Work Text:
Dakota paced, head tilted slightly downwards in the high-tech gym in their secret base, he was excitedly planning out the new combat moves he was going to teach William. Possibly some simple melee attacks, and definitely dodging, and deflecting techniques so William wouldn't have to rely on being intangible so often.
While he was getting lost in thought, a small squeaking sound was heard as the gym door swung open, ever so slowly, only to be shut a few seconds later causing a decently loud slam to echo.
William flinched and stepped away from the door quickly.
The strange silence that engulfed the gym didn't last for long as Dakota rushed closer to William and pulled him a bit closer to the center of the brightly lit room.
"You ready?" he asked with a cheerful smile on his face.
"I- uh. .." William recalled the last time he'd trained with Dakota which had gotten himself a decent amount of bruising on him. He reigned in some confidence before calmly saying "I'm as ready as i'll ever be" in a smooth tone.
"Awesome!!-LETS DO IT!"
Before William could really react, Dakota had positioned himself behind William with his hands placed on both shoulders.
"Hmm. .."
Dakota dragged a hand over to William, feeling his forearm through the sleeve.
"wha-"
"Oh! So you really don't have much muscle then!"
Dakota stated removing his hands and promptly placing them on his hips
"No, I don't"
William stated with a bit of caution. He really didn't want this training session to become some sort of weekly workout. Besides, he was perfectly fine with his form anyways.
"I used to think that that's what you were hiding under your hoodies, but nope!" Dakota stepped into William's view, leaning in front of him,
"Not all heroes need muscle anyways"
Dakota gave William a cheeky smile "You seem to do fine without it, so we can skip workouts if you want"
William let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding in.
"That's. .. yeah, i would just really like to know some. .. moves like yours?"
Dakota tilts his head a bit.
"You're gonna have to stop being so vague, dude"
William averted his gaze to his sleeve covered hand resting at his side, thinking hard on what he wanted, he was essentially picking his own poison right now.
"I just want to be better at. .. well, not getting hit?"
"That's all you had to say bud"
{Time skip}
"Okay! that's all for today"
Dakota says as he lends a hand to William, who is currently knocked on his ass after a final sweeping kick from Dakota.
William groans a bit as he's pulled up and lifted by the other teen quite easily, without much effort from his end.
"I think. ."
William steadies himself after being pummeled almost consistently for the past 45 minutes.
"I might need a nap"
Dakota reaches an arm around William's back and props him up a bit
"You did great William! Can't wait to do more next time. .. which is. .. when exactly?"
William wasn't really sure if he could handle doing this anymore than twice a week on top of school and everything, it would be a challenge to keep consistent. Even knowing this, he couldn't help but say he would train with him as often as he could. He knew that Dakota loved training, he knew how excited he was to finally have someone to teach, someone to willingly have an impact on; quite literally.
"How about tomorrow?"
William closed his eyes in a tired smile.
"Tomorrow!" "Yes!!"
Dakota never seemed to run low on energy, William admired him for it, maybe he was even a little jealous of it. Though sometimes, Dakota gave a sort of radiant energy it was impossible to ignore with his enthusiastic and infectious personality.
"Just after this one session with you I already feel like I'm more capable"
He said half-jokingly before removing himself from Dakota for a second to poorly imitate a sort of side kick attack he had been taught earlier, then flashed a falsely confident grin towards Dakota.
He earned a light chuckle from Dakota who restrained himself from pointing out the flaws in his form and rested his arm back around him. Guiding William to the door.
They walked out of the gym, and agreed to watch a movie to settle down after they go to their rooms to change.
William threw on another, nearly identical hoodie and went to wash his face in the bathroom.
Dakota put on simple pajamas and made his way back to the couch in their lounging area, he selected one of the newest action movies in their catalog and waited until William sat with him to start it.
"Oh! do you think we should have some snacks?"
William asked, with no intention at all to actually get any snacks. His body was so tired and sore, plus he was warm and comfortable.
"hmmm?? aauuh snackss. .."
They were only 15 minutes into the movie, the protagonist hadn't even gotten their 'powers' yet and Dakota was already being stolen away by sleep.
William smiled with his eyes closed and felt himself drifting off as well. As he drifted off into sleep, he also drifted through the couch into the ground bc why not <3