"Can you two please talk to each other?"

Minwoo shot a quick glance at the speaker from over his breakfast tray. A vein on Andy's neck was bulging as his eyes glinted, shifting from Dongwan to Minwoo as if deciding who to make his prey. Hurriedly, Minwoo dipped his head back to his meal and immersed himself in eating.

"Who?" Dongwan asked sharply. He fulsomely turned his face this way and that, eyeing everyone in the circle of their group of six - but pointedly ignored Minwoo's presence. "I'm talking to everyone here."

Hyesung slapped his chopsticks down on his half-filled tray, the smacking noise making Junjin flinch next to him. "You two are making me lose my appetite," Hyesung grumbled, narrowing his eyes.

"What on earth happened between you two anyway?" Eric demanded. "Since yesterday you've just been giving each other the cold shoulder. If you're in battle alongside one another someday, what are you going to do? Throw each other in the path of a bullet?"

Minwoo silently nibbled at his food, leaving the fiery conversation to Dongwan. Both were still harboring nasty feelings toward one another and quite frankly, it had left everyone in their bunking tent unable to sleep the night before. The tension could practically be smelled.

"What happened?" Dongwan snapped right back. His hands curled around the edges of the tray, his knuckles whitening. "I'll tell you what happened!" 

He stabbed a finger toward Minwoo, who didn't budge to acknowledge the movement. "This bastard here," Dongwan continued, "ruined my plans of avoiding recruitment by selling me off to his oh-so-wonderful, lieutenant father!"

He returned his attention to his food, but the way he was impaling the tray with his chopsticks looked like he was about to massacre it. The rest of them glanced at one another, all thinking the same thing: Minwoo had been right to do what Dongwan said he did. But quite clearly, that was not the reasoning that Dongwan wanted to hear.

"Grow up," Minwoo said, his tone composed but his eyes narrowed to mere slits on his face.

Dongwan's eyes moved to glare at him. "Excuse me?"

"I said, grow up. You're making a fuss over nothing. Wanna tell me how incapable you think your family is; that without you, they wouldn't be able to survive? Sounds good; I'm listening."

Dongwan opened his mouth only partially before shutting it and gnawing on his lower lip. Minwoo scooped up some mashed potatoes and ate them. They left a bitter aftertaste on his tongue.

"Listen," Minwoo said, swallowing against his will. "Your family will be completely fine. It'll be difficult for everyone, but they'll be okay when you get back. If they need help, everyone else will help them. That's how our town works. Right now, you yourself should focus on staying alive."

Dongwan's upper lip arched slightly at the corner. "You're a sneaky little punk."

"I try."

While Dongwan's grudge seemed to have subsided a bit, Eric grasped the chance to lift the glum mood.

"Who else thinks this food is disgusting?" He spooned up a little hill of potatoes and inverted the utensil, its contents dropping into the sad mush that was their first breakfast at camp. "Did they dig this gunk out from some ancient water hole?"

Junjin smirked when he caught on to Eric's drive. "That sounds possible. But, you know what I did with gunk from wells when I was younger?"

"Junjin," Hyesung growled. "I swear to God, do not -"

He was interrupted by a large pancake of goopy and gray mashed potatoes right to the nose. "Damn," Andy said, not able to stifle his laughter when he saw the folds of displeasure on Hyesung's face underneath the food. Meanwhile, Junjin stood with an incredibly happy stance, his fingers still dripping slightly with potato. "Junjin's going to be our sniper."

Hyesung mumbled a dirty word under his breath, but he was not one to hold back after being provoked. He brought his hand down on his tray, his fingers wrapping around an unfortunate apple that he raised and threw at Junjin.

Junjin barely dodged it, his expression turning to one of mocking horror. "Oh my goodness! So violent!"

"Guys," Minwoo said, anxiously shooting glances at the officers that were bound to look over, "I don't think we should -"

A cold sensation spread from the roots of Minwoo's head to his entire scalp. He lifted his head, his hair dripping, to see Dongwan with a recently emptied hand of potatoes. The grin on his face told Minwoo that he was in for no mercy.

"Oops," Dongwan said.

"You dumb bastards," Minwoo said, standing up with a handful of their main-course-turned-main-weapon. He immediately his assailant, whipping his arm back and hurling potatoes right at Dongwan's chest.

"That was my uniform, you piece of !" Dongwan lamented, brushing at his unfortunate shirt.

"You wouldn't even be wearing that if it weren't for me, !" Minwoo shot right back. That earned him a defiant baring of the teeth from his opponent and another serving of potatoes to the face.

"My hair; you !" Hyesung shouted meanwhile, picking up his entire tray and pitching it at Eric. Eric ducked and the tray flew through the air, nailing Andy in the shoulder. It slid to the ground with a foreboding thunk as Andy looked toward Hyesung with a dulled expression.

"Oh, ," Hyesung said, throwing his arms up. Lines of light gray potato streaked his dark hair, making him look even more pitiful under Andy's gaze. "Sorry. Dude."

Slowly, Andy bent to the ground with all other five pairs of eyes tracing his movements. He picked up the tray by the very edge, a firm grip around it that tightened as he lifted it.

Something terrifying flashed in his pupils. "Hyesung hyung," he said, smiling momentously like a crazed axe murderer. The grin was quickly wiped away. "Your hair will be dyed by the time I'm done with you."

Hyesung wasted no time in bolting away, a screaming Andy on his trail with the tray held overhead, dropping remnants of wasted food on his own neck.

"I guess you could say his hair would be dead!" Dongwan announced. "Get it? Dyed? Died? Dead?"

"Shut that stupid mouth of yours," Junjin snapped, smearing his food-covered hands over Dongwan's face. Minwoo snorted seeing it.

"Are you laughing at me?" Dongwan demanded, the image of him being so serious while smothered in food making Minwoo snicker more. He rolled up his sleeves. "You damned little -"

"What is going on over here?"

The six of them stopped all their movements. Andy in particular, with his raised weapon of a tray, was caught extremely red-handed by the very unamused officer standing in front of them.

Minwoo glanced around at the mess they had created within a minute's time. Food. All over the dirt around them. And on them. All the recruits around them were giving them wide-eyed expressions.

It was a nightmare.

"I can foresee that you six are going to be very strong warriors," the officer said dryly. "Because you'll be doing supplementary exercises after training today."

They watched as he headed on his way with one last disapproving look at the disorderly recruits. Minwoo looked hostilely at Eric, who pointed at Junjin, attempting to dump all the blame on his poor comrade.

Surprisingly enough, it was Hyesung with his ruined hairdo that began to laugh first. Then, like a virus, it tingled at the rest of their voices and soon they were all in a circle of maniacal chortling.

"So are we good?" Eric asked, patting Minwoo forcefully on the back. "You and Dongwan won't be a sour couple anymore?"

Minwoo looked over to Dongwan, who wiped at his face and only got more food distributed over his skin. He snorted. "Can't be a sour couple if we weren't a couple to begin with," he mumbled.

"All right!" Junjin said, making a show of pumping his arms in triumph. "Operation Potato Fight is a success! Special points to Hyesung, who attacked with a rock-hard apple!" Hyesung wrinkled his nose.

"But I have a question," Dongwan said. They all turned to him, waiting silently for his words like children watching their parents come forward with a batch of candy. He used a thumb to wipe off some of the potato on his cheek.

"Is potato good for your skin?"

--

"I just want to say," Hyesung grunted, "I hate every single one of you."

"I asked you guys to stop," Minwoo snapped in reply, wincing as he did yet another painful squat, the weights mounted in his hands. "But did you listen?"

"You never told us to stop!" Andy protested as he jogged past, panting. 

Minwoo bared his teeth as both a reaction of pain and irritation as he straightened his sore legs. "Liar."

"I give up!" Hyesung cried out, toppling to the ground in a mess of sweat and heavy breathing. He pressed himself against the comparatively cooler grass, relishing in the tiny comfort his pores received from it. Then, wrinkling his nose, he lifted a dusty hand to his head. "I think there's still potato in my hair."

"We'll take a shower when we get back," Eric told him, taking great care in folding his body right across Hyesung's torso.

Hyesung groaned in discomfort, thrashing underneath the additional body weight. "Go over there!" he snapped, waving his arms and smacking Eric's muscled back. "You're too hot!"

Eric didn't budge, save for his neck, which turned to deliver Hyesung a big grin. "I know."

Hyesung practically snarled when he realized how Eric interpreted his words. "You little -"

"Sandwich!" Junjin called, pronouncing the word like a child as he raised his arms high over his head before flattening himself on top of Eric.

"Don't mention food, you idiot!" Dongwan hissed as he scrambled over, winded from his workout. "We could be having dinner right now with all the other soldiers!"

"Yeah, but we're not," Andy pointed out. Dongwan sharply crinkled his lips at him.

"We'll be healthy bastards by the end of all this," Minwoo commented, lying down with his cheek pressed against a patch of grass.

"Are you suggesting we'll be doing this often?" Hyesung yelled. He had given up trying to shove the other two from his body and resignedly ruffled his hair. "I better start behaving. Starting tomorrow, I don't know any of you."

"How rude!" Junjin pouted. "We need to stick it through! We're brothers!"

"We've been here for a day," Dongwan said.

"How rude!" Junjin said again. "We're brothers!" Dongwan shook his head, a smile tapping the edges of his mouth.

"Brothers it is, then." Eric flipped over, simultaneously bringing Junjin down to the ground with him. He grasped Junjin's hand and pried ruthlessly at his fingers. "If I get shot in the field, I expect one of you to beat the living crap out of whoever shot me."

"How about you just don't get shot?" Minwoo suggested, beaming heartily when Eric gave him a cold look.

"We'll have each other's back out there, right?" Hyesung asked.

"Obviously," Dongwan agreed. "Soldiers are more effective in the middle of a giant battlefield when they're together."

"Then it's settled!" Junjin said. "We're all going to go home together!"

Hyesung chuckled. "Alive!"

Eric tossed his arm up against the sun as the rest of them shouted, "Alive!"

--

"-woo. Lee Minwoo."

Minwoo budged reluctantly, shutting his eyes firmly. His shoulder was a bit sore from leaning on it.

"Minwoo. Get up; we have to go."

Minwoo heard a whine escape his own throat as he opened his eyes to the dreadfully unstable wall. He wanted with all his desire at that moment to curl up and continue sleeping. He didn't care that somehow he had fallen asleep in the first place, and that in a few moments he'd have to perform at the top of his energy levels in training.

"Minwoo, come on! They'll butcher us if we don't get out there!"

Minwoo flipped toward the voice and foggily opened his eyes a bit more. That face looked familiar. It was Dongwan's face above him; his best pal. This had happened countless times before: he was getting Minwoo up for training.

But today would be the first time that the thought going through Minwoo's head was less of wanting to throw something at the poor man and instead: This guy likes me.

The blood rushed to Minwoo's face and his muscles brought him to a sitting position. On the way up, Dongwan wasn't able to step back in time and two foreheads collided spot-on.

Both of them curled in pain, clutching at their wounded foreheads. "Hard-headed idiot," Minwoo mumbled, rubbing the spot where his head got hit until the friction produced an underlying heat.

"Are you okay?"

Cold fingers wedged their way between Minwoo's palm and his forehead, cooling the warmed circle above his eyebrows. Minwoo's eyes moved to the ones opposite him, which were worriedly tracing along the bruise that was bound to form on Minwoo's face despite one that would be on his own.

Minwoo, though, didn't even think to be concerned for Dongwan. Instead, the proximity was making his nerves react in a way that he wasn't sure he liked. 

Something moved in Dongwan's eyes as he also discovered what kind of a position they were in. He flinched backward before what seemed like every nerve in his body tightened. His pupils lowered to Minwoo's slightly parted lips. Minwoo saw Dongwan's focus changing, but he couldn't force himself to budge when Dongwan shifted forward, the heat from his body growing increasingly prominent.

When their lips touched, Minwoo shut his eyes tighter until he could hear the blood flowing in his head. But just as he sensed the kiss, he immediately felt Dongwan recoil away. When he looked up, Dongwan was turned awkwardly toward the wall, roughly his own neck.

"We should get going," Dongwan said, his voice sounding hoarse. As if it were some kind of spell, hearing it forced a blush to Minwoo's face and ears.

As they silently left the lodging, Minwoo noticed that he had been holding his breath. He now tried to breathe as inconspicuously as possible in order to not let Dongwan notice, but it was difficult to recover his senses while trying to keep a mask of composure.

Minwoo stepped cautiously behind Dongwan, sneaking a small look at his figure and feeling his heart become flustered again. Oddly, he didn't particularly dislike that kiss. In fact, it was a little...nice.

Minwoo shook his head, fiercely pinching his arm until he felt tears pool in his eyes. He was being purely irrational. He didn't like Dongwan! As a friend, definitely; but regular friends did not enjoy kissing each other on the lips like that.

"Sorry about that," Dongwan suddenly said, not turning as he spoke. Minwoo looked up. "I...I didn't mean to do that. It...That...I wasn't thinking. Sorry."

Hearing Dongwan stammer made any possible traces of resentment for his action vanish from Minwoo's mind. "Uh," Minwoo said. "It's. I mean. I'm not mad...so don't feel bad."

Dongwan glanced over his shoulder before hurriedly redirecting his attention to the front. In the split moment, Minwoo detected a hint of alarm in Dongwan's expression. 

"That's good. I know it must be weird for you, to know that a friend likes you. But as long as you don't hate me, I think it'll be okay."

Possible responses clogged in Minwoo's throat. What was there to say to that? He didn't resent Dongwan at all, but somehow it churned his stomach that his friendly behavior might still hurt a companion so precious to him.

Minwoo was about to force himself to say something when they arrived at the training site. All their closest friends were already gathered, waiting for the rest of the trainees to assemble. Junjin spotted them first and pointed, waving with a childish smile on his face. Soon enough, the remaining members of the group joined in.

Minwoo scurried down to the others with Dongwan, moping about training as soon as the others were within earshot. He took one last look at Dongwan before tackling Andy in a neckhold to return to his spirited and teasing self.

It would be okay. It would definitely be okay.

--

A/N: It's been a while, my preshies~I've finished my other story so I'll definitely put effort toward this one now :3 Hope you enjoyed!