Heartrate One-Shots

First Words

Alix wasn't really sure why, but she had never put much stock in the whole soulmate thing. Maybe it was because the first thing your soulmate would ever say to you was tattooed on the inside of your wrist at birth, and hers just happened to be horrible.
So horrible, in fact, that she hadn't even bothered to memorize it like most people did.
If she heard one more joke about how short she was, someone was getting murdered.
At five-foot-nothing at age 13, Alix was easily shorter than literally everyone. She hated that. And people consistently would call her out on it, as if she had chosen to be short or some shit.
As such, on the first day of school, Alix was on guard. Especially in PE.
Alix had found that when proving you aren't weak, it was always best to find the strongest, most annoying dudebro in the class and get them on their knees, preferably by major kicking of ass. And if for some reason that wasn't possible, harsh words and sass would also work.
Alix had been destroying people from kindergarten to seventh grade. She wasn't scared by eighth.
PE rolled around, and Alix noticed that, annoyingly, the teacher didn't leave the classroom. It was socially unacceptable to start a fight in front of a teacher. That was an unspoken rule. If you wanted to pick fights, don't do it where the post-puberty-people could see it and get you in trouble.
As Alix did various fitness tests, she noticed one guy who could be a threat.
He was a lot taller than her, and kept tying with her for first in everything. Pull-ups, twenty-meter dash, weights... this guy could match her stride for stride.
He seemed to notice her, too, but didn't say anything. If it bothered him that a tiny girl with pink hair was tying with him in everything, he didn't show it.
He also seemed to be a big jerk.
He kept daring his friends to do things, and if they chickened out, he would then proceed to do the dare himself and call them weak.
Yeah. That seemed like the type of guy to take down.
All she had to do was wait for the teacher to leave.
And they did. After a while, he went to the bathroom, and Alix confronted the big dudebro.
"Yo, Hercules!" She called, "Bet you think you're cool with all those dares, don't you?"
"You don't want to do that, dude," one of his friends told her, "Don't challenge the dares. That's like rule number one. You don't know what he'll do."
"Nope," the guy said, "Back off, Nino. Don't think I didn't notice you during the tests, Tinkerbell. Just cause you're fit doesn't mean you should go around challenging people you can't handle."
"Oh, I can handle anyone in this room," Alix assured him, "What do you say we step over to that mat? Let's go, Hercules. I'm serious. Let's go."
"Whoa, bro," the guy's friend, Nino, said, "You don't want to hit a girl. You can get in serious trouble."
"Shut up," the guy said, "Alright, Tinkerbell. Let's see what you've got."
They stepped onto the mat, and everyone stopped to watch them.
"I'll let you have the first shot," Alix offered.
"Nice." The guy jabbed at her, and Alix blocked, kicking him in the stomach.
He stumbled backward, winded.
"Nice kick," he admitted, "But not nice enough to win."
Alix snorted, "I don't see you landing a hit yet."
The guy punched several times, all of which Alix either dodged or blocked. The guy seemed very frustrated by this and threw a roundhouse kick at her. Alix grabbed his leg and pulled him off balance, hammer-fisting him in the chest to knock him over. The guy went down and Alix pressed her shin to his throat.
"Give up?" She asked.
"Not a chance!" He choked out, rolling with all of his weight so that she was the one pinned.
Alix struggled. He was a pretty big guy, and almost too heavy for her to lift.
Almost.
"Give up, Tinkerbell?" He asked, seeming completely confident that she couldn't escape the pin.
"Never call my Tinkerbell again," Alix responded, head butting him as hard as she could. As her forehead connected with his, Alix felt him loose his grip on her, which let her slip free and stand up, ready to kick him in the face. Her head still hurt, but her pride refused to be wounded at any cost. Right before her leg connected with his face, the guy blocked it, and, seeming to weigh his options, saw that she was standing and he wasn't. Alix had the high-ground, and if he kept fighting, she could cause permanent damage to his face. He tapped the mat twice, signaling that he gave up.
Alix put her leg down, restraining herself from gloating.
Weakness: made clear it didn't exist.
Big dudebro: not on his knees, but on his back.
Badassery: proved, indisputably and indefinitely. Nobody in this school would be messing with her.
The guy sat up on his elbows, "You got a name?"
"Alix," Alix said, helping him up, "You?"
"Kim," Kim said, "You fight pretty good for someone as short as you. See you after I take martial arts!"
"Are you implying that you're going to try to beat me, Hercules?"
"I'm not implying anything! I'm staying that I'm going to beat you!" Before he walked into the boys locker room, he turned around and looked her straight in the eye, "Tinkerbell."
Marinette started at her, open-mouthed.
"What, Marinette?"
"How did you not realize it?" Marinette demanded, grabbing Alix's left arm and twisting it so that Alix could see the words neatly printed on the inside of her wrist.
"Don't think I didn't notice you during the tests, Tinkerbell. Just cause you're fit doesn't mean you should go around challenging people you can't handle."