Lend You Broken Parts {A Woosan Fic}

before the storm

The sky watched over San as the days passed and the fight drew near. It seemed as if the blue valley empathized with him, reflecting his feelings through the shadowed clouds that drifted overhead as the day approached. 

Dark hills created a partition between the earth and the sun, forecasting a storm that mirrored his foreboding feelings.

Brawl Out was beginning to mean a lot more to San than he ever wanted. The outcome was more than just putting Kino in his place. Now that his dad was training with him again it was a test to prove he was ready to get sponsored and debut. 

Now only two days remained and even though he felt he was prepared, there was a phantom notion of dread sitting in the back of his mind that something bad was coming.

The salty sting of sweat invaded his eyes as it rolled down his forehead. He and Jongho were in his training room with Seunghyun as they had been every day since he agreed to help them.

"Being one step ahead is adapting to your opponents fighting style. Find repetitive motions that signal moves they're recycling to create countering combos." Seunghyun spoke loudly over the slaps of strikes on the pads.

San analyzed Jongho's every breath as he took in his father's advice, waiting for any sign he could read. His breathing was labored and he wanted to buy as much time to recover as he could before the other could strike again. 

He placed his weight on his leading left leg and brought his right leg forward in a front kick to push him backwards. When his right foot made contact with his chest he thrust his hips forward giving the motion more power. 

Jongho stumbled back before regaining his balance and stalked forward again. The playful grin he had been wearing was now replaced by an expression San had come to describe as 'when Jongho was no longer just training'. 

All traces of his carefree attitude disappeared and he was now Jongho 'The fighter', determined to prove why he would one day be the greatest.

San stepped forward too, fully prepared to dodge his admittedly quick and sharp left jab and slip out of reach.

However, Jongho had something else in mind. As he came face to face with San, he delivered a stinging low kick to his calf before he quickly switched his stance and brought his right foot forward to lead his movements. His usual left jab was instead replaced by a right one and followed by a left cross.

Both blows connected as San was caught off guard at the abrupt change up and he fell to the floor with a painful groan.

"Ow. Where the hell did that come from?" San asked as he looked up at the other. 

Seunghyun looked between the two with his brows raised in confusion and faint shock, "Did you just switch your fighting stance in the middle of that combo?" he asked in surprise.

"So....I'm actually left handed and normally fight in a southpaw stance," he admitted.

"But you've been fighting orthodox since the first day I've trained with you." San looked bewildered.

"Before we made our deal, I was working with my trainer to fight left and right handed so I could have an advantage in the ring. When you and I started sparring I decided to challenge myself in our sessions to get better. I forgot how strong my left cross was so.....sorry" Jongho chuckled in reply.

"That's impressive honestly," San said as he climbed to his feet. He couldn't even bring himself to be upset.

"That's....a game changer," Seunghyun added. "It takes a lot of skill to strike that effectively from both stances."

"Can you help me learn too?" San asked, his excitement growing.

Before Jongho could answer, the loud vibrations of his phone followed by a melodic tone cut him off. He raced over to his bag before it stopped and gave an out of breath, "Hello?" to the caller.

"It's going to take a lot of practice to utilize a skill like that San," his dad said as Jongho listened intently to his call, "You won't be able to use that for Brawl Out, not this close to the fight."

"I know. I just.....have this feeling that Kino is going to try and pull something during the fight. I just want to have something up my sleeve as well." 

"Do you think you'll be okay in this fight? I don't know what I'll do if I see you black out again." The elder sighed.

"I'll be fine dad, as long as I have you and Wooyoung there."

"How are things going with him?"

San blushed a rosy shade. He was afraid to admit that things were perfect, in fear that acknowledging the fact would somehow give the cosmos a reason to disrupt it. 

Since they started dating, when San wasn't training he was with Woo. Either at Utopia while he worked (which let him see his best friend more often) or Wooyoung was with him at the dance academy. He was surprisingly talented at dancing and helped San choreograph a few pieces.

"Good. They're great actually. I think I might..." San paused. 

'It's not possible to love someone so quickly', San's thoughts echoed.

Jongho's phone call ended and he padded heavily on the mat back over to the two.

"Well I'll obviously need Jongho there too," He said in an attempt to change the topic back to before. 

San jokingly pushed the other with his shoulder when he didn't get a response and the room filled with silence. Jongho quietly stared at the ground.

San's smile faded, "You will be there.... won't you?"

"I....don't think I can," He muttered. "That was my management. One of the fighters that was set to debut at Fight Night 117 got injured in training. They want me to fight instead."

"117? That's this Saturday though. That's the day of Brawl and this is way too short notice, can they even do that?" San argued.

"They kind of already did since I agreed to fight. I've been preparing for this debut my whole life. I've been ready."

"You've been my number one supporter since I met you, I wanted to be there for your debut." San pouted. 

"Maybe you can be, you'll just have to deal with Kino quickly so we can head to the arena right after" Seunghyun offered simply.

"Wait...you're coming to watch me fight?" Jongho asked with wide sparkling eyes. 

"I wouldn't miss it. Either of them." 

"I hope this works out." San's voice was filled with apprehension.

A soft roll of thunder was heard far off in the distance that simultaneously heightened his faint sense of dread from before.

San could feel that more than one storm was coming, and even though he didn't know what the other one was, he hoped he would be ready for it.