To Challenge Lightning
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Lei's eyes are dark gold, the eyes of a wild beast stretched out in the shade at midday, as deceptively lazy and just as dangerous.
He walks like a great cat, too, self-assured and seemingly at ease, though something about him speaks of readiness - of coiled lightning just beneath the skin.
People can't help but notice him. Cats make a living from not being seen until it's too late, but lions are blatantly, magnificently there, with their arrogant pacing and the shaggy gold mantles across their shoulders; to be there is the lion's purpose - to lead his pride and defend his territory against interlopers, never to hide in the long grass. And just such a creature is he, with his long, proud stride and his mane of black hair. His duty is to lead his team, to inspire them to victory and to stand at the forefront, defeating any opponent who might challenge.
His team follow him without hesitation and he leads with utmost dedication, a bond of mutual trust and dependance that Michael finds hard to understand; baseball and beyblading might be team sports, but he's never really been a team player.
And that's fine for the All Starz. They're a team of individuals, each relying only on themselves to perform the task at hand. It works. But for the White Tigers, it seems that the team is greater than the sum of its parts, an entity in and of itself. Michael might not understand this bond, but he respects leadership where he sees it, and part of him wonders what it would be like to be that way, to lose sight of individual achievement or loss and belong to the greater whole.
And part of him - a large part - wants to see the lightning crackle in those tawny eyes the way it does in the arena, but not in the arena. To be the focus of that fierce gaze and see that lazy smile as it stretches into a hungry grin. To know what that dark mane would feel like under his fingers - a little rough perhaps, he thinks, because that's how he imagines a lion's coat is.
But to Lei, nothing matters beyond the team. There are the White Tigers, and there are those who are directly involved with them, and that's all. Bystanders might as well be rocks or blades of grass for all the attention he pays them. And what is an eagle to a lion, but a dark speck wheeling too far overhead to be of any concern? Something of less interest than the fly that buzzes around its face.
Michael has his pride too, though - an excess of it, many would say - and he refuses to be overlooked. So he takes his chance in a deserted corridor, stepping in front of the Tigers' leader and blocking his path so that Lei can't dismiss him. He lets his best disdainful smirk play across his lips and watches as the sparks rise behind the yellow eyes, the pupils narrowing to slits and the mouth drawing into a hard line.
"What do you want?" Lei demands and tries to push past, not caring to wait for an answer. But Michael doesn't stand aside, because he's not going to be ignored simply for being outside the arena. He could challenge the lion to a battle now - there's been a host of friendly matches in the days since the World Championships ended - but he knows that, as an opponent, he would hold Lei's attention only as long as the blades kept spinning.
Michael has an altogether different sort of challenge in mind.
So he blusters Lei up against the wall, and kisses him - not too deep or too long, just enough to let him know it's really happening - and then he steps back. And with a last flash of that deliberately infuriating smirk he goes, disappearing around a corner before the other boy can even react.
The challenge has been issued; what happens next - if anything - is entirely in Lei's hands. It's altogether likely that his leonine dignity won't allow him any reaction, or that he'll think Michael was making fun of him, or that he simply won't be interested. Michael is aware of the risks, but that's one of the benefits of not being a team player - any risks he takes, he takes only for himself. And it'll be worth it if it pays off.
If nothing else, at least he knows that he definitely got Lei's attention.