Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations the characters find themselves in. Thanks so much for continuing to read and for giving me feedback on my work. It's muchly appreciated and I do read every review you send me!
Note: Sorry it took so long to get this latest chapter up. Will definitely try to do better in the new year, so wish me luck. Thank God 2020 is almost over, am I right?!
I've Got Stamina
Lists done, at least for now, the question became what to do while Bane and Barsad plotted on the other side of the room. In a language neither of them understood. Because the men in their lives were just that rude and inconsiderate. It almost made Blake want to learn a language they didn't speak to give them a taste of their own medicine...but that would require learning another language and he probably wouldn't live long enough to become proficient anyway, if he stayed here.
He was more likely to bang Tom Hardy, let's be real.
"So what are we going to do now?"
Feeling restless and wanting to move, Blake cast around in his head for something Simon could do other than be a horrible distraction to him. Thankfully, due to their earlier conversation, he had just the thing.
"Why don't you make a list of all the music Barsad should listen to."
"We don't have enough paper."
"They'll give you more." If only to shut Simon up.
"Okay."
Task given Simon grabbed one of the lined sheets of paper and went to town on it, showing way more confidence and focus than he had when it came to the Bucket List. Which was fair. Simon was way more about the music than he was future goals. It was one of the few silver linings to his being kidnapped by the League of Shadows. Everyone had worried about what would become of Simon once he'd aged out of the system and would have been expected to make a life for himself.
Professions Simon would have excelled in...yeah...no? At least not for long. Probably. Though Blake had always thought that Simon would make an interesting disc jockey. In a way.
Shaking his head Blake then turned to what he could do. And what Bane would possibly allow him to do without kicking up a fuss because he might 'hurt himself' or 'bring on another omega attack'. Which, okay, fair enough. He would like to avoid that pain. But he also wanted to live, or at least increase the odds of survival, and to do that he needed to be in fighting shape. Which was rapidly becoming not the case thanks to his time in captivity.
Stupid Talia and her stupidness in thinking he and Bruce were hooking up. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Where was a punching bag when he needed one?
He could shadowbox though, and that seemed as good an idea as any. So getting up from his chair and walking to an area of the room that gave him some space to move Blake started to stretch, which he had, thankfully, learned the necessity of by now. He knew too many people-including himself back in his stupider days-who'd skipped that part and then paid the price after. Both in pain and doctor's bills. The gifts that kept on giving more pain as you got older.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh. You're speaking English again. How nice." Blake smiled as sarcastically as possible at Bane. "What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Inefficiently exercising."
Flipping him off would be a waste of time, Blake reminded himself sternly, taking a calming breath for added reinforcements. "This room wasn't exactly designed for it, no. But I'm making do."
"You need to rest. You're delicate."
If he developed a twitch under one of his eyes he was going to be pissed.
"I'm not 'delicate'. I am a badass." Blake made sure to speak slowly so that that fact stood a better chance of comprehending. "I will not let you take that away from me."
"He'd have to gag you twenty-four seven, too. Though he might think that's okay, seeing as he wears that-"
To save them all Blake interrupted before Simon could finish that sentence. "Stop right there or he'll kill you. Go back to your list."
A pause for consideration, then with a shrug Simon went back to his list, completely oblivious to the look Bane was giving him. No surprise.
"Down, Boy. He didn't mean it. Now go back to your Pinky and the Braining and leave me to my pathetic version of exercising."
But of course Bane didn't get his pop culture reference and wanted to know what he meant with the Pinky and the Brain reference. Which Blake really didn't want to explain because that took all the fun out of it. Especially since Bane was liable to take offense and then there'd be the whole discussion about which one of them was the genius and which was insane. Saying both applied to Bane would not go over well. Then there were the bald jokes and yeah...no. Which was why Blake opted to take the path less likely to end with him grounded, and just told Bane it wasn't important and to go back to what he was doing.
Simon, not helping in the slightest, started humming the Pinky and the Brain theme song. Perfect. Sigh.
Damn the catchiness of that song. He was doing it too now. Though only humming, like Simon. Using the actual lyrics would not end well for them.
Nope. Enough with the distractions and 90s pop culture references. He needed to concentrate on what he was doing or he'd really injure himself on top of everything else. Then he'd be a sitting duck, just waiting to be pummeled and plucked.
This led to a mental montage of movie and TV clips that had Blake wondering, humorously, if he should attempt to practice the whole 'wax on, wax off', Mr. Miyagi technique.
Man, some of those 'karate' scenes had been awful. Though not as bad as 'The 3 Ninjas' movies. Awesome and hilarious as a kid, cringeworthy as an adult who had some understanding of both martial art forms and how to 'light someone up'. Bane's head would probably explode if he showed those movies to his idiot wannabe mate and claimed they were stylistically accurate. Something to keep in mind for when Bane irritated the fuck out of him next. Which was sure to be soon, let's be real.
Yeah...enough pop culture references. Time to do some really crappy shadowboxing.
Rolling his shoulders Blake turned his back on Bane and Barsad-he did not want to see their reactions which would only piss him off more-and then Blake raised his fists and started moving his feet. Oh, and also trying to remember that it was in his best interests to make it look like he'd maybe done some boxing on top of basic police training. Showing all his cards-and training-would handicap him later on.
Not to mention the fact that Wayne had adapted some of the League's training to better suit Blake's body type and actual designation. If Bane started picking that apart...he might try to beat the crap out of him. It'd be touch and go, definitely.
And being the badass that he was Blake was aware, even as he pretended to box with someone who wasn't actually there, that Bane was coming down the length of the table about five-seven minutes after he'd started. Probably to better see what he was doing and find fault with it. The man obviously had a death wish.
Hooking up with Talia hadn't gotten him killed yet, so now Bane had decided to get himself an omega with homicidal tendencies. Dumbass. Or not...if he actually wanted to die. Horribly.
Maybe he needed to tell Bane that thanks to Joker he KNEW how easy it was to kill someone with just a writing utensil. That story had made the ROUNDS in Gotham's underworld.
Yeah...he was so done with this place and idiot alphas. He needed a massage, chocolate, and the best bed ever created with mounds of blankets and pillows. Also Tom Hardy's entire filmography. A recently single Tom Hardy would not be kicked out of that bed either, if he was allowed to be greedy. Hell, he wouldn't kick him out even if it was just to cuddle. He could really, really use some quality cuddles right about now.
Standing off to the side Bane watched him for several minutes, Blake doing his best to ignore him while also remaining aware enough in case Bane decided to do something stupid like grab his arm. He would so throat punch him if he did.
"Your form is surprisingly good."
Deliberately being obtuse Blake quipped that Bane had seen his 'form' plenty. And it was way better than just fucking okay.
"You know what I mean. Though sparring without an actual opponent only helps so much."
"You volunteering?"
"There would be little point in that."
Blake knew exactly what Bane meant by that-and it pissed him the fuck off-but he determinedly didn't rise to the bait. Though God it was fucking tempting.
Barsad called over something in a language Blake didn't know. Which was probably for the best given his present mood, Blake silently acknowledged.
Bane replied in the same tongue, shaking his head a little.
"I second what Barsad said." Came Simon's voice, this apparently being a language the younger man had picked up at some point.
And even knowing he'd regret it, Blake called out the question of what Barsad had said while continuing to box. He had a feeling whatever he was about to hear was only going to make him want to throw punches more, not less. Better to aim them at air then the ones who deserved it.
"He said not to suggest you train with the kids. That it would piss you off."
WHAT?!
Going very still, Blake turned to aim a look that could kill Medusa level fast in Bane's direction.
"He did not say children. He said the new trainees. And I wasn't going to suggest that."
Keeping hold of Bane's gaze in his death glare Blake bit off his one word reply before going back to what he'd been doing.
"Good."
)
Showing more sense than their many bad life choices would indicate they had...Barsad and Bane wisely left Blake alone for the next forty minutes or whatever. He hadn't been clock watching as he practice being quick on his feet, throwing punches, and not telegraphing his movements. All of which would have been easier with an actual partner, yes, but since one wasn't available that he was allowed to beat the shit out of Blake considered it to be a relative success.
And if nothing else he'd gotten some of his aggression out. As in he didn't want to kill people as much as he had before the shadowboxing, so he was calling that a win. He was also thinking that he could really do with something to drink right about now. He'd add eat to that list, but around here the food left much to be desired. Better to go without than eat the really-no, dammit. He needed to build up his strength and body, not lose either because the cooks around here wouldn't know good food if Julia fucking Child appeared to teach them herself. And was, obviously, still alive to do said teaching.
Dead people should not give cooking classes. The main ingredients would be brains and more brains.
Amused over that, Blake went back over to see how Simon was doing with his lists.
The large pile of paper in front of him suggested that Simon was doing very well. And going overboard.
"You have stamina. Well done." Bane stated from the other side of the table, turning Blake's attention back to him.
"Baby, if you're questioning my stamina you are not paying our sex life the attention it deserves." A moment for a thought to enter his brain-but that's all it took sometimes. "Dammit. Now I'm going to have that stamina song in my head."
"What stamina song?"
Of course that's all Simon cared about.
"No idea. I just know the first part of it. Which is why it will be doubly irritating." Because yeah, now the damn opening lines were stuck on a loop in his damn brain. God dammit. "I only know it from a Youtube fanvideo for 'Yuri! on Ice'."
"Who sings it?"
"No idea. And shit, now that's going to bug me too."
He was also pretty sure that the song had come out after Simon had been taken, but on the off chance that wasn't the case Blake sang the part he remembered outloud to see if he recognized it.
"Uh-oh, running out of breath, but I
Oh, I, I got stamina
Uh-oh, running now, I close my eyes
Well, oh, I got stamina
And uh-oh, I see another mountain to climb
But I, I, I got stamina
Uh-oh, I need another lover, be mine
Cause I, I, I got stamina."
Bane stated he didn't like that one. It was too repetitive and inane.
Blake acknowledged that that was fair, but there were much, much worse songs a person could get stuck in their head.
Simon agreed that that was very true. And that it was now really going to annoy him that he didn't know who the singer was or what the rest of the song was like. Because of course that was the most important thing right now.
"I'll think about it and get back to you. And speaking of songs...don't you think you have enough there?"
It was a testament to Simon's strong feelings on the subject that he actually turned in his seat so that he could give Blake the most censoring look in the kid's repertoire. Because of course he'd just committed the ultimate crime in Simon's books by underestimating the importance of Barsad's musical education.
"I'm only getting started. Given what I know about the League, he knows nothing about music. I must educate him. If we die, he's likely to die too. There's a lot of music he needs to hear before that happens."
"And it keeps him out of trouble." Bane added. Because of course that's what mattered to him.
Putting his hands up in surrender, every little bit of sarcasm counted after all, Blake shook his head at the both of them and then pulled out his chair to retake his seat.
And dammit...the song was still playing in his head. Though come to think of it...
"Got it." Snapping his fingers, Blake grinned over at Simon. "Sia sang it."
"I've missed so much." Simon sighed, looking like a little boy who'd just been told Christmas was canceled.
Too cute.
Shaking his head over that Blake figured he'd make things better-or more likely worse-by asking if it was possible to get something to drink. And eat.
"I will arrange it."
)
Lunch wasn't completely horrible, which Simon appreciated as he ate the grilled chicken, rice, and a sauteed, leafy sort of vegetable he didn't recognize but was probably also really healthy. And didn't taste terrible, so yay for that too. He'd hated rice before being conscripted into the League-unless you were talking about Rice Krispie squares which he'd loved and missed big time-but it was pretty much a staple of the diet these morons had on a regular basis and he'd learned to tolerate it. Across from him John was eating everything too, though he made a face over the vegetable with every bite.
"Do you know what the green stuff is called?"
"Gross." Was John's reply. Naturally.
"It's swiss chard." Barsad informed them. "It's very good for you."
"Of course it is. Heaven forbid any of you eat anything for fun."
Looking over at Barsad Simon was being dead serious when he stated that they were really going to need to get John some chocolate soon. Before he went crazy and started killing people.
"Killing people wouldn't help my situation. I'd be more likely to start offering sexual favors for it." Was the omega's opinion on that, the look he shot them less than amused.
"What?"
John, being John, fluttered his lashes in Bane's direction as he stated that he would totally blow him for some quality milk chocolate. FYI.
"Dark choc-"
"No." Was the very firm, very dark response to that idea.
Simon appreciated the irony of that thought. And was also sort of hoping that if Bane did decide to bribe John with chocolate, John would give him a little bit. Though that was probably too much to hope for.
"It's healthier for you." Bane stated, his lack of self-preservation instincts very evident at the moment.
Dumbass, Simon thought but didn't say. Had Bane not been paying attention at all? John did not do healthy. He did varying degrees of unhealthy, with the occasion semi healthy meal that was usually someone else's idea. That was John's typical 'diet'.
"The only acceptable chocolate is milk chocolate. Try to give me dark or white and there will be consequences. And no sexual favors." John pointed his fork in Bane's direction for emphasis.
"Perhaps you wouldn't have been captured so easily if your diet were healthier."
"Perhaps I got captured so easily because your-words I'm not allowed to call Talia when in public-had her men threaten to kill a child if I didn't cooperate. Remember?"
Bane glared, but didn't argue with that.
There really was no point in keeping score with these two, Simon mused with a head shake. John owned the other man left, right, and center every time they went at it. It was sad, really.
Looking over at Barsad, and finding that the other man had been looking at him already, the two shared a look that said they were in complete agreement when it came to who was winning in the battle of wills between Bane and John.
No contest.
