A/N: this story is beta'ed by Superpsych96. Thank you.
When Jack Brewer was finishing his classes for the semester, he fully expected to go home for the summer and come back. Next year would be his last at the Otai Martial Arts Academy and he was on the track to finish it early. In truth he probably could take the final test now and graduate with honors. Not that he needed to do so. He liked the Academy and the idea of attending an American high school gave him pause.
Otai lived and breathed by honor code and most students adhered to it. They were competitive, but the victory was only worthy if it was earned fairly. How else would one know if they needed improvement it they didn't use only their fighting skills?
Everyone was focused on studies and most friendships were true connections of likely minded people. There was little drama and Jack figured that American high school would be all about drama. That was what he gathered from little snippets he observed on TV and when he was home for summers.
And, of course, there was Kai. His perennial nemesis and only cousin. Jack still wasn't sure what he had done to earn his cousin's eternal hatred, but it was a fact. Kai hated him. And baited him. And tried to outdo Jack at any opportunity. He did not stop at just karate and anything became a game of one-man-ship with Kai.
Long gone were the days when their parents thought it to be a funny competition between little boys. It must have been the incident at the competition in China, when Kai conspired to have Jack injured and then purposefully tried to hit Jack on the injured hand. It was about that time Jack received his invitation to Otai and Kai lost any credibility he had with their grandfather.
Grandpa Brewer... The source and the cause of most of the competition between Jack and Kai. Maybe even between their fathers. Grandpa was a legend on the competition circuit and went on to become the venerated Grand-master. He also trained Bobby Wasabi for nearly all of his successful movies and his name equaled precision and power in anyone he trained.
It stood to reason that his grandsons were at the dojo before they could properly talk. But that's about where their similarities ended. Brunet and blond, happy and surly, friendly and a loner. The two of them were quite the study in opposites. When they were little, Jack was simply reacting to the sneaky and unfair ways of his cousin, fighting back and often coming away with bruises.
As he got older, Jack noticed that Kai's nature - taciturn and competitive - made him less approachable. Many gravitated to Jack because he genuinely was a friendly guy with easy manners. Inadvertently, it made Kai even more prickly. He even said as much to Jack once, when they had another one of those sparring/fighting matches that devolved into argument with gritted teeth and bruised knuckles.
"Everybody likes Jack... He is so much like Grandpa... He is so nice... He gets invited to all the parties..." Kai groused with an ugly scowl.
"So try harder then," Jack shouted back.
"Oh, and try to be good?" Kai's sarcastic tone was practically dripping acid and Jack simply shrugged.
"Suit yourself," he said and they resumed their sparring, but it did stick with Jack. Did Kai really hate the idea of being good or was it just the fact that he had to follow rules?
He didn't get to dwell too much on it, happy to accept the invitation to Otai and leave his family issues behind. He saw Kai briefly, but he knew that the Otai was an automatically sore point for Kai. His cousin refocused and went with the new sensei at the Black Dragons dojo. The dojo was famous, or rather notorious, for their 'win at all costs' attitude and Grandpa was disappointed.
It was this disappointment, coupled with the old man's worsened health, that brought Jack back home. Grandpa wasn't feeling well and wanted to see his family reunited. He regretted that he didn't try harder with Kai and Jack was coaxed into coming home early and joining his cousin's dojo.
Jack quickly regretted it. Kai and his cohorts were nothing but bullies with some martial arts training, but he made a promise to his family. He would try harder to mend his relationship with Kai.
But beyond that, Jack was learning about the new place that the family settled in. Seaford was picturesque and peaceful. Grandpa reconnected with Bobby Wasabi, who apparently lived nearby in the most ostentatious mansion Jack had even seen. Bobby himself was ostentatious and entirely over the top. Loud and dramatic, he was strangely compelling to watch and Jack laughed at him and with him many a time.
Bobby was full of stories. He seemed to settle into the retired life with his bodyguards that he called ninjas. And he licensed several dojos to have his name. There was one in Seaford even, although it wasn't as prominent as the a Black Dragons. It only had two black belt students and the sensei, who was as singular as Bobby.
The stories Bobby told them about Rudy and the kids were silly and amazing and Jack longed to meet those kids. It sounded like a tight bunch of friends. But he promised, so he only listened to stories and laughed at the craziness of it all.
There were pictures too. Group of kids and a sensei mid jump after the win. Same kids only older as members of Bobby's wedding party. That was another crazy story that could only happen to Bobby. Whoever thought that Black Widows were not just inventions of fiction and urban legends. Luckily, she was found out before Bobby married her.
He learned their names, too. Jerry, curly haired and with a dancer's body; Milton, tall and lanky with ginger locks; Brody, with dark mop of hair, and Kim... The only girl in the dojo. 'Sharp little girl' Bobby said of her. She was blonde, slender, with bright smile and even brighter eyes. If one believed Bobby, she never shied away from a challenge and managed to be friends with Wasabis and be a cheerleader. He wanted to meet them all. He was sure he would get along with them. But, of course, Kai and the Dragons were rivals to the Wasabi Warriors and any of his attempts would be seen suspicious. Still, Jack hoped that when he went to school, where they all attended, he might just become friends with them.
And then he saw Kim. In the hospital of all place. He took Grandpa for a test and was waiting in the hallways, fidgeting and restless. He was distracted by the sound of laughter that drifted from one of the room and he craned his neck to look into the open door. There were two patients in the big hospital beds that were clearly there for the tests as well. There was a nurse and a young girl in scrubs, who was chatting to an elderly man in one of the beds. He said something to her and she laughed turning slightly and that was when Jack realized that he knew this girl. It was Kim, the black belt from the Bobby Wasabi dojo. Only she was not wearing a gi and her hair was pulled into a neat bun.
The man said something again and Kim giggled in response and even the ever serious nurse cracked a little smile.
"Mr. O'Donnell," a lab nurse said, reading form the chart and Kim wheeled the old man into the lab space. She walked so near him that he noticed that she was shorter than him and smelled of the mixture of lavender and sanitizer. When she was gone he wondered if he got the stories right. Wasn't she a high school student? But then, why was she here, acting like a nurse?
Naturally he asked Bobby, who gave him a side eye, but told him that Kim was a volunteer in the hospital. 'Candy striper' as he called her.
Jack was impressed and more than before he wanted to be friends with her.
Kim heard him before she saw him for the first time. "I'm Jack Brewer. Hello, everyone." It was a smooth voice, deeper and clearer than most of her classmates. She looked up and gasped. He was chiseled. In every sense of the word. His body was slender, but the powerful build was unmistakable under a shirt and jeans. His hazel eyes went straight to her and their gazes connected.
"Where are you from, Jack?" Ms. Ciccone said, staring at her fingernails and rapping a pencil on her desk.
Los Angeles, Kim thought. He was a model, who moved to Seaford to reconnect to the simple things in life. No, he was too masculine, too singular looking to be a model with at least two moles on his cheeks. An actor? No, he was almost bashful while still looking at her and she revised her opinion to a star athlete of his previous school with a direct track to a fancy college on a sport scholarship.
"Washington state," the handsome boy corrected her, smiling crookedly, as if he knew her thoughts. He wasn't embarrassed and took everyone's attention with aplomb and waived his hand at the class. Definitely an athlete, Kim confirmed. His arm was muscular, biceps tensing and contracting as the movement pulled the shirt tighter around his abdomen and whoa...
"Very well, take your sit," the teacher was still bored as if unaware of the surge of curiosity and hormones around her.
Next to Kim, Lindsay was almost purple, watching Jack's every movement left her slack-jawed. As Jack came closer to her, Kim noticed he'd chosen a full aisle to walk down, nowhere to sit. Once again, normal people would have been mortified, but Jack was calm.
"Is this desk taken?" he asked her directly and Kim almost stood up to give him her seat when she realized he was pointing at the empty desk next to her.
"N-no—" she said. But he couldn't get into the seat on this side. He'd have to go all the way back down her aisle and up the next one to—but instead he jumped elegantly over the desk and slipped into the seat in one fluid movement. A few of the boys around them clapped or whistled, but Jack only shrugged and took a notebook from his bag.
Kim watched his strong fingers fold around a pen, the blue veins in his hand, the smooth line of his thumbnail.
Brody, she thought forcefully. Kim had a long-term boyfriend. And even as Jack glanced at her and smiled again, she knew someone like him would never give her the time of day, anyway.
Calculus was torture. It was all she could do not to stare at him outright, so focusing on the class was completely out of the question. Thankfully, the teacher only called on her once and ignored her irrational answer. Jack seemed to be paying no more attention, he clearly wasn't taking notes, but answered all of teacher's questions without even looking up.
When the bell rang, Kim was grateful to finally escape him, but Lindsay stepped in.
"Jack," she called and ran him down in the hallway. "I'm Lindsay. I was wondering, since you're new here and all, if you wanted to sit with me and my friends at lunch?"
Jack squinted at Lindsay and then moved his gaze down the hall to Kim. "I would love to make new friends," he said, still staring at Kim. "But I don't want to crowd you."
For her part, Kim couldn't move, couldn't look away from him.
Lindsay giggled, "We have big tables! I insist. Everyone is curious." Jack still stared at Kim and Lindsay finally noticed. She turned and gestured Kim forward, "Come on, Kim! What are you doing? Jack's going to sit with us at lunch."
Kim lurched forward and almost tripped over her feet, and Jack finally smiled and walked with them towards the cafeteria.
Lindsay grabbed her arm and hissed, "Seriously, what are you doing? You have a boyfriend, so leave the new boy for us, poor single girls," she smiled hugely at Jack and swung her arm with Kim's so they looked something like jovial schoolchildren.
"Oh, Jack-" Lindsay said as they entered the cafeteria and let go of Kim's arm to grab Jack's. Kim wanted to snort at Lindsay's blatant flirting, but that was foolish so she ignored the impulse. Lindsay should talk to Jack. They would make a great couple.
The crowds parted like the Red Sea as Jack followed them to the table with some of the cheerleaders and jocks. Thank God Brody is not here, she thought irrationally.
She sat down next to Grace, who spared one look at Jack and the fawning Lindsay and almost snorted, which made Kim snort too. Thankfully, Lindsay was too preoccupied with impressing Jack to pay attention to them and Jack politely ignored their childish behavior.
Jack diligently answered everyone's questions. He moved earlier in the summer with his parents from Seattle and was taking the constantly clear skies of Seaford in stride. Good for my hair, he joked and everyone teetered, because his hair was gorgeous. Like the rest of him.
Somehow it came up that he was a black belt in Karate and Grace helpfully told him that Kim was a Wasabi Warrior. Lindsay barely contained her look of disapproval, but Jack was genuinely impressed. A few more questions about her rank and particular strengths and Lindsay resorted to kicking Kim under the table. Right: Brody, single boys and single girls…
It turned out that Jack was only technically from Seattle, because he spent several years in Japan at the Otai Martial Arts Academy and most everyone gushed over it. It was so exotic, even if they did not understand what it meant in the martial arts world. Jack must be very good. Very-very good, indeed. He shrugged and tried to downplay it, but it was obvious that it was a big deal. His attractiveness went up at least three more levels in everyone's eyes.
Jack didn't eat anything off his tray, but Kim could tell that she was the only one that noticed. Poking at the congealing cheese of her mini-pizza, Kim couldn't blame him. As if hearing her thoughts, Grace lamented the state of school cafeteria lunches and Kim, who should have known better, offered her apple to Jack and then blushed as red as the fruit in her hand.
Although Jack was friendly with everyone but did not single out any person in particular, everyone at their table was smitten, star struck. Kim wanted to believe she saw this like an anthropologist, but every time he looked at her, Kim felt it down to her fingertips.
That thought helped. This wasn't anything serious. Jack was hot – he was beautiful – that was undeniable. Brody would have reacted the same way to some dazzling girl.
She'd just avoid him until she got used to him and then ... well. She'd just avoid him.
Of course, they were both in Chemistry and of course she was the only one without a lab partner. When she glanced at the door and saw him, tall and broad-shouldered in the doorway, she was unreasonably thrilled that the year before, Lindsay and Brett dated and sat together, which left her alone without a partner.
"Hello, again," he said as he approached, and smiled.
"Hello," she said.
"Mr. Kreitman told me I should sit with you."
"Smart man," she said and he chuckled. No, she thought. No flirting.
Mr. Kreitman passed out a worksheet with an assignment to conduct an experiment and then write it up with an explanation of reactions and final products. It was review from the last section of inorganic chemistry, a test to make sure everyone could handle the workload. It was simple for her since she actually had a study group last year with Julie and Milton. Julie was methodical and organized, and Milton's mind was like a steel trap, ready to spring information at any moment. Kim learned a lot. She pulled the elements and started the Bunsen burner, ready to start with the work. It was a habit now since she was alone all of the last year. But Jack pulled one ingredient himself and checked the temperature valve.
"Very good," he said with a raised eyebrow. Had he expected less?
A little annoyed, Kim took the vial back and started measuring it out. When she looked back at Jack, he was leaning his head on his hand and giving her that crooked grin. Kim shivered. Then she tried to laugh it off and moved the vial and scale to the middle of the desk. "So, how many grams of magnesium do we need?" she asked.
Jack moved his hand to the vial and their hands were less than an inch apart. Instead of feeling body heat, Kim felt the prickling of electricity as if her skin was anticipating the contact. Brody, think of Brody.
"20 grams," he said, making her jump slightly as his smooth voice came so close to her ear.
She busied herself with the all the equipment on the table, straightening and adjusting (not fidgeting and not avoiding eye contact), until the element went into the mixing vial. Then the familiarity of the process took over and she almost forgot the frustratingly attractive boy and her own reactions to him.
They finished with the experiment and the write-up was easy. If nothing else, he was not a slouch in the academics department. So not just a muscle head.
Kim shook her head and refocused on her paper and looked over at his to see their write up was nearly identical.
"So," he said. Kim looked up. They'd moved closer together in working and now their noses were no farther apart than their hands. His face was distressingly close. "That's it."
The options were to kiss him or move away. So Kim leapt the other direction, overbalancing off her chair. Jack stood and wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her. There was silence and then Brett laughed at her, still mad she did not go out with him, and the rest of the class joined in.
"I'm sorry," Jack said softly and sat down again. 'For what?' she wanted to ask, 'for being so attractive?' but couldn't make her throat work. Thank goodness because that would have been slightly embarrassing.
Mr. Kreitman walked by their table and looked at their write up. "Very good. I am pleased to see you working so well with Kim," Mr. Kreitman looked to Jack.
He shrugged. "I like chemistry," he said with a glance at Kim. She felt an innuendo even if there wasn't one. "And I was good at it in a previous school, too."
"Well, it's good you two are lab partners then," Mr. Kreitman said and walked to another table.
It took another five minutes to complete the write-up and the people on either side of them hadn't finished the experiment. It was awful. Why hadn't Kim stretched out their working time? The last thing she wanted to do was spend a half hour talking to Jack about their real lives. Okay, maybe it wasn't the last thing she wanted to do. That was the problem, actually.
Maybe it would be a half hour of not talking and trying not to stare, instead.
"Have you always lived in Seaford?" She was out of luck.
"No. I moved here a bit before high school. Um. From Greensboro, North Carolina."
Crooked grin, "That's a big change. You've lost your accent."
"I never... um," talking about herself made Kim incredibly uncomfortable. "Yeah, big change. Seaford must be such a big change from Japan, huh? I mean, big international school to a small seaside town."
"That's true. Why did you leave the South? Is your family from around there?" Jack smoothly redirected the conversion back to her.
"No, we have family on the West Coast too, but, yeah, mom's family is in the Carolinas."
"So, why the move?"
They talked easily for the rest of the class. Kim found herself explaining her mother's family and their high context culture, where a comment always had multiple levels of meanings; her dad's relaxed attitude and a job transfer; her life back in North Carolina and her new life here; how much she hated living in Greensboro sometimes – things she had only told Brody and not until after months of dating him. Not until after he'd told her about the setup to get her humiliated and how he braved potential hazing from Kai Brewer for her. She and Kai were on mostly neutral terms, but she knew that he disliked her still. All she ever did was leave the Black Dragon's dojo after a particular underhanded trick by Frank, but Kai took it upon himself to show her up and when that backfired, he was pissed. It did not help that Brody stood by her and left their dojo as well.
"I have a boyfriend!" she said, non sequitur.
Jack cocked his head to the side. "I know. Brody Carlson. He's a Wasabi Warrior, basketball team captain, really hot and tall."
"Um. Yeah," she drawled unsure as to what to say.
"Your friend Lindsay told me," Jack chuckled. "I was hoping we could be friends."
Friends. Of course he wanted to be friends. Kim should be grateful that he was interested in her enough to even be her friend, to talk to her during lulls in chemistry instruction.
"Oh, right. Of course we can be friends."
Kim was staring down at her hands, but Jack lifted her chin with a swift stroke of his finger. "I'm sure a lot of guys want to be your friend, Kim. But I'll really try not to overstep my bounds," he smiled.
She blinked at him, the touch of his finger paralyzing her.
The bell rang with Mr. Kreitman shouting that the students could take the night to finish the assignment and it better be on his desk first thing in the morning. Kim put her notebook in her bag, her bag on her shoulder, her feet on the floor and out into the hallway, but her mind was on Jack's words.
He liked her. That's what he implied, wasn't it? The most interesting guy in the school liked her, but he respected she was with someone else and wouldn't do anything about it.
He was a good guy.
And entirely not for her.