InsaneJournal

Who: Jesus Rovia & Jace Herondale
When: Backdated: Early November
Where: Wayne Gym
What: Jace offers to help Jesus spar and things take an interesting turn
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 then FTB at the end
Status: Complete

For the moment things were going pretty well for Jesus. He hadn’t had any new dreams in awhile, which was fine with him, if he were honest. While he was curious about what was going to happen with Negan and the Saviors, he didn’t necessarily like dreaming about that world. So many bad things had happened and he wanted to try and stay positive, especially since he had just booked a job as a stunt coordinator on an upcoming movie that would be filming in the area soon. It was still in development, so he had some time before he would need to focus on it which worked for him since Jace had a competition coming up and they needed to make sure that they didn’t book their extracurriculars at the same time.

Currently, Jesus was practicing a few moves he had seen in a recent YouTube video, including a flying roundhouse kick which he had been working on for some time. He was dressed in loose lounge pants and a tank top, his long hair pulled back into a man so that he had full range of motion without his hair getting in the way.

Sizing up the hanging sandbag, Jesus took a few steps back before moving towards it again and going for his first attempt at the kick.

***

Jace had been finishing up some paperwork regarding billing in the office after his last class, still wearing his sweat pants from teaching although he had changed into one of his tshirts, his tank top stored in in his duffel to take home and wash. He checked over the papers again to make sure everything was in the right spot and then bounced to his emails real quick to see a reminder about registering for another competition. He'd need to get together with Jesus to discuss calendars to see if it was clear for him to do it. Yeah he could just text the man but he liked talking to him face to face. Jesus was good looking and friendly. And damn those eyes of his were trouble sometimes. He sighed and stretched as he stood up from the desk. He'd come in early tomorrow and try to catch him before classes started.

Or not he thought as his mind registered what he was hearing as he headed for the door. There weren't any students still in the building he was sure and they were the only two who stuck around to practice in their free time. He stood in the doorway watching for a moment, cataloguing the movements by force of habit before clearing his throat. "You might get a better lift for the kick if you start further back. And not hold yourself as straight."

***

Jesus had known that Jace was still there, but he had been focusing so hard on the kick that he was embarrassed to admit, jumped a little at the sound of the other man’s voice. “Shit. Jace, I hadn’t realized you were there.” He reached for the bag, stopping it from swaying after the kick, “Care to demonstrate?” If Jace was in a hurry, he'd understand if he couldn’t stick around, but if he were completely honest, Jesus wanted to see if Jace could actually execute the move himself. “Unless you were on your way out of course.”

***
Jace felt he deserved some credit for the fact that he’d only laughed a little bit at the way Jesus jumped. And he’d managed to cover some of that up with a cough. But the smile still showed that he was amused about it. “Years of practice sneaking in and out of my parents. And hotels before competitions.” He said with a shrug as he dropped his duffle inside the door and moved the rest of the way into the room.

“I’ve got time.” He said. His plans these days tended to come together at the last minute, even more so than before Nine had left and nobody had shot him a message about doing anything that night. “So any particular reason why you’re wanting to improve on this now?” He asked, taking off his tshirt so that he didn’t have to worry about it while helping his coworker, throwing it over to his duffle before stretching.

***

Jesus laughed as he pictured Jace as a teenager, sneaking around so as not to get caught by his parents, “So you’ve had plenty of ninja training then, huh?” As Jace took off his shirt, Jesus couldn’t help but let his eyes linger on the blond’s bare skin as it was exposed. It wasn’t the first time that Jesus had seen Jace without a shirt, but whenever he did his eyes were drawn to the tattoos that adorned Jace’s skin. They were extremely interesting and he kept meaning to ask about them, “So, what do those mean?” He asked, tipping his head slightly to indicate the Runes.

***

Jace stretched and shot Jesus a grin. "Self taught in some areas. My parents trying to help me find an outlet in others. My instructors weren't big on teaching the sneaking out so...trial, error and cousins."

He looked over at that question. "They crossed over from my Dreams. These are the ones that are permanent but there are also temporary Runes we get before battle." He walked over to the other man, pointing at his various ones as he explained what they were. "This is the Parabatai rune that bonds me and my cousin Alec. We can feel when the others in pain through it. Or in trouble. If one of us gets killed it's how the other will know. He and I are better together because of the bond. This one is for strength. That one is for stamina. And this faded one here on my left is for truer aim. It was the first one I got there."

***

Jesus’ gaze moved to each Rune as Jace described them. The Parabatai one sounded especially intriguing, “Wow. That sounds intense. Is it just pain and an intuition that you can feel through it?” He wondered what it would be like to share a bond quite like that with someone, “Do they all fade eventually or just certain ones?” Part of him wanted to reach out and touch one of them, but he wasn’t entirely sure how Jace would react to that and he didn’t want to make things awkward so he crossed his arms over his chest.

***

Jace wouldn't have minded if Jesus had touched one of his runes. He wasn't big on strangers doing it but friends? They could get away with it. "Pain comes through pretty clear and intuitions about him being in trouble or hurting emotionally. Makes it damn hard to keep secrets from him. Believe me I tried." He gave Jesus an almost cocky grin.

"Most of them will fade and have to be redone with our stele. I can do it myself or ask Alec too. They're stronger when your parabatai does them."

***

“That’s pretty cool. Having something like that would probably make things in my dreams a lot easier.” Not that Jesus and his friends, in the dreams, hadn’t been doing a pretty okay job so far of keeping themselves alive during the zombie apocalypse, but being able to enhance certain abilities with Runes would make things easier, “So, with those Runes does that mean we’re more evenly matched or do you think you could take me?” Jesus quirked a brow at Jace.

***

Jace took a step back to look over his friend, the look obviously appraising him in response to the question before he looked back up at his face. "I think I can take you." And okay maybe there was a little note of a possible extra meaning in his voice but it wasn't entirely deliberate.

***

Jesus laughed and moved back to the mat as he took on a fighting stance, “Let’s see what you’ve got then.” The bag was forgotten for the moment as he waited for the blond to make the next move. He might have been working on something else before Jace joined him, but now it had become somewhat of a mini competition.

***

Jace followed him over to the mat, stretching before moving into his own stance, watching Jesus before striking out when he thought he saw an opening. One of his first instructors had drilled it into him that the first strike set the tone and even with his friend - Jace didn't want to lose. Even when there were no stakes.

***

Jesus easily blocked Jace’s strike and retaliated with one of his own. He’s seen Jace practice before and had an idea of just about how hard he could go at him. At the same time, this was for fun and none of his strikes would have the intention of actually hurting the other man.

***

Jace had to admit there was always a thrill sparring with somebody new. Getting to learn to read them. He’d watch Jesus practice but you couldn’t really learn as much from that as actually getting on the mat with them. He moved out of the path of the strike, countering it as he moved to the side of his friend. “Should we make this interesting?”

***

Jesus’ brow rose at Jace’s question, but he kept his guard up just in case Jace was trying to catch him off guard, “And how do you suggest we do that?” He was curious as to what Jace had in mind, but that didn’t stop him from throwing another punch towards him.

***

Jace turned slightly to avoid taking the blow head on, feeling the punch catch him on the edge and shifting just enough to try and take advantage of the opening Jesus' punch gave. "Loser takes the winner for a drink."

***

Jesus continued to dodge any of Jace’s advances as he thought over his proposition, “I think that sounds like a good idea.” He moved around Jace and struck out with a kick towards the back of Jace’s knee in an attempt to take him down, “Hope you’re a gracious loser.”

***

That kick took him a little by surprise and he felt his knee give slightly but he didn’t go down. Instead he struck backwards with a headbutt in an attempt to distract the other man as he reached back to grab him with his opposite arm. It was definitely a control move, an attempt to limit movement so he could land a blow on the other man as he kicked back. “Are you?” He asked.

***

Jace caught Jesus off guard and the kick connected, “Alright, that was a lucky shot.” He said as he moved back around in front of the blond, “But you’re not going to get lucky again.” Jesus took a moment to size Jace up before striking out again with a punch from the side, attempting to take him off guard this time.

***

“You sure about that? I’m feeling pretty lucky right now.” Jace teased as he caught Jesus’ fist and used the momentum to pull the other man close. He looked at those blue eyes for a second as an impulse he’d been fighting clawed at him. And this time he gave in as he leaned in and kissed Jesus.

***

Jesus had opened his mouth to respond to Jace’s teasing, but was quickly silenced as Jace not only blocked his punch, but then leaned in and kissed him. Jesus would be lying if he said that he had never thought about doing this, but he had never thought it would actually happen and not like this.

However, that didn’t mean that Jesus tried to stop it. In fact, he reached up and wrapped his fingers around the back of Jace’s neck as he kissed him back, deepening the kiss a little.

***

Jace had been thinking about doing this for weeks now, ever since he’d realized it was probably time he start moving on. After Simon had helped him get his things from Nine’s it had just quit being something he could ignore. Or maybe more that he didn’t want to ignore it - he’d just fought it because he hadn’t wanted to mess up their friendship and working relationship. But judging by the way Jesus was kissing him back Jace had clearly been worried over nothing on that front.

He let go of Jesus’ fist and slid his hand around to the small of his back, pulling him closer as his fingers inched up underneath the hem of his shirt. He broke the kiss but didn’t move his hand or pull away and gave Jesus a brief cocky grin. “I’ve been thinking about doing that for a while.”

***

Jesus looked up at Jace, breathing heavily as Jace broke the kiss, his lips turning up into a smirk, “Me too.” The feeling of Jace’s body pressed up against his own, his fingers touching his skin under his shirt, both of them sweaty from sparring was doing things to him and he was sure that Jace could feel it, “I should have asked you to spar with me sooner.”

***

Jace could definitely feel Jesus’ reaction to everything, even through the sweatpants they were both wearing and he gently stroked up his back as he looked in his eyes. “We definitely should have done this sooner.” He said quietly. “What do you say to changing the deal a bit. Instead of a drink we just hang out in the office?”

***

Sparring was the last thing on Jesus’ mind at the moment, “I say we call a draw,” Jesus pressed his hips against Jace’s a bit more, after all, Jace had started this, so he was going to finish it. He quirked a brow as his fingers brushed the back of Jace’s neck and pulled him down to kiss him again.

***

Jace kissed him back hard, hands moving to his hips and thumbs sliding into the waist band of the man’s sweatpants. “Draw it is. My desk is closer.” He said, his voice almost a growl when he felt Jesus pushing against his hips. He was happily going to finish what he’d started. And then from there? Figure things out.