attacca ˢᵛᵗ

Track Two.

On the first day, Joshua settled into his quarters and made himself familiar with the outpost. He visited the infirmary, and the canteen, and even the barracks where the weapons are kept.

(Jeonghan ended up being in the barracks when Joshua was wondering around and Joshua was a flustered mess.)

On the second day, Joshua was introduced to the other flock members. He met a fiery singetail named Soonyoung, a skrill named Mingyu, a mist twister named Seokmin and Chan and even a titanwing featherhide named Minghao! (He didn't even know titanwing feathertails existed until now!)

As for the riders, there was flock leader Jeonghan whom he made a mess of himself around, Junhui a fellow support rider, an outpost scout named Jihoon, a patrol rider named Wonwoo, and then two riders named Seungkwan and Hansol.

On the third day, he had his first clean-up task. An outpost scout and his dragon were injured during their adventures and Joshua was given the task of fixing them up after they got shot out of the air.

Joshua didn't bother to take his time while patching up the singetail's rider. "That's what you get for intruding on another flock's territory - especially a flock so far away from the mainland" he said, pulling the bandage taught. There was a tinge of annoyance in his tone, and his eyebrows furrowed when he saw the vast amount of injuries on the smaller man sitting infront of him.

Maybe he would've been nicer to Jihoon if this excursion had happened at a more reasonable time of day. The current hour was twelve ticks past high tide, and Joshua was one more scratch or burn away from adding an injury to Jihoon's collection.

"How did you even get all these" the older grumbled, rubbing salve into another questionable burn.

The scout looked embarrassed, ears turning red as he mumbled a response. Joshua 'hm'ed and pressed harder on an oddly positioned cut on Jihoon's leg, causing the younger to cry out.

When met with the younger's scornful gaze, Joshua had the audacity to smile innocently, as if he didn't know why the other man was causing a scene.

"You're worse than Junhui" Jihoon said pointedly, suddenly laying down on the cot.

Joshua resplied cheerfully, "Thanks, I try!"

Joshua went like that for about a week, slowly getting a grasp of his new home and befriending his new flock members - all while avoiding the flock leader and his dragon.

It wasn't until the seventh day that Joshua had another run in with flock leader Jeonghan.

Don't get the wrong idea, Joshua didn't dislike them or anything - it's actually quite the opposite - more that he was a sucker for pretty faces and needed to maintain a professional relationship with his new flock so he can complete his mission and go back home.

Right. He was on a mission.

Joshua sighed heavily. He had let the mission completely slip his mind. With a groan, he went to his quarters and grabbed a pen and any scrap of paper he saw first. He quickly scribbled a few words regarding his current situation and sent the letter with a terrible terror messenger dragon.

"Who you writing to Shua?"

Joshua screamed in surprise at the sudden voice behind him. He turned around and was met with the sharp grey eyes of Jeonghan. The flock leader wore a playful grin as he pryed further into Joshua's current mess of a situation. "Perhaps, are you writing a love letter to your mate~"

Joshua felt the familiar redness make its way up onto his face again. He let out an awkward chuckle and struggled to get a reply out. "No, no nothing like that - I actually have yet to meet my mate - I was just informing his majesty of my current circumstances and updating him of my safe arrival"

He hoped Jeonghan didn't notice the bead of sweat on his cheek.

[ ᰔᩚ ]

Jeonghan practically skipped to the barracks once he caught wind of his new support rider's visit. Don't get him wrong, he doesn't like the new support rider. It's just that he's really pretty and sometimes Jeonghan can feel himself getting lost in the younger's eyes. Besides, there's no harm in a flock leader checking up on their newest member, right?

Wrong.

Those checkups became hourly terror mails and sudden appearances in Joshua's dormitory to the point where rest of the flock began to gossip about his newfound crush in closed quarters.

Even Chan and Seokmin, who don't usually partake is the melodramatics of Seungkwan and Soonyoung, were heavily invested in their argument on whether Jeonghan 'had the hots' for Joshua.

Spoiler alert: He does.

The man came upon this discovery while enjoying lunch with his dragon. It's known information that the two are mates, so seeing the two spending lunch together is not anything out of the ordinary. In fact, it would be considered strange if the two weren't spending every waking minute with eachother.

Seungcheol brings the support rider up mid conversation, asking what the younger thought of the new addition.

Jeonghan almost choked on his food as the mention of Joshua. He stammered, "Well he certainly is a good addition to our flock - he gets along well with the other members and well... Personally I think he's pretty handsome"

Seungcheol's face lit up at the last tidbit. His dragon tail wagged excitedly-as if he were a dog who's been told he's a good boy. "You like him too?" he asked hopefully.

Jeonghan cocked his head to the side and laughed. His dragon was really special. Only Seungcheol would be so openly happy about his mate having a crush on another man-even more so to share the crush himself.

The rest of their conversation was left unsaid. But both of the men ate happily, the air seeming lighter, yet more competitive after their revalation.

The game is on.

First to win the new support rider's heart, wins.

[ ᰔᩚ ]

Note :
Cheollie and Hannie are polyamorous !!
This is a Jihancheol fic !!
More poly SVT to come !!