Nathan and Angelo, Wednesday morning

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Nathan and Angelo get in some hand-to-hand practice (and conversation).


His warm-ups had always been a little... unusual - since his manifestation, anyway - since for Angelo, it didn't mean just stretching his arm and leg muscles. He was midway through when he heard the door open, craning to look round.

"Surprise," was the wry greeting from his sparring partner. Nathan offered him a crooked grin as he came in and started his own warm-up. "Now, I wonder how we wound up together on the schedule..."

"I had nothin' to do with it", Angelo claimed, 'innocently'. "Not in any way at all."

"What, you wanted a crack at the old man because you hadn't had one for a while?" Nathan didn't quite manage to suppress a wince as his back protested the stretching. He was used to it, by now.

"Maybe", Angelo said with a shrug. "It has been awhile, an' if schedulin' it's the only way we're gonna get time...~"

"Well, you have to promise to go easy on me. I might break, you know."
That got raised eyebrows. "Okay, when you're admittin' that you're breakable, I know you're really not feelin' so good. Sure you don't want to reschedule?"

"What, me? Beg off because I slept wrong last night?" Nathan was smiling, despite the challenging tone. "You must have me confused with someone else."

"Obviously", Angelo said with a quick laugh as he finished his stretches. "Don't know what I was thinkin'."

Nathan didn't rush the rest of his warm-up. He was twenty years older than Angelo, after all, and the back did take some special attention at times like this. "So how are you liking the Danger Room?" he asked as he finally got up, moving out onto the mats.

Angelo grinned, following him. "It's pretty cool. Must've cost a fortune to get it all set up."

"Charles does have deep pockets. And extremely talented former students - Hank really outdid himself." Nathan relaxed into a defensive position and waited. Even after over two years, when he and Angelo were sparring he still didn't attack first.

He'd got used to that long ago, and didn't waste much time launching his attack. "Former an' curr... no, wait, Forge counts as former now, doesn't he?"

"I suppose he does," Nathan said, blocking easily. Angelo was getting to the point where he could hit very hard for someone his size.

Could and did, though he hadn't forgotten what Nathan had said about going easy on him. He was still outweighed, though. "So he's mansion tech guy now, I guess. Does he get to go work on the Danger Room?"

"Mansion security guy," Nathan said, "although I wouldn't be surprised if he got called in on various tech issues when necessary. Who better?" A well-placed kick sent Angelo stumbling back a step or two.

He briefly considered pretending to take longer to recover than strictly necessary... but that had never really worked on Nathan, so instead he just spun into his own kick at Nathan's knee. "Well, yeah. Kind of a natural."

"Mm. How go the tactical reviews?" It wasn't really a serious question. He'd been looking at Angelo's tactical reviews. Scott had been very accomodating that way.

Angelo eyed him, backing off to circle and figure out his next attack. "Like you don't already know. They're pretty good, I think."

"You'll do fewer of them and more Danger Room runs now," Nathan said. Angelo's kick had connected, if glancingly, and he readjusted his stance and moved in.

"Is that the normal way things go in trainin', or just Scott thinks I'd do better with the Danger Room?" he asked curiously, watching Nathan carefully.

"Practical versus theoretical, actually."

"Ah. Yeah, that makes sense."

As they picked up the pace, there wasn't much time for conversation for the next few minutes. Nathan was quite satisfied by what he was seeing, although that was nothing new; Angelo was significantly more disciplined in the way that he fought than he had been two years ago. That was the key, after all.

He definitely knew what he was doing better than he had then - not that he hadn't known how to fight, but a street brawl wasn't exactly the same as a spar. He was even coming close to beating Nathan, this time... of course, Nathan was twenty years older, regardless of the size difference.

"... not bad at all," Nathan said, taking a step back. He was breathing hard, but that was all right; Angelo was giving him a fairly impressive workout. "You know, I think it's a question of honing what you've already got at this point. You could hold your own with most people on the team right now." Nathan smiled. "You don't fight prettily, but frankly, not a priority."

Angelo grinned, pleased. "Yeah, I think I learned how to fight not-pretty too long ago to fix that part now. Who'd you think I should be sparrin' with, for the honin'?"

"Someone closer to your size and speed," Nathan said with a laugh. "So, smaller and faster than me. Much faster."

"You're not that slow", was the automatic objection, then he thought about in. "Might see if Shiro wants to, he's closer to my size."

"I think that'd be good for both of you. Although he does," Nathan said with a bit of a smirk, remembering some of his own sparring sessions with Shiro, "fight a little too pretty at times." He shook his head, heading over to where he'd left his water bottle. "Ignore me, it's an old prejudice." It struck him that he'd had a style of his own for a while there, with the Askani, and his lips twitched in a brief, sad smile.

"Well, he got all that formal trainin' back in Japan, didn't he? Stands to reason he'd've been taught to fight fancy." He didn't miss the smile, but didn't comment. "Anyone else?"

"Logan and Scott, like I said. Sam and you might mesh well." Nathan took a sip of the water, wincing as he straightened again. "I would still like a new spine for Christmas," he muttered.

That had not been Angelo pulling a face at the mention of sparring with Logan while Nathan wasn't looking. Not at all. "Maybe you should see what Forge can come up with", he suggested flippantly. "An' yeah, I'll talk to those three."

"Consider it a way to get to know your teammates better, too." Nathan sat down on the bench - or flopped, rather. "I haven't been doing enough of this," he said, under his breath again. "Dom's right - too much time behind a desk this fall."

Angelo wandered over to join him, water bottle in hand. "So first we have to threaten you with kidnappin' to get you out from behind the desk, now Dom's right?"

"I may be having issues with pacing," Nathan said grudgingly. "Again." He gave Angelo a sideways look. "Are you sleeping any better?" he asked abruptly, then made something of a concession. "I'm not."

"Little bit", he said with a half-shrug. "Though I guess that might be wishful thinkin'. That an' the meds, anyway."

"It's only been a couple of weeks. If it's been a month and you're still having the dreams, it's maybe time to talk to someone." Nathan shook his head slightly. "Will you listen to me," he said, and took another sip of his water. "I scared the crap out of Sooraya - I was napping on the couch when she came in and the house started to shake."

"You're havin' telekinetic dreams again?" Angelo asked, worried. "How long's it been since that happened? An' for me, yeah, I'll see how it goes. Maybe it'll be my turn to sign up with Jack, if it doesn't go away on its own."

"... a while," Nathan conceded - and then sighed. "Look, I've been having... issues since the spring, really." Since Ushuaia, he didn't say. "It sort of... waxes and wanes, depending on what's going on. It's why I'm back to seeing Jack more regularly again."

"Nathan, I'm the last person you need to tell you've been havin' problems, except Moira an' maybe Rachel. But if it's gettin' worse, for all your sessions with Jack..."

He thought of what he'd said to Sooraya. "I just... it bothers me, that Moira and Rachel and all the people I care about are well, Elpis is more and more firmly established by the day, even my damned powers are back.... and yet for all that I know how much good there is in my life, I keep..." He paused. "Fraying," he said after a moment. It was the best word for it. "When I'm not looking."

"It's not just about how things are now", Angelo pointed out quietly. "Maybe you're even more likely to start frayin' when things're good... when you can sit back an' relax for a bit."

Nathan gave him a long look. "Maybe that's exactly what it is," he said slowly. "Haven't had much time to stop since..." A slightly pained look crossed his face, and he stared down at his hands. "You know," he said abruptly, "2006 has kind of sucked, in general. I'll be glad to say goodbye to it."

Angelo nodded slowly. "Here's to 2007 bein' better, then. All across the board."

"Hey..." Nathan smiled a bit, looking down at him. "You've... really been there, this year." He reached up and squeezed Angelo's shoulder briefly. "In case I don't say it enough... thanks." His smile grew. "It's the contemplative time of year."

Angelo glanced up and smiled back. "Nate, it's always the contemplative time of year for you. But thanks for sayin' it."

"... brat."