Of French Customs and Old Times. Part 14
Title: Of French Customs and Old Times.
Status: Part 14
Author: xxqod
Pairings: Jonghyun/Taemin/Minho, Jinki/Kibum
Rating: PG-15
A/N: For bopeep_achu who requested this, it takes place in France of the 18th Century. Incorrect use of the French language XD lol, I only had basic French. It's not historically correct and I used their Korean names, cause I can't bring myself to change them. (Don't bash me for it! >.< )
And special thanks to kunikoi who gave me a few ideas with her super long comment. <3
~There's a wordlist at the end of each part, stating the French words and their translation.~
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Jonghyun lazily sits up somewhere at sunrise. He takes a minute to take in his surroundings and smiles at the sleeping form of Taemin beside him on the bed. The boy had tossed around a bit at night, mostly just snuggling further into Jonghyun's arms, but at one point he had rolled the other way, so Jonghyun's hand was still on his hipbone, but not around his waist anymore.
'He's really cute when he sleeps.' Jonghyun thinks while he brushes some long strands of hair from Taemin's face. Then he swings his legs out of bed and just wants to put on his pants when the door opens and Jinki and Kibum come into the room, carrying a new change of clothes.
"Here, put this on. I'll be washing the dirty laundry." Kibum whispers, but not forgetting to add a teasing, knowing insinuation to his voice. Jonghyun slaps his shoulder playfully and accepts the clean bundle of clothes, while Jinki lays a new dress over the chair for Taemin to wear.
"Give me your pants." Kibum says and Jonghyun looks back to see Kibum with an extended hand, waiting for him to hand over the article he carefully holds to cover himself up. Jonghyun raises an eyebrow.
"You really think I do that when I'm naked?" He questions. Kibum glances down before locking eyes again.
"Yes, because it doesn't seem like I will be shocked seeing it." Remarks Kibum snarky. This stomps on Jonghyun's pride and he throws the pants in Kibum, who is gaping like a fish by now, his chest. Jonghyun smirks and Jinki chuckles as he grabs Kibum by the shoulders and steers him from the room, the door closing with a soft click.
Taemin murmurs in his sleep and rolls onto his stomach and for a second Jonghyun is scared the boy will wake up, but luckily he doesn’t. A sigh escapes his lips and he fumbles around to find the new set of clothes which he left on the floor in the confusion of the moment. He pulls the pants on his legs and slides his arms into the shirt, buttoning it up. He takes his top vest and stealthily makes his way out of the room, leaving a sleeping Taemin behind.
Jonghyun stretches his arms as he walks through the gardens, watching the dew on the grass and it's cold to his feet (he didn't bother to put on shoes). A bird pipes a happy tune, it's morning, the sun is slowly rising, Jonghyun can't blame the bird. He sits down at a pond, knowing this is one of the smaller ones and rolls up the legs of his pants, so he can dangle his feet in the cold water. It feels refreshing, but he jolts back when fish begin nibbling at his toes. He laughs and it rings prettily through the air. He lies back in the grass and watches the orange-blue sky with pink bluish clouds above him. Jonghyun is asleep again in no time.
Taemin pulls the covers further up but has his eyes still closed. He refuses to wake up this early and he snuggles further into the blankets, not even aware Jonghyun is missing behind him. He lets out a content sigh and he's almost back in his slumber when a hand comes down hard on his cheek. His eyes shoot open and he looks at the person sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Salope! How can you cheat on le roi?!" She screams at him and Taemin flinches, while his other hand holds his red cheek. He sits up which causes the sheets to slide down his body and the woman, girl, seriously she doesn't look much older than him, stops mid-sentence and takes a good look at his chest.
"Tu es un garçon…" She states will she covers her mouth with a hand. Taemin sees the cogs turning at a rapid speed in her head when she stares at him then around the room and back at him. Her eyes narrow when she examines his face and makes another statement.
"Tu es la reine." She's surprisingly calm.
Taemin just opens his mouth to say something, but the sun peeks through the window and sunrays illuminate the girl's face and Taemin gasps, because she looks like she could be his twin. He scrambles back and points his finger at her.
"What how?" He's sure he doesn't have any sisters, how can there be someone looking like him so much? Her confusion shows on her face as his finger still doesn't leave its hanging place in the air between them. Then it clicks and she smiles a bit.
"Now I know why le roi wanted this…" Suddenly she was not scary anymore and Taemin relaxes visibly, the girl laughs behind her hand.
"What is this about?" He asks with a croaking voice, he clears his throat in embarrassment.
"You don't know?" The confused tone in her voice rises again and when Taemin shakes his head, her eyes go impossibly wide. Taemin hugs his knees to his chest, making sure the sheets keep him covered.
"Care to explain it to me?" He rests his chin on his bended knees and the girl scoots further up the bed, making herself more comfortable.
"It's a long story really. But I'll just explain the important parts." She says and Taemin nods his head, signalling her to talk more.
"You see, le roi overheard you talking with Kibum about how wonderful it would be to raise a child, but you could never give him that. After pondering on that, he decided after a lot of arguing with himself he would make sure to give you the child you wanted. But, the child would have to look like you to make it believable to the public. So he started this secret quest for girls with a similar appearance to yours."
She glanced up at him shortly, before she shifted her gaze to the window, looking out over the green meadows.
"Le roi found me about a year after he heard your conversation and took me to the castle here. There were a few other girls looking just like me. The whole plan was to let one of us give birth to a child he could give you. He used the excuse his wife, you, couldn't deliver children."
Her voice is softer now, Taemin notices as she takes another breath of air, continuing her story.
"We stayed at a room linked to le roi's bedroom, so it was easier for him to execute his plans. He kept us well-fed, enough to do around, he treated us nicely."
She sighs (a bit love-struck perhaps) and betrayal makes itself apparent on Taemin's face. He clenches his fists at his sides, but doesn’t interrupt the girl.
"The first time he called me to his chambers and… and just after he'd done the deed you came stumbling into the room…"
She finishes and realization struck Taemin that he didn’t scramble away from her, because she looked like him, but because he had seen her that night under Minho, a shocked expression on her face. He stays silent, still deep in thoughts as her voice breaks the silence once again.
"Please don't be angry at le roi. He did it all for you! It broke him!" She sobs in her hands, tear streaks down her face. Taemin laughs.
"It's too late already." He says, heart aching with the revelation of the truth. The girl looks up as she recognizes a hint of longing in the young voice when he speaks.
"It isn't. Don’t you hear your heart reaching out to him?" She takes his hands after she crawled closer to him on the bed and Taemin franticly tries to get his hands free.
"Don't!" He says loudly, the sound from his throat cracking when her slim fingers curl harder around his wrists. She holds on.
"Can't you see he still loves you? Waits for you to forgive him? Come back to him?!" Her volume rises with every question to the point Taemin can only push her away harshly, her nails drawing blood from his arms. The blanket slides down revealing more of Taemin's body filled with red-purplish bite marks, kisses from Jonghyun. It's silent for a while.
"Can't you see you're the one at fault here?! Putain!" She screams and lashes out at Taemin who's lying curled up in himself, frame shaking with regret and angst. He hears the venom and jealousy in her voice, and he can't blame her.
"I have a child now! And you are whoring around, doing as you please! Not even considering others! I don't want to be a mother!" She cries while she keeps assaulting the boy on the bed. She is so absorbed in her misery she doesn't even hear the door open until Kibum yells at her to let Taemin go. She turns with her eyes wide and Kibum's breath hitches mid-sentence as he sees her features.
"What-" Jinki pushes past him and yanks the girl away by her arm, sitting her down in a chair on the other side of the room. Kibum shakes his head to get out of his stupor before he looks at Taemin's quivering body. Hastily he makes his way over and carefully examines the bruises and few nail-cuts on the younger one's skin.
"Ssh. It's going to be alright." Kibum whispers and Taemin frantically shakes his head.
"H-he.. he.. chi..child…" Kibum's head snaps up at the last word, eyes widening as it registers in his mind.
"What did you say?" But Taemin doesn't answer him and Kibum turns to the girl.
"I bet you know what's going on." He says coldly as he watches her fidgeting. Jinki tightens his hold on her shoulders where he holds her down in the chair and the strength he applies, forces her to talk. She tells them the whole story, exactly what she told Taemin, but adds the fact to it she is supposed to keep an eye on Taemin these weeks and inform Minho of the activities going on here.
Kibum curses under his breath, still audible to all of them, while Taemin just stares blankly at one point on the wall, leaving Jinki stuck with his hands on the frail shoulders. Kibum moves, going to the door while Jinki looks at him with questioning eyes, but Kibum just ignores it, only running when he is a good hearing away from Taemin's bedroom.
"Jonghyun! Jonghyun!" He shouts through the gardens, heaving and panting while he runs. The moment he stops running is when he arrives at one of the small ponds, maybe the furthest one away from the castle and sees a figure lying on the grass, bare feet almost touching the pond's water.
"Jonghyun!" He yells even louder and true enough the blonde moves but only rolls over and Kibum's left brow twitches. He stalks over and kicks Jonghyun in his side, evolving in a groan and verbal assault from the earlier asleep figure.
"Chut!" And Kibum kicks him again for good measure when Jonghyun doesn't listen. He pulls on Jonghyun's arm, digs his nails into his flesh.
"We have a major problem here you sleepyhead!" Kibum glares at Jonghyun who tries to free his arm from the younger one's death grip.
"What the hell are you talking about Kibum?" Jonghyun violently moves his arm to the side and the movement spins Kibum around.
"We don't have time Jonghyun!" Desperation and a cracking voice, it's now Jonghyun who guides the distraught Kibum back inside, listening intently to everything Kibum tells him in choked words. His free hand balling into a fist as he hears what happened. He lets Kibum's hand go and sprints up the stairs while Kibum shouts at him to do not anything rash.
Jinki jumps a bit and the woman shrieks when the door slams open and Jonghyun flies by, crouching by the bedside and runs tentative fingers over the bruises and tiny cuts on Taemin's shaking body. Whispers left his mouth but there is no reaction from the younger boy who continues to lie limply on the bed, body never stopping the shivers.
"MERDE!" The shout is from the top of his lungs and he whirls around, hand raised to come down hard on the girl's cheek, snapping her head in the opposite direction. Her lip is split but she frowns and spits at Jonghyun, dirtying his shirt with blood.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You bitch!" He grabs a handful of her hair and yanks, getting a good view of her face, while Jinki tries to get to Jonghyun back off. It isn't that necessary anymore because Jonghyun stops abruptly as the girl's features connect to the person he knows best for his whole life.
"This… isn't possible…" He mumbles and walks backward, glancing repeatedly at the girl and Taemin, asking himself if he's dreaming.
"He. Actually considering to leave that twat and be with me instead?" The girl spits at him, adding to his barely concealed anger.
"Hell no!" With an angry scowl on his face at which the girl laughs.
"Right. Just wait until Minho makes you see who Taemin belongs too." She smirks and Jonghyun loses it, his anger reaching boiling point. He sees his sword from the corner of his eye and quickly grabs it and draws it from its scabbard.
Shock is evident on Jinki's face and Jinki can see it on the girl's face too. He reaches for his own sword when Jonghyun comes at them, the girl, but Jinki's behind her. Before he can unsheathe his sword however Kibum has Jonghyun locked, his arms around Jonghyun's shoulders from behind.
"Jonghyun! Stop it!" But Jonghyun trashes and kicks, trying to get free, to possibly kill the girl in his blind anger. Jinki tries by now to move the girl, but she's frozen from shock and doesn't budge.
"Jinki I can't hold him!" Kibum yells and Jonghyun breaks free, eyes blinded, vision blurred and charges yet again at the girl, sword raised and ready to slash. He is stopped however by a smaller frame, constricting his movements and Jonghyun feels warm liquid on his shoulder, through the fabric of his shirt.
His sword clatters on the ground when Taemin squeezes him tighter, enveloping him with his own body. His arms wrap around the bruised body, his fingers on the skin of slim and bare hips.
"Don't do it Jonghyun. Don't." Taemin whispers in his neck while silent tears roll down his cheeks. He's hurt. He actually feels the hurt of the girl so much, he stands naked in the middle of the room hugging Jonghyun like there would be no tomorrow. Her life is ruined and he blames himself, for he made conclusions based on something he saw without confirming if it was true.
"She hurt you! She's not going to live it through." But the only thing Jonghyun does is adding more pressure into his hug, crushing Taemin against him.
Jinki sits down on the floor, shock and relieve making his legs wobbly and he closes his eyes. It is the first time he saw Jonghyun like that, so blinded, brutal and he hopes it is just an one-time thing, because it will end badly if it goes on. He jolts when somebody rests against him, but he relaxes when Kibum whispers into his shoulder.
"Fuck, that was…" Kibum doesn't finish his sentence, but Jinki has a clear idea of what he wants to say. 'Scary, creepy, so-not-Jonghyun." Jinki knows so he just strokes Kibum's hair out of his eyes.
"Jonghyun. Jonghyun. Jonghyun." Taemin keeps repeating his name like a mantra, a broken record, somehow trying to calm himself and Jonghyun down at the same time by just the mention of a single name. He feels Jonghyun loosen his muscles and they fall down, Jonghyun landing on his behind with Taemin trapped against his chest.
"Taemin, I don’t want to lose you again. One time hurt so much I don't think I can take a second time." Taemin doesn’t hear it, but rather feels Jonghyun moving his lips against his skin, forming the syllables he utters. "I love you." It's subtle, a perfect whisper, but is it for the right reasons?
The younger boy feels confused, Minho loves him still and here he is cheating with Jonghyun, who claims too love him even more. The child, she has a child which should be around four years old now and the kid could have been his. His and Minho's. His body convulses and unconsciously he grips the shirt in front of him harder. Taemin's head spins and he buries his head again in the crook of Jonghyun's neck, breathing in his fragrance.
Jonghyun returns the affection by stroking the younger's back and presses a few kisses against the warm column of Taemin's neck. He knows what they can do, actually he has been thinking about it for quite a while now, but never mentioned it to Taemin. This seems like the perfect time now so he opens his mouth to speak with a clear voice.
"Run with me Taemin. Let's run away from here and never return." Taemin stiffens, while Kibum and Jinki glance questioningly and expectantly at each other. Nobody paying attention to the girl who slowly and unseen makes her way out of the room.
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A/N: If you see words (in French) that aren't correct, please tell me :) The French words are becoming more and more…. >.< well, you can read it for yourself. lol.
List of French words with translation:
- salope - slut
- le roi - King
- tu es un garcon - you are a boy
- tu es la reine - you are the queen
- putain! - you whore!
- chut! - hush!
- merde! - shit!/ damn!