Inception (Ateez Ot8 x Reader)

💦Chapter 43💦

I grunted, feeling my grip slip once again as Mingi tossed me to the ground. This had to be upwards of twenty times since starting my training with Yunho about two hours ago. Mingi grinned down at me as I laid there. My body is screaming at me from the pain I was putting it through and now the aches that I'll no doubt experience later. Hongjoong looked amused standing on the side of our little training session. Even Wooyoung would let loose a snicker every once in a while. Yeosang and San were the only two who had the decency to look as if they felt bad for me. Sometimes Yeosang would even be on the verge of interfering until Hongjoong would stop him. Jongho was oddly impassive. He never made a noise, no change in expression, hardly even blinked as he studied every move I made. Everyone was here, except Seonghwa. He was a ghost as soon as plans were arranged for me to begin my training.
"If you keep letting go like that, he'll toss you every time. Hold your grip." Yunho sighed.
I took Mingi's offered hand, letting him pull me back to my feet.
"Easy for you to say, the man is a giant and has twice the muscle I do." I grumbled.
"That doesn't matter. You can take men three times his size, it's not about power. Use his weight against him, his momentum. Don't shy away from his body, lean into it. Eliminating that space between you gives you the advantage."
Mingi grabbed my wrist again, and before I could trap it, Yunho laid his hand over mine, locking onto Mingi's knuckles.
"When you engage, you're committing. Every action after that counts. Don't let go and don't loosen up. Otherwise you're giving him a chance to take the control you've established back."
Yunho's eyes met mine. The softness that had become familiar when he looked at me was gone. In its place was the Yunho responsible for the training of the soldiers of legend, a hint of the man he was when I first met him.
"I don't care if your hold is about to break his bones. Don't. Let. Go."
Yunho released my hand, and I doubled down on my efforts to keep Mingi's fingers around my wrist. Just like every time before that though, Mingi was faster, body stepping into mine. I took Yunho's advice, welcoming that infiltration of personal space. Mingi made a move to grab me, I ducked his reach, twisting under the arm I had a hold of, or, trying to anyway. Mingi wrapped his arm around my shoulders, one foot kicking the back of my knee and sending me down to the ground again. This time though, he followed me, his large frame hovering over mine as he smiled.
"That was pretty good." He complimented me.
"You know, the only way I'll learn to do this correctly is if you let me win once or twice." I huffed, my chest heaving with the effort to breathe while Mingi didn't even appear to be breaking a sweat.
"Where's the fun in that?" He chuckled.
Before he could rise, Yunho laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Learning opportunity. Wrap your legs around him."
"What?"
Yunho nodded, pointing at my legs clad in a pair of breeches Wooyoung had let me borrow.
"I'm going to show you how to get out of this. Wrap your legs around his waist, tightly. Lock him to you."
I took a deep breath, doing as I was told and wrapping my legs around the tops of Mingi's hips.
"Cross your ankles spitfire. Give yourself that leverage to control his lower half." Hongjoong supplied, nodding in approval when I listened.
"Now, your attacker got you on the ground. Let's say they go for the obvious means of incapacitating you and start choking." Mingi's hands came around my throat.
The sheer size of them had his fingers overlapping one another and although he didn't squeeze enough to cut off air, my heart pounded hard enough with the realization of how easily he could.
"Wrap your arms over his, hands over his opposite forearm." Yunho instructed, crouching next to us.
He showed me exactly how he wanted me to grab Mingi. My arms crisscrossing over Mingi's, binding him to me. Yunho laid one large palm over the top of my grip, pressing down into my chest.
"Hug him tightly, make sure you've got a good enough grip because you're going to lift your hips in the next motion and bring your calves over his shoulders. Push him back and stretch away from his hold."
I followed his instruction, tightening my grip and lifting my hips. My calves hooked onto Mingi's shoulders, and I pushed as hard as I could while pressing my upper half into the ground. Mingi's hands around my neck loosened and then released entirely, seconds before he sucked in a sharp breath. Immediately, I let him go, wondering if I did something wrong. Yunho grinned, chuckling at Mingi who bent and extended his elbows, testing them.
"I should've warned you that it'll break an arm if enough force is applied."
"Just like you to leave out the important bits." Mingi grumbled.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
His expression softened, his hand reaching towards me, pushing stray hairs off my sweaty forehead.
"I'm fine."
"I think that's enough for today."
I turned my head at Yeosang's approach, the pointed look he gave Yunho relaying that there would be no arguments.
"A wonderful suggestion. Wouldn't want these savages running you through the ground on your first training session." Wooyoung chirped, bouncing his way after Yeosang to me.
Yunho rolled his eyes. "I've been training soldiers for years. I know a person's limits."
"Yeah well, just because you can push yourselves doesn't mean you should." He scoffed, offering me a hand to help me off the ground.
"Spoken like a true half-cocked bastard." Mingi laughed.
"How about an early dinner?" Wooyoung suggested, ignoring Mingi's blatant jab.
"I'll clean up first and then meet you?"
"Don't take too long."
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