhui wishes it didn’t. He wishes he wasn’t there, and that he could just lie next to Minghao and think of nothing but how to wake him up in the morning and of running his tongue over Minghao’s teeth but he’s already there, he’s at Minghao’s bedside, and he’s taking a shaky breath and holding the sword over the body that he has taken apart so often and he’s just about to drive it home and then-
Minghao’s eyes open.
***
It started with a mission. Renjun’s kingdom and Minghao’s kingdom had had a rivalry for goodness-knows-how long and for goodness-knows-what reason. It was nothing to do with Minghao, the fairly recent king. Nor was it anything to do with Junhui, a lowly mercenary with nothing better to do than risk his life trying to kill Minghao. But that was just the way it was.
Which was why Junhui stood before Minghao and his courtiers, using his best acting skills.
“Your Majesty,” he said, “I am a tax administrator fleeing from the kingdom of Renjun. They are persecuting me for speaking ill of the king, even though I know of the atrocities the king has committed here. I have heard of your generosity, and I’m seeking refuge here. Even if you can only have me for a few days, I would be grateful. It would mean that Renjun’s soldiers would lose track of me.”
Minghao was impossible to read. Cold and sharp as a blade. And yet, as Junhui kept talking, he couldn’t help but think that Minghao was starting to soften. Minghao was renowned for his compassion to the downtrodden, whether from his own kingdom or from others, and it made him a popular and respected king.
Junhui felt a little bad that he was taking advantage of such uncommon kindness. But only a little bad. A job is a job.
“My friend, anybody fleeing tyranny is welcome here. Since you are in need of special protection, I could find a room in the palace for you. You are welcome to stay as long as you need until you can find a place to go and establish yourself.”
Something warmed in Junhui’s blood. This was it. The first stage of the plan was complete.
“Thank you, your Majesty,” Junhui replied, bowing. “I am eternally grateful for your kindness.
Minghao nodded. The faintest of smiles graced his handsome face, as he beckoned a maid to lead Junhui to his room.
Now all Junhui had to do was get close enough to Minghao to kill him.
***
Junhui freezes. Minghao wasn’t supposed to wake up. But now his eyes are open, moving from the tip of the blade up to Junhui’s face.
“Oh,” is the first word Minghao utters.
“Minghao,” Junhui replies breathily.
Minghao sighs. It gets Junhui’s hand trembling. For some reason, despite the position he’s in, Minghao seems unperturbed. It’s as if he wakes up every morning with a blade pointed at his chest. He doesn’t look at all surprised.
Why doesn’t he look surprised?
Junhui doesn’t have time to think about it. The next thing he knows, he’s being kicked in the chest. He yelps in shock as his head slams against the floor. The sword clatters somewhere beside him, but Minghao is quick to grab it, pointing it at his torso.
“What?” Minghao asks cruelly. “You think I don’t have spies? I know who you are, Junhui. I’ve known for a while.”
***
“Do you always spend this long talking to the strangers who seek refuge with you?” Junhui asked one night.
Minghao smiled. “Only to the interesting ones.”
This was the third night in a row that Junhui had spent staying up with Minghao and talking. It usually started with Minghao asking about Renjun’s kingdom, about what it was like to live in such a repressive place and whether Junhui knew anything about their defence strategy. But Junhui was good at deflecting, so they’d talk about other things too, things that Junhui wasn’t entirely sure he should know about a king like Minghao.
Kings shouldn’t be unsure of themselves, should they? They should be strong and majestic, all the time. There’s no room for hesitancy, not when there are pressing matters to attend to. And yet Junhui knew about Minghao’s doubts, about his concern he wasn’t doing well enough, about his fear that he couldn’t repel Renjun. Why did Junhui know all of this? Because he was interesting?
“So you think I’m interesting?” Junhui replied, raising an eyebrow.
“That much was obvious, wasn’t it?”
Junhui shrugged. “Part of me was wondering whether you were just using me for information about Renjun.”
Minghao opened his mouth, as if about to speak, then sighed. “Maybe initially,” he admitted, “but- well. You’re nice to talk to, Junhui.”
“You’re a king, Minghao. There must be no shortage of people you talk to.”
“Not like with you. It’s hard, when you’re a king. You have to be careful with who you trust, who you share with.”
“And that’s why you’ve chosen a near-stranger?”
“You haven’t given me reason to doubt you so far. Will you?”
Junhui’s heart lurches. This is the man he’s meant to kill—the man who thinks Junhui’s the only one he can talk to. Junhui wants to do nothing of the sort. He wants to keep being trusted by Minghao, he wants to stand over him and shield him from harm. Minghao’s too good to die like this.
And yet, this is what he has to do.
“Of course I won’t,” Junhui lies.
A job is a job. Junhui just wonders if it’s worth it.
***
“Minghao, please,” Junhui begs, “I can explain this.”
“Explain what? The lying, the cheating, the attempt to murder me? I’d like to see you try.”
“You think I wanted this? I’m just doing a job, I didn’t want it to turn out this way.”
“But you didn’t stop it. If it’s just a job to you, you could have found a way out. But for some reason, you simply had to betray me.”
“Minghao, wait-”
“Although you didn’t betray me, I suppose. You can’t betray anybody. You can’t betray someone for whom you have no loyalty, and mercenaries aren’t loyal to anybody.”
“That was uncalled for. I may be a mercenary, but my heart beats like yours does.”
“Does it? You tried to murder me in my own bed, after… after we…”
Junhui swallows. Minghao’s right, of course.
“And that’s the most cowardly thing about you,” Minghao continues. “Being a mercenary is excusable. But using me the way you did? That was cowardly. You could have faced me properly, like a warrior. But you chose to do it this way.”
“I didn’t always plan for it to be like this, you have to know that.”
“You weren’t planning on abusing my generosity?”
“I- well- not in the way that I did. I admit, the refuge thing was a ruse, but I never intended for it to… progress quite this far.”
Minghao scoffs.
“Besides,” Junhui bursts out, “you’re the one that started it!”
“What?” Minghao snaps. “Are you a child? Is that the best excuse you have?”
“Well- it’s only because-”
“What difference does it even make if I started it? You nearly finished it—whatever it is—all for a job. Didn’t you? You couldn’t bend even a little, even for me, could you?”
Junhui doesn’t know what to say. It sounds stupid when put that way—that Junhui would throw it all away for a job. But what is it? What even is it that they have?
***
Whatever it is, Minghao did start it. He was the one who said they should practise their swordfighting form together. Junhui agreed, even though there were probably a million other people Minghao could have asked.
Even so, they went to a room and practised with wooden swords. They corrected each other’s form and showed each other different techniques, and it occurred to Junhui that he had missed this. He had missed having a partner to practise with, someone who could read him and challenge him and get him to do his best. Since he had joined the army, he was trained to view everyone as an enemy, but that wasn’t what he really wanted. What he wanted was to be better. He wanted technical perfection, and he wanted a comrade to help him get there.
Minghao wasn’t a comrade. He couldn’t be. If all went to plan, he would die by Junhui’s sword. But that didn’t matter in this duel. In this duel, the clashing of the swords was just a beat to time their dance with each other. Where one went, the other followed. Evenly matched, the duel went on and on, and Junhui had to give it his all. This was what he wanted. This was what made his blood run through him.
“Junhui,” Minghao called, pulling Junhui from his reverie, “you seem a little distracted today.”
“What do you mean?” Junhui asked.
Minghao didn’t reply. Instead, in a few clever moves, he managed to disarm Junhui, knocking him to the floor. With his wooden sword pointed at Junhui’s chest, he knelt over him until their faces were just inches away from each other.
“See what I mean? Distracted,” Minghao said, barely more than a whisper.
Minghao’s breaths ghosted over Junhui’s face. Beads of sweat dripped down his face and neck, and before he could stop himself, Junhui wiped some sweat from Minghao’s temple with the pad of his thumb.
“What was that?” Minghao asked.
“You- you’re sweating, your Majesty.”
“Junhui. Look me in the eye.”
Junhui did as he was told. There was something inscrutable in Minghao’s gaze.
“You really are distracted, aren’t you?” Minghao said.
“How do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. I’ve seen the way you look at me sometimes, Junhui.”
Junhui didn’t know what this meant. “How do you mean?”
“You should know. You must have seen me looking back.”
Junhui closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The air smelled of sweat and salt and Minghao in the midst of it all.
“Your Majesty, what are you trying to say?”
Minghao moved the point of the wooden sword from Junhui’s chest to his chin, keeping Junhui’s head tilted up.
“You can call me Minghao, you know.”
“Minghao… I don’t-”
“Come on, Junhui. You can work it out.”
A lot of words, but not much action. Junhui decided to make the move. He moved a hand to the nape of Minghao’s neck, trying to pull him down. Minghao threw the wooden sword to the side, moving down easily until their lips connected. Their lips were dry, but that didn’t stop Minghao sighing into the kiss like he’d been waiting for years. They kept going until Junhui’s leg was wrapped around Minghao’s hips and they were rutting desperately against each other.
“Wait,” Minghao gasped as they broke apart, “we should probably go somewhere else. Somewhere we won’t be found.”
Junhui nodded, too dazed to even speak.
And that was how Junhui ended up in Minghao’s bed for the first time, nipping gently at Minghao’s earlobe, hands running down Minghao’s arms. He moved away to just look at Minghao. His face was red, his chest rising and falling with each panting breath. But for once, he didn’t look as stern or impassive as usual. Under Junhui, he looked more delicate, more glass than metal.
Junhui dipped down to kiss Minghao again, gentle and slow. Minghao gripped tight onto Junhui’s shoulder and whimpered, moaning louder as Junhui made his way down his jawline, his neck, his collarbone. When Junhui bit down, Minghao gasped and held onto Junhui even tighter. Junhui licked and sucked at Minghao’s nipples, and Minghao groaned, his eyes screwed shut as if he couldn’t even bear to keep them open.
Junhui ran his hands and tongue all over Minghao’s skin. At that moment, it was all his. No swords to think of, no kingdoms to protect. It was just them, just Minghao writhing under Junhui’s gentle touch. He gripped Minghao’s hips, licked the head of Minghao’s cock, looking up at him as he did. Minghao groaned, low and loud, tightening his fingers in Junhui’s hair as Junhui bobbed his head up and down.
Junhui looked up at Minghao whenever he could. This wasn’t Minghao the king, this was Minghao the man, surrendering his body to a man he barely knew. As Minghao’s orgasm drew closer, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes tightly closed, Junhui couldn’t help but think that this was enough for him. Why spill Minghao’s blood when he could have his whole body?
Minghao came into Junhui’s mouth, limbs covered in a sheen of sweat, glowing and panting as Junhui came back up to kiss him. He was beautiful. Junhui had always known that, but now that he was underneath him and at his mercy like this, it was all the more clear.
[FILL] a bleeding, loyal heart
He’s beautiful now too, towering above Junhui with his lips pursed. He hasn’t finished Junhui off yet, even though he’s had plenty of time to. It gives Junhui longer to look at him, at his practised grip of the sword, at his lean arm stretched out ready for the kill.
“Junhui. You haven’t answered me. Why does it matter who started it?”
Junhui looks him square in the eye, trying to seem braver than he is. “It doesn’t, not particularly. What matters is now. This meant something to you, right? I meant something to you, didn’t I?”
Minghao’s grip on the sword is steady, but he looks away from Junhui for the briefest of seconds.
That’s the only answer Junhui needs. Because the truth is, he feels the same. He had Minghao totally defenceless a few minutes ago, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Somehow he knew that Minghao was different, that he was worth more than that.
“Well,” Junhui continues, voice steady, “let me offer a compromise.”
“Compromise? You nearly killed me, and now I could kill you any second. What makes you think you can bargain with me?”
“You haven’t killed me yet, have you? You could have. If you think my offer too poor, you could just, well, finish the job.”
“Oh, Junhui. You think I need your permission to kill you?”
“You don’t seem able to do it otherwise. Hear my offer. You know that Renjun wants you gone, so I could help you. I’m the closest you have to a double agent. I could help you, I could keep you out of harm’s way.”
“And what do you get return?”
“Refuge. Protection from Renjun’s agents. And-”
Junhui breaks off. He can’t finish with what he really wants from Minghao.
“And?”
“That’s all. We can look out for each other, hunt for one another. Doesn’t that sound fair?”
Minghao bites his lip.
“And,” Junhui carries on, “if you want, I can prove myself to you, just to show that I am sincere in my offer. Give me a few days and I will do it.”
“You’re that willing to switch allegiances? Why?”
“I have my reasons for my offer, just like you have your reasons for accepting it.”
Minghao raises his eyebrow. “Who says I accept?”
“Well,” Junhui replies, “you haven’t killed me yet.”
***
It has been two days since Junhui and Minghao made their compromise. Now, Minghao is staring at the dripping body Junhui has dragged into the courtyard, and the trail of blood behind them.
“This,” Junhui pants, “is me proving myself to you.”
Minghao blinks. “Who is this?”
“Look at the letter in his robe pocket.”
Minghao fishes out the letter. Mercifully, it isn’t stained with blood, so he can read what it says. Junhui watches as Minghao’s eyes travel across the page.
“A contact from Renjun’s kingdom… and you’ve killed him.”
Junhui nods. “Hopefully nobody will miss him for a few days. If anyone asks me, I can write back saying I haven’t seen him, and that he must have been caught out by one of your guards.”
“Junhui… you did this for me? Now you’re in even more danger-”
“Which is where your part of the deal comes in. You need to protect me, the way I have protected you.”
Minghao nods, not taking his eyes off the body. Junhui can feel some of the blood drying on his hands. It’s worth it, though. Any amount of blood is worth it. If it keeps Minghao looking like this, safe and handsome and his, Junhui will do it a thousand times over.
“So, you accept? You acknowledge that I have proven myself to you?”
“When you stated your conditions, you said you wanted refuge, protection, and something else. What was the third thing? What else did you want?”
Minghao is still looking at the body. Junhui can’t have that. He walks over to Minghao, tipping his chin up. Minghao’s eyes are soft, sunlight on a river, and that’s all Junhui needs. He cups Minghao’s cheek and kisses him, tender and short.
“I think you know what I want.”
Minghao says nothing. He just smiles, not caring about the bloodstain on his cheek.
Re: [FILL] a bleeding, loyal heart
-- youre so evil making minghao into the thing that is going to be used to kill him
-- same
-- stop i beg you please the junhuisms
-- eueu
-- youre evil actually
-- i am kissing you on the cheek and the forehead and lips i am obsessed with you actually this truly made my day MWAH i love you