Dwiro Dora 03

“Hell, look at that, he’s got himself another one. Asshole’s such a rice-”

“Get the fuck out of my bar. Both of you.” Trey growled and slammed his hand palm down on the table between the two men. “Go on, asses out of here.”

YeJun looked at the floor, away from the carpentry book he was trying to study from. If he were to live with his new friends he had to work. Since he was a minor Trey demanded that since he couldn’t help with the bar he’d stay educated to help his own future.

Riley put an arm around him and shook his head, soon trying to get the lad’s attention back to the book. He’d taken it upon himself to teach the lad a trade, they’d both have to buff up on the terminology but there was a lot that he could teach the lad and himself along the way.

Kiyiya soon waded in and put one of the men in an arm lock and shoved him through the door, the other was content in an amateur boxing match. Trey soon had enough and when free to he simply drew close and finished the fight with a well aimed head butt.

“Gettin’ sick of ’em thinking Chatan’s oriental… the browlines are completely different.” Trey grumbled after he kicked the second one out. He rolled his head to crack his neck before getting back to the job at hand, running his bar… hopefully not into the ground.

“My fault isn’t it.” YeJun sighed, he hadn’t been there long but he was starting to feel he had outstayed his welcome. He seemed to be causing problems for the men who were only trying to help him. “…Gyesok.”

“… You know… we’re not that far from LA. That’s where you’re from right?” Chatan sat at their table and closed the books in front of them. He smiled warmly and put his radio on the table. “Or… is there anywhere we can help you go?” He didn’t want rid of the kid, but it was clear he wasn’t comfortable staying with them.

Trey half stepped toward them as if he wanted to say something, instead he busied himself with serving and tried to keep out of the conversation. His father was long dead and his own mother lived with her new family in a country very far away, what did he know of family troubles? That was before he even remembered he had a son…

“Told my brother I’d go to Vegas…” YeJun sighed, “I only got part way there…”

Riley smiled and patted the kid’s shoulder “If you don’t want to call them, you could send a letter?” This wasn’t the first time they’d tried to get him to think of going home, this was the first time however that he’d told them of his destination.

“No. The Gwanjangnim.” YeJun laced his own fingers and began to wring them gently. On a lack of reaction he thought he’d better explain “The Dojang master. My Brother. The older one.”

“He’s the reason you were black and blue?” Chatan arched a brow and sat back in his chair. “The bruises were old, but I could see them, your skin’s like mine. You have to look for them.”

“I… did something. Really bad. I can’t go back…” YeJun shook his head “It’s not somethin I’m ever gonna do again. But… I don’t wanna tell you till after I’m gone…”

Riley rubbed the back of his neck “My excuse was amnesia, and I was legally declared dead by the time I remembered my other life.” He shrugged a little “You kill anyone?”

“No.” The answer was confident, however the look on his face a while later said he might as well have done.

Chatan narrowed his eyes a moment before leaning back toward the table again. “Tell us when you feel you can. We can only judge you on your actions. So far, we can trust you.” He yawned and looked at his watch “I’m off to sleep. Take Roxy on a walk if you want, she’ll be loose.” He grabbed his radio and started unstrapping his gear, waving a farewell to his partner.

“They… They’re distant aren’t they?”

“What, Chatan ‘n’ Irish? Nah, they… they.” Riley sighed “They’ve got a lot on their plates. But I’ll tell you something. They sure as there’s a sun in the sky, they love each other.” Riley smiled gently, he knew the looks the pair shot to one another. He knew that through everything that they had their own unspoken language. He also knew, that when they both had a day off or two together… They made sure they spent at least most of it together.

YeJun didn’t see the glances, he didn’t see the gestures, and he sure as hell didn’t see the pair of them all cosy together when they managed to share a bed. What he saw was a struggle to keep things together, he didn’t see the tenderness between lovers. The trust between partners… But then… He had no idea what all of that should even look like.

That was what made him decide to finally man up. Or at least, attempt to anyway. ‘Studies’ over for the day he decided it was high time he made use of his free time for something constructive, something that would get him somewhere other than under two strang- no, friends, feet.

“Hey, Chatan… How’s your writin?”

“English or..?” Chatan glanced over his book, Trey snoring in his lap.

“Oh… I mean… How are you with..?” YeJun sighed and showed him a near blank page of paper, he’d only managed ‘Dear Brother’.

“Ah, writing to distant family…” Chatan mused a moment. “Hm… Rafi occasionally writes to me, maybe that could help.” With some carefully practised movements Chatan freed himself from his lovers embrace and rummaged through a stack of envelopes.

After a while he placed a few of them on the coffee table “The most recent letters to me, from his younger brother, his son… My mother, and a few people on the reservation that keep in touch with me.” He’d chosen a few that he didn’t mind being read. “That’s how they speak to me. I mean, on paper anyway…”

“Hey, Chatan?” YeJun spoke up a while later “I can’t read this one…” He held up a rather dog eared letter that was rather all over the place.

“Ah, that one… that one’s from my mother. She spends so long writing the page is half destroyed by the time she posts it… She. Well, it’s almost in shorthand. She’s not a woman of many words, and in writing it’s when she’s the most talkative.” Chatan chuckled and deciphered the scrawl, and it’s meanings to the younger male.

“This… Didn’t really help.” YeJun groaned and let his forehead smack the table, he didn’t think it’d be easy but he didn’t know reestablishing contact would be as difficult as it was.

“How’s this… Hey dickwad, we got your brother, come pick him up. Sincerely, the two gay dudes doing more parenting than you ever needed to do. P.S. Be his brother, not his father.” Trey slowly opened one eye to see Chatan wanting to clout him one and YeJun in a mild state of shock.

The eldest sat up slowly and stretched out “Kid, the only thing you can do is tell the truth. Letters like the one you want to send. There’s only two words you need to start with.” Trey smiled “I’m Sorry.”

Chatan seemed to have a spark of inspiration and bolted to his book shelf, it took him a while but he seemed to find the one he was looking for, and after a while he cleared his throat. “There are seven philosophies, spoken many moons ago. Perhaps… perhaps this might help you.”

Chatan sat on the floor by the table, crossed legged, resting a battered journal in his lap. Trey glanced and saw it was all in Chatan’s handwriting. “To the family. ‘I am accountable to restore the strength of my family. To do this, I will nurture our family’s spiritual, cultural, and social health. I will demonstrate trust, respect, honor and discipline; but mostly I will be consistent in whatever I do with them.’” Chatan paused to turn a page, keeping his voice steady.

“To myself… ‘I know I cannot give away what I don’t have, so I will need to walk the talk’. You need to be the person you want to be when you’re grown. You need to start, now, becoming that person. ‘I choose to do all these things myself, because no one else can do them for me.’…” Chatan smiled gently.

“Those words have been passed down generation to generation. They are words many should live by. If you wish to be strong enough to face your fears. You must do it today.” Chatan stroked the pages in his hands. “I’m sure I can just buy you a book with all seven in… or, I can tell you, as I was told as a child.”

YeJun shook his head gently, he had heard enough. It dawned on him at last the way the two men fed from one another, the way they supported one another and were strong together. They didn’t act in hate, they held respect for one another and held themselves accountable for their actions.

Better or worse, they were family.

YeJun had been away from his for far too long.

“Can I use the phone?”

---

 

The Seven Philosophies were reportedly recorded around 1996 in Colorado in a meeting of Elders. I would assume that the words of wisdom have been around for many a year in various forms… all with the same message. [Note, the elders at said meeting I would presume were all male. There has been a set for women made since, I would assume they are similar… However they would be irellevant to this story.]

Dwiro Dora 02

Trey arched a brow when his duo of workers carried a barely conscious man… no… young man, into the bar and tried propping him up on one of the comfier long benches. “I send you all out to collect the furniture and you come back with jailbait?”

“Stow it Irish… The chairs are on the truck…” Chatan puffed up his cheeks a moment before sighing out his frustration. He had glanced out the window to see the scene unfolding as it was. His friends carefully unloading a barely conscious male to street level.

Trey didn’t like the state this lad was in, nor did he like the lack of fight he had seemingly put up, they could be anyone… intent on doing anything to him. From what he overheard of the pigeon Spanish things weren’t good.

“Alright, bugger off, stop crowding him.” Trey came over with a glass of water and a few straws in it. “Hey, Kid, drink up, if you can down this… I’ll get you some soup, sound good?” He clicked his fingers several times in the young man’s line of sight and hinted at the water, lights seemed to slowly come on and eventually there was movement intent on accepting the offer.

“Go on, it’s just water, have as much as you want. We’re not short of it here.” Trey helped the young man grip the glass before he backed away. Seeing the water level retreat slightly he went to help with getting the new bar stools into position.

YeJun started to come around, watching the men in front of him as they helped one another and cooperated. Friendly teasing took place as furniture was unloaded and put in place, the existing ones were debated about and eventually placed between the new ones.

Part of him almost missed home to see them working together and still being able to banter… but then, when had he ever really had that kind of relationship with anyone. One of them seemed to be more aggressive than the rest, but it seemed he was still important to at least one of the group he was watching.

“Thanks for the help guys, catch you when you’re next in?” Chatan ran a hand through his hair before he decided to tie it back, he was starting to feel a little warm with all the furniture moving and cleaning he had started.

“Sure, late tomorrow for me, day after for him.” Kusinut gestured to Kiyiya who had already exited the bar, not seeing any point in lingering. “I swear… I’ll get him to learn some-”

“Don’t, it’s part of his charm. Keeps everyone on their toes Riley.” Trey winked and handed Chatan a mug of coffee, he soon settled into his own. “Look after yourselves, and, thanks for helping Feathers.”

“You’ll see to-?” Kusinut gestured to the teen with a not so subtle head flick.

“Sure, between the pair of us we’ll figure out something.” Chatan smiled at his boyfriend in a manner that more or less said ‘mess with me and you’ll regret it’.

“Whatever, I’ll get some soup in, ask what he wants.” Trey rolled his eyes and retreated into the back to start up the hobs he’d need.

“Hi there, I’m Chatan. The barman’s Trey.” The younger male of the pair sat down opposite YeJun, he rested his elbows on the table carefully so he was still keeping a respectful distance.

“His hair… the reverse of mine…” YeJun mused aloud about the redhead with the remains of black dye on the length of his hair, it seemed the man wasn’t bothering darkening it any more. Where… he was once intent on the opposite. After a while of silence “… I can eat anything… Um… YeJun. Moon YeJun.”

Chatan smiled and shouted through that the teen was good with anything, soon after there was a content clattering coming from within the bowls of the kitchen. “Moon? That… doesn’t sound like your given name…” Chatan tried to be as careful as possible, that name sounded neither Native or American. He also didn’t want to assume that the lad was introducing himself in a movie manner, however tempting it actually was.

“… Family name…” YeJun looked across the table to see Chatan simply nodding. It was odd to see someone indifferent about that, well, someone that wasn’t from the middle of Koreatown anyway.

“… Your family?” Chatan decided to be vague, he had a number of scenarios going through his head, he wasn’t sure if he should say any of them aloud for fear of offending the lad. He wasn’t even sure if this stranger was dangerous or not, he just looked as if he was close to being sent off to hospital. The lad didn’t look like he could afford the bills they’d try to slap on him, best to take him somewhere both public and welcoming…

“… This place yours?” YeJun decided to answer the question by ignoring it and asking one of his own.

“Yes. That’s why my friends left you here with us.” Chatan sighed and decided to change track. Family was sensitive, the lad looked considerably worse off… “You’re travelling aren’t you?”

“… You could say that…” YeJun frowned a little and looked into his empty glass, the dark eyed man knew what he was asking. At this rate he’d end up telling him everything, even if he didn’t say anything.

Chatan sighed deeply and shook his head. He was quiet, choosing his next words very carefully. “Not the first runaway I’ve met. The others. I met them when they had no home, no family, nothing but one another.” Chatan smiled as his head was stroked by his partner. “Hey Irish.”

“Soup’s on, want some too?” Trey smiled and suppressed a yawn.

“Why not, I’ll let Roxy out before her bladder gives out… Hn, and ‘fore there’s a trail.” Chatan nodded his head to the young man before he left the pair alone together.

On the way Chatan locked up the bar, leaving the access stairs till last so he could let their dog have some outside time. She bounded around him more excited than she usually would be, seemed she knew there was a new smell.

“So, I’m gonna be blunt. Asian?” Trey glanced to the back door before he lit up, not caring much for the no smoking rules as it was out of hours.

“… Korean…” YeJun raised a brow and watched the redhead get a pitcher of iced water for the table, along with two extra glasses.

“Fair enough. I’m half Irish, half English. Moved here to live with Chatan a while back.” Trey shrugged and poured himself some water “Help yourself.”

“There’s blunt, and there’s near racist.” Chatan rolled his eyes and sat back down at the table, letting Roxy go wherever she wanted to.

“What? Half the time I mix up Chinese and Native here as it is. All I gotta do is point at you and people get it.” Trey shrugged and went back to see to the meal he was supposed to be sorting.

“You… What are you to-” YeJun pointed between the men as one of them refilled his water for him.

“Lovers.” Chatan didn’t see the point in beating around the bush. “You’re safe, too young for both of us. Roxy on the other hand, if she starts humping just push her off.” He laughed at the vaguely disgusted look he received. “Kidding, worse she’ll do is pee everywhere if you get her excited. Sorry if she does.”

By that point both men had accepted that puddles here and there were just a thing that happened. She was getting better, better to the point where they stopped debating about getting her those doggy diapers.

“Oh… Never had a dog.” YeJun held out a hand for her to come to and carefully petted the bitch as she ‘settled’ near his legs.

Chatan didn’t see the point in quizzing the lad any further. He didn’t seem to be dangerous and clearly wanted to hide something. At least both he and Trey outweighed him drastically, at the worse they’d have to take him on together if things turned nasty.

That, and they did have a dog. Sure she was a loving dear, but a big bark and canine’s mouth made even them unsettled when she had a go at them. They definitely made sure to lock the door if they were having sex, it was both cute and alarming the way she had burst in and went mental when she thought they were hurting one another.

Trey broke the silence with their meal and encouraged everyone to take their fill, he could always whip up a second course if they needed it. After he was done he poured himself a stout and sat back to play fetch across the bar with Roxy, it had become somewhat of a routine for them to relax with. When she was done she simply flopped to her belly and kept the ball in her mouth.

Chatan tidied up and watched the lad trying to make up his mind if he should stay or go. He’d been fed and watered, was it time for him to be kicked out or should he chance it. Was it safe for him to remain with the strangers, strangers that fancied men?

“So kid, got anywhere to sleep?” Trey beat Chatan to the chase “If you need, stay down here. Touch the bar, I break your hands.” His expression didn’t falter from indifference, it was clear that he meant what he said. He glanced to his lover as he finished off his drink, unsure if his honesty was the best thing for the moment.

Chatan glanced at the clock, it couldn’t be any later than noon and Trey was talking of sleep. He almost forgot that Trey more often took the later shifts and had adapted to sleeping when the bar was closed during the earlier hours. With his own job Chatan was better sleeping at ‘normal’ times.

“Least you’re not waving a gun at me…”

“Don’t need one kid. Been in my share of brawls.” Trey grinned before pulling his bangs out of his face, the long scars fully visible to the teenager.

“Scars are a sign of failure.”

“These scars mean I survived a bottle to the face and beat the ever lovin snot out of the bastard that tried to kill me.” Trey frowned a little before smiling. “Mistakes are how we learn kid. I’ll never forget what happened and how. I’ll be damned I let it happen again.”

Chatan glanced at his beeper as it went off and legged it to the phone. A brief conversation later and he run to get his gear, abandoning all his manners and letting him taking his duty take priority.

Trey stood calmly and opened the front door. Within moments Chatan was kissing his cheek before mounting his bike and tearing off toward the Woods.

“He’s part of the rescue crew. Someone’s in trouble and they need his help.” Trey shrugged and stretched out, time for him to sleep. “If you leave, close the door behind you, they automatically lock.”

“… Thanks Trey-nim.”

Dwiro Dora 01

YeJun’s mouth filled with blood, his elder brother must have knocked out a tooth or something… hopefully one of the ones that happened to be already damaged. He spat everything out and aimed for the whitest part of the floor he could see. It wasn’t like he didn’t have this coming but… hell, didn’t mean he had to take a beating sitting on his arse.

MinJae was shouting something to SeungHyun about stopping, but he was absolutely furious and had no intention of letting the news he had heard go over his head. It wasn’t every day you heard that your younger brother had damn near raped your girlfriend, YeJun was extremely lucky that MinJae had stumbled across the scene and stopped what was going to happen.

“Oh fucks sake, she’s a chite you bloody moron. She doesn’t love you she lo-”

“Geuman!” SeungHyun faltered into an aggressive stance before directly facing his younger brother. “Stop. Don’t you dare.” He closed the gap, dismissing protest from MinJae. “Get the hell out of Dojang. I don’t care where you go. You are gone by tonight, if not. The police will deal with you.” He frowned, shutting down any rebuttal in an instant.

“Consider. She looks and is typically white. American. We, have… good English, but foreign looks and accents. Remember that. As far as they’re concerned, we’re as close to fresh off the boat.” SeungHyun tried to choose his words very carefully, they had been in the States long enough to have very few issues with the language, but he was angry enough to start yelling in Korean. A language both his younger brothers barely knew. “You. Haesan.”

YeJun lost the staring match and stormed up the stairs to grab his shit, not like he had all that much to have anyway. They were never rolling in cash, and fuck, when he was done he had a suitcase to his name.

“What do you want?” He glanced behind to see MinJae clutching his Ricky Rabbit toy as if were a lifeline. “Oh… fuck sake… You’re too old to be tuggin that thing round…” He rubbed the back of his neck and simply hugged his younger brother. Odd to think that they were only two years apart, he didn’t get why the fourteen year old acted half his age most of the time.

“Where… you gonna go?” MinJae snuffled into YeJun’s shoulder and refused to let go till he was good and ready.

YeJun resisted being a snarky bastard… For now, sometimes, bright as he was… His little brother was slow to a fault “Out of K-town, everyone’s gonna know what went down here… at least one twitcher was bound to be by the door…” He sighed and ruffled his brother’s hair, it was still as dark as the day he was born.

“But… where..?” MinJae tailed off and finally pulled away.

“I dunno… grab the nearest truck or just keep walkin…” YeJun glanced in the mirror at his own hair, while the roots needed doing it was a bleached red colour. He could only get what was cheap and it never stayed red for long… “Vegas. One of these days, you can look me up there. Can’t be many MoonYeJun’s there!” He forced a laugh, that was the plan… how he’d do it he didn’t know.

YeJun barely heard the voices that were trying to talk to him, he didn’t even care that he was being carried onto the back of a truck. They could do whatever, he had no strength left anymore to even argue with passers by.

He didn’t have a clue how long he had been huddled over in that doorway, using his case as a pillow and clutching it as if his life depended on it… It was everything he had, nothing even worth selling in it either… He only held onto it because it was his.

YeJun felt the truck stopping, the voices talking at him were as gentle as before and he finally let go of the case. Four hands hoisted him and a third pair carefully took the battered luggage from him and whispered in words he just couldn’t understand.