Summary: Kentas asks M-21 a weird but innocuous question.

Contains M-21/Kentas

Set after season 8.

Since I stalled on Adapt, have another version of Kentas/M-21.

Spar

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 grimaced as he shifted, everything tender.

"Try not to move too much," Frankenstein fussed, double-checking his IV drip.

"I've spent too much time not moving," M-21 grumbled, huffing. He and Kentas had been on the run for fuck knew how long but he still felt where the shackles had bit into his wrists, his shoulders aching the most out of everything.

He settled down when Frankenstein gave him a pointed look. He would...hold still until Frankenstein was satisfied.

"Hey," Kentas said from the other bed, and M-21 turned his head to look at him. Kentas' attention was on him, not Frankenstein. "After this, do you want to spar?"

What. They'd been lucky to been freed and found when they had, and that was the first thing Kentas wanted to do? "You fucking weirdo," M-21 said, but he couldn't stop his short laugh as he said it, making his ribs hurt. "Yeah, sure." It would be good to see how much he'd developed since the last time they'd fought.

Kentas beamed.

There were sighs across the room from Raizel-nim and Lunark, but M-21 was too exhausted to figure out why.

M-21 breathed in deep as he went up the stairs, taking in the familiar scents. It was good to be home. He still ached, but he wasn't gritting his teeth with every movement anymore. After all that had happened, it would be nice to sleep in his room again.

"M-21."

He paused, seeing Raizel-nim at the balcony. "Yeah?" he said, going over.

Raizel-nim waited until he was standing in front of him before saying, "There is something I have to tell you."

He did? M-21 frowned. Had something else happened while the others had gone to rescue him? Was something wrong with how he'd regenerated? But if that was true, Frankenstein would be telling him. Had he been wrong to follow Kentas around at the start?

"It has nothing to do with that," Raizel-nim said, a faint smile on his lips.

Oh, okay. But then what...

"Werewolves have a different way of doing things," Raizel-nim said and M-21 blinked, trying to figure out where he was going. "When they ask for a spar, that is how they flirt."

What. M-21's eyes widened. "So by accepting..."

Raizel-nim nodded. "You agreed to a date."

He exhaled, screwing his eyes shut. Damn. "I thought we were going to spar," he muttered. He would have preferred that.

"You will," Raizel-nim said, and M-21 blinked at him again.

"But I thought it was a date." He'd heard around the school what was supposed to happen on them.

"It is. Werewolves chose partners based on their strength. The closer they are in strength, the more they are interested in each other."

M-21 frowned. "He thinks we're equal?" That couldn't be right. But...Kentas had kept telling him he'd gotten stronger.

Huh. "Thanks for telling me," M-21 said.

Raizel-nim gave him another small smile, then turned back to stare out at the skyline.

M-21 went back into the house and headed for his room.

M-21 grunted as he landed on his back, Kentas following him and slamming his palms into M-21's shoulders. He struggled against the grip, but Kentas didn't give at all.

Panting, sweat trickling down his skin, M-21 let go of his transformation. He didn't have that much strength left to maintain it anyway and he tried to suck as much air back into his lungs as he could, his muscles burning.

Kentas grinned down at him, panting just as hard. "That...was fun," he said, rumbling at the same time as he let go of his own transformation.

M-21 smirked back. "Yeah, it was." He'd lasted a lot longer than the first time they'd fought and had been able to push Kentas back a few times. Their fighting area had ended up a lot worse off than them.

He hummed when Kentas leaned in, nuzzling his neck. It felt nice, the closeness.

"So we'll do this again?"

Kentas chuckled, pulling away. "Definitely." He got up and held his hand out towards M-21.

M-21 took it, getting pulled to his feet. He would see where this would go; he wouldn't mind either way, so long as they kept sparring together.

Sooo there's a difference between a spar and a fight, heh.

I'm aromantic as hell and I'm pretty sure that came through a lot in this, pfft.