Mako's Message: Since late August I've been working on a fic that I'm told is "Depressing as fuck." As such, I decided to write a story to be published immediately afterward. Just a cute little fluffy one-shot to get the taste of that other fic out of your mouth. The "chaser" story has been ready for a couple months, while the DaF(Depressing as Fuck) fic is still incomplete and giving me problems. However. I've recently started working on something that would be better than a "chaser". A complete anti-DaF-fic fic. So, I've decided to post this. The chaser. As I've no longer a reason to hold on to it. Please remember this was written three or four months ago.

Dave was ready.

Mindy had showed him a few moves, had him practice them, and then a workout. Now it was time for the last part of the daily training sessions; a cool down spar. That's what she called it at least. For him it was the hardest part of the session. But she insisted on having it be the last part, saying that it gives him a chance to try the moves she'd taught him earlier and it let her see how well he was progressing. Of course, making him fight when he was worn out was the most important part of the training. The criminal element wasn't going to give him time to stop and rest before a fight after all.

But today Dave was ready. He was ready, eager, and determined to win.

A part of him knew there was no way he could beat her, but today he felt good. He FELT like he could take her. And he'd be damned if he wasn't going to give her the best he could.

When she asked him, "Ready?" he responded with a punch to the face. She dodged it of course, commenting, "ooh, almost hit me that time, not bad."

She let him continue his attack for a few more seconds, then without any seeming effort, put him on the defensive. He immediately felt like he was doing better, despite being on the defensive, since he was able to flat out avoid most of her attacks instead of blocking. Normally at this point it was just about survival. Trying to last as long as possible before Mindy floored him. But today...today he decided he'd try a counter.

His counter was countered and in the next second he had his arm twisted painfully behind his back, "Oooh. Almost half a minute that time. Ya know, if you had stayed on the defensive you might have broken your record." she said. From the sound of her voice, her mouth had to be just over his shoulder, he could even feel a ghost of her breath on his ear. It sent shivers down his spine.

It also brought him a realization.

The only way she could have her mouth that close to his ear would be if she was standing on her toes. And if she was standing on her toes...

"Whoa!"

They both fell backwards, Dave landing right on his ass and sitting up, Mindy still had a firm grip on his arm though.

"Ow. Ha. Nice try, but it'll take more than that to get out of this."

Dave tried to reach around with his free arm, but to no avail. He tried rolling out of it, but Mindy was keeping him more or less completely immobile. He briefly considering throwing his head back now that her head was close enough for it to, maybe, connect, but tossed it out as he didn't want to risk doing something as obvious and lasting as breaking her nose.

"Oh give it up already Dave. Tap out."

"Uh-uh," he replied and renewed his efforts to break free.

"Ya know, if if I twist your arm much harder I could break it."

The comment made him pause, but she wouldn't really break his arm...would she? After a moment's consideration he decided that she very well might. But this was just like making him fight when he was exhausted from training. Pushing his limits. Testing his endurance.

He didn't know when he started grasping at her with the arm she held, but when his fingers brushed against her shirt, he immediately started trying hard to get a grip on it. He didn't know why. He had no idea what he'd do if he did manage to get a grip on her, even if it was just by her shirt, but hell, it was SOMETHING and maybe-

"Ha-mmghh."

Was that...?

He grasped at her with renewed determination, managing to get a firm grip on her shirt, and his fingers brushed against her when he did.

"Mm-hmn"

He grinned openly, and if Mindy could have seen it, she would have been proud of it.

He started pulling her shirt up, passing the material up through his fingers, which would brush against her every other moment. When they did, he could feel her twitch, or a barely restrained whimper, sometimes both.

Finally, he had the edge of her shirt in his fingers.

"Daaaave..." she said, somehow sounding threatening, scolding, and yet vaguely panicked at the same time.

He ignored her and ghosted his fingers against the bare skin of her side.

She didn't so much twitch as jump, and what before had been the barest whimper was now, while still restrained, easily identified as a giggle.

"Dav-eh-heeee!"

He didn't have much room to work with, but he quickly discovered that a light touch worked better on her lower side, while pressing firmly between her ribs yielded shrieks.

"You -ah-hee ASSHOLE! Cut it-yeeeEEE out!"

He managed to hit two sweet spots simultaneously, with his pnky and thumb, sending her into a complete giggle-fit. She still held a tight grip on his arm though.

She pulled herself together, gasped for breath, and yelled, "I will BREAK your ARM!"

Her position had shifted during all of this, not by much, but his arm was a little lower and he dug his fingers into the soft skin just above her hip.

"YeeeeEEEAH-HAHAAHAHaahahaha!" He could hear her feet kicking futilely against the mat, "You FUCKER!" and she slapped at his hand, knocking it away from her weak point for just a moment before trying to tug her shirt back down. He fought her of course, but his real goal had been achieved.

His only real advantage over her was that he was just plain stronger than her. Well, he was now at least, and it wasn't much of an advantage considering how good she was at grappling. Maybe if he actually managed to hit her... But his extra five inches of reach made no difference and being bigger than her just meant hitting the ground harder. So, again, all he had as the slightest edge over her was strength, and now that she was only holding his arm back with one arm, he was able to untwist it, turn around, and pounce on her.

She hit the mat backwards, arms crossed over her stomach and trying to block Dave's fingers, while curling into a ball and kicking her feet in the air, with only a brief "ow" breaking up her peels of laughter.

Dave, grinning like a fiend, was merciless. He savaged every sensitive spot he'd already found while searching for new ones.

Then Mindy managed to get her foot between her and Dave and she kicked him off of her. Her foot had made contact with his chest, not his stomach, however, so it wasn't much more than a shove and he was able to recover much faster than she, who was still trying to catch her breath. He tackled her back to the mat, pinning her face down underneath him.

She shrieked and started in on another laughing fit as his arms wrapped around her and his fingers continued their assault. She tried rolling, but he had her pinned solidly, and her feet just slipped uselessly across the mat, unable to get a strong enough grip to push her out from under him.

Finally getting desperate enough to lower herself to Dave's level, she tried to reach behind her back, and counter attack.

Dave's shirt had ridden up, so Mindy didn't have to overcome that obstacle, and there was no warning to Dave before her fingers touched his waist.

He "yipped" and almost leapt off of her, still it was enough for her to push herself up, flip around and shove him backwards onto the mat screaming, "REVENGE!"

She struck hard and fast, her fingers streaking over his abdomen like a pair of spiders seeking out any and all weak points. She was almost at the point of giving up on finding he was ticklish anywhere except around his waist, when her fingers touched his arm pits and he shrieked like a little girl and managed to actually jump backwards despite being on his back.

She pounced on him before he could get away, only to be caught around her ribs and tickled again. She shoved her hands up his shirt and into his armpits, he half screamed, half laughed, and clamped his arms down over her hands, but didn't move his hands from where they dug into her ribs.

In moments they were rolling across the mat, fighting for dominance in a tickle war of mutually assured destruction.

Dave did eventually manage to catch her wrists and pin them over her head on the mat. They stopped completely, Mindy didn't even try to free herself as they struggled to catch their breath.

Dave looked down at her; face flushed, small beads of sweat dotting her forehead and slipping down her temples and cheeks, lips parted, and her chest heaving. Their eyes met for a moment, and hers held determination, challenge, a question, and... something else. The next moment he was pressing his lips to hers.

Her eyes widened and then, when she'd recovered from the shock, pulled her hand free of his and slapped him.

They stayed frozen, her right hand hovering over her left shoulder and his head turned to his right as the sound of the blow seemed to echo through the room.

Dave was the first to move, backing away from her and getting to his feet, "I- I am so, so sorry, I don't know what came over me."

Mindy stood then, straightening her shirt and pointedly not looking at him, "Just...just don't get any other ideas. Or I'll hurt you. Got it? Now, let's just...let's just get going. We're running late."

-A couple weeks later-

"Did you even kiss him?"

"Oh. Yeah. Totes."

"You liar."

Well, it wasn't a complete lie.