fandomhighdorms | The gym [early evening]

"Most people are," Cal admitted. "Because most people can actually throw a punch..."

"You can't throw a punch? Really?" Ben stopped hitting the bag. "I could show you..."

On the one hand, Cal knew it wouldn't hurt to know a thing or two. On the other hand, he was picking up a few things in self-defense club, and he'd rather not embarrass himself in front of other people. He waved a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It'd just be a waste of your time, trust me. And I don't want to interrupt what you're already working on."

"It wasn't anything important," Ben said. "Just getting ready to go home, that's all."

Ben's home was a little complicated.

Well, if Cal remembered properly, Ben was related (somehow; he wasn't going to think about it any further than that) to Jaina, so that was all Ben really had to say.

"...and the punching bag is still in one piece?" he asked, a little astonished. "Slacker."

Ben gave him a wry little smile. "I figured people would be upset if I shot it across the room."

"They're probably used to it," Cal mused. "Got a thousand of them in storage somewhere. I just rue the day that the punching bags become sentient and try to seek revenge."

"They'll probably head straight for my family," Ben mused. "We abuse them a lot.

Cal nodded. "I've kind of noticed," he said, but he also sounded like he totally understood why. Not specifically, of course; he never pressed for details, but it was just one of those things that you could tell.

"I have a habit of being where things explode," Ben said, going back to rhythmically beating on the bag. "It's better to be in shape than be not quite fast enough, you know?"

Or, in Cal's experience, in the position of a lot of sheer, dumb luck. At the same time, however, he was owed some luck. He snorted a little, agreeing with Ben, although, really, he'd never, ever been 'fast enough,' had always just been lucky.

"I like having all my limbs, which is something that's a bit of a rarity with the guys in my family," Ben overshared.

"No kidding?" Cal asked, grinning a bit, and met overshare with overshare. "You're lucky, then. Males in mine typically wind up dead."

He was still so, so glad not to be a part of Ben and Jaina's family, which was saying a lot for a Stephanides.

Ben nodded. "We have some of that, too," he said, smacking the bag good and hard.

"Yeah," Cal said, finally taking to his weights, "I've noticed there's a bit of that around here in general."

"Think it's because the island attracts the hard luck cases?" Ben asked.

Cal thought about this carefully through a rep or two.

"It would make sense," he mused. "I mean, it's a boarding school. Boarding school are typically either for kids with too much money or too many problems. Sometimes both."

Ben thought about it. "Guess I'm kinda both," he said. "Not that Dad's rich, but he's totally famous."

"Totally famous, huh?" Cal said, with a slight smirk and a little bit of ribbing in his voice.

Ben blushed. "Like, already in the history texts famous," he mumbled.

"...Wow," Cal said. "And here all my dad ever did was make a fortune on hot dogs."

"Because they inflate to be so big," Ben said, smirking again. "I'd rather have that, really, than have everyone recognize my last name."

"If it makes you feel any better," Cal offered, "I have no idea who your father is? That's at least someone."

Ben gave him a huge smile. "It really does help," he admitted. "He casts an awfully big shadow."

With the wattage of the smile that attempt (which Cal hadn't assumed would be anything more than a poor one at best), Cal couldn't help grinning back. "Good," he said. "My ignorance, for once, has served me well."

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