Chapter 2: 4318 Words

    After changing into his army clothing and a steady amount of avoiding Mingyu, Wonwoo managed to make it the rest of the night with minimal interaction between him and the said giant. In the morning, he discovered that for their first full day they would participate in the first round of "The Army Games." Jisoo introduced Wonwoo to the leader of their "Troop", Troop17, Seungcheol. Jisoo and Seungcheol attempted to explain the gist of the army games to Wonwoo. Each Cabin was also a troop who would train together during the weekdays and through out the month, during every weekend, they would compete in a series of challenges. Each challenge provided a certain amount of points to the winner and less points to second and third place (and so on and so forth) , until one troop would win at the end of the summer. 

    For the last few years, Troop17 had been a fierce competitor in the games. They had won 3rd two years in a row. Their main competition came from Troop14 and Troop7, each led by a 5th year, like Seungcheol. Troop 7 was the front runner of the three, having won the games every year for over a decade now. 

    The first competition was always a surprise, never repeated and always a physical team competition, a fact that Wonwoo found quite frustrating considering he'd only ever possibly excel in something academic. He didn't want to just be dead weight for the team. He really enjoyed the company of Jisoo and Seungcheol and didn't want to disappoint his hyungs, but athletics weren't his strong suit in any way. The fact that all his new friends would discover his uselessness in a few hours suddenly gave him extreme anxiety.

    "What's wrong Wonwoo Hyung, miss me?" Wonwoo could feel the obnoxious presence before he heard him, his blissful silence and peace ending. Strangely, Seungcheol looked just as ready to kill Mingyu as Wonwoo did. 

    "Mingyu, don't you have something better to do with your time before battle than annoying the newbies?" Wonwoo had already realized that Seungcheol felt very seriously about the games, but the way he spoke of them, as if they were a real battle rather than a camp time game. Wonwoo felt a distinct tension in the air between the two boys, and for the first time since he had arrived, Mingyu didn't look quite so sure of himself. 

    Before he knew it, Wonwoo was being pulled aside by a beautiful long haired boy, so beautiful that if it wasn't an all boys camp, Wonwoo would've assumed he was a girl. 

    "Don't mind the brothers, they love each other almost as much as they hate each other." The beautiful boy said with a graceful laugh. His voice was light and airy in a way that matched his delicate features. 

    "Brothers?" Wonwoo said questioningly. The two boys didn't share a whole lot of resemblance, or more importantly, a last name. Kim Mingyu and Choi Seungcheol. 

    "Well, Step Brothers, but after almost 12 years what's the difference really? Cheol is fiercely protective and proud of Mingyu, even with all the mischief he creates. You can also tell in the way they fight, they're our best two overall fighters. They both have this passion about them, it's crazy. They're both so alike that they drive each other insane. Especially when Cheol attempts to keep Mingyu out of trouble" He laughs again, in the same breathless way. The way he speaks of their leader, it's different. Much different than he's seen anyone else speak of him. Wonwoo would guess that the two boys were most likely very close.

    "I'm Yoon Jeonghan by the way" Jeonghan introduces himself to Wonwoo just as the other two boys walk back over. They look as though they've talked it out. Now they're ready to leave and are just messing around with one another, debating over who will do better in today's competition and lightly jostling one another around. Mingyu looks up and smirks, seeing Wonwoo staring at him and Wonwoo looks away quickly. Mingyu glances over to Seungcheol, who simply rolls his eyes,  before he approaches Wonwoo, grabbing his chin again. Wonwoo's heart lurched and he could already feel his cheeks heating up.

    "What happened to always looking me in the eyes Newbie?" Mingyu winked at Wonwoo before releasing his chin. Seungcheol cleared his throat and now the whole cabin had their eyes on him. He had a certain aura that just screamed leader and Wonwoo could see why he was fit for the job. 

    "Alright Troop, we have about 6 new additions to our troop this year to replace the 7 who left last year. You 6 newbies may not even know anyone's names, but it doesn't matter. You're on our team and we will protect you out there. We expect you to do the same. Now let's head out and have fun. Hands in" They then did something that seemed quite unusual to Wonwoo. The boys began to link pinkies, one by one, Wonwoo added in his own as well, until they were a circle. Mingyu, who stood next to Wonwoo squeezed his pinky. Even though Wonwoo had barely met a forth of these boys, he was glad to be put on this team. Even though they might hate him after they found out his lack of athletic, or really any, ability, he felt that they probably wouldn't hold it against him much; they were already friends somehow. And Wonwoo was happy to have each of them on his team, as his friends, except maybe Mingyu. Wonwoo could probably do without Mingyu. They all chanted the word Seventeen and then they were off, heading for the games. 

<><><><><><><><>

    By the time they got to the large battle clearing, it was probably around 4:00. They didn't have to be here until 4:30, so they were definitely early, but Wonwoo still wasn't 100% sure. There was already several other teams there. They all seemed to be larger, older and scarier than Wonwoo's own team and Wonwoo knew he was dead meat. Wonwoo was busy silently cursing his parents for sending him here and for wanting him to be a man, so busy that he didn't even realize the man from the other team who was approaching him. 

    "You're new." Said a sharp looking, handsome, yet rather intimidating man. He was shorter than Wonwoo, with sandy blonde hair. Wonwoo could see from his uniform that he was apart of the supposedly deadly Troop7. Wonwoo wished they were required to wear their lanyards with their name tags around the camp, so he wouldn't have to guess at people's names, age, and years at camp. 

    "Yes, I'm a part of Troop 17" Wonwoo answered in what he tried to make a polite and not at all fearful voice. Although, it was very difficult with the man frequently raking his eyes over Wonwoo. It was almost as if he was trying to decide how easy it would be to break Wonwoo, or eat him, maybe both. 

    "I'm aware" the blonde answered with a smirk. "You joined the wrong team, but I don't have to tell you that. You'll see for yourself." The man was leaning closer as he talked and it was all Wonwoo could do to not run away, trying to look brave. "Maybe next year you'll request Troop7, we'll have some openings and we need some brainiacs like yourself." He slowly lifted his hands to Wonwoo's face and removed his glasses. Wonwoo didn't like the move at all and suddenly felt flustered. "Even better if your skills are half as fierce as your face. Trust me, you don't need these" He trailed a hand down Wonwoo's jawline before he tossed Wonwoo's precious glasses flippantly over behind his head. Wonwoo attempted to rush behind him and grab them, hoping that no major damage was done. But behind the blonde, was none other than Kim Mingyu, holding his glasses. 

    It was obvious to Wonwoo that Mingyu hadn't just been in the right place at the right time. He was clearly out of breath and had presumably ran just to catch Wonwoo's precious glasses. Wonwoo did realize he was being quite melodramatic about the act of saving the simple frames, but he couldn't stop the way he gazed at Mingyu in awe. Mingyu always looked good, something Wonwoo truly envied him for, but standing here, glistening with sweat and looking like he was about to kill someone. It was truly remarkable 

    "Wonho" Mingyu seethingly cut out as he stomped over to the smaller boy while pushing Wonwoo slightly behind him. "What the do you think you're doing. We are under strict orders to never attempt to intimidate another team before a battle" This was the first time Wonwoo had seen Mingyu truly angry and he was beginning to think that this wasn't just about him being picked on. It had to be about something deeper, like the rivalry. Why would Mingyu ever care this much about him? 

    "Pshhhh" Wonho scoffed, "When were you ever one to follow rules, my dear Mingyu? Besides, I was just trying to have a little fun with your newest recruit, and he really does look so much prettier without those damn glasses" Wonho was waltzing around Mingyu as he said this, so when he was finished speaking, he ended up being face to face with Wonwoo, who was previously cowering behind Mingyu and was still without his glasses. Wonho reached out to Wonwoo's cheek, but before he could do so, Mingyu had grabbed Wonwoo's arm and was roughly pulling him towards the rest of Troop17. When they were almost to their team and a safe distance away from Wonho, Mingyu whipped Wonwoo around so that they were face to face. 

    "Don't talk to him." Mingyu said gruffly. He was still seething, but his eyes were almost back to their previous childlike softness again. Mingyu reached into his pocket and pulled out Wonwoo's precious glasses. He gingerly cleaned them with his shirt and slipped them back onto Wonwoo's face. They were so close, and Wonwoo now had 100% of his vision back so that he was able to come to this realization. Wonwoo had never truly pla