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enihk-writes · 11 months ago

Text

[sincerely]

anon asked: Literally anything lee songbaek x mount hua reader pls I'm desperate it's so empty out there :,))))

pairing: lee songbaek x gn!they/them!reader

summary: he somehow found himself becoming pen-pals with a certain medic of a certain rival sect. not really friends, not really lovers, but this feeling he has in his heart is indeed genuine.

word count: 4.49k

author's note: gender wasn't really specified so im going to make the reader gender neutral,,,, (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡

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the first time the two met it was during the annual huazhong competition. zhongnan arrived at the gates of mount hua not really expecting much from the disciples there — all of whom were leagues beneath their skill level, of whom still needed the financial aid of zhongnan to even hold this silly competition in the mount hua sect grounds in the first place.

it was his first time going to this competition. up till then, he'd only ever heard about it from his senior brothers, they were always saying how laughable it was to see them struggle against them so pitifully.

deep down he's never really liked the way they mocked the weak. it felt so... petty and it certainly wasn't an attitude becoming of a martial artist in a taoist sect.

to him, at least.

the one time he had voiced his thoughts in the middle of these re-tellings, he'd gotten a dirty look from his peers and older sect brothers. it was gone within a split second though, with the boys laughing in amusement at how naive and innocent his thinking was.

it's been a few years since that time.

as he steps into the derelict sect falling apart at its seams, he passes by the other third-grade disciples of mount hua all of whom were in the middle of training. he spots a familiar face looking on at them coldly, wasn't he jin geumryong sa-hyung's younger brother? the one that ran away from home a few years ago?

baek cheon-ah, come here.

so he goes by baek cheon. lee songbaek's eyes glance over to the person who had called out to the boy. all he saw was the back of their black uniform. they stood with their back straight and shoulders squared — the stereotypical picture of a proud disciple of their sect. even more so with the younger surrounding them with a quiet look of esteem shining in their eyes.

he keeps looking at their back, hoping that maybe they might turn around to look over in his direction. he could hear snickers from his sect brothers nudging at his shin, their voices pitched higher to tease him about somebody catching their uptight junior's eye.

rather than them catching his eye, he likes to think that it was he who caught their attention. their gazes meeting each other despite the crowd — irises coloured in the deep blue of a night sky levelling with the clearness of a spring's day. two kids who by all accounts, follow the same teaching path... when stripped to its bare bones. yet here they were, standing on each end of the competitors' court as representatives of their sects' bitter rivalry.

these two couldn't have been any more different.

their gazes on each other didn't break for a long time even as he had already passed by them, and even as he made his way up the steep steps to the guest houses. lee songbaek found himself unable to pull away from the trance that person had put him in.

senior...?

baek sang called out to them curiously.

hm. looks like zhongnan's brought in new faces to the competition.

═══════════════

the next morning came rather quickly.

the competitions started quickly without much delay or fanfare. zhongnan breezed through each of their rounds, every match-up lasting for less than a minute. some were only at a few seconds. the longest was the match between jin geumryong sa-hyung and his younger brother. but even that one lasted for one and a half minutes. and the other was not even using his full strength, instead opting to toy with his younger brother's psyche, yet baek cheon couldn't keep up with that?

lee songbaek had to say that he was sorely disappointed with the state of mount hua's martial arts. he could understand now why his senior brothers would mock the disciples here.

so then why would the sects bother to organise this event every year? why would mount hua willingly put themselves through this humiliation each year with their repeated failures? was this their way of learning and growing? it was all so strange to him.

his brows furrow and his eyes, once again, meet the same spring-like ones he saw from yesterday. there they stood on the other side of the stage, arms folded and leaning against the wall — alone. they weren't standing huddled together with the rest of their juniors. he presumed it might be from the air of iciness that perpetually surrounded them.

and that same coldness was now directed straight at him.

hey, who's that asshole looking at you like that?

shouldn't we teach them a lesson?

tch. some arrogance from a no-name sect.

his sect brothers talked amongst themselves, clearly noticing the hostility directed at their own. talking about how they weren't going to let this disrespect slide, though in reality? his sect brothers just wanted an excuse to beat up more mount hua disciples, under the guise of a competition. probably because that's the only time they are stronger than their opponents. lee songbaek thinks to himself.

he laughed it off, not wanting to cause any trouble. he tells the boys that he didn't want to fight anyone for no good reason. he wasn't a hooligan, he was a martial artist. and he would like to live by that proper etiquette.

besides, they don't look like the fighting type.

he says, trying to convince them to drop this matter.

it works, and the boys draw their attention to the ongoing match, which ended as quickly and as predictably as all the other ones. he tried to ignore the grumbles under their breaths.

tch. who does this guy think he is — acting all upright and moral.

don't pay attention to guys like him.

yeah, he's always been a little weird.

lee songbaek glances over at the other side of the stage again. this time their gaze was a twinge softer. still cold, but not as harsh.

the competition was over by midday. and as everyone gathered to leave, he almost bumps into them. hands full with the stack of stools they were to bring back to the dining hall.

i'll help you with that.

he says as his fingers barely brushed past theirs to take ahold of half their load. they pause, deliberating on what to say next, mind forming a biting remark to rebute his help. yet the presence of the other zhongnan disciples around them made them hold back their sharp tongue.

follow me.

they croak out, stepping skillfully between the gaps as they make their way towards the dining hall. lee songbaek hurriedly follows behind as closely as he could, his face and the back of his neck burning up as his sect brothers hoot, holler and whistle after him.

away from the crowd, he finds himself alone with them in the dining hall's small storage closet. his heart skips a beat, his senses all too aware of the person right next to him.

do you like me?

lee songbaek feels his breath hitch.

i asked if you liked me.

they look over at him, arms folded across their chest, an impassive expression sitting on their face. and in his eyes, not looking stoked at the possibility that a rival sect's disciple might have caught feelings for them in less then a day.

i... i'm not too sure myself.

he replied quietly.

they stayed silent. choosing to look ahead through the open doorway at the line of zhongnan sect members leaving through mount hua's red gates. he followed their line of sight, wondering if he should leave as well, go back and pretend that nothing happened here.

an idea hits him right then, having him scramble through his bag for a good minute before he finally fished out a thin blue rope — the same as the one he used to tie over his bracer to keep it in place.

he holds out his hand, hoping that they would catch on and place their hand in his. they do so, albeit hesitantly, fortunately for him. his fingers thick as they may be with callouses from practising his swordsmanship were still long and slender. they watch as those slender fingers of his circle their wrist, thumb in their palm, holding their hand open for him to cover it with his own. passing on his little gift to them in the process.

there was so much more he wanted to say to them. if he sent them letters would they oppose to it? he thinks about the mere notion of a zhongnan disciple corresponding with a mount hua disciple, and he thinks about the reactions of the people around either of them. no doubt it won't be a sunshine and rainbows affair.

may i... send you letters?

he wasn't sure if this was the right way to court someone.

do whatever you want.

they mumble, turning to hide their embarrassed face from his astute stares. they weren't good at hiding it seems, he didn't miss out on the way the corner of their lip twitched upwards ever so slightly.

lee songbaek feels his heart stir a little more.

═══════════════

a month or two passed with no word from him. they felt a little foolish to still harbour onto the hope that he'd remember them, even if for a brief moment.

senior, there's mail addressed to you.

their eyes widen as a junior sister trots up to them with a package — whatever was meant for them hidden under the layer of white linen cloth wrapped and tied securely with a brown rope. they wonder if they had failed to conceal their excitement, with how said junior sister giggled at the bursting sparkle in their eyes.

thanking the girl quickly, they grabbed the package and headed straight to the privacy of their work desk in the medical hall. nobody really came around here at this time of the day, and besides, their room wasn't safe from everyone's nosiness.

i hope you haven't forgotten about me.

holding the parchment in their shaky hands, they read the greetings written out in neat lines.

i feel embarrassed that i didn't write to you as soon as i said i would. could you find it in your heart to forgive me? perhaps the gifts i've sent along with the letter could sweeten the apology?

they look down, splayed across the white package cloth were small pouches, all filled with various trinkets. some were tea leaves, one contained dried herbs and they even found a bell while the remaining two pouches were filled with various sweets.

i hope the gifts are to your liking. hopefully i haven't stepped out of line with any of them, i wasn't too sure on what you would have liked considering we don't really know each other. if you are willing, may i learn more about you in your reply?

it even harder to ignore this growing need to want him to notice them even more. think about them more. they wanted to pick up their brush and tell him all about themselves, every little flaw and perk about them. they wanted to know if his little interest would die out or grow stronger from it. what about him? what did he like, what was he like? last time he was here, there was a faded scent of pine lingering on him.

he's back at zhongnan now, so maybe that scent of pine would be stronger. if they asked, would he...

they shake their head to rid themselves of their thoughts.

for now, they'll send him a simple reply. there's no need to rush. the both of them still had plenty of time.'

═══════════════

lee songbaek stares at the letter dropped onto his lap. the instructor had handed it over to him after that morning's training without much explanation other than a simple before i forget.

oh... open it!

read it aloud for the rest of us!

the other disciples clamour around him, curious about the mail their somewhat eccentric sect brother had received. he laughed nervously, really not wanting them to poke their noses into his business where they didn't belong. but he obliged reluctantly, nonetheless.

first, i'd like to thank you for your letter. here i was thinking you'd forgotten all about me. i'm glad to see that you hadn't.

even though the greeting was prim, proper and polite — that messiness of the cursive calligraphy did little to hide their writer's true heart. a person who had been waiting eagerly for him.

lee songbaek clutches the letter close to his chest. his sect brothers need not see the rest of the contents of the letter addressed to him.

he gets up to run to a more secluded location, amongst the other's boos and insults, away from all of them just so that he could read the words that person wrote to him so earnestly.

they wrote to him. they wanted him to read their words, so what right did his sect brothers think they had to ask him to read them what they had sent for his eyes only. he didn't want to betray their trust behind their back like this.

i don't have anything to give you right now, but i'll prepare well so that when you send another letter to me, i have something for you too. so just like you want to know more about me, could you let me know a little more about you as well?

he slumps down the walls of the back gates. he likes to think they might have been frazzled while writing their reply, hence the messy handwriting. his thumb traces across the lines on the parchment, eyes darting across their next lines.

i don't hold any grudge for your late letter, it's not like i was waiting or hoping that you'd remember.

liar.

i haven't had time to try the things you've sent me, so i can't tell you if i like them or not. you need not fret, none of your gifts were out of line. if anything, i work in the medical hall. so your tea, herbs and flowers are of use to me in some way.

so that explains why they smell of smokey ginseng at that time.

the medical hall huh. he ponders, wondering if he should see what ingredients his sect's own medical hall uses. he wanted to be of use to them again, just like the first time.

no... he didn't want the people around him to get too curious and find out he was talking to someone from mount hua. the disciples here weren't above accusing him of being a traitor to their sect even without the proof nor evidence.

before i sign off, i want to know if you like sweets, by any chance? if you do, then i think i might have something for you, if you don't that's alright. i can always think of something else.

he folds the letter back into it's original shape. he was itching to return to his room and write out his reply, but that would have to wait for when night falls after the day's training was over.

tomorrow morning, he'll use the excuse of going on an errand to see the folk doctor in the village over. maybe he could learn a thing or two from that old man. if he's lucky, he might even get some seeds that he could send to them.

═══════════════

this back-and-forth lasted longer than either of them thought it would. he's gotten tea and honey they procured themselves, and they've gotten countless herb pouches and seeds from him. there was once when they wrote to him, saying that they'd have to stop writing to him since their ink was running out, and in his next letter he sent them a set of inkstones in an embellished box. they had to rub their eyes to see that they hadn't been dreaming. just how much money did that man have?

they felt bad, maybe a little sheepish for receiving something that expensive from him. they even said so in their reply. and all lee songbaek had to say to that was,

write to me more often.

they read those lines over and over again, laughing at the absurdity of it all. was this all that he wanted from them? was it really that simple? they still couldn't believe it.

they weren't so dense that they didn't know he was trying to pursue them. it's just...

most men would have expected their love interests to repay their expensive gifts with something they deemed worthwhile. something for all that trouble these men had to go through for their so-called beloveds. a soddy excuse to have the other warm their beds.

so for a man like him to expect nothing other than their continued correspondence in return — this was all too good to be true.

but then again, all of his letters to them had always shown genuine interest in their likes, dislikes, hobbies and their petty worries. he's always read through their words, responding to each sentence they've written with the same sincerity each time. even the things they don't remember writing about.

did they deserve that sort of admiration from a guy like that?

═══════════════

if anyone ever asked lee songbaek about the medic from mount hua, he'd talk about them with stars in his eyes. he hasn't seen them for a few years at this point, mainly out of his own violation with how he wasn't fond of the huazhong contest, but they've been writing to each other despite all of that.

he could recite all the medicinal properties of wild plants growing on mountains, and he could tell anyone on and on for hours about all that person's writing quirks — the way their handwriting gets messier when they feel strongly about something, the little dots they'd draw at the edges of the paper as decoration, the fact that they weren't that great at spacing out their lines to the point that words get crammed at the end...

yet there was still so much he didn't know about them. how did they look like now? has he grown even taller than they did? what do they like to eat now? their voice, face, eyes all of the things he can't see beyond that one memory... how does it look like now? if they met face-to-face then, how would they react to each other? would their conversations be as animated as they were on paper?

perhaps he should join this year's contest. but to come along after not wanting to for so long, won't the others find it strange?

maybe he was a little lucky that that opportunity presented itself not that long after, though it was in a rather painful way.

═══════════════

the next time he would find himself at the familiar red gates for that year's huazhong contest, he was there for two reasons. one was to see them, the other was to have a chance to spar with the third-grade disciple chung myung one more time. he mentioned this in passing when he sent a letter after the incident. they... weren't frugal with their scathing remarks.

honestly, you deserved it.

ouch.

why are you, the grown adult in this case mind you, picking fights with a teenager anyways? what happened to being a respectable martial artist or whatever that phrase you like to say huh? where'd that go? shameless bastard, even if the two of us are friendly with each other, i'm not going to feel sorry that happened to you.

he scoffs, smiling fondly at the letter in his hands. they're right, he did deserve the consequences from that day — even if they hadn't said so in their letter. he glances over at his belongings scattered on his bed. this was the morning he and other disciples were setting off to mount hua together with one of their sect elders. he's heard through the grapevine about this being the last competition they'd hold.

lee songbaek had a feeling it actually won't work out the way the elders had intended.

whatever. he'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to seeing them again. he wonders if anything about them has changed. would the two of them talk as comfortably as they do in writing? he hoped he could surprise them a little when he showed his face again.

═══════════════

zhongnan arrived at mount hua without much fanfare other than the narrowly avoided incident with the infamous chung myung. the zongnan disciples felt their feathers get ruffled, grumbling all the way up the steps to their guest house about the rude behavior of a child who was barely past fifteen.

that same night, while the guests were enjoying the banquet set out for them and the mount hua disciples were in the regular dining hall having dinner — they were organizing their supplies quietly in the medical hall, skipping their meals to finish up the work needed before tomorrow's competition. their ears perk up at the sound of unfamiliar footsteps coming their way. who in the world would find them this late at night? their hand reached for the hilt of their sword.

compared to the others, they weren't the fighting sort. though that was not an excuse for the devil incarnate that entered the sect recently. training their stamina along with the others every morning, shovelling down breakfast and then swinging their sword a thousand times until late afternoon, lunch and then it was time for another thousand swings for the rest while they went back to the medical hall to study for the physicians' exam held once every four years in the royal palace. it was a gruelling routine. one that they didn't mention in any of their letters, not exactly seeing the point in complaining.

eh?

they stood frozen in their spot, sword halfway drawn out. the perpetrator laughs at the doorway sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. he would be lying if he said that he wasn't a little shocked himself.

i hope you haven't forgotten about me.

lee songbaek asks quietly. facing his side, though he steals a glance at them from the corner of his eye.

they stand frozen in place as he walks over slowly, carefully placing one foot down before the other until he was standing face-to-face with them.

it's you... i thought... you never said that you would...

voice shaky, hands covering their heated face — they were a mess. if lee songbaek had came here with the intent to surprise them, then he has certainly succeeded.

i'm sorry if i startled you. can i look at you... please?

his hands reach up to hold theirs, fingers intertwining with each other's. he thinks they leaned forward, and he does too, closer and closer until his lips brushed on theirs, noses bumping against each other with a little gasp of surprise.

do it properly.

they mutter, hands escaping his hold to wrap their arms around his neck, fingers playing with the ribbon that held his hair together as they pull him down for a proper kiss.

the world was still for the brief moment the two were sharing. he wraps his arms around their waist, hugging them closer towards him. the warmth of their body pressed against his chest, his hair had grown loose around his head — the long strands falling over his face, but he was a little too distracted by the kiss to bother.

they were the first to break off, stepping back to get some air, giggling when he leaned forward instinctively.

what was that about?

lee songbaek asked, breathless and a little dazed.

i wonder...

they reply, mumbling softly.

awkwardly, the two backed off from the other, each taking a shaky step back to let what just happened sink in. they were both lucky it was the middle of the night when no one was around. otherwise, their little unplanned rendezvous would have become the hot scandal of the century, and there were going to be people who would lose their minds over it. a zhongnan and mount hua disciple, a zhongnan and mount hua disciple?

still, they didn't really hate that kiss.

what... does this make us now?

they asked him, deciding to break the silence first. not caring too much about the weight of the question.

they were right. what does this make the two of them? not yet lovers, even if the groundwork for that sort of relationship was there. not exactly friends, they weren't close but yet were familiar enough with each other to be more than mere acquaintances.

it seems, for now, they have to sit back and let time tell.

their hand that tucked his hair behind his ear was gentle, tender, almost. fingertips lingering at the side of his face, just ghosting over his cheek. he closed his eyes as the back of their hand caressed his face, trailing down to his chin and falling back to their side.

you should go to bed.

i will.

i'm not going to wish you good luck for tomorrow since our sects are competing against each other. and i'm quite loyal to mine.

it's okay.

lee songbaek couldn't help the smile growing on his face. right, they were still rivals. rivals that shared a kiss, but that's just how things are sometimes, wasn't it?

he left the medical hall with a slight spring in his step, hair down and the scent of smokey ginseng mixed with fresh plum blossoms still lingering on his clothes — it looked like he might have to stay up and walk around until the smell was gone.

can't have his sect brothers getting too curious now, could he?

═══════════════

the final results of the competition had already been determined the moment chung myung had challenged his senior brothers, still drunk on the highs of past successes, not yet brought down to earth. lee songbaek felt as though he'd been enlightened by this whole experience, the incident at the trading company and right now at the contest. he knew there was something he had to do the moment he got back to his sect.

chung myung had told him how lonely the path he's chosen would be. but that didn't matter to him.

it's not that i want to walk this path. rather, it's because this is the path i must walk.

he says, eyes glancing past chung myung towards the familiar back of that person. his other reason was to become someone they wouldn't be ashamed of.

but nobody else needed to know that.

lee songbaek left mount hua that day, busy with plans for the future, and deep down in his heart, looking forward to the next time he'd get to meet them again.

maybe by that time, they would be able to place a better name to this feeling brewing between them these past few years.

but who knows, really?

#enihkwrites #return of the mount hua sect #return of the blossoming blade #return of mount hua #rotbb #rotmhs #lee songbaek #return of the blossoming blade x reader #return of the mount hua sect x reader #lee songbaek x reader #totally not a distraction from the mistake i made the other day lol what????#hm... there's a lot of things i can do with a mount hua!reader x lee songbaek.... it's like romeo and juilet with less stakes #the stake is probably peepaw chung myung having an aneurysm when he hears the news of yall being buddy-buddy

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