Clover’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t trained with Drake since the… since the torture. Tank had pulled him into doing things once his scars had healed, but Drake hadn’t even talked to him back then, let alone touched him.
Clover yearned for the normalcy of the past. “No! I’m ready,” he said and gave Pyro one more kiss.
Boar offered them a smile and pulled Pyro into his own arms, that looked even more massive than they used to. “How about some waffles? I’ll make the ones with peanut butter you like so much,” he said softly, and Clover was relieved to see Pyro nod.
They returned into the house holding hands, and it created a picture so domestic and sweet Clover’s yearning for Tank bubbled up inside his chest and made his eyes sting. Boar was back, but their family still felt incomplete, with a Tank-sized hole in the very middle.
“You wanna start with a run?” Drake asked.
Clover had to take a deep breath to compose himself. “Only if you actually let me keep up,” he said, but bolted forward before Drake could have given him the start signal.
Drake’s laugh was a pleasure to his ears, even if brief. Moments later, before Clover’s heart could have accelerated to accommodate his new pace, Drake caught up to him, making good use of his long legs.
“Show off,” Clover said with a groan, but he wasn’t really annoyed. Being able to talk like this was such a profound change after seeing Drake drift away from their team for months.
Drake smirked and rushed just enough to provoke Clover rather than outrun him to the point of humiliation. Maybe there was a bit more power left in Clover’s limbs after all?
They raced down the path leading away from the house and toward a picturesque ravine. Drake remained in the lead, which not only motivated Clover but also offered a distracting view of Drake’s ass moving under his jogging bottoms.
He was such a hunk of a man. Nowhere near as big as Tank but so well formed, with wider shoulders and a proportional body packed with toned muscle. His hair had grown longer too, since Drake hadn’t cut it in a while, so the ponytail reached all the way between his shoulder blades.
The run got Clover hot, but the cool autumn wind was the perfect antidote, and the sun peeking down on them through the treetops, which still remained dense, fueled a hunger for exercise Clover hadn’t felt in a while.
He didn’t know how long it took, but when Drake reached the ravine, he stopped in the dense grass on one side of the narrow crack in the hill.
“Feels good, huh?” Drake asked, glancing at Clover with a slight flush.
Clover needed to take his time panting before he could speak. “As long as we don’t meet a bear.”
“Relax. I’m armed,” Drake said before unbuckling his belt and resting it in the grass along with the holster. His black eyes seared into Clover in that creepy way Clover also found kind of hot.
“What made you want to train with me again?” Clover raised his eyebrows, suddenly self-conscious about his lazy outfit consisting of sweatpants and Tank’s T-shirt. Drake appeared so sleek and collected in comparison. Sure, he also wore similar pants, but his were more fitted, and his long-sleeve was skin tight, exposing all his drool-worthy muscles.
“I want to make sure you remember what to do next time Pyro has a fit.”
Clover groaned. “He wouldn’t actually hurt me. If anything, he needs the exercise to feel better about himself.”
Drake chewed on his lip and looked down the shadowy ravine. “Either way, you need to stay in shape. Just in case it’s needed.”
Clover nodded like a good little soldier. “I missed doing this with you. Tank is so much taller than me I need to use special techniques.” He jogged in place, excited for the sparring.
Drake stilled for half a second, then pulled off his top and tossed it at the other items. “I’m sure you’ll train with him again soon enough.”
“Oh? Oh? That’s is how it is?” Clover laughed and took off his T-shirt in challenge.
“It’s too hot,” Drake told him before cracking his knuckles.
It’ll be too hot when you get close, but Clover saved that comment for himself. He made the first move, attempting to land a punch, and he was exhilarated to find that when Drake blocked him and made an attack of his own, Clover was able to instinctively avoid it. His muscle memory was still solid after all this time, and he pirouetted into the next move.
“Not too bad,” Drake said, spinning him around and then locking Clover’s head with one arm. This brought Clover’s back to Drake’s chest in a moment of long-lost intimacy, but he wouldn’t show his weakness and held on to Drake’s arm, attempting to throw him forward.