Minho struggled in the arms that encircled him before he heard his voice.
"Shh... be quiet little cat. Can you hear me yet?"
He stilled and felt the sudsy water lap against the skin of his chest. Bathing.
"Hyunjin?"
"Yes. It's me. Can I finish washing you?"
"Please." It was a fight to keep the whine out of his voice. Oh, how the guard seemed to bring out the wimp in him.
"Ahh, every time you ask so nicely I wish I could reward you. You like treats? Maybe I can sneak you something from the kitchens?"
Minho relaxed against his front. The guard wasn't supposed to be in the tub with him, but Hyunjin was different than all the other guards he'd ever had- friendlier. It was already dangerous, how nice he was to him. Minho didn't want him getting caught and killed. Not even the thought of food was worth losing him.
"No. Thank you. Your words are enough. Your... kindness. It's enough."
"Sweet cat." Hyunjin's hands were in his hair. He leaned back, soaking up the press of his smooth fingertips, the length of his legs on either side of his own.
"Can you stand by yourself?" that rumbly timber, it was in his mind too often. Especially when he was alone.
"I think so." Minho leaned forward, already missing the warmth of him. He tried to stand but his leg muscles spasmed halfway up and he collapsed back into the water.
Hyunjin sputtered and coughed, wiping purple bubbles off of his face.
"I'm so sorry." He moaned, completely mortified.
"It's okay. I'll get you. Wait right here." The guard stood, his nudity almost as upsetting as it was arousing.
Minho was a pleasure slave, and most naked forms rendered him immobile through training. As soon as a master took their clothes off it was his signal to listen to what they liked and give it to them.
The tall guard made him feel like that too, but in a new way, like he almost wished he knew what he liked, so he could see if he'd be willing to do it.
"Here kitty." Hyunjin whispered, tugging the slave to his feet, and wrapping him in a large towel. "Do you think you're bleeding?"
"No-." the implied 'master' almost slipped through, but Minho had been trying to curb that bad habit for months. Hyunjin didn't like when he called him master.
"So good. Arms up."
Thick, creamy joy filled his stomach at the approval. He lifted his arms and the taller attached him to the drying station by pressing the metal cuffs on his wrists over a hook. Then he yanked the towel loose, roving it up and down his body to clear it of moisture.
"Oh... kitten..." the disappointment was palpable.
Hyunjin pulled the towel away from his backside and there was bright red blood on it.
Minho wished he was dead.
He'd lied! And now the guard wouldn't be nice to him anymore.
Now he was going to get what he deserved.
"Augh! Please I couldn't feel it! I didn't know it was there I swear to you!" His voice echoed horribly in the floor-to-ceiling tiled room and he shrank back even more, realizing what an annoyance he was turning into.
Hands cupped his face, he chanced blinking teary eyes open.
Hyunjin was smiling but it was a little sad. "I know. You would've told me if you knew."
Minho gasped wetly, blinking tears out of his eyes so he could sear the memory of the guard being so near into his mind forever. His long, damp hair- dark and curling along the slope of his neck. His shining smile, clear, even skin. But mostly the look in his eyes. Kindness, like the way he'd seen one of the slaves who'd borne a child look down at her baby.
Like he was something precious. Worth looking after.
"Oh thank you. Thank you I'm sorry."
"No more apologies little cat. Let's get you dressed." He grabbed ointment from the small cupboard near the door and applied it- with gently prodding fingers and a wince on his face.
Then he dressed him in the off-duty clothing- a black cotton shirt and trousers. They got to the door, and Minho had already made a few mistakes, but he needed it- so he asked anyway.
"Please... Hyunjin?"
"Yes kitten?"
"Can I have a hug?"
"Of course." He turned calmly and wrapped Minho in his long arms, holding him just right. Not too tightly, not too close, with his own broad back against the door so the shorter wouldn't feel boxed in or trapped.
He drank in the light, wonderful feeling of touching without being touched. It rustled up some pretty emotion he couldn't name. Comfortable, like when they booted up the heaters during winter storms sometimes, or when they got hot lunch.
Minho hummed happily, and let go so the taller man wouldn't get tired of him and pull away first.
"Ready for sleep?"
"Yes mas- uh... yes."
That sad smile again, a hand on the top of his head, moving his hair around. "Okay then."
He walked him down the crowded hallway to his sleep cell and locked him in. Daylight was slipping in through the curtains, and he lay his head down on the bumpy mattress, dragging the thin blanket over his body. Sleep would come fast.
The next night he was set to work again, waking long past noon to shove some plain rice down his throat and put his make-up on. The general theme for the workers was the same- dark reddish-brown eyeshadow and lots of mascara with a dab of honey-gloss in the center of the bottom lip.
The floor was usually too dark to see much anyway. He pulled on the thin, sheer harem pants and waited in line for his area. He was enslaved at the Mystic Candle, which was famous for its easy layout and pretty atmosphere. The entire place was sectioned off into little nooks where the cobblestones that made up the floor were stacked to a half-wall height. A sheer canopy draped over it from the high ceiling to offer enough privacy without taking the Master's sight off of his slaves.
Master sat in the very center, attached to a tall pole- much like the crow's nest on a ship. He protected them to a point, stepping in only if a temporary master was near to killing them or trying to get things he did not pay for.
He was slight but tall, with a ridged expression on a face that could be pleasant if he ever smiled. But he didn't.
He'd purchased Minho from his parents when he was a small boy, and set him to work as one of the seamstress's apprentices. It had been one of the only happy memories Minho had.
The seamstress was better than a mother to him. She seemed to really love who he was, and believed that one day he would be someone important. It was a good thing she could not see him now.
"You're in the turquoise wing, I want you near the front this time." The Master's assistant snipped, pointing at the implied canopy with a long, dirty finger.
Minho nodded and stepped to it, trying to ignore the sounds that assaulted the senses as soon as you got inside the cavernous room. The laughing and hooting, the crying out.
He placed himself at the entrance to an empty bluish canopy near the main pathway and stood as alluringly as his sore body would allow.
It wasn't often that he went a night without servicing a master, but it had happened before. Like an unexpected gift that just got better the longer it went on. It also wasn't likely, but he always prayed for it.
"Let none but the straight and kindly come through. Let no one bleed or weep, in sorrow, pain, or anger. Let the candles blow out with only pleasure in this place." He whispered, watching the hallway.
He was not alone for long.
There were a few regulars who came as often as they had coin to. They ravaged him with all of the horrors they kept inside their own minds.
He woke in Hyunjin's arms.
This time he was certain it was him, because they held him just so, and one of his hands kept sliding up and down over his elbow, as gently as a flower.
"Hyunjin?"
"Little cat." His voice came out in a rush, as if he was waiting for him to speak, or had been for some time.
"I knew, that it was you this time. You're so gentle."
"And you are gentler still." He whispered into his ear. The action caused goose-flesh to litter over his neck and shoulder.
He floated in the embrace, and aches came passively, like old memories when they get awakened by sounds or smells. There was a terrible hurting in his side. It was splintery- like wood could sometimes be. He yelped when Hyunjin passed a hand over it.
"I know."
"Is it a cut?" he asked. All pleasure slaves dreaded growing ill. If there was blood spilled it could've mixed with another's. He might get sick. In the sick sections, masters were often allowed to cut parts from the slaves' bodies, since they made less money anyway and were apt to die.
"No. I think you might have a broken bone. A rib."
Relief filled him, and the pain instantly dulled, made less important by the information. "Okay."
"I'll do your hair now."
"Thank you Hyunjin."
"Sweet kitty."
He felt heat in his face. The guard's long fingers were full of power, but gentle along his scalp. Minho drifted into a hazy sort of not-sleep, Hyunjin's nimble hands sifting through his hair. The press of his skin along his spine was soothing as well, it seemed to make the water warmer.
Minho sighed, delighting in the taller's touch. It was so nice to be treated like a person sometimes. When he felt the water rinsing his hair he frowned, already missing the comforting moment even before it was over.
"Can you stand?"
"I will try."
"And I will be here in case you fall again."
It shouldn't have affected him so much but it did. Hyunjin was too kind, too good to be true. One day he would sour, grow tired of him, or bored- and the real beast inside would show itself to him. All men and women were the same. They all hungered in a similar way. And Minho was always on the menu.
"Th-thank you." He remembered to whisper, standing up. His legs shook but they held, and Hyunjin kept hands out at either side of him. The two of them stepped outside of the tub as the water drained.
The taller snapped his wrists up, snagged a towel and started patting him down.
Minho sleepily stood there as long as he could. Soon the need was overpowering. Right as Hyunjin slipped his cotton pants on the request burst from his lips. "Please! Uh... hug?"
The guard stared for a second, black cotton shirt fluttering open in one hand. "Sure thing." He unclipped his cuffs and enveloped him even more carefully than normal.
"Thank you. Thank you." Minho murmured, melting into the hold as long as he felt he could. It was so difficult to pull away, but he eventually did.
"No trouble at all. Here, I don't want you to be cold." He slipped the shirt on and walked him to his sleep cell. The light was brighter than usual under the curtain, but he found that it illuminated Hyunjin's face just a little bit more than usual and so he didn't mind.
-
Hyunjin was sure if his ancestors were watching over him, they'd have stopped by now.
Falling in love with a pleasure slave was probably in the top ten worst decisions to ever taint his family line.
He was a hired sword. Only getting his work where it was needed most. The Mystic Candle was one of the best jobs he'd ever had. It was almost as easy as guarding artwork- or graves. No one wanted to fight much over a slave. Especially not when there were more next door.
But falling in love with Minho was stupid. He'd already requested his buying price from the Master and the man had laughed in his face.
"You'd have to work for me until you were both grey to buy him. And we both know he won't live that long anyway." The cruel man said. He still had his assistant give him a receipt. Minho made a good amount of money for them, he was quiet and durable- all the things that slavers searched for most.
He wanted 300 gold pieces.
Hyunjin was unlikely to make half of that in his life.
That left him searching for extra money, unloading ships at the harbor, finding people who owed money and getting them to pay it. But it still wasn't enough. He needed to buy Minho now.
Every day that he received him from the medicine crew who cleaned out his mouth and other orifices, he felt the insanity rise. A little voice in the back of his head said to steal him. Cart the slumbering slave away and board one of the pirate ships.
Minho could be his, and the Master might never find them.
Might never.
That was the problem.
Most slave owners were well-known. Especially if they stayed in business long enough to create a name for themselves. He probably had eyes all over the place. Minho's safety could never be guaranteed.
So he slept for a few hours between shifts. Dared to do more dangerous jobs. Bloodied his hands and his blade one time too many. And every night he held Minho in the purple bubbles of the pleasure house and counted his savings in his head.
It took five coppers to make a silver. Seven silvers for every gold.
In the slums a man's life was only worth three silvers. And that's if he was worth killing- and easy too. The harder a man to kill the more silver.
Hyunjin hadn't wanted to go that far, he believed in the great Goddess. And the only match for her love was her scorn. All things come back. But none more so than the dead.
He was trying to stick to debt collecting, or what he called 'get-backs'.
One merchant would loan another a few chairs or so, and if the other didn't give them back, they'd hire him. Depending on what he had to get, it was worth a silver or two as well.
Guarding only made him 6 copper- unloading ships 4 more. Even working every moment he could, Hyunjin made barely 3 silver a day. Minho cost an astronomical 2,100 silver coins.
It would take 700 days of nonstop work to buy him.
And he feared neither of them would last that long.
He was already a slimmer man, but the lack of food was weakening him. He'd cut down to one meal a day to save even more. He'd also sold all of his possessions that didn't fit in his satchel, and stopped paying for a room at the local inn. There was no time to sleep there anyway.
But killing a man.
Even for someone as lovely as Minho...
The Goddess wouldn't like it.
She might take his precious life too, out of spite.
It was seeming like an unwinnable battle.
Until the lord on the red ship showed up at port.
He had hair as blazing in color as his sails, a small stature but a large voice.
The first thing he did was offer a whole silver to any man willing to stop what they were doing and unload his stuff first.
They got it done in an hour. A silver for an hours' worth of work. His mind reeled.
Then the lord offered a silver for anyone who knew a good inn. Hyunjin and another man offered up places but after seeing both the red lord chose his. He asked where a good market was for food. Hyunjin took him there for another.
The day went on, and for every favor Hyunjin did him, the red lord gave a silver coin. By the time the sun began to set he had 20.
20 silver. It rose his savings drastically.
The lord asked one more question- as he was on his way out. "Where is the best pleasure house in this city?"
"I don't know my lord. But I work at the Mystic Candle at night. They are well-known and always open."
"Thank you." He flipped another silver his way and Hyunjin caught it, hurrying to the place he buried his stash so he wouldn't have to carry all that silver around with him.
He didn't see the red lord that night, or the next. But on the third night Hyunjin spotted his wonderfully sleek red coat outside. It was like the whole place paused as he strolled in. Even the Master in his high place looked down with interest.
The red lord was decisive. He did not look around long.
He kept coming back- and one night he asked for him.
"I am sorry to bother you while you are working. But I had to wonder what you desire? You have helped me enough to warrant a favor. And favors from pirates are not won easily."
Hyunjin eyed the handsome face, unmarked except for a piercing in one arched brow. He looked over the men with him. All lovely and dangerous. But it wasn't because they wielded swords- their lethality was clear in the way they held themselves.
"You want to repay me?"
"I do."
"You cannot give me gold?"
The red lord squinted, and then burst out laughing. "You are brave as well? A pirate never parts with their gold! But tell me what you wish to purchase, it might not be out range. A house? A horse?"
"A slave." Hyunjin whispered.
The red lord sat forward, suddenly very sober and interested. "Why?"
"I... fell in love... with him."
The pirates seemed to draw together, checking each other's faces.
"Do slaves know of love?" the red lord asked, his voice eerily quiet.
"More than free people. More than masters. More than pirates."
"No one loves more than a pirate." And the men nodded in the gloomy candlelight.
"Minho does. He loves... simplicity. He loves warm water, and sleeping. He loves... hugs." Hyunjin surprised himself by being quite emotional.
"A slave named Minho?"
"He is 300 gold."
The pirates whistled and winced. The red lord blinked only once. "Give me time to think this over. While I do, I have some work for you, if you're up to it. A friend of mine, Mingi, is coming to port tomorrow. He is impossible to miss and quite clumsy. The man could kill anyone with a sword, but he is so kind-hearted that he's almost always targeted by robbers and thieves. Escort him to my room at the inn unharmed. If you succeed, I'll have ten silver waiting for you."
"Doesn't sound difficult. I'll do it."
"And be careful. He means more to me than you could understand."
Hyunjin tipped his head, knowing that pirates did not respect a man who bowed, and went back to his post.
That night Minho had a dark, ugly bruise around his neck. He woke up gasping, air whistling through his dry throat. When he held him he whimpered, clutching desperately at Hyunjin's hands.
"Kitty cat?"
"Augh-Hyunjinnie-"
The nickname heated the water up at least two more degrees. He'd never heard something so adorable. But his voice was gone. It was scratchy and pitched, fading into whispers without notice.
"Don't talk if it hurts."
"Not cut?"
"Not cut little cat. Are you alright?" Hyunjin sighed in disbelief of his own stupidity. Of course he wasn't alright. What kind of question was that?
"They... I was too loose. But one of them said... that he knew how to make me tighter."
Hyunjin felt himself freeze. He physically FELT how the words stopped all movement. Minho whined in confusion as his muscles tensed around him.
"Hyunjin?"
"I'm so sorry they did that."
There was echoing silence and then the slave giggled. "You're not going to hurt me... are you?"
"I could never hurt you Minho."
He was twisting slowly around to face him, settling on his knees and placing small pretty hands on his naked thighs. "You're my friend. My true friend?"
His expression was so open. Hyunjin cupped his perfect face in shaky hands. "I am."
"Hug? Please?"
Minho collapsed too easily as he drew him against his chest. It was not sexual, even though they were both naked and wrapped in such a tight embrace. Hyunjin felt him crying, and held the slave until the water turned cold.
Mingi was tall. When he smiled Hyunjin understood why some would think him an easy target. He looked kind. Almost child-like. He knew it was him because he watched him almost fall off of the ship while staring at some seagulls.
"Mingi? May I carry your bag?"
The man grinned widely and offered it up, following along behind him without question.
"I'm Hyunjin. The red lord asked me to walk you to the inn."
"He's paying you a fair bit for it too, I imagine."
Hyunjin was almost surprised at the rough masculinity of his voice. He turned his head to tell him so and noticed that without a smile Mingi looked entirely different. It was probably best to travel in silence.
The red lord was waiting for them in his room and he embraced Mingi as soon as they entered.
"You enormous fool!"
"It's an insult to be insulted by a pirate like yourself Hongjoong." He replied with that sweet smile back on his face.
Hyunjin waited, not really listening to what they were saying. He couldn't stop thinking about Minho. After a rough night the Master usually let them sleep it off for a day or two, but the men who frequented had asked to see him again and since they were the ones who marked him up, he knew they wouldn't mind the bruising.
He wanted to kill them. Whoever they were. He might get the chance too.
"Hyunjin! Here is your pay." The red lord- who Mingi had called Hongjoong, passed him a small purse clattering with silver coins.
As he turned to leave the smaller placed a hand on his arm, halting him. "It's not easy finding someone I can trust."
"Oh?"
"I see a beautiful and affluent relationship in the works between the two of us."
"Go on."
"I have someone I'm here for. A man- well, a group of men."
"I'm not surprised."
Hongjoong nodded, stepping to his table and stacking some of the playing cards on top of it together. "Pirates. Right? We always have treasure to find and people to kill." He turned back, holding up four joker cards. "I will give these cards to four men. They will wield them like magic tokens, flashing them about to get favors and gifts. Such is the terror of my name." he slid the cards a little further apart to show his signature across the bottoms of them. "When you see a man with one of these cards, you must kill him."
Hyunjin blinked, pretending his knees weren't shaking and his blood wasn't rushing through his ears. "How much?"
"For every card you bring back to me- and believe me- you'll have to kill them to get these back," Hongjoong slid the cards through his fingers slowly "but for every card, I will give you 75 gold pieces."
The room tilted. Hyunjin placed a steadying hand on the hilt of his sword. That would add up to 300.
"Why?"
"You were a lucky find for me. I've never met a man so skilled who was also so kind. I want to ensure we stay friends. And maybe put you in my debt as well. But also, I wasn't lying." He slid his hand through the fiery hair on the top of his head "No one loves like a pirate."
Hyunjin had agreed.
He agreed to kill people. For Minho. For the red lord. Hongjoong seemed like a nice pirate- which was a lot like saying he was a nice demon. Pirates made their money off of terrorizing others. Stealing from the villages they pillaged and burned. He thought again of Minho's bruised throat and decided the Goddess might not mind so much.
The week was almost through before he met a man with one of Hongjoong's cards.
He was standing in front of a pub, showing it off to a few of the other men and the signature on it shined like gold in the fading sun.
"Sir. I need that card." Hyunjin said, hand on his sword.
The man huffed a laugh, pulling his shirt aside to show the hilt of his own. "Too bad."
He walked a few steps closer. "I mean to have it."
"You'd have to kill me boy. And I don't die easy. None of my kind ever has. We're worse than pirates you know, worse than-"
The voice cut short as he stabbed into his chest, plucking the card from his fingers and going straight to the inn.
"Already?" Hongjoong asked, smiling cheerily.
"He was flashing it at a pub."
"Gold then. Good work." He threw over a small bag that jingled with a sound he'd never heard. Something that was as lightweight as it was sturdy.
Hyunjin opened it- not because he didn't believe him, but because he'd never seen gold in real life. Never owned any.
It sparkled like the stuff of stories.
"Three more bags where that came from."
That night felt different as he held Minho in the water.
It felt like he was holding him for the first time.
Minho would be his. By the end of it all. And that made everything more real than before. He might never want him in... that way. That was a possibility that he recognized and expected. But it didn't deter him.
"Ah please don't..." the slave whispered, finally waking up.
"Precious cat?"
His body tensed as he came to full awareness, but relaxed at the sound of his voice. "Hyunjin. I dreamed about you yesterday."
"Did you?"
"Yes. You were caught in a fishing net. I couldn't cut you out of it."
Hyunjin giggled, taking liberty in his joy and rubbing his cheek along the smooth plane of the other's. "That's a funny dream."
Minho moved his hands from his lap to grip onto Hyunjin's which were wrapped around his shoulders. "It wasn't."
"Oh."
"And it was so strange but... the fishing net was red. As bright red as blood."