Love And Dragons | JiKyu • KyuHoon

5|The Blacksmith

"You don't have to give me a gift. Having you now as a friend is a gift enough for me." Junkyu said, his voice shrinking as he felt shy and embarrassed to voice out the last part.

"Well, I'm still going to give you a gift whether you want it or not." Jihoon said to him, playfully punching Junkyu by the shoulder. "You better like my gift because I will be putting a lot of effort into it." He grinned.

The force again had Junkyu almost stumbling to the side. He laughed nervously once again and rubbed on the sore spot like he did. He should have seen that coming. Jihoon was clearly still unaware of how much force he puts into his so called playful punches.

"What about you? When is your birthday?" Junkyu questioned.

The two were still walking to head to the blacksmith shop. They were only a few feet left before they reached their destination.

"Me? My birthday is close to spring. Just when the winter ice starts to thaw! I just turned ten!" Jihoon shared enthusiastically. "Woah! I turned ten first which means I'm older than you!" He added after the realization hit him.

"What about it? Do you want me to call you hyung?" Junkyu asked scrunching his nose.

"No, that won't be necessary. Jihoon is fine for me! Or maybe Ji? Or Hoonie! But you can call me hyung if you want." Jihoon threw suggestions at him.

"Sure!" Junkyu nodded.

He looked back to the front and stopped walking as they stood faced with an average size wooden one floor structure. Jihoon also stopped and observed what was now in front of them. The blacksmith shop had an A frame roof design stretched out tall and towered intimidatingly over the two small children. There was a grey and crooked stone chimney at the side and thin black smoke was lightly seeping out from the opening. They could hear from inside the hammering of metal against metal, then the crackling heat of the fire burning in the furnace as the blacksmith worked. Junkyu smiled and felt more relaxed standing there in front of the forge than his own family home. It just looked more welcoming to him. It was warm and the noises that came with it were oddly calming. Unlike the empty and cold house he lived in, his father is barely present and is always out around the village working on whatever chief duties he has.

"This is it! Welcome to the forge! Where we make the best and the strongest weapons of Berk!" Junkyu proudly announced.

"Wow!" Jihoon clapped. "So cool!!" He peeked over inside and saw a tall figure. He could only make out a silhouette and not much any distinguishing features because of the poor lighting from where the blacksmith worked. "Is that him?" He asked.

Junkyu smiled nodding.

"We'll go inside and I'll introduce you to him and we'll ask if you can stay and look around for a while. I'm sure we have plenty of axes inside you can look at." Junkyu babbled on.

Jihoon's eyes gleamed in excitement upon hearing the word 'axes.' He can't wait to see the craftsmanship and admire the skills put into making the deadly weapons.

"Can we go in now?" Jihoon asked.

"Sur—" Junkyu couldn't finish.

"Junkyu! I haven't seen you in a while. Have been slacking off, eh?" A loud voice interrupted him. The voice came from inside the shop. Soon, a man walked out, chuckling as he talked.

The man that came out was an unfamiliar face to Jihoon. He observed the small limp in man's walk and saw the wooden peg leg attached to the left side. And as the man stepped further outside into the morning sun, Jihoon saw a glint of light that bounced off the shiny metal hook on the man's right arm.