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Of course. Everything is just fun and careless.
I turn away from him to make my way to the mats. But I stop when he continues.
“Not everything has to have a meaning and purpose, does it?”
I pause, taking in the pleading undertone of his question. And as I turn to face him again, I see it in his eyes too. Like he really does want to know.
“I don’t know,” I say, my voice quieter than I intended.
He nods slightly, as we stand there silently for a beat too long.
“Well, let’s get this show on the road then, shall we?” Luca suddenly claps his hands together and smiles widely. “Come on, Ty. We’re late.”
He practically bounces over to the mats and I close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. Give me the fucking strength…
“What do you want to work on?” I ask as I reluctantly join him on the mats.
“Hip control in guard passing,” he says. “I’ve been thinking about it since we rolled the other day, and when I do lose it in the last moment, I know it’s because I’m not controlling the hip to create enough space to either explode into attack or make adjustments.”
I cock an eyebrow at him, and he furrows his at me.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing.” I gesture to the mat for him to get down in position. But really, I’m surprised. It’s actually a thoughtful conclusion he’s come to about his grappling, and one I’ve thought of about him as well. And one I’ve used to my advantage, many times.
The reluctant feeling to support him with this starts to settle in, but I push it away. As much as I hate it, he’s my teammate now. And Max’s words rattle around in my brain. The missing pieces to our puzzles…
“What guard?” I ask.
“Let’s start with closed again.” He drops to his knees, and I’m intrigued by the serious look on his face. It’s almost like he cares.
I lay on my back, and wrap my legs around his waist, crossing my lower legs high up on his back. Luca takes a deep breath, looking down at my hips.
He then raises his eyes to mine. “Ready?”
I nod, and we begin.
Luca puts up a good attempt, but as anticipated, he fails to effectively control my hips and ends up chasing me instead. I manage to keep him under my control and put him in a position to continually defend against my attacks.
“Fuck!” Luca forcefully pushes me back and flops to his ass on the mat.
I huff out a breath. “Not even going to let me get you into a submission?”
He forcefully rubs a hand over his face, then moves back onto his knees, motioning for me to return to closed guard position. “Again.”
I shoot him a look. “So you just want to keep drilling this instead of seeing it through?”
He glares back at me. “Isn’t that the point of drilling?”
I roll my eyes and move into position in front of him. “You said roll, not drill.”
“Whatever,” he mutters with a look of determination as he watches me once again wrap my legs around his waist.
I observe him as he takes another deep breath and seems to think for a moment. I’ve never seen this side of him. When we’re fighting, he’s all feeling, moving quick, dancing on his feet and seemingly having fun with it. When we’re not fighting, he’s an annoying asshole who can’t take anything seriously. But right now, he’s determined, focused, and all business.
“Ok, ready?” he asks, once again raising his eyes to mine.
I nod, taking a moment to see the intensity in his gaze. “Yeah.”
