My Second Chance (Erik Lensherr x OC)

IX. Training Time

The next day, Charles and Melinda had gotten straight to work. They woke up early and made a plan on how to help every one of the mutants.

Charles would help Erik with his skills and Sean, along with the help of Moira. Melinda would assist Charles in working with Havok and the healer would solo train Hank.

Her good stamina would make it easier for her to train him in both building up his ability and strength, but also in self-defence which he could truly use in real life.

This is how Hank and she had been found in one of the many rooms that had been turned into a gym. With a few special blue mats on the floor, the area was good enough for the training. Melinda focused mostly on the basics, for now.

She allowed Hank to attack her first and then step by step showed him how he could counter it. Learning the basics of self-defence, for now, would suffice and then they could focus on something a little more offensive.

In one of their training hours, Hank tried to land a front punch at her. However, the woman was ready. She used the back of her hand and slapped the inside of his hand, pushing it to the side.

She repeated the process, sometimes dodging all while delivering attacks on his neck. However, she always stopped before harming him.

The finishing move had him laying with his front on the ground, trying to process what had taken place.

"You are not a big threat in terms of muscle, but you are far stronger than you look. Use that against your opponent in a battle" she said and offered her hand at him.

She froze as she felt eyes on her, only to see that Erik and Charles had been watching them from a half-open door.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" she asked as she lifted Hank back to his feet.

"Yes, if you plan to train him...teach him something important. Basic self-defence isn't going to save his life" Erik said, once again competing against something she did.

God, was he enjoying being a jerk when it came to her or was it all in her mind?

Melinda was not happy about his words and folded her hands in front of her chest. During training, she wore a pair of sweatpants and a sleeveless slightly buggy shirt.

"Is this so? Why don't you so wisely demonstrate to us how it should be done " she said before she could think.

"Oh," Erik lifted an eyebrow at the challenge and could feel Charles pushing him towards the room. "Very well"

He took off his hoodie, exposing the grey t-shirt that he wore underneath. It was tight against most of his skin, stretching against his faint but well-maintained muscles. He tossed the hoodie to the side and went to take Hank's place across from her.

Around the same time, everyone had seem to have been passing at that moment and had all stayed by the door to watch the show. Erik rolled his eyes but focused on his target.

Melinda smirked before her face fully focused on the task. There it was again, that soldier look. The same she had back in Russia. Perhaps this was a good time for him to explore more of it. She was always so timid and soft-spoken, he wanted to change that and he knew exactly how.

He made the first move, attempting to attack her from the side but she elusively dodged it. As he expected, she left an opening and he used his bigger strides to appear behind her ad trap her in a choke hold with his arm, her head trapped there.

He brought his face closer to her ear, his breath tickling the muscles there as he breathed on it and made goosebumps appear on her exposed skin.

"Told you," he said, feeling already that he had her cornered.