Location Infinity Fitness Gym

[Phoenix]

Nat’s reeling gave Sam space to back up a few feet, retreating to a safe distance. She nodded to him as he wiped the blood away from his face, leaving it smeared beneath his nose. She hadn’t quite meant to draw blood, but it seemed to have cleared the kid’s head of whatever rage he had been experiencing. In normal circumstances, she would have called a pause to the timer and had him checked, but the determination in his eyes told her that wasn’t the call to make this time.

Instead, she squared back up, fist held high enough and close enough together to block most openings as she fell back into her boxing stance. She bounced her weight back and forth on her feet, keeping herself light so she could move if he struck before her. She took in even breaths as she got ready to weave. After a moment, she darted in, weaving to the right and feinting for his face before quickly darting left and swinging for his side, trying to bring her fist up and under his defenses, which had hopefully raised to his face.

This round was getting her best. Nat deserved nothing less, at this point. It was the only way he’d accept a defeat as well. That meant that when her fist drove forward, she gave it that extra oomph she normally reserved for much larger opponents. Regardless of whether her fist found purchase in his side, she dropped low and swept her foot out, aiming to take him down at the ankles and put him on his back. That would be a point in her favor if he fell, and she’d have won the challenge.​

 

[Fang]

Sam closed the distance, another feint loaded into her right fist. Nat was becoming more adjusted to her style of fighting, the shifts in her weight before an attack she expected to land and those she only wanted him to react to. He hadn’t always taken his training with his grandfather seriously, the monotony of sparring with the same person so far beyond your skills for years on end dulling his sense of enjoyment. Nat raised his arm to catch the pulled jab, acquiescing to Sam’s distraction with a savage grin behind his fist.



The second blow landed, but he had expected it; the force of it considerable despite Sam’s frame. She was toeing the line of her enhanced abilities, proving a point that Nat had every intention of matching. He rolled with the blow to his side, the curve of his body deflecting the majority of the force before it had time to fully connect. With the momentum of his turn he swept low, intent to sweep his opponent from her feet and end the match resoundingly.



His planted foot was the one that was swept, his vision suddenly turning to the ceiling as Sam was a split second faster. The haze of his anger was mostly depleted, a buzzing annoyance at the facts revealed in their blow by blow replacing its burn. He was no longer smiling, though he could feel the ghost of it at his lips, foreign as he recognized that feeling as something different from simple anger. He had thought he had won, had proven his strength.



”This conversation isn’t over.” He didn’t admit his defeat in words, though it was clear as he rolled over and lifted himself to his feet that he was done fighting with fists. ”How much do you charge a year for this setup?” Nat gestured around dubiously, a sharper edge to his banter than usual but retaining the playfulness he would have offered Sam before.

 

[Phoenix]

Nat hit the ground, and she smiled. She pushed to her feet and made her way to the edge of the ring, leaning against the ropes there. It was a good fight, one that made her a bit more confident in the kid. He could handle himself against people who weren’t as well-trained as she was. That was a relief. There were few people out there as well-trained as she was, which might have sounded a bit full of herself, but she didn’t think it with a sense of pride. She thought it with a sense of rationality.

Her smile faded just a touch when he said the conversation wasn’t over, but she quickly replaced it with a grin when he asked about prices. For a moment, she debated fucking with the kid and telling him something outrageous. Her grin eased a bit, but as she opened her mouth to give a reasonable price, Kyle’s voice rang out.

“It’s seven hundred and twenty a year.”

She raised an eyebrow at her assistant manager. He had an easy, innocent smile on his face as he called out double the price of their yearly membership. The gym charged only thirty a month, not sixty. But Kyle had clearly pegged Nat as having the money to afford such a high cost, and Sam… honestly found it just a touch funny.

“If you’d like, you can come back to the office, and we can have you sign the contract. Price can be discussed.” In other words, if you aren’t letting this go, can we talk about it where others can’t hear.​