Chapter Text
the stream is very quiet, calm. the only sound the running of water and the occasional chirping of birds high up in the trees that surround him.
at first glance, there’s no one there. yoongi is glad. in about an hour's time he’s going to be surrounded by dragons of all different clans. the other clans may hate his especially, but they’ll still look to him and his brother for everything. every move of his will be studied and critiqued until he’s driven to insanity and he’ll wish he hadn’t been born into royalty, that he hadn’t been destined to become the next high priest.
yoongi walks through the stream, feet splashing in the shallow water and toes digging into a bed of pebbles and sand. he walks and walks and walks, surrounded by nature and quiet and everything he doesn’t normally get to experience. what a welcome respite…
the trees that overhang the stream thin out and let the sun through. they make way for a clearing—a shallow pool of water with smooth and jagged rocks sticking out. he hears a harsher, more violent thundering up ahead and realises he’s made it all the way to the waterfall. he steps into the clearing, wanting to get closer to the waterfall to peer over the ledge and see what’s down there.
he doesn’t get to see what’s down at the bottom, however, because he realises he’s not alone.
on the biggest and flattest rock in the clearing are two figures, one sat with his legs dangling off the rock, arms wrapped tightly and securely around the second person straddling them. they’re kissing desperately.
yoongi stands quietly while he watches them. there’s a very small voice somewhere in his mind, telling him to go, to give the two some privacy, but he ignores the voice. he doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to look elsewhere. he can’t walk away, enraptured by the wandering hands and mouths, the gentle undulation of their bodies while they explore each other.
yoongi doesn’t walk away—he inches closer.
the closer he gets, the more details he’s able to make out: the way the one on top likes to pull ever so slightly on their partner’s bottom lip, teasing with a beautiful grin, teeth digging into soft flesh. he can make out hands, wandering under shirts, brushing past smooth and sensitive skin, mapping out scales, with a reverence that leaves yoongi breathless.
he takes a step closer, and another… and another…
the pair keep kissing, stuck in their own, quiet world, leaning into each other’s kisses and touches, caressing each other with adoration in their eyes. they each take a moment to kiss along the scales on the other’s face—tongues darting out to trace the little clusters with grins on their faces.
yoongi recognises them after he steps closer yet again. the one sat on the rock is the heir to the fire clan, kim seokjin. yoongi’s never spoken to him, hasn’t really spoken to anyone outside of his clan other than a polite greeting here and there, but he’s seen him before during different meetings between clans. all he knows about him is that he’s quiet and reserved, but yoongi had always been struck by his commanding presence, the way rooms quieted when he walked in. yoongi usually felt compelled to hold his breath for a little when the fire dragon entered, afraid he’d miss out on something.
in seokjin’s lap is yet another royal, heir to the water clan. jung hoseok. yoongi had spoken to him, but only very briefly. he knew hoseok for his bright and loud laugh, yet surprisingly serious demeanor. people listened with rapt attention whenever he spoke—even leaders from other clans.
yoongi stops bridging the distance between them, now that he knows who they are. he still feels like he’s leaning into them, leaning in closer, like that’ll somehow make him feel what they’re feeling. his fingers are itching to touch them. yoongi swallows audibly.
hoseok is the first one to look up. he turns his head as seokjin’s mouth latches onto his neck and he happens to open his eyes, spotting their visitor. he doesn’t say anything at first, just watches yoongi with unwavering intensity—his dark blue eyes pierce into yoongi’s grey ones and yoongi finds himself unable to look away, unable to turn around and flee the scene.
“hello,” says hoseok finally. his voice is soft and hoarse. he licks his lips.
yoongi blinks rapidly. “i didn’t mean to intrude. i’m sorry.”
seokjin stops kissing hoseok’s neck. he turns to look over as well. yoongi nearly blanches at the angry frown he’s subjected to, but he bites his lip and stays still, facial expression as neutral as possible. he’s never had seokjin’s fiery orange eyes on him for this long. the urge to squirm under his scrutiny is overwhelming.
“how did you find us?” seokjin’s voice is calm and cold. he looks guarded as he pulls hoseok against him protectively. “were you looking for us?”
yoongi is quick to shake his head. “i didn’t know you were here. i’m sorry. i just wanted… some quiet.”
the two stay silent, still wrapped up in a tight embrace. yoongi understands the gravity of the situation. clans don’t mingle. they can’t mingle. not like this—least of all those of royal blood. there are no official rules against it, not spoken ones, anyway, but it’s not accepted, nor will it ever be. and yoongi just found out about their unspeakable secret.
he can’t imagine how exposed they must feel. yoongi feels awful—for running into them and for staying to watch, for whatever sick reason he might have had to do so.
“i won’t say anything, i promise.” yoongi’s voice comes out soft. he hangs his head in shame. “i’ll go now. your… your secret is safe with me, you have my word.” his word as the next high priest is severe, the weight of it hangs heavily between the three of them as he turns around slowly to leave them to it.
“spirit prince,” seokjin calls to him, kinder now. “min yoongi-ssi.”
yoongi didn’t think they’d know his name. people don’t often call him by his name—knowing him only by title.
yoongi turns to face them. “yes?”
“come closer.”
yoongi steps closer.
“why were you watching us?” asks hoseok. yoongi notes how neither of them let go. they stay clinging onto each other with little shame, almost uncaring of the fact that yoongi’s there.
“i…” yoongi starts, without knowing how to answer that particular question. he doesn’t know why he didn’t turn around, either. he doesn’t know how to explain what he felt while he watched them, mostly because he’s not sure what he felt. yoongi only knows he felt something strange while watching them. something he’s not supposed to feel. “i don’t... know.”
“come sit, yoongi-ssi.” seokjin pats the empty space of rock right next to him and yoongi walks over easily. he hops up and lets his feet dangle, folding his hands in his lap and looking down at his knees.
“did we look pretty together? is that why?” hoseok’s teasing voice crashes through him like a particularly violent wave. how fitting of a water dragon. if yoongi weren’t so on edge, he’d probably be amused.
“maybe.” there’s no point in lying. both hoseok and seokjin are astute enough to see through him, he thinks, especially now that his face must be an open book.
hoseok merely hums. seokjin doesn’t respond, other than to tilt his lips up into a hint of a smile that yoongi misses completely because of hoseok’s hand, hovering just beside yoongi’s cheek. it’s like he’s waiting to see whether yoongi will flinch, whether he’ll let hoseok touch him. yoongi doesn’t flinch, so hoseok cups his cheek with a gentle touch.
“you’re really pretty yourself,” hoseok tells yoongi. “you’re so… delicate. you look like one hard stare could break you into a thousand pieces. it’s… intoxicating.”
neither yoongi nor seokjin say anything in response. yoongi doesn’t know what to say and seokjin just doesn’t look like he has anything to add—he only nods imperceptibly, like he wholeheartedly agrees with what hoseok has said.
hoseok’s warm hand wanders down yoongi’s cheek, thumb brushing past the cluster of scales on his jaw, down his pale neck… his fingers come to rest on his shoulder, thumb pressing in the dip between his collarbones. “it’s weird to see you so up close,” says hoseok casually, not removing his hand. “i didn’t really think you were real until now.”
“what… does that mean?” yoongi swallows. he feels hoseok’s thumb move over his skin while he does.
“i don’t know,” hoseok muses. “you’ve always seemed… untouchable. the spirit clan has always been elusive, but you…” he drags his thumb over yoongi’s skin, like he’s testing whether yoongi is actually there. “your skin is very soft,” he notes randomly. “and i like your scales. they’re such a pure white… pretty.”
“thank you,” yoongi says stiffly.
“would you like to join us, spirit prince?” hoseok’s question comes out of nowhere. his gaze is calm and open while he asks, he doesn’t look like he’s messing with yoongi.
“what?” yoongi flinches.
“would you like to kiss us?” hoseok clarifies. he lifts his hand to grip onto yoongi’s chin gently. his thumb swipes over yoongi’s bottom lip.
for a moment, all yoongi does is stare. he looks at hoseok, down at his lips that look kind of red and swollen, probably from the not so gentle way seokjin had been kissing him. yoongi looks over at seokjin now, down at his mouth and back up at his eyes. he comes to the frightening realisation that, despite not knowing them, despite the fact that they’re not even of his kind, he would say yes in a heartbeat. he hasn’t been with anyone in a while and, looking at them now, at the way they’re still so intricately wrapped up in each other’s limbs, he knows that he wants what they have.
but he can’t say yes. they don’t actually want him. they’re just curious because of his prestigious status. hoseok had implied it—he hadn’t thought of yoongi as an actual being until now. yoongi is but a curious new plaything to them.
he also can’t say yes, because if he were to be found out… the consequences would be graver for him than for them. yoongi had no power as of yet, the clans would band together in an attempt to get rid of him.
so yoongi does the only thing he can: he pushes himself off the rock and lands on two very shaky feet. he turns his back to them and walks away. they don’t call after him, but he feels their eyes on his back for a long while.
his brother stands next to him in the central hall of the spirit chamber. they’re late to the gathering, but his brother is ever so uncaring. fashionably late, he’s always called it.
“your robe is crooked,” his brother says. he pulls yoongi in front of him and tugs on the white robes, fixes them until he’s satisfied. he pats yoongi’s shoulder and dusts an invisible speck of dust off his chest. “there you go. much better, little brother.” his brother smiles at him.
“we’re late, hyung.” but yoongi makes no move to get going.
“let them wait.”
“this is why they don’t like us.”
“they would still dislike us were we to arrive early. if we were to come exactly on time, they’d call us perfectionists. no matter what we do, they’ll find something to nag us about, so let them wait for us.”
yoongi stares at his brother without saying another word. it’s not silent judgment yet, but his brother’s mouth quirks up in an expectant smile, anyway. he narrows his eyes slightly, like he’s daring yoongi to say something.
yoongi doesn’t rise to the challenge. he sighs softly, shoulders sagging a little. “yeah, i guess you’re right.”
his brother cocks his head. “are you okay? you seem dejected.”
“i’m okay.”
“did something happen while you were out?”
“no.” yoongi tries to smile. it doesn’t look too convincing, but his brother doesn’t call him out on it. “i’m just not looking forward to all the eyes that’ll be on me in a short while. i can never go unnoticed at these meetings and i kind of hate it.”
his brother nods slowly. “i know you don’t like it. i’m sorry, i would have left you at home if i could.”
“it’s okay. i know you’re not willingly subjecting me to torture. it’s not like you go to these meetings because you want to, either. you must have it worse than i do, since they expect a lot more from you.”
“still. they look at you differently.” his brother sighs forlornly. “why did you have to be born with all that extra power? was it not enough to simply be my little brother?” he raises a hand to pet yoongi’s unruly hair and smooth it down a little.
“i’m not so little anymore, hyung. i’m in my twenties.”
“you’ll always be a little brat to me.” he pinches yoongi’s cheek with a grin.
yoongi flees from his terror with a displeased hum, which his brother merely laughs at.
“yoongi-yah,” he says. “remember what i’ve always told you? if they bite…”
“... bite them back.”
“let’s go, spirit prince, we have clans to piss off.”
“they’re late,” huffs the clan leader of the fire dragons.
“grand entrances take time,” says the water leader. the sarcasm dripping off her tongue is scalding.
the room, despite holding around fifty people, stays quiet. the only ones that dare speak are the leaders and, perhaps, the loudest of their children. most of them are too busy waiting to speak. despite their hatred for the spirit clan, they can’t deny the pedestal they’ve put them on.
just when the eldest heir of the earth clan is opening his mouth to add another scathing remark to the mix, the double doors open.
unlike the other clans, the spirit dragons don’t have an entourage with them. it’s just their leader and their prince, the future high priest.
yoongi and his brother walk in, backs straight and heads held high. their robes are a stark white and set a high contrast to the rest of them and to the dark interior of the room. their snowy white robes are immaculate and intricately decorated.
“spirit leader. how nice of you to grace us with your presence. fashionably late as always, i presume?”
yoongi thinks he hates the air leader most of all. the old crone is way past her death date. with each meeting, yoongi hopes to see a new face, but she disappoints him every single time. some people just refuse to die.
“naturally.”
yoongi so very admires his brother’s patience and the grace he holds himself with. his smile is and always has been uncrackable in the face of his so-called allies.
they sit down and the meeting starts. yoongi tunes out fairly quickly, looking down mostly into his lap or at his brother. every once in a while he’ll look at whoever is speaking, but he quickly stops doing that once he accidentally catches hoseok’s gaze from across the room when the water leader speaks.
hoseok holds his gaze for a while, facial expression quite calm and natural, until a smile grows on his pretty features. hoseok’s smile isn’t innocent. it isn’t kind or sweet. it’s challenging. hoseok seems to be appraising him, his smile almost predatory once he finishes looking yoongi over.
yoongi shudders and looks away, only to look straight at seokjin’s expressionless face. seokjin has been staring at him, too, just like hoseok.
he’s careful to keep his face neutral while he holds seokjin’s gaze for just the polite amount of time, before looking away and sweeping his eyes across the room as naturally as possible.
once he deems it safe, he drops his head to look down into his lap. he doesn’t look back up, until his brother mentions him and all the eyes in the room are suddenly on him. he has no idea what was said, whether he’s supposed to say anything back or just nod his head and smile gracefully.
peering at his brother, he makes a calculated decision to offer them his most diplomatic smile, which seems to be the right choice, as they quickly move onto a different topic yoongi isn’t implicated in.
the meeting passes by like that, with yoongi’s eyes boring seering holes into his lap, while his brother holds all the other clans off with firm but not unkind words. the two pairs of eyes belonging to hoseok and seokjin don’t let up at all, until the initial meeting is over and everyone gets up to leave.
he catches them staring at him one last time as his brother tugs him away.
yoongi meets ice dragons kim taehyung and park jimin later that night at the banquet. each clan has their own section to seat their men at, but the royals all sit together. call it an extra measure of torture.
most of the night he spends next to his brother, listening to his brother’s dry commentary about this clan and that, to his complaints… they’re the only two of their clan on the dais, so they lean on each other for support, until his brother is asked to drink with one of the clan leaders and, since he can’t refuse, yoongi is left to his own devices.
he sits on his own for a few minutes, trying so very hard not to find hoseok and seokjin in the crowd, when two figures approach him and sit on either side of him.
“hi,” says the first one, jimin. he plants his elbows on the table, so very unroyal-like, and leans his chin in his hands. he’s smiling big and happy, like yoongi is his new best friend.
“hello!” taehyung says from his other side, ignoring all eyes on him as a result of sitting down on the table, rather than the empty chair.
yoongi looks at jimin first, and then at taehyung. he frowns a little, but not enough to seem rude. “hi?”
“you’re yoongi,” says jimin. he holds out his hand for yoongi to shake. “i’m jimin. and that’s taehyung. is it okay if we call you hyung? you’re older than us.”
“are we allowed to call a future spiritual leader hyung? i feel like that goes against the rules. i don’t know which rules, though,” taehyung muses.
yoongi looks between the two again, unsure of what exactly is going on. are they here to mock him? had they been instigated by their leader to subject yoongi to more pain?
“we saw you sitting alone, so we thought we’d keep you company. are you having a good time?” jimin is still smiling at him and it strikes yoongi how warm it is, and how warm taehyung’s smile is, too, so unlike the icy blue of their eyes.
“yes. sure. i’m having a good time.” everything in yoongi’s voice and his demeanor suggests he’s, in fact, not having a good time. he’s having an awful time, but he doesn’t know the ice princes well enough to share that with them.
“what did you do to hoseok and seokjin-hyung? they’ve been staring at you the whole day. i can’t tell if they’re angry or not...” jimin casually turns to look at the two sitting together at a table drinking ale. they’ve been chatting for most of the night, but their glances over at yoongi haven’t at all ceased. if yoongi were conceited enough, he’d think they were talking about him.
“i didn’t… i didn’t do anything. i don’t know why they keep staring at me,” yoongi lies. his eyes follow jimin’s and he’s met with hoseok and seokjin’s stares again. he looks away quickly, trying very hard not to blush.
taehyung hums thoughtfully. “would you like us to ask them? we can mediate, if you want. we can even call them over right now.” he lifts his hands to gesture at them to join, but yoongi’s hand immediately shoots out and grabs his wrist. yoongi pulls taehyung’s hand down and quickly shakes his head.
“that’s alright, thank you.”
“oh.” taehyung smiles apologetically. “sorry.”
yoongi shakes his head again, offering a polite smile of his own. “don’t worry about it.”
jimin and taehyung thankfully drop the subject, sensing yoongi’s reluctance to talk about it. they’re not done with yoongi, though, like he’d hoped—they get comfortable instead.
“you don’t very much like these gatherings, do you?” jimin inquires. he sips the wine he’d brought over. yoongi only now notes his rosy cheeks and his loose smile. jimin’s tipsy, at the very least.
is that why they came over?
“they’re not… my favourite pastime, no,” he answer diplomatically.
both taehyung and jimin snort. “you’re as much of a diplomat as your brother,” notes taehyung with a teasing grin.
“these gatherings must be hard for you. the clans are the hardest on yours. that, and the… you know, your future position… you won’t find harsher critics outside of these walls.” jimin pats yoongi’s shoulder easily, before he realises what he’s done and freezes. “sorry. i forgot you don’t really like being touched.”
“it’s—no, it’s okay. it’s not as bad as people make it out to be. not as bad as it used to be, anyway.” yoongi sort of nods and offers another smile.
he’d had a mishap a few years back, at another gathering. his powers had only just started manifesting and he hadn’t learned how to put up a barrier yet. every ounce of energy that clung onto another person he touched was soaked right into his skin, which was downright painful at times.
the electricity clan leader had patted him on the shoulder and accidentally touched his neck and yoongi’s body had jolted. he still remembers the pain he’d felt when the electricity had coursed through his body. that little pat of friendliness had floored him in an instant in front of everyone and his scream had alerted anyone that hadn’t seen it happen.
jimin pulls back his hand slowly. “you’ve come a long way since then… i think the electricity leader still feels bad sometimes.”
“it wasn’t his fault,” mumbles yoongi, glancing at where his brother and the clan leader in question are talking animatedly. the electricity clan had always been kind to them, they didn’t judge the way the others did and seemed to prefer unity over division. it also helped that the spirit and electricity clans inhabited neighbouring lands.
“how’s your training going?” asks taehyung. “have you started your fire trials yet?”
yoongi shakes his head. “i’ve completed my air and earth trials. i’m working on my water trials at the moment.”
“and how’s that going? i heard water can be pretty tough to master.”
yoongi nods slowly. “it’s not the easiest of elements.”
“who guides you for water?”
“no one, as of yet. i haven’t been assigned a water master yet, until i’m able to harness its power. it’s… very strong-willed.”
taehyung brings his face closer and looks around to see if anyone’s listening in. “d’you want to know a secret, min yoongi-ssi? or hyung, if you’re okay with that, you haven’t said.”
“you can… call me hyung, if you’d like.” yoongi nods minimally.
“cool! hyung, would you like to know a secret?” he lowers his voice to a secretive whisper. jimin moves in closer, as well.
“okay… ?” yoongi looks between the two ice dragons again, not knowing what to expect.
“word has it we’ll be guiding you for your ice trials.”
“oh.” yoongi cocks his head a little. “both of you? we only ever assign one master to each trial.”
“we’re a package deal. they couldn’t separate us if they tried,” jimin says with a shrug.
yoongi can’t help but snort at that. once he does, he hides his mouth behind his hand in an attempt to cover up his amusement. jimin and taehyung still catch it, though.
“hyung, you have a really pretty smile,” taehyung tells yoongi, with big, earnest eyes to match his sincerity.
“thank you.”
jimin and taehyung move on to talk about other stuff, including yoongi wherever and whenever they can. they don’t mind that he’s on the quieter side or that his answers are short and to the point—they’re either too tipsy to care or accept that yoongi is the way he is.
by the time yoongi’s brother comes back, yoongi doesn’t even notice hoseok and seokjin’s stares on him anymore. he feels comfortable, for once, thanks to the two ice dragons.
fate isn’t kind on yoongi. any comfort he’d felt the night before at the banquet is shattered at the meeting the next day. they begin their discussion as they normally would, with a lot of judgement and snide remarks thrown whichever way, but they’re interrupted not even ten minutes in when a person comes running in, out of breath and panicking. yoongi recognises him as one of the high priest’s advisors. yoongi hadn’t exchanged more than a few words at a time with this particular advisor, but he’d seen him around during his trials.
“the high priest has fallen ill with the void,” the advisor pants, leaning over to rest his hands on his knees. “a poisonous arrow to the arm. we’ve managed to slow the process, but there’s no way to stop it.”
the poison the high priest had been hit with was the worst of its kind. even without slowing, death wouldn’t come quickly. but it would come, and it’d be horrible. it would have been a mercy to grant the high priest a quick death, but mercy wasn’t in his cards. yoongi wasn’t ready to take over yet, and the dragon world couldn’t live without a high priest. not really, anyway.
“we must speed up the trials,” the advisor declares, finding yoongi in the crowd.
“hyung,” whispers yoongi, looking at his brother. “i can’t. i’m not ready.”
all other pairs of eyes find yoongi, as well, until everyone in the room is staring at him in varying degrees of disapproval, worry and anger.
his brother finds yoongi’s knee under the table and squeezes softly. yoongi clamps onto his wrist, very softly shaking his head without letting the others see. he feels like he might cry, even though the worst possible thing he could do in this situation is show them his tears.
they’d never prepared him for this.
“you cannot speed up the trials. it doesn’t work like that. completing the trials under pressure is a recipe for disaster,” argues yoongi’s brother.
“there’s no other way. master yoongi will have to complete all trials at the same time, it’s the only way.”
“you cannot ask that of him .” the loud voice doesn’t come from his brother, it comes from opposite of them, where the electricity clan is sat. the clan leader has gotten out of his seat, chair pushed backward. yoongi’s never seen him look so angry before. “one trial at a time is already more than any sane dragon could handle. you want him to finish all remaining ones at the same time? that’s madness.”
“it’s the only way!” the advisor sounds the way yoongi feels—on the brink of panic, ready to cry and, possibly, faint…
all the other clans weigh in, until the room is nothing but a cacophony of sounds yoongi can no longer make out. he looks from one person to the next, but he can’t understand any of them. even his brother’s words drown out in the sea of noise.
“i’ll do it,” yoongi says, slowly pushing his chair back and getting up. nobody hears him, so he tries raising his voice, but it still doesn’t help. he looks around the room, but nobody seems to have noticed him get up. yoongi takes a deep breath, before shouting from the top of his lungs: “enough!”
the immediate silence is deafening.
is this what it’s going to be like in the future?
“i’ll do it,” yoongi says softly, looking at his hands placed flat to the table, fingers spread wide. he knows everyone’s heard him, because they’re all holding their breath. “i’ll take them all on.”
“are you sure?” his brother asks quietly, turned toward him to give them a little bit of privacy.
yoongi nods, pressing his lips together tightly and frowning slightly, like he’s unsure what exactly he’s agreed to.
the electricity clan leader relaxes a little. he doesn’t sit back down, but his hostility subsides. “very well. we’ll all select and send our most capable dragon for your remaining trials.”
yoongi nods gratefully. “thank you.”
“master yoongi, with me, please.” the advisor bows to no one in particular, before turning on his heel abruptly and walking out, waiting just outside the doors for yoongi to catch up.
before yoongi sets off for the spiritual palace, the electricity clan leader finds him in his chambers. he comes to stand before yoongi, hands clasped together in front of him nervously.
“young master, i wanted to come say goodbye.” he lifts a hand to pat yoongi’s shoulder, but ends up hovering his hand over his shoulder hesitantly.
“it’s okay. i’ve come a very long way since then.” yoongi nods slowly, until he feels a big hand rest gently on his shoulder.
“i know it’s customary to send a royal for the trial, but i’m sending you one of my soldiers instead. a farmer’s son. please, do not take it as a slight, he’s one of our brightest. he’s very kind, and i expect he’ll be a great fit.”
“thank you, clan leader. you’ve always been very kind to me and my brother.” yoongi bows his head in thanks.
“i’ll keep your brother company for you, while you’re undergoing your trials, do not fret.”
yoongi laughs. “that’s a relief, thank you.”
“you’ll do great. you’re a very bright dragon.”
yoongi smiles nervously.
“yoongi-yah, my little brother.” his brother catches him as he’s about to turn around and leave his chambers, on his way to the courtyard where he’d agreed to meet the advisor.
“hyung?”
his brother pulls him into a hug so tight yoongi can barely breathe. “i’m so sorry. i should have interfered and put my foot down. you shouldn’t have to do this.”
“there’s no other way, hyung,” sighs yoongi, pressing his cheek into his brother’s shoulder and closing his eyes. “it’s okay. i’ve known my whole life this day would come.”
“but not like this. never like this. you weren’t supposed to be rushed like this. one trial at a time is hard enough already. but six trials? at the same time? it’s madness.”
“it is what it is.”
“you’re taking this surprisingly well…” his brother pulls back to peer into yoongi’s face with narrowed eyes.
“i’ve always known i wouldn’t have much control over my life. there’s no use in complaining now, it won’t change anything.”
“you’ll have control after the ceremony. you’ll have more power than you could ever wish for.”
yoongi tilts his head, regarding his brother silently and chewing on his lip. “hyung, the problem is that i never wanted any power to begin with.”
the next few days pass by in a blur. people pull at him from all sides, requiring him for meetings and needing to teach him the proper etiquette for a myriad of things yoongi doesn’t really care about at all. when he’s not down in one of the trial chambers, practicing on his own while waiting for the different elemental masters to arrive, he’s herded to this room and that, to take his measurements for new robes and to have him sign scrolls without informing him of what exactly he’s signing.
it’s a lot, and yoongi feels like he hasn’t had a moment to breathe since the advisor came running into the meeting hall on that dreadful day.
surprisingly, the first time he gets to properly sit down is the day his appointed teachers are to arrive. they allow him to sit out in the gardens while he waits. he takes the quiet moment to sit and breathe undisturbed.
he’s sat on a stone bench, in between two large rose bushes, when he sees two dragons off in the distance. they’re on the smaller side, but their impressive wings make up for it—they span wide and move with grace, gliding through the air effortlessly. even from a great distance, yoongi can tell they’re ice dragons. the shimmering icy blue wings are unmistakeable.
another dragon appears beside them, seemingly out of thin air. the newcomer soars high above them for a while, before recklessly dropping all the way down to their level, nearly falling on top of them, but narrowly avoiding them at the last second. the dragon disappears for a few blinks, before appearing a little ways below them again. the closer they get, the more yoongi can make out the colours of the third dragon.
even without being able to tell the colour of its scales, yoongi knows it’s an electricity dragon by the way it zips through the air and blinks out of existence at times. when it does flap its narrow wings, there’s a crackle of electricity all around them.
yoongi watches them approach calmly, follows their descent and elegant landing on the very lawn stretching out in front of him. he continues looking at them curiously, noticing their familiarity, the way they playfully wrestle in the grass for a while, either unaware or uncaring of yoongi’s eyes on them.
yoongi realises with a quiet chuckle that the two ice dragons are jimin and taehyung. he doesn’t know who the electricity dragon is, but it must be the farmer’s son he was told about. had taehyung and jimin already made a new friend?
before yoongi can decide to get up and greet them, the three dragons stop playing around and transform back into their human form. they walk over while shoving each other playfully, cackling loudly at whatever they’re talking about.
“hyung!” taehyung skips over the final few steps, smiling widely and happily. “nice place you’ve got here.”
“it’s not mine,” yoongi says lamely, before he realises taehyung’s only joking. he snorts, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
“not yet, but it will be soon. why do you think we approached you at the banquet? this would make for a great holiday destination. jungkook-ah,” taehyung looks over his shoulder at the electricity dragon, “find yourself a rich hyung like we did.”
“i already did. you are my rich hyungs. i though you knew,” answers the new dragon.
jimin throws his head back as he cackles loudly.
“hyung,” taehyung turns back toward yoongi with smiling eyes, “this is jeon jungkook. he’ll be one of your guides.”
yoongi bows his head in greeting.
“spirit prince,” jungkook says, “it’ll be my honour to serve you.”
“have the others arrived yet?” asks jimin, stepping up to them and slinging an arm over jungkook’s shoulders. he hangs off of him like it’s the most normal thing in the world. yoongi realises then that they must have already been acquainted. they looked too close to only have met on the way to the palace.
“you’re the first.”
“do you know who your other guides will be?”
yoongi shakes his head. “they haven’t told me much. i’ve been too busy to ask.”
jimin lets go of jungkook to step up to yoongi and pat his shoulder sympathetically. “are they working you to the bone?”
“it’s nothing i can’t handle,” yoongi assures him with a small smile meant to put jimin at ease.
“i’m sorry the process has been sped up. it must be pretty hard.” jimin’s hand rests comfortably on yoongi’s shoulder after he’s stopped patting it. he squeezes softly and absentmindedly.
“it’s alright.”
“spirit prince,” jungkook says, after a moment of hesitation. he pulls something out of the satchel at his hip. “this came from your brother.”
yoongi takes the package wrapped in fine cloth from him with a grateful smile. “thank you. you don’t have to call me by that title. just hyung is fine. and i’m sorry my brother had you play messenger, i hope it wasn’t an inconvenience.”
“not at all! he seemed very concerned about you, i figured this was the least i could do…” jungkook looks at yoongi shyly, before adding, in a softer voice, “hyung.”
“hyung,” jimin takes his hand off yoongi’s shoulder, but only to casually link his arm through yoongi’s. “will you show us around the grounds before we go inside? the gardens looked so pretty from above.”
yoongi indulges jimin easily, unable to say no to such a sweet smile. “i haven’t had time to walk around myself, either, since arriving. the last time i was here was mid-winter. everything was covered in snow, then.”
“snow? did you see ice flowers? or do they not have them here?”
“we do, but i’m sure they can’t hold a candle to the ones your clan grows.”
“ours are very pretty, yeah,” jimin agrees.
“i don’t know, jimin-ah, i think our spirit hyung might be prettier than our ice flowers…” taehyung skips ahead of them for a beat, before turning around with a flourish and offering yoongi, jimin and jungkook his brightest and prettiest smile.
jimin hums, nodding in agreement. “i think you might be right.”
yoongi hangs his head to hide a blush. he doesn’t say anything, but they don’t expect him to, he thinks.
“since you said you don’t know who your guides are, we should probably warn you. hoseok-hyung and… and seokjin-hyung… they’ll be your water and fire masters. i don’t know what happened between you three, but it’s only fair you know that they’re coming.”
yoongi’s face falls visibly. he tries masking his surprise, but he’s sure at least jimin and taehyung have caught his rapidly changing facial expressions. since they’re merciful, though, they don’t comment on it.
“if you ever need help with them, just let us know. we’ll back you up, okay?” taehyung sends him a wink and a reassuring smile, before he finally turns back around to give yoongi some of the privacy he desperately needs.
jungkook and taehyung walk a little ways ahead of them, messing about and making more noise than is appropriate for the gardens of the spiritual palace. yoongi likes it, though. the palace had always been so quiet, everyone too reverent or simply too scared to make any noise. jungkook and taehyung don’t seem to care about any of that—they’re too busy being menaces.
the four walk for a while. yoongi shares the odd detail here and there about the grounds and the outside of the palace, things that shouldn’t matter to anyone, yet the three younger dragons listen with clear interest.
they circle back to the bench they started at, where yoongi tells them they should probably go back inside to get everything sorted out, when another two dragons appear on the horizon. one of them is a bright orange, the other one deep turquoise. yoongi freezes.
“oh. there they are,” notes jimin. he seems excited at the prospect of seeing them, until he happens to glance over at yoongi. his face falls significantly. “would you like to go inside before they land?”
at jimin’s words, taehyung and jungkook look over, as well.
yoongi shakes his head. “no, it’s fine. just didn’t expect they’d be here so soon.” his face sets as his gaze drifts back toward the approaching dragons.
jimin reaches out to pet yoongi’s shoulder softly. he exchanges a look with both taehyung and jungkook that yoongi doesn’t catch. the four of them stand silently, admiring the very different styles of flying of the two newcomers.
seokjin’s style is elegant: his impressive wings glide effortlessly along the currents of air, to the point that yoongi barely sees them move.
hoseok, on the other hand, seems to care very little about riding the currents—as far as yoongi can tell, he skips between different ones, dancing through the air like an overexcited puppy. at times he presses his wings flat to his body to make a dive down, only to spread them at the very last second and climb back up to seokjin’s height.
the moment the two are only moments away from landing, everyone except yoongi stop their staring to walk over and greet them enthusiastically. yoongi watches it all from a distance—the way hoseok and seokjin transform almost instantly back into their human form and the way their smiles grow big and fond and reach almost up to their ears as their rowdy friends come running to greet them. he notes how hoseok is very quick to open his arms for jimin to jump into, and how seokjin throws one arm over taehyung’s shoulders and the other over jungkook’s. he pulls them close in a sort of half hug that’s interrupted by the way jungkook and taehyung wrestle him to the ground, completely uncaring of seniority and everything that comes with it. yoongi watches the whole scene unfold as the outsider he is, the outsider he always has been and always will be. it doesn’t sting so much now, but he suspects that’s due to the fact that it’s hoseok and seokjin whom he’s looking at, and the mere thought of them leaves yoongi so extremely nervous that he can’t imagine running up to them for a hug.
as if to make his nerves any worse, the five gradually drift over to where yoongi is still stood and hoseok and seokjin’s gazes land on him at the same exact time. yoongi wishes he could look away, but he can’t. all he can do is look from one to the other, not knowing whose face to stay on, until all five stand in front of him.
there’s a beat of silence, and then—
“spirit prince,” hoseok says, slowly inclining his head in lieu of a bow, although his defiant eyes never leave yoongi’s. “we meet again.”
“water prince, fire prince,” yoongi offers them a bow of his head, his eyes gliding naturally to land somewhere at their feet. when he lifts his head again, his eyes stay just below their chins, avoiding their stares. it’s a mistake, he thinks, because he catches the scales on their throats and necks and all he can think of is the way their tongues and lips had been on those scales, biting and licking playfully and heatedly. “i’m pleased to see your wings brought you here safely.”
“are you?” hoseok asks. there’s a hint of a smile in his voice, although maybe it’s more of a smirk. yoongi doesn’t look up to confirm, nor does he respond to hoseok’s obvious attempt at provocation.
yoongi can just about see seokjin’s hand reach for hoseok’s wrist gently, squeezing it in a warning, while he plasters on his kindest smile. “it’ll be an honour to serve the future high priest. you have a very dificult task at hand, but we’ll readily offer you our knowledge and guidance, you have our word.”
yoongi nods stiffly, gaze sinking even lower to zero in on their hands. seokjin has let go of hoseok’s wrist in favour of threading their fingers together and yoongi can’t stop looking at the way their fingers connect. he can’t remember the last time he held hands with someone, can’t remember the last time he felt the warmth and intimacy of someone else’s hand in his.
his eyes rake up seokjin’s body without meaning to, settling on his mouth first, before reaching his eyes. seokjin’s gaze is less intense now. he’s dialed down on the heat, and there’s a softer, kinder quality to them. yoongi spares a look at hoseok, who is no longer looking at him. hoseok’s frowning a little, but he sees the frown melt and make way for a smile the longer hoseok looks at seokjin.
yoongi turns his head away, offering them some privacy. “thank you,” he says softly. “we’d better get inside.”
by the time his last guide arrives, yoongi and the others are already seated in another part of the gardens, a lavish meal set out for them to enjoy while they get to know each other.
the high priest, finding himself in particular good health that day, sees fit to join them and sends everyone except yoongi into a stunned sort of state when he first comes to sit down unannounced. yoongi had known the man for most of his life; to him, the high priest feels more like an uncle than a person of great spiritual importance. it’s easy to forget the pedestal on which the high priest is put when yoongi is part of the man’s every day life.
yoongi hangs his head to bite back a smile. the high priest catches it and snorts, as well, reaching out to pat yoongi’s hand lying flat on the table. “please, do not mind my presence. i’m but an old, feeble man. i smelled good food and thought i would join.” he looks around him to see if any servants are within hearing distance, before theatrically bending over and lowering his voice to a comically loud whisper. “they do not feed me at all here.”
“one of these days, people are actually going to believe you when you say that, you know, especially now that you’re getting thinner.” yoongi shakes his head slowly.
sitting straight, the priest snorts. “the fucking void…”
none of the boys seem to know what to say or do. they look to each other for guidance and, when finding none, laugh awkwardly.
“maybe it’s for the best,” yoongi quips. “you were getting quite fat.”
“you know, if i didn’t know any better, i’d think you were the one to make me ill. did you have a hand in this, you brat? did you send the void my way?”
before they can shock the rest of the group any further with their usual banter, the last guide is brought over by one of the advisors. the new dragon is tall and handsome, he’s smiling widely and showing off his impressively cute dimples that yoongi can’t tear his gaze away from.
“ah, namjoon-ah, i’m glad you finally made it.” the high priest gestures toward the only free seat, opposite yoongi. “go on, sit. you must be famished.”
namjoon bows, after which his gaze falls on yoongi quite naturally. “spirit prince, it’s an honour. my name is kim namjoon. i’m here on behalf of the nature clan to transfer our knowledge to you.”
“welcome,” yoongi greets with a demure smile. “please, have a seat.”
namjoon slowly lowers himself into his seat, warm amber eyes curiously studying yoongi’s face. there’s still a hint of a smile on his already friendly face.
“your parents are well?” the high priest inquires, turning toward namjoon.
“they are. they sent along a bottle of their newest… creation.”
the high priest’s eyebrows rise significantly, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “oh?”
“i left it in your chambers.”
“come see me later,” the priest whispers, even though every other person at the table can perfectly hear him, anyway.
that same day, in the late afternoon, once the sun has gone down, his first lesson with one of his new teachers start. fire, with seokjin.
they agree on it during their first meal, and it takes all of yoongi’s willpower not to mildly freak out in front of everyone. he hadn’t even had time yet to mentally prepare himself for hoseok and seokjin’s prolonged presence around him, so how was he supposed to be okay with this?
but none of this was about yoongi, really. he was at the center of it all, but he was only a puppet. it didn’t matter much what he thought or felt, that’s the way it’d always been. only after his ascension would he enjoy any sort of freedom.
and it’s not like he could have declined, anyway, because he didn’t have a legit reason to. he couldn’t explain what he felt and why he felt it. he couldn’t tell whether he was nervous or panicked around them, couldn’t figure out what the weird twisting in his belly was. why did they leave him so on edge?
“you have a lot on your mind,” seokjin’s voice comes from the side. yoongi turns his head abruptly, only now spotting seokjin sitting off to the side, in a cross-legged position on the floor.
“why would you say that?” yoongi looks at him cautiously.
seokjin gets to his feet slowly. “you’ve been frowning the moment you stepped foot in this chamber. what’s on your mind?”
yoongi shakes his head. he attempts to smooth his face over, but it’s hard to stop frowning once he realises he’s doing it. “nothing. i’m just tired,” he lies.
“you’re uncomfortable.”
“i’m not.” yoongi looks down at his feet.
“if we offended you in any way, i apologise.” seokjin, who has been approaching yoongi steadily, stops a few steps away from him, offering yoongi a safe distance. “hoseok… meant no harm when he asked…”
“when he asked if i wanted to kiss you. that’s what you meant, right?” yoongi surprises himself by keeping his voice so very steady and lifting his chin almost defiantly.
seokjin blinks rapidly, taken aback by yoongi’s sudden change in demeanor, before he catches himself and nods. “right.”
“so what did he mean, then?”
seokjin opens his mouth to answer, but no sound comes out. yoongi doubts he has a good answer. “spirit prince—”
“please, don’t call me that.”
“what would you like me to call you, if not by your title?”
“just call me by my name.”
“min yoongi-ssi—” seokjin shakes his head slowly. he still doesn’t have a good answer, and yoongi feels beyond frustrated that he can’t even be offered an explanation. he huffs and goes to open his mouth to tell him that they should just forget it and move on, that they’d better get started with the lesson, when seokjin beats him to it. “because he thought you were handsome.”
“what?”
“hoseok said that because he thought you were cute. he wasn’t trying to tease you, or put you on the spot. he was just… interested in you. he thought you were pretty.” seokjin says it so very carefully, like he’s afraid one wrong word will get him in trouble.
“i’m more than a pretty face. you can’t just—” yoongi doesn’t know how to continue, so he lets his half-finished sentence dangle in the air between them, for seokjin to fill in the blanks and for yoongi to puzzle over. “you see me upclose for five seconds and that’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
seokjin tilts his head in confusion. “not at all. i mean—that’s—it’s true, he did… but we’ve always thought… we’ve been interested in you for a while. but… but we couldn’t approach you, because you’re… you.”
“but you don’t know me.” yoongi's voice has dropped to a whisper. he’s biting his lip painfully, unsure of what to say or feel or do, unsure of what to think.
“we know enough.”
“you could have tried talking to me.”
“we didn’t think you’d want that. you’re… you’ve always been in your own world, and… and because of your status…”
yoongi doesn’t reply. he sucks in a deep breath, before pushing all the air out of his lungs in a harsh sigh. he knows all too well that he’s too closed off, but he hasn’t ever seen fit to open himself up to the other clans. all they ever wanted was to gain something. a friendly chat was never just a friendly chat, there was always an underlying reason to it. everything became political in some way, everything had to be beneficial, it’s never just… kindness. there was always something more to it.
“yoongi-ssi,” seokjin says. he clears his throat nervously. “would you like to start over?”
“start over?”
seokjin nods minimally, a very small, hopeful smile on his lips. he sticks out his hand. “min yoongi-ssi, my name is kim seokjin, of the fire clan. it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
yoongi looks down at seokjin’s outstretched hand. he doesn’t know what the underlying meaning of it is, or whether there is any at all, but it’s not like he has any other choice. seokjin’s here to stay. yoongi can’t afford to be difficult, because time is ticking.
after another few moments of hesitation, yoongi reaches for seokjin’s hand. his fingers glide over seokjin’s soft skin to curl gently around his hand. his thumb drags almost too slow over the back of seokjin’s hand, but seokjin doesn’t comment on it. “it’s a pleasure, seokjin-ssi.”
more time than necessary passes before they finally let go of each other. yoongi lets his hands dangle at his sides uselessly. he doesn’t really know where to go from here, so he just stands and says nothing.
it doesn’t matter. seokjin does. he rolls his shoulders back to stand a little straighter, clasping his hands behind his back and lifting his chin a little. “have you worked with fire yet?”
yoongi shakes his head. “not yet.”
“do you have any affinity for it?”
“i don’t know. i don’t think so. it doesn’t call to me.”
seokjin doesn’t say anything for a while. he looks around the chamber, and back to yoongi—sizes him up until yoongi is shuffling awkwardly in place. “let’s sit down,” he says softly, sinking to the floor and assuming a cross-legged position again. finally, he lifts one hand, flipping his palm up. a little flame dances to life in the middle of his palm.
“of all the elements…” seokjin contemplates the fire calmly, “i think fire is the most destructive. not just to the world around us, but to ourselves, as well. it’s hard to control, and losing control means… devastation, if you’re unlucky.”
yoongi looks at the little flame, as well. it looks so unassuming, yet, yoongi thinks, in his own hand it would do a lot of damage.
seokjin holds his other hand next to the one he has the fire in. “put your hand in mine, palm faced upward.”
yoongi lifts his gaze to seokjin’s eyes, but the fire dragon isn’t looking at him, he’s staring fixedly at the flame. after a moment of hesitation, yoongi lifts his hand to place it in seokjin’s.
“are you afraid of fire?”
“a little.” yoongi eyes the flame again.
“fire should be respected, but it should not be feared. do not give it that power.” after having said that, seokjin tilts the hand with the fire in it sideways. the flame slides down his palm, right into yoongi’s.
yoongi gasps.
“it won’t hurt you. just keep your hand in mine,” seokjin reassures him with a soft, steady voice. “how does it feel?”
“it feels… warm.” yoongi moves his fingers slowly, experimentally, but the flame doesn’t move.
“what else?”
“it tickles a little.”
yoongi isn’t looking at seokjin, he’s still staring at the flame in his palm, but he can still see seokjin’s smile in his peripheral vision. “do you feel any pain? any discomfort?”
“no. it feels… it feels kind of nice.”
seokjin smiles widely. yoongi offers him a small smile of his own. the little flame dances happily in yoongi’s palm.
yoongi’s unable to control the flame seokjin had deposited in his hand, but seokjin still considers the session a success. holding fire in your hand is always the first step, no matter how trivial it seems.
yoongi argues that he hadn’t held the fire in his hand, not really, it had been seokjin’s doing, but seokjin tells him it doesn’t matter. at the end of the day, yoongi had still held his palm open for the fire. he’d let it in, which is an amazing start.
with that boost of confidence, yoongi leaves the fire chamber behind to prepare for his next lesson. he doubts his confidence will last very long, since hoseok is up next to teach him about water, but, as was the case with his previous lession, yoongi can’t do a whole lot besides suck it up and make his way toward the water chamber.
when yoongi steps into the chamber, he doesn’t see hoseok at first. he looks around, but there’s no one. the chamber is empty. he walks toward the center of the room, where a massive pool starts that stretches toward the back of the room, and kneels by the edge of the water. yoongi peers into the dark depths of the pool, but he doesn’t find much there besides his own reflection. his face is expressionless, despite the raging nerves he feels on the inside.
a figure emerges from the water, not far from yoongi. hoseok blinks the water out of his eyes once his chin is above water. he doesn’t say anything for a while, just staring up at yoongi.
“hello,” yoongi finally says, blinking quickly a few times. “i didn’t think you’d arrived yet.”
“i felt like going for a swim.” hoseok stays very still in the water. yoongi watches as the water in his hair falls down in rivulets over his face, drip dripdripping down his chin and causing tiny riples just underneath.
yoongi studies hoseok quietly and curiously. it’s a little easier like this, now that he has hoseok alone, but it’s also a little harder for that same exact reason, because yoongi and hoseok are alone in a cavernous room and hoseok’s chest is bare and wet and there’s not a whole lot that yoongi can focus his attention on, instead.
yoongi had known hoseok wasn’t ugly, of course he had, but hoseok’s face takes on a different quality like this. he looks softer around the edges, a little more vulnerable, maybe. hoseok looks absolutely ethereal.
“i heard you two talked,” says hoseok softly. “hyung said he apologised on my behalf.”
“yeah.”
hoseok swims toward him, until he reaches the edge and stops right below yoongi. “i’m sorry for putting you on the spot. i never meant to tease you at your expense.”
yoongi just nods slowly.
“do you think we could start over, as well?”
another nod. yoongi extends his hand and waits for hoseok’s wet fingers to curl around it. “my name is min yoongi, of the spirit dragons.”
“jung hoseok. it’ll be my honour to serve you on behalf of the water clan.” hoseok doesn’t shake yoongi’s hand. instead, he gently lifts it to his mouth and, very briefly and very softly, presses his lips to the back of it. his lips are wet and cold, but that’s not what makes yoongi shiver—it’s the sharpness in his eyes while he looks at yoongi, the heat, even though the water is chilly.
when hoseok finally drops his hand, he doesn’t let go of yoongi’s. their joined hands submerge in the water, while hoseok rubs the pad of his thumb over yoongi’s hand. “i heard you started on your water trials already. how far have you gotten?”
“nowhere. i’m… having difficulties.”
hoseok hums thoughtfully. he traces nonsensical patterns into the back of yoongi’s hand, but yoongi doubts he’s aware of that, he seems to be doing it thoughtlessly. “would you like to get in the water with me? or do you not feel comfortable with that?”
yoongi opens his mouth, only to end up closing it and biting his lip while he considers it. “i guess that would be alright…” he slowly pulls his hand out of hoseok’s and gets to his feet, hands moving to the drawstrings on his shirt, but hesitating.
“i’ll turn around,” hoseok says, smiling cheekily. true to his word, he turns his back to yoongi to give him some privacy.
yoongi makes quick work of pulling his shirt over his head and dropping it somewhere next to his feet. next, he fingers at the waistband of his pants. again, he hesitates. his eyes fall on hoseok’s naked back—broad and tan, his water mark on full display. yoongi looks at his mark curiously, wanting to inch closer to take a better look at it.
“if you get into the water, you can see my mark from up close,” hoseok tells him. he laughs softly.
yoongi colours a deep red, quickly looking away from hoseok’s back and down at his pants again. “i wasn’t… looking.”
“sure.” hoseok turns his head a little, just as yoongi looks up again at the sound of his voice. he can just about see the smirk there. with a huff, yoongi steps out of his pants and quickly gets in the pool.
rather than turn around, hoseok stays with his back toward yoongi. yoongi wonders whether that’s still out of respect, until hoseok speaks again. “have a look at it. your mark will look like that, one day.”
against his better judgement, yoongi swims closer. “the waves haven’t stopped. are they always like that?” he reaches out for the dark azure mark just below hoseok’s neck, but he stops himself from touching at the very last second. he pulls his hand back awkwardly.
“no. i’m manipulating the water right now. the mark is active, because i’m drawing on my element.”
“oh. in what way are you manipulating the water?”
“until now, i was making the water a little warmer, but now…” hoseok trails off. he throws a playful smile over his shoulder.
“but now what?” yoongi asks curiously.
hoseok doesn’t say anything, he just nods ahead of him, at a wave, starting at the very end of the room and rolling toward them leisurely. as it approaches, it grows a little in height. “it’s a little too big, isn’t it? do you want to go under it?”
“under it?” yoongi eyes the wave warily.
“hold onto my shoulders and hold your breath. you ready to go underwater?”
yoongi rests his hands on hoseok’s shoulders. “i—i guess?”
the wave rolls forward steadily, until it’s nearly upon them. yoongi sucks in a breath, and then hoseok pulls the two of them under. the wave passes them by, yoongi looks up just when it does and sees the way the water rolls in on itself. he hears it rush overhead, sees it bubbling and folding in and under smoothly. he opens his mouth in surprise, accidentally letting all the water in. before he can panic, hoseok is already pulling him up to the surface. when they come up, yoongi coughing violently and hoseok patting his back, they watch the wave crash into the opposite wall of the chamber. everything is dripping wet.
“are you okay?” hoseok asks, rubbing his back. “sorry, you must have been startled.”
yoongi shakes his head. it takes him a while before he’s able to fully catch his breath, and another long while until he’s able to talk again. “no, it’s—it just looked so pretty. it surprised me.”
hoseok laughs softly. “yeah? i’m glad.”
they stay like that for a short while, hoseok still rubbing his back and yoongi staring at the absolutely soaked walls. the water chamber is made to withstand water like this, but he doubts the advisors and servants are going to be happy with this.
“your marks are beautiful,” hoseok says, after some silence. he traces his finger over them: the outer ring first, with its two activated marks and the other six that aren’t. then, he drags his finger over to the middle. one, activated; one, black. “what’s the mark next to your spirit one? i don’t recognise it. it’s not dormant, it’s just… black.”
“it’s the void.”
“the void? why would you have the void on your back? high priests can’t master the void. the void’s not an element, it’s...” hoseok doesn’t finish his sentence, because he doesn’t know how to. no one really knows what the void is—they just know that it exists. some call it an infection, but yet others claim it’s simply a malignant entity, set on ripping the dragon community apart.
“i don’t know. it’s always been there. the scholars have searched high and low for an answer, as well, but they can’t figure it out either.”
hoseok carefully traces the outer line of the black circle with his finger. yoongi has to bite his lip to stop from shivering at the contact. “can you feel it?”
“feel what?”
“the void.”
“no. i think the whole point of the void is that you don’t feel it. you don’t feel anything at all. it’s the absence of elements, isn’t it? so mastering the void would be like… numbing your senses.” yoongi tilts his head in thought. “i don’t think it can be mastered, anyway. the void has a mind of its own. it masters you, not the other way around.”
“if it’s the absence of elements, then why is it on your skin with your elemental marks?”
yoongi just shakes his head now. it’s a question that had plagued him for a long time. the void had come back around the same time of yoongi’s birth. it was a connection that wasn’t made until a few years later, and it was something he only learned of by accident, when he’d listened in on a conversation he wasn’t supposed to be privy to.
none of the other priests had been alleged to have a void mark on their back. as far as the scholars and advisors knew, yoongi was the first. had yoongi brought the void back, after they’d destroyed it all those years ago? how was he linked to the void? yoongi didn’t know, and neither did the scholars, even though they pretended otherwise.
“maybe i’m cursed,” mutters yoongi. he turns his head to the side and smiles to show hoseok that it’s meant to be a playful remark, even though yoongi kind of means it. maybe yoongi really is cursed.
the current priest had been hit by an arrow from the void dragons, so, in a convoluted way, what was killing him wasn’t some random arrow—it was the void.
“don’t say that.”
yoongi just shrugs, hoping that’s the end of this conversation, but hoseok takes him by the shoulders and turns him around. his eyes bore into yoongi’s.
“i’m sure there’s a reason you have that mark, but that doesn’t mean you’re cursed.”
yoongi’s not so sure about that. “i know.”
as if finally sensing yoongi’s hesitation, hoseok lets go of him and pushes back, further into the water and a little ways away from yoongi. “enough about that. i’d like for you to spend some time in the water today.”
“do you want me to try to reach out to it?”
hoseok shakes his head. “i’d like for you to focus on how it feels around you. notice the way it moves for you and around you, notice the differences in temperatures… study how it behaves. unlearn everything you know about water, pretend today is the first time you see it. that’s all. i’d like for you to walk out of this chamber with a sense of what it is.”
yoongi doesn’t say anything, merely cocking his head at hoseok and not stating the obvious—that water is water, and that everyone knows what it is.
hoseok snorts. “i know, i know. everyone knows what water is, but it’s such a given in life that i don’t think many people stop to actually study it. that’s what i’d like you to do today.”
“okay.” yoongi nods slowly. “i can do that.”
hoseok offers him a smile, before abruptly sinking below the surface. he spends the rest of the lesson playing idly in the water and giving yoongi some space to figure things out on his own.
yoongi is quite relaxed by the time his next lesson rolls around the next morning. taehyung and jimin are waiting for him in the ice chamber with red cheeks and wide smiles. they’re standing in the middle of another pool, but this one’s frozen solid. there are ice skates bound to their shoes. yoongi guesses they’d been ice skating even before yoongi came.
“hyung!” taehyung calls out to him. “you came!”
“i didn’t… really have a choice,” yoongi tells him earnestly. “these lessons aren’t optional for me, you know?”
“but still!” taehyung skates a little closer, twirling elegantly, before coming to a stop with a flourish. “you could have thrown a temper tantrum and refused to leave your room, but you didn’t, and i think that’s very admirable.”
yoongi snorts. “thank you.”
“hyung, please sit down on that rock next to you. taehyungie will help you with the skates,” jimin tells him, before he slowly starts moving around the ice again. he doesn’t approach the other two at all, he doesn’t seem interested in anything but ice skating at that moment.
“i can’t skate,” yoongi tells taehyung, after he’s sat down and after taehyung has kneeled in front of him and lifted one of yoongi’s feet to let it rest on taehyung’s knee.
“that’s fine. just hold onto my shoulders, or jimin’s. if you fall, we’ll catch you. i promise.”
yoongi nods weakly, even though he isn’t so sure at all about any of this. why did they have to ice skate, anyway? it’s not like it would help yoongi get closer to the element. the only relation ice skating has to ice is that it’s on ice, but that’s about it—it’s about as effective as putting cubes of ice in an alcoholic beverage and claiming the experience of getting drunk would help you master ice as an element.
“what does this have to do with mastering ice?” yoongi asks with a sigh, switching his legs when taehyung tells him to. he watches begrudgingly as taehyung ties the iron to his other foot securely.
“nothing at all. we just felt like doing this today.” taehyung smiles happily. “there! you’re all done. would you like to try standing up? i’ll let you hold my hand for support.”
“you’re telling me i have to be out on the ice like this… because you felt like it?” yoongi asks, eyes narrowing to slits, even as he gets up and grabs onto taehyung’s outstretched hand tightly. he wobbles on his feet, his balance way off, and huffs out his annoyance.
“pretty much. let’s go.” taehyung pulls him along gently.
“hyung,” jimin skates toward them as soon as yoongi’s on the ice. “how did yesterday’s lessons go? did the hyungs give you any trouble?”
yoongi shakes his head, looking down at the ice and his unsteadily moving feet and clamping onto taehyung’s hand so forcefully he fears he’ll end up crushing the boy’s fingers. “it was good. we talked and cleared the air a little. it was… productive. unlike right now.”
jimin gasps. “hyung! no need to be rude! you’ve had people pull on you from all directions ever since the high priest was poisoned. we thought you might like a quiet afternoon on the ice, with no other obligation than to move freely on the ice.” he pouts very dramatically, but yoongi doesn’t think he’s very disappointed, considering his eyes are still twinkling playfully.
yoongi harrumphs. “you really thought i’d want to do this to relax?”
jimin nods. yoongi can see that he means it this time, so yoongi relaxed a little and offers him what he hopes is a thankful smile. “well… it was very thoughtful of you… but i’m terrible on the ice. my balance isn’t that great.”
“that’s okay!” jimin laces his arm through yoongi’s, taehyung does the same with his free arm. “we can help. just lean on us, okay?”
yoongi pulls a face, but he ends up nodding slowly. “you better not let go of me, though. i don’t want to fall…”
“don’t worry, we’ve got you, hyung. we’ll protect you from the big, bad ice, yes?” taehyung sticks his tongue out teasingly.
yoongi just grumbles a little, but he does let them pull him along until he ends up in the very center of the frozen lake, ice all around him and no way back to safety without having to skate for it. it’s at times like these that he hates what he is just a little.
taehyung and jimin are very sweet and very careful in the way they lead him around, though. they’re so comfortable on the ice that they don’t have to worry about themselves—they can focus all of their attention on the wobbling yoongi and throw him and each other amused little smiles that yoongi frowns at.
“you’re doing so well, hyung!” jimin encourages. he’s started removing his support little by little, taehyung doing the same on the other side, without letting yoongi know. before they know it, the spirit dragon is moving on his own. “look at you!”
finally, yoongi looks. finally, yoongi realises taehyung and jimin are no longer at his sides, the comfortable weight of their arms gone. he promptly stumbles over his feet, wildly swinging his arms in an attempt to regain his balance.
miraculously, yoongi manages to stay on his feet. he’s heaving by the time his painful ordeal is over, leaning his hands on his knees as he tries to calm his erratic breathing. “holy shit.”
“i think you’re a natural, hyung. not many people would have stayed on their feet like that! you totally corrected yourself.” jimin comes up to him again, taking one of his arms and pulling him upright, offering him something to lean on once more.
“you let go of me,” yoongi grumbles.
jimin hums, smiling widely and triumphantly. “we did.”
“you should have given me a head’s up.”
“but then you would have freaked out,” taehyung counters, sidling up to his other side to offer yoongi his arm again. yoongi takes it, but he pulls a face while he does so to show them how nonplussed he is by the entire situation. taehyung and jimin merely laugh, completely unfazed by yoongi’s grumpy face.
they skate for a while more, the two ice dragons alternating between holding onto yoongi. they don’t let go of him again, mostly because they think he’ll end up murdering them if they do, but they seem happy nonetheless, proud at the little bit of confidence they’d given yoongi on the ice.
by the time they’re ready to move back, they do have yoongi skate ahead of them. they’re at his sides, holding out their hands to grab him if he were to trip and fall, but they end up making it back to stable ground in one piece, with a happy and proud yoongi in front of him.
they wait until yoongi’s removed his skates, before jimin gets a playful glint in his eyes that yoongi completely misses. “hyung,” he says.
“hm?” yoongi turns to face him, smile still in place on his face.
“catch!” jimin holds his two hands in front of him, angling them in such a way that they form a singular beam of ice shot straight at yoongi.
instinctively, yoongi holds up his own hands, palms facing each other. he captures it all between them, forming a loose ball of ice that ends up being condensed into a firm snowball. yoongi’s panting, a stunned look on his face.
“what the fuck! get your ass over here! i’m going to murder you!” yoongi thinks of dropping the ball he’d formed out of sheer will, but he shoots it back at jimin instead. he’s not sure what element he taps into when he sends it back, it might be air, it might even be ice. yoongi doesn’t care, all he wants to do is reciprocate.
of course, it doesn’t go as intended. the force with which he sends out the ice he captured kind of fizzles out and the ball of snow ends up falling to the ground before it reaches its intended target. yoongi pouts, even though he doesn’t mean to, and jimin and taehyung coo over him, before spontaneously cheering and clapping obnoxiously.
“there you go, hyung!” taehyung grins widely. “you won’t have any trouble mastering ice, i think.”
yoongi grumbles a little, but he can’t hide his pleased smile.
jungkook sits in the middle of the room when yoongi first steps in, his head ducked almost shyly. he doesn’t really seem to be doing anything other than sitting, but yoongi still approaches quietly, not wanting to disturb.
“hi,” yoongi says, once he’s stepped far enough into the room.
jungkook smiles lightly when he looks up. he climbs to his feet and bows, before approaching yoongi with a smile that’s now shyer and a little more insecure. “your nose and cheeks are all red. were you on the ice just now?”
“they told you what their plans were, huh?” yoongi narrows his eyes theatrically. “wow, thanks for the head’s up.”
jungkook laughs, relaxing a little. “they might have told me what they were planning. and then they might have asked me not to say anything. but you have no proof.”
yoongi tuts. “so that’s how it is, huh?”
“that’s how it is.” jungkook blushes a little, but his smile has grown into something a little wider, something a little more comfortable. it’s a nice thing to see. it makes him look really pretty and yoongi has a hard time not staring at him.
when yoongi realises he is, in fact, staring, he blinks rapidly and looks away. his cheeks are heating up and he presses the backs of his hands to them in embarrassment.
jungkook sees it, too, sees the way yoongi stares and the subsequent awkwardness that paints his features once he realises what he’s doing. luckily enough, jungkook doesn’t say anything about it. he looks away, too, blushing just as heavily.
it takes a while for the two to collect themselves again, and an even longer while until they’re calm enough to meet each other’s gaze.
“so what did you have in mind for today?” yoongi asks quietly. he rubs his cheek again, conscious of the way it’s still flushed. he wills the warmth and the pinkish tone to go away, but it’s fruitless.
“i just thought i’d introduce you to the element a little. jin-hyung mentioned he had you hold a flame in your palm? i thought maybe we could do the same with lightning. it can be… kind of scary at first, so instead of trying to manipulate it maybe we can just start with getting you used to it?”
yoongi nods. he doesn’t ask how jungkook knows seokjin, or how close the two are. he remembers seeing them interact when hoseok and seokjin first joined them, the familiarity with which they fooled around and handled each other. yoongi had quickly realised taehyung, jimin and jungkook were very well acquainted with hoseok and seokjin.
he’s not sure whether namjoon is familiar with them as well, yoongi hasn’t had any time at all to observe them, but there’s a part of him that hopes namjoon isn’t very familiar with them—if only so that yoongi doesn’t feel as left out.
not that yoongi feels very left out. taehyung and jimin had pulled him in quite easily, to the point where yoongi has all but forgotten that he hasn’t known them for long at all.
things are different with hoseok and seokjin, obviously, there’s no way for yoongi to forget what their first meeting had been like. the ease he feels with jimin and taehyung isn’t there with hoseok and seokjin, but… they seem comfortable around him, at least — more comfortable than yoongi feels around them.
yoongi shakes his head, having forgotten about jungkook in front of him for a little. “yeah,” he says, nodding quickly. “that sounds good. you’re the teacher, so i’ll follow your lead.”
jungkook offers him a smile at that. he gestures toward the middle of the room, at a raised platform in the center circled by strange rods protruding from the floor. “i think it’ll be easier if we step inside of the conductor circle for now.”
“what’s that?” yoongi follows jungkook with some trepidation, not so sure about what he’s walking toward, unsure of what he’s getting himself into.
“those rods help conduce electricity. it’s not needed... to work with electricity, you know? but when you get started it can be helpful. we normally use these for younger dragons and whenever we need more power than we can naturally generate.”
the circle is pretty wide, but yoongi still eyes the rods suspiciously. how does he know whether the electricity won’t shock him like this? he’ll end up trapped and electrocuted if things go wrong. still—all he can do is trust jungkook.
once they’re standing opposite each other, jungkook holds his hands in front of him, palms facing each other. a ball of whitish blue light grows between them, pulsing as though it has a mind of his own. it’d be fascinating if yoongi weren’t so terrified of getting an electric shock.
“i don’t know how you work with your other elements, but i like to imagine the current flowing through my body before it gathers in my hands or in my belly. think of it as charging the power you’ve harnessed. your energy as it’s currently stored inside of you isn’t enough. it needs… a spark? it’s kind of dormant at first, and you need it activated before you can use it. does that make sense?”
“do you have to activate it every single time you want to create a spark?”
jungkook shakes his head. he separates his hands and holds them palms up. there are twin electrical spheres in his hands now, crackling dangerously. “no, when you generate a current like this, you don’t tap into all of your energy. you charge all of the energy in your body, but you don’t use it all at the same time.”
“so… do you… run out of it, then?” yoongi cocks his head. he hasn’t mastered most of his elements as of yet, but he hasn’t yet heard of running out of juice. it wasn’t really your own energy that you used, anyway, it came directly from the earth. it made no sense to run out.
“sort of. we have a longer time-out than other elements.” jungkook brings his hands back to their original position, joining the two spheres back into a bigger one. “do you want to try taking this ball from me?”
“i don’t know how…” yoongi bites his lip, staring at jungkook’s hands with a healthy dose of apprehension.
“hold your hands above and below, see if you can feel the energy?” jungkook suggests. he doesn’t attempt to approach yoongi, choosing instead to have him come to jungkook on his own terms.
yoongi appreciates the respectful way jungkook has chosen to tackle this. taehyung and jimin’s approach hadn’t been bad at all, it had worked out splendidly in the end, but electricity is a lot different. he’s always been a little afraid of it, more so than of fire.
either jungkook has sensed that, or he’s simply a sensible teacher. whatever the case may be, yoongi is eternally grateful to him.
“like… this?” yoongi asks, as he carefully steps forward and brings his hands up. he holds one just underneath the ball, and the other one just above, palms facing each other.
jungkook nods with an encouraging smile. “like that! perfect. can you feel anything?”
“pinpricks…” yoongi says with a frown. “it’s like… like it’s pulling on my hands a little.”
“anything else?”
yoongi tries to feel it out, but he doesn’t come across anything else. “no. just… the pinpricks.”
“you can pull your hands back now.” jungkook waits until yoongi has pulled them back, before he transfers all the energy to one of his hands. “step closer to me a little? yeah, that’s good. okay. i’m going to put up a shield around us now. don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt you, okay?”
yoongi nods slowly. before he can steel himself for what’s to come, jungkook throws the ball of lightning up into the air. it explodes somewhere just above them and comes crackling down, little lightning bolts hitting the ground and forming a wall of electricity in a semicircle all around them. the crackling noise and sparks flying around make yoongi jump up to jungkook, grabbing onto his arm and leaning into his shoulder.
“oh.” jungkook laughs kind of awkwardly, but his arm comes up to wrap around yoongi’s waist to pull him close and shield him from the sparks. “you’re okay. the sparks won’t hurt you, hyung, i promise.”
yoongi doesn’t care what jungkook tries to convince him of. he doesn’t really trust the net of electricity around them. jungkook’s arms he does trust, though, which is something he doesn’t really want to question at all, so he simply ignores what’s happening and clamps onto jungkook for dear life.
“it’s okay…” jungkook’s hand strokes yoongi’s back, a soft, slow touch, comforting and steady. “i let the shield down. it’s gone. you can look now.”
yoongi hadn’t realised he’d hidden his face in jungkook’s shoulder, but he shoots up once he does and puts some distance between them. his cheeks are flushed a scarlet red and he discreetly turns his face away.
jungkook doesn’t say anything after that. he seems too embarrassed to address the situation or even make some small talk and pretend it never happened. they end up parting ways after standing in silence for a good few minutes.
since it’s customary for the current high priest to guide their successor in their own element, the next lesson yoongi goes to is metal. the high priest seems a little worse for wear when yoongi meets him just after jungkook’s lesson, but yoongi doesn’t really take note of it—his mind is still running a mile a minute after how his previous lesson had so abruptly ended.
“the important thing to note,” the high priest starts, patting the stone bench he’s sat on in an invitation for yoongi to take a seat. “is that metal dragons aren’t fighters by nature. we’re… builders and craftsmen. we transform, rather than destroy or create.”
yoongi knows most of this already, having heard it at least a few times over the course of his life, so he kind of tunes out and only nods here and there, until the high priest sighs loudly and pats him on the shoulder, telling him to go and get some rest.
“but we don’t have much time left. least of all for metal.”
“you need some rest, boy. you’ve been working tirelessly. a little rest won’t kill you. nor will it kill me, unfortunately.”
yoongi pulls a face.
“go. i’ve picked up a book a few days ago… it’s good. i’d like to finish it before i die. i think i will take the rest of the day off to read. you should do the same.”
with that, yoongi’s left on his own on that stone bench. alone... with his thoughts.
yoongi doesn’t take the rest of the day off. he ends up running into namjoon on his way to the library, intent on finding a book or two to help with his studies, anything that’d help him accomplish his task sooner.
“oh!” namjoon smiles pleasantly. “are you done with class?”
“the high priest let me go. i couldn’t really… focus.”
“did he go on a tangent again?” namjoon snorts, turning his face down a little while he does so. it doesn’t hide his dimples, though, and yoongi finds himself staring at them in awe.
“he’s very proud of his clan, which is great, but i’ve heard it all before,” yoong admits.
after nodding slowly, pulling a face like he knows exactly what yoongi’s talking about—he probably does, since they made it apparent they already knew each other—namjoon gestures vaguely. “i was just about to go for a walk. would you like to join?”
part of yoongi wants to decline and proceed with his original plan. it’s partly because he doesn’t think he can afford to spend time idly, but mostly it’s just that he thinks it might be awkward if he does join. he’d end up staring at namjoon for too long, most likely at his dimples or his smile, maybe at his nicely toned arms, or... “i don’t want to intrude,” he ends up saying, hoping namjoon will shake his head and tell him it’s fine, that he wants yoongi to join, which is exactly what namjoon does, although he’s a lot more shy about it than yoongi had imagined.
“i haven’t really had a chance to get to know you yet, we’d do well to spend some time together, don’t you think?” namjoon smiles again, easily and warmly and invitingly.
yoongi hums in agreement, following namjoon as he steps outside and into the gardens. the nature dragon walks with such ease that yoongi knows right away where he’s been spending all of his time since arriving.
“do you like the gardens? they’re pretty well maintained. i’ve always liked coming here.”
for a moment, namjoon doesn’t say much. he smiles to himself, but doesn’t really offer an explanation or a response. just when yoongi’s about to ask what he’s smiling at, namjoon opens his mouth. “they’re a little too well-maintained for my liking. they’re too… stylised? i don’t know. i prefer when nature gets to run rampant, rather than walk around a toned down version.”
“ah.” yoongi nods. “have you stepped out of the gardens, then? there’s a place, just beyond the western gardens… where the hedges stop and they don’t bother trimming the grass. have you been there yet?”
“west, you said?” namjoon looks intrigued. yoongi guesses he hasn’t found it yet.
“want me to show you?” yoongi smiles.
all he gets in response is a nod and smile so wide it narrows his eyes. yoongi looks away quickly, before he starts staring again.
“do you spend a lot of time here?” namjoon asks, once they start walking. he walks next to yoongi, so close that their shoulders brush at times. yoongi notices, but he doubts namjoon does. the nature dragon seems so carefree, smiling happily and looking around him curiously.
once yoongi realises namjoon doesn’t catch his nod, he clears his throat. “yeah. it’s a lot more quiet here than inside. especially since… you know.” since the high priest started dying. “there are a lot more people walking around these days, but they don’t tend to go outside, so…”
“you flee the palace?” namjoon fills in, smiling secretively. it’s nice, that smile, yoongi thinks. it makes him feel like they share a secret, like it’s just the two of them for a little while. yoongi feels included in a way he hasn’t felt in a while.
not that taehyung and jimin didn’t make him feel included, but they were already a thing. they were already friends or lovers or whatever they were, and while they’d allowed him in graciously, it’s... different. this feels like he’s actually apart of something, rather than a visitor.
“you can’t really flee the palace,” yoongi says with a shrug. “you see it from everywhere in the garden. and even if you don’t see it, it’s at least somewhere at the back of your mind.”
“is that so?” namjoon holds his hands behind his back. he bumps into yoongi again… and again, almost like he doesn’t have full control over his long limbs, despite the fact that he walks gracefully. for a moment, yoongi wonders whether he’s actually doing it on purpose, but he pushes that thought away before he can fully entertain the idea. “i haven’t really experienced that yet, but i suppose it’s different for you. i’m just a visitor to these grounds for an indefinite time, but not you, right? the palace is your future home.”
“it’s not really a home. it’s just a responsibility.”
namjoon laughs softly. “isn’t that the same thing?”
“is it?” yoongi looks up at namjoon, only to catch his warm gaze on him. he surprises himself by not looking away and smiling softly, instead.
“are we going off the beaten path here?” namjoon asks, not looking away from yoongi as they pass a row of hedges and walk beneath a few trees.
“i guess. there isn’t really a path here, you know?”
namjoon snorts, and so does yoongi. they walk in silence until the trees start thinning out and they step into a clearing. the terrain slopes a little into a valley. there’s a river at the bottom which yoongi likes to spend time at. this is the first time he’s brought someone else here.
“huh. this has been hiding just outside of these walls the entire time? how’d you find this place?”
“i wander. stumbled across it one day.”
“this is…” namjoon nods slowly. he turns to look at yoongi and that small, secretive smile is back—although maybe it’s a little more playful than that. maybe it’s a little challenging, even.
namjoon kicks his shoes off and starts walking, at first, straight into the tall grass, down the hill and into the valley, before breaking off into a run. he whoops once and yoongi laughs as he watches him go.
rather than run all the way down, namjoon swoops up into the air at one point. he does it so seamlessly yoongi doesn’t even catch his transformation.
yoongi walks the rest of the way down, admiring the way namjoon soars through the sky and the way he parts his jaws as he flies low to the ground and spews a breath of life.
up until now, yoongi has never seen one in action, he’s only heard and read about it. he doesn’t know the full scope of it, doesn’t know how much life it can breathe into something. he knows it can’t revive, that it can only stimulate growth and life, but beyond that, yoongi’s pretty clueless.
he sees it in action now, though: sees the flowers that come up spontaneously in a wild range of colours yoongi hasn’t seen before here. new plants and flowers alike sprout seemingly out of thin air and the very grass under yoongi’s feet grows triple in height.
yoongi’s mesmerised. he’s never seen such a casual display of power before, and such a beautiful power at that.
“that was amazing,” he tells namjoon, as soon as the nature dragon joins him at the bottom of the valley.
namjoon’s smiling again, wide and unrestrained. he’s panting a little, most likely from the overexertion he’s done just now. he plops down in the grass, before falling onto his back and folding his arms underneath his head. he stares up at the sky with a dopey grin.
“what’s the title you prefer being called by? spirit prince? future… spiritual leader? future… high priest?” namjoon turns his head a little and squints as he looks up at yoongi with an inquiring gaze.
“just… hyung.”
“hyung?”
“yeah.” yoongi sits down next to namjoon slowly. he rubs his thighs, unsure of what to do.
“hyung,” namjoon tries out. he smiles, like it has a ring to it. yoongi thinks it does, especially from taehyung and jimin and jungkook, and from namjoon, too. “okay.” namjoon turns his gaze back onto the sky.
“when was the nature session scheduled?”
“later today. late afternoon.”
“should we just get to it now? this is the perfect place for it, i think.”
“sure.”
yoongi expects namjoon to launch into some sort of monologue, to explain the workings behind his element, or where he draws his power from, but he doesn’t. namjoon doesn’t talk at all, he keeps staring up at the sky, eyes half closed and his mouth still formed into a half-smile.
“what… do you want to do?” yoongi asks carefully, after the silence stretches along for a while and he’s certain namjoon isn’t planning on breaking it any time soon.
“hm? oh. just this.”
“what’s this?”
it takes another while for namjoon to respond, biting his lip while he thinks of a response. “examining… nature.” he looks proud of himself after saying that, and yoongi finds himself laughing.
“you’re just looking for an excuse to lie around and do nothing?” yoongi finally lies down next to him, folding his hands over his belly while he stares up, too.
“i’m not doing nothing. i’m recharging.” even out of the corner of his eye, yoongi can see namjoon’s pleased grin. “you should recharge, too, hyung. maybe if you soak up enough of this pretty valley you’ll spontaneously be able to tap into nature and use a breath of life to have even more flowers sprout here.”
“it’d take me years to do what you just did.” yoongi snorts. “but i can try, i guess.”
“i’ll guide you, don’t worry.” namjoon pulls out one hand from under his head and finds yoongi’s on his belly. he pats them slowly, before leaving his hand there. he falls silent again and yoongi wonders whether he’s forgotten about his hand, until he squeezes yoongi’s hand and pulls away again.
yoongi coughs and looks away discreetly, bringing one hand up to feel the heat rise to his cheeks.
yoongi has lessons on different elements over the next few days. they go relatively okay. he doesn’t advance much, but everyone reassures him that’s normal.
he knows that. of course he knows. he’d already mastered air and ground before the whole mess started, and he’d had difficulty back then, too. mastering an element isn’t easy, especially not several at the same time. yoongi’s doing something no dragon has done before, not for a long time, at least.
but knowing that his progress—his non-progress—is normal doesn’t make it any better. yoongi still feels like he isn’t doing nearly enough. it’ll never be enough, which is what makes him visit the practice chambers outside of his lessons, as well, to get in some more practice without assistance.
he doesn’t think the others know. he doesn’t run into them there, which suits him just fine. they’d probably tell him to take a rest, that the elements would come to him on their own time and that there’s no point straining himself even more.
it’s during one of his nightly visits to the ice chamber that he catches them. taehyung, jimin and jungkook.
yoongi has been minding his own business, pondering on the best way to practice on his own and trying to channel a little bit of fire to warm himself up beforehand. he walks into the chamber thoughtlessly, expecting it to be empty like always.
but it’s not.
taehyung and jungkook are sat on a bench that yoongi hasn’t seen before. it’s made of ice, he thinks, which explains why he hasn’t encountered it before. they’d probably built it just recently.
the bench isn’t really what’s important, though. it’s them: jungkook and taehyung, holding hands. taehyung, leaning over to press his lips to jungkook’s neck and jungkook tilting his chin up to give the ice dragon more access. jimin, in between jungkook’s spread legs, fingers splayed over his thighs, reaching up to capture jungkook’s parted lips in a kiss.
yoongi watches silently again, like he’d done before with hoseok and seokjin, mesmerised by the way the three move together, by the display of intimacy and the ease with which they’re affectionate with each other. they’ve done this before—he sees it in how they handle each other, so gently, yet so firmly. they know exactly what to do and what to avoid.
yoongi’s guilt over intruding is heavily overshadowed by his surprising want or need to join them. he wants to be there, holding their hands, kissing them, being kissed, feeling their warmth around him. the overwhelming need to be affectionate with someone is staggering, so much so that he actually feels his knees buckle underneath him.
he doesn’t fall, luckily, because he manages to hold onto the wall at the last second, but the noise this makes alerts the three he’s been staring at—jimin turns around quickly, while jungkook’s eyes fly open instantly. the only one who doesn’t respond immediately is taehyung, who takes another few extra seconds to pull away from jungkook’s neck hesitantly.
“i’m sorry,” yoongi stammers out. “i didn’t mean to intrude. i—” he shakes his head. “i’ll head out now.”
“wait, hyung!” jimin’s scrambling to his feet, ready to approach yoongi with an outstretched hand. is he mad that yoongi walked in on them? are they going to ask him not to tell anyone? did they know what yoongi had felt while he watched them?
“i won’t tell anyone,” he adds hastily, before he abruptly turns around and quickly leaves the room. the heavy door falls shut behind him and he speeds out of the long corridor.
he hears jimin call after him faintly, but he doesn’t stop to look over his shoulder.
he walks without realising where he’s going. his only light source is the moon. if he were skilled enough to conjure up a fire ball, he could have lit the way before him, but alas.
not that it matters much. his own element lets him feel out his surroundings even in the dark. he doesn’t have night-vision, but he can sense whatever’s around him well enough to avoid tripping and making a nasty fall.
even so, he doesn’t realise he isn’t alone until he hears rustling in the tall grass next to where he lets himself fall down. next, a figure sits up. yoongi doesn’t even need to hear his voice to realise that it’s namjoon.
“hyung.”
yoongi doesn’t say anything. he stares at namjoon for a little, before looking away, wrapping his arms around his knees and hugging them to his chest.
“why are you crying?”
“i’m not crying,” yoongi says. he wipes at his eyes and is surprised to find that his fingers come back wet. “i don’t know.”
“did something happen?” namjoon scoots closer into yoongi’s space. yoongi’s torn between pushing him away and telling him to go, and hiding his face in namjoon’s chest and asking him to stay. in the end, he does neither and sits quietly.
“no.”
the grass rustles again as namjoon inches closer. he pulls loose one of yoongi’s hands and holds it in his. “are you okay?”
“no.”
“do you want to talk about it?”
“no.”
“do you want me to leave?”
“no.” yoongi squeezes the warm hand in his, wishing he could hug it to his chest, or find another way to pull him closer.
namjoon pulls his hand out of yoongi’s, but only to drape his arm over yoongi’s shoulder. “is there anything i can do for you?”
yoongi looks up, turning his head slowly while worrying his lip between his teeth. he knows instantly what he wants, what namjoon could do for him, but he could never ask that of him. it wouldn’t be right for so many reasons.
“hyung.” namjoon’s soft and gentle voice calls him out of his thoughts. “what do you want? you can tell me. i won’t judge.”
“could i… kiss you?”
namjoon nods so easily. he doesn’t even take the time to think about it, like he either really wants to kiss yoongi, as well, or kissing just doesn’t mean a lot to him.
all yoongi does at first is move his face closer a little, just enough to press his lips to namjoon’s. it’s hardly a peck, and more a brush of their lips. it doesn’t matter what it is—namjoon’s lips are soft and warm and inviting and it’s more than yoongi’s felt in a long while.
they stare at each other, eyes flicking between the other’s lips and eyes, until namjoon breaks the stare by moving in closer again. he slips his free hand up yoongi’s neck, grabbing onto his cheek while he slots their mouths together again. their kiss is a little firmer this time, but the sweetness is still there. they kiss slowly, lips moving together idly. there’s no urgency in the way yoongi’s lips part for namjoon’s tongue to slip inside.
yoongi ends up on his back, namjoon guiding him down with a steady hand on his chest. namjoon hovers over him, pressing his lips to yoongi’s forehead and nose and cheeks when he isn’t exploring yoongi’s mouth. his fingers trace yoongi’s features, finding a path of small scales down his face. he runs his fingers along their edges, leaning his lips in to press a kiss to every single one he finds.
the kissing fades into the two of them on their sides facing each other, fingers and hands wandering, loose smiles on their faces. yoongi’s tears have dried, and taehyung, jimin and jungkook aren’t on his mind for the time being. the only thing on his mind is namjoon, and the way his skin feels under yoongi’s fingertips.
for the first time in a while, yoongi feels completely at ease.
despite kissing namjoon, the scene he’d witnessed in the ice chamber doesn’t leave yoongi in peace. it reminds him a bit of what had happened with hoseok and seokjin, except this situation is infinitely worse, because he’d started to befriend the three, until he’d accidentally walked in on them kissing and had stared creepily.
by a stroke of luck, he doesn’t have anything scheduled with them the day after, but he still actively avoids them—going out of his way to take alternative routes wherever he goes and refusing to join the others for meals.
they try to reach out to him. both hoseok and namjoon ask him what’s going on when they tell him the three have been looking for him. maybe hoseok can guess what’s going on, since he’d already been through something similar with yoongi, but he’s kind enough not to bring it up.
namjoon connects the dots at least vaguely, yoongi’s sure of it, but he doubts the nature dragon knows what actually happened. thankfully, he doesn’t ask either. all he does is hold yoongi’s hand and squeeze it when yoongi tells him he doesn’t really want to speak to jimin and the others
the few times he does run into taehyung, jimin or jungkook in- or outside and they look like they want to say something, he resolutely turns his back to them and walks the other way.
he does wonder briefly what message it’s sending to them. do they think he hates them now? what if they think he’s judging them for going against the norm? yoongi doesn’t judge them at all, he doesn’t care what others do, that was never the issue. the issue is…
the issue is that, even after having sated his desire to be intimate with someone, he still wants. he wants namjoon, but maybe he also wants jimin and taehyung. and jungkook. jungkook, too. yoongi realises very quickly that what he wants isn’t a warm body to hold onto, or a warm body to hold onto his… it’s not about that at all. it’s about the people around him. it’s them that he wants—and it’s not just their friendship; he wants everything they have to offer.
it makes him wonder whether that ill-fated first meeting he had with hoseok and seokjin had been about that, too, even just a little bit. would he still have felt the same way had he caught any other two dragons kissing like that?
even now, he thinks seokjin and hoseok could be included, too, in the people he wants. his relationship with them has been the most strained out of all of them, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel attracted to them.
there are so many aspects about this that are wrong, the fact that it’s cross-elemental and that it isn’t monogamous in the slightest, but he truly thinks his biggest obstacle is the fact that he’s the most public figure of them all. yoongi has a responsibility to everyone, he isn’t just his own person, he belongs to the public a little, as well, no matter how hard he likes to deny that fact.
it isn’t unheard of for a high priest to have a significant other. high priests can hold relationships like any other dragon, but the fact that he’s in the public eye means he has to be a model citizen. he isn’t allowed to deviate from the norm, even though everything about his existence has already deviated so much there’s no longer a path for him to walk on.
yoongi’s been fumbling in the dark for pretty much every aspect of his life—even with this, with those six he sees or tries to avoid daily. the big difference with them, he thinks, is that he feels like they’re with him in the dark, guiding him a little.
maybe they’re not guiding him at all, though, maybe they’re just as lost as he is.