Curtains

== Meta ==
Timing: March 2016
Setting: Gym (Jaeger Academy), Kodiak, AK, United States
== Text ==
The two of you drag yourselves out of the warm canteen one morning and into the cold gym to find your instructor speaking with two tiny Chinese boy—/people in orange—
"Are they wearin' /curtains?" Logan mutters loudly.
The taller of the two catches your eye and waves.
(The shorter pretends none of you exist.)
[Ramos] beckons.
"Jackson, Logan Jones from Australia; Lin Chao, Feng from China[; everyone's 'he-him-his']. They've just arrived."
They bow in sync.
Logan rolls his eyes, bows, and you do, [too. Then] Logan shifts his weight back, tilts his head. "You're late."
Feng [(taller)] glances at Chao [(shorter)].
[Ramos] casts a look to the ceiling. "We're hoping you would agree to a demonstration."
"With them?" asks Feng.
"You know of anyone better?" sneers Logan.
"I, uh—" Feng glances at Chao again. "—I do not believe we received data from your class?"
Chao shakes his head.
"With them, yes. The demo mat's over there, just ...." [Ramos] sighs, turning away. "Try not to kill anyone."
"Of course," says Chao, bowing with his brother.
You give them a critical eye and say, "You're expecting to fight in dresses?"
Feng grins, arches back into a flip and then another and another, springs ten feet into the air, twists, lands solidly, steps into [Collier One], and they go down.
Chao looks like he'd rather not be related to Feng but says, "You had said?" and does three walkovers, two front tucks, lands without a sound, and starts unpinning his robe.
"I had said pants were a smart plan!" laughs Feng.
Chao pointedly ignores him, puts his neatly folded clothes outside the taped square, and faces you.
"Stick-up-his-ass," you ask, "or the goof?"
"The goof." Logan rolls his shoulders. "We'll see how much he's laughing when I'm done with him."
[You grunt, stretch your arms above your head.
"'ey! Drapes!" hollers Logan. "Ye gonna join us? Like, today?"
Feng—who's managed to separate himself from Skip—beams and flips his way back—gets tangled in his robe and face-plants.
Chao sighs, makes quick work of extracting Feng from his layers of orange and folding them up.
"I am very sorry for the delay," says Feng.
Logan scoffs.
The Lins stop with their toes level with the tape, bow again, step over the line.
Logan takes a running start, throws himself at—
The space where Feng /was.
—twists, somersaults to his feet.
Feng returns to earth.
You raise an eyebrow at Chao.
He doesn't move.
"Where'd you learn to fight, Drapes, the circus?"
"Shàolín Sì," replies Feng.
"Shaolin—" Grabs—misses Feng's arm. "You're a /monk?"
"Novice," corrects Chao without taking his eyes off you.
"What're ye gonna do? /Chant me into submission? Tie me up with your bea—"
Feng buries the heel of his palm in Logan's gut and Logan folds like an accordion.
"Should you be helping him?" Chao asks.
"Pretty sure he's fine."
Feng approaches—"Are you—"
Logan snaps out a hand, yanks Feng's ankle—"Gotcha, ye little fruit loop!"—gets him flat on his back—
—wiggles loose, locks Logan's elbow—
—breaks free with a kick, scrambles to his feet.
—rolls away, laughing.
You and Chao haven't moved.
Logan and Feng, though ... back and forth they go, tumbling and punching and kicking and laughing like nincompoops.
You and Chao?
Still not moving.
Ramos breaks in, "That's enough, Cadets."
"It's only been twenty-seven minutes," whines Logan.
"Class is over, so—"
Logan and Feng pout.
Ramos sighs, "Just clear out when the next class gets here."
They /sparkle at her, then resume clobbering each other.
You and Chao sigh, head for the exit.]
.
{In that first month, the teachers learn two things:
Logan and Feng'll happily clobber each other fer hours.
You 'n Chao can go an entire session waitin' fer the other t' make th' first move.
They conclude,
Jackson gets paired against Feng.
Logan spars with Chao.}
Category:Ficlet
Category:Jackson
Category:Logan
Category:Jaeger Academy (setting)
Category:Feng
Category:Chao
Category:Organic Fighter Project
Category:Feng (wardrobe)
Category:Chao (wardrobe)
Category:Jackson (ficlet)
Category:Logan (ficlet)
Category:Feng (ficlet)
Category:Feng (description)
Category:Chao (ficlet)
Category:Odd Couple
Category:Ficlets in need of language stuff
Category:Jackson's POV
Category:Ficlets with images
Category:Ramos
Category:Ramos (ficlet)