Dark Under the Lamp (Donghae Historical AU)

Part One

Lee Donghae flips a coin over and over in his fingers, smiling down at the crowds below. He sits on a low hill overlooking the slums of the Capitol, just barely hidden behind the underbrush.

He flips the coin into the air and catches in his hand, grinning down at it. It's not much special-- just a simple dirty bit of metal with a dragon engraved into it, curling around the hole in the center. But he's had it for as long as he can remember. If the Clan is right, even for as long as he's been alive. It's the only connection at all he has to his real parents.

You plop down in the shadows next to him, munching on a steamed pork bun. "You know, if you keep flipping that thing in the air, you're gonna lose it over a cliff face. And I'm not wasting three days of my life looking for it with you, like I did when we were six."

He rolls his eyes and pulls out a length of leather cord, and then slides it through the hole in the coin. He ties the pendant around his neck, then turns to you. "You look awfully well-dressed for a girl who just stole two pork buns."

You make a face at him. "Two? How do you know I stole two?"

"Hand it over."

"No, this is mine." You make a point of taking a giant bite out of it, letting the juice drip onto the dirt.

"I know you. You never steal just one."

You shrug, and pull the second one out from under the front of your Hanbok and flip it behind your back towards him, regardless of the aforementioned large cliff face.

He catches it out of the air no problem, like you knew he would. You've been living with him for more than twenty years, always relying more on each other than anyone else, trusting him with your life. It would be absurd if you didn't trust him to catch a pork bun.

"So what's with the fancy dress?" he asks you just before taking a bite. Admittedly, he's much more used to seeing you in the shadow-black men's outfit you use to sneak into the residences of court official's houses in the deep of night.

You make a face. "Abeoji wants me to play distraction again."

Of course, "Abeoji" is a relative term. He's the leader of the Clan, a group of thieves that specialize in making trouble for corrupt authorities. They took the two of you in. You they found when the suppression of a peasant revolt ended up killing your parents. And Donghae... well, you still don't really know. All Abeoji will say is that they found him by the "East Sea." Thus, "Donghae". How original.

Donghae leans back on one hand, still eating with the other. "Still doesn't want you in the action, huh? Does he even realize that the guys call you 'The Devil's Flower' for a reason? Women are terrifying already, especially when you give them swords and teach them how to steal things."

You grin at him. You love your nickname, "The Devil's Flower". You'd earned it. Because no matter how pretty you are, you can kick all of their asses at swordplay, and they know it. Except for maybe Donghae.

"I can't complain too much," you reply, shrugging. "He trusts you and me more than anyone else. He has for some time now. That's why we get the important stuff." You wink at him, eating the last of your pork bun.

He leans forward, looking down at the people below. "So, it's a standard mission, huh? Who is it this time?"

You point off to the edge of the marketplace. "There's a noble, lord Gu, who always goes to the paper merchant's stall in order to harass his daughter. They owe him a lot of money, so she can't afford to turn him down. But he's getting really creepy with it. If no one does anything soon, he'll be taking her for "payment".