Chapter Text
12:30 pm, Saturday
Ace arrives at the Arena waiting outside, but there’s no brutish ginger man around. He checks his phone and sees no new messages, becoming a bit anxious but deciding to push his thoughts aside and assume everything is still happening. After a few minutes, while Ace is checking his phone again, the door swiftly opens and a hand pops out, grabbing Ace’s arm. Before he has time to react, he gets dragged into the building as the door slams shut. After having a second to catch his breath, Ace turns around to identify who this “mysterious” man is. He recognizes a familiar singlet, and a single kneepad on the man’s left knee before looking up. Seeing the guy’s signature scowl, arms crossed, and messy ginger hair.
“Oh my god, it’s just you Bryce. You really scared me there,” Ace said in a relieved tone.
“You were just standing out there like a complete dork,” Bryce said, slightly annoyed.
“Well, I am your dork after all~,” Ace said softly with a small laugh.
Bryce’s face turned pink and began to stutter, struggling to say what else he had planned.
“Struck a nerve, eh?” Ace replied with a small smile on his face and another laugh.
“Sh-shut it dork. L-let’s just go to the locker room so you can get changed,” Bryce retorted, still flustered.
Bryce starts walking away as Ace follows him. The walk towards the locker room is silent and straightforward, save for a few glances exchanged between the two men. After a few minutes, they reach the door of the locker room. Ace enters and tries to hold the door open for Bryce, but he just stands next to the door with his arms crossed.
“Eh, you coming in Bryce?” Ace asked, a bit confused.
“Psh, dork did you not see I was already changed when I dragged you in? Just hurry up so we can get started,” Bryce said passive aggressively.
“R-right, sorry about that” Ace said apologetically.
“Whatever, just stop yapping and change already,” Bryce replied, nonchalantly.
Ace quickly nods and heads into the locker room, the door slamming behind him, causing the young man to jump a bit. He takes a quick breather and looks for an empty locker to put his stuff in. He greatly underestimated how many lockers had other guys’ stuff in them, but he knew better than to rummage through their stuff. He eventually finds an empty locker and puts his bag in it, and takes out his gym outfit. As Ace starts to undress, he again starts to think about what Bryce planned out, becoming a bit nervous in the process. Bryce isn’t exactly the type to take it easy when it comes to things he’s passionate about. But considering the fact he’s taking time out of his weekend to do this, maybe everything will be fine. While thinking about all of that, a loud knock comes from the door, spooking the young man.
“C’mon dork, hurry up. We don’t have all day,” Bryce growled, growing impatient.
“Ah, sorry. I’ll be out in a minute,” Ace replied in a panicked voice.
Ace quickly changes into his gym clothes, then, picking up his normal clothes, quickly throws them into the locker and slams it shut. The young man then hurries to the door, and as he was opening it, he experienced some serious déjà vu as he accidentally runs into Bryce’s chest again, the brutish man only standing there because he was about to go in there and drag Ace out, regardless if he was ready or not.
"You like my pecs that fuckin' much, huh?" Bryce said with an eyeroll
"G-Gah!" Ace immediately backed away, remembering his lesson from the last time his face met Bryce's pecs. "S-Sorry Bryce!"
“Tch- whatever. Just follow me to the mats, dork.” Bryce replied.
“A-alright then Bryce…” Ace said sheepishly before following the larger man.
As the two men walk down the hallway, Bryce makes some glance about his surroundings. Ace is about to ask him what he’s looking for, but decides to bite his tongue, trying to maintain the remainder of Bryce’s patience. After a bit the two make it to the room with the mats, Bryce heading in first and briefly holding the door open for Ace as he scurries in. Even though Ace has been there plenty of times, mostly to watch Bryce practice, he’s still a bit in awe about everything in there. The ring being the focal point of the room. All of the open area around for the guys to warm up with some cardio. The wall of bleachers for spectators to watch practices or matches. The big rack of kettlebells in one corner for strength conditioning. Before Ace can continue admiring his surroundings, he is brought back to reality by a deep voice followed by some snapping.
“Helloooooo. Earth to dweeb, wake up!” Bryce says impatiently before snapping his fingers again.
Ace briefly shakes his head before replying, “Hehe, must’ve zoned out for a sec, sorry Bryce”.
“Tch- if you’re serious about this dork, then you need to fucking pay attention, got it?” Bryce said, getting a bit more agitated towards the younger man.
Ace quickly nods. Bryce rolls his eyes in response before turning around and walking towards the ring, with Ace sheepishly following him. Once the two set foot into the ring, Bryce briefly goes over some basic ground rules. No cheap shots, save any gloating until after the match, always listen to the ref, etc. Then he starts showing Ace some basic techniques. Takedowns, throws, pinning your opponent down, escapes, the list goes on.
Surprisingly, Bryce was very patient with Ace during the whole ordeal. Even with Ace clearly struggling at times, Bryce was able to keep his composure and correct him as needed. Time was flying by, and Ace started to get the hang of some of the basics, with little to no corrections from Bryce. Everything was going smoothly until they got to the stances. While not as complex as the techniques, Ace still needed some corrections from Bryce.
Partly out of instinct and partly to “test” Ace on what he had taught him, Bryce decided to drop the “act” he had going on. In the middle of a correction, he suddenly tackled Ace to the ground, curious to see how he would respond. But gravity had other plans. As they fell, Bryce felt an invisible force press his head downward—bringing him just centimeters from Ace’s face. When Ace recoiled slightly from hitting the ground, he lifted his head—only to accidentally lock lips with the brutish ginger.
While the two have shared plenty of kisses, this one by far was the most unexpected one. After what felt like a millennia of just staring at each other, they both internally said “Fuck it” and started to have a full on makeout session. Ace was fully embracing the moment while Bryce had some thoughts about the risk of being caught, but he decided to push them off to the side. There was nothing going on that weekend, what are the odds that someone else comes into the building and possibly catching the two the act? Just as he finished that thought, a light buzzing noise was made, making it clear that someone else has entered the building.