fight/flight.

Chanyeol didn’t mean for things to get this far,  he did it at first for the extra money and now it changed to be so much more than that. It’s about the look in his opponent’s eye; thinking he can beat him. It’s about the roar of the crowd; supporting him, believing in him. It’s about the rush of adrenaline when he takes down someone supposedly stronger than him. It’s about the winning. It’s about taking a few hits then coming back stronger. It has become him, taken over him. He wasn’t Park Chanyeol the goofy music major anymore. No. He’s the virus that keeps coming back, throwing down anyone who dares oppose him and proving that he’s the strongest.

It started out slowly, missing deadlines, rent being overdue, he barely had enough money to keep himself fed. Of course he could have looked for a decent nine to five job which he had done, he’s held down a few jobs in his time but they were nothing permanent. He discovered fighting first before his search for a job began,  he was on his way to the convenience store to pick some cigarettes when a discrete poster caught his eye. It was stuck to the door among many others, but to him it stuck out like a sore thumb, he couldn’t keep his eyes away from it. The silhouette of a man in a wrestling ring took centre along with the words ‘prove your strength, test your mettle’ printed in bold across it. ‘accepting all newcomers of any weight’ it informed him, in a smaller font before address details and rules, the words ‘The Exo Pit’ were proudly sat at the top under an unusual hexagon logo, finally it read ‘$200 to the victor’. Chanyeol could really do with two hundred dollars and even more than that, he was a healthy-ish guy, he exercises when he can since the gym in his area was quite cheap.

How hard could it be to win against another guy in a fight?

He used to play fight with Kris all the time but this was completely different from a friendly scrap with your best friend. He felt in a daze for the rest of the night and nearly burned the dry flakes of skin from his lips when he let his cigarette burn down too far.

He was tempted, he wasn’t exactly strong though, it would be hard however he could really do with some money.

In the middle of the night, in his unruly mess of a room, upon his unwashed sheets, he came to a decision.

He would sign up.

☄