Mark
"Are you ready to head out?"
"Yeah one second!" I ducked back into the makeshift house we had made. It was only a few days ago Youngjae decided he had, had enough with sleeping against trees and on piles of leaves, trying to survive the elements. So he instructed the creation of a mini house made from tree branches, dirt to keep them together, and leaves as bedding. Everyone thought we were crazy, until a rainstorm hit. Let's just say we won that fight, and kept dry in the process. My fingers wrapped around the knife Jinyoung had given me. It had been almost a week now once Jb had warned us about our deadline. Since then Jinyoung and I have been training nonstop. From survival tactics to hand to hand and weapon combat, we were trying to cover all I needed to know in the time limited we were given.
During all the training, Jinyoung and I had found ourselves falling into a familiar routine. Wake up, eat, practice until sunset, go on a walk, sleep. I couldn't remember why the walks had started, but it had been after an exhausting practice.
My hand moved against my forehead. Breath coming out in pants as sweat attached itself to my skin,"Are we going to head back-" I turned to see Jinyoung has moved from his spot sat beside me, now walking into the trees,"Jinyoung?" He turned at the mention of his name, eyebrows raised as a silent question. My hands ran through my hair absentmindedly,"Where are you going?" Jinyoung's bottom lip rose to cover his top one, looking up in thought,"For a walk." He paused, mouth slightly agape before softly mumbling,"Come with me."
Since that day we continued to take walks, admiring the forest as the sunsets, speaking about everything and nothing at all. The walks worked as a break from reality, a time for just us two. It is because of those walks Jinyoung isn't as hesitant or scared of my touch. I haven't hugged him, or made contact in any romantic way since the river incident, but training has caused a few awkward moments. The shaking of his hands hadn't stopped, but he no longer struggled to get away when I had successfully pinned him in a victory position. His eyes didn't hold their usual terrified expression, well not as much as before.
"Mark hurry up! We are wasting time we don't have." Quickly standing up from my crouched position I hit my head on the wood above me. Letting out a groan I pat the spot before leaving our makeshift house, dagger in hand. I quickly spotted Jinyoung leaning against a tree, arms crossed over his chest. When he noticed my presence he immediately stood up straight,"Let's get going. We have a lot to do today." Nodding in response I followed behind him as we made our way to the usual trading grounds. It wasn't an official place to train, but for being forcefully moved from our old camp, we had to learn to make due.
The familiar area came into my view. A small space that didn't have trees in the middle of it. Leaves moved to the side so we didn't slip as easily. Originally we had practiced beside the river, but after BamBam stumbled upon the place while wandering helplessly, we decided it was a better fit for a last minute training 'arena'. Jinyoung placed his knife on the ground, I went to repeat his action, a hand held in front of my face made me stop. I looked up to see Jinyoung motioning me to the center of the area. Hesitantly moving to stand in front of him I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. Without replying Jinyoung took no time to lunge towards me. He had the element of surprise, grabbing my wrists to twist them and quickly push them over my body where they only gave pain. Letting out an inevitable yelp I struggled in his grip, almost instantly remembering Jinyoung telling me not to struggle. You are an idiot Mark Tuan, I scolded myself.
Going limp, Jinyoung sighed at my surrender,"What did I tell you about entering the arena?" Not liking Jinyoung's tone I narrowed my eyes childishly, only leaves in my view,"We are no longer on the same side." I mumbled, upset that I had given up so easily, or been defeated in such a short time. "That's right." He let go of my wrists, allowing me to quickly get them out of the painful position they were in. Straightening my posture I rubbed the now sore areas. The method of training Jinyoung used may seem cruel to others, but we had both agreed it would be most effective on me. That method was to not be afraid to hurt the other person, to act as if the battle was a life and death situation. That is until it becomes a situation where one would die of course.
Everything in training had been discussed and agreed upon, something I was really grateful Jinyoung did,"Are we going hand to hand?" I asked him as he stepped back, giving me time to recover from the attack. He hummed in thought,"We were originally, but I decided to use weapons today." My eyes widened slightly in surprise. We had only practiced with weapons a few times, Jinyoung saw it as training we would do once we learned how to not hurt each other while practicing. Jinyoung caught my surprised stare and chuckled,"We need to start preparing you for the actual rage. That means we have to assume you and the opponent will both be carrying weapons." Picking up his knife Jinyoung slid his fingers along the surface,"Your objective is to get my weapon away from me, and put me in a position that would cause a fatal position. Easy?"
I smirked, taking out my dagger and moving into a defensive stance,"Easy." Standing relaxed in front of me Jinyoung darted his eyes to the right side of my face. Not wanting to fall for any of his tricks I stepped to the right as he lunged. To my surprise he hadn't been pretending as his right first moved towards me. Not wanting to be defeated by an unexpected move twice I instinctively ducked. Jinyoung's hand flew over me as I went to trip him with my left leg sweeping the forest floor. Jinyoung easily dodged it by jumping,"Too slow Tuan. You're getting predictable." Moving to my feet I waste no time to go offensive, pretending to lunge to the right before quickly switching sides, hands wrapping around his waist and chest to easily push him to the ground.
Before he could hit the forest floor his arms went in between mine to push them off of him, causing me to fall as well. As my body collided with his he pushed my chest ruffly, switching our position. Pulling out the knife he hadn't been using this whole time he placed it beside my throat. Now straddling my waist Jinyoung looked down at my defeated form, panting,"Failed." My breathing pattern matched his as I softly pushed his wrist away with the back of my hand. Sitting up I was now face to face with Jinyoung, and was glad for the comfortable atmosphere. My head fell tiredly against his shoulder, heart beating rapidly in my chest. I couldn't tell if it was from the rush of training or the nervousness I felt when he tensed.
Just in case he was upset or not okay with our current position I made a quick decision. Taking advantage of Jinyoung's calm state I held onto the hand holding his knife before flipping us over. Jinyoung let out an angry battle cry as he struggled to get free. Moving his weapon to face him I brought it to his neck in victory. He kicked his legs out angrily making them brush the sides of my body. I smiled happily,"Failed? I don't think so." He let out a huff of annoyed air, lips pouted,"You cheated."
"No I didn't, you let your guard down."
"Because you would have been dead by now in a real battle." Jinyoung tried to cross his arms over his chest before realizing I had them pinned to the ground, he settled for turning his head away from me instead. I mockingly cooed,"Is Jinyoungie mad at me?" Jinyoung's eyes narrowed, gaze fixed on the ground,"It doesn't matter if you cheated because you still failed. You didn't steal my weapon, that's yours." Taken aback by the sudden confession I reached for my weapon, shocked when my hand couldn't find it,"What the- when did you?"
Jinyoung's eyes closed tightly as he laughed, the wrinkles forming around them,"When you decided to try and push me onto the ground. Bad idea after putting your weapon away." I had thought about using a different move that involved my dagger but was scared I would hurt him,"Using weapons is too dangerous." Is what I said instead. Jinyoung's smile faded,"I can take a few scratches Yi en." Finally letting go of Jinyoung's arms I rolled off of him, the comfortable atmosphere gone,"No one can." After minutes of sickening silence, Jinyoung stood up, brushing dust off his clothes,"Get up. We aren't done training. I was thinking we could work on stealth for the rest of today." Quickly jumping to my feet I began training.
It was hours later, after Jinyoung and I's walk(which was filled with complete silence for the first time), that we walked into the temporary camp site. Everything appeared to be the same as we left it, bandits scattered across the camp. Some sleeping, some eating whatever food they could find, some training. Youngjae and Hansol waved us over, BamBam arriving just as we did. The three of us approached the two happily seeing the food in their hands,"Where did this come from?" Jinyoung asked, eagerly taking an apple from Youngjae's offering hand. Hansol spoke first, Youngjae too occupied with eating,"The village."
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, hands holding a piece of bread,"The village? Did Jb send out a rage?" Youngjae spoke up, hands empty after finishing his dinner,"Not really. More of a get in, get food, get out kind of mission." We nodded in understanding, BamBam standing silently off to the side. Giving a small smile I reached out my arm, hooking it around his shoulders and pulling him to my side. The boy jumped a bit before relaxing against me. Jinyoung's eyes met mine and gave me a bright smile, staring at us with soft eyes.
It was about an hour later when we decided to get some sleep. The next few days seemed to blend together in a repeated process.
Wake up.
"Get up!"
I groaned at the sound of Jinyoung's command, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. Even if I wasn't entirely comfortable. Slowly waking I sat up, rubbing my eyes tiredly, knowing Jinyoung was waiting outside impatiently. His tolerance kept getting worse as the days went by and I knew it was due to our deadline approaching and I wasn't anymore excited about it than he was. Mumbling about what a jerk Jb was I picked up my dagger and exited the makeshift bedroom.
Train.
Jinyoung watched from the side as I practiced hand to hand combat with Hansol, fixing my mistakes only seconds after they happened. His eyes narrowed, taking every move seriously, never looking anywhere else,"Move quicker, don't think so much. You should know what to do unconsciously by now." Sweat was dripping down my face as Hansol lunged, flinching I dodged but was a second too late. His fist connected with the bottom of my jaw, causing my head to snap to the side,"Don't flinch!" Not letting the hit get to me I stumbled a bit before taking steps back, eyes never leaving my opponent. I'm going to get you for that one. As if reading my mind Jinyoung called out,"Don't let emotions get to you, or you'll lose." Shaking my head to get rid of the dull ache coming from my mouth I faked a lunge, instead going for his stomach as he blocked his face. Without punching I pushed him, causing Hansol to step back, giving me time to lean down and sweep my leg across the floor. His own legs came out from under him as he hit the ground with a thud. Quickly going beside him I placed one hand under his chin and the other on his forehead,"Checkmate."
And repeat.
"Up lazy butt!" Hands grabbed at my shirt and I was surprised to see BamBam shaking me awake,"Jinyoung is already at the training arena. Told me to come wake you up and send you over." Giving him a tired nod he let go, my body falling back against the leaves,"And he said to hurry up." BamBam called before leaving, a mischievous tone could be heard in his voice. I groaned, not ready for another day of hardcore training.
A kick thrown my way unexpectedly collided with my stomach,"Pay attention! Don't focus too much on one area when the body can use more than one at a time. Again." My hands rested against my stomach, hunched over. It was today that Jinyoung was being stricter than ever, this wasn't the first time I was hit. A stressed sigh was heard from above me,"I'm sorry Yi en. This is just so stressful." When the ache started to fade I moved to look at Jinyoung, his hands running through his hair,"You are going on this rage I'm not allowed to go on, to do who knows what. How can I prepare you for it if I don't know what it is?" Stepping forward my hand reached out to comfort him, before remembering he isn't okay with my touch anymore. Jinyoung's eyes followed my movement as retraced my steps, away from him,"Let's train. Don't be scared to hit me, and I won't be to it you." Why do we feel so far from each other? Is it that easy to shut someone out Jinyoung? I'll try my best to fix this after the rage.
Until we reach the deadline.
"Mark I swear-"
"I'm up!" I groaned, not ready for more hand to hand combat. My knuckles still bruised from a few encounters where the tree became my opponent,"Are we working on right swings today?" A hum escaped the other boy's lips,"No. I want to practice dodging. If you do well we can do escape training." My eyes shot open, body practically bouncing up,"Escape training?" I asked, voice full of hope. Escape training had become my favorite quickly. It worked the way it had when I was kidnapped. I would be given five seconds to run before Jinyoung followed, trying to locate and pin me in a position where I would be a goner. We usually didn't practice it, according to Jinyoung I shouldn't have to use it on a rage. But it was definitely more enjoyable than any other training exercises.
Following Jinyoung out of our makeshift room I wanted to internally scream at the sight of Jb standing outside,"Ah finally! I've been waiting for you two to get up." Jinyoung raised a brow, obviously not liking Jb's presence just as much as me,"And why is that." The bandit leader let a smirk appear on his lips,"Just wanted to tell you that as soon as you finish training today, the rage begins."
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And we are getting somewhere! Can't wait for the drama next chapter brings! Btw can someone save me? I start school tomorrow!!! I'm entering highschool and not very excited
Btw I can't stop replaying the JJP album 2 verse. It's sssooo good!
Hope you guys enjoy another long chapter update! See ya next Sunday