"Ch-Chase, I don't like it." Jack stuttered. "Chase, it's really high up. Chase."

"Calm down, Spicer." Chase looked up from where he stood on the ground, his mate on top of a tall pole. There were more of the poles in front of the young man, all differentiating in thickness and in a special pattern.

"What if I fall? I don't wanna fall. It's really high, Chase." Jack held on to the top of the pole with all his might.

"I will catch you if you fall." Chase stated.

"Everyone says that and every time I fall towards them they either drop me or purposely miss." Jack looked down and yelped, hiding his face by tucking it into his body.

"I will not drop you nor will I miss." Chase sighed. "Now get up."

"B-But."

"Spicer. Do it."

"Why am I up here? Why am I doing this?" Jack asked as he slowly stood up, legs shaking in fear.

"This exercise will help you with your balance."

"By making my piss my pants? I'm shocked I'm not getting a nose bleed from their height."

"You're not even that far from the ground, eight feet at the most." Jack only whimpered and hugged himself. "Would it make you feel better if I came up there?"

"Maybe."

"If I go up there, I won't be able to catch you." Chase warned.

"I don't care, I just don't want to be alone." Jack admitted. Chase sighed and climbed up the pole Jack was on, thankful that it was thick enough to hold both of them easily with plenty of room for Jack to feel comfortable.

"Happy?"

"A little."

"Now, go."

"Go where?"

"To the other end. Look at how most of the poles are placed, do you recognize the pattern?"

"It's like my hopscotch game." Jack commented. Chase nodded his head and hopped out to the first pole, gesturing for Jack to follow before going to the next two. Jack

Chase nodded his head and hopped out to the first pole, gesturing for Jack to follow before going to the next two. Jack swallowed and jumped out to the pole, balancing n one foot, feeling his heart race and mind scream as he stared at the ground.

"Don't look straight down, focus on staying up and going forward." Chase flipped over and balanced on his hands on two extremely thin poles that were out of the hopscotch pattern.

"Show off." Jack mumbled before leaping again, his feet landing on separate poles that were both thinner than the one he was just on. "Okay...okay...I can do this."

"Need assistance?" Chase asked, suddenly standing in front of Jack.

"I got this." Jack said with confidence and jumped to the next pole, yelping as he fell forward and landing face-first into Chase's chest. "I got too cocky." Jack murmured and allowed Chase to help him regain his balance.

"You're fine, just keep going." Chase said gently before jumping away.

"You're being awfully nice with this lesson." Jack said and made it to the next set of poles, happy that they were thicker than the others.

"I've learned that with you if I stay calm myself and I'm not harsh towards you, you learn a lot better and faster than if I treated you like I did before." Chase stated, watching Jack hop across several poles.

"Yeah, throwing me over cliffs didn't teach me much." Jack chuckled and stopped on a pole, holding a silly pose.

"You'd think it would have taught you to stay away." Chase said.

"Like you said, that's not how I learn and if I did listen to that lesson, I wouldn't be here right now." Jack skipped through several poles.

"Don't get cocky again, I might not be able to get you this time." Chase started going towards Jack.

"Don't worry, I think I finally got a hand of this-" Jack fell forward a little, but put his foot down on a nearby pole, looking over his shoulder and winking when he saw the hint of fear in Chase's eyes. The young man yelped and started going through the poles as fast as he could, Chase going after him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Jack laughed as he finally reached the end of the poles. He quickly climbed down and ran into the forest of wooden poles.

"Come here, Spicer." Chase said, the humor in his voice not scaring Jack, but he still ran away from the older man.

"Gotta catch me." Jack sang.

"What is it with you and making me go after you?" Chase sighed.

"Guess you can say I like it when you Chase me." Jack laughed and Chase had to bit his lip to hold back his own laugh.

"Very funny." Chase stopped when he saw Jack spin around one of the poles and purposely throw himself against his chest.

"I try." Jack shrugged, wrapping his arms around Chase's neck.

"Well, you almost succeeded." Chase chuckled and pushed Jack back against the pole behind him. "But you've earned some sort of a reward for making it through your first balancing lesson."

"First?" Jack whined.

"You can't learn perfect balance in one go, it takes many years of hard work and intense training." Chase stated. Jack let out a loud groan and leaned his head back. the young man gasped when Chase kissed his throat and shivered as the warlord trailed kisses down his neck and stopped at his collarbone, taking a moment to lightly nip at the bone. "Shouldn't leave yourself exposed like that."

"M-Maybe I should." Jack attempted to sound smooth, but his voice was shaky as he spoke. It was enough to earn a smirk from Chase and to be pressed against the pole a little harder. Chase gave Jack a deep kiss, holding the younger man by the waist, but parted when he heard a growl.

"Hungry?" Chase asked with a raised brow.

"A bit, I skipped lunch." Jack weakly smiled. "Ow." Jack rubbed his forehead after Chase flicked it.

"Idiot." Chase released Jack and walked away as he spoke. "Dinner does sound nice and no more skipping meals, understand?"

"Yes, sir." Jack muttered and crossed his arms. It was one thing to be cut off by Wuya or a warrior, but his own stomach?

"I might go out with the warriors this time. It's been a while since I've gone on a hunting trip." Chase spoke out loud as he and Jack left the training room.

"Can I join?" Jack asked, having never seen a hunting trip.

"Absolutely not." Chase saw the hurt of being shut down in Jack's eyes. "Not this time at least. I'll need to teach you what to do before going out."

"Can that be tomorrow's lesson?"

"Perhaps, I'll head out with several warriors now and we should be back in no longer than an hour."

"What am I going to do for an hour?"

"You'll find some way to entertain yourself."

~X~x~X~

Jack rested his cheek against a fist as he lazily twirled the toy in his hand, Niso laying on his back and swatting at the toy with little energy. Nani and Liam were curled up together at the end of the room. Jack assumed that their little date a success. Niso grew bored of the toy and went over to the other two warriors, laying on top of Nani and earning a half-hearted thump to the head by Liam.

"What are you doing, Jack?" Wuya asked as she flew to the young man.

"Chase went out with a few warriors on a hunting trip to get dinner." Jack answered, setting the cat toy down. "He should be back soon."

"So, you're waiting at the entrance of the lair, like a little puppy?" Wuya looked at the opening then back at Jack.

"I'm not just some dog to him, Wuya. Believe it or not. Chase is going to take me out on the next trip after he shows me what to do and I'm only waiting here cause I got bored." Jack stated.

"Are you sure of that?"

"Chase keeps his promises, he'll let me hunt next time."

"That's not what I'm asking about." Wuya flew about Jack's head.

"Then what are you asking about? Me being more than a dog to him? Pretty sure if I was just some pet he wouldn't go through so much effort to give me lessons or make sure I'm comfortable or happy or..."

"Has he taught you how to sit yet? Roll over? Play dead? Beg?"

"Shut up, you know nothing." Jack waved a hand at Wuya, but the which went around Jack's hand.

"You two are awfully touchy for only being together for a month." Wuya said.

"I've lived here for three months and I've known him longer than that." Jack was already hating this conversation.

"What makes you think that means anything? He's fifteen hundred years old, he's a thousand times your age."

"You really don't know how old I am, do you?"

"You're nowhere near fifteen hundred, that's for sure." Wuya huffed.

"Why are you even talking to me about this? You're just jealous that I'm with him and you're not." Jack got up, fed up with this. He was about to walk off, but Wuya cut him off by going in front of his face.

"You may be right in that statement, but there's more to it than that."

"Like what? You actually care for me?" Jack scoffed.

"It may not be much, but I do a little and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Oh, I guess being thrown, punched, kicked and just plain beaten, doesn't count as getting hurt." Wuya was a little shocked by the harshness in Jack's voice.

"You ran into those situations and I knew that you'd be fine, but this is different." Jack only turned his head. "You may not be a child, but you're still young and for your entire life, it's just been you and your machines. You've never been in this sort of...thing, before."

"You don't know that!"

"Jack. Please." Jack was about to protest again but decided against it. "Yes, I'm jealous and yes, I can't believe that Chase chose you over me, but I still want to make sure that he's not just using you."

"Using me? Using me for what? There's nothing-" Jack's throat closed up when he caught onto what Wuya was hinting at. "No! Nothing like that is happening and even if there was it's none of your concern!" Jack could feel his face heating up.

"You're young and naive, how do you know that you're nothing more than just a warm body to him?" Wuya could see that she was upsetting Jack, but knew she needed to say this. "How do you know that once he gets what he wants he won't toss you aside like some toy to use whenever he pleases?" Jack shook his head, not wanting to believe what the witch was saying to him. "What's stopping him from saying one thing and then going against his word and pushing you away?"

"Like what he did to you?" Jack asked, finally getting his voice back but it was soft and weak.

"Exactly. We're evil Jack, there's nothing preventing us from doing whatever we want, from abusing everyone and thing around us, from taking advantage of the clueless."

"I...I don't believe you. Chase might be evil like us, but he has something that you don't."

"What's that?"

"Honor."

"Jack, you think you know Chase Young, but he-"

"You don't know him either! I knew about him before you did! But from what I've seen, when Chase makes a promise or an agreement, he always keeps it. Something you tend not to do."

"I'll admit to my faults." Wuya flew out of Jack's way. "I won't interfere with what's happening with you and Chase and when, not if, when he ends it because he bores of you, I'll be here to pick up the pieces."

"The pieces of what?"

"Your heart." Wuya started to fly away and paused for a moment to speak again. "I know what it's like to have him hurt you emotionally, to make you feel special, wanted and then learning that he doesn't really like you at all, that he was just using you and when you are no longer considered useful, he'll push you away like everyone else. Be careful Jack, that man is a lot more evil than you think."

"Spicer? Spicer, are you crying?" Chase walked in a moment later, three warriors following him. The warlord placed the deer on top of two warriors and gestured for all three of them to leave. "Are you hurt? What happened?" Chase asked and went over to Jack, grabbing the young man's wrists and lowering his arms when he tried to cover his face with them. "Spicer?"

"I-It's nothing, I just got some dirt in my eyes." Jack lied.

"Are you sure?" Chase ran a thumb across Jack's cheek, drying it off a little with his gloved hand.

"Yeah." Jack sniffed and felt his heart flutter as Chase kissed some of his tears away. Jack hummed a little when Chase kissed his jaw but snapped out of it when he remembered what Wuya had said. "W-What'd you catch for me? I'm starving." He said as he pushed Chase back a little.

"Xina caught a deer for us, they should be working on it now, actually. I'm going to go check on them, care to join?"

"Of course." Jack smiled at Chase, but it went away when the older man was no longer looking at him. Jack had a lot of thinking to do tonight and he was not looking forward to it.