T'AI CHI
by serennog
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Summary: A one-shot tie-in to my SkyeWard fic, 'Broken'. Grant receives a lesson in T'ai Chi from May in an effort to subdue the Berserker staff's effects. AU.
Disclaimer: AoS is the property of Marvel and ABC Studios. I own nothing.
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Grant tries following May's movements; tries executing them with the same fluidity, but finds himself lagging further and further behind as the lesson progresses. Frustration creeps up on him, a pins-and-needles sensation spreading out from his gut, and his gestures grow more jagged as a result.
"Is your mind blank?" asks May in such a way that he hears it as more of an accusation than a question.
"Yes," he answers through gritted teeth.
She continues the sequence without a hitch. "You're lying."
Grant straightens, planting his fists on his hips. "I don't see the point of this."
May doesn't stop. He watches through narrowed eyes as she dips low, extending her arms to her right. "The point…" She repeats the movement to her left. "Is to obtain a sense of tranquillity." She suddenly meets his gaze. The intensity of her stare nearly startles him. "You give in to your anger too easily."
Grant glares at her. "You have no idea what you're talking about. How hard this is."
She breaks eye contact, sweeping into another sinuous manoeuvre. "I touched the staff too."
Grant's silent for a long moment. When he feels his irritation ebb a little, he falls in beside May again, copying her movements as best he can.
"Don't think about her," says May coolly.
Grant clenches his jaw. "I'm not."
May says nothing after that.
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