♠️♥️High Card Short Story 6 “An Afternoon with Finn and Chris” (1/3)♦️♣️
What do car dealers do on their lunch break? Finn, for one, took Chris out to the backyard of the store...
Original: https://twitter.com/highcard_pj/status/1540170704884072448
Author: https://twitter.com/poipheno
Artist: https://twitter.com/ebimoji3
Lunch break. I stuffed a sandwich into my mouth and dragged Chris out through the backdoor by his arm.
“Finn~ I was planning to eat dessert after my lunch, you know~”
“You’ve promised to do it today, remember? Come on, let’s go.”
The backyard was bathed in soft sunlight, and purple flowers were blooming from the plants tended by Bernard-ojiichan and Vijay.
“What a pushy kid. Fine, just give a moment.”
Chris, who appeared reluctant, didn’t move from his spot as he shoved a spoonful of pudding from the jar into his mouth.
“Hurry up. We don’t have much time.”
“Okay, okay. I got it.”
Previously, I had gotten Chris to promise that he would teach me martial arts. Long story short, we had been busy with our job as car dealers, and thus our plan had been postponed several times, but today both of us could finally make it.
“I’m not a fan of getting all sweaty with men, though.”
“Stop saying disgusting stuff so often. Come on, hurry up and teach me already!”
“I don’t think it’s anything worth teaching.”
I took off my suit jacket, pulled my necktie off, then draped them over a garden bench. I also took off my watch and rolled up the sleeves of my shirt.
“I mean, Finn, you’re already pretty good at fighting. Surely you have no need for extra training?”
“No problem, just teach me what you know!”
Before I joined High Card, I used to do boxing casually with my friends. However, after going on several missions with Chris, I learned that people who have been through intense training are on an entirely different level compared to those who don’t.
According to what he told me, it seemed that Chris had been trained in martial arts by his father when he was young. His basic skills laid in muay thai and MMA—mixed martial arts. In short, he could do anything in terms of full body combat.
“Very well, for the sake of my cute junior, I guess I can afford to take off a layer or two. One thrust at a time, maybe something more would come out of this, yeah?[*]”
I had no idea what he meant by that, but Chris simply chuckled at me.
“Show me what you’ve got.”
“’Kay.”
I took a shoulder-width stance by putting my left foot forward, then held up both of my fists to the height of my cheeks.
“My style is kind of like boxing. Here it comes, shadow.”
Shadow is a term for when one attacks or dodges while imagining their opponent in their head.
One-two, hook, uppercut, body-ducking, and swayback, I alternated between hitting and dodging.
The cobblestones on the ground rubbed against my leather soles, producing a crisp sound.
“So, how was it? What should I change to improve?”
I panted heavily through my nose.
“Isn’t that already good enough the way it is?”
“What the hell, there’s no way that’s true! Tell me your actual thoughts!”
“No, no, I’m serious. You did good enough. To be fair, on our missions, we don’t usually get into situations where we must go wild in a fistfight, anyway.”
“It did happen last time, though.”
“Finn has sharp eyesight, so you’ll be just fine. Besides, this place is not ideal for training to begin with. MMA especially requires us to work as a pair and involves a lot of getting thrown down. If you’ll follow me to my bed, perhaps then I would reconsider.”
Ignoring his joke, I turned on my heels.
“Alright then! I’m just gonna ask Wendy to teach me.”
In an instant Chris was grabbing on my arm.
“Stop right there! Wendy doesn’t know how to take it easy when giving a lesson, she will definitely break you!”
“So hurry up and teach me instead.”
“Okay, okay. So eager to get back together after breaking up with me, huh.”
Chris took off his suit jacket and threw it over the garden bench. Following that he pulled his necktie off and undid his first button. He took off his dark green watch, then finally rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Due to his tall height, he might seem slender at a glance, but his arms were strong with visible blue veins running all the way down to his wrists.
“Here we go, let’s get into position one more time.”
As I was getting ready, Chris walked around behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders, rubbing on them.
“Hmm, nice frame.”
“Don’t get too handsy with me.”
“No, I’m just stating the truth? Not only you have good eyesight, but you also have a strong body, and you’re surprisingly flexible. Alright, go ahead and start with another one-two.”
I gave him a one-two.
“There’s an opening on your side. Also, your left side isn’t extended wide enough. Since Finn is ambidextrous, if closely observed, your balance when throwing a hit is better than most people.”
While saying that, Chris kept his hands on my hip bones the entire time. It bugged me, but I held on.
“Leave yourself to me, and relax.”
“No need to say unnecessary stuff.”
“Now, pay attention on how you rotate your left hip.”
“Like this?”
“Pull your shoulders in a bit more. Don’t tuck your chin.”
“So, like this?”
“Don’t let your body get carried away. Plant your feet firmly on the ground.”
“Then how about this—!”
Suddenly, whoosh, a faint sound of my fist cutting through the air could be heard.
“Woah! That sound just now, did you catch that?!?! That’s one hell of a punch!”
“Well, you pretty much got it. However, sports and an actual combat are two different things. If you stick to your own rules you will lose, such is the theory of fighting. Thankfully Finn is already good at making things up on the spot, so why not trust your own eyes and intuition?”
“If you say so..... but first, get your hands off my waist.”
With a grin tugging on his lips, Chris held up both of his hands comically.
♠️♥️♦️♣️
TL notes: Chris “sexual innuendo” Redgrave, everyone. [*] This is not exactly what he says but you get the idea. Also, this is the best pun I can come up with at the moment. Once again I’m not posting this one in the correct order but I feel like this must be done before episode 9! As usual, let’s enjoy High Card together~
