“I’m gonna kick your .”

“I’d like to see you try, scrawny.”

Kibum growled under his breath, lunching at Minho, punching a fist straight out towards the taller male and his long time sparring partner. Minho easily dodged the attack and grabbed Kibum’s wrist to flip the blonde over his shoulder, landing him on the ground with a thud. Groaning, Kibum coughed and then fought to get back to his feet with as much dignity as possible. “I hate this sparring crap. I’m not good at upfront combat.”

“Which is why you need to practice it as much as possible, Kibum.” Minho reminded him, offering out a hand to the male who was sitting on the rug that had done little to soften his fall on the hard stone floor. “Come on, one more try and then you can take a break.”

Kibum sighed and took Minho’s hand, feeling the warmth of the taller male’s particular abilities spread through his fingertips, making his cheeks flush red. Released his hold once he was upon his feet, they took a fighting stance once more.

“Now, I’m going to act like a less practiced fighter so you can work on seeking out weak points to attack, okay?” Minho told him. “Remember, slow and fluid movements, they’ll disorient your opponent better than jerky movements.”

“Yeah, I got it.” Kibum mumbled, annoyed by Minho’s chatter.

He noticed an opening under Minho’s arm, he lunged for it, feeling Minho’s arm come back down to prevent him from actually hitting his waist, signalling for Kibum to seek the next weak point. This continued for several minutes, their feet moving about the round space, Kibum finding the openings Minho gave him, until Minho startled him, reaching out for his upper arm. On instinct alone, Kibum utilised his abilities, vanishing from sight to avoid Minho’s grasp, taking a few steps away before he circled Minho using practiced steps of silence before he prodded at the centre of Minho’s back, startling a sharp cry from the taller male who turned and reached blindly in his direction.

Kibum couldn’t help but chuckle warmly, avoiding Minho again and leaning in to whisper in his ear. “Come and get me, Minho.”

Once again moving from Minho’s reach, Kibum rushed to all the lanterns and candles about the room, blowing each one out so he wouldn’t project a shadow – the sky outside cloudy and preventing any light from entering the small space the pair used to spar. Once that was done he circled Minho a few more times, slow and precise as Minho closed his eyes, knowing that after years of sparring together this would be his only chance of finding Kibum in the pure darkness.

Feeling daring, Kibum ever so surely moved in, his circles getting smaller and smaller as he approached Minho so gradually it would be impossible to tell how close he was until it was too late. When he was just close enough, standing not a metre from Minho, he lunged forwards, capturing soft lips with his own for but a moment, earning a startled gasp after the smack of their skin rushing to part echoed through the room.

“Kibum…” Minho whispered, eyes opening and glancing around the room, not even bothering to try and reach for Kibum knowing he was well out of his arm’s length already. “Baby, where are you?”

Kibum giggled. “You’ll have to find me first.”

Letting out a long sigh, Minho rose one hand, palm up, a flame slowly growing within it.

“Oh come on, Minho. Don’t do that.” Kibum pleaded.

“If you can cheat, so can I.” Minho stated, the flame splitting into many, lighting all of the candles one again.

To his right was Kibum’s shadow and Minho lunged for it, managing to grip Kibum’s ankle and send the smaller male falling to the ground from the whiplash. Flicking into appearance again, Kibum groaned. “Ow, Minho… that really hurt.” He whined, rubbing his forehead with one hand.

Minho crawled up Kibum’s form, kissing his arms and hands until finally meeting mouth to mouth, both breathing in each other’s scent. “I’m sorry.” He whispered after the kiss was broken, reached with his lips to lay a lingering kiss to Kibum’s reddening forehead. “But you should know better than to try winning against me.”

Rolling his eyes, Kibum lay back, letting Minho’s arms cradle him protectively against his chest. “At least the King can know one of his special slave soldiers will always wanna kick .”

“Oh come on, we’re not slaves.”

“Yes we are. Stolen from our families at birth to train our abilities all to do his bidding in his quest to conquer the world. Face it, Minho. We’re slaves.”

Minho sighed softly, kissing Kibum again as he rubbed circles into the other’s waist with his thumb. “At least we have each other, that’s all that matters to me.”