DragonHeart | Minsung

VII

"I'm hungry!" Jisung whined.

Minho and Jisung had been traveling through the forest all day. They had only stopped for a few bathroom breaks, and they only snacked on dry bread after the small portion of meat that morning.

Jisung's stomach had been growling for food for quite some time, and he had been complaining that he wanted to stop so they could cook some actual food. Minho had denied his request a couple of times already, explaining that they needed to keep moving.

Minho rolled his eyes at the younger man's complaining. "Jisung, I know you're used to eating full course meals every day, but you'll have to get used to eating little food for the time being."

Jisung groaned. "Oh come on!" He pointed up to the sky through the trees. "The sun will be setting soon, let's just set up camp."

Jisung was right, it had already started to get darker. They would probably only have an hour or two of daylight left.

The brown-haired man sighed. "Fine. There should be a creek up ahead soon, can you wait until then? We can set up camp and then get some water and food and freshen up."

Jisung smiled, happy that he got his way and willing to go on a little bit further. "Okay, sounds good to me."

It wasn't long before they could hear the soothing sound of running water. As they walked further, they finally came upon a small bridge that ran across a stream.

"Come on. We should walk along the stream, off the trail a bit so people won't see us when they go by." Minho spoke, gesturing for Jisung to follow him as he turned off of the trail.

Minho lead them along the edges of the stream channel. The terrain was a bit rough because of the rocks that laid along the edges of the water, so he took it slow. It would be easy for their horses to trip if they weren't careful. For many, horses were just replaceable, but Jisung made sure to take care of Bbama. To him he was more than just a means of travel.

Minho continued on for a couple minutes, and stopped once he came to a small clearing in the trees. "Mm, this looks like a good place to stop."

Jisung nodded in agreement, he wasn't able to see the trail from where they were, dense trees blocking the view. He waited for the other to dismount first before he did the same.

Neither bothered to tie their horses up, wanting to give them some time to just graze for a while. Jisung was confident in Bbama's recall and he wasn't a very skittish horse, so he didn't worry about him running off.

Jisung grabbed his tent and bedroll, preparing to set up his sleeping arrangements. He now knew how to set up the tent, so it didn't take as long as before.

When he was finished, he turned around to find Minho crouched over the creek. He had taken his shirt off and was washing it in the water. It wasn't going to get his clothes very clean, but it would help some.

Jisung's eyes were stuck on Minho's back. Wrapped around most of his torso were bandages. The bandages stopped under his armpits, leaving his arms, shoulders, and up without.

He couldn't help but be curious to why he would be that way. "What happened?" He asked as he walked towards him.

Minho turned his head towards Jisung. "What?" For a moment he was confused about what he could be talking about, but it soon clicked. "Ooh, this? On my last job I was teaching the man that hired me some things...and he accidentally got me with his blade."

"Are you okay? Should you even be helping me? Won't it make it hard for you to fight?" Jisung spewed questions at him.

Minho turned back to what he was doing before, and began to ring the water out of his shirt by twisting it as he spoke. "No I'm okay, I just keep it wrapped up until it's fully healed. Don't want it getting dirty is all."

"Oh, okay..." Jisung didn't question it. That explanation sounded reasonable to him.

Minho squeezed as much water as he could out of the clothing, and stood up. "Do you want to wash up? I can get a fire going and see if I can catch any fish while you do that." He said, walking over to a low-hanging branch to hang up his wet shirt.

Jisung thought about it, and agreed. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea..I probably smell pretty bad." Most commoners and people that traveled were used to smelling poorly, but it was a newer sensation for him.

Minho dug through his belongings to find his second set of clothes, which were clean. Once he found them, he changed.

He walked around their campsite until he found a suitable stick. He unsheathed his small knife and began whittling away at the end. He was clearly trying to make some kind of spear.

"I'm going to go back downstream a bit. I saw a pool that had a few fish in it on our way over here." He said as he walked away, still working on the stick.

Jisung slipped his shirt off once Minho had his back turned to him, making sure to hide the scar that ran down the center of his chest. "Okay, good luck." He continued to take the rest of his clothes off, making sure put his mother's ring where he wouldn't lose it.

He dipped his toes in the water, wincing and quickly taking them back out. "Fuck, that's cold!"

He could faintly hear Minho laugh at him from afar, but ignored it.

Now that he knew how cold it would be, he was able to try again without being as surprised. It took a while, but he was eventually able to adjust to the temperature and get in the water.

He walked out until the water covered his lower-half and began splashing water on himself. He had brought a soap bar with him, and rubbed that on his body once he was wet enough.

He also took some time to clean his own clothes, and stayed in the water when he was done. It felt kind of nice now that it didn't feel so cold.

It didn't take long for Minho to come back, fish in hand. "I got one. It's small, but it's something fresh."

Jisung jumped a bit when he heard him speak, quickly bringing his hands to his chest to hide his scar. He hadn't realise that he was there, caught up in his thoughts.

When Jisung finally decided to get out of the water, Minho had gotten a fire ready. He walked out of the water, trying to cover himself with his hands.

Minho noticed his discomfort, and he seemed to find it a bit amusing. "I've seen naked men before, don't worry about it." He tossed Jisung his set of clean clothes so he wouldn't have to be exposed for much longer. "Plus you've got a nice body, don't be embarrassed to show it off." He teased.

Jisung felt his face heat up. "I- uh....thanks?"

He quickly put his clothes on.

When he was finished, he walked back to his tent to grab a bag of dried fruits that he had brought.

"Want some?" He asked, reaching them out to show Minho what he had.

Minho squinted so he could see what Jisung had, and then nodded. " Yeah, sure."

He was occupied by holding the fish over the fire, so Jisung came to him. He settled beside the taller man, putting the bag between them so they could share.

"Thanks."