Rose Hathaway (roza_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-10-29 21:09:00 |
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Entry tags: | bumblebee, rosemarie hathaway |
Who: Rose Hathaway & Bumblebee
When: Wednesday, October 29th
Where: The local gym, as there isn’t one closer to Bee’s temporary home.
What: Bertie is looking for some place he can enjoy a little friendly competition.
Rating/Warnings: PG13 for Language
Status: Complete
Bertie had been looking for a place he could find some friendly competition since getting here. Sure, his Kenjutsu club was great, but there was nothing hand to hand, and he particularly missed it. He couldn’t afford much, so he’d chosen a half package that didn’t include the machines on the property, but rather just the access to any other willing participants.
So today, after he’d worked on his car and finally got it up and running, he’d come out to the gym and was lingering on the sidelines, watching two men fight it out in the ring, a small group of spectators watching. It was fighting like he’d never done before, it looked like some sort of.. mixed martial arts. Really, there wasn’t much of a style to it, which made him make the guess of MMA. Bee was used to something much more structured, after all.. but that? It looked like fun.
And nothing like Karate or Tae Kwon Do. Granted, he didn’t know much Tae Kwon Do, he hadn’t lived in Korea-- but he knew the style well enough to know that wasn’t it.
Imagine his surprise when two women got into the ring together. He’d take a few steps to get a better view.
The gym was open to anyone who would want to come in. There was a more specialized gym that her promoter owned that she would go for more intense training, but this was a great way to try fighting with a variety of different people. She had finished wrapping up her fists when she looked up to notice that there was a small crowd of people forming around the ring to watch the two of them fight. It caused her to roll her eyes with a smile as she fixed her hair and made her way into the ring.
She had done a lot of different martial arts in her childhood, so it was great to use them all (plus some) to fight against an opponent. She also liked that MMA was constantly fluid and she could learn new fighting styles that were allowed, which she had been training with more Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But now wasn’t one of those times and she had to rely on what she already knew as she fought against the other woman. They were evenly matched and quite a few kicks and punches were sent between the two of them. But after a while the two of them were starting to tire and Rose managed to come up with enough strength to punch the girl in the face and send her down.
Her hands went to her knees as she leaned down to catch her breath, reaching out a hand to help her up, and gave her opponent a few comments about the good match. The two parted ways and Rose slipped under the rope to lean against the side of the ring and drink water. She was going to be feeling this the next day, but for now she was running high on the adrenaline.
Bee was shy-- well, that wasn’t entirely true. .. Okay, yes it was. He was shy, but it wasn’t debilitating and most of the time he was able to get past it and just get on with it. However, this was a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman who could fight-- and Bee hadn’t met very many of those. It wasn’t, after all, the most accepted thing for a girl to fight-- not in Japan, anyway.
It was times like this he wished he’d grown up having a normal life in the states.. but he supposed, from the stories he heard, it would have been a lot tougher here.
So, after a few minutes of just observing the group, he’d finally make a decision. In which way would he look like less of a nutcase? If he went over and used sign language, she wouldn’t understand him, but she’d know he couldn’t talk.. or think he was deaf. If he used his phone, he’d certainly make her think Steven Hawking was hitting on her, and he didn’t want that, either.
Waiting until there was noise around the ring again, he’d finally head over to her and casually pass her a napkin from the juice bar. It came with a smile, and there on the napkin were the words ‘You’re very good.’
Maybe she watched Big Bang Theory and would just assume he was incapable of talking to pretty girls.
A note on a napkin from a cute boy with a cute smile? Well, that wasn’t something that had happened to her in quite a while. Napkin notes were reserved more for the bar and she was at the gym. Most guys just came up to her and told her how good her ass looked in her pants and she usually ignored them. This was kind of a nice change.
She reached up to fix her hair a little and made sure to towel off the worst of her sweat. Yeah, she looked like hell, but apparently it wasn’t a big deal if someone was hitting on her. She took another drink of her water and smiled back at him, “Thank you.”
She didn’t look like Hell. She looked great. She looked alive. And Bee would smile more when she spoke to him. Okay, he didn’t get a lot of pretty girls talking to him. Not unless they had no idea he couldn’t talk back. They were always chatter boxes until they realized he had a defect, then they usually moved on.
So the fact that a pretty girl, who had at least one of the same interests that he did, had smiled at him and talked to him? Well, it made his cheeks just a little pink. He wasn’t used to this.
God, what did he do now? Feeling like a deer in headlights, he opened his mouth some.. then closed it and considered. Blue eyes found the next pair of fighters in the ring and he’d let them linger there. You were blowing it, Bee! Do something!
But he couldn’t. He hated this part.
The fact that he hadn’t responded did cause her to quirk her eyebrows at him and tilt her head just slightly as she watched him. He had opened his mouth, but ended up not saying anything. Well, it wouldn’t surprise her if he was shy, but she wasn’t used to it especially since she hung around Remy so much and that man was a definite chatterbox. So, she took a couple steps towards him with a slightly curious expression on her face, “Hey?”
She wanted to straight out ask him if he was shy, but she didn’t want to completely embarrass him if he was. That could always make things way worse in the wrong circumstances, “Do you want to go somewhere that is less loud?” Yes, she certainly wanted to speak to him and maybe he wouldn’t do it if they were surrounded by loud noises and lots of people. As long as he wasn’t a serial killer she didn’t see the harm in going to a quieter place with him.
Oh, God, had she just asked if he wanted to go somewhere less loud? He took a breath and nodded with a smile, pushing his hands into his pockets and taking a last glance at the two fighters before focusing his attention on her and beginning an easy pace away from the noisy ring and towards the quiet juice bar he’d gotten the napkin from in the first place.
Maybe writing on napkins would be cute? Maybe it’d make her smile?
God, he was going to look like a nutter.
All the same, once they got to the bar he’d give the man there a smile, then tug out his pen and slide a napkin near enough he could write on it. Then he turned it towards her with his eyebrows lifted some.
I’m Bertie. The note said, his script was messy, but it was on a napkin. Looking for a place to have a little fun. He hoped that didn’t sound creepy. But to make sure it didn’t, he’d point towards the ring. Yes, he was one of those weirdos who thought fighting was fun.
Then he’d make a few quick gestures with his hands-- clearly sign language. But ultimately, he just ended up wiggling his fingers some in a shy sort of greeting. Hi.
Ah, that explained something. Maybe he was deaf or mute? It wasn’t a big bother to her because technology had come a long way in making sure people could actually communicate. Once they got to the juice bar she ordered a smoothie and then read over the note again. Hm, maybe not deaf because he answered her questions when she asked them, so she turned slightly to lean her side against the counter.
“Hi, Bertie. So, I take it you like fighting then? You’ve come to the right place. The people around here are pretty cool,” she answered his question. She spoke a little slower than she normally would just in case and hoped that he understood her. She wasn’t going to ask him about what was wrong, but between their interactions they would be able to to communicate perfectly.
He’d smile when she didn’t run the other direction-- thank goodness. She did, though, speak more slowly and that prompted him to shake his head a little and point at his ear. He heard just fine. Tugging his phone off his hip, he’d type out a quick message and the little British man in his phone would tell her, in his little British mechanical voice: “Mostly karate, a bit of kickboxing.” He’d learned long ago his phone couldn’t pronounce the word ‘Kendo’ or ‘Kenjutsu’. Why try?
Besides, most people didn’t know what that was, anyway. “I’m pretty good.” He was really good-- but this was an entirely different style, it was very American, and he was eager to see more.
Ah! Okay, he couldn’t talk. That was fine. It was nice to be around someone who wasn’t rambling about something and completely fumbling this attempt at a pick up, or whatever it was. The smoothie came and Rose paid for it before taking a sip, “Did you want anything, by the way? And I’m trained in both of those - they’re quite useful if you want to try doing some MMA fighting. Kickboxing is also something we do a lot around here as well. And you’ll have to give it a go sometime so I can be the judge of that.”
She wasn’t doubting his abilities in the slightest, but she wanted to see what she had to work with. She could probably help him get into a certain group by his skill level and she was kind of excited to see another person fight because she was so used to being the one doing that.
When asked if he wanted anything, he’d shake his head and sway forward just a bit in almost a playful manner. “It is just something I messed around with as a boy.” The phone would tell her. “But it is still fun.” And he practiced-- just not as hard as he did with the sword. Hand to hand combat would always hold a special place for him, but something about wielding a sword stole his breath away. It always had.
“But you cannot judge me based solely on my fighting skills.” A pause as he typed something else, then broke into a smile again. “I also juggle.” An easy quip, that hopefully came off sounding like a joke, coupled with his smile.
The British voice was highly amusing to listen to and made her wonder if he was actually British or not. Rose hadn’t really used a sword before, but she would love to learn if he mentioned it to her. In her dreams she worked with a lot of different weapons and she wondered if she should start doing that kind of training here.
“If it was fun then it will never stop being fun. I’ve been fighting since I was a kid and I don’t think I’m going to grow out of it anytime soon,” she was in for life. She would probably tone it down once she had kids, but for a 22 year old that was a long time in the future. But when he told her not to judge him on his actions and that he could juggle she couldn’t help but laugh, “Seriously? I hope you’re not joking because I would love to see that.”
“I do really love it.” His phone would tell her with a smile. He liked fighting-- she liked fighting. What sort of freaks were they? Most people didn’t like confrontation, let alone fighting. The blonde, though, didn’t think about that. He didn’t find it strange.. he’d been brought up in Japan, after all.
“You want to see me juggle?” The young man would laugh.. but no noise came out, just a few puffs of breath. “Here?” Did you really want him to do it publicly? Here in the gym? His cheeks were already getting pink, but he was smiling away.
Easily embarrassed, this one.
“Um, yeah of course here! You brought it up so now you’ve got to prove it,” she countered with a playful smile. She wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily and she hadn’t seen anyone juggle in a long time, so now it was time to have a little fun with this guy. Besides, it he did manage to do it then it meant he wasn’t afraid to do things and he would have a very good chance at doing well in the ring.
She waved over the worker and asked for three oranges. They would work right? She took another sip of her smoothie as she waited for him to come back and she promised to pay for them if they dropped on the floor. Hopefully Bertie wasn’t lying because she didn’t want to buy the oranges. “Here you go,” she handed them over to him with a big smile. This should be fun.
He was still flushing when she handed over the oranges, but would set his phone on the counter and take them. Okay. He could do this. He’d give a glance around as if to check and make sure no one was staring. Once he found he didn’t have an audience (save her and the confused man behind the bar), he’d toss one up. His movements were smooth and he’d be juggling the three of them like he’d been doing it all his life. He did it for a few long seconds, then glanced at his phone-- a hand moved out quickly to snatch it from the bar and he’d toss it up as well.
Three oranges and a phone. Of course, his antics had drawn attention by then, not that he’d noticed, and he’d juggle the four for a moment longer before setting his phone down (really, he slid it across the bar some, having dropped it quickly), then tossing one orange to Rose, and one to the worker, and then catching the other and lifting it some with a smile.
It earned applause from the small group of people who’d stopped to watch-- it caused him to blush darkly and he’d set the fruit aside and give them a smile and take a little bow.
Holy shit. He could actually do it! She just stood there watching him in awe, her jaw dropping slightly, and her eyes wide. This was actually quite impressive. She didn’t have the skill to really juggle at all, granted she hadn’t tried since she was younger, but the moment he threw his phone in as well she actually clapped for him. Yep, she was impressed. And then he was throwing her an orange and ending his performance. The group that had gathered around gave cheers and claps.
She handed the orange back over to the bartender and couldn’t help but start laughing. That had been utterly ridiculous, but so awesome at the same time. “Wow, you weren’t lying! Okay, I bet your skills in the ring are impressive. I’ll have to introduce you to a few of the people around here if you’re interested. They do teach some classes as well.” She needed to start thinking about teaching a class of her own, but she wasn’t set to do that just yet.
He nodded with a smile as she mentioned the classes. Oh yes, he was interested. After all, how else did you get better at one thing, unless you tried new things and adapted? Training only got you so far.. but learning a new skill taught you tricks that you might never have tried before. And Bertie was all about progression and growing.
In his sport, that was. He wasn’t too good at it in life-- being shy certainly caused issues, and being mute? Well, that pretty much made his chances slim to none on meeting new people, unless he was in the right situation. Fighting didn’t require talking, that was the only reason he’d managed to make so many friends back home. Back home-- Lord, he thought of another country as home these days. Such was life, he supposed.
But this was his home now and... well.. it looked.. beautiful. Sorry, Rose, ignore the silly little smile he was wearing while he watched you.
The silly little smile made her blush a little bit as she took a looooong sip of her smoothie. She reached over to grab his phone and made a few hand movements as she went into his contact page and entered her contact information for him before opening his voice app again and handing it back over, “Alright, I put my number and email in there for you. Do you want to meet some people now or arrange another time to do that? I don’t want to put you on the spot right now. Especially since this is your first time here.”
He’d watch as she took up his phone-- he didn’t try to grab it back, or look worried as some people might. There was nothing on there he needed to hide. It was just a phone, after all. Though, when she told him that she put her number in there for him, his face lit up and he rocked some onto his toes and nodded. A hand came up to his mouth and he swung it down in a smooth motion. Sign language. Thank you.
Of course, the mention of meeting more people today had him looking around, then shrugging a little and tapping at his empty wrist-- no watch, but it was clear what he meant. He really should be getting home.
“Yeah, I feel ya with that. I should be heading home too. Gotta go ice my body so I don’t wake up unable to move in the morning,” a wry grin was on her face as she pushed away from the counter, “If you give me a minute I gotta grab my stuff from my locker and I can walk with you out to the parking lot?” Hopefully he wouldn’t mind that because she felt bad if she just ditched him right now. She didn’t mind that he didn’t want to go meet anyone right now because she could usually be found at the gym, so she was more than willing to wait until he was comfortable to introduce him around.
It wouldn’t be too long. Bertie just needed a bit more time to get used to things than other people. Surely the next time he came around he’d be willing, but one new person for today was enough for him, especially since she was so pretty. It was intimidating, but he liked the feeling it brought about in his stomach.
So he would nod as she asked for just a moment. He’d wait outside for an hour if you told him to, Rose. Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to, and when she came out he’d give her a smile and would fall into step beside her, opening the door and allowing her through first before following behind.
She slung the bag over her shoulder and brushed some loose hair out of her face before turning her face towards him, “Thanks for juggling. That was a lot of fun to watch. And I do hope you come by again so I can show you around. I think you’ll like it here and I have to admit I’m quite curious to see what you can do.” There was just something about someone being elusive about their fighting skills that made Rose want to shove them into a ring and watch it unfold. But she wouldn’t do that to Bertie since they just met, but hopefully she’ll finally see something next time.
Her car wasn’t too far away as she walked over towards it, digging her keys out of her bag and clicking the button to unlock it, “You got a ride home, right?”
When prompted about a ride home, he’d smile and nod, pointing across the street to where a sporty little yellow two-seater was parked, a big nose and a small trunk, with black racing stripes. Very vintage-- 1960’s, to be certain. It was great.. until things began to break, it took forever to get parts, and they weren’t cheap.
But he loved it.
He’d walk with her to her car, though, like any good gentleman might.
“Aw, very cute,” it was kind of adorable. Hers was a little more practical, but she really didn’t care much about what she drove as long as it got her between point a and b. They wandered over to her car and she opened up her trunk to toss her stuff inside. Once that was done she walked over to the driver’s side and opened up the door before leaning against it,” Well, I hope to see you around, Bertie. Don’t be a stranger.”
He nodded when told not to be a stranger. Don’t worry-- he wouldn’t, Rose. He had your number, and he’d certainly text you, or email you. After all, what young man wouldn’t want to see her again?
Well, maybe a blind one.
But Bee was certainly not blind!
Taking a step back, he’d give her space to go ahead and climb in, lifting a hand and wiggling his fingers some to say goodbye, smiling all the while.
This was like.. one of the best nights of his life, make no mistake.