Jihyun watches from outside the ring as Jeno and Jaemin battle against one another. Their fight so far had been intense, a darkness in their eyes as they swung at each other with full force.

Jaemin was able to out maneuver Jeno, pushing him onto the ground with a thud. Jaemin jumps on him, trying to pin him quickly but fails. Jeno is fast to rush back to his feat, sending Jaemin flying with a harsh kick to the side.

Jaemin scrambles back up, wiping the blood from his face as he goes to attack again. They fight ruthlessly, each boy knocking the other around and landing harsh blows.

The members watch with worried faces, their eyes flickering between the fight and Jihyun, waiting for her reaction. She watches with furrowed brows, not wanting them to get hurt but also not wanting to misread the situation and break up a good practice fight.

Jeno is able to get the upper hand on Jaemin, flipping him over his shoulder and slamming the dark haired boy into the mat with a force that even makes Jihyun wince. Jeno jumps on him, securing the other boy to the ground in what seems to be a definite victory.

Jeno begins to swing at Jaemin's head, landing hits on his jaw and face. Jaemin says something but none of the members can make it out as Jeno continues to punch him. The fight doesn't end without a yield and Jihyun is silently screaming for Jaemin to give in, confused as to why he's letting Jeno continue.

Jeno swings hard, hitting Jaemin's nose with a small crack as blood begins to flow from it. Jihyun's eyes widen, looking around and seeing almost all of her members on their feet. Her eyes land on Sungchan and Sicheng, both looking at her with concerned gazes. She quickly nods her head to them, the pair standing immediately and jumping the fence into the arena to drag Jeno off of the now bloody Jaemin.

Once freed from Jeno, Jaemin leaps to his feet, spitting blood from his mouth as he approaches the other boy. He grabs the collar of Jeno's shirt, slamming him into the fence around the arena.

"What the hell is your problem, Jeno? I fucking yielded you psychopath!" Jeno harshly shoved Jaemin back, the two of them fuming in anger.

"It's not my fault you couldn't fucking take it."

"Listen here you little shit-"

"What are you gonna do, weak-ass?"

"I swear-" the two began shoving each other back, shouting in each other's faces in anger.

"Screw you"

"Shut up asshole"

"I-"

"ENOUGH." Jihyun says, hopping the fence and running to stand between the two boys, Sicheng and Sungchan each restraining one of them.

"What are you guys doing? You're both part of the same team here and this is just a simulation, you're not supposed to hurt each other!" She exclaims, looking back and fourth between the two boys with a mix of concern and frustration.

"I promise that there's plenty of people you'll get to kill and who want to kill you too, you don't need to go after one another!"

"It's not my fault he didn't stop when I yielded..." Jaemin trailed off quietly, causing Jihyun to widen her eyes and turn to Jeno with an angry glare.

"You did what Jeno?" She whispered lowly.

"He should've been able to take it if he's really strong enough. Just proving that you and I are the strongest team here, am I right? We won!" He exclaimed happily.

"Jeno it doesn't matter! We're not trying to prove anything! News flash: everyone in this room is on the same fucking team and we're all damn good at what we do. These competitions are for fun. As a fun way to train you guys. But this isn't fun. You never, NEVER, celebrate seriously hurting another member. Ever." She growled out in anger, the anger dripping from her every word as the room falls silent, no one daring to make a sound.

"Partner training is over." She harshly announces to the room before walking over to the bloodied boy. "Come on Jaemin, I'll drive and take care of you back at home." She cast one final disappointed glare over her shoulder at Jeno before taking Jaemin's hand and walking out.

- - -

"Ow! Shit." Jaemin hissed out in pain.

"Sorry sorry, I'll try to be more gentle." Jihyun said, looking at him with pity as she carefully dabbed the alcohol wipes on his cuts. She cleaned all of his wounds, checking over him and thankfully nothing was broken or dislocated.

"You're all set." She said, putting things back into the small first aid kit. Putting the kit away, she then moved to sit across from Jaemin at the small table in his room.

"What happened back there, Nana? That seemed like more than just a regular scuff. I've never seen either of you fight like that." She said quietly while looking at him with concern filled eyes.

"I don't even know. Each of us was fighting to prove something. The two of us have been competing since literally the first day of the training academy, fighting for that top spot. I guess old rivalries just came out." Jaemin said pausing to roll his eyes with a sigh.

"But I'm not so stupid to keep fighting when I know I lost. And I was never fighting to hurt him, but that jerk was going at me full force, and he kept going at me even when I yielded."

"I'm gonna need to talk to him about that." She mutters out.

"I don't want to seem weak though, I know that I can beat Jeno too if I went at him the way he did to me." he replies dejectedly.

"You're not weak for not wanting to hurt him Jaemin. You fought well and you fought the right way. Jeno crossed a line. That doesn't make him strong, it makes him stupid." She said, reaching over to grab Jaemin's hand across the table.

"You're not weak, Jaemin. Not in the slightest. If anything, I think you're the strong one." He smiles at her compliment, slightly squeezing her hand. He opens his mouth to say something when a ding from Jihyun's phone interrupts him.

She pulls her hand away, reaching to her phone out of her pocket and reading the message on the screen before letting out a sigh.

"Taeyong needs me in the office for a bit, I'll see at dinner." She smiles at him, standing up and leaving his room.

- - -

"Everything okay? I didn't call a council meeting." She says nervously, walking into her office and seeing the 6 boys sitting around the table. She quickly takes a seat, looking at them in confusion.

"Ji, we're all a little...concerned about what happened earlier." Mark answers, glancing around the room.

"First of all, is Jaemin okay?" Yuta asks before Mark can continue.

"Yeah he's fine, I cleaned him up and checked him out."

"Did he say anything about what happened?"

"A little," she replies, turning to face Sungchan, "he said that he and Jeno have been rivals since the academy started as they were both top of the class and he thinks that rivalry just came out."

"But that seemed like more than just a simple rivalry." Sicheng argues.

"You're right. Jaemin said that he was holding back, seeing as Jeno is a teammate and this wasn't a real fight, but Jeno wasn't. Jaemin said that Jeno was going at him full power and even when Jaemin yielded, Jeno didn't stop." The others around the table nod their head in understanding.

"Jihyun, if we're being honest here, I think Jeno got jealous. We all know that both of them are fighting for you and Jeno took that literally." Taeyong says with a huff, as Jihyun tried to suppress the redness rising on her face, nodding in agreement. "He was trying to show off by beating Jaemin to a pulp because he knew that Jaemin wouldn't cross that line."

"So then what do we do?" She asks, looking around the room.

"Well one thing's for sure: you can't be his partner anymore." Jaehyun states, breaking the silence.

"Why can't he be her partner?" Mark asks, staring at Jaehyun.

"It's dangerous. Jeno obviously got jealous when Jihyun was there and couldn't think straight. Believe me when I say that I know it's hard to control jealousy." Jaehyun says making brief eye contact with Jihyun before painfully looking away.

"If he can't control it, he could put himself and all the rest of us at risk. He could jealousies himself and take Ji with him, though I doubt she'd let that happen." He says, looking at her with a small smile.

"Jae's right guys." Taeyong adds on, "if this was a real mission it could've been disastrous."

"Should I just go solo then? I can handle that." She says, Taeyong and Jaehyun beginning to nod.

"Actually I have a better idea." Sicheng speaks up now. "Look, I love Shotaro, and being his partner is great, but we all know that he's much more skilled as a doctor than a fighter. Plus, now that we have the new recruits, we don't need him to come with. So that would leave me without a partner, but also Jeno needs a partner."

"What are you suggesting then?" Yuta asks, staring at the Chinese boy in confusion.

"Jaehyun and Jeno have been practicing together a lot. They know how to work with one another, and Jeno respects him." Sicheng replies, turning to smile at Jaehyun. "And Jae can handle him."

"Okay fine but what about me then?" Sungchan asks.

"What if the three of us teamed up. We're all aces snd are perfectly capable of tackling missions solo, but it might make things easier if we just loosely stuck together."

Everyone around the table nods their head in agreement, Sicheng, Sungchan, and Jihyun exchanging excited glances.

"Alright, we'll tell them during dinner. I have a feeling Jeno is not gonna be happy about this one..."

———
Felt like spontaneously releasing a chapter. Wack. I'll still be releasing another one at my normal time in a few hours, but I hope you enjoyed this!