The best thing about starting training is that Jongin doesn't randomly disappear anymore.  Minseok knows it had happened frequently before he'd met Jongin and even right after the ceremony, Jongin had suddenly zapped away, only to be found in the parking lot of the ceremonial hall.  Now, they focus on synchronization.  It's not just their movements that they work on syncing.  They work on syncing how they think and how they feel.  It's a difficult process, especially when they're trying to build up physical strength at the same time.  However, Minseok is relieved that Jongin looks much happier than when he'd first met Jongin. 

They train alongside other trainees who are Jongin's age. And now, they've spent enough time together that Minseok has memorized their names, not just their numbers.

Today they're working on weight training and Minseok watches nervously as Jongin lifts a twenty pound weight to work on his triceps.

"Shouldn't you start with something lighter?" Minseok carefully asks, trying not to bruise Jongin's pride.

But Jongin laughs, "I'll be fine Hyung."

"Ha!  In my prime, I used to work out with fifty pound weights!" boasts Chanyeol, number 61.

"Yah, are you an old man?  Isn't this your prime right now?" teases Baekhyun, shaking his head.  "Say something that makes sense will you?"

"Stop making me look back in front of 99 Hyung!"

"Whatever, Park Chanyeol!  Don't make me ask Minseok hyung to bench press you into the ground!"

"That doesn't even make sense!" cries Jongdae, cackling.

Sehun, who is Jongdae's Partner, also snickers behind the leg press machine.

"Yah!" Chanyeol shouts, ears red.  "You wanna see?!  You wanna see?!"

And Chanyeol strides over to the weights, reaching for the heaviest looking one.  Minseok wonders if he should stop the young man, but luckily, the trainer steps in first.

"Number 61, stop pretending and work on your planks!"

The others pretend to be busy with their own exercises as Chanyeol mumbles, "Yes Sir" and goes back to his exercise mat.

Minseok chuckles and shakes his head.  He finds himself smiling more these days and the bright side is that he has more stories to tell Junmyeon when he visits.  The only thing is that Jongin always asks about where he's going.  It's an awkward thing and Minseok almost feels like he's cheating on a lover when he hesitates to tell Jongin that he's going to visit Junmyeon on his off hours.  It doesn't help that Jongin has this kicked puppy dog expression on his face when Minseok tells him the truth.

Still, Minseok is thankful that Jongin doesn't protest or press on the matter too much.  The younger man probably thinks it's due to loyalty to his ex-Partner and Minseok can't explain that he still has to charge and stay in physical contact with Junmyeon on the regular.  Other than these occasional times, things are going quite well with Jongin.  Everyone comments on how Jongin has become brighter and healthier than before.  Kyungsoo thanks Minseok for saving Jongin, but Minseok finds himself thinking that it's Jongin that has probably pulled him out of his slump.

"Hyung, can you spot me?" comes Jongin's voice, breaking Minseok out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, of course" Minseok replies with a smile.

"Hey hyung, check out my abs!" yells Baekhyun from across the room.

From the mirror, Minseok can see a flash of white skin before Chanyeol is pulling his shirt down for him.

"Yah, don't embarrass yourself" Chanyeol scolds mockingly.  "Your abs aren't done yet.  They need to cook for a bit longer."

"Isn't that just dough, Baekhyun hyung?" asks Sehun with a snort.

Everyone laughs, even Baekhyun, and Minseok realizes that, for the first time in years, he feels a little happy and a lot of hope.

###

He doesn't start doing it on purpose, but one day, Jongin finds himself following Minseok out the door.  Jongin knows that Minseok is going to visit his ex-Partner, knows that he shouldn't be following, knows that he should just stop and turn around.  But the steps keep falling and his feet refuse to turn back.  The walk to the Bound Hospital isn't unfamiliar.  After all, Jongin has been to the same hospital many times before.  But the guilt builds when Minseok doesn't even suspect, doesn't even turn around at the close falling footsteps behind him.

Jongin hesitates a little when they reach a narrower hallway.  Minseok runs his fingertips against the wall as he makes his way down to the end of the corridor, where he stops at a room.

'That must be Kim Junmyeon's room', Jongin thinks.

And he waits until Minseok has gone inside before carefully walking down the same hallway to stand in front of the door.

Room 522.

Jongin memorizes the number, tucks the information away for future use and finally, turns back.  He doesn't go to the training center while he's there.  He doesn't stop by any convenience stores or shopping centers.  He makes his way straight to the apartment that he shares with Minseok.  He slips back into bed, under the covers, just the way Minseok has left him.  And then, Jongin closes his eyes.  

He tries to sleep, but sleep doesn't come.  Instead, he lies there, eyes closed, until he hears the familiar click of the front door.  He waits until Minseok walks up to the bed.  A small, but warm hand touches his forehead, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Still asleep Jongin-ah?" Minseok whispers.

And it's only then that Jongin lifts his eyelids.

"Good morning hyung."

###

The exercise is kind of childish in Minseok's opinion, but Jongin seems very excited.  Flushed cheeks and a twinkle to Jongin's eye, Minseok can tell that the younger boy wants to win.  Minseok sighs, looking down at the paper bracelets linking their hands together.

All the other Bound trainees have them on too.

"Stop it."

"No, you stop it."

"Stop!"

"You first"

Sehun and Jongdae bicker about how they're going to hold hands.  Sehun wants to interlace their fingers, but Jongdae complains that it gives him goosebumps.  Baekhyun and Chanyeol snicker at them from the other side of the room, but Minseok notices that Chanyeol's larger hand is perfectly interlaced with Baekhyun's.

Minseok looks down at his own hand, clasped with Jongin's, wondering if Jongin would prefer their fingers to be interlaced.  Minseok supposes it might be better defense.  But already, the trainer in charge is saying, "Get ready!" as he resets the timer.  

The exercise is this: they must try and unlink another pair's paper bracelet in the span of five hours.  The last pair standing gets a day off of training and a free meal of whatever they want.  Of course, everyone is riled up.  Everyone except for maybe Minseok.  But as Sehun and Jongdae finally decide on the way they're going to hold hands (fingers interlaced), everyone gets into their ready stances.

"We're so going to win this" Baekhyun says with a smirk.

"With what? Chanyeol's fire abilities?" Jongdae snorts.  "Watch yourself.  If you get too close, I'm gonna..."

And as Jongdae lets out a little zap of electricity, the trainer in charge starts the clock.

"You guys have five hours" the trainer says with a lazy wave of his hand.  "Good luck."

Immediately, everyone scatters.  Sehun and Jongdae literally ride the wind and whisk out of the room.  Baekhyun and Chanyeol make a run for it, leaving a trail of blinding light, so no one can see which direction they go.  And one beat later, Jongin's teleporting both Minseok and himself to the roof top of the Bound Hospital.  

The feeling is something that Minseok finds hard to describe.  Getting teleported feelings like the wind is being knocked out of him.  At the same time, it feels like the very center of him is being tugged into an impossibly small opening in space.  He's out of breath when they land with Minseok falling on his knees.  Jongin's hand is still in Minseok's.  

Wary of the environment, Jongin's looking around, circling 360 degrees while Minseok is still catching his breath.  Maybe he's too old for this?  But then again, he's not used to being teleported.  There's a loud thud and the door to the rooftop terrace opens.  There's Sehun and Jongdae running towards them with devilish grins on their faces.  But before Jongdae can zap their paper bracelet off, Jongin's teleporting them again.  Before things go black, Minseok can see the frustrated expression on Jongdae's face and can hear Sehun's voice.

"That's so not fair."

They land in the administration building.  There's a coffee shop in the lobby and Jongin teleports them behind a rather large plant pot.  Jongin's laughing as he lands on his two feet while Minseok stumbles into the plant, knees weak and breath short.

"Warn me first" Minseok wheezes.

"Sorry hyung" Jongin says, but he's still laughing.

They all have communicators in their ears and suddenly, it beeps.

"Partners 61 and 04 are eliminated.  Repeat, Partners 61 and 04 have been eliminated."

Jongin's grin widens as he peers out into the lobby, checking if the coast is clear.

"Hyung, all we have to do is break Sehun's and Jongdae hyung's bracelet!" he whispers excitedly.

And the excitement seems to be contagious, because Minseok's grinning like mad as well.  They tighten their grip, fingers now intertwined for strength.

"No use dragging this out" Minseok says, "let's go face them."

Minseok's still not used to teleportation, but he grits his teeth as they zap from floor to floor.  They check for Sehun and Jongdae, asking if they haven't seen sparks of electricity or felt sudden gusts of wind.  When they don't see any sign of them in the administration building, they move toward the training center.  They're about to zap in - an ambush, if Jongdae and Sehun are there.  But suddenly, Minseok gets a call.

He hastily looks at the caller ID, meaning to decline the call if it's something that can wait.  But when he looks, his heart plummets to the floor.

[Son Yoonju]

"Sorry, Jongin-ah, wait, let me-"

Jongin peers at Minseok's phone curiously and Minseok doesn't catch how Jongin's face hardens at the caller ID.

"Hello?" Minseok answers.

Pulling them to a safe spot, Jongin tries hard not to eavesdrop.  But at this close range, it's near impossible.  He hears the lady tell Minseok about Junmyeon.  How Minseok's ex-Partner is not doing so well and please can Minseok come to the hospital right this second?  Jongin presses his lips together.  Surely Minseok wouldn't, not now... not while they're in training and when they're so close to winning...

But Jongin discovers Minseok saying, "Of course" into the phone and when he ends the call, Minseok looks up at Jongin with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Jongin-ah, I'm really sorry, but I've got to-"

"No" Jongin says quietly.

In his opinion, Jongin has stayed quiet and has been patient for a good while.  After all, being Partners for so long, it's not easy just to one day leave each other's presence.  But Minseok was now Jongin's Partner, not Junmyeon's.  It wasn't fair.  Jongin looks anywhere but into Minseok's eyes.

"You can't go, hyung.  We're training and we're so close to winning and-"

"Kim Jongin" Minseok's voice turns hard.  "This isn't a joke.  This is more serious than just winning a silly game."

A lump forms in Jongin's throat and he's about to turn his head to plead with Minseok when he feels it.  The paper on his wrist rips and when Jongin looks, the tattered remains of it are in Minseok's hand.

"Sorry Jongin.  I've got to go."

Minseok turns and runs toward the Bound Hospital.  Jongin can't move.  It feels as if his heart has stopped and has painfully frozen inside of his chest.  He watches as Minseok gets smaller in the distance and he can see the paper bracelet fall from Minseok's fingers.  There's a group of office men who pass by and just like the paper bracelet that they trample, Jongin feels like his heart has been left to break.

Jongin doesn't want to face everyone, doesn't want to face the proud, happy faces of the Partners who've won.  So, instead, he teleports back to their apartment and before he does, he hears it in his ear.

"Partners 99 and 88 have been eliminated."