#*ficscraps

Seokjin carried out the rest of the day dazed by the remnants of his hangover and the conversation with First Historian Yang. By the time he left the palace with everyone else from the Office of Royal Decrees, late into the evening and shivering in his thin uniform, his thoughts were directed only towards a hot meal and the warm comfort of his bed.

“The Vice Minister of Defense can be strange, no?”

At the mention of Jeongguk’s title, Seokjin snapped his head up and looked around. He could not easily spot the red robe among the other groups leaving the palace even with the generous torch lighting along the path.

“He has been looking that way for some time now,” said another one of the clerks. “The other day Heojoonie and I walked by him staring at a tree, and when we came by some time later, he had not moved at all. They say he walks around the Ministry of Defense like a ghost, too.”

Seokjin finally found Jeongguk not too far off ahead of their group, crouched down at the farthest side of the walkway, his head lowered and looking at something, shrouded in shadows. It did look odd for a red-robed minister to be in such a position and alone.

It was not a cause for concern—something had likely caught his attention. Jeongguk had an endless sense of curiosity for even the smallest of things.

“Is he talking to the ground?”

Their group approached and it became clear that Jeongguk was speaking to something, in an endearing, baby-like voice.

“Your Excellency,” called one of the clerks. “What in the world are you doing?”

The clerks at the Office of Royal Decrees had seemingly lost all their fear of speaking directly to Jeongguk since that day that he interfered on Seokjin’s behalf. Once past the first impression as a renowned military figure, Jeongguk’s demeanor was so mild and his person so approachable that it was easy to be friendly with him, and the clerks discovered that fairly quickly.  Seokjin often found himself amused when he happened to observe the manner with which his peers at the Office of Royal Decrees treated Jeongguk.

Jeongguk looked up at being called, his face without a trace of its usual stoic seriousness. He looked very young and innocent. An expression that was too often covered up by the weight of his responsibilities, in Seokjin’s estimation. 

“Ah, hello,” Jeongguk greeted. “I found a frog here.”

The clerks gathered around him. Seokjin stayed at the fringe of the group and observed from the side.

Indeed, Jeongguk was bent over a frog small enough to fit in a child’s palm. Its big yellow eyes were trained on Jeongguk’s every move as he made space for some of the clerks to take a look.

“Why are you talking to it, Your Excellency?”

Jeongguk looked amused. “Why, I have to be kind to my food before I eat it.”

The small frog croaked and blinked its bulbous eyes at Jeongguk in reply.

The clerks around him shifted uncomfortably. “Eat it? That thing?” one asked. “I hear these things do make a good soup, but…” said another.

Jeongguk nodded and held out both of his hands to the frog, which the frog unhesitatingly hopped into. “Yes, a fine soup this little fellow will make for me,” he said, speaking to the little creature. He rose to his feet and the clerks around him quickly dispersed to give him room to move. 

“What sort of soup would you even make, Your Excellency?” asked a clerk standing next to Seokjin.

Jeongguk’s gaze turned in their direction and stopped at Seokjin. He looked surprised, very surprised, at the sight of him. Seokjin froze when their eyes met, also startled that he was noticed so immediately.

“I—I will have to ask my cook,” Jeongguk replied, averting his gaze as his face darkened with a flush. “Please excuse me. Have a good night.”

A murmur carried over the clerks as Jeongguk walked away at a quick pace and was soon out of sight into the busy main market street. 

Seokjin watched him go with a silent sigh. Ever since the day that Jeongguk interfered on his behalf with the Royal Secretariat, his behavior towards him was awkward and stilted. Seokjin’s attempts to keep a distance and spare any unnecessary meetings between them did not seem to improve Jeongguk’s reception of him.

Only a few weeks more, thought Seokjin, and we will not see each other like this.

“Well, as I said, he can be strange!” exclaimed a clerk, taking Seokjin out of his thoughts. “Talking to his food before eating it!”

This comment made Seokjin smile. Jeongguk’s sense of humor was too subtle for his peers.

“A man like him can have beef every day! Why eat like a bandit?”

The clerks continued exclaiming amongst themselves in this manner as they continued on their way out of the palace.

“Clerk Kim—I mean, my lord, why are you smiling? Do you find His Excellency’s strangeness amusing?”

Seokjin was startled at being addressed. One of the clerks walking beside him was looking at him oddly and the rest soon followed, all silently waiting for him to speak.

He clasped his hands behind his back and was glad for the frosty night air that cooled his warm face as he replied. “You all are more amusing. His Excellency was very clearly joking about eating the frog.”

“I doubt it! During the war, some had nothing but grass to eat! Especially in the north where His Excellency was stationed!”

The war did not resume until Jeongguk long left his station in the north and went south, but it was knowledge only someone like Seokjin, who closely and anxiously followed Jeongguk’s movements in the military, would know. 

The clerks were eventually distracted by the sight of their favorite inn and a general agreement was made to stop for the evening. Seokjin quickly excused himself and parted ways with them at the earliest opportunity, having had enough drinking and chatter last night.

He was glad for the quiet, dark walk alone. His head, which had felt heavy all day, seemed to lighten as he followed the familiar path to Jimin’s house. He lamented that the evenings were now grown so dark and cold that he could not venture out into the woods to sit by the stream anymore. Part of him missed fishing with the old men and the other townspeople he came across on his walks.

There was a part of him, too, that looked round as he walked without meaning to, in search of a familiar red robe that was likely walking the same path from the palace. But the owner of that red robe was nowhere to be seen.