Karate Kid (Nao)

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray shot Nao a quick text, letting the speedster know that he was on his way from Hammel. He was excited to see Nao in action with all of his Kung Fu action. He knew that wasn’t actually what Nao practiced but he could not for the life of him remember what it was actually called. The names were so complicated. He wasn’t sure what he should bring, but he was pretty sure that doing any of the fancy moves was not in the cards for him today, he was just going to watch today. So he sped down the stairs and out into the chilly air. He was bundled in a heavy coat and wrapped a scarf around his neck and pulled a beanie over his ears. If it was cold on the ground it would be much much colder aloft.

He kicked off the ground and his small wings fluttered strongly surging him upward like a rocket. A smile on his face, Raylaigh did a flip before soaring over Hammel toward Pilot Ridge. He spread his arms wide and laughed twisting in the air. He would never forget the pure joy that came from flight. Especially since it was a clear day and the sky was a bright shade of blue. It was cold but it wasn’t too cold to be out and about, nor was it snowing yet. He grinned and angled up and rested in the ‘V’ of a migrating flock of geese. They honked their encouragement at the head of their line and some of them eyes Ray, but let him be as he lost altitude and made himself less of a threat. He swung away from them as the town rose between the trees.

He couldn’t wait to see the town covered in snow. The roofs colored white and the pillars of smoke dotting the word. Catching a thermal over a parking lot, Ray glided easily. Recalling the address that Nao had given him he winged over the street and started dropping. He had been working on his landing, especially after he had broken his arm again. The bones were well set again and healed. After that break though, his trainer had worked him extra hard. Touch and goes, landing without stumbling. Kicking his feet out in front of him like he had watched raptors do when they catch a mouse. He threw his arms out to help him keep his balance and he gave one strong stroke of his wings. His body jarred as he hit the ground and he stumbled a few steps, back pedaling as much as he could to keep from hitting the side of the building. He threw his hands out and caught himself on the wall as he lurched toward it. Okay, so he still had a lot of work to do on his landings.

Straightening himself out, he looked around and quickly found the place he was looking for. He peaked his head inside, as if highly aware that he was a very white kid, who had no business being here. Nervously he looked around, hoping to see Nao, but no one was in the small entry way. “Can I help you?” a friendly man said, his accent so thick it took Ray a moment to figure out what he had said. “Uh... I’m looking for Nao?” The man smiled and nodded. “Come, come.” And Raylaigh followed the man, looking around fascinated by the place.

[Deleted]

Naozumi usually arrived at the dojo early. It allowed him time to work on his own before the other students arrived. He'd done just that today as well, warming himself up adequately before the lesson began. He was just an adjunct instructor, so he didn’t conduct the lesson itself - that was left to the Master of the dojo, who was of a higher dan than Nao by several levels - but he was permitted to provide individual instruction when doing uke/seme practices. Partner learning. One to give the attack and one to receive the attack. He was allowed correct their stance and show them how to properly execute the moves, step by step. He did not go in front of the class an make speeches.

Nao didn’t know what he would say if he had to make speeches and lectures to begin with. He would likely take the entire class period speaking so slowly and methodically that the students would fall asleep halfway through, and they’d end up with only five minutes left in class to do any sort of practice. Maybe in the future, when he was better at public speaking, he would be able to. For now, he sat on the mat, on his knees with his feet and hakama tucked underneath him, in line with the other students facing the instructor who was pacing in front of them. On the far left side of the line were the black belts, on the far right the white belts. In between were the rest arranged from highest rank to lowest rank.

Naozumi was in the middle of that line, between the blackbelts on his left, and the brown belts on his right. He heard someone come inside, but as they were in line, he did not offer a greeting like he would normally have. When a tall, lanky figure rounded the wall from the entry-hall, Nao caught it from the corner of his eye and turned his head slightly to see Ray come inside. A smile spread slowly across his face as their eyes met, then he faced forward again. Nao had gotten Ray’s text message before class had started and informed the instructor that Ray would be coming to watch their practice. Nao looked up to the instructor, who was still speaking, and silently signaled for permission to leave the mat. With a nod of his head, he was granted that permission, and the young Japanese boy placed his hands together in front of him and bowed his head down until his forehead touched the back of his hands. He then rose and stood, stepping backwards off the mat and into his zori sandals.

“Ray!” he said in a hushed voice so as not to disturb the lesson. Before they could go much further, Nao gently directed him to a bench just outside the practice room where there was a collection of more sandals in a cubby. “Take your shoes off,” he told him, still speaking softly. Yes, he was excited to see his…best friend. But that didn’t mean he could forget about dojo etiquette. “You made it,” he said with a soft smile that squinted his eyes.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

He rounded the corner with his guide and peaked around into the room where someone was talking at the front of the room. It looked like it did in the movies, all people in lines listening. He hadn’t the slightest idea what they were talking about. It was probably because he was late and hadn’t heard the beginning. He thanked the man who let him back and looked for Nao in the crowd of people. He caught sight of Nao and waved, realizing when he was getting strange looks from other people how much like a dork he looked. He dropped his hand onto his head and made as if he were scratching his ears. Right, well he did do dork her well. He watched Nao, not sure what he was supposed to do or if Nao was allowed to leave. He knew this wouldn’t be a chatting kinda thing but he felt terribly awkward just lurking in the doorway.

He brightened significantly when Nao started to move and breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t just going to be standing here awkwardly. “Hey Nao!” Ray said a sheepish smile on his face. “Sorry I’m late, traffic was unbelievable,” he said dropping that terrible joke with a soft giggle. He had no regrets. He followed Nao, and took a seat on the bench, since it was him and if he tried to take off his shoes while standing he would probably die. He had made a deal with his doctor. If he could go a year without breaking something she was going to give him fifty dollars. Ray was more than willing to take that challenge. He was sure that his doctor didn’t expect to have to pay up, but Raylaigh was just determined enough to make her, also he didn’t want to be in a cast during his last year of high school.

Slipping off his sneakers he stuck them by the wall, unsure if the cubbies were reserved or something. He stood carefully in his neon green socks, the world was officially ten times more slippery for him. Though he resisted the urge to use his wings to slide along the floor like he did sometimes at home when his mom suggested he put mops on his feet. He smiled back at Nao and he wasn’t sure if it was against etiquette or something but he didn’t hug Nao like he wanted to. “What’s going on in there?” He asked peaking around the corner again. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to watch from here or if there was another place or if he was supposed to go sit on the mats.

[Deleted]

Around now, Nao wished he’d helped prepare Ray more for what to expect when he came to the dojo, such as where to go, and what proper etiquette was…..it wasn’t anything like saying that Ray had no manners, Ray simply didn’t know what he was supposed to do. And most of the time, that was okay and easily forgiven, because everyone had to start somewhere after all. That’s why we learned things, because we didn’t know them. That’s what Nao’s shihan had taught him, back home.

Though even Naozumi had to struggle to maintain some of those manners regarding himself sometimes, especially now when he’d just gotten a visit from the person he enjoyed being around the most these days, and whom he hoped to be around for many many days to come. A lot of secrets of theirs had come to light recently, and that made Nao feel even more attached to his best friend than he did prior, particularly since they’d altered a few ‘terms’ of their relationship. But this wasn’t the place to be thinking about those ‘terms’. Nao pushed those thoughts from his head and focused on getting Ray prepared to enter the dojo and observe.

Nao smiled at Ray’s excuse for being late, knowing fully well that the older meta had most likely flown there from campus. However, Nao wasn’t upset over it. He was just glad that Ray came at all. That meant a lot to him. “It’s okay,” he said softly. Rather than spend time on apologies, it was better to move forward and get things done. Once Nao led Ray to the bench where he could remove his shoes, he continued to explain to him what he would need to do after. “Class is already started, so we need to be quiet,” he explained when Ray peeked around the corner. “Put these on,” he said, offering Ray a pair of zori sandals. “And take off your socks too. You’ll hurt yourself otherwise.” Because socks were slippery. Bare feet on the mat only, but sandals to wear around the rest of the dojo.

He pointed to the wall on the opposite side of the mat, where the line of white belt students ended. “I’ll get you a pillow to sit on over there,” he told Ray. “You just need to sit and watch.” Unfortunately for Ray, this meant that the usually excitable and energetic boy would have to sit still for up to an hour, the remaining length of the class. Hopefully the class itself was engaging enough for the flyer. “If you need to get up and leave…” Like to stretch his legs or something. “…just bow to the instructor, and step off the mat into your sandals.” Easy, right? Nao smiled and gave Ray a supportive pat on the shoulder. He wondered if it would be too strange if that pat was made through his hair, though….probably.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

The last thing that Raylaigh wanted to be was insulting. He just remembered from movies and stuff that usually in Asian cultures people were big on manners and politeness, he did not want to walk in somewhere and mortally offend someone. Honestly, Ray wished Nao had let him know a little bit beforehand as well, but what was done was done and it was off Ray’s mind. He right now was too focused on not stealing a kiss than he was on being upset that Nao hadn’t taught him proper manners. At least Nao didn’t look mortified so Raylaigh hadn’t done anything to offend anyone yet. Yet.

Well, actually maybe he had, he was later after all. No matter, he focused on Nao for the moment being and not on offending people. He was smiling from ear to ear, just being here and he was even more excited to see Nao in action. It was startling to see Nao using it offensively for the first time, so he was slightly apprehensive, but since they had talked about it he was hoping to get a different perspective on it. Nao was whispering and that should have been Raylaigh’s clue to shut his mouth, but Ray wasn’t that quick on the uptake so when Nao pointed obvious, Ray nodded and made ‘oops’ face to communicate his understanding. He covered his mouth to keep from giggling at Nao’s mother hen attitude. “Right, best not to do that.” He agreed with a slyly. He pulled off his socks and slipped on the sandals.

He stood and much to his happiness they were not slippery. He looked where Nao was pointing and suddenly felt like an intruder not a watcher. He was sure that these people were probably going to be wondering who the hell this guy was, who was late of all things! Ray swallowed nervously and covered it with a smile. “Sure, okay,” he said giving Nao a smile and wondering if he was going to be in the way. He didn’t realized he’d be actually in the room, he wasn’t sure where he thought he’d be, maybe he thought he’d be sitting with the awkward parents or something like that. The flyer looked down at his wings, he was going to have to sit on the floor. Okay, that might get a little bit complicated.

He must have looked a little apprehensive, and he gave Nao a grateful smile. “Like, bow?” He made a bow the way he’d seen in movies, bending at the hip. Definitely more English gentleman. He waited for Nao, there was no way he was going to go out there on his own and be hella distracting. His wings fluttered, and he glanced down at them. He didn’t want to have to put them away, but they did make sitting on the floor complicated. Maybe he’d leave them for now and see if he couldn’t figure out a way to make it work. Or maybe he could hover! No, no, he shook his head, that was not a good idea.

[Deleted]

Most of the time, Asians just assumed that Americans were dumb and going to be rude regardless of how many times they were reminded of their manners. Unfortunately, the Japanese impression of Americans wasn’t that great, at least it wasn’t in his experience. His aunts and uncles would have gotten impatient with Ray already, but because he was a foreigner, they would simply smile and nod and tell him he was doing great. Nao understood the politeness factor…but it felt distasteful and disrespectful to lie so outright like that.

Not that Nao was much better, honestly. Only his problem was mostly surrounded by not saying things at all. This was a communication issue that he was trying to change with Ray. Habits were hard to circumvent, unfortunately, and even more so when you didn’t know you had them.

Nao would try to give Ray the necessary information he needed to maintain those ‘manners’…but he wasn’t expecting Ray to follow all of them exactly. It was his first time there…and who was to say if he’d ever be back. So it was fine, he thought. “Right,” he said softly, glad to see Ray complying without much of a fuss. Well…he didn’t expect there to be a problem anyway.

He chuckled at Ray’s bow, covering his mouth to stifle the sound. “No…not like that,” he said with a soft giggle. “You’re not a knight. Close though.” The bow at the waist was definitely needed for standing, but he didn’t need go that far either. Nao held his hands out in front of him, palms out, and touching his thumbs and index fingers to make a triangle in the space between. “Place your hands like this on the mat while you sit,” he explained. “Then lower your head down until your forehead touched the back of your hand.” That was a proper bow for sitting, and was all Ray would really need to know for the moment.

Once that was taken care of, Nao motioned for Ray to follow him into the practice room, walking on the carpet on the outer edge of the mat, then stopped once they reached the opposite wall. “Right here,” he said, still in a hushed voice. “Take off your sandals, leave them here…” He demonstrated, stepping onto the mat with his bare feet, and placing his own sandals off the edge of the mat facing outward, so he could slip into them when he left. Nao knelt down and pat his hand beside him. “And you can sit here to watch.” Nao looked out to the rest of the class. They had already started their basic warm-ups and ukemi practicing. Hopefully none of the white belts accidentally rolled into him…though that was certainly possible. “Keep an eye out of what’s going on around you, though. Some of the younger students might not be mindful of you during practice.” And Nao didn’t want Ray to get hurt from a rouge kick in the head or something.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Different cultures were really interesting, Raylaigh had always thought so, especially since his family had been so long in the United States that they’d lost a lot of whatever culture they had had before. Ray didn’t really even know where his family was from, but that was what he thought was so cool about growing up in DC. If there were ever a mesh of people in one place it was DC and Raylaigh loved going places and talking to people. They were different but at their core they were all the same. Diversity in culture was beautiful, as was diversity of religion, and mind. It was one reason why going places with new things didn’t scare him, but things like this, culture and manners were highly important and he was bad at that.

He nodded and smiled at Nao, enjoying the laugh, even if it was soft and quickly stifled. It was probably a very good thing that Nao and Ray were in different grades or they would never get anything done and probably be disruptive in the process. Not that Nao would ever be at fault, Raylaigh was well and beyond the one that would disrupt class by doing something to make Nao laugh. Nao would probably not appreciate him getting him in trouble in class, and he certainly wouldn’t appreciate him getting him in trouble here. Though Ray couldn’t help it, nothing was more beautiful to him than Nao’s laughter. Raylaigh grinned and shook his head. “That’s what you think,” he whispered back, a sly look in his eyes.

He mimicked Nao’s hands and nodded his head. Now he needed to not forget. “Okay, forehead to hands, got it.” He gave Nao a thumbs up. Hopefully Nao wouldn’t regret the decision to bring Raylaigh around to see him practice again. Ray just hoped that seeing it in a controlled setting he wouldn’t be so freaked out by the violence that Nao enacted on the big scary guy. He followed Nao into the practice stepped out of the sandals and onto the mat, following Nao’s lead. Nodding he sat, at first trying cross legged, then seeing how everyone else was he edited to be sitting on his knees. “Okay,” he confirmed and nodded at Nao giving his friend a large smile. “I’m really good at the whole getting out of the way thing,” he winked. “Uh… good luck, or whatever you say before practice.” He said with a large smile.

Glancing over at the people rolling around, he wondered if there was actually a serious threat of him getting run into. Well, hopefully he just didn’t get taken out by a flying person. On the bright side, he considered shifting on his seat, his wings were out and he could at least from this position, launch himself forward. That was assuming that that action didn’t run him into anyone else. He shifted again and set about watching Nao. This was going to be a long hour, this was not comfortable. Maybe if he’d been doing it for a while it wouldn’t be so bad, but he hadn’t had to sit on the floor in proper form for a long time. He usually just lay down whenever he was on the ground. There was at least a lot of things going on around him. People doing moves and what not. It did look really cool.

[Deleted]

Nao froze a bit then smiled, dipping his head with a slight blush. Of course Ray would say that. How did he always manage to quip simple things like that that had Nao wanting to hide from pure embarrassment. All Ray had to do these days was smile at Nao, and his face would be flushing a red as bright as the sunset. It was terrible…and Nao never wanted it to stop. “You’re silly,” he said, slowly raising his eyes to meet with Ray’s. He might have said more had they the time, but now was not the time to be getting into this sort of exchange. It was all Nao could to not simply reach up and give Ray the briefest of kisses for that comment.

Nao wasn’t that brave yet. Not in front of so many people who knew him and were watching. It was different before, in the crowded hallway. He could do it quickly and most everyone was too busy concentrating on their own things. He couldn’t get away with that here.

Ray was doing well, though. Much better than he thought he was. Even if he messed up a little, it couldn’t be that bad. Most everyone in the room was tolerant to new people, especially spectators, though the only one who mattered was the lead instructor. “Thanks,” he said with a smile. Nao gave Ray an encouraging pat on the shoulder before stepping off back to his place in the line of students where he could work on his own warm-ups.

He was, unfortunately, a little worried. For one, the white belts might really be so uncoordinated that they run into Ray. For two, he wondered whether Ray would be able to sit still for the whole session. Well…all Nao could do, he supposed, was to keep his focus on the class and hope for the best. So that’s what he did. It was only a few minutes longer that they finished with their initial warm ups and ukemi practice, and moved on to waza(technique) demonstrations. As expected, the instructor called Nao up to demonstrate opposite him…or rather, to be the teacher’s test dummy. “Koshinage,” the instructor said to Nao, telling his which technique he should expect to be defending against. With a nod, Nao bowed to the instructor, uttering a short “onegaishimasu”, then put himself in a beginning stance. Then he rushed at the instructor as if to attack him, only to find himself on the floor seconds later. The two did this several times to demonstrate the technique.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh grinned wide and held his tongue between his teeth as he tried not to laugh at Nao’s expression. Not only that but he’d managed to get Nao’s face a flaming red, which he counted as a win. Now it was Ray’s turn to cover his mouth and stifle a laugh. He had a feeling that Nao wanted to say a lot more than just ‘silly’ and the way Nao looked at him made his heart jump. No, no, he tried to calm his heart. It was too close, too scary. He smiled wickedly at Nao, or at least as wickedly as he could. He was excited to see Nao in action, the fear was still there but Raylaigh was working hard to keep it from dominating his actions and his thoughts. He knew Nao had explained it to him, but Ray had neglected to tell Nao the real reason it bothered him so much.

When Nao left him, Ray sat and watched, his nerves quickly being blotted out by interest. The warm ups were not what he expected, he expecting things like in gym where they would run for warm up. Luckily for Ray they were at least a little bit aware of him and though one or two did get really close, they apologized and quickly made more space again. He smiled at them and did his best to cover his fear, one good thwack and Ray would be broken again. And he’d only just gotten out of his brace! He was going to lose that bet with his doctor after all. His poor parents would probably have a cow if they knew he was here and thinking about doing stuff that required him to make physical contact with people. After all, basketball was rough but it wasn’t intentionally supposed to be a contact sport with people literally hitting each other and that had caused him a broken ankle, leg and collar bone.

It was while he was distracted thinking about this when one of the students did roll into him. Luckily it wasn’t a serious tumble for the student and not a great impact for Ray. In fact the kid started apologizing so much that Raylaigh started to laugh. He ducked his head, realizing that was probably not the best thing to do. He extra assured the student as he picked himself back up and went to the place Nao told him to wait. After that Ray paid much more attention and the instructor changed things. He didn’t understand half of what was being said but he paid close attention especially after Nao got called up. Ray winced sympathetically when Nao was thrown down. But Nao got back up and did it all over again. That just looked painful… but Raylaigh watched with fascination. The instructor hardly seemed to use his strength at all, now Ray wondered just what Jack’s face would look like if Ray had known how to do this.

[Deleted]

Only Ray seemed to be able to make Nao as flustered as this, especially in front of other people. It was even more significant because it was supposed to be a serious setting. He wondered if Ray even knew that? Did he realize it? Or did he assume that the Nao he knew and spent time with was the same Nao that everyone else saw? If he ever realized it….would it give himself away? If that was so, then Nao hoped that Ray never realized it…at least not before Nao was strong enough to say certain things out loud. While the two had grown closer than ever before, and Ray was already aware of what had been one of Nao’s biggest secrets, Nao still hadn’t actually said it out loud, not explicitly. One day….

For now, Naozumi was content with their current friendship, or whatever they wanted to call it. It was safe. It was comfortable. And it allowed Nao to express himself just a little bit more honestly, at least to Ray. That’s why he invited Ray down there on that day. Well, it was one of the reasons. He wanted to show off, he supposed. He wanted Ray to be proud and impressed with what he worked so hard to achieve. At the same time, he wanted Ray to understand that this was okay. Nao was okay doing this, and he definitely knew what he was doing. He wasn’t going to hurt himself or anyone else unnecessarily, like he’d said. The foundation of Aikido was to fight in a way that hurt himself and his opponent as little as possible.

That message could have been shown in how the other students reacted and responded to Ray’s presence, who was merely an onlooker, and how they avoided him as best they could. Even the near misses of those who would’ve run into him were only possible because the students were aware of him and actively trying to cut their moves just short of invading his spectating space. Nao, the worrywart that he was, still kept an eye on him, glancing over in Ray’s direction every free moment he had. He winced when the other student did manage to plow into him and almost ran over there to make sure he was okay…but he was busy not only with his own warm-ups, but with directing one of the lower belts how to improve their stance and execute something more properly. Luckily, from where he was, it didn’t seem to be that serious, smiling over at the silly boy when he laughed and seemed to get embarrassed for it. The student probably told him the same thing Nao would; it was fine.

When he was called up for the demonstration, Nao let his focus fix onto the task he was given. If he didn’t, then he really would be hurt. It was learning how to fall down that they practiced the most, because getting injured from a fall was the last thing anybody wanted. After finishing the demonstration, hitting the mat one final time with a loud *smack*, Nao bowed and returned to his placement. It was when they were given leave to practice the maneuver on their own that Nao stood again and crossed the mat to check on Ray. “Are you okay?” he asked. The class was only half done, and Nao was worried if Ray was getting bored or uncomfortable from sitting for so long. Then he smiled gently. “Do you want to try?” he offered, his reasoning being that being involved was a lot less boring

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

To be honest, of all of the accidents Ray had ever been involved in this was extremely low. He caught Nao’s eye and smiled, trying to communicate that he was okay. Honestly, that was about the most interesting thing that happened to him, otherwise he was an onlooker. He watched Nao get abused and found it extremely hard not to go to Nao’s aid. Nao knew what he was doing and Raylaigh had seen him in action, there was no way Nao would let something like this happen, he had to trust that Nao knew what he was doing. His wings fluttered uncomfortably and he shifted again finally settling into a relatively comfortable sitting position with his feet out ahead of him and his knees pulled up. He hoped that this was okay, but sitting on his heels was like sitting on his wings and it was terribly uncomfortable.

Ray watched the whole thing with interest and wondered if he could really learn to do something like this. It looked like it took getting hit and thrown around. He raised a brow as he watched Nao get tossed to the ground yet again. Nao was worried about Ray breaking and yet, he was okay with getting thrown around? Ray wasn’t tough, he barely got nicked and he shattered into a million pieces. Maybe it was just better in general that he stick with his running away tactic. He reached down and scratched the joint at the base of his wings. Running, running was good, right? He was never going to be that guy that went into danger. He was never going to be a hero, it was just in the stars that Ray was going to be a coward.

Nao approached and Raylaigh smiled broadly. Even if he had been watching Nao get tossed around the fact that Nao did so with just as much grace as the instructor who was doing the throwing was impressive. Nao was impressive, he had never imagined that Nao would be capable of something like this, not until he had seen it in action. “Are you okay?” Ray countered raising his brow. He then shrugged his shoulders and nodded. “Great, Nao,” he dropped his voice as to not be a distraction, “That was amazing! I mean, you just… woosh!” He flipped his hands around to demonstrate, as if Nao didn’t know he had just been tossed into the air.

“I… what? Try?” Ray sputtered his eyes wide, “I… I mean… I don’t know… you know… I-I…” Ray didn’t think he was nearly ready to do any of this stuff, much less throw people or get thrown by people. As Raylaigh continued to stutter the instructor wandered over and greeted Ray. The flyer hopped agilely to his feet and tried his best to give a bow like Nao had shown him. “I’m Ray,” he blurted, “I’m a friend of Nao.” Did the instructor come over to tell him he was being a distraction or… “Greetings, Ray. I think it would be good for you to try.” Raylaigh gapped at him and giggled nervously, “No… I don’t think that’s a good idea, I mean… I would break like ‘snap!’, you know what I mean,” the instructor’s face didn’t change aside from maybe adopting an amused smile. Ray was easily worn down, “I mean, I guess I could try…”

[Deleted]

Thank goodness Ray was alright. He seemed to be, at least, and that smile further indicated that truth…though Ray was also known to not say anything when he wasn’t okay. Could anyone blame Naozumi for being a little bit over-concerned of the older boy who so often jumped into things recklessly? Well….Nao supposed it was fine. If it were anything terribly serious, then Ray would definitely say so. He sent a smile back to best friend and returned his focus on practice.

Though he would have to admit that approaching Ray and offering him a chance to participate in the class seemed a bit contradictory to his worries. If Ray really was that fragile, then why would Nao want him to engage in, as Ray described it, ‘woosh!’-like exercises. The answer to that was easy: if Ray learned how to take these sorts of maneuvers and falls lightly, controlled, and deft, then he could apply it to other aspects of his life where he might potentially get injured. Particularly, with his flying. More specifically, with his landings, which he knew Ray had had issues with in the past.

As always, though, Nao had failed to explain his reasoning to the flyer…

Naozumi laughed softly at the question. “I’m okay,” he assured Ray. He’d done that maneuver many, many times before. While it was still possible for him to land wrong and hurt himself, that injury was still far less than if he didn’t use the technique at all. His smile grew upon hearing Ray’s excited description of what he’d seen, and he dropped his head to hide the blush that touched his cheeks. “It feels a little bit like that too,” he confirmed. “Like ‘whoosh!’”

After extending his offer to try one of these techniques, Nao continued to smile at Ray’s flustered and indecisive words. It was fine if he said no, but it was silly to watch him flail around first. Though when the instructor came up to join them, and encouraged the flyer to give it a try, he felt his heart beat nervously against his chest. Ray was going to be okay, wasn’t he? Of course he would. Shihan was so skilled, he could make the largest man feel like a feather that just landed on fluffy pillows. Ray would be fine…he hoped. Nao stood up with the older boy and touched his arm gently to encourage him. “You can do it!” he said with gentle, but sincere excitement. “I’ll buy you ice cream later,” he offered, making it sound more like a bribe. Nao would probably buy them the ice cream anyway. Again, Nao had to restrain himself from reaching up and pecking the older boy’s lips in front of the whole class….when did he become so used to doing that that he’d forget there were other people around? Nao tapped Ray on the back, nudging him in the direction the instructor was leading him, and stepped back to allow them the necessary room to execute.

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Ray beamed at Nao, happy to be here and curious about this life that Nao had that made him so ferocious. Seeing it in a more calm atmosphere helped, but there was a twinge of fear that quivered in Raylaigh’s heart. Fear or excitement? He was distracted, his mind thinking to the intimacy he had shared with Nao. He shook his head clear of that when Nao approached. After all, Ray figured tackling Nao in public would not be a very good idea. Nao’s suggestion for participation left Raylaigh stunned and shocked. Really? What was Nao thinking? He wanted Ray to… do what? Get slammed around? Ray was a runner. He didn’t do the whole ‘stand your ground’ thing. Honor or not, one couldn’t have honor if they were dead.

Ray struggled to find an excuse, shooting Nao a mock sharp look. Using the instructor was not fair! Not fair at all! Raylaigh had no desire to feel like ‘whoosh’ he got enough of that in flight. But in flight he wasn’t being thrown to the ground, he was whooshing away from the ground. He and the ground weren’t necessarily the best of friends. He supposed he should trust the instructor to know what he was doing, but this also was someone who was looking at Ray and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Well, there were the wings and all, but there was no way for him to know that Ray’s bones were as brittle as a song bird. Not to mention that Ray was in jeans, as he had not expected to be asked to participate.

“You’d better,” Ray pouted accepting the bribe without question. He was very much a child, he’d do just about anything for ice cream. He looked at Nao, his expression one of skepticism. He really hoped Nao knew what he was doing. Nao might be confident, but Raylaigh was very skeptical of his ability to do this. The instructor walked off and Ray hesitated, until he felt Nao’s gently nudge. Okay, he told himself. Might as well jump in. He started after the instructor his wings fluttering a little with nerves. He waited and the instructor led him through the start. The instructor showed him how to bow as Nao had done and then without any more instruction told Ray to grab him. Frightened, Ray crept forward, not at all brave and confident like Nao who had jumped in. Rather he looked like he was reaching a hand out to touch a hungry tiger. The instructor smiled, and stepped up. He grabbed Ray’s wrist and said, “Like this.”

“Okay,” Ray agreed, uncertainty dripping from his words. He grabbed the instructor, instead of being flipped over as he’d seen Nao do, it was surprisingly slow. The instructor did each move one at a time, adding them in a sequence and explaining each piece in turn. Ray still wasn’t expecting it when he was flipped over. When he impacted the mat, (having not rolled like Nao had but rather splatted) he lay still, gasping, the air knocked out of him. He opened his eyes in surprise and took the instructor’s hand to help him up. “You are hardly a feather,” the instructor said, clearly surprised. Ray smiled a little embarrassed, “Yeah, I get that a lot…” The instructor looked thoughtful and then said “Again.” Raylaigh’s face fell. Apparently he was going to get a crash course in falling today.

This time the instructor didn’t let him go, but more or less lowered him to the ground. Criticizing Ray’s flailing falling pattern. The instructor motioned to Nao after the third time and said, “Teach your friend to fall.” The instructor moved off to the other students. Ray looked at Nao and smiled, at least they’d get to do something together, though Ray had a feeling this was going to hurt. “Be gentle?” He asked sweetly.

[Deleted]

Naozumi was well aware that Raylaigh wasn’t built for hard impacts, hence why he thought this lesson would be good for him. He could understand why Ray would be apprehensive about participating, though, especially without warning. The best he could do was smile reassuringly at the older boy, and reaffirm that things were going to be okay. “I promise,” he said to the flyer, when he offered the bribe of ice cream. A dirty trick, yes, but he knew it would get Ray moving, either in one direction or the other, and that was the important thing.

The Asian boy knelt back down on the mat next to his peers and watched as the instructor demonstrated the take-down move on his best friend. Yes, Nao had confidence that things would be fine. His Shihan had performed the same move on people twice Ray’s size before, and could make the heaviest one land like a feather. It was that control that he trusted. He only hoped that Ray could trust in Nao’s confidence.

The first round, Ray fell hard, as expected, though he was sure it could’ve been a lot worse. The second time, the instructor essentially placed the would-be trainee onto the mat. Going through the motions slowly at first was always the key. Get used to the awkward movements, and the unnatural positions first, then once comfortable with those, one could move through them faster. Though…seeing Ray’s expressions, mainly how defeated he looked when asked to try more than once, brought a smile to Nao’s face, and he had to keep himself from laughing out loud. His shaking shoulders gave him away though, and they were still shaking slightly by the time Ray was redirected to the young black-belt to teach. “Hai, Shihan,” he told the instructor, giving him a deep bow before rising back to his feet and taking his new student off to the side so the others could continue their own lessons.

He smiled gently at Ray. “That’s not up to me this time,” he explained softly. “When learning to fall, you put yourself in control. So…I’m going to show you what you need to do, and you just follow me, okay?” Nao placed a hand on Ray shoulder to hopefully ease his nerve. “It’ll be fine. This is why we practice on a soft mat, and not a hardwood floor.” He stared up at the boy who was still taller than him by a couple inches, once again resisting the urge to lean in kiss him….they’d have plenty of time for that later, certainly. Nao’s cheeks did touch a slight pink at the thought, though. “Let’s get started.”

Naozumi stood beside Ray, directing him to simply follow along with his movements. “This is a simple fall. You bend your leg underneath you like you’re going to sit down, then lower yourself to roll on the ground, from your bottom to your shoulders.” Nao demonstrated slowly. “When you reach the peak of the roll, you slap the group with your palms down.” He too demonstrated this, whapping the mat loudly with both of his arms extended out beside him in a downward V-shape. “This is supposed to break your momentum and distribute the impact of hitting the ground evenly across your back, so you’re not putting all that pressure on one spot.” Which was how injuries were often made. He kicked his feet and rolled back onto them in one swift movement. “You can go slow,” he explained. “And if you want, you can start from squatting instead of standing. I’ll be right here beside you.” And he would be, going through every single motion with Ray as he did them. Hopefully, that would help the flyer’s nerves?

[Raylaigh Hawthorne]

Raylaigh took Nao’s promise and faced the instructor. He was dubious of the whole thing honestly, especially when he was flying through the air. No, not flying, falling. Falling was not a feeling Ray enjoyed. He only hoped his flailing wasn’t the source of endless entertainment for the Asian boy. It was clear that the instructor was surprised by Ray’s weight. He looked a lot heavier than he was, and that even wasn’t saying much since he was essentially a skeleton with skin. He had no muscles to speak of, besides the one in his legs, and even those were lean. The flyer did not like being manhandled. He was just glad that the instructor hadn’t tried to get him to do the ‘fling the other person’ move. If the instructor had ran at him, he was pretty sure he’d be attached to the ceiling at the moment.

No matter the pace, Ray’s body still disagreed with the motion it was being placed through. Ray turned to Nao when the instructor stopped, hoping he was going to be let go. He glowered at Nao, and stuck his tongue out. Quickly retracting it when the instructor looked at him. He watched Nao and wondered how inappropriate it would be to tackle the adorable giggling boy. Damn, Nao might have grown up like a tree, but he was still as precious as the day that he’d first met Nao. Even so, Raylaigh was not entirely sure that Nao hadn’t lost his mind. In fact, that was sounding more and more likely the more this lesson went on. The instructor left and Ray turned his attention back to Nao.

Ray grumbled, he was going to die. That was how this was going to end. Though the more Nao spoke the more Ray started to believe that might not be how this ended. Nao had a point. Wasn’t it other people who were always telling Ray not to do things because he’d get hurt? He didn’t stop playing basketball by choice. Ever since he’d gotten these powers people had been telling him what he couldn’t do. That he would get hurt and that he should be careful. Now here was someone who was telling him that he could. He swallowed. It didn’t make all the nerves go away, but it helped. “Okay,” he said. He looked down at the mat. It didn’t look all that soft to him, but he had landed on it already and it hadn’t been too bad. Definitely not like a hard floor would. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t break something. Ray was distracted by the floor and his nerves so much that he didn’t notice Nao’s blush.

Okay. Well, that didn’t look so bad. He couldn’t resist muttering. “It’s not really falling if you plan to do it.” But he paid attention nonetheless. It didn’t look all that safe, but he trusted Nao to know what he was doing. He bent his leg to follow along but didn’t fall, instead righted himself so he could watch the ending motion. “Okay, break momentum with hand ‘v’. Got it.” He mimed the gesture in the air. In the next moment Nao was back up, just as swiftly as he had fallen. It wasn’t fair that someone could be so graceful while falling. “Okay…” Now that he was actually going to do it he was starting to feel nervous, which was probably very apparent in his shaking voice. Raylaigh was big into starting from a squat. He crouched and slipped the one foot back and immediately lost his balance. He flailed, instinctively reaching for Nao before he landed with an inevitable plop on his rump. “Ow,” he said. Well that didn’t end exactly as planned. “How’s I do?” He asked rhetorically a sheepish grin on his face. He didn’t want to have to try again, but he hardly thought an hour had passed during that fall.

He got to his feet, not nearly as gracefully as Nao had done, but he liked to think it wasn’t a scramble at least. “Okay,” he told himself. He stuck his leg behind and landed with a thump on his rear, this time his backward momentum was greater and he did indeed land on his back, but with more of a splat than a roll, with his arms splayed in random directions. He winced and cracked open his eyes, which he hadn’t realized he had closed during his fall. “Did I do it?” He asked, knowing the answer.