Expectations (1/?) - The Convict in the Marshes
Title: Expectations - AU
Author: craiglockdhart
Pairings: Sihan, Kangteuk
Rating: PG for now
Warnings: None for now
I found myself again in front of the three tombstones in the village churchyard, unmarked and plain such that I could no longer remember which grave held who. I knew it was my family that laid below though - My own mother, my father, and Leeteuk's mother. I figured out that the middle tombstone must belong to my father, for it was the largest and the least worn out, for I had faint memories of him holding me as a very young child. The oldest then, must have belonged to Leeteuk's mother, for it was only after she died that my father married my mother - his second wife.
I know little else, but I imagine my mother must have been an extremely ill-fated woman for she died in labor before even seeing her new born.
As far as I can remember Leeteuk has always been in my life. An older brother, he cared for me like what I would assume normal parents would for their own children. Kangin too. They're pretty much all I've ever known, all my life. I don't know how old they are, but they look awfully young to me.
Of course, there's Donghae too. He isn't family. But he might as well be to us.
My name is Choi Siwon.
And as unfortunate as circumstances are Kangin and Leeteuk made sure that I knew at least how to write my name. "Especially your family name, Choi", Leeteuk insisted, "Your mother would have wanted that."
I never asked or knew until much later why we both never took on our father's name.
“Hold your noise!” cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
Nothing could have prepared me for this chance meeting with the hostile stranger. He was big-sized, and strong, and one could tell that he was a man who had seen much hardship in his life.
"Please... Sir... Don't cut my throat! I promise I'll be quiet", I could only stutter in fear as his huge, merciless eyes bored down on me.
"How old are you, boy!?", he questioned
Whimpering, I replied, “Eleven… Sir.”
“And your name!?”
“Choi Siwon.”
“Where do you live, and with who?”, he snarled, but gentler this time.
“I live with my brother and his husband Sir. Kim Youngwoon, the village carpenter over at the cottage opposite the marshes.”
“Now you listen…”, he leaned in dangerously and whispered in my ear, “I am needing some food, whisky and medicine. And you will bring it here tomorrow or I’ll have your head and that of your pretty brothers. You will tell no one.”
“Yes… Sir.”
“And there’ll be no tricks up your sleeve or you’d be hearing from me very soon. Oh… and bring a file too. You know what’s a file, boy? The carpenter ought to have one of those.”
“Yes…”, I remembered what a file was from watching Kangin at work
“Now GO!”, he yelled, and I was only too happy to oblige.
I hunched over my dinner of cold bread and leftover stew, not daring to look at Leeteuk as he watched me with a mixture of anger and worry. Kangin sat to my right, frowning.
“Choi Siwon! Where have you been! Don’t you know how worried we’ve been? You’re three hours later for dinner and you come back grimy and muddy. It’s not as if you don’t know the nearest well is a good 100 meters away!”, Leeteuk nearly screeched.
“Sorry… I was at the church…”, I stopped myself before revealing that I’d been to the graves again. Leeteuk didn’t like me to go there.
“For the entire evening?”, Leeteuk glared at me suspiciously.
No. Not really. I had spent my time after the strange man let me go pacing outside the Sherriff’s, wondering if I should enter and report the incident. The threat that the man had left me with kept me from going in. I couldn’t, for the life of me imagine any harm coming to Leeteuk and Kangin.
But of course I couldn’t tell them that. The strange man warned me not to tell.
“Yes… I did.”
Leeteuk didn’t believe me. He was just about to ask when Kangin put his arm around Leeteuk and whispered something to him.
I took this chance to grab the stale bread and stuff it down my pant pocket.
Kangin took me by the shoulders, “Don’t mind your brother. He’s just worried. Now are you up for a nice long walk to the nearest well so we can get some of that grime off you?”
He bent down to whisper in my ear, “And we’ll get your brother some nice flowers so he won’t be angry anymore, alright my boy?”
I smiled weakly at him, feeling guilty and bad all over again about what I had done and was about to do later at night.
Author: craiglockdhart
Pairings: Sihan, Kangteuk
Rating: PG for now
Warnings: None for now
I found myself again in front of the three tombstones in the village churchyard, unmarked and plain such that I could no longer remember which grave held who. I knew it was my family that laid below though - My own mother, my father, and Leeteuk's mother. I figured out that the middle tombstone must belong to my father, for it was the largest and the least worn out, for I had faint memories of him holding me as a very young child. The oldest then, must have belonged to Leeteuk's mother, for it was only after she died that my father married my mother - his second wife.
I know little else, but I imagine my mother must have been an extremely ill-fated woman for she died in labor before even seeing her new born.
As far as I can remember Leeteuk has always been in my life. An older brother, he cared for me like what I would assume normal parents would for their own children. Kangin too. They're pretty much all I've ever known, all my life. I don't know how old they are, but they look awfully young to me.
Of course, there's Donghae too. He isn't family. But he might as well be to us.
My name is Choi Siwon.
And as unfortunate as circumstances are Kangin and Leeteuk made sure that I knew at least how to write my name. "Especially your family name, Choi", Leeteuk insisted, "Your mother would have wanted that."
I never asked or knew until much later why we both never took on our father's name.
“Hold your noise!” cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
Nothing could have prepared me for this chance meeting with the hostile stranger. He was big-sized, and strong, and one could tell that he was a man who had seen much hardship in his life.
"Please... Sir... Don't cut my throat! I promise I'll be quiet", I could only stutter in fear as his huge, merciless eyes bored down on me.
"How old are you, boy!?", he questioned
Whimpering, I replied, “Eleven… Sir.”
“And your name!?”
“Choi Siwon.”
“Where do you live, and with who?”, he snarled, but gentler this time.
“I live with my brother and his husband Sir. Kim Youngwoon, the village carpenter over at the cottage opposite the marshes.”
“Now you listen…”, he leaned in dangerously and whispered in my ear, “I am needing some food, whisky and medicine. And you will bring it here tomorrow or I’ll have your head and that of your pretty brothers. You will tell no one.”
“Yes… Sir.”
“And there’ll be no tricks up your sleeve or you’d be hearing from me very soon. Oh… and bring a file too. You know what’s a file, boy? The carpenter ought to have one of those.”
“Yes…”, I remembered what a file was from watching Kangin at work
“Now GO!”, he yelled, and I was only too happy to oblige.
I hunched over my dinner of cold bread and leftover stew, not daring to look at Leeteuk as he watched me with a mixture of anger and worry. Kangin sat to my right, frowning.
“Choi Siwon! Where have you been! Don’t you know how worried we’ve been? You’re three hours later for dinner and you come back grimy and muddy. It’s not as if you don’t know the nearest well is a good 100 meters away!”, Leeteuk nearly screeched.
“Sorry… I was at the church…”, I stopped myself before revealing that I’d been to the graves again. Leeteuk didn’t like me to go there.
“For the entire evening?”, Leeteuk glared at me suspiciously.
No. Not really. I had spent my time after the strange man let me go pacing outside the Sherriff’s, wondering if I should enter and report the incident. The threat that the man had left me with kept me from going in. I couldn’t, for the life of me imagine any harm coming to Leeteuk and Kangin.
But of course I couldn’t tell them that. The strange man warned me not to tell.
“Yes… I did.”
Leeteuk didn’t believe me. He was just about to ask when Kangin put his arm around Leeteuk and whispered something to him.
I took this chance to grab the stale bread and stuff it down my pant pocket.
Kangin took me by the shoulders, “Don’t mind your brother. He’s just worried. Now are you up for a nice long walk to the nearest well so we can get some of that grime off you?”
He bent down to whisper in my ear, “And we’ll get your brother some nice flowers so he won’t be angry anymore, alright my boy?”
I smiled weakly at him, feeling guilty and bad all over again about what I had done and was about to do later at night.