*A81C7's POV*
I wake up and feel very comfortable, and warm as well. I open my eyes, and see my empty bed. That jolts me out of my sleep-induced haze, and I realize that last night Mor and I fell asleep in her bed. We are now very close together, holding each other, and it is very comfortable. I almost do not want to get up, but I know that I have to. I have to go and practice my self defense skills with Zac.
I carefully pull apart from Mor, untangling my legs and pulling my right arm out from underneath her. I sigh with relief when I see that I have not woken up Mor. She hates to be woken up in the morning. Archer is still asleep, but he usually wakes up around this time or only slightly later, so I decide it would be okay to wake him.
I walk over and tap his shoulder lightly, waking him. I leave him for a minute to wake up, while I go to change my clothes in the nearest bathroom. After I check to make sure my clothes are exercise appropriate, or as appropriate as I have which is a pair of black leggings with a sports bra and a large muted dark blue long sleeve sweater type shirt, which should be okay to move around in but also not too cold, I walk back to our room.
I see that Archer is also awake and dressed, looking wide awake as he always is in the morning.
"Archie, would you like to come and help with my training before you go to the kitchen?" I quietly ask, as to not wake Mor.
"Sure, I guess, why not," He replies, and we walk out.
We go outside, to the training area I saw yesterday. On our way there I see only a few people around jogging and walking, so I assume not many people are awake at this time, or maybe they just have not left their homes since there is no breakfast yet. It is quite early, so I assume Zac is an early riser just as Archer is.
When we get to the training area, I see Zac is already there. He looks at me before both him and Archer see each other. They both smile a bit wider, before Archer turns to me.
"You didn't tell me who was training you," He says.
"Well, it is Zac," I respond with a small smile.
We walk over to Zac, and he begins by questioning me.
"What type of training have you had?" Is his first question, and I cannot answer that. I have not really had any training. I have had experimentation, gained information, and experience from the two times I was kidnapped.
"Some, I know enough," I respond vaguely. I stop to think of telling him about my abilities, but decide against it. I have only known him one day, and have no idea how he would respond.
"Well, why don't we just start? Actions speak louder than words," Archer says, probably remembering my unique past.
"Okay," Zac says, and then turns to throw a controlled punch towards my abdomen.
I dodge the punch, knowing it would come seconds before it did. Gained information comes quicker when I am in danger, or perceived danger, so combat is not too hard for me.
Zac continues throwing weak and controlled punches towards me, and I dodge every punch. Sometimes my abilities are very useful.
I do not return hits, since I am not sure if I am expected to or not.
"Well, you can definitely dodge. How about you return some hits? Archie, could you watch her technique for anything I miss?" He asks.
Archer and I both nod, before I advance. I change my stance from defensive to offensive, which I know though I never learned it.
I throw a punch towards Zac's head, but he blocks it and kicks towards my left leg, which I dodge. I kick his stomach and he blocks, he punches and I dodge, and we continue.
We exchange missed blows for a few minutes, with Archer occasionally telling me to adjust the stance of a leg or shift one or both of my arms if they drop, but neither of us actually get in a hit.
While fighting, I continue to gain information about Zac's fighting information, and learn some myself from observing him. After five minutes, I think I know how to get him down.
I punch to his left side, which he blocks. This causes him to slightly expose his right leg, being less grounded. I immediately follow the punch to his side with a kick, then spin, kicking towards the back of his right knee which he is unable to block. Zac stumbles, and I take my chance.
I roll to his right, sending a powerful roundhouse kick, before I flip over Zac and push his back, sending him to the ground.
I smile, proud of my achievement, while Archer steps closer to check if Zac is alright while attempting to pretend that he is not.
"That was... How?! That was amazing!" Zac says, getting back up.
"Well, I did say that I know enough," I say.
"Why did you spend so much time just exchanging blows with me?" Zac asks.
"So I could analyze your technique. You are much stronger than any human, so pure force just will not work, I needed to out-skill you," I explain.
"I should've known you were doing something when you kept returning the same hits, never trying anything more aggressive and also not getting frustrated like you usually do when you can't get something. You really are something. I don't really think you need help with self defense or combat," Acher comments.
"I second that, you're better than me, and I was considered qualified by both Alphas," Zac says.
"I have to get to the kitchen, see you guys later?" Archer asks.
"Yeah," I say, and Zac nods.
Zac seems much less quiet once he begins to interact with someone, and... breaks his shell? Gets his shell? Mor said it was something like that anyways.
"We could do punching bag drills," Zac says, looking away from Archers retreating figure.
"Sure," I say, and we move over to the bags.
We both work on combination drills, as well as some strength training which mostly consists of bodyweight exercises, in a peaceful silence. Unlike before, there is no tension and we are both more comfortable being next to each other even when we are not actively conversing.
After we are done, Zac walks away to who knows where, and I decide to go over to the daycare and see Mor since the patrol shift for Zac and I is not until much later.
I walk over to the daycare, and see many more people around since it is later in the day. Some of them are doing work while others seem to simply be conversing, reading, or using their cell phones.
A few people give me strange looks, probably due to the fact that they do not recognize me and I am a human, but most of the people wave, smile, or do not notice me at all.
When I reach the daycare, I see that the children and Mor are outside, enjoying the nice day, so I walk around the building to the area in the back where the children are playing.
I notice the group seem much smaller than the number of children I saw yesterday while making my way to Mor. Mor turns and sees me approaching, then waves me over.
"Hello," I greet when I reach Mor.
"Hey, whatcha doin' over here?" Mor asks.
"Well, I beat Zac in combat, so we just did drills on the punching bag as well as some bodyweight exercises. Now I do not have to patrol until later, so I decided to visit you," I explain.
"Okay, that's cool. This job isn't too hard, I only gotta watch the kids aged 9 and 10 so it's pretty chill, there's only 'bout 4 or 5 kids here usually," Mor says.
"That sounds nice," I reply.
"I'll be right back," Mor says, before walking over to a young girl.
I stand and watch the children playing games, laughing, and running around. They look to be having a great deal of fun, and I cannot help but feel jealous. I never got to do that, none of us got to have this kind of childhood. We were stuck in the lab.
I see Mor talking with some of the kids, helping them, and making them laugh. She really is good with people of all ages, and I wish I was good with people, with children.
Mor comes back over, and just then I notice Archer approaching us. I wave and smile, as does Mor, and he greets us.
"I brought some breakfast over after I finished all my kitchen duties, thought it'd be nice for all of us to eat together," He says, and starts unpacking food. We sit down at a nearby table, and I notice extra food. Mila, Axel, and Zac must be coming.
A few minutes later, Axel, Mila, and Zac are here sitting with us, and we are all eating together. Zac is next to Archer, with Mila sitting on the other side of Zac, I am across from Archer, Mor is next to mo, and next to Mor is Axel.
We all talk for a short while, until both Axel and Mila have to go work. Archer leaves to take a walk with Zac, and that leaves just Mor and I.
Mor makes sure to keep a close eye on the kids, and I sit down to read. I quite enjoy books, I always have even though they were rare at New Age.
After a few hours, I say my goodbyes to Mor and the kids, only waving to them as I have no idea how to speak to children. I make my way over to the edge of the forest, where I meet Zac and we begin patrol.
"So, Zac, what do you think of Archer?" I ask after a short while of quietly patrolling.
"He's nice, why?" Zac replies.
"So, do you like him?" I question.
"Well, he's pretty nice and fun so sure," Zac says, not understanding what I mean.
"So, he's cute isn't he," I say, and Zac looks towards me.
"Um s-sure I guess," He says with a small blush.
"And, what would you think of me asking him out?" I ask, testing Zac's response.
"Cool," He says quietly, obviously trying to hide his jealousy. I break out into a smile, knowing that Zac definitely likes Archer.
"You like him!" I exclaim.
"What?" Zac asks.
"You and Archer would make such a cute couple," I shout excitedly.
"Umm, I- I guess, maybe, I might like him," Zac mumbles.
"Yes! You should go for it, have you though any more about coming out?" I ask.
"I want to but I just... I don't know if I can," Zac answers.
"What if I was there with you?" I question, wanting to support Zac.
"You would do that? Help me?" Zac asks.
"Of course I would," I respond.
Zac smile slightly, and I smile back at him.
We finish our patrol, and then decide to eat dinner together with the rest of the pack that eating in the large dining area.
We all sit at a table, with a few people sat near us. Archer, Mor, and I introduce ourselves to anyone who wonders as to who we are which is only a few people. We have a quiet dinner, all eating together and casually conversing. When we finish dinner, I suggest we go somewhere to talk.
We all go outside, and then walk over to the pack house which contains our shared room. We go to the empty living room, and I pat Zac on his shoulder, encouraging him. He looks to me with wide, frightened eyes, but I just smile a motivating smile.
When Zac stands in front of us not saying anything, I move to his side and announce, "Zac, I think you have something you wanted to say?"
"Um, yeah" He says, and then send me a pleading look.
"Would you like me to?" I ask, seeing how hard this is for him. Zac nods in response.
"Zac wanted to tell us something important today, something personal. It is very hard for him to do so, but it is what he truly wants." I prompt, trying my best.
"I-I'm, um, I like guys," Zac finishes.
Mila looks surprised, Axel looks disbelieving, and Mor seems to not care much. Archer, on the other hand, looks happy and I think that Archer likes Zac ack.
"Cool," Mor says.
"Really, why did you never tell us? Did you think you couldn't?" Mila asks.
"I just was worried about what you'd think," Zac says.
Mil then hugs Zac and says, "Don't worry,"
Archer just smiles, and Axel smiles as well.
"We still love ya, man," Axel says, and everyone nods encouragingly.
We all sit for a movie, and after we finish the first one Mor and I head up to bed while the others stay for a second movie.
While I lie in my own bed, and Mor in hers, I cannot help but wish that I was back where I was yesterday. That we were sharing a bed once again.