Characters: Rahim & Zoe Setting: January 5th, After hours, One of the Training rooms Summary: Rahim shows Zoe self defense techniques Rating: low, nonmalicious violence and language
Zoe had made sure to bring something to change into after work for their self defense session. She entered the room littered with soft mats on the floor intended for hand to hand training and to give someone a soft surface to land on. She wore a sports bra and tank top and a pair of short workout shorts with a pair of tennis shoes. Her short hair was pulled back and she seemed ready to go. As her eyes landed on Rahim she couldn’t help but take a moment to admire his physique. Taking a small breath she smiled and waved, “Hey.” While she didn’t actually need a training session in self defence as there were plenty of non-cheesy videos she could watch, she felt it would have been rude to turn down his offer. Besides, she couldn’t deny that watching him workout wouldn’t be a nice thing to do.
Rahim didn’t wave back because… that was just not what he did. He nodded. He’d changed into something more comfortable too. He had his hair pulled back and twisted into a thick bun at the back of his head. It was rare for him to tie his hair back so severely, mostly because it was a hassle, but his hair tended to get the way in situations like combat. The bruising along his cheek had faded considerably, and even the deeper bruising along his ribs had faded in color intensity. The cut on his cheek was taking longer to heal but it was clearly in the process. “Hey,” he said.
Rahim’s gaze lingered on Zoe for a moment. “How you wanna do this?” He finally asked. “For your power.”
Zoe noted the injuries he'd sustained, thankfully the small cut on her forehead from when she'd head butted the guard was healing, and the bruises on her arms were faded to a yellow already. “Watch you, copy back?” She offered. “Then practical application?” Basically, show me then attack me. “Adjust if needed.” Like if a technique didn't work with her small size. Hopefully her staring would be too uncomfortable to him.
Rahim nodded again. “We’re going to skip the going for the soft tissue part. I assume you already know that.” He started simple, not because she needed him to, but because a lot of more complex moves relied on the foundation of simple techniques. Regardless of whether the techniques were originally designed for someone of Zoe’s height, Rahim adapted them to be. Fighting was easy for him. He’d served in the marines for eight years, a faction of the military that designed their own fighting system, he was a foot taller than her, and there had never been a situation where his reach was too short to make contact. He moved with complete confidence, but also a complete lack of arrogance. It was what made him a good power instructor.
The first techniques he showed her relied on using the elbow in the rebuttal rather than her fists. It was the strongest part of her body, but it was also the part that required the least amount of force and strength to be effective. An elbow to the solar plexus was just as effective as a knee to the nuts, but it was also gender neutral.
As he showed her moves, Zoe repeated with precision. His comfort and experience seemed to echo in her reproduction of the moves despite them being her first time. She smiled a little as their training progressed through learning the moves. Next came the part that was slightly more difficult for her, practical application. It wasn't difficult because she couldn't repeat the moves, the replay memory of him was excellent. Her problem came with improvisation and applying the moves outside of the determined order she'd watched.
As they took a brief break before the practical stage, to get some water, Zoe gave Rahim a look. “So, you okay with getting a little rough?” She asked, only after realizing the double meaning her question could carry.
Zoe’s reproduction of every technique was textbook in a way that took years to learn. He commented on every move she reproduced, short acknowledgments that signified that she got it. There wasn’t anything to correct yet because she was copying him, and he didn’t fuck up. The application would be different. Fighting required a versatility that had to be learned - mentally more so than physically. He didn’t worry that she wouldn’t be able to adapt though. Zoe learned fast.
As they took their break, Rahim arched an eyebrow at Zoe, a very small smile briefly crossed his face. “Yeah. We can get rough,” he said, fully aware of the double meaning before he said it. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll make sure you don’t accidentally break anything.” He shrugged. “And if you do, then, I’m a better teacher than I thought.” And he’d probably be proud.
She took in a little breath with his reply and took a sip of water to cover what would probably have been a cheesy smile. “Well, I'm not super strong or anything. So I doubt I'll break anything.” Though she probably broke that guards nose… though technically that was the wall. “Hopefully, I can get you on your back-” She bit her lip, why did her coworker have to be so… Zoe sighed, she wasn't the smart but wild college student anymore. “You… know what I mean.” She sat down her water bottle and moved back out to the mats. “Alright, give me what you've got.”
“I know what you mean,” Rahim confirmed but he waited until Zoe was heading back to the mats to actually smile. It wasn’t a cheesy smile, but it was a great deal less muted than usual. He set his water aside and followed her back to the mats. He rolled his shoulders and then advanced on her, going for a standard grab. While he intended to pull his punches for Zoe - she might have an inhuman memory and ability to recreate his own moves, but she was also tiny and he didn’t want to accidentally break her - he still naturally filtered through every defense move she could use on him and every move he could use to negate those defense moves, even though he didn’t necessarily plan on negating them.
She watched him and the amount of things that processed through her head in that instant would have taken someone else more than twice as long. She replayed all the moves he'd shown and chose what she thought would work, a simple deflection. Only problem was he did have strength on her and the move didn't have enough momentum to redirect it to him and then he had her. Just as quickly she cycled through the other moves, not realizing that she had started to panic a little- despite it not being outwardly obvious and when she tried to break his hold- which she did- she ended up falling onto her back. “Fuck.” She cursed.
Well, she put one of them on their back. Rahim wasn’t proud that that was his first thought. “You alright?” He asked, offering her his hand to help her back up. “If this happens in a real fight, people tend to let down their guard when their opponent’s on their back, it’s a vulnerable position to be in. Which makes it a good time to kick them in the dick,” he added. “For future reference,” he clarified.
She laughed a little and nodded, taking his hand. “I'm good, and-” as he helped her up she found herself very close to him like one of those moments in her sisters cheesy romantic flicks (and the ones she used to watch) and shit, now one such scene was replaying in her head. “I'll have to remember that.” Zoe said, taking a step back. Why did even casual socialization have to become so hard now? Probably because now she was constantly analyzing everything and overthinking everything at an incredible rate.
Taking another few steps back, she stretched her back out a little, beyond a dull reminder of hitting the mat in her shoulder she was fine. “So, shall we try this again?”
Zoe was easy to pull up but Rahim hadn’t meant to pull her that close and suddenly she was right there and he was staring down at her. For a moment, they stopped. Something shifted behind Rahim’s eyes, as if he was seeing something in the face he was staring at for the first time. But then Zoe was moving away, forcing them back to business and Rahim took his own step back.
“Right. Yeah. Ready?” Rahim didn’t get flustered. He seemed to have a usually concentrated focus about most things he did. Not an intense concentrated focus, but usually a single minded focus. He wasn’t flustered but his focus on the self defense had slipped for a minute there and it’d shown in his eyes before he could catch it.
She waved her hand in a ‘dismissive’ manner as if she'd actually be able to move the movie now playing as if picture in picture- it didn't move. “Ready.” She said, keeping her focus. Zoe wondered just what her multitasking limit was… would be interesting to test. This time she was able to avoid the attack. The next she was able to get Rahim to one knee and with his advice and her skills she was eventually able to either avoid or get out of his grasp every time- while neither sought to harm each other they did stop ‘going easy’ after the first few rounds.
The final round she actually managed to use his own momentum to flip him onto his back. A bit winded with a wide grin she didn't fully realize she was wearing, she walked over to him. Yea, she may have a quick brain but it could be as dirty as the next, and he was all sweaty and… mentally shaking that thought she reached out and chuckled as she realized she probably couldn't really lift him up as he had to her, “You okay?”
Zoe learned so fast, he could see it in real time. He changed up his tactics, since nobody learned from rehashing the same attack. He didn’t go slow for her, knowing her brain could keep up, but he did start this by pulling his punches so that if her defense didn’t work, she wouldn’t get hurt. But the further they went, the less punches he pulled, until she flipped him off of his feet and onto his back. The landing made him breathless and brought a rare smile to his face at the same time, because he hadn’t been pulling his punches at all during that round. If this had been a real fight, she would’ve knocked him on his ass all the same, and that was good.
That was hot.
That was also not a thought he meant to have.
It caught him off guard. He took her hand and let her pull him up, but he carried most of his own weight to his feet. Otherwise he likely would’ve just dragged her down. Onto him. Which wouldn’t have been an awful alternative. He kinda regretted not going that route for a half a second after he rose to his feet. He waved his hand as dismissively as Zoe had when he’d asked her that same question. “That was good,” he said, cleared his throat and straightened his posture. It was such a minutely action that it almost seemed distracted. “You got me on my back and that was…” he paused and was entirely aware that he’d just done what Zoe had done early and it hadn’t been on purpose. “Good.”
She reached up and pulled her hair down, feeling the tie having started to loosen with all the physical movement. “Finally.” Zoe said softly, looking up at him. The conversation with Alice replayed through her head, the one where she’d admitted that her coworker was hot. The one where she had weighed the pro’s and con’s and all logic pointed to workplace romance- even a one time fling- had undesirable repercussions. Awkwardness when working together being one of many possibilities and since their department wasn’t huge, the two of them did work together a lot. Rahim also didn’t fill the air with nonsense which she liked- something Alice would have said was a plus and a reason to… She shook her head slowly, “It’s a bad idea.” Zoe said aloud in response to her thoughts.
“What is?” Rahim asked, but his voice was slightly lower than it had been for most of the lesson. He took a step closer to Zoe. Zoe was probably calculating something in her computer brain and disagreeing with it. He didn’t try to analyze that. Having something with a coworker probably was a bad idea. It complicated things. Just not on his end. He didn’t believe he was complicated. He had baggage but he didn’t believe that baggage was complicated either. Zoe seemed like the epitome of complicated. Every ability she had was designed to analyze data and often times replicate it. But it didn’t feel like a bad idea.
She reactively put a hand on his chest as he stepped toward her, his voice seemed to radiate through her. Zoe could feel his sculpted body beneath her fingers, she really wasn’t normally into highly muscled men… maybe it’s because most she’d know looked like walking steroids where Rahim was well proportioned. Which was probably the nerdiest way to classify someone’s hotness. “This…” She said, her hand trailing to his arm. His strong sweaty arm. Zoe realized she’d just entered a bad romance novel. “I’m not good at awkward small talk when things are uncomfortable.” She said softly, as if it were a valid excuse. “Or… relationships in general- outside of a working one.” She was sure since her powers triggered her brother and sister only tolerated her because they’d grown up with her.
Rahim arched an eyebrow. Very faintly, he looked amused when he should’ve looked rejected. “I don’t small talk and we have a working relationship,” he said rationally, calmly, as if Zoe wasn’t telling him that this was a bad idea. Her fingers were also still on his arm, and he took another step closer. “What else?”
“Aren’t there cameras in here?” Which was oddly not something she was actually bothered about, but she was actually having issues rationalizing any other reasons other than her own personal anxiety about… well about it blowing up in her face and now she has this memory in her mind forever.
“There’s cameras everywhere,” Rahim said, which was an odd concern because he wasn’t proposing they have sex here on these mats, in front of the cameras. “I’m going to kiss you. If you don’t want me to, you can tell me no. You don’t have to find a reason,” he said that with the same causal confidence he’d shown her the self defense techniques with.
He had a point there, rarely anywhere they went were they not being spied on by big brother. “Okay.” She said softly with a nod as she rose slightly on her toes to meet him.
Rahim leaned down to meet her half way. There was a slight height difference between them. He didn’t seem to mind it. He put a hand on the small of her back, to seemingly steady her as she rose up and pressed his lips to hers. There were cameras, and they were both sweaty, and probably slightly bruised. He looked aggressive, but it wasn’t an aggressive kiss. The kiss itself seemed more open than Rahim’s general grunting and nodding persona.
Zoe rested a hand on either of his arms, as he held her still. For a moment she felt like who she’d been before, as if her mind had turned off for even a moment. It hadn’t, but at least she wasn’t analyzing the moment. She returned the kiss, letting herself give in to the experience. She wasn’t worried about how much pressure she was applying or anything- all those thoughts came up after the fact. As she pulled back slowly, mainly to catch her breath, Zoe felt a smile grace her lips. He definitely wasn’t a bad kisser.
Rahim pulled back slightly as the kiss broke, his gaze surveying her face, eyes watching her carefully and reading something there. That was when his conversation with his sister chose to replay in his head. But trust me, if you make a move she’s gonna be into it. Zoe looked into it.
Then Rahim’s gaze shifted, toward the guard standing by the door to the room. The guard was watching them to the point that he was staring straight at Rahim. “Wanna get out of here?” He asked her, returning his gaze to Zoe.
Zoe nodded. “Yeah,” She glanced over to the door and the guard and her back stiffened slightly. “Let’s.” Her hands slid off his arms and she moved over to her bag, a hand running through her hair. She tried to be casual but her heartbeat was a bit fast as her mind reminded her of what had just happened. She pulled her bag over her shoulder, the strap crossing her chest. “I think I could use a shower.” She laughed lightly, meeting back up with him to walk out together.
Rahim could use a shower too. “Me too,” he said, but his mind definitely went to other places as Zoe mentioned a shower. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t a teenage boy. He put himself between Zoe and the guard lurking by the door as they walked out. The guard watched them go, but made no move to comment or follow so Rahim ignored him.
“You did good today,” he said as they entered the hall. He wanted to dwell on what had just happened between them but they had actually met up here for a reason. “I wasn’t holding back on you for that last one. You actually knocked me on my ass.”
Zoe nodded. “I could tell, every other time you hesitated at the last minute.” She tucked some hair behind her ear, barely suppressing a comment about how nice his ass was. “I think that’s what gave me enough momentum to do it.” Momentum, she felt it still, between them. Maybe Alice was right, there weren’t a lot of guys on the island, maybe something casual was okay to seek out. “Was kind of satisfying seeing you on your back, I have to say.” She said, looking down the hall with a small smirk, not really hiding the subtext in her tone that time.
Rahim smiled very slightly, very quietly to himself. He’d noticed the hesitating around the third or fourth time he did it. He should’ve known she’d pick up on it too. He was starting to figure out that not much got by Zoe. He kind of liked it. “If you wanted me on my back, all you had to do was ask,” Rahim said, doing away with any kind of subtext. He wasn’t big into subtext anyway.
A moments realization hit her as she continued the conversation, there weren’t any hotels on the island, she lived with her parents and she was pretty sure he had a roommate. “For a brief moment I had thought I’d scared you off at the holiday ‘party’, then again when I was all overly emotional.” While they were going to continue with the Empathy training, so he could help the girl more- she was also getting a better handle on it herself. “My sister would hurt me if I didn’t tell you that we’re having Lasagna today and there’s enough for guests- I mentioned I’d be late because you were going to teach me some stuff.” But going home meant her whole family being there. “Or, I could walk you home.” Before her powers she hadn’t been slow, not easy but when she met a guy she liked, she sort of just went with the flow. Despite it having taken as long as it did because of her own reservations and over analysis, Zoe didn’t see a point in dragging things out now that they were both on the same page- or at least she hoped they were. “See your place.”
Alternatively, Echo would kill him if he chose lasagna in this situation. There was no point in pussy footing around what was going on here. Rahim didn’t have the patience for it. Before all of this, Rahim hadn’t exactly been the slow type either, but he’d been in a long relationship with Jael, and even after they’d broken up for good, he hadn’t rushed out to date or fuck anybody else. But even in a relationship, he hadn’t had the patience for discretion. That shit seemed to take longer than anything ought to. “You can walk me home. Make sure I get there safe now that you know what you’re doing,” he said wryly. “I could give you a tour.”