DragonHeart | Minsung

XV

The two managed to climb back up the hill, taking their time as to not sustain any more injuries. Once they were back at their campsite, Minho worked on getting the fire started. A task that didn't take him very long.

"You sit here and warm up." Minho said.

Jisung did as he was told, and settled on the ground near the fire. He groaned as he sat down from the pain in his back.

Minho went back to his pile of belongings, giving his horse a pat on the neck as he walked past her. He rummaged through his bags until he had pulled out a small metal tin and a piece of cloth.

On his way back to where Jisung sat, he also grabbed the half-full water that was next to his sleeping pad. With those items in hand, he walked back over to the fire.

"What are you doing?" Jisung asked, watching as the other man kneeled on the ground in front of him.

Minho put the metal tin aside. He unscrewed the cap to the canteen, using some of the water inside to dampen the cloth. "You're hurt...can't just leave it like this."

He brought the cloth up to Jisung's forehead. He must've hit his head at some point, because he had blood slowly leaking from a tear above his right eye.

"...Is it bad?" Jisung asked.

Minho shook his head. "No, it's not too deep...you'll be fine." He continued to wipe away the blood from his forehead, trying to be as gentle as he could.

"Okay, good..." He paused. "Do you think it'll leave a scar?"

Once his skin was clean enough so he put the cloth down on his lap, so it wouldn't get dirty on the ground. "If it does it'd probably be small, so don't worry about your perfect Prince image," Minho replied.

He grabbed the metal container and opened it. "You'd look hot with a scar anyway, so it'll be fine."

There was a moment of awkward silence after that, and Minho scolding himself in his head for saying that. It seemed ill-fitting, considering the atmosphere between them since he revealed his identity to him.

Jisung eventually spoke. "What's that?" He asked, referring to the clear substance he was taking out of the tin and putting on his forehead.

"It's aloe vera. It's all I brought with me, but it should help it heal." Minho said.

"Oh, okay." Jisung said.

Minho told him to turn around so that he could get the wounds on his back, but Jisung denied and stood up. "It's fine."

Minho sighed, standing up as well. "Look...I know that I make you uncomfortable, and you hate me now...and I'm sorry about that. We can turn around today and I can take you home, and you can go get some top-notch knights to escort you to Gimpo instead...but for now you're hurt, and it needs to be taken care of."

There was another pause before Jisung spoke again. "...I can't go back. My father already said that he won't send any reinforcements to get her...and I never said that you make me uncomfortable."

"It's written all over your face, Jisung!" Minho snapped. "You've barely spoken to me since I told you, and every time you look at me it's like...like I'm some kind of monster!"

He went on while Jisung stood speechless in front of him. "I get that I shouldn't have lied, and I know I'm an asshole for that...but I know you wouldn't have given me the slightest chance if you knew from the get-go!"

"Minho, please calm down..." Jisung cut him off before he could ramble on any further. "This is all just new to me..."

Minho sighed once again, but more in disappointment towards himself for losing control. "I know, I'm sorry..."

Jisung gripped the hem of his shirt, and pulled it off of his head. He turned around so that his back was accessible to Minho. "It's fine."

His back was turning pink and red on and around the area that had hit the rocks below the water. There wasn't a lot of blood, the skin had only been broken in a few places. However, he would still definitely develop bruises over the next couple of days.

Minho knew that it wasn't fine; they weren't fine, but he didn't meddle any further. He put more water on the cloth and went along with gently wiping away any blood and debris from his skin.

He'd seen Jisung's body from afar while they washed up, but this was different. Now that he was right in front of him, touching him, the detail began to stick out to him. His back and shoulders were fairly muscular, and his waist was small. The skin that wasn't damaged looked soft and well-kept, like his face, a result of his wealthy lifestyle.

"Are you almost done?" Jisung asked after he noticed that Minho had stoppped rubbing the aloe on his skin, and just had his hand on one spot.

He took his hand off of Jisung after he realised that he'd been spacing out. "Yeah, looks a bit better now." He said, and took a step back to give Jisung space again. "You'll probably be sore tomorrow..."

"I know..." Jisung said with a sigh, wincing again as he pulled his shirt back over his head.

Minho gathered the cloth, container of aloe cream, and his water canteen. "Should we get ready to go now? This set us back a while..."

Jisung reached for Minho's hand. He kept a firm grip, stopping him from walking away. "I-" He paused for a moment. "I don't hate you, Minho...thank you for helping me today."