I'm back with a new AU! I absolutely love fencing but it's been I while since I actually fenced so...some information may be inaccurate.
"It's only a new club," Lovino whispered to himself before breathing deeply and pushing open the door.
The inside of the club had the signature smell of sweat and feet and the loud clanging of metal on metal. Lovino made his way through the small lobby to the much larger gym area. As soon as he entered the gym, Lovino felt a pair of eyes attach to him. The girl they belonged to smiled and bounded up to him.
"Hi! You're new. Welcome to the club. I'm Erzsé," the girl said, linking her arm through Lovino's. He was slightly taken aback by the sudden contact.
Erzsé seemed friendly enough, though. She was wearing breeches over a faded Nirvana t-shirt. She was smiling brightly, and her green eyes were alight with happiness.
"What d'you do? Foil? Épée? Sabre?" she asked, walking Lovino towards a sitting area where other fencers were lounging.
"Mostly foil. Sometimes épée," he responded, slinging his bag down once they had reached the fold-out chairs. "You?"
"Sabre. I'm one of the only ones in the club. Almost everyone does foil or épée. I mostly just fence Alfred and Lukas. They're the only other sabres," Erzsé replied. She motioned over to one of the strips where two sabres were currently dueling.
"Hold on. I'll find someone to duel you. One of these lazy assholes ought to be able to," Erzsé said to Lovino, nodding towards the group of fencers sitting behind them. Lovino nodded and smiled his thanks.
"Oi. Losers. Any one of you want to fence with Lovino? He's new here. Foil or épée?" Erzsé inquired.
"What's in it for me? A kiss?" asked one of them, a young man with hair so blond it was nearly white and a predatory smile.
"Piss off, Gilbert. Roderich you wanna go?" Erzsé asked the man sitting next to the blond- who was apparently Gilbert. The young man rolled his eyes and sighed melodramatically before rising elegantly to his feet.
"Hello. I'm Roderich," the young man said once he had reached Lovino. He held out a pale hand. Lovino shook it and nodded.
"Lovino. Pleasure. I need to get dressed. Then we can go," Lovino said, nodding to his equipment bag. Roderich nodded, but his face was plastered in disgust.
"Foil," Roderich spat quietly and then spun on his heel.
"Don't mind him," Erzsé said once Roderich was gone. "He's a pretentious ass but he's pretty good."
"Hmm," Lovino hummed and unzipped his bag. Inside was a sea of white nylon and Kevlar. He pulled out his breeches and began to pull them over his shorts and tall socks. He glanced over his shoulder as he zipped the fly and noticed that several of the men from the nearby group of lounging fencers were staring at him. Self-consciously, Lovino shrugged on his plastron and jacket and pulled the strap through his legs so that he could clip it in the back. The men were still staring at him.
"Um, Erzsé? Who are those guys?" Lovino asked, nodding to the group of fencers. Erzsé looked behind her and flipped them off. She began pointing at different people and listing off their names.
"That's Magnus," she said, pointing at a sturdy blond man with unruly hair. "And that's Antonio and Francis. And that's Gilbert. The three of them are inseparable. That's Toris. He usually hangs out with Eduard or Feliks but they aren't here, so he's hanging out with Natalya," Erzsé pointed at another woman with long blond hair. "And, of course, you've already met Roderich. He and Gilbert are best friends," she finished naming people in the small group. There were still about twenty other people scattered throughout the gym, but Lovino opted to learn their names later.
Lovino slowly bent over and pulled on his shoes. The entire group was still staring at him awkwardly. With his face hot, Lovino pulled on his lamé and grabbed his remaining equipment. Roderich stood again and made his way toward an empty strip. Lovino followed him, pulling on his glove as he went. They reached the long metal strip and attached the body cords to their lamés.
The two stood, facing each other on the strip, masks under their arms and tentatively shook hands. Lovino felt himself entering his element.
Roderich and Lovino retreated and poised their weapons at the ready.
"En garde," Roderich said, and suddenly nothing else existed to Lovino.
Roderich was impressive. Lovino was fast, but every one of his attacks was parried in one lazy swipe by Roderich, who seemed utterly uninterested in taking a defensive approach.
Lovino tried everything he knew. Every time, he was parried. All of a sudden, Roderich lunged forward and hit Lovino square in the chest. The buzzer sounded.
Lovino and Roderich retreated, Lovino in disbelief. It had been a long time since he had lost the first point.
This time around, Roderich was much more interested in the defensive. Lovino parried as quickly as he could, while being forced to retreat down the strip. At the end of the strip, Roderich lunged. Lovino parried to the right, but at the last second, Roderich disengaged and hit Lovino right beneath his rib cage. The buzzer sounded again.
"Fuck," Lovino cursed.
The match went on. Lovino was slowly becoming accustomed to how Roderich thought. He managed to get a few touches in on an indignant-looking Roderich, but it was Roderich who won the match.
"Well done," Roderich said as he and Lovino shook hands again, but Roderich sounded anything but congratulatory. He had a petulant note to his voice that betrayed the fact that he was upset about losing a few points.
Before Lovino could return the compliment, Roderich had detached the cord and was stalking back towards his group of friends in the lounge area.
Lovino noted that every one of the fencers in the group had an impressed look on their face. Erzsé came bounding up.
"That was really good. No one has ever scored that high against Roderich!" she exclaimed, excitedly throwing her arms around Lovino.
"I got less than half of his score," Lovino reminded her, pushing her off.
"But still, it was the closest match that the bastard has had yet," she replied, smiling and pulling Lovino towards the Roderich and his friends.
Everyone still looked sufficiently impressed when Lovino and Erzsé finally reached them.
"I want him next," Gilbert said, that predatory look shining in his eyes.
I totally headcanon Roderich is a bomb ass fencer.
foil- a form of fencing in which the target is the torso and all points must be obtained through thrusting
épée- a form of fencing in which the entire body is the target area and all points must be obtained by thrusting
sabre- a form of fencing in which the entire body is the target area and points can be obtained by hacking at the opponent
breeches- pretty self explanatory; the special pants worn while fencing
jacket- once again, pretty self explanatory; the special jacket worn while fencing. it goes between the legs and straps in the back
plastron- a protective half-sleeve thing that covers the chest and upper arm; it goes beneath the jacket
lamé- foil sheet that goes over the jacket and makes it easier to tell when points are obtained; foil and sabre
glove- only goes on the sword hand
body cord- cord that attaches fencers to the electrical system during foil and sabre so that points can be recorded through touches on the lamé
parry- counterattack
disengage- to suddenly lunge in the opposite direction than
i think that's it? if you have questions, hit me up.