Chapter Text
“You can't be serious, Foolish.”
Fit could almost feel exasperation bleed into him. First, his late start in the morning caused him to accidentally catch the loop of his drawstring bag on the knob of the door, letting out a loud rip sound as he tried to catch the bus on time. But of course, because the world was against him this morning, he had managed to miss the stupid bus by seconds. Watching it drive off without a second thought about him. Fit had sensed the irritation bubbling up in his chest. Resigning him to the walk to Fit’s Fitness.
Luckily, Foolish was supposed to open the gym for the event they had planned in the morning. A summer course Foolish had suggested, which would be a month or so long, to include the children of the community. Fit was pleased by the number of people who had signed up; they would have to do it next summer if all went well.
Unluckily, that is when the clouds opened up to absolutely decimate any sense of regaining his bearings and started raining.
So now here he was, late and trying to dry off his clothes with a scratchy ass towel the gym offered to the members. Damn, I really need to invest in better towels, as he stared at Foolish leaning on the staff refrigerator. Foolish chuckled in a way that was meant to come off as nervous, but he sure as hell knows he's not.
“Look man, I’m just telling you since you had… quite the morning.” Foolish’s gaze followed the wet drops falling off Fit’s clothes. “The kid appeared with no one around. All of the forms are signed off, but he's kinda missing the most important part of the “parent-child martial arts course.” he paused before awkwardly filling in the silence that followed: 'You know… the parent…”
“Yes, I know, Foolish.” Fit scrubbed at his face, aggravated with the towel.
“Oh nooo, Fit MCee having to interact with people ohhh noooo..” Someone said as a cabinet opened behind his head.
“Fuck off Phil,” Fit replied instantly; he didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. His nosy ass best friend didn't deserve any other dignified response. “What are you even doing in my staff room?” he asked, knowing that it wouldn't matter to the blonde
Phil shrugged with a smirk as he closed the cupboard with a purple plastic cup with pink and blue flowers in hand. He brushed past Fit to the water dispenser next to Foolish with too much nonchalance for someone who shouldn't be in his staff room. “Tallulah wanted water.” he dispensed water into the cup. “You know she hates the paper cups,” Fit grumbled at him before turning back to Foolish.
“Why can't you be the kid’s parent partner, Foolish?” He threw the awful towel on the back of one of the chairs. Fit obviously knew why. Foolish was going to be leading the course and couldn't exactly help everyone if he was designated to one kid, but Fit just wanted to be snarky. The morning had definitely given him a reason to, but he took a deep breath and relaxed. Foolish and Phil were both giving him knowing looks when Fit turned back towards them. Phil snickered at his face and brushed past him again to the door back into the gym. “Can't handle some kid, mate?” he said teasingly,
“Get the fuck out of my staff room, asshole,” he replied. Fit flipped him off, and Phil without looking back, flipped him off in response. Once Phil left, Fit turned back to Foolish, still leaning against the fridge. He sighed, resigned. “Fine, fine, I’ll be the kids' “parent” partner, but he needs to come with an adult next time.” He levels Foolish with a firm look, “Go ahead and start, just let me change out of these,” he gestures to his still soaked clothes.
Foolish gives him a goofy smile and begins walking out, with no indication of being affected by Fit’s “serious” look. When he was finally alone, Fit steeled himself for the rest of the day ahead of him and headed to his office to grab his spare change of clothes.
After a change of clothes and finally the comfort of dryness, Fit walked to the studio that had been sectioned off for the course. He smiled at the sheer number of people he recognized with their kids. Phil was obviously there; he was helping Chayanne with his initial stance. It seemed Foolish had only gotten to the very basics, but he would prefer slow progress rather than having to file an incident report because someone got hurt going too fast. Tallulah was sitting on a stack of foam mats as she cheerfully encouraged Chayanne from the sidelines, holding the plastic cup from earlier. Fit made a mental note to ask her for it back at the end of the day so he could wash it and put it back in the cupboard.
Cellbit and Roier were near the middle, Bobby and Richas were flanking them as the two lovesick adults talked, instead of doing what they were actually here for. Richas was actually doing well. Fit noticed the change in his prosthetic leg and casually thought to himself that he must've changed it out for the course. Roier must've said something particularly sly as Fit watched Cellbit flush a bright red and start stammering. Roier looked quite proud of himself until Fit watched in real time as Bobby kicked him straight in the groin. He winced as Roier doubled over in pain. Cellbit rushed to help him up as Bobby laughed at him and Richas rushed over to see what had happened, tripping Cellbit over.
Fit shook his head, amused but certainly sympathetic. He observed some other faces he recognized, Etoiles and Pomme, were near the front. Etoiles seemed to be taking jabs at Foolish while fawning over how well Pomme seemed to be doing. And even surprisingly, Quackity had shown up with Tilin, but she seemed to be having to help him rather than the other way around. He scanned the room; some people he didn't recognize filled in the space, but he couldn’t spot a kid without an adult. He waved and nodded in recognition as people called out in hellos. He meandered to the front of the room and approached Foolish, who was giggling quite distractedly. Fit looked over and had to roll his eyes fondly as he spotted Vegetta blowing kisses to Foolish from across the room before returning to give all his attention to Leonarda. Fit cleared his throat and crossed his arms. Foolish startled before turning to Fit sheepishly.
“Oh hey Fit!” he rubbed the back of his neck. Fit smirked and raised an eyebrow
“If you're just going to flirt with Vegetta, I'm putting you on bathroom cleaning duty…” Fit put a faux thinking face and placed a finger on his chin. “I'm sure Tubbo would love to switch places with you…” He trailed off as Foolish laughed.
“Now now, that's a little rash, come on man!” Foolish rushed out before placing his hands on his hips. “What’s up?” Fit gestured his head to the group in front of them.
“Where’s the kid? I don't see a kid by himself anywhere,” he said, scanning the crowd again to see if anyone stood out but came back with nothing.
“Oh shit, really?” Foolish’s eyes widened before turning back to the group of people. He scanned the group much more hurriedly before furrowing his eyebrows. “Maybe try the bathroom? He was still here when I came out of the staff room. I told him you would be his partner before I started today's session.” he was slowly starting to get more nervous, but Fit placed a solid hand on his shoulder.
“Hey, hey, it's alright, I'll go check the bathroom. Don't worry about it, okay? Just keep teaching the session.” Fit reassured before squeezing and pulling away. Foolish gave him a nod and thumbs up before turning to the group and regaining their attention. Fit walked out of the room calmly; there was no use in panicking quite yet. He could feel the undercurrent of adrenaline spike in his veins, but he had long mastered keeping it at bay for a clear mind. He walked to the bathrooms with a slight briskness that wasn't usually in his relaxed gait. When the bathroom was empty, he resorted to going through the gym for anyone out of place. He spotted Tubbo putting hand weights back into their designated racks. He seemed to be struggling with one as he muttered annoyances. Fit came up behind him, and Tubbo spooked at the figure behind him, dropping the weight he was trying to pick up, narrowly avoiding his foot.
“Jesus Christ, man! Warn a guy!” Tubbo yelped as he rubbed at his chest to soothe his rapidly beating heart, before “What do you want, big man?” he asked as his heart started to calm down, before glaring at Fit who had started laughing at him.
“Okay fuck you,” he huffed. Fit laughed at his expression before letting out an amused sigh
“Calma, calma… I didn't even do anything,” Fit said teasingly before bending down to grab the weight with his flesh hand and placing it on the rack with no effort. That caused Tubbo to frown angrily.
“I hope you trip and die, Fit MCee.” Tubbo snarked, Fit laughed again and placed his hands up in surrender before flicking Tubbo's forehead.
“You're waaay too young to be frowning so much.” Tubbo swatted his hand away.
“I wouldn't frown so much if I didn't have the worst boss ever.” Tubbo grabbed some more of the lighter weights to put on the rack. “I can't believe this, you're bullying me during Pride Month. I didn't take you for a homophobe, Fit.” Fit gave him an unimpressed look
“It’s May.”
Tubbo's upset expression morphed into a cocky one, " Eh, close enough.” he said and rolled his shoulders back as all the weights were finally placed on the rack. Fit took the opportunity to place a hand on his head and ruffle the unruly locks. Tubbo squawked indigantly, “What the hell, man!” as he rushed over to the mirror wall and tried to fix the damage that Fit had done. Fit snickered before asking
“Have you seen a kid anywhere? He was signed up for Foolish's course, but we can't find him,” he placed his hands on his hips, Tubbo perked up from where he was at the mirror and turned around to face him.
“Uhhhhh… I saw someone walk out, but I wouldn't exactly call them a kid; he was more my age,” he replied after a brief moment. Fit was taken aback slightly; he hadn't even considered looking for someone who wasn't younger but rather older.
“Oh,” he said absentmindedly before smirking down at Tubbo, “I mean you're still a kid…” That caused Tubbo to glare at him again
“Yeah, yeah fuck you too, you ancient bald ass man.” Tubbo sassed before walking away to his next task. He called out over his shoulder, “Have fun going on a goose chase, dipshit,” before disappearing behind the staff door. Fit’s face returned to a neutral expression as he returned to his office. Deciding to check the camera footage for anything that could help. He sat down in his office chair before coming face to face with a pile of paperwork he still had to finish. He had to use all his will to not bash his head against the hardwood.
For fucks sake
The cameras hadn’t exactly helped.
He wasn't able to get to the camera footage immediately; things had stolen away his attention and time, the usual occurrence when at the gym. Before he knew it, it was nearing the end of the day, by the way some golden rays slipped through the closed blinds, and he hadn't even gotten to touch the footage once all day. Things finally had calmed down enough to take a breath and fumble his way through the computer to access the security cameras.
He rewound the footage to earlier this morning, sure enough, as people started arriving for the session, a teen approached Foolish as he was talking to Vegetta and Leornada, or what he could assume was them through the grainy quality. The kid tapped Foolish on the shoulder and handed him something that was folded up. Fit could assume it was the forms Foolish had mentioned; they seem to be having a conversation, probably about his lack of adult supervision when Fit saw himself burst through the doors behind them, absolutely soaked. Fit groaned in second hand embarrassment when he saw his sorry ass trudging his way to the staff room. Foolish, having realized Fit had arrived, trailed after him. Fit zoomed through to the footage as he saw the kid wait around, keeping to himself until Foolish returned, and relaying to him his decision. Foolish clasps the kid's shoulder as the teen gives him a thumbs up. Foolish, in a very Foolish manner, gets distracted by someone. Fit can imagine the boisterous exchange as he sees Etoiles waltz in with Pomme. Fit watches the kid closely. Squinting to make out any apparent features to memorize, but his face is covered by a black face mask, and a raggedy hoodie covers his body, effectively hiding anything that could be used to identify. He places his hands in his hoodie pockets, takes a step backwards before rushing out of the gym doors.
So yeah, some answers, but now many more questions.
He rubbed his face tiredly; he was supposed to be doing the paperwork in front of him. Tauntingly blank, but his mind kept wandering off about that teen. It wasn't exactly worry; the kid appeared to be old enough to be by himself, definitely around Tubbo’s age. It just struck him as odd, the event wasn't barring kids of any age from coming, but it had been catered to appeal to the younger children with exasperated parents trying to find something for their kids to do with the beginning of summer. Fit willed himself to focus again. The teen probably saw all the younger kids and decided to dip. Fit was probably overthinking like everything in his goddamn life.
A groan escaped his lips, and he slumped in his seat. Yeah, there was no way in hell he was going to get this done. And on cue, his stomach growled, so with that he packed the paperwork up and grabbed his drawstring bag. He waved goodbye to Tina, who was the receptionist scheduled for the night, and started walking to the bus stop. He nearly missed it when the bus pulled up and the doors squealed open, beckoning him inside. He dropped himself into one of the seats and stared at the view as it smeared past him. The chilled air of the night did little to bring him back down to reality; this really shouldn't be weighing on his mind as heavily as it was. His lips turned downward, pressed into a thin line. There was just something about the way that kid was curled into himself as he waited, no one even sparing him a single glance, and worst of all, it was like he was used to it.
He climbed the stairs up to his apartment habitually. The elevator was broken half of the time; it wasn't even worth trying to use it. But of course, right as he got to his door and fished into his bag to grab his keys, the universe wanted to fuck him over in the ass, and reminded him right at that moment that his bag was still, in fact, ripped and the contents spilled out on his feet. He felt his eye twitch as he mumbled a curse and squatted down to pick up the things that had fallen out. Reaching for the last item, his water bottle, which had rolled away from him, a pair of beat-up blue trainers entered his vision, and a honey-like voice called out,
“Oi! Bom dia Fit!” Fit’s hand froze, and the tips of his ears reddened as his gaze was pulled upwards before meeting the impossibly dark eyes of his neighbour; a curious glint danced in them.
“Oh! Uh.. bom dia Pac!” Fit scrambled to get himself up and on his feet, water bottle forgotten at his feet. “How… how are you during this fine evening?” Cursing himself for stuttering, he averted his eyes, missing right as a fond smile widened on Pac’s lips, but a harmonious chuckle reached his burning hot ears. Jesus, he has got to get it together.
“I'm good Fit! Very good, but uh… looks like you are having trouble?” Pac muffled a giggle and nudged the water bottle with his foot. Fit gave a playful scowl at his barely contained amusement
“Wow, here I am in my darkest moments of despair, and instead of helping me, here you are mocking me! No, no, I see how it is, Pac.” Fit crossed his arms over his broad chest. If he were any more observant, he would've noticed the way Pac traced the muscles of his arms with the movement. Pac let out a familiar laugh and bent down to grab the water bottle between them. Presenting it to Fit with the same level of dramatics, one knee on the ground and hand to his chest
“I would never Fitch! I will be your..” He paused, a pout forming on his lips, a face Fit recognized as his translating face. “Knight in armour!” he finished, a slight tilt at the end of the sentence gave away his doubt about the correct words. Fit uncrossed his arm and reached down to grab the water bottle with a loopy grin on his face.
“Ohh my knight in shining armour! How chivalrous!” he remarked as he offered his metal arm to Pac. Even without the sense of touch, he could feel his heart stutter at the contact, as heat enveloped the curve of his cheeks. Their hands made contact, and Fit easily helped Pac up, probably more gently than Pac needed. He vaguely hears Pac agree with him, but they linger there in that dirty ass hallway, and Fit can definitely hear the people upstairs, but he stares down at Pac’s extremely captivating eyes.
What the fuck.
A loud ringing noise interrupts them, and Fit feels himself flush as he pulls his hand away. Pac groans and sends Fit and apologetic smile. He grabs his phone from his back pocket and reads the Caller I.D.
“I’m so sorry, Fit. I have to answer, it’s Mike…”
Fit opens his mouth, closes it before rushing out, “No, no, don't worry about it, Pac! I'll uh catch you later, yeah?” Pac smiles at his response, and Fit feels the overwhelming urge to throw himself off the roof. Weird.
“Of course, Fitch! We should hang out soon!” A devious smile crosses Pac’s features, “I have lots of fofoca to catch you up on!” Fit laughs good-naturedly at his antics
“Oh, you know I'm always up for some good fofoca! Especially if it's from you, Pac!” Apparently, the ringing had stopped at some point because the noise cut through the tension again. The second call caused Pac to shift into gear.
“Yes, thank you, Fit! I have to go, but uhm have a good night!” He starts heading down the stairs and mouths Bye Fit! As he places the phone up to his ear. Fit hears Pac’s voice fade down the stairwell, no doubt greeting Mike with the same happiness he greets everybody. Fit shakes his head amusedly and places his keys into his door, unlocking it and stepping inside.
He walks through the bare apartment. He had always preferred practicality over comfort, but the dull glow of the city seeping through the windows had him feeling like maybe he should invest in a lamp or two. He debated cooking himself something quick for dinner, but the sheer exhaustion of the day settled over his shoulders. He honestly just felt like taking a warm shower and fucking off to sleep.
He took a quick shower, one to constitute himself as “clean enough”, pulled on a pair of sweats and collapsed onto his mattress. Not even bothering with the duvet as he shifted onto his back, staring up at the ceiling and drifted into an unsatisfying rest.