Sehun and Jongin had taken the swords held out to them and while Jongin held them, testing out their weight and sharpness, trying to get a hand of holding it. In fact he did not know how to hold it, he was holding it in an amateur way that made for a good picture pose but held no real value for sword fighting. 

Sehun however, held the swords like a pro and immediately got into a defensive stance. Cha Min eyed him with a look of surprise and awe. "Seems like you're no stranger to sword fighting." Drawing Jongin's attention away from his own swords and instead towards Sehun. 

Jongin eyed him up and down feeling surprised that Sehun was comfortable with the swords and exuded an aura of such overwhelming confidence. 

"I was a rich boy growing up and well, you know I love Avatar and Zuko fought with Dual Dao swords so I begged my dad for lessons. Turns out it was something that I took to and I became a pretty masterful sword fighter, especially with dual Dao." 

"Oh my god. That's got to be one of the hottest things about you. Not only can you kick in boxing, you're a sword fighter. I hope you make love the way you fight because that would be hot." Jongin blurted out unable to help himself. 

Sehun let out a low giggle looking embarrassed. 

"As great as you already knowing how to fight is, you have to help lover boy here as well. Remember, you're in this together." Cha Min interrupted. 

Sehun immediately lost his laugh and looked over at Jongin. He walked over to him and gripped his wrists. Jongin looked over at him like a lost puppy in desperate need of help. 

"Here, give me." Sehun said as he pried one of the swords from Jongin's loose grip. He took the sword and stabbed it into the ground a few feet from where they were for safety measures. 

"You're most definitely unfamiliar with sword wielding so I think it's in everyone's best interest to start with one." 

Jongin nodded. 

"Okay, you'll need to practice control first. You need to be concise and precise. Practice some swings to get a handle of the weight. Keep your feet firmly planted into the ground and the sword pointed away from you. Practice swinging diagonally and in small so that you have better control of stopping." Sehun instructed while he walked away. 

Cha Min unconsciously straightened as Sehun walked over to him. "Why'd you leave lover boy alone with the toy." 

"I need a dummy for him to practice with, please. He won't be able to properly use the sword in a short and efficient time. So if you have anything we can use, that would be extremely helpful." Sehun asked. 

"Yeah, sure. We have some practice dummies. I'll grab one." Cha Min said before he used his full vampire speed and disappeared up into the caves quickly before reappearing with a practice dummy within seconds. 

"I wouldn't have really expected you guys to know what this is let alone have one but you guys do have modern amenities." Sehun commented. 

"Just because we live away from civilization doesn't mean we are uncivilized. Certain inventions make life easier and we use it, but we also stick to old traditions. Everyone chooses how much influence they allow the humans to have on their life but we all do not take to numbing or dulling our vampire senses." 

Sehun pondered on that, realizing there was a deeper understanding of the life these vampires led and that they didn't deserve this judgement. At least this group that he met, Sehun wasn't naive enough to think that they all lived like this. This bunch lived closer to the city than other vampires.

The more isolated a group was, the more dangerous. He was aware of that. 

He smiled and thanked Cha Min for the dummy before heading back towards where Jongin was. He looked like a sweet baby learning to walk as he swung the sword in the air, practicing where to stop and trying to gauge his strength.

Sehun smiled at him, his boyfriend was just too adorable sometimes.

He set the dummy down in front of Jongin who had stopped swinging and was now looking at the dummy in confusion. "We're going to use this to practice. You will use it to practice horizontal, vertical and diagonal cuts on the abdomen of the dummy and only the abdomen, this way you can work on aim and agility. Do not mark anywhere else. 

Sehun sat back and watched while Jongin simply swung his sword practicing. Jongin was good for a novice but compared to himself or to whomever will be testing their swordplay, he was easy to take down. A mere child playing with a toy. He needed a lot more training. He still struggled with the weight and movement of the sword, needing to use both hands to hold it and swing or simply struggling. The key to mastering dual swords was to ensure you had total control of the sword even with one hand. 

Jongin did not display that control and this was with his dominant hand. Once he gains that control he will have to train with his non dominant to achieve that same level of ferocity and control and Sehun knew from experience that that will be gruelling. He remembered his instructor had tied his right hand behind his back so that he had to merely rely on his left hand and before that he had even gone weeks without using it to assist him at all. He had to learn how to depend solely on his left hand for menial tasks before he could even consider using a sword. 

It seemed that they didn't have the time to train Jongin in that slow and steady pace. Sehun knew he had to push Jongin with the sword training. He didn't necessarily have to become a master but he did have to attain a certain level of skill. Sehun thought he could have Jongin train for two hours with a half hour break every day. He would surely be able to gain skill quickly and he would need that half hour of rest for his arms in between. 

He would then tie Jongin's right hand behind his back the moment he gained control and give Jongin a few days of respite and rest while making him only use his left hand before he does the same training with his left for the same control. 

Then he would begin the real training. Given the fact that Jongin trained in boxing and knew how to fight and he was extremely agile due to his dance and ballet the movements wouldn't be that difficult. In fact Sehun thought he could teach him the movements as if he was teaching dance.

If only Jongin knew the reason Sehun won that boxing match was because of his sword training and the fact that he gained agility and the prowess to turn someone's own power against them. 

He stood idle and watched as Jongin gained some comfort at holding and swinging the sword. His grip was perfect and his movements were executed to perfection, for a beginner move. Sehun offered his advice and helped adjust the way Jongin stood or swung whenever it was needed.

"Hey Jongin, I think we can relax for a while now. I have a training regimen planned and I've decided that you're comfortable enough with the sword for today and that you should save your energy for tomorrow. It won't be easy on you."

Jongin pulled back, a bit sweaty and out of breath but nowhere near tired after a few hours of swinging since he was someone used to physical strain of working out and training. His arms were slightly sore but nothing to complain about. 

He threw Sehun a little grin before he picked up the other sword and proceeded to call Cha Min. "Yah, where to put the swords and dummy?"

"You can just leave the swords at the bottom of the mountain. There's a bit of an overhang right below the opening of the cave. Leave it there, nobody will trouble it. As for the dummy, I mean, not a great way to refer to your boyfriend but I suppose he can go up in the caves. You can leave him anywhere." Jongin glared at Cha Min who was laughing stupidly at his own joke and then went to put the swords and training dummy underneath the overhang. 

"I wanna put this sword in you right now." Jongin offhandedly commented. Cha Min looked up, grinning mischeviously, "I thought you'd only want to put your sword in Sehun you sleaze." 

At this Sehun burst into a fit of laughs, making Cha Min smile, feeling proud and prompting Jongin to laugh as well. It was such a dumb joke, yet here they all were enjoying it.

"I can assure you my game is stronger than my sword game. At least for the moment, I'll raise my swordplay soon. Actually no, my game will still be strong." Jongin said smugly.

Sehun rolled his eyes. Jongin was such a self assured idiot. "You've never tapped this before, and I must say, my is superior." 

Jongin turned Sehun around slightly to prod and at his , which admittedly was the best he'd seen and was a fixation of his before responding. "Really now, I thought it was a posterior. I guess I have to relearn my anatomy." 

Cha Min decided it was a good time to leave just then, not wanting to hear anymore. Neither of them minded. 

Sehun and Jongin decided to hop in the car and head on an impromptu date. It would be a while before they could. Sehun was dedicated to this new training and Jongin was dedicated to Sehun. 

As they rode in the car, the rolled the windows down and drove down to a nearby town. They went in a completely different direction than they came in and had checked google maps for signs of life. Turns out there was a small town located about an hour and a half out. 

The drive was peaceful and they reached soon enough, not really feeling like they were in the car for that long. Although they would have made travelling faster by running but they wanted to relax and take it easy. Have some quiet time to themselves. 

They found a McDonald's which they drove through. Sehun seemed a bit more tired than before so Jongin his wrist out allowing Sehun to drink to his heart's content before they tore into their McD's.

"This isn't the only kind of D you've been craving." Jongin taunted. 

"Yeah, but at least this one comes in a big size." Sehun said, holding up the Big Mac he was halfway through eating. 

"Ouch. It's not always the size that counts. I guarantee you'd be lovin it." Jongin sang. 

"Ba da ba ba bye." Sehun responded with.

Jongin took that in stride before they finsihed their meal.

They drove through the town before they arrived at a bowling alley and decided to play.

"These aren't the biggest balls I've held." Jongin said as they got set up, choosing balls to play with. 

"These aren't the only blue balls I've seen." Sehun said before pulling out a blue ball to play with. 

Jongin laughed. "With that you walk around with, you obviously leave people with blue balls everywhere you go. It's slightly offensive." 

Sehun went first and his ball went straight in the gutter both times. Of course Jongin had to comment. "I guess your mind was so in the gutter that it made you arms act accordingly."

Jongin strutted up to the bowling alley before getting in a pro position and swinging, releasing the ball. The ball aimed straight for the middle, curving left at the last second and barely grazing one pin, causing it to collaps but widely missing hitting any more pins. 

He could hear Sehun mockingly laughing at him from behind and he knew that he deserved it. 

The game continued like that, with them both being lousy bowlers and their biggest success being them managing to knock over more than four pins. Neither of them managed to get a strike but Sehun luckily got one spare. 

They - Sehun literally , both blood and gave s, although that last one isn't really necessary to his survival, he would argue-  but they both managed to have a lot of fun. 

Sehun was glad for this shred of normalcy in his life that had no semblance of normalcy in it lately. They finished the game before they asked for the internet password, graciously getting it and Sehun video called Jisung. 

"Hey! So good to see you. I take it you made it?" Wait, are those bowling balls in the background?" He asked, looking confused and relieved.

"Yeah, they even have internet. We still need to ask for the password though I'm sure we'll get it. They're surprisingly civil and nice enough. We actually left for a little while to just have some time to ourselves. And yes, we're in a bowling alley not too far from the cave."

"That's nice, are they willing to help? Are you okay now? You look much healthier!" Jisung's excitement cut through.

"Yes and no. They helped find a way to get my energy up but right now they're having us both train. The end result of this training will help them decide whether or not to cure me but it seems like I'll- we'll be able to pass this training."

"That's still good news. I'll let dad and your mom know. Also, text Lu Han that you're safe. He's been going out of his mind with worry over whether you reached or not. If you were alive. Honestly, I was too but we never expected them to have internet so we kind of hoped you had reached and just couldn't contact us."

"Will do, I would call Lu Han and my parents but we should head back soon. We have to start training early. We'll probably be out of touch for a bit but I'll try to text every so often once I have the internet, Jongin too, so you guys know what's happening and that we're okay."

Jisung nodded before they bid their goodbyes, Jongin chiming in and Taemin appearing in the background with a slice of pizza hanging from his mouth, musering a nod of acnowledgement towards the camera and a loud, "Love you both." Coming from somewhere in the background, had to be Jungwoo, he managed to shout and still sound like he's talking softly. It was a cute trait of his. 

Jongin and Sehun walked hand in hand towards the car out of the bowling alley. 

---

Sorry about all the ATLA references to non fans. That show is my obsession. I'll cut the references from now, I know how annoying references you don't understand can get. That's why I try to keep it low and to an understanding but it would be better to remove them from now on.