fandomhighdorms | Gym, Tuesday Afternoon

That thing he had discovered (http://redintraining.livejournal.com/2331.html) last night had left Sky a near-complete wreck. He had never slept so badly in his entire life, and didn't know what to do with himself when he decided to give up on sleep. He knew Bridge and Z had offered an ear if he needed it, but... no.

So he headed to the gym. To work out, tone his body like the good little weapon he'd been groomed to be. He strolled in, oblivious to... well, pretty much anything around him, wearing workout clothes and boxing gloves, and went up to a punching bag. Hitting something allowed a little of his rage to escape. A little.

It wasn't until he finished his set that Troy even noticed someone else had come in, but when he saw Sky, he frowned. The two hadn't really seen each other since that ~~handwavy~~ run together before classes even started, but... Well. He looked kinda rough.

Throwing his towel around his shoulders, Troy moved over and grabbed the punching bag, holding it for Sky. "Here," he said. "This help?"

"Oh!" Sky jumped with surprise. "Er... sorry. Hey, Troy, I... ah... didn't notice you there. Thanks." THUD. THUD. THUD.

"I was over on the weight machines," Troy replied. "... You look like you're hitting someone's face." Which was, perhaps, a roundabout way of asking, "Do you want to talk about it?" but Troy thought it would suffice.

Sky caught onto the unanswered question and sighed, stepping back and panting. He didn't know who was responsible for what had happened, but he could just picture Supreme Commander Birdie ordering such a thing, so he imagined the "overstuffed pelican", as Cruger called him, pasted on the punching bag.

"I am, in a way," he admitted. "... It's a long story. I have so much anger to burn off, but nothing I'm doing helps."

Troy frowned a little deeper. "Talking does, sometimes," he said, after a pause. "Or if you'd rather not, we could... run laps, or something. Or do you play basketball?" He'd worked out his own share of aggression on the court before.

"Hmmm..." Sky considered for a moment. "I've never played much basketball before. So let's go with that. Maybe by the time I'm done I'll be tired enough and can sleep tonight." He pulled off his boxing gloves, towelling off his sweaty face, not really caring that he looked like crap. He also pondered how to tell Troy about his problem, or indeed, even if he should at all. His talks with Turtle and later on Bridge and Z had made him very cautious about what he spoke about, and with whom.

"Basketball it is!" Troy was grinning. Basketball equaled massive amounts of yay for him. "Just basic one-on-one, then?"

"Sounds good," Sky said, nodding. He was probably going to get his butt kicked, as he was much more used to lightball than basketball, but he found he really didn't care. Being the best didn't matter anymore.

Troy nodded, and led Sky to the basketball hoops, grabbing his basketball from his gym bag as they went. "I, uh, should warn you, I'm a bit out of practice. I haven't really played since I came to Fandom."

... Of course, out of practice for Troy doesn't quite mean what it would for your average person.

"That's OK," said Sky with a little shrug, doing a few stretches. "I'm probably not all that good at it, anyway. I'll just be happy to blow some steam off."

"Great!" Troy said, tossing the ball to Sky and moving into a defensive position. He added, completely casually, "No powers, if you've got 'em. They'd totally be an unfair advantage."

Sky felt a little sting in his heart at the mention of powers, but in spite of himself, he actually smiled a teeeeeny tiny bit.

"All I can do is make force fields," he said, tentatively dribbling a few times. "That'd probably work against me more than you."

"Aw, man, seriously?" Troy asked, but there wasn't any sting in his voice. "I'm starting to feel like the only person here without powers!" But he was laughing even as he said, even as he was darting forward to steal the ball and shoot.

Swoosh.

"Point to me. Play to thirteen?"

"No powers isn't necessarily a bad thing," Sky mumbled, more to himself than Troy, then realized far too late what had happened. "Hey!" he said, but was of course too late to stop the ball being stolen. "Sure, 13's a good number." He felt his competitive spirit beginning to rise. So what if he was a human weapon? He could let go of that for at least a little while. He could think about it later.

He held out his hands for the ball. "But that's the last point you're gonna make."

Troy grinned even as he caught the ball and tossed it to Sky. "Don't be so sure," he said, moving again into a defensive position. "Confident, cocky, lazy, dead."

Because he's not being cocky at all.

"Look who's talking," said Sky, dribbling before zipping past Troy and shooting the ball... only to miss by a mile. His face fell a little as he watched it bounce away, then gave chase and tossed it back to Troy. "OK. Maybe you'll get another. But that's it."

Troy caught the ball and laughed. "Oh, sure," he said, dribbling the ball, moving up the court, and shooting at the basket.

Swoosh.

"Just that one," he said, catching the ball and tossing it back to Sky.

Sky shook his head as he seized the ball and dribbled again. "OK. You're good, I'll give that to you. You don't seem out of practice to me." He repeated the same strategy as last time- run forward, shoot... and wiff. "Wha?" He was starting to get a little frustrated. "Why is it so hard to toss a ball through a hoop?"

Troy frowned for a moment, replaying in his head what he'd just seen Sky do even as he caught the bouncing ball. "Hmm... Here," he said, tossing the ball back. "Show me that again?"

"Okay," said Sky hesitantly, and shot the ball again. Another wiffer. So he hadn't played when he was a little kid... but why was he missing so widely? "Grrrrrrgh."

"Okay," Troy said, nodding and catching the ball again. "You're doing this," and he demonstrated, and the shot went way wide. He caught the ball again and took another shot, which went swoosh. "That's what you want. See the difference?"

"...Oh," said Sky, actually a little surprised. "I didn't know there was a difference. Like I said, I, ah... haven't played in quite a while."

Troy laughed. "It's okay," he said, reclaiming the ball and bringing it over to Sky. "Here, I'll guide you through a shot," he added, placing the ball in Sky's hands and moving behind him, placing his arms along Sky's.

"Oh, ah, sure," said Sky, surprised at first but relaxing and allowing Troy to show him the right way. He could foresee many more games in the future and didn't want to embarrass himself further, after all. "Oh. Now that I'm actually moving, I notice the difference."

"Yeah, see?" Troy grinned, and then stepped away. "Try taking a shot now."

Sky did so, still not making a basket, but this time at least bouncing the ball off the rim.

"Much better," he said. "Thanks, buddy." He caught the ball and tried again, this time actually making the shot. "FINALLY."

"Great!" Troy exclaimed. "So that's two to one!" He grabbed the ball, dribbled twice, then took another shot. "Three to one! Your ball."

"Arrrgh!" As the game ~~handwavily~~ progressed, Sky got a little better, but still not much. When Troy inevitably beat him, Sky wiped his forehead. "Well, that was quite a nice workout. Got a little of my frustration out."

Which was quickly returning now that his distraction was gone, but he wasn't going to mention that.

"That's great!" Troy said. He grinned. "Any time you want to play. Or, y'know, work out or anything. Feel free to come by my room!"

"Much appreciated," said Sky, gathering up his things and starting to leave. "I'll keep that in mind. Was nice seeing you again, Troy. Even if you did sorta kinda maybe kick my butt a little."

Troy laughed. "A little?" But he was grinning and moving to gather up his things as well. "It was fun. And I think you'll be winning soon enough if you keep improving as quickly as you did today."

"Yeah... yeah, it was fun. I'll have to keep working at it." Sky gave him a little smile- about all he could manage now that everything was rushing back in- and walked away, back to his room.

Being around people wasn't so bad.

Gym, Tuesday Afternoon

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