DIVINITY ♛ LEE JENO

ELEVEN

"What is this?" Ten snarled, looking down at his new outfit. Him and every other man were dressed in all green. Yangyang stood strong in the crowd, smiling wide at the sight. "I like it, it's like how they dress in those video games!" he gleamed, raising his arms to test the flexibility of the fabric.

"You two." a deep voice interjected. A pair of heavy boots approached them, dressed in the same camouflage attire. The younger one gulped, eyeing the man's physique. If you thought Jeno was a big man, this man was giant. Ten kept his cold face on, raising his chin at his approach. "So this is what the Chinese sea washed up." Mystery Man scoffed, examining the two new faces. Ten's jaw clenched, eye twitching at the comment. Meanwhile, Yangyang stared at the bigger one in awe. You could see his biceps bulging out of the not-so-flattering uniform.

"I'm just messing with ya."

What?

He laughed. Hysterically. His head threw back and his body folded. His hand met his knee, quite literally deeming it as a 'knee slapper'. The man thought he was a comedian. Ten read the badge on his uniform, only making out English lettering. SUH, JOHNNY. "Who are you again?" Ten couldn't tell if he were annoyed or confused. The wannabe comedian composed himself, standing up straight like nothing happened.

"Lieutenant Suh. I got you good." he pointed at the younger one, making his face turn pale. Yangyang could pee himself out of embarrassment at the beefy finger in front of his face. "Little one's feisty." Johnny looked at Ten put on a mockingly scary look, raising his hands like a cat in defense. "Little one." Ten scoffed, mouth open in awe. The three of them all looked at each other, one amused, the other two unreadable.

"Why aren't you saluting me?" Johnny asked in a stern tone, making Yangyang put his hand to his forehead faster than the speed of light. Ten cautiously followed, pinching his eyebrows together in confusion. Again, the Lieutenant fell into a fit of hysterics, making Yangyang frown in fear.

"God, never gets old. Never gets old." he repeated between laughs.

"Pardon my French, but what the hell is happening?" Ten wondered out loud to himself. Johnny stood up straight again, mirroring his confused expression. "That was English, not French. You speak English, Sir... Ten?" he squinted his eyes as he read his badge.

"I do. It seems you speak better English than Korean. Your Korean is... choppy." Ten remarked, making the bigger man's expression contort into shock. "How dare you." he held a hand to his heart.

"I speak English too!" Yangyang interrupted, earning a smile from the new face. "Awesome, dude." he replied, making the grin reappear on the Prince's face.

This guy is weird, Ten thought to himself— in his head this time. He figured if he said anything else out loud the crazy Lieutenant would find a way to make it a skit. "We finished our tour of the base with the others. Now we're wearing your questionable uniform. What else is there to do?" he spoke with impatience. Johnny eyed the two, chin wrinkling in approval.

"Wait Sir Yangyang... where's your uniform?" he spoke to the younger one. Yangyang looked down at his outfit, feeling the fabric of it. "W-What do you mean?" he worried, pointing at his uniform.

"No, I can't see it...? Where is your uniform?" Johnny egged it on, making the boy actually on the verge of peeing his camouflage pants. Yangyang looked like he was about to cry in the cold presence of the Lieutenant. Ten rolled his eyes, giving him a slight nudge on the shoulder.

"He's messing with you, again. You're not supposed to see things that are camouflaged." he explained, earning a dissatisfied look from Johnny. "Bro, I could've kept the joke running for like another two minutes." he shook his head. Yangyang didn't seem to catch on just yet, feeling his pants to make sure they were still there.

"With all due respect Lieutenant, do you take everything as a joke?" Ten asked, his words getting angrier by the syllable. Johnny raised a hand to his hair, pushing it back and out of his face. "You've met General Lee, correct?" he asked in response.

"We live with him, actually." Yangyang replied.

"I like to think of us as... good cop, bad cop. He's pretentious, stern, boring— and I'm the life of the party here." he winked. Yangyang stared at him with amazement, intrigued by his carefree personality. Who knew not all soldiers had to be some stuck up stone men? Ten, on the other hand, wasn't impressed.

"You're telling me you're second in ranking, right below General Lee?" Ten asked in awe. Not out of admiration, but out of pure shock. Johnny crossed his arms and plastered his charming smile back on. "That's right. While the General is out lallygagging with this Princess, I'm in charge of our army. That also means I'm training the two of you." he explained with pride.

What did we get ourselves into?

—

The General and Princess had picked up the other two, returning to their townhome in one piece. Jeno's sighs became deeper as he realized this was going to be a routine— go to the Capitol for a meeting and then pick up the other two before evening dawned. Meilin didn't completely mind. Jeno took quite the scenic route and it was a relief getting away from the busy city. On the road to the military base were trees as tall as skyscrapers, as well as hills you could see the sun meet during the sunset.

After a long day of driving around the Republic, Jeno rested his head on the pillow he took to every house he's lived in. He stared at the ceiling fan that wasn't turning due to the winter air that's snuck into the house, nipping at his bare skin. Most nights went like this. A blank stare into a blank wall, or ceiling. The sheets covering him emitting a scent of detergent he wasn't familiar with yet. The moon illuminating the room through sheer curtains. His eyelids were begging to be shut, but for some reason, he couldn't allow it. Jeno feared what he'd see if he closed his eyes.

Last night, he remembered the boy he saved in the city that went up in flames. He was skinny, pretty much all bone. Beside him was a woman who covered her face with the fabric of her shirt. There was a lot of dust in the air, the smoke not helping. He didn't hear much, not that he was able to hear well nowadays. Maybe it was better off that way— he couldn't remember the cries from that day.

These thoughts infiltrated his head unwarranted, every single night. He was lucky if he didn't remember them the next morning, but he always remembered the feeling of waking up in a panic. If he didn't remember the panic, he'd feel the sweat painted all over his back.

Now, how did he end up here?

From battlefields to a townhome with two questionable men, and a Princess. It could be worse, he thought to himself. Yet, if he were playing chauffeur for the next— who knew how long— he would rather dislocate another shoulder. It was weird, really. He had been itching for a break for the last two years, but it seems like Lee Jeno forgot how to rest somewhere along the way.

He pushed himself up on the bed, looking over at the digital clock on the nightstand. He huffed, seeing it was only fifteen minutes until three. He didn't bother putting on his nearest shirt assuming no one would be awake during these ungodly hours, instead walking down the stairs in a lazy fashion. Jeno didn't know what to do or where to go, but a bed was just not the place. His feet made the wood creak slightly beneath him and he found himself in the living room.

Yet, when he stepped foot downstairs, a breeze greeted him. Alert, he looked to his left, seeing down the hallway that led to the front door. And of course, it was swung wide open, the trail of floral perfume exiting with it.

eleven— lieutenant

—

didn't update yesterday in light of recent events. rest in peace, moonbin.

in regards to the book, ive been so excited to introduce johnny!!! most of ten and yangyang's story revolves around working with johnny on base so im excited to build new friendships <3

i also feel like my character development has been a bit shallow & i think it's because im too focused on building up the plot. i promise.... their personalities will all shine thru soon :"D