Sensei
Summary: Eliot found Coach Brewer's place at Dalton Academy purely by accident. From The Fairy Godparents Job. Written for hollow_echos.
The Laughing Phoenix does not own Leverage and makes no profit from this work.
Eliot let himself into the gym, softly closing the door behind himself. For a moment he stared at the gym before him, the mats and larger items up against the walls, the slightly scuffed doors to the equipment closets, before closing his eyes and letting his head drop back to hit the door with a dull thunk.
What was he doing?
Okay, yes, he knew the answer to that question. The team needed him to play a gym teacher for the con, to suss out any athletic talent the kid – Wydmark – might have. But seriously, teaching? He'd taught Parker and Hardison a few tricks, but he had no experience teaching kids and, after the past couple of days, no desire to learn. At least with an adult he could count on them either following instructions or listening to reason – the kids here did neither. They were so busy being wrapped up in their petty disagreements and scuffles for places in the pecking order that it seemed like they only paid attention half the time, if he was lucky.
Shoving himself away from the door, Eliot stalked into the center of the room. He needed to calm down and get a grip before he lost his temper with the kids and had them running laps or doing pushups all class, neither of which he was here for. He briefly considered the punching bag in the corner before turning to the wall and hauling down one of the mats. The punching bag might take off the edge, but it wouldn't center him the way a martial arts kata would.
Stripping off his sweater and toeing off his shoes, Eliot walked to the center of the mat, took a deep breath, and began. The familiar movements brought a sense of calm as he sank into a light trance; there was nothing but one motion segueing into the next, the outside world falling away.
It wasn't until he finally wound down the katas, centering himself and taking a deep breath, that he realized he had an audience. His first class, a group of 4th graders, had arrived while he was otherwise occupied, and were staring at him with varying degrees of awe.
"That was so awesome!" One of the boys said, eyes wide. "What was that?"
"That was karate," Eliot told the group. He hesitated for a breath, briefly weighing the repercussions of his decision, then went on. What the hell, why not. "And that's what we'll be doing today. Go get changed for class."
The kids raced off to the locker rooms, the boys a bit more enthusiastically than the girls. Shaking his head slightly, Eliot turned to pull down more mats.
Maybe teaching kids wouldn't be so bad after all.
A/N:
My first foray into Leverage. This was written for the lovely hollow_echos, who is unfortunately undergoing a rough time at the moment. Thank you Rusting Roses for checking this and catching my errors.