Friendly Sparring

Diablo stepped into the gym, immediately being greeted to noise. He shook his head a bit, there must be a sparring match going on right now. Based on the sheer amount of yelling from the people around the sparring area, it was probably two enforcers sparring, which meant it was less of a sparring match and more of an actual fight. Enforcers are always rougher on each other while sparring, the only people that got a worse beating would probably be handlers that told their enforcer partner to go wild. Or people with beef with each other.

He walked into the crowd to peek at who the fighters were this time, only to go red as he spotted them. One was a shorter guy, though he wasn't scrawny. However, the other one was Clementine. Not only was it Clementine, but it was Clementine in a tank-top. More Clementine to see than usual, very exciting thing to happen. Even if he was wearing the wolf mask, that didn't stop Diablo from needing to rub his face until the blush went away. It was cool, he was chill, definitely not flushed anymore.

Clementine grabbed the shorter enforcer by the throat and slammed him into the floor hard enough to make Diablo wince at the sight. Sparring was fun, but he was glad he wasn't an enforcer in a match with another enforcer like that. They always came out bruised pretty bad in spots.

Suddenly, Clementine turned his head and looked right at Diablo. He waved quickly with his free hand, "Hey!" Then, a foot connected with his stomach and he was back in the thick of the fight.

Diablo clutched his shirt as he went red again. Clementine had just enthusiastically greeted him. What the hell. So obviously, Diablo joined in on the cheering for Clementine for the rest of his match.

~~~

Clementine rubbed the back of the mask's neck awkwardly and chuckled a bit, "I'm fine, it's just a scrapped knee. I've literally been shot before, a scrape won't end me."

"Yeah well, you also said you weren't going to even disinfect it, which is stupid." Diablo shook his head as put a bandaid on his knee, "What if it got infected huh?"

Clementine shrugged a bit.

The two of them were in the bathroom, mostly because disinfecting a scrape would be awkward out in the gym. Diablo starred a bit as Clementine stretched while looking at the mirror. Clem mumbled something about being sore later.

Suddenly, Clem was looking at him again, "Do you wanna spar?"

"Huh?"

"Not in the gym, obviously. But we could spar sometime. I promise not to demolish you, you're a janitor. Not a uh...not an enforcer." Clem laughed awkwardly.

"Oh." Diablo blinked a bit, "Oh! Yeah, yeah. That sounds like fun!"

~~~

The two of them stood in the grass near a park, it was night time. Diablo thought it was a weird time to spar but Clementine had said he didn't want to go somewhere crowded, so daytime at the park was the worst idea. Not to mention, Clem shut down the idea of sparring at his place immediately.

It was strange, seeing Clementine standing there in such casual clothes. Not the same as his usual gym attire, just a simple t-shirt and basketball shorts. Even his face was a simple, patternless cloth face mask. It didn't make him less intimidating in the glow of the nearby park's lamp, but it also didn't make him less pretty either.

"Ready?" Clem asked as he stretched a bit.

Diablo nodded and grinned, "Ready!"

Oh fuck, Clementine moves fast. Terrifyingly fast for someone so big. Diablo barely ducked under the fist that was swung at him and shouted, "Woah! Are you trying to knock me out?!"

Clementine blinked and backed away from him, "Sorry, do you want me to slow down? I just watched how you move enough that I knew you'd be able to dodge that fast enough. I can slow down if it makes you more comfortable."

"Watched me?"

"It's important to know how everyone moves. You never know when you will need to know how to take them out."

Diablo winced a bit, "Right...just slow down a bit. I'll let you know if I want to speed up, alright? Even if I can dodge something that quick, it's kind of stressful with how much power you put into a fast punch like that."

Clementine nodded a bit.

Diablo grinned and swung at Clem, only to be dodged and have his legs swept out from under him by Clementine's leg. He rolled and sprang back to his feet. This was going to be an interesting time, wasn't it?

~~~

Diablo had been doing very well, had even knocked Clementine on his ass a few times beforehand. The problem was, he forgot that Clementine could pick him up like a doll if he tried to. Which, he eventually did try exactly that.

Diablo had kicked at the man, only to be sidestepped. What he thought would happen would be another punch, but that wasn't what happened at all. Instead, clem had grabbed him by the chin with one hand and had his under one under Diablo's arm. Before he even realized what was happening, he'd been picked up and held in the air. Now he was staring down into Clementine's eyes.

He knew Clementine wasn't going to hurt him, he had grabbed him in a way that wouldn't hurt him. That didn't mean he didn't feel like a deer staring at a wolf, just a little. Was this what it was like to know that he was going to kill you? That's fucked up.

"You okay?" Clementine set him back down.

Diablo blinked, "Yeah, I uh, I was just caught off guard. Sorry. Most people don't grapple each other like that. It's usually less being held in whatever that way was."

Clementine fiddled with his shirt and looked down, "Sorry. I got a bit carried away...thought it would be fun to see if you'd be able to stop that...or get out of it..."

"You are such a dork!" Diablo laughed.

"H-huh?!"