It's Like Running Away

"Was that one also with a girl?" he asked. "Or just a really sucky guy?"

"Oh, it was a guy. I thought he liked me, but I was wrong." Dodge shrugged and then suddenly realized that while they were talking they had arrived at the track. "Distracted already," he muttered, frowning and beginning to stretch.

"Sounds awkward,"Aiden commented, making no move to get ready for running. "Has it been getting progressively better in a way since? Mostly, anyway..."

"Oh, everything since has been great." Dodge grabbed at his foot and used it to stretch out the muscles in his legs, feeling the welcome tug and slight burn of everything warming up. He knew it looked kind of spastic, but sexy stretching didn't actually do much of anything. "Most of it at least. And now there's us of course." He smiled sincerely at Aiden.

Aiden found himself smiling back. "Of course. Despite all of the initial bumps..." He frowned for a moment, thinking back to how things had been at first and reflected on how they had changed so much even in just a short period of time.

"You're a quick study, I guess. Not that I'm the best person to be learning relationships from." Dodge straightened up and looked at Aiden expectantly, raising an eyebrow. "You planning on learning some more about running from me, or am I just the love guru now?"

Aiden laughed. "You're so weird," he said only a bit fondly. "But I suppose that's okay." However, he completely ignored the question in favor of looking around distractedly.

"I'm gonna take that as a no to the running, then," Dodge joked. "You just gonna stand around? 'Cause that's weirder than me, even."

"I'd love to run, just not today. Most days. Is that gonna be a problem?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth quirking up slightly.

"Not for me, no," Dodge answered, his tone becoming slightly more serious. "But the Gen might have something to say about it."

"Yeah, he would," he agreed. "Which means I should definitely probably do something. Alright, get to the teaching then. Maybe I'll have miraculously improved since last time and you'll stop nagging me about it."

"Hey, everyone needs teaching. You think I don't get yelled at about losing form when I zone out? If you want to escape nagging, track is not a good choice. Or any sport, really. Maybe Quodpot, you can kind of get away with anything there. Now warm up or you're going to pull a muscle."

"I know that. I meant the whole 'you need to practice' nagging, since I do sort of keep putting it off. Totally my own fault. Mostly, I guess. Sometimes yours." He shrugged. "I know how to avoid pulled muscles. And I do like avoiding it. Those things suck."

"I've actually had quite a few very satisfying pulled muscles, if just for the memory of how they happened...." Dodge allowed himself to get lost in his thoughts for a second and smiled dreamily. "And I'll accept any and all responsibility for distracting you from practicing. Feel free to ask me to do it more often."

Aiden looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Is that one of those things I don't want to ask about?" he asked. "And yes, do take responsibility for your actions. It's very good for you." He paused thoughtfully. "I'd ask you to now, but I do actually need to do practice sometime or another. Putting it off only increases the risk of both of us getting told off."

"You can ask about anything. I'm just not sure what color your face would turn over some of those stories." Ai didn't exactly take the same amount of glee as Dodge did from X-rated memories. "I always take responsibility, what are you talking about? I have a whole list of people I've de...virginal...ized? I think I just invented a word. Anyway. Where did I leave off last time we were practicing?"

"I'm sure my face would turn a very nice tomato color, knowing you." Although, that didn't stop him from almost asking anyway, just out of pure curiosity. "...how long a list?"

"I can count it on....I think I need both hands. I'd have to consult it to be sure, though."

He nodded slowly. "That's quite a lot, for only being 17 (18? fuck if I remember. he says whichever is right.)."

Dodge shrugged, making another attempt to tick them off on his fingers and not really getting anywhere. "Everybody was a virgin once, especially when they were young. I just caught on quicker, I guess." It wasn't like he'd gone around collecting virgins. He was pretty sure his sister and Stevie had that covered well enough. "I guess a lot of guys probably thought it was good to get it over with with me, you know? Then they'd know what to do when they got a boyfriend or something and didn't want to embarrass themselves." (yes, he's 18 dear. )

"Suppose so," Ai reluctantly agreed. "You already know where I stand in terms of all of that."

Dodge had already begun to nod when he realized that wasn't exactly true. "Not really, no. I mean, I know that this is all new for you, but I don't really know what's going on in your head about it. I'm supposed to want to talk about that, right?"

"Why are you asking me? I don't know what you're supposed to want to do in a relationship. I guess talking about stuff makes sense, since communication is important and all that... I dunno. Can we just run now?" Because he really didn't want to think or talk about relationships or sex or feelings or anything at the moment. He was still wrapping his head around it all, even if he had been getting better recently.

"Well, I can't ask myself. I just said I wasn't really the relationships expert. You think more than I do, anyway." Dodge couldn't really be bothered thinking on it if he wasn't going to have any help. "I found a way to make you want to run," he said smugly, grinning.

"Running away from things I don't like is going to become something I do a lot, I think. Or already is. I've never really thought about it, to be honest..." he said, mostly to himself, as though thinking out loud.