#minhae

🫐 art by @ladybugkisses 🫐

Art by @/ CilliaYori on Vgen

the sun sets everything alight in a golden glow, touching the edges of everything seohan sees like it’s with the swift strokes of a paintbrush, like here, the sky and horizon and glimmering waters could all come together like it’s supposed to, yeonghae a cup overflowing with ichor that coats it all unseen. the victory gardens are a sprawl right behind him, where he lingers near the entrance, having arrived early with flowers wrapped and tucked against the crook of his arm, fresh, warm pastries from honeybee's wrapped in a square of tied fabric, still warm from the oven.

the flowers are freshly cut and rival the scent of what lingers in the garden ahead, and seohan watches the sun steadily sink across the sky as he waits, eyes the way the magic of the florist lingers in the bud, the enchantments of luck and peace, of sowing new relations.

his mind still cuts into the conversation he’d had with his father in his office that morning, that the new date they’d set him up with is the most auspicious one they’d found yet. it's the closest to engagement he thinks he's ever been— actual history between their families, even if it goes back generations, had set alight a fire in his father’s tone unlike seohan had seen since he’d handed him the position of overseer.

he wishes for this to go well, even more than that quiet murmur of his heart he doesn't dampen, then for that excitement in his mother's eyes as he left once she's shown him the letter. if this he can’t do right, then it runs even deeper, a disgrace to their ancestors for seohan to not echo whatever call that brought their families together even all those years ago, to honor it in his own way. the yoon's hadn't returned since the first blight, who else could welcome them back than the yang's, whose ancestors had saved those of their family even before the weave tore open and cast them apart?

honor, duty. its in the line of fabrics that he wears, a deep, emerald green folded around his figure, embroidered family sigil in silver, shining thread lining against his chest, of a dragon curled around a pearl, encased by flowing waters of the sea. honor, duty, yes, he listens to who came before him, even if they are nothing more than memories and whispers, even if all of this was never really supposed to be for him.

for him, now. he heard the unspoken meaning behind his father’s words, the time, the location, almost as close to when he gave him his title and position. not unlike, either, the last time he uttered his brother's name in that house, where his voice and his memory still lingered in the walls and seohan didn't dare to upset it further with another breath.

this is not something he’s allowed to mess up. this is not something he’s allowed to be tainted by personal memory or preference, this is duty. this is what he’s meant for. no matter then, what matters now, that all of those years in the shadow of what he looked up to was a spot left empty for him to fill.

so he fills, like water, tries to not spill over, fill just right. his hair’s still a little damp from earlier, combed back, seawater clinging to him and the suppression of anything else that makes him seem less than human. there had been nothing in the water to tell him of what to do, hasn’t, for years, other than the cradle of waves that knocked him back and forth down below, beckoned him deeper even as he rose up for air.

he’ll do this right, as reliant and unyielding as a morning tide, sweeping the beach right over. he’ll do it right. not as he’s always been, but now should be.

MinHae~

OMG THEY'RE SO ADORABLE ASDASJFGJHBVEJFVJ VF