Chapter Text
"Jesus Christ..." The words drag from your lips, feeling like sand in your dry mouth. The sun beats across your face, and it takes an incredible amount of willpower to crack them open, groaning. It feels like someone has shoved an icepick into your skull, and your stomach rolls, taking a second before you can make yourself sit up, squeezing your eyes shut until the world doesn't feel like it's going to shift on you.
One might say you weren't handling being broken up with well, especially if the empty bottles of liquor scattered across the floor was any indication of that. Once it seemed that the floor was going to stay where it was supposed to, you lean down, gripping and almost empty bottle and tossing the burning liquid back. It feels like your stomach is going to empty its contents again, but you force everything to stay down.
Standing, you toss on a pair of comfy sweats and a sports bra, pulling a lose fitting hoody over it, your hair going atop your head in a messy bun. If it weren't for the fact that you desperately needed to take out some aggression you probably wouldn't have bothered getting up to go to training, but today was hand to hand and you weren't about to pass that up.
On your way to the gym, you grab a coffee and a water, one for the exhaustion that coated every inch of your being, the other to try and be at least a little responsible. It wasn't a secret that you had been hitting the bottle, in fact, you were sure most people were aware you weren't exactly sober throughout the day, but nobody had really said anything to you. You weren't sure if that was because they felt bad, or if they didn't exactly care.
The gym is packed, a swarm of new recruitments bouncing around the room, eager and excited, easy to pick out from the people who had been there a while. There are a few faces you recognize, other people out on various missions and such, but you don't make an effort to approach anyone, instead opting to find a quiet corner to stretch in, your muscles aching from not being used like they are used to, though it doesn't take long before you start to feel warmed up, your joints loosening, adrenaline starting to creep through your veins.
The actual class part seems to drag on, and you bounce on your toes a little, keeping your body moving as you watch the demonstrations. Before long though your paired off with one of the new recruits, bristling as he snickers to his friends while you toss off your hoodie, catching bits and pieces of comments about being a girl and other horribly lame and sexist things. With there being so many people, everyone has to be split into groups, each pair taking a turn while being monitored by a more senior officer, yours being Keegan.
He stands stoic as always, waiting for each of you to confirm you're ready before he nods, signaling the start. You waste no time darting forward, catching the recruit off guard as he snaps his fist out forward, his knuckles brushing against your shoulder. Clearly, he's not pulling his punches, as just the graze sends an ache through your bones. Fine, if he's not pulling punches, neither are you.
Using his surprise, you twist your body around his, catching him in the gut with your fist as you rotate around him, wrapping your forearm around his neck and putting him a headlock as he doubles over in pain. You wrap your legs around his back, clinging to him as he flails, tightening your grip and refusing to let go, even as he falls to his back, his body crushing you under him.
Finally, he taps, and the second you feel his fingertips tap against your arm, you let go, shoving his body off of you as he pants, his face red. His friends chuckling as he clambers to his feet, and even you can tell he's pissed. Doesn't matter though, he shouldn't have come at you the way he did. you hop up to your feet, nodding at a few of the officers you know before heading back to stand around the circle.
Before you can get too far though, a hand wraps around your hair, yanking you backwards. "You bitch." The voice comes from recruit, and you jerk your body around, trying to free yourself as his fist come hurtling at your face. You're able to twist yourself to the side, his fist glancing your cheek instead of hitting you full force, but it fucking hurts. He cocks back, aiming to throw another your way, but it doesn't come.
A big hand circles around his, keeping his fist from connecting, and it takes a second for you to realize that Keegan has stepped in. You can't see his expression past his mask, but his eyes flash with anger as he pulls the other man off you, relief seeping into your scalp as your hair is released. Your cheek throbs, the pain dulled by the alcohol and the leftover adrenaline, promising to hurt much worse later.
The man snarls as he steps back from you, his eyebrow furrowing as Keegan's grip tightens around his fist, letting go only when the man can no longer play tough. You've already scrambled to your feet, standing slightly behind Keegan, your blood boiling and hands shaking. It takes a lot of will power to not lunge after him, but it seems Keegan can read your mind as he steps fully in front of you. He's murmuring something to the man, but his voice is so low that you can't hear him over the sound of your heartbeat pounding in your ears.
The recruit retreats, his friends in tow behind. He casts one last glance your way, one that you swear drips with warning, his cheeks red with fury and embarrassment from the whole situation. Part of you feels a shiver of fear creep up your spine, but it's easy enough to brush it away as your cheek throbs, a little less dull than before.
You can feel eyes glued to you and it makes your stomach knot with tension. Giving everyone a nod, you turn, grabbing your hoodie off the floor and quickly making your way to the exit, horribly uncomfortable with the whole situation, it wasn't bad enough that everyone knew you were going through a breakup, but now the word would spread about this, and you weren't thrilled with the added attention it bound to bring.
Wrapped up in your own thoughts, you don't hear the added footsteps behind yours, until a hand gently touches your shoulder, making you whirl around in a blind panic. To your surprise though, it isn't the recruit, it's Keegan, a look of concern creasing his hidden features. Of course, he was going to follow after you, check to see if you were okay. Before you had been with your ex, there had been a brief fling between you two, only ending because he went away on a mission and you had to stay behind, both of you coming to the mutual agreement that it would be best to just end things.
"You okay?" It's shocking the way his concern sends butterflies through your stomach, though it also could be the adrenaline starting to come down. It wasn't like you were super stable before captain aggressive had lost his shit, but at this point your nerves were shot, you were pretty sure you were still a little drunk, and his kindness boke the last bit that was holding you together as tears pool in your eyes.
"No." The broken words slip past your lips before the first tear falls and a pair of strong arms wrap around you, pulling you close.