Wheeeee! (Yue)

[Wren O'Hara]

It was an unusually warm day in September, and Wren had agreed to meet Yue on the training field to try a little pole vaulting. This wasn’t to say that he approved of the idea at all – the idea of hurtling through midair suspended by a skinny fiberglass pole made him wince – but he hadn’t talked to Yue much in the past week, and he figured he would fare better on the pole than the hurdles.

She was already there when he arrived, looking warmed up and ready to exercise, as per usual. He cradled his ice cream cone in one hand protectively; it was half-eaten, and there was a trail of melted vanilla rolling down the side. Wren licked it off shamelessly.

“Hey,” he greeted as soon as he was close enough. He regarded his friend with some hesitation before critically examining the pole vaulting setup. It looked safe enough, but it was definitely no pool. He adjusted his baseball cap with one hand (he was starting to sweat a little, and didn’t like the thought of his face disappearing) and lifted the ice cream to his mouth again with the other.

“There’s no way I’m going to be good at this,” he said conversationally between munches, not sounding too bothered by the fact. “Did you know that in the European lowlands, farmers have used poles to hope over canals and marshes for centuries? They have competitions and everything.”

He paused, gauging his friend’s interest.

“Theirs are wooden, though,” he murmured into the last bit of his ice cream.

[Yue Hirai]

Pole vaulting wasn't an event that Yue practiced regularly in, but she liked to try new, challenging things as often as possible, and while this wasn't necessarily new, it was definitely challenging, even for the incredibly competitive girl. Thinking Wren could use a little more excitement in his life, she had asked (read - pushed) him into coming along on what she was sure was going to be a fun experience.

She had been stretching and doing some light warm-ups for a few minutes before the boy arrived, with her always-present water bottle nearby, filled with some new concoction she had read about online that was supposed to be good for her energy. Yue waved as she caught sight of her friend, but her eyes narrowed when she also saw what he had in his hand.

"Hiya," she replied, raising an eyebrow and giving the ice cream an obvious glance. "Having a healthy, empowering snack before trying this out, eh?" she chuckled, resisting the urge to smack the junk food out of his hand. Not everyone was as strict as her, she reminded herself. And she liked Wren, so she didn't want to be mean, even if her inner competitive nature was starting to bubble up and make her less of the usual cheerful, optimistic girl she was otherwise.

"Don't know until ya try!" she told him cheekily, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet as she went to her water bottle and took a sip. "I'm sure you might surprise yourself." She, of course, was fairly certain she would do well just because... Well, let's be honest, she was a bit vain when it came to track and field. She blinked as Wren gave his little tidbit of information, giving him a glance over her shoulder.

"Uh.... huh," she replied, laughing a bit again as she processed this. "Well, if I'm ever in the European lowlands, I'll be sure to give them a visit and show them what I've got." She winked, then stared up at the obstacle in front of them.

"If you're done with your.... Snack, let's get going, yeah?" she declared.

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren met Yue’s eyes, but his gaze quickly traveled to her water bottle, which appeared to be full of some sort of ominous health sludge. He pursed his ice-cream covered lips, finished off his cone (with relish, because the chocolate in the bottom was the best part by far), and offered his friend a look that was equal parts guilt and amusement.

“Had to eat something,” he murmured good-naturedly, wiping his slightly sticky hands on his black mesh shorts. At Yue’s words of encouragement, Wren took the pole in his hands and gave it an experimental lift. It wasn’t as light as he thought it would be – for some reason, they’d always seemed flimsy to him. Now that he thought about it, though, that was probably a good thing. He was a pretty solid guy… most of the time.

“Does it matter which end?” he asked after a moment, examining the pole further. It had stripes on one end, but he wasn’t sure if the stripes were meant to go down or up. Maybe it didn’t matter – it was just a pole, right? He gave Yue a wry look. He slid the pole toward her; the end swayed in the light breeze.

“You can go first. If you don’t break anything, I’ll go afterward. Also, what’s in the bottle? It’s not spinach or anything weird, right?”

He paused, smirking, although it wasn’t long before the usual mask of calm fell over him again. He looked up at the bar, squinting into the sunlight.

“But don’t break anything, for real.”

[Yue Hirai]

"You could've had something to help keep your energy levels up. Like, some protein or something." Yue chuckled, unable to be irritated at her friend for something that was honestly quite trivial. She needed to just worry about herself, she internally scolded. She watched as Wren tested the pole, already having checked it herself for any potential fractures or other problems; as expected, it was fine. She just liked to be extra-cautious, even if she barely weighed a hundred pounds.

"The striped end is the top, where you hold on," she told him, taking the equipment back as it was offered to her. It was definitely hefty, but though she was small, Yue was strong enough that it wasn't too much of a burden for her to carry.

She gave Wren a confident grin. "Don't worry about me, the only thing I break is records." Vanity, she had it. Yue lifted her bottle as he asked about it, holding it out as an offer for him to try. "I found it on one of my training websites," she told him. "It's supposed to balance electrolytes and all that good stuff." It tasted a bit like apples; it wasn't as bad as it looked.

Yue took several steps towards the pole vault, chuckling at her friend. "You worry too much. I'll be fine." Taking a firm grip on the pole, she got into position before taking a deep breath and running towards the designated location, putting the pole in place and launching herself into the air. At first she thought the had hit it just right, but after the pole began to straighten out she found herself falling to the side, not even reaching the bar before she fell with a thump onto the mat below.

"Damn," she huffed, ruffling the back of her head with her brow furrowed. "Well, let's see if you can do any better." She was far from quitting, but wanted to give the boy a chance to try too.

[Wren O'Hara]

“Yeah, I could have,” Wren acknowledged with mock solemnity. He allowed the backhanded quip a few moments to sink in before flashing Yue a small, playful smirk. As his friend explained what the stripes on the pole were for, he nodded casually, figuring that made as much sense as anything else. After the pole was free from his grasp, he took the opportunity to roll out the muscles in his shoulders in preparation.

He raised his eyebrows playfully at her good-natured boast. His eyes lingered on the bottle. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached out and took it. He held the mouth of the container up to his nose.

It smelled kind of like applesauce. He could deal with applesauce; he took a tentative sip, squinting off into the distance as though in deep thought.

Hmm.

“It’s not bad – I’ll give it a six out of ten. My electrolytes feel very balanced,” he said seriously in his low, easy voice. He held the bottle back out to Yue, allowing the corner of his lip to twitch. “Thanks.”

He took a couple of steps back, all the better to watch Yue’s first attempt. As per usual, her form was impeccable; if anyone had seen her running up to the bar, they might have thought she was a champion at pole vaulting. The small girl tended to have that sort of physical manifestation of confidence in everything she tried – even if she wasn’t great at something, her powerful sprint and determined look could make you believe she was.

Wren watched as she hooked the pole in the metal catch in front of the mat, soared through the air, and floundered halfway, ending in a soft plop on the giant cushion. He clapped twice, more for encouragement than congratulations.

“Your run looked really nice,” he said.

He took the proffered pole in his hands, testing its weight again absentmindedly before walking backwards several paces. He was a lot heavier than Yue, and he wasn’t entirely sure how much momentum it was going to take to haul his solid ass into the air.

He gripped the fiberglass pole right on the stripe with both hands and tried to hold it up high, like Yue had. Once he was satisfied with his position, he broke into a run.

It could fairly be said that Wren wasn’t built for speed; he had broad, heavily-muscled shoulders that gave him a sort of lumbering look, even when he was moving quick. Even so, the bar came up quick, and Wren had a moment of silent panic. He jabbed the pole down in the direction of the catch, missed, and was propelled no more than a couple of flailing inches from the ground before he landed on his feet again.

It all happened very quickly, and Wren, whose mind had only just caught up, huffed out a good-natured chuckle at himself. He looked back at Yue, raising an eyebrow.

“I definitely set a record with that one,” he joked. “Assuming there’s a record for ‘biggest pole-fault fail.’” He bumped the toe of his sneakers against the pavement experimentally, then held the pole back out to Yue.

“Don’t worry,” he said brightly. “I’ll try until I hit the mat, at least. Your turn.”

[Yue Hirai]

Yue chuckled as Wren took the drink in hand, raising her brow as she waited for his reaction. "Well, it could be worse, yeah?" she snickered, taking it back with another swig. "There are other flavors, too. You might like one of them more." Or not. It wasn't for everyone.

She was a little disappointed she hadn't at least hit the bar on her first try, but she figured it wasn't a bad run. She was just determined to make it over at least once before they were done today. Hearing Wren's short clap, she hopped from the mat, smiling at the compliment.

"It felt fine. I think I just need more momentum so I don't get off-balanced once the pole straightens out." She handed the pole over and stepped back, eager to see how the bigger boy would do with it.

She watched him step back before beginning his run, and she was impressed by the speed he as able to put on even if it wasn't as light and graceful as some. Yue held her breath as he reached the end of the run, then clapped her hands over her mouth as he missed it. Then, she burst into small giggles.

"It was a great try," she encouraged him, walking over to where he stood and continuing to laugh at his joke. "Nahh, at least you didn't faceplant or anything. I've definitely seen worse." While she tended to be extremely vain, Yue was also very supportive and optimistic in her friends' athletic endeavors.

"I'm sure you'll get it next time," she told him, taking the pole back and getting in place. She repeated the process, this time putting on an extra burst of speed as she jabbed the pole in place and launched herself, glad that she seemed to be going straight this time. She managed to reach the bar, though she only got it to reach her waist before she knocked if off and fell with a soft puff on the other side.

"Progress!" she chirped happily, running a hand through her fuzzy hair as she once again offered the pole to Wren. "You'll reach the mat this time, I'm sure!"

[Wren O'Hara]

“Other flavors? Can’t wait,” Wren teased, not unkindly.

After both of them had gotten in their respective first-run failures, and Yue had recovered from her giggles, the two friends met up a few meters away from the mat again.

“Thanks,” he replied to her compliment, grinning. “At least I landed on my feet, I guess.” He watched with interest as Yue prepared her next run; he tried to study her grip on the pole, so that he might mimic it. It seemed like such a simple thing, but it was really pretty hard to master… He saw her tense up for her run, and he rubbed the back of his neck, which was starting to bead with sweat.

“Just try to get it vertical,” he called out, bumping the toe of his sneaker on the track absentmindedly. “If you can get it vertical enough, it will probably be fine.”

Wren watched his friend sprint, hook the pole, and hurtle through the air with impressive form; he smiled, watching the bar clatter to the ground with some amusement.

“Definitely progress,” he confirmed in an encouraging tone. He walked closer to the mat and bent to pick up the bar, which he struggled to re-fasten between the two posts. He grabbed the end of the pole, which had fallen on the mat, too, and slid it away from her.

“Well, I’ll definitely reach something,” he said dryly, huffing out a weak chuckle. He hoped it wouldn’t be the pavement – he was pretty sure that would ruin his experience.

After Yue had cleared the mat, Wren grabbed at the pole with his large, strong hands, trying to replicate his friend’s technique and only halfway succeeding. Unfortunately, his hands were also beginning to sweat; if they kept at it for much longer, he probably wouldn’t be able to see his hands properly.

He sighed, rolled his shoulders experimentally, and broke into his characteristic run. Unlike Yue, he didn’t have speed on his side; all of his momentum came from his mass, and once he managed to successfully hook the pole into the catch, he knew he was going somewhere. He felt his feet leave the ground again; the pole bent ominously under his weight; the bar was at his eye level, and for one terrifying, exhilarating moment, he thought he’d done it.

Much to his chagrin, he collided with the bar and fell with it onto the edge of the mat with a heavy pomf.

“Ow,” he grumped, rubbing at his chest with one hand where the bar had been caught under him. “Well, I made the mat,” he added, laughing. “Why is this so much harder than it looks?”

[Yue Hirai]

Yue had gotten it vertical this time; she just needed to figure out how to get that arch to get her legs up and over the bar rather than running smack into it. She handed off the pole to her friend with a grin. She didn't mean for him to put up the bar again himself, but she figured it would be easier for the taller guy anyway... Not that that would keep her from putting it up next time.

"Just have confidence!" she told Wren as he set up to run again, having complete faith that he would do better than his last time. That was what practice was for, after all - getting better.

She didn't even think about the possibility of him being unable to see his hands. Not having his ability, this wasn't something that often crossed her mind. That would definitely make things more difficult.

He ran, launched, and was looking good until he did pretty much the same thing Yue had and rammed into the bar, landing more heavily on the mat. "That was great!" she told him, running over to where he was laying and laughing at his complaint. "Professional athletes make everything look easy," she sighed, shaking her head and offering a hand.

"You have a ton of momentum. I think the problem now is just being able to pull ourselves up enough to clear our legs over the bar." She rubbed her chin, pondering as she went to replace the bar on the pole vault. "Well, third time's a charm, right?"

She took several deep breaths as she set up again, preparing herself to work her core to lift her feet up and over enough to get enough height. "Here goes nothing," she huffed, tensing into a sprint and launching herself once more, fighting to kick her legs up and over the quickly approaching obstacle.

Her butt just brushed the top of the bar as she cleared over it, pushing the pole backwards as she flew out over the obstacle and then landed somewhat awkwardly on the mat below. The bar shook a little where it sat, but stayed in place, and she scrambled to sit up as she punched her fists in the air in victory.

"I did it!" she exclaimed, as though it wasn't obvious. Her grin was wide as she hopped off the mat, shoving short strands of hair out of her face as she hopped around in victory. "Alright Wren, you do it this time!"

[Wren O'Hara]

“Nice!” Wren shouted as Yue lifted herself up and over the bar successfully. He gave her a few appreciative claps, beaming. “That was awesome!”

He approached the mat again, this time the picture of confidence; his eyebrows were knitted slightly in concentration. He could totally do this, right? Probably. Maybe. He hoped so. And even if he didn’t get it this try, he reasoned, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t succeed in the future. Yue had a particular talent for track events, and he tried not to hold himself to her standard, even when it was tempting. Like a professional athlete, she made things look easy.

He picked up the pole again, puffing a breath of air past his lips in an exercise of determination.

Once she cleared the mat and stepped back, he sprung to action; if Yue was that short and she could jump over the bar, he reasoned, he should have less distance to go. Right? He broke into a sprint, hooked the pole in the catch, and…

He failed to get the pole completely vertical, floundered sideways, and this time landed with a loud thud and a sharp intake of breath.

He released the captive air in a low, pained hiss.

“Too much confidence,” he joked weakly, ignoring the forgotten pole and checking his right ankle with tentative fingers. It looked fine at the moment, but he could already tell that it was going to swell. “That hurt.”

He suspended himself gingerly with his strong arms, testing the ankle by putting a little weight on it. A sharp pain shot through the inside of his leg.

“Pretty sure I twisted it on the way down,” he informed her, grimacing. He let himself plop back onto the blacktop, defeated.

[Yue Hirai]

Yue watched eagerly as Wren set himself up, hoping he felt as confident as he looked. That was the key for her - confidence. Even if no one else believed in you, if you believed in yourself, it was amazing what one could accomplish.

But something when awry as he sprinted and vaulted, and instead of clearing the bar like she had expected, he went off to the side and landed with a much louder thump, and she gaped before running over and seeing if he was alright.

He had hurt something - his ankle, by the looks of it. "Oh, no," she gasped, bending down to look at the injured part. It didn't look too bad yet, but by the way he was gingerly placing it on the ground and grimacing, she knew it was worse than it looked.

"Let me go get some ice," she told him as he carefully sat back down, and she sprinted towards the nearest freezer, grabbing a bag and filling it with ice cubes. She also grabbed a couple towels before running back to where Wren was, slightly out of breath.

"Okay, let's get it elevated and stable," she told him in her no-nonsense voice, motioning for him to lift his injured leg so she could slide the pile of towels underneath his ankle to keep it up off the ground. She then situated the ice over the top of his ankle, making sure everything was steady and in place before sighing and flopping down next to him.

"That should keep down any swelling, at least," she told him, frowning. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to try this with me..." Yue felt like it was her fault that he had gotten hurt; he would likely need to take it easy for a week or two before getting back into any serious training.

[Wren O'Hara]

Wren sat obediently as Yue ran off to get him some ice. It only took a moment – she was pretty fast, after all – and, to his surprise, she had managed to fetch ice and an armful of towels. By the time she arrived at his side again, she was panting a little.

“Thanks,” he said, giving her a warm albeit slightly pained smile. He lifted his leg with a wince, resting it on the pile of fluffy towels that Yue placed under it. He sighed.

“It’s fine, I think,” he assured her, rolling his ankle experimentally. It hurt, but not as much as it had initially; at most, it was a minor sprain. A very cold minor sprain, thanks to Yue’s quick work with the ice cubes. “Sorry. I guess it’s not fun anymore,” he joked, giving her a slightly reserved look of amusement.

After a beat of silence between them, he tucked his arms over his belly and laid all the way back on the blacktop. It was warm, but not too warm. He stared up at the sky pensively.

“It’s not your fault,” he mumbled, huffing out a small half-chuckle. “Don’t do that thing where you’re all hard on yourself. You did well, at least. I think there’s just too much of me to get over the bar.”

He closed his eyes. After a moment’s pause, he pulled his baseball cap off of his head and positioned it over the top of his face.

He could probably fall asleep like this, he thought idly.

“Hey, what’s up for Halloween?” he asked, slightly muffled by his hat. “Do you have plans or anything? I heard that the drama club was trying to arrange some kind of scary movie thing.”

[Yue Hirai]

Yue frowned as Wren moved his ankle around, reaching out a hand to keep it still as she gave him a stern look. "Keep it still," she chastised, though she was glad he seemed to be able to move it without too much pain. Still, better safe than sorry. "Oh, don't worry about it. I had fun while it lasted! I just hope you did too," she pouted.

As he laid back on the track, Yue followed suit and did the same, gazing up at the clouds as a brief silence fell between them.

"I'm always hard on myself," she mumbled under her breath, but twisted her head to look over at her friend. "I think you could've got it the next time," she told him, trying to be optimistic. "And if you don't want me to blame myself.... I blame the ice cream," she smirked.

She looked back up as Wren pulled his hat over his face, folding her arms back behind her head.

"Oh, um..." Yue thought for a moment. "I haven't really thought about it too much. Although..." she trailed off, hating the fact that her cheeks felt a bit warm even thinking about what she was going to say. "I heard there was some play or something going on in town that I was thinking about going to... With Junpei..." She knew nothing about Rocky Horror or what it was, but she had heard a lot of people mentioning it, so it had to be fun, right? And she wanted to help Junpei get more into American culture, so it seemed like a good idea...

"Though scary movies sound fun too," she added, a little belatedly.

[Wren O'Hara]

“Sorry,” Wren said immediately, feigning innocence. His ankle fell still. “It was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I just didn’t realize it took so much practice,” he said.

He paused.

“Which is probably pretty dumb of me,” he tacked on with a laugh. “All sports take practice.” He still hadn’t forgotten how many of his childhood friends had brushed him off by saying that swimming was easy. It had made him really mad back then…

The inside of his hat was humid and smelled like sweat and chlorine, but Wren didn’t mind too much. It kept the sun off of his face, at least, and left the gentle early-autumn breeze to cool him off everywhere else. He snorted into the dark of his cap at Yue’s comment about ice cream.

“I should eat less ice cream,” he agreed placidly, with a smile in his voice.

Wren couldn’t see the blush rising in Yue’s cheeks, although he could hear the hesitation in her voice that indicated that she was about to say something important. Wren had known her for a while, after all; she sometimes still did things that threw him off, but for the most part, she was pretty predictable. They bonded over sports, laughed hard at good jokes, and very rarely talked about extremely serious things.

So when the time did come, Wren was certain to pay attention.

“That sounds fun,” he said encouragingly. “It’s Rocky Horror, right? I think I heard about that. I’m pretty sure there’s lots of kissing in it, though,” he said, as an afterthought. He immediately regretted this – he didn’t want Yue to start having second thoughts.

“But Junpei would probably have fun,” he added hastily. “I’ll probably stay in or something. Or, well, actually,” he said, taking his turn to be hesitant.

“I thought I might ask Izabelle to hang out with me. Or something,” he finished in a mumble. “She might have plans, though.” Izzy was popular. “I should probably ask soon.”

[Yue Hirai]

Yue nodded slowly. "That's why I train every day. It's amazing how quickly you can lose what you've worked so hard to gain by taking a break," she sighed. She was stubborn and refused to take days off unless she had an actual injury; she had gritted her teeth through soreness and sickness more than once, and would do it over and over again to prove she was tougher than anyone else.

She smirked as he agreed with her, giving him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Good thinking," she chuckled, setting her hand back down behind her head.

It was weird for Yue to feel so unsure and nervous about something; she was always the definition of confidence, unwavering in her actions and words and ready to take on any challenge. Why was it that a silly boy was making her so flustered and anxious? It was ridiculous!

"I... I think that's what it's called," she nodded slowly. Her cheeks felt like they grew a thousand times warmer at the mention of kissing, and she involuntarily let out a little squeak before covering her mouth in horror. "R... Really?" she tried to asked nonchalantly. "That's, um... That sounds... Fun..."

She tried to push out the image of her sitting next to Junpei at a little theater, slowly leaning closer to each other in the dark setting where people wouldn't notice...

Yue shook her head, coming back to the present. "I hope he will. I'm just trying to get him out into the community more, you know?" She was sure the Japan native was still very unused to living in the States.

At the hesitation in Wren's voice, she glanced over again, smirking as she sensed a similar anxiety coming from him. "I don't think I know her," Yue hummed, trying not to chuckle at her friend. "But that sounds like a good idea. It's always best to plan ahead, especially if that someone is special~"