Black and Blue (~Leo X Klaus~)

Chapter 5

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Leo wiped his brow and bent over to try and catch his breath, his arms trembling with the effort of supporting his upper body on his knees. His legs also began to buckle a little under his slight weight. Nearly every muscle in his body was sore to some degree, though not as much now as when they'd first started these exercises. He'd jokingly said that recovering in the hospital hurt less than learning to spar with Klaus. Though, to be fair, he'd had access to pain killers while he was injured, but building up his muscles and wrestling against a giant of a man didn't come with such a luxury.

"Can we take a break?" Leo called. "I'm friggin' dying here!"

Klaus stood on the other end of a large room, shifting his feet over the fine hardwood. They'd cleared out one of the more sparsely-furnished rooms in Klaus' mansion, and had been using it as a gym for over three weeks. At first, Klaus had taken it very easy on Leo, considering that he had just come out of the hospital; designing him a lighter program to follow. As the days wore on, however, and Leo proved that he was in better health than ever thanks to the ingenuity of the Hellsalem's Lot medical system, he'd increased the difficulty level on everything they did. Leo hadn't minded the weights and strengthening exercises so much, as he'd been wanting to take time to define his muscles for a while. It was the hand-to-hand combat that he'd always been wary of, and he had good cause to when Klaus was his opponent. With almost anyone else, Leo could always fall back on the one and only fighting move he had in his arsenal: his head-slam. But that was definitely not an option with Klaus.

"Take a drink, catch your breath. Then we'll continue."

Leo leaned back up onto his feet and released a groaning complaint. He trotted over to his water bottle on the floor by the doorway, and snatched it up.

"You're a slave-driver, Klaus! Why do you think I never wanted to do this? I have no chance against you, and knowing that your 'holding back' is enough to put me this much out of breath is just depressing!"

Klaus watched Leo take a generous swig of water with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry, Leo. But you do know that the point is to learn technique, not to try and actually beat me, correct?"

Blue eyes glared at the large man, standing in his white tank top and black track pants, with barely a drop of sweat anywhere on him. Leo, on the other hand, already saw the beginnings of a wet patch in the middle of his own shirt. And under his arms. And down his back.

"That's not the point." Leo growled, tugging at the nozzle of the water bottle with his teeth. "You put a man in a competitive setting, he wants to win; plain and simple. Doesn't matter if it's just practice."

Klaus spread his arms helplessly, showing off his biceps and shoulders unintentionally, to which Leo's eyes went flat with jealous annoyance.

"There's nothing for it. I don't trust your training to anyone else, and just think; if you train against someone like me, then regular thugs on the street will seem like child's play."

Leo groaned in frustration, slumping his shoulders dramatically.

"If I can't even dislodge your foot or deflect your strikes properly, how am I ever going to take on Alterworldly attackers?"

"You are just beginning, Leo, give yourself time." Klaus advised. "You're still learning the basic framework of moves; once your body becomes familiar with them to the point where you can react without thinking, that's when improvement will begin."