Work Text:
“And tomorrow night you’ve got five fights lined up.”
He groaned, dragging a hand across his face. “Why five?”
“Because you can’t stop running your fatass mouth on Twitter, Ais.” You rolled your eyes, scanning the profiles of the opposing fighters.
“Heh…fat ass.” You didn’t even need to glance at him to know that he was looking at your rear. You snapped your fingers in his face a few times before listing off who exactly he was fighting.
“Kuras, Leander, Vere, Mihn—all of which you’ve fought before.”
“And the fifth?”
You squinted at the name, “Ocudeus?”
The chair that Ais was sitting creaked loudly as he leaned forward, all mirth lost from his body. “ Ocudeus?” You nodded. “Shit—fuck.”
He stood, grabbing his gym bag from the bench. “I’m gonna go train.”
You sighed. “Just make sure that you get home at a reasonable time.”
As much as he was your one circus monkey, you had a feeling to not question his sudden urge to train. So, you just recorded the time you stopped officially working and left the office.
Once you made it home, you quickly got yourself situated. Took a shower, got into your pajamas, then sat at your desk with a nuked container of food you had prepared earlier this week (you were going to have to prep again soon).
“Looks like I have a long night ahead of myself…” You sighed as you pulled up the profile again.
Obviously the picture was taken by paparazzi if his hand reaching for the camera was anything to go by. Brown skin covered in bloody bandages, freshly out of a fight. A lit cigarette between thick lips (with a mole on the left side). You wondered if he approached fights like Ais, finish’em as quickly as possible to not over exert his lungs.
Deep ruby red eyes that peeked over a pair of dark-colored glasses glared at the person behind the camera. His long, glacier blue hair was both tied back in a ponytail and with large braids framing the sides of his face. You could barely make out a few tattoos hidden underneath another set of bandages wrapped around his neck and tracksuit.
“Such a pretty face… a shame, honestly.” You shook your head as you cracked your knuckles. “A shame that Ais is gonna beat the shit out of it.”
The next morning, you found yourself slumped over your desk, energy drinks surrounding you. You have no recollection of even getting up to get them. The only thing on your mind was the strategy that you had been formulating.
You needed to get to the office now .
“Woah, woah…what are you doing here so early?” Ais questioned as he entered the office.
Ah, time had passed.
“Strategy.” You were in the zone, fingers flying across the keys. “I should be done by the time you're done with your morning routine.”
He sighed, but didn’t disturb you further. He knew that the moment you left that zone, there’d be no going back. It seemed like you had really put a lot of research into things, so he’d rather not have all your hard work go to waste.
More time flew by you, but you kept your word, and you finished just as Ais returned.
And then everything crashed upon you. You hadn’t eaten before you left, only another energy drink (or two) before flying out the door. The upcoming headache was already a dull ache.
“Here.” You glanced up from behind the shade of your hands, eyeing the brown bag. “I got us some lunch…since someone decided to be a dumbass and not eat.”
“Well this dumbass just wrote you the winning play.” You retorted as you picked through the bag, immediately going for the fruity mint lemonade. You released a blissful sigh as the cold drink dampened your dry throat. Unaware of the half-lidded gaze from the man behind you. “Thank you.”
“No problem…” His eyes jumped to the screen, finally scanning the document.
Most of what you had written was things that he knew about, but there were a few new things. And since Ocudeus had been doing underground fights out of the spotlight—
“I’m really gonna have to switch things up with him.”
“But not too much. If you make too obvious of changes, then you’ll be giving him more opportunities to read you and react.”
“So what do you want me to…” He trailed off as his eyes followed the lines of text, “Oooh…I see. Seems lazy.”
“I don’t give a fuck—It’ll work.”
“Of course it will. You made the strategy.”
And work it fucking did. The plan was simple, a pattern of work as normal, switch up and remix. Use the same patterns that had been televised, switch up with new techniques and a remix of both: new techniques that could easily roll out of old ones.
And honestly? It surprised you with how he was able to adapt to this change against a fighter who mainly worked underground matches.
There was one thing that didn’t surprise you, though.
“You must be Ais’ bitch .”
And that was the shitty, butt-hurt fanboys. Shitty, butt-hurt fanboys that were too scared to talk to Ais themselves and decided following you around was the better option.
You resisted the urge to roll your eyes as you listened to them sling insults at you as they followed you out the room.
“Must've fucked your way to the top, huh? I’m sure you’re just rushing to get back to get fucking—” Your fist connected with his jaw, efficiently knocking him on his ass.
If there was one thing you refused to tolerate
“You fucking bitch!” A hand reached toward you, but you easily side stepped it, grabbing the man’s wrist and using his momentum to shove him toward the ground.
You did not fuck your way into your position. You earned it by yourself.
The final male reared his arm back, but just as he was to throw it forward, he found it caught in a vice grip.
You crossed your arms. “I had it handled.”
He didn’t respond, just stared at the man.
You sighed, “He’s not worth it, Ais.”
Finally, he looked at you, and he understood why you were so willing to drop it.
He bit back the smirk as he released the man. “I see you around here again, and I won’t be so lenient.”
The man snatched his hand away, “You’re just listening to your bitch!” Then he was running down the hall, leaving his friends behind.
The two of you stepped around them as you entered Ais’ private room.
Immediately, he whirled you around by the shoulders, “What kinda anime bullshit was that?”
You raised a brow, scoffing lightly. “What? Did you expect me to just stand there and take that?’
“No, of course not—I just wasn’t expecting you to kick their ass like that. Kinda mad at myself for not letting you finish that last one-off…” He paused for a moment, “Hmmm, how bout a bit of an I.O.U—anything you want, just say the word.”
“Deal.” You smirked, “And to answer your question: It's the kind of anime bullshit that impressed you enough to buy me dinner.”
“Wha—right now?”
“Beating up those losers gave me an appetite.” You rummaged through your purse, securing his car keys. “Don’t keep me waiting for too long, okay?”
Ais stared at the door even after he couldn’t hear the clack of heels anymore.
He rubbed his face, groaning into his hand.
A cold shower wasn’t gonna cut it.
