Slow and Speedy Win the Fight

79. Self-Taught

Haresa

"Why is it so damn white in here?" Sheldon squinted at the Power Centre's interior design.

He took a while to change into the green and black t-shirt and shorts set that my dad had made. He tugged at the material and he was obviously displeased with what he was wearing.

"Why does this material make me want to rip my skin off?" He asked.

"I also brought normal sweats. Do you want to change into those instead?" I offered meekly. "I was anticipating that my dad would make some comfier clothes for my on-the-field outfit."

I tugged at the collar of my own yellow and black shirt before clearing my throat.

Sheldon shook his head. "It's bad but not as bad as other textures."

I wrung my hands and pointed at a room with my head. "Ready to get started then?"

"I suppose."

"I was not ready for that!" Sheldon yelled.

"What happened to beating me with your wit?" I shouted back.

My leg twitched from the aftermath of using my powers and I could only sigh again. "Sheldon, you're good at using your forcefield."

"Shield."

"But, we're here to work on your strength. You were struggling at the show off. Actually, I'm very sure I watched you struggle for a long time at the helicopter rental place."

He was encased in his translucent green forcefield and every time I attempted to practice any sort of fighting technique, he would throw up his shield and wait until I called a time-out.

He pointed an accusatory finger at me. "I performed the best acrobatics of my life and you only witnessed me after I did everything. Not the act itself."

"Sure, the walk home wasn't you asking me to slow down fifty times in a row."

"You have super speed!"

"And I wasn't using it!"

We were bickering like children again. I had thought I had outgrown these traits but Sheldon just kept making things more difficult than they should be.

"If you can use your powers then I can use mine!" He waved his arms wildly to gesture to his forcefield.

"You still know your fighting techniques, right? That crazy move that you pulled on that camera guy. Can you do more moves like that still?"

"I don't know, when are you going to stop coming at me with super speed? You can run onto the goddamn ceiling now!"

I paused before taking in his stance. His shoulders were hunched over, sweat was dripping down his face and I could even see his forcefield begin to flicker a bit. Was this his seventh forcefield? No, he did it a lot more times. His power endurance must've gone up with age.

"Okay, okay, we're training without any powers." My twitching leg slowed down until my foot laid flat on the ground.

Sheldon took a deep breath and his forcefield slowly disappeared.

"You can teach me how to do your martial arts," I said.

"I thought you were training me."

"I'm trying to get you to build up some strength. If you only know a specific kind of martial art and it gets you to move, then you can teach me how to do it."

"I'm not in a position to teach you it."

"Sheldon come on—"

"I'm a blue belt, not yellow. I can't instruct you because I'm not qualified to."

My fingers twisted the ends of my hair strands and I fought the urge to tug on them. "Then teach me how to be a practice dummy then for your... What is it called?"

"Vovinam."

"Yeah, then teach me how to be a practice dummy. That's not me learning anything, that's just me helping you practice."

Sheldon hesitated. He gave me a once over and his hands balled up into fists.

"Okay, I just," he blinked. "I need a moment to remember all the stances."

"We've been going at it for a while, we can take a ten." I walked to the wall where my bag laid and took out my water bottle. "Did you need time alone?"

When I turned my head back to look at him, he was already gone.

"I guess that's a yes."