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Kim Taehyung was raised in a small farm in the country of Florin. His favourite past-times were horse riding and tormenting the boy that worked there. His name was Jungkook, but Taehyung never called him that.
"Farm boy," Taehyung would say, and Jungkook would look at him with his doe eyes, full of mirth. "Fetch me a bucket." Jungkook would bow his head, just a little bit, and obey. "As you wish," he would reply. And Taehyung would find himself picking wild berries and thinking of the farm boy's smile, or leading his horse around town and remembering how his farm boy liked to eat carrot cake from the bakery down the road, and buying it for him.
It didn't take long until Jungkook started getting brave with his advances. "Farm boy," Taehyung would say, "take this box outside," and Jungkook would stand close to Taehyung, so close that Taehyung would see the small mole under his lip, and lift the box. "As you wish," he would whisper back. And, soon enough, Taehyung found himself requesting unnecessary things of Jungkook, only to have his farm boy look into his eyes with that shiny intensity and whisper close to his mouth. "Farmboy," and Jungkook's eyes would meet his. "Get my horse ready," and "buy cake from town," and "come walk with me," and "I made too much food, in case you'd like some." "Kiss me," one day as they laid in the meadow, their horses peacefully grazing by the trees. And Jungkook's eyes showed no surprise, no hesitation, only a small smirk as he whispered "as you wish" and leant over Taehyung and touched their lips together.
Jungkook tasted like fresh soft grass on bare feet, like a daisy crown on messy hair, like cherry wine on a summer night by the stream.
But good things don't always last, and it had barely been a month when Jungkook had to bid his love farewell. He wanted to make fortune away from the farm, come back a richer man, worthy of his Taehyungie. No matter how many times Taehyung tried to convince him otherwise, Jungkook's mind was set. Taehyung's parents weren't happy about their union, and Jungkook wanted to quench their anger. So, with a bag full of clothes and dried food, Jungkook hugged Taehyung one last time. They were in their meadow, their horses meters away, the path towards the capital that Jungkook would follow and the one back to their small farm Taehyung would take going in opposite directions. His v"Farm boy," Taehyung said. He never called Jungkook that anymore, but the name made Jungkook smile, bright and wide. "Come back to me," Taehyung added. His voice had an almost petulant tone to it, his lips furrowed in a cute pout that Jungkook leant over to kiss away. "As you wish," he replied, before hopping back on his horse and riding away. Taehyung only let himself cry that night, and the night after, and the night after that, too. He stopped crying after a week, feeling angry at his parents instead. He stopped feeling angry at his parents after three months of no news from Jungkook, extending his anger towards Jungkook. Why wasn't he back yet? Why had he not written? Had he found some place better? Someone better?
It took Taehyung two years to agree to his parent's offer of getting married to someone else.
-
Taehyung did not like the man his parents wanted to marry him off to. He was older, mayor of their town, and he wanted Taehyung to leave the farm and live in his dry, old, boring house. Taehyung did not like his future mother in law, a grumpy, wrinkled old lady that kept complaining that Taehyung was too wild, too untamed for the social gatherings of town. He did not like the man's dog, which had sniffed at him once and then never looked at him again, no matter how much Taehyung had tried to lay with him. So the day before the wedding, after much planning, Taehyung snuck out in the early hours of the morning, when the sun has barely come out and the sky is stained with pale oranges and pinks and the birds are singing wildly, announcing a new beginning. Taehyung got his horse ready, grabbed a bag of clothes and a blanket, and rode away, past the brook he used to swim in, past the meadow Jungkook promised him he'd get back, following the same path his lover had. He only looked back once, at the farm, at the fields, at the crops. Then, he fixed his gaze forwards and set his horse on.
Taehyung had no plan. He had put all of his money into a small bag before leaving, and he would work in taverns or farms he found on his way. He had no fixed itinerary - he was going after Jungkook, refusing to believe he had forgotten about him, or even worse, that he had died. If he could not stay in his farm, live his life there, there was no better use of his time. And so, he rode, city after city, asking everyone he met if they had seen a young man with soft black hair and eyes that held the entire universe inside them. Some people said they had, most people said they hadn't, and months later, Taehyung had travelled all the way into the coast.
"Have you seen this man?" he asked an old grandma, who was cleaning fish by the shore. He brought out a drawing of Jungkook he had made, somewhere between two cities, when he had joined a small artists troupe who had offered him to ride in their wagons. The old lady dropped the fish, startled, and made the sign of the cross, rapidly knocking twice on the wood of the table where the fish were.
"Bangtan Pirates!" she had squeaked, voice raspy. Her eyes, clouded with age, went wide and scared, shaking her head when Taehyung prodded for more information, refusing to say anything else. So Taehyung grabbed his horse by the reins and walked to the main road, small shops on both sides. He showed the picture a couple of times, getting similarly distraught reactions, villagers refusing to speak. Bangtan pirates, that name kept coming up. So he decided to ask about it. An old fisherman walked by, carrying his fishing nets in a small cart behind him.
"Excuse me, sir," Taehyung started, bowing respectfully. "Could you tell me about the Bangtan pirates?"
And, by the end of their short conversation, Taehyung had the timeline clear: the Bangtan pirates, the most fearsome bandits of the country, that came over once every few years to rampage the town, and steal food and supplies, had arrived when Jungkook was an apprentice at the sword smith shop, newly arrived to town. He was one of the men taken prisoners by the pirates, according to the swords smith, who seemed dejected talking about his apprentice even though the events they were describing had happened over a year ago.
Taehyung was furious after three hours of walking around town, asking questions. Why were those stupid pirates going around, pillaging and taking people away? Why did they have to take his Jungkook away?
It took him three more days to figure out where the pirates' hideout was. He had to leave the big city and ask around the smaller settlements nearby, get three fishermen piss-out drunk to loosen their tongue and some eyelash batting, but in the end, he was ready to make the trip.
Taehyung bought comfortable pants and a new pair of walking boots. He got a thick leather vest, knowing he'd probably have to fight. He bought a thin foil at the sword smith with the last of his money, practicing his sword moves in the back of the shop, stabbing at the straw mannequins. His father had taught him how to fight when he was an early teen, and remembering the moves gave him a strange feeling of homesickness. But there was also exhilaration. Travelling had been fun, he had met a lot of interesting people, but it was almost over now. He'd find out what had happened to his farm boy.
Then, a week later, Taehyung considered himself ready to go. He hopped on his horse, thanked the sword smith and his wife for letting him stay at their small house over the shop, and started his journey to the pirates' hideout.
Two days of riding around the coastline, sleeping under the summer sky and one very disastrous attempt to catch fish for dinner later, he arrived to the Cliffs of Insanity. The dark rock rose in front of his eyes in an almost flat surface, tall and dark, difficult to climb. But the pirates hideout was in the other side, and Taehyung was nothing if not determined, so he jumped off his horse and grabbed his small bag and his shiny new sword. He didn't tie the horse, instead patting his neck twice. "If I'm not back in two days, go back to town, yes? The wordsmith and his wife will take good care of you."
The horse replied with a snort, pushing Taehyung's body with his snout and making him giggle. "But I will get back," Taehyung added, pressing a kiss to the horse's neck.
Climbing the cliffs was no easy feat. Not even wearing the tight pair of black pants and his bag well secured, highly tied around his chest, helped him much. He figured that was why the pirates chose their hideout to be there, it was difficult and exhausting to cross, impossible for an army. They hadn't even bothered remove the long rope that hung on one of the sides of the rocks, which Taehyung pulled at to check if it was safe. For one man only, even though it was hard, it was not impossible, and after an hour of painful pulling at whatever rock he could find, carefully checking that they were not going to get loose and let Taehyung fall meters and meters down, he made it to the top.
Letting himself fall to the ground with an exhausted groan and feeling his hands cramp with the effort, Taehyung rolled onto his back. The sky was blue and bright, the sun high in its route, and Taehyung wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and rest under its light. But he had to reach the pirates camp before night, not wanting to sleep unprotected in their domains. And so, he sighed and sat up. Jumping to his feet and shaking the dust from his clothes, he turned around. No one in the small towns he had gone asking around had been able to tell him where the pirates' hideout was, only that it was after hiking the cliffs, so he was on his own now.
He didn't have to search very long, though, for as soon as he turned around, there was a man, dressed all in black and wearing a mask that covered his eyes. He was sitting on a rock, cross legged, and there was a smirk on his lips and a sword dangling from his side.
Taehyung jumped back in surprise.
"Hello," the man said. His voice was breathy and low, but it didn't sound mean. Taehyung held to his sword handle, though.
"Who are you?" he asked. "What do you want?"
The man in black stood up, walking towards Taehyung idly, kicking a small pebble on his way. "Should I not be the one asking you this, seeing as you are the one on our territory?"
Taehyung took a step back. The man was probably around the same height, but his shoulders were wide, and his clothes were tighter around the arms and thighs. If it came to a hand to hand, Taehyung had no chance. His grip tightened around the sword, and the smile on the masked man's face grew.
"I came to look for someone," Taehyung replied. "I will fight for him if I must, so let me go through and I won't hurt you." He was trying to keep his voice stable and not show hat he was scared, but his voice wobbled slightly on the last word. The masked man smirked, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I see," he replied. His voice was familiar, but the accent was that of the coast area, so Taehyung guessed he had gotten so used to hearing the dragged vowels of the region. "I am afraid I can't let you go through."
Taehyung pouted unconsciously, only realising how he probably looked like a spoiled child after a second and schooling his expression, but the masked man had seen and was tsking.
"It's all right, I am a gentleman," the masked man added. "I know how tiring climbing those cliffs can be, so I will let you rest before I fight you. You can tell me about the person you have come to find on the mean time."
Taehyung considered the offer for a moment. It was clear that the man would not let him go without a fight, and he was actually very tired, his shoulder burning with the effort of climbing and his fingers shaking around the foil handle.
"I will take your offer," he replied, and followed the masked man back to the small rocky formation he had been sitting on earlier. The masked man held out a water skin, Taehyung drinking from it gratefully before giving it back, mostly empty.
"Who are you looking for?" the masked man asked, then.
"I'm looking for a man," Taehyung replied. Jungkook's features were still clear in his mind, the slightly too large nose, the narrow lips, the big round eyes and the mole under his lips. He wondered how much his lover had changed in the past two years and a half, as the younger had barely been 18 when they had parted.
"You're looking for a man?"
Taehyung nodded.
"We have many of those here," was the reply. Taehyung thought he could hear amusement in his voice. "I'll need more information before I can tell you if he's here or not."
"He was 18 last time I saw him," Taehyung started, "so he must be 21 now. Dark hair, pretty lips, starry eyes. He's enthusiastic, determined, and can learn how to do everything in a matter of hours. He could sing, his voice so beautiful I swear the birds at the farm let him sing over them, sometimes. He liked carrot cake and to braid flower crowns, and his heart is the biggest I have ever encountered. Whatever mean, disgusting things you've done to him, he does not deserve."
The masked man was now openly smiling, big toothy grin, top half of his face skill covered on black cloth, the fabric around his head covering his hair as well.
"Sounds like someone that wouldn't last very long here."
Taehyung stood up at that, drawing his sword.
"Don't you dare."
The man jumped to his feet, too, drawing even faster than Taehyung, placing his own weapon between his body and stopping Taehyung's blow.
"Don't I dare what?"
Taehyung got his sword out of the masked man's block, dropping his bag to the side to have more freedom of movement, throwing another blow to the man's chest. He blocked it easily, too, but didn't try to get a hit of his own on Taehyung just yet.
"Don't you dare insinuate that he's not alive."
Taehyung punctuated his words with another attack, but his opponent just took a step to the side and narrowly avoided it.
"What if he's not?"
Taehyung remised, taking a step to the side, getting them to move in a circle around the other. He kicked his bag, laying abandoned on the ground, to free up more space.
"Then I'll kill whoever hurt him," Taehyung replied. A flick, and a beat attack, and a faint, but the other man seemed to know his moves before he even decided them himself, and kept deflecting them almost playfully, not breaking a sweat. Riposte, parry, circle. There was something familiar of how the man in black moved, something Taehyung could not pinpoint.
"You'll kill them?"
"Yes."
"I doubt you could. Not with those rusty skills."
Taehyung snorted, jumping to a rock to gain height advantage, balancing himself on one leg long enough to feint and try to get to the man's stomach. He blocked it without much effort, and Taehyung started to worry. The masked man had been using defensive moves, not throwing a single hit of his own, yet he was having no difficulties in keeping Taehyung on check. Which was to be expected, he was a pirate, his career depended on his fighting skills.
"Ha. I'm not rusty."
But he was. The two days practising behind the sword smith's shop had not been enough to bring him back to the skill level he had when he and Jungkook sparred in the fields.
"No? Let's see how you handle my attacks, then."
And then, the masked man was throwing blow after blow, pressing Taehyung so much that he took a bad step, tripping over a rock and falling back. The masked man was hovering above him in an instant, knees on both sides of Taehyung's body, feet holding his legs in place and sharp edge of the sword cold against the skin of Taehyung's neck, not pressed enough to hurt him but present enough to be felt. Taehyung swallowed thickly.
"You never told me the name of the person you're looking for," the masked man said, and there was something in his eyes, something bright, something that brought Taehyung back to when him and Jungkook played in the meadow, hugging and rolling on the grass, laughing and kissing.
Taehyung looked down at the man's lips, noticing the small mole under his lip, and his heart skipped a beat.
"It's Jungkook," Taehyung muttered, voice coming out raspy and low. "Jeon Jungkook."
The masked man made no moves, said nothing,. sword still resting against Taehyung's neck, completely still. Taehyung lifted his hands, carefully, letting go of his weapon by the side, touching the underside of the mask and pulling from it, until the fabric fell to the ground, uncovering the man behind it. And, sure enough, it was Jungkook. Not his Jungkook, for he was older, jawline more defined, hair curling past his ears, nose no longer too big for his face. But it was Jungkook, and he was looking at him with a tenderness that Taehyung recognised from years back.
"It's you," he whispered. "It really is you."
Jungkook threw his sword far away, sitting up and carrying Taehyung with him, holding him against his chest, burying his face on Taehyung's shoulder, inhaling deeply.
Taehyung smacked his back with force, but did not move away from the embrace.
"Why did you fight me? Jungkook!" he complained, and Jungkook laughed wetly by his neck.
"I missed sparring with you. And it didn't seem real.When I saw your face, I..."
"It was a sword! On my neck! You could have killed me!"
Taehyung was aware that his voice was whiny and pouty, but he didn't care. He had found his Jungkookie.
"Never. I'd never let anybody hurt you."
And when Jungkook leant in to kiss him, Taehyung felt like he had arrive back home, like they were in their meadow after a long day of working in the farm, and he remembered why he had fallen in love.