InsaneJournal

RP: Climbing the romance ladder?
Who: Demo & Cass
What: Date time
When: Sat afternoon 22nd Jan
Where: Mile End Climbing Centre
Warnings: TBC
Completion Status: Ongoing


After their texts the other week Demo had had fun looking up climbing centres in and around London, before booking the two of them onto a taster session where they could try things out. It was with a small group, but that was okay by him. He’d let Cassandra know and now he was waiting for her to join him at the end of the road from the centre. They had decided to meet there because it was a muggle place and he wasn’t confident enough to side-along them to somewhere nearby. In fact he’d actually decided to indulge one of his random moments of trying to enjoy the Tube. But he’d forgotten how much busier it would be at the weekend because of all the kids and tourists. Still, it had got him to the meeting spot, complete with his warm workout gear and a coat that looked rather more elegant.

When he finally saw Cass approaching he smiled, the little flutter of excited anticipation in his belly growing and being soothed all at once. “Hey, I’m glad you found it okay. I felt bad about not picking you up, but you’re probably glad you didn’t come on the Tube with me, it was packed,” he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

—-

Cassandra has dressed comfortably in a matching set of yoga pants and sports bra that made her skin look almost luminescent. She spotted him standing at the counter and a smile grew across her face. Between their blind date and the sporadic texting Cassandra felt she had found someone special.

“Oh please.” She gave him playful nudge, “We were coming from different directions. It made sense to meet here.” She liked that he cared enough to apologize, even if it wasn’t necessary. She turned around looking at the polygonal structures of the bouldering areas covered in a mosaic of colored holds. “This was a great idea.” She said signing in and filling out the proper liability forms.

—-

He filled in his own forms easily enough, tuning back in time to goggle slightly when she took her coat off. He swallowed and looked away. Her dress on their first date had been plenty sleek enough, and she’d been fairly casual when he rescued her from the potions hiccup, but this felt a little more intimate somehow. Despite it being rather more public. He also felt rather scruffy by comparison, since his own workout gear was mostly geared for comfort and his light blue top was the only bit of interest under his dark grey jacket and jogging bottoms. “Have you got a coverup in case it gets cold?” he asked. He was sure he’d let her know that the centre had warned him it got chilly. “If not, you can always borrow mine.”

He looked over at the climbers too and watched one do an impressive spring from one set of holds to another. “Okay, I am not going to be that good,” he said, indicating the person with a hand as he came alongside her.

“Do you want to share a locker?” he asked. There didn’t seem to be changing rooms as such so they could split their stuff post-climb if they wanted to change in the toilets. “I’ve got a change of clothes and stuff.”

—-

“Got it covered.” Cassandra pulled ​​ a hoodie out of her bag. “I figured once we were up there it might be chillier.”

“Oh, sure.” He looked uncomfortable, she thought as she handed him her pack. Looking around the gym she saw plenty of other women wearing something similar to her. Maybe a couple with a t-shirt over top. She thought she had picked something that was rather innocuous.

“Nice and warm.” She pulled the hoodie over her head and scrunched her shoulders to her ears.
—-

He grabbed her bag and wandered over to the bank of lockers, deftly slipping in both of their bags and inserted the required muggle coin. He brought the key back to her and held it up. “You have a zip pocket for this to go in, or do you want to use mine?” he asked. He figured a zip pocket was probably necessary and had one, but if she’d feel more comfortable keeping the key he was more than happy for that to happen.

“How’s work going?” he asked. “You know, the bits you can tell me about. Still super busy?” he asked as he rejoined her. They were standing loosely close to what he assumed were probably muggles who were also waiting for the session to start.

He looked down at his still trainer-clad feet and groaned. “Umm, I think we need to change shoes. Hang on.” He looked around and spotted the right spot on the welcome desk. It would be a quick enough process, he was sure.

—
“Probably better in yours.” Her hands bundled in the front pocket of her hoodie. Her outfit served a purpose, just not a practical one. She stopped and thought. They were in a muggle business. How was she supposed to talk about Potions work?

“It’s still busy.” She shrugged. “I’ve got two or three projects that I'm constantly working on but at least we have a research team in case anything comes up.” It was a bit annoying they were both versed in potion making and she wished they could talk freely but at least this way the most the bystander knew she worked for some think tank.

When he walked back to the counter she looked at her own feet. Were her trainers not the right attire to wear? Climbing seemed a bit more involved than she thought. He returned with two pairs of shoes that looked like they could almost pass for a ballerina's shoes, except for the laces and rubber soles. The shoes curved a bit coming to a gradual point where her big toe would sit. Definitely more involved than she thought. She slipped off her shoes and handed them to him. He did have the key, after all.

—

He tried not to laugh as she clearly had to think around the topic of her work, although he suspected his smile wasn’t all that well suppressed. “Isn’t it always the way! Hopefully you can still have some time to have fun too. Your own interests, or just throwing yourself up random walls in old warehouses,” he teased.

It was an easy enough operation to drop their regular shoes into the locker too after they’d both switched. They felt slightly unusual but perfectly comfortable. “I only knew because of the website when I booked,” he reassured her. “I guess they grip better, which is probably pretty important.”

Just then their instructor arrived and the next few minutes were taken up by listening to a quick review of some safety and basic climbing tips. Everyone got paired up and split around the bouldering wall to have a go and start spotting each other. Apparently the blue courses were the easiest, followed by red, black and pink. There was also a rating system, but the colour coding was the easiest thing to keep track of for a newbie apparently. However he didn’t have to concentrate on his own climbing to start with, since he was spotting for Cassandra. He was just tracking behind her to try and break any fall a little more than the crash mats would. Or possibly prop her up if he needed to apparently. And try not to give into the temptation to just grab her arse.

—
It was a lot harder than she thought. She considered herself to be fit but there seemed to be a difference in being able to carry oneself and pull oneself up a wall. She settled into what she assumed was a starting position. It was an odd sense of tunnel vision that she craned her neck to remind herself where she was going. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and pulled herself up. A momentary weightlessness and she was on the wall. “Well I’m on!”
She slowly followed her taped path up and up until it ended at the top of the wall. “Now what?” She called down to Demo. She made it to the top but she felt like a kid climbing her first tree. Excited to be at the top but not experienced enough to find a way back down.

—

Watching Cass climb was an exercise in not being a jerk for about maybe thirty seconds, because she really did look good in her kit and he didn’t quite know where to put his eyes. He definitely hadn’t caught on to his Papa’s sense of artistic detachment from someone he was observing. Although he was fairly sure even Papa didn’t manage that when his husband was involved.

After the first couple of steps she made he was far more focussed on making sure he had her covered just in case of falls. Part of him definitely wished he’d kept his wand on him for safety purposes, but with him it probably wouldn’t be the most help. He hovered with his hands out and occasionally made guesswork suggestions about how to proceed. He clapped when she got to the top. “Well done,” he called up. “Umm, I guess either climb back down or climb a bit and jump?” he guessed. “I’ll try and catch you.” He was and sounded deeply unsure, but still moved closer to the wall with his arms up to try and brace her if needed. He wasn’t even sure if it was possible to reverse the climb, but that seemed most logical to him in his moment of panic and lack of surety.

—-

“Okay.” Cass checked her footing before letting go of the top of the wall. Starting to shimmy down the wall she realized it was almost harder than getting up when her foot slipped on a hold. Feeling her weight coming away from the wall she jumped towards the crash pad underneath her.

She was breathing heavily, “Well that was a rush.” She reached out a hand to Demo. “So it's your turn?”
—-

“Well done!” he said, genuinely impressed by her skills as he held out a hand and helped her up. “Let’s see if I can do anything similar.” He pulled a slightly joking face of trepidation. He was expecting to do okay at least, but it seemed to be a pretty different skill set from boxing.

He stuck his hands in the chalk they’d been provided and started cautiously. The point of balance for his centre of gravity was entirely different than what he was used to with boxing. Most of the strength aspect was absolutely fine, but his foot slipped or nearly slipped a couple of times because he wasn’t used to putting all his weight into his toes. “Not like boxing, for sure,” he said, laughing slightly as he almost slipped again and brought his hands together to try and rest for a few seconds.

He tipped his neck side to side and then arranged his hands to continue, looking at the next hold a few times before moving on up. Once he reached the top he whooped in exhilaration.

He tried to arrange his brain to try and climb back down but apparently his spatial awareness didn’t work like that and he couldn't work it out. “I think I’m just going to jump!” he said, glancing over his shoulder to try and lock eyes with Cass.