Juggling
Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to or of the Beyblade series.
Pairing: Pre-slash Valt x Cooza.
Summary:
Aoi Valt juggles/is juggled between the two faces of Cooza Ackermann.
Advantages of Dating an Acrobat. When Aoi Valt repeated these words to himself, they sounded like a book or pamphlet title.
Where to begin?
Page 1?
To begin, Valt didn't know if he was gay. His single-minded love had been Beyblade, so he'd never given any thought to romance. There had been Beyfans, of course. Admirers who watched his battles in person, on TV, and/or on BeyTube, who ran up to him screaming they "loved" him.
This was a different beast.
Valt was all upside-down.
He was all backwards.
Cooza's admission was like his battling: You couldn't predict what you were up against. Like Alter Chronos' interchangeable Ultra Stamina Mode and Ultra Attack Mode, you didn't find out how much of a disadvantage you were at until things started spinning.
Cognition always came late.
Had he goofed? Should Valt have retitled his internal monologue Disadvantages of Dating an Acrobat?
Cooza was the same. The Two Faces of Cooza Ackermann sounded like another book or pamphlet.
The warm and friendly Cooza Ackermann who walked tightropes and spread fun with his pet cockatoo, Carl.
And the cold and cunning Cooza Ackermann who froze his enemies out, bursting his rivals' Beys cleanly and effectively, or watching them expire.
The Cooza who confessed to Valt was the latter. Slide-off sharp. Grinding time to a stop with his patient confidence.
Was this a strategy as well? To throw Valt off balance by not showing him the face he'd predict during an admission/confession?
"Admission" and "confession" were perhaps poor descriptors. They implied a level of hesitation that wasn't present. The Cooza who was demanding Aoi Valt was past self-doubt. His sights were on the future.
Hold on! It clicked for Valt. Does that mean Cooza is gay?
Time was catching up to Valt. Seems that was the first question he should have asked.
It started to tick.
He could juggle. Cooza taught him.
"'Let's date?' C-can you ask me that again in your nicer voice?"
Cooza switched back to his friendly face.
Advantage #1 of dating an acrobat.
Acrobats are flexible.