OOM/IM: The Workout

[iprotectyou]

It can be said that Baze Malbus, having only once drank alcohol before he came to Milliways, is starting to become a lush. He dips into the moonshine stores frequently, enough that he's starting to worry Chirrut, and he knows it.

After his drinking contest and scare with Cassidy, where Baze imbibed enough moonshine that he lost count of the bottles, he's sleeping off his nasty hangover in the early, early morning. He snores loudly, having thrown an arm over his head, completely given over to a dreamless sleep.

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[idontneedluck]

Chirrut has not been particularly careful about keeping quiet this morning as he goes about his routine, but it hasn't made a bit of difference. Baze is dead (hah) to the world, snoring with a commitment some would envy. It is... painfully early, Chirrut knows, and he longs to be back in bed, curled up next to Baze's warmth.

Instead he heads out into the hall.

A few minutes later, he returns with a bucket of ice, which he upends over Baze, with some satisfaction.

[iprotectyou]

Baze sits bolt upright, gasping as the ice rolls off him--and lodges in his undershirt and briefs.

"Kriff! Kriff! Chirrut!" Baze says, shivering in his ice-covered skivvies.

"What is wrong with you?"

[idontneedluck]

"Good morning!" Chirrut carols, beaming. "It's time to train, and when you come back, you can strip the bed since it seems to be wet."

[iprotectyou]

Chirrut's cheerful greeting rings right through Baze's pounding head. He clutches his temples, groaning. His eyes are dry. He's thirsty. His mouth tastes like a lothcat defecated in it. He's dizzy, and nauseated, and weak, and exhausted, and and and... generally miserable.

This is unfair. Baze wants to protest being woken up this early in the morning, and with ice. But Chirrut did say Baze would hate him. And Baze promised that he wouldn't.

He shouldn't have made that promise.

If Chirrut hadn't used the damn ice, Baze would roll over in bed and pull the covers over his head. Ingenious, devilish man. Damn him. He can go to blazes and rot, Baze thinks, scrubbing at his dry, itchy eyes.

"I don't hate you yet," Baze insists, trying not to lie.

He rolls out of bed, blinking blearily, and searches for his jumpsuit. The clean one, not the one soaked in moonshine and sweat. He nearly trips over his own feet.

[idontneedluck]

"We haven't begun training yet." Chirrut replies with a devilish grin. "Come on, time waits for no man." He hurries Baze along towards the 'fresher, oblivious to the dark.

Light switches?

...

Who needs light switches?

[iprotectyou]

Chirrut forgot to turn on the lights, and Baze is not about to remind him. The light would stab into Baze's eyeballs and make him want to cry. He staggers, knees weak and wobbly, towards the 'fresher, and catches himself on the door trim before he falls over entirely.

Once there, he makes liberal use of the toilet--emptying the contents of his stomach and dry heaving afterward. Baze then stands under the shower numbly, trying to keep from shaking. He's nervous about what Chirrut has planned, unusually so. Baze's heart races and his hands tremble, and he hopes that Chirrut just forgets him in the shower.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut is a nice man. He waits twenty minutes before banging on the door.

"Come on, get a move on Malbus. You can hide in there all you want, but you're still going to train today." He calls, giving the door another thump.

[iprotectyou]

Damn. Chirrut is on to him. Baze finishes scrubbing himself down, and rinses off. He turns off the scalding hot water, steps out of the shower, and runs the towel over his rapidly-cooling skin.

He still feels like bantha poodoo, like someone scraped him off the bottom of their boot. His headache has only worsened, from a dull roar to a fierce pounding.

He dresses in his jumpsuit, and dons his armor. Then he takes up his staff.

"Okay. I'm ready."

Nothing could be further from the truth.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut looks just as pleased about this development, but he's resolved. He chivvies Baze downstairs, and then outside into a Scotland morning so cold it's almost like being home. A damp version of home.

[iprotectyou]

Waking Baze up in the early morning, only to take him outside in the freezing November cold? Chirrut must be really concerned. Baze feels a stab of guilt, which only makes the hangover worse.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut finds their usual training grounds, and assumes the first form in their usual pattern. His stance is impeccable despite the (very) early morning and his own case of hatred of said early mornings.

Then he waits for Baze to mirror his stance, and start their morning forms.

[iprotectyou]

Baze grips his staff, wishing he could blow on his hands. He warms up a little as he and Chirrut move through their (early) morning routine, muscles loosening and becoming more pliable as they swing their staves and perform kicks. Baze is clumsy; his hangover causes him to be too loose and weak in his joints.

He hopes Chirrut will forgive him.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut forgives, in that he doesn't actually rap feet and hands gone wrong with his staff as his own master would have, but he does make them go through the routine again.

And again.

And again, until it's at least approximating normal.

[iprotectyou]

Baze knows Chirrut will grind him into the dust if he tries to stop, so he doesn't. He continues pushing himself through the routine, forcing his movements to be sharper, his kicks higher, his swings harder.

Nothing is easy. Baze groans when they come to a pause in between routines, his jumpsuit slick with sweat. He's so terribly thirsty.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut pauses, then settles himself on a convenient rock.

(It's the first time he's thought of that rock as convenient all morning, it's just at the right height to smash into his shins if he's unwary.)

"You should take the shower first." He smirks, settling his staff across his thighs. "You need it."

[iprotectyou]

Baze moved that rock specifically for Chirrut to sit on earlier in the year. The larger Guardian would be glad that the smaller one was using the seat for its intended purpose if Baze wasn't so busy being resentful. Hmph!

He doesn't sit on the ground, as is his usual wont. He knows that if he sits, he'll never get up again.

"You worked me hard," Baze says, which is the closest he'll come to complaining.

"Do I get to go to bed after a shower--and changing the damn sheets?"

[idontneedluck]

"Sure, if you want." Chirrut shrugs, looking confused. "You don't need my permission."

[iprotectyou]

"What? You don't have anything else planned for this early morning?" Baze grumbles, grounding his staff--and leaning on it a little. He squints at Chirrut in the dim light of false dawn.

"What's the point of getting up this early if you're going to let me go back to bed?"

This is a rhetorical question. Baze knows exactly why Chirrut woke him up.

"Don't answer that."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut opens his mouth to answer, but closes it again at Baze's command, and shrugs. He figures Baze already knows.

[iprotectyou]

"Waking me up with ice was smart. I would have gone back to bed immediately otherwise," Baze says, biting back a groan at his headache--which slams into him with renewed vigor.

"Don't do that again, please."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut shrugs again, because if it becomes necessary...

Yes.

Yes, he will do it again.

He makes no promises he doesn't intend on keeping.

[iprotectyou]

Hmph. Hmph! Baze scowls at his friend, who the larger Guardian knows is only looking out for his best interest. Still doesn't make waking up like this any more comfortable.

Which is the point. Still!

Since Chirrut isn't going to be any more forthcoming, and Baze is about to fall over as he stands, he starts the walk back to the bar. His steps are heavy and plodding; he aches, from the cold biting into his arthritic knees to the general malaise of the hangover to the soreness of training, he is a walking sore spot.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut, tired but much more lively, keeps pace, mostly to make sure Baze doesn't stop out here and freeze. It's bitterly cold, now that they aren't working hard. He does, however, let Baze go on ahead once they're inside, while he stops off to pick up some water and order tea to be brought upstairs.

[iprotectyou]

Baze grumbles. He grumbles as he sets his staff in its place on the weapon rack. He grumbles as he removes his armor. And he grumbles as he strips the bed, glaring at the wet sheets and mattresses. He soaks up as much of the water as he can, lays extra towels across the mattresses, and replaces the sheets.

That task done, he hops into the shower. He nearly falls asleep, leaning against the wall, but shakes himself under the spray. After he rinses off the second soaping up of the morning, he stretches in the nude, and then dons his fluffy, terry-cloth robe.

He doesn't speak to Chirrut as he exits, because Baze is still headachy, still sick to his stomach, and still generally irritated. He picks up a cup of sapir and settles on the drying mattress--and almost falls asleep again.

No, damn it, he needs to stay awake until Chirrut finishes his shower. I can do this, he tells himself. I can... I...

His head dips towards his chest, and he almost spills his tea in his lap.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut indulges in a few of the new products in the ever-changing basket (water showers and baths are one of his favorite things here, he will never ignore their allure completely). But he hurries a little, knowing that Baze is tired, and not wanting to incur Baze's wrath if he's prematurely woken a second time today.

He's just in time to rescue the teacup before it goes tumbling towards the floor.

[iprotectyou]

"Oh," Baze says, offering Chirrut a sleepy smile.

"Good morning, Chirrut."

Baze slumps over in the bed, snoring softly.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut smiles, setting the teacup aside before lightly tracing his fingers over Baze's face, getting a good long 'look'. He's fairly sure that Baze's expression hasn't been this gentle all morning, but it is good to find it now.

Soon he has himself bundled up into bed as well, and the early morning... can go deal with itself, for now.