Chapter 1: proper etiquette
Chapter Text
“Sorry I’m late!” Minhyuk burst into the dojang rushed and breathless, school clothes partially unbuttoned and backpack trailing behind him.
“Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
Minhyuk felt a hard slap against his shoulder as a taller figure brushed past. “Bin, what the heck was that for?”
“That was to tell you to shut up and go change. You’re still five whole minutes early for class!” Moonbin rolled his eyes as he walked ahead of Minhyuk, clearly exasperated.
“It’s proper etiquette to be here twenty minutes before-hand!” Minhyuk chided as he ran to catch up. “Therefore, I am late. You are too!"
Entering the locker room, Minhyuk tossed his backpack into an empty cubby and proceeded to change quickly out of his school clothes and into his dobok. Making sure that his taekwondo uniform was free of any wrinkles or stains, Minhyuk grabbed his belt and tied it securely around his waist. He had recently gotten his fourth dan, an accomplishment that had made him even more excited than before about coming to taekwondo (if that was even a possibility).
“Let’s go Mr. Black Belt, what’s taking so long? Thought you said were late.” Moonbin teased, tying his own belt as he walked past.
Bin was a red belt, although given his natural talent and the time the two spent together practicing, Minhyuk personally thought that he could have been a brown or even black belt by now. Bin had missed a good number of belt promotion tests though as of late, for mysterious reasons even Minhyuk wasn’t quite sure of. He wondered why someone who was as passionate as Bin would do such a thing… It truly was mysterious. But that wasn’t the main concern at the moment.
“Bin, your belt is tied unevenly! Presentation is everything, it's proper etiquette!” Minhyuk couldn’t understand Moonbin’s aloofness at all. Sure, he wasn’t the cleanliest person either.. But when it came to taekwondo it was important that every detail was paid attention to. Shaking his head when Bin stuck his tongue out in retaliation, Minhyuk readjusted Moonbin’s belt and gave a few short tugs to tighten the knot.
The two headed out onto the training mats, where a few others were already clustered and ready for class.
“Bin! You’re here!”
Moonbin broke away and veered to the left, where a tall, dark haired green belt was vigorously waving. Minhyuk rolled his eyes. Eunwoo and Bin, those two were strangely inseparable. He headed to an emptier corner to stretch out in the few remaining minutes before class. Just as he sat down to get into his splits, he noticed the instructor motioning for him from across the floor.
“Yes, sabum-nim!” Minhyuk addressed the instructor in front of him before bowing and looking up. Standing next to Master Kim was a tall, lanky boy definitely younger than Minhyuk. Orange haired and wide eyed, the boy looked… well, a bit dorky. Not that it was a bad thing. “Did you need me?”
Master Kim motioned for Minhyuk to come closer. “Yes. This is Yoon Sanha, he’s just joined us as a white belt. As you’re the highest ranking belt in class right now I would like you to teach him the basics today.”
“Yes sir!” Minhyuk bowed once more before turning to the boy, as Master Kim retreated into his office. “Do you have your belt?”
Sanha nodded, hair bouncing up and down with every movement of his head. He really was dorky… The fact that his uniform was slightly too short for his long limbs only further validated it.
“I have it right here!”
MInhyuk watched in partial amusement and partial horror as Sanha attempted to tie the belt himself. The end result was a lopsided knot leaving a long trail of excess belt on the floor. Minhyuk stifled a groan, wondering how one could possibly be so outlandishly clumsy. This was a mess right from the start.
“Here, I’ll show you. The first time is always difficult but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”
After untying the knot Sanha had somehow managed to make, Minhyuk folded the belt in half and handed it back. Untying his own belt he folded it in the same way, moving next to Sanha in order to show him how it was properly done.
“First, you fold the belt in half. See? Make sure that the two halves are perfectly even. Then you place the area where you’ve just folded over your belly button, then wrap the two ends around to the back.. Then back around to the…”
“I got it!” Sanha’s voice cracked as he turned to excitedly show Minhyuk another rushed attempt at belt-tying. Yet another mess. Minhyuk was experiencing slight exasperation at the lack of patience this new kid had. From the corner of his eye he noted that class was already starting, mentally sobbing over the fact that he was missing practice time to show this Yoon Sanha character how to do a simple thing like tie a belt. Nevertheless, he forced a smile on his face and proceeded.
“I’ll just tie it for you this time, since we need to get started. We’ll practice this again later.” Minhyuk untied Sanha’s belt a second time, cleanly re-wrapping it around Sanha’s lean waist in swift and proper speed.
“Nice!” Sanha cheered, marveling at the beautiful knot and examining his uniformed self in the mirror. “I’m so ready to kick some butt. KAPOW! TAKE THIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!”
Minhyuk watched more in horror and less in amusement this time as Sanha performed a series of sloppy punches and kicks at the mirror, making sound effects that were no doubt derived from some action movie or cartoon.
This was not going to be easy.
Chapter 2: foundations
Notes:
i finally updated!!!! it's been too long. here we go :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Bin, that's for sharing, it's not your personal water bottle!"
Minhyuk stifled his laughter as he eyed the ongoing commotion from across the room, where a shorter yellow belt swatted at Moonbin (who was chugging water from a huge jug meant for the entire class, all in one go). Led by an excited Eunwoo, a cluster of green belts cheered Bin on.
"Don't worry! I got extra water bottles from the locker room so there's enough for everyone." Another student donning a bright blue belt began distributing smaller bottles to the rest of the class. "MJ-hyung, here's yours."
Slightly shorter in height than the average but built more than well enough to make up for it in strength, Jinwoo had Minhyuk's total respect. Even if he was lower than him in belt rank, Jinwoo was an exemplary student and an even more exemplary older brother figure. Not to mention that his normally gentle temperament made him especially scary when they got into sparring.
Minhyuk snapped out of his retrospection when his eyes landed on a head of orange hair bobbing through- no, more like floating over the huddle of students on water break. That dorky, smiley boy was already chattering away with the other students. "Sanha!" He exclaimed sharply under his breath, wondering when exactly he'd managed to slip away.
"Sanha!" He called out a little louder, motioning vigorously for the lanky newbie to return.
Once Sanha slid in front of him, Minhyuk stood up straight at attention with his arms fixed at his sides. "Cha-ryut!" Sanha mirrored the stance at once. His eyes were wide and his shoulders were tense.
"You were supposed to be practicing your stances, why were you over there?"
"I thought it was water break..." Sanha replied timidly, a hand reaching up to itch the back of his neck.
"Cha-ryut!" Minhyuk repeated. Sanha's wandering hand whipped back into position at his side. His eyes opened even wider than before, making Minhyuk wonder for a moment if he was being too disciplinary on the first day. But then again it was Minhyuk's job to set a good example.
"Did you already finish practicing everything we just went over?"
Sanha nodded. His fluffy hair bounced up and down again, which made him seem somewhat more endearing than he had just moments ago... kind of like a puppy? Minhyuk's neighbor had a puppy once, and it was actually really adorab- Minhyuk shook the thought out of his head and refocused on the task at hand. "Sanha, stances are the basis of taekwondo. You need to have solid foundations in order to have any kind of control over your movement, especially when it comes to controlling your strength! The ones we just went over are the front stance and fighting stance. Let's see your-"
Minhyuk was abruptly interupted as his mouth fell agape. He was both confused and amazed at the sight in front of him. Snapping his mouth shut and clearing his throat, he peered from side to side looking for any possible flaws. But (perhaps) by some extreme blip in this dimension of the world, everything seemed... perfect.
Shoulders no longer tense but eyes wide as ever, Yoon Sanha stood before him in a polished front stance, front leg bent 90° and back leg perfectly straight. The stance was just a tad bit narrow for Minhyuk's taste but besides that, the technicalities of it were flawless.
"How's this?" Sanha's eyes seemed to shine with hope as he awaited Minhyuk's judgement in all eagerness.
"It's not bad." Minhyuk nodded. "Just make sure that it isn't too narrow next time, and then I'd say you're ready to move on-"
"YEAH!" Breaking the stance, Sanha shot up and punched the air in victory. His cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes sparkled incandescently, details that Minhyuk really shouldn't have been paying attention to but for some reason just couldn't ignore.
"Not so fast, you forgot to show me your fighting stance."
Sanha reacted immediately with a loud "KIHAP!" as one leg slid back and fisted hands came up. The execution of it was a bit sloppier than it had been with the front stance, but the potential was still there. Minhyuk took a step forward and adjusted Sanha's hand placement before surveying the result.
"Now this-" Minhyuk motioned to Sanha's current positioning, "-is a good stance. One hand should protect your face and the other arm your body, while your feet are in a position advantageous for reacting quickly. Good job."
"Okay so can we learn more? I'm ready to learn more! Let's do some kicking!" The excitement in Sanha's voice was more than apparent. For just a moment it made Minhyuk wonder when the last time he'd felt an ounce of the same excitement was.
There was absolutely no doubt that taekwondo still made him extremely happy, but that spark of pure exhilaration in Sanha's eyes... He couldn't remember when.
"You can get water now." Minhyuk shooed Sanha towards the water corner, taking a deep breath once the boy was across the room from him. He couldn't tell if it was in relief that Sanha was a quick learner, or if it was something completely different.
Notes:
Not sure if I'm going with short chapters for awhile or if the next one will be long...
I'm not one for pre-planning so we'll see how it goes :)
thanks for sticking with me though, the other fic will hopefully be updated tomorrow (it's a big one!)
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