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The world was dark and nothing could will heavy eyes into the light. Limbs lay heavily like lead, too comfortable on the mattress he laid out in a blur. His head pounded, heart beat loud and clear, thrumming against his skull. His fingers twitched on the smooth fabric they rested on. It was warm. Unnaturally warm, but not unpleasant in the slightest. He found himself quite liking the feeling, almost longing to move closer and allow his skin to touch more of it. It was a sleepy thought, yet he quite liked it. Suho hummed quietly, smacking his lips. His eyes opened to mere slits, lashes like curtains. He wiggled his toes, then his legs, and his eyelids finally forcing themselves open. His vision was blurred, and after blinking wearily for a few moments, he allowed a smile to take his lips unconsciously.
Banryu.
His chest filled with warmth.
Banryu?
The realisation hit him a little belatedly, admittedly. The man who slept opposite to him was still sound asleep, peacefully unaware of what was going around in the world. Suho’s hand rested on Banryu’s arm without a care in the world and Banryu’s arm draped around Suho’s waist. It was unfamiliar yet the same all at the same time. Naturally, Suho did what any normal person would do in this situation – he screamed at the top of his lungs, and this scream was loud enough to wake Banryu out of his peaceful slumber. It took Banryu a second to realise what was happening, but when he did, Suho could see the billion questions running through his head. They both flung themselves to opposite sides of the room, Suho’s stomach not agreeing with his decision. Banryu was blinking wearily but he shared Suho’s horrified expression. They stared at one another accusatorially.
“Are you crazy?!” Suho yelled, stopping his scream of anguish short, have I gone crazy, “Why are you sleeping beside me?” Why is he sleeping beside me? “I told you to leave last night. Why did you stay?”
“The one that was beaten more should leave,” Banryu countered immediately, with that same stupid argumentative voice that he always had, but Banryu couldn’t see his stupid face like Suho could. Congealed blood set around cuts on his cheek, dust from the gravel they rolled in the night previous coated his complexion, all of which undoubtedly caused by Suho (and yes, he was damn proud of that). His hair was out of place, hanging over his headband, and Suho had great pleasure in informing him of all of this.
He concluded his smartass statement with, “You are a complete mess.”
Suho’s eyes trailed him up and down for emphasis, but that warmth in his chest from before only grew. His head was pounding and their yelling sounded like it was being blasted out for everyone in the palace to hear. Banryu rolled his eyes when an unknown voice spoke from above.
“You do not look like you just slept together,” he said, his voice soft and soothing, almost tired. He slept on the top bunk of the opposite bed, peering down at them in amusement, “The rumour about me loving men is enough. I saw you two…” his voice trailed off, then he rested his own hand against his chest.
Suho thought about it for a split second, then mirrored his actions. The sensation was similar to what they had before. It was far too suggestive for Suho’s liking. The man continued, “…touch each other all night.”
Suho’s head snapped towards Banryu, eyes wide and lips parted. All night? It couldn’t be possible. There was absolutely no way – the man above was just messing with them. Without even so much as thinking about the consequences, he licked lips. Banryu’s eyes were wide as saucers but they were filled with a far different emotion then Suho’s, “You filthy thing.”
Here’s the thing about Banryu. He’s quite a confrontational entity who enjoyed winning and was an extremely sore loser. He was surprisingly hot-blooded for such a cold-blooded man. Suho liked to think he brought out the worst in Banryu.
These traits combined made for a very extreme hangover induced bad decision that would naturally involve Suho. It was their thing. One of them would say or do something that would set the other over the line, and it became an all out war. Sometimes it was a battle of wits. Sometimes it was soccer. Sometimes it was a mere attack on the other. Others, like this situation, it became a physical altercation. He pushed past Suho to the rack next to the door and picked up two swords – one for the two of them. He was wearing the face and Suho knew that this wasn’t going to go down with a few simple words. He meant business.
Suho stared at him dumbly but caught the sword thrown at him. Banryu unsheathed his own and tossed the scabbard aside. He held his sword out towards Suho, and Suho knew exactly what to do, “Alright. Let us fight.”
Suho unsheathed his own weapon and twirled it in his hand, leaning towards his opponent. Banryu held his game face like it was his only face, and Suho desperately wanted to wipe it off.
“Okay, did you not hear me?” Suho was suddenly aware that they weren’t alone, and that fact was enough to make the light shine in his eyes, “My hobby is watching fights and fires. Ready, set, go!”
Well, all Suho and Banryu really needed was an enabler. It was then that their battle began.
It did not stop with the two of them like it always did. Banryu was insistent on getting under the half-breed’s - Sunwoo - skin, and then he allowed him to take the blame. In fact, he almost acted as if it was his place to take the blame in the situation, as if he deserved the warning he was receiving. Banryu seemed… different. And most certainly not in a good way. There was something about Banryu that made Suho far less pissed off, and far more concerned for his own good.
“You were the one who started it, both in the room and in the hall,” he pointed out the facts once he finally cornered Banryu alone, but Banryu was having none of it. The two stood opposite each other, and Banryu put up his defensive act rather well for the untrained eye.
“No,” he spoke indignantly, but it was different. Something was vastly different, “I told him to start it. I did not start it myself. What could I do? That half-breed attacked first.”
The schmuck had the audacity to act like he was a victim? Suho was positively disgusted, “You should not have brought up his sister.”
Banryu had that smirk, and it was so familiar yet completely new to Suho that he hated it. He hated the very sight of it. Banryu never brought family into it, even Suho did stoop so low. He had a so-called moral high ground and he never seeped deeper than the surface, but he did so so willing…
“I realised it was the best way to get at him, so why should I?”
“I understand now why Half-Breed called you the sewer,” Suho’s words were poisonous, and he could see the hurt in Banryu’s eyes, even if he showed no trace of it in his face.
“The world has never changed. The strong defeats the weak. The powerful takes and keeps,” the statement was out of nowhere, and that was the exact moment when Suho realised what was going on. His defensive wall just shattered in front of Suho’s eyes – and only for Suho’s eyes. To the untrained eye, he looked the same as before, but Suho was the furthest thing from untrained when it came to Banryu.
Something had happened.
It was so plain to see in his eyes, shimmering far too much for this time of day. Suho nodded his head slowly and took in the closed expression Banryu gave him. Suho wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but something tugged at his heart, like little strings attached themselves to it while he slept. Suho refused to let his expression soften, but his voice did unwillingly, “What is it? I thought about it. Would you ever join Hwarang? Over your dead body, so why are you here?”
Banryu didn’t reply, so Suho continued, “Did something happen?”
He knew the answer, of course he did. Yes, something happened, but there was still no response. Banryu seemed to be frozen, eyes glazed, but he grabbed his temples like he had a sudden headache. When he recovered, he glared at Suho like it was none of his damn business (and to be fair, it really wasn’t – he was… concerned? Was he allowed to be concerned for his enemy?).
“Let me know if you ever want to fight. I have no intention of listening to your babble.”
And he left, pushing past Suho as he did. Everything in his tone told Suho to stop pressing, yet Suho found a part of himself wanting to reach out and grab Banryu’s wrist and force him to say what’s wrong, or at the very least give him something. Anything! It was so unlike him to do this, yet so like him. The other part of Suho, well…
“What that rat…”