MMX HS AU: Gym

Late.

It was her second day of school and she was late.

How late could she have been, really? Her legal guardian was the math teacher, she had come to school with him. She soon found out that she was late enough that everyone had put on their gym uniforms and were lazily waiting around the gymnasium for her arrival.

"I suppose you are the new student we've been waiting for?"

Aero turned to look at the gym teacher. He was much taller than her (not that it was a hard feat to begin with), and he had thick but short black hair with sideburns that barely touched his lower jaw.

"Sorry sir," Aero apologized, "I was talking with Oba-ue and lost track of the time and..."

"You're the charge Obawan talks about so often when in the break room?"

"Y-yes...?"

To her surprise, the teacher put a hand on her shoulder.

"To that case then, I am Signas- I'll be your teacher during the physical education period of the rest of your high school days. Should you ever take up a school sport as well, I would also be your coach."

"Good to know..." Aero mumbled as she grew more aware of how many students were looking at them.

"Dress in your gym uniform and report back here as soon as possible." Signas then told her, taking his hand off her shoulder. "We're late enough as it is and I will not tolerate a second tardy again. Do you understand me madam?"

"Yes sir." Aero nodded before quickly darting toward the locker rooms.

. . .

"As you all know, I had previously assigned you into groups of two to work and learn off of each other; but with a new student, we have new group partners." Signas told the class, who in turn let out a series of collective groans. "When I call your name, listen closely for your new partner- I'm only going to say them once so you better listen up."

"Aero," Signas then instructed, "You will be working with Zero."

For a moment, Aero looked around the gym in confusion. From the small group of students, one stepped out with long, thick blonde hair with his bangs swept to the side. With a smirk he gave her a look that informed her that she had previously messed with the wrong guy.

"Hello Aero." Zero said to her in a chilling tone that was anything but friendly. "We didn't properly meet before- my name is Zero."

Aero choose to keep her mouth shut as Signas finished up reassigning everyone's gym partners. After that, he gave the gym partners a rundown of the day's training exercise and the groups dispersed to begin the exercises.

Zero made Aero do crunches.

She hated the way she could feel her spine against the hard gym floor, so she tried to go up and down with the straightest back she could muster before going back down as softly as she could; suffice to say, this took a lot more upper body strength than what she actually had. To Zero though, it was all too hilarious to not hold back a chuckle or two.

"One... two... three..." Zero dutifully counted at Aero came up and down. "Four... five..."

"We switch at ten." Aero groaned as she came up again before going back down. Zero let out a scoff.

"Did you not hear Signas?" Zero asked her in a less than friendly tone. "He said when he blew the whistle, we switch."

"I'm fairly confident he meant we switch the activity we're doing." Aero huffed as she attempted to pull her body back up then down once more.

"We could do that too." Zero agreed coolly. "Maybe your lower body muscles function better than your upper body. Then again, math nerds aren't exactly the best at any physical sport, now are they?"

Aero sat up and glared at Zero. She used to arms to keep her propped up so that the two could have direct eye contact.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"How about," Zero then mused as if he wasn't listening to her, "When Signas blows that whistle, we go over to the track and race. Not just any race, of course, a special kind of race."

"Why would we be racing at all?" Aero asked, unamused and clenching her hands into fists.

"For some certain right of course, that's why." Zero informed her as if it were nothing. Aero wasn't an idiot, she knew there had to be more to it than that.

"What right?" Aero demanded.

"The right to fantasize about X with his clothes off."

"WHAT?!" Aero screeched in surprise before losing her balance to slamming her head on the gym floor with a sickening crack. Zero simply stared at her while Signas and a few of their fellow students looked over to see if she was alright. Feeling obligated, Zero helped Aero up, but his face was anything but friendly or joking about the matter. Noticing that some people were still looking at them, Aero quickly looked around for a corner in the gym no one was occupying and moved the two of them in that direction.

"I've only been at this school for two days now," she hissed at Zero, "What makes you think that I could have any kind of feelings at all for anyone right now? I'm still trying to remember my locker number, what force on earth makes you think that I want a relationship with one of the most popular guys in school?"

"Oh I dunno," Zero hissed back with sarcasm dripping in his voice, "Maybe it's because he's one of the most popular guys in school? Maybe you have daddy issues or something and you think he can fix them for you?"

"Daddy issues?!" Aero screeched as silently as she could so no one would look over at them and realize they were not exercising at all.

"But that's not even the tip of the iceberg, is it?" Zero hissed back. "No, you thought that you can tug on the new girl archetype that you could somehow charm your way through this school and X would notice you. You thought that you would be so saccharine sweet that no one would ever want to rival for his affections, is that it? I have a secret for you little girl, X wouldn't know romantic advances even if they were right in front of him! Do you not understand that I've been trying to make him realize he never needs anyone else when I've been there for him since we were kids?!"

Aero looked at Zero as he grew increasingly furious at her. Slowly, Aero started to let out a small chuckle that had to be forcefully contained from reaching its highest volume. Zero only became more furious  at her.

"I don't know what I find more hilarious," Aero giggled, "The idea that you're jealous from an assumption that X isn't anything but homosexual for you, or the even more hilarious thought that you actually feel intimidated by me that I might take X from you."

Zero opened his mouth to give his retort, but Signas blew his whistle, signaling for the groups to switch their activities. One darting look at the other and Zero and Aero were racing each other on the indoor track that circled the basketball court in the gym.

"The first who reaches twenty laps before Signas blows that whistle again gets to take X to the dance." Zero huffed to Aero after already completing five laps and she had only accomplished two.

"Shouldn't X be the one that decides who goes to the dance with him or not?" Aero mused through several already exhausted pants. "You say you know so much about him and care for him and stuff, but why don't you ever let him make his own decisions? Is he like a puppy to you or something? Pfft, no wonder he hasn't taken you for more than anything but a friend yet."

"Fine." Zero agreed, "If that's how it's going to be; sure, let X decide who he's going to take to the stupid dance."

"One more thing though." Aero teased. "We do nothing different than what we would normally do. We can not go out of our way and scream 'Senpai notice me!!' every time X looks in our direction. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Zero affirmed with a mumble. Aero then smirked; not the most traditional way of making a romantic rival, but it sure did make the story a bit more interesting.