#even when they go together and have their appts together she still hisses at him for days after they come home :(

[zmaragdos]

my wonderful orange cat teddy had to go to the vet unexpectedly yesterday :( but he is back home today and feeling much better :) although he is very very stinky now :|

[unholyhelbig]

Can you do the black Eye au (From Au ideas) where Aubrey is a self- defense instructor and Emily punches her right in the face during a lesson on confidence?

[A/N: Sure thing dude. Heads up, I’m very overworked and very tired right now so this is absolute shit! anyway, hope you guys have a great day!] 

Emily felt like this place needed motivational posters. Not the kind that were outlined in black and had a scenic picture of the still water that backed a mountain top. They would talk about synergy and how to work in a company better. But this place was drab enough to need a couple of fluffy cats plastered to the wall. Hang in there, don’t furget to be awesome. She smiled at herself and pulled the t-shirt over her head.

“You won’t completely hate it,” Chloe said, pulling her sneaker into her lap as she struggled with the laces. They were discolored in a powdery terra cotta. She played a lot of baseball with a local league, which is exactly where she had seen the flyer for this course in the first place.

“It’s exercise, Chloe. I hated it before we started.” Beca said, her foot resting on the bench as she laced up her own joggers. “I broke a sweat getting changed. Is that not enough to appease you?”

The answer was a firm no. Chloe had an overbearing sense of safety when it came to people she loved in her life. It started with the little things: she would make sure Emily’s shirt was tucked in before she went to the office and leave little sticky notes on the mirror of their apartment telling her to be confident before a meeting. She had bought Emily a taser when she started taking the subway, and now she had convinced her girlfriend to join them for a lesson in self-defense. It was all because she cared.

“That radio station is sketchy, babe.” Chloe continued, tugging at the tongue of her sneaker before she shoved her foot into it. “I don’t like the way Ryan looks at you.”

“He’s my co-host on a radio show. You don’t know how he looks at me.”

“I gave him a background check when I hired him.” Emily defended, earning a hard glare from the redhead. “or, you know, totally can’t check for personality on those things.”

Emily closed her locker and got a raised eyebrow from Beca. She had been no help to the situation, but she couldn’t’ quite refuse the offer to a class like this. More like she was two drinks in when Chloe leaned close and asked her to take it with her. It was hard to so no to eyes like that, especially when her bottom lip jutted and began to quiver.

That’s how she ended up at the YMCA on her only night off during the week. The locker room was thick with the scent of floral perfume and pool water. “Let’s just give it a chance. I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”

“You’re too hopeful, Legacy,” Beca said, slamming her own locker shut with a clang.

The training room reminded Emily of a karate studio that her older brother insisted on dragging her to when she still lived at home. He lasted about a week before he figured out, he wouldn’t’ actually be able to break boards of wood with the strike of his hand. It had the same squishy blue mats and could fit the three of them plus four more, which was a good start. Emily still thought it smelled like feet.

She rocked back and forth on her heels and didn’t exactly know why here palms were sweating as much as they were. Maybe it was the odd number of people in the class or the fact that Chloe had her chin resting on Beca’s shoulder as she tried to scold her into actually behaving for a forty-five-minute class for once in her life.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was the fact that Emily’s eyes met with the instructors almost immediately. She had seen her reflection in the mirror, attention caught by the shift of light. She was blonde, a stoic look on ever-tender features that seemed to soften when she lifted her eyebrows at Emily- still in the mirror, her fingers clenching a water bottle that had the YMCA logo on it, and Emily wondered if this was her full-time job or just something she liked to pass along. Either way, she had to be passionate about it.

“Alright, you guys!” She caught the rooms attention as she took perch at the very front, Chloe untangling herself from her girlfriend as she gave Emily a half-hearted nudge, lifting her eyebrows as if to say this looked more legit than a flyer at the softball field. “My name is Aubrey and I am your instructor in self-defense for the next couple of weeks. Can anyone tell me why it’s important to know how to defend yourself?”

Beca crinkled up her nose and raised her hand halfway, “Um, so we don’t… die?”

���Well yes,” The instructor cracked a smile and Emily thought that was about the most beautiful thing she had seen in the world. “Hopefully it would never come to that point, but in your worst-case scenario, it is a primal defense against death.”

Aubrey tucked her hands behind her like she was giving military orders and lifted her chin. “Women walk around constantly in fear. We can’t get to our cars safely anyone without shoving our keys through our fingers to use as a makeshift weapon. But today, I’m going to teach you guys something a little more effective. Krav Maga.”

Emily was trying to pay attention, she was. She had been instantly captivated by the stern looks that were thrown across the room at all the woman who surrounded her. Even Beca had quieted as she listed to the woman talk, which was a feat in itself.

“There are five steps when it comes to defending yourself with Krav Maga: Avoid, Prevent, De-escalate, defend, and then fight if necessary.” Aubrey looked around the room “Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll teach you different defense moves. Today, It’s all about the open-handed strike.”

“Like a bitch slap?”  

Chloe shoved her elbow into Beca’s ribs, earning a sharp exhale of air before giving her a pointed glare. Aubrey chuckled and that smile returned back to her face. The one that distracted Emily to no end.

“Kind of like a bitch slap, but it’s calculated. I’m going to need someone to come up here so I can demonstrate it.” She should have known that those orbs of green speckled with icebergs of blue would find hers. It was met with an almost teasing expression that made her press her legs together softly to quell the heat. Maybe it was the workout clothes. “How about you?”

“Emily,” Her voice broke like a teenager asking a girl to the dance.

“Right, Emily. Can you come up here with me?”

She nodded dumbly and realized with appt speed that Aubrey smelled floral and musky all at once. Like a tobacco pipe filled with fresh clippings of lavender. She almost forgot about the crowd of women watching her and the stupid smug look on Chloe’s face as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Right, so can I see your hand?” Emily nodded again and took notice in the giant floor to ceiling mirrors that her cheeks had reddened significantly. Her skin buzzed where Aubrey had taken her hand as she curled her fingers back and traced them along her heated skin. “A punch can do a lot, but it can also wind up hurting you more than your attacker. You need to strike someone with the base of your palm where it meets your wrist. Nothing above or below.”

She took a step back but continued to hold Emily’s hand. “say I was your attacker, you would keep your elbow lined with you rib and use a punch like motion to hit at my eyes, or my jaw. It works more effectively if you head for the eyes, though.”

Aubrey went through the motions a few times, guiding Emily’s hand in a way that would just barely miss her face as she angled it slightly away before she told the rest of the group to break up in pairs and try exactly as she had- without actually making contact, of course. Emily took note of Beca shaking out her arms like she was preparing for a noble war and Chloe rolling her eyes before steadying her position. Aubrey watched them for a few moments before turning to face Emily.

“What to try it without me taking the lead?” She asked, softly in a tone that she hadn’t used in the class so far. “I promise it’s not as intimidating as it looks.”

“Yeah, yes,” Emily said, squaring her shoulders.

She had gone through the motions like it was second nature, and that wasn’t something easy with someone like Aubrey staring her down with a prideful smile and a bit of a sparkle in her eyes. She ducked down each time, missing the way Emily’s palm thrust forward.

“Is this your first self-defense class?” Aubrey asked, “Because you seem like a natural.”

“No, I’m just like, this super kickass vigilante at night.”

“Is that so?” Aubrey snorted “Than what’s your name? Every great vigilante I know has a super cool persona.”

“White Thunder.” Emily blurted out with a smile.

“Is that because you’re super-fast, or?”

“No.” She deadpanned, “I’m just really pale, and kind of loud.”  

Aubrey laughed and Emily decided that she liked the way her eyes crinkled at the sides when she did. Emily beamed and went through the motions, pushing her palm forward like it was second nature because at this point, it was.

She hadn’t accounted for Aubrey not moving back, or the loud sound that moved through the room when the base of her palm came in contact with the side of Aubrey’s face. She instantly pulled back and sucked in a sharp breath, moving her fingers to her mouth “Oh my stars!”

“Oh, ow” Aubrey hissed out, blocking the area of her eye as she scrunched up her nose and Emily stiffened. “Right in the face.”  

“Aubrey I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, it’s fine, we’re fine” She moved her palm and blinked a couple of times, trying to regain composure. A deep purple bruise to the point of black had already started to form against soft skin. It made the color of her eyes pop and Emily’s heart twinge. “I just- have you always had a twin?”

“Maybe you should sit down.”

“Okay, yes, yeah.”

The instructor blinked a couple of times before she allowed Emily to lower her to the spongy mat. Aubrey was a good teacher, that much was clear, if Emily could shift her laser focus to dizzy, then any attacker willing to try something could easily be thwarted. The second thing Emily realized was how many eyes were on the two of them, still standing at the front of the class.

Aubrey put her head against the cool glass of the mirror. “I think the class is over for today guys, good work”

Beca let out something that was a mix between a laugh and a scoff, and Chloe couldn’t help the smile that was on her lips. The rest of the class gave sparing glances before resounding to shrugging their shoulders and going to the locker room that smelled too much like sweat and cucumber melon.

“I’m going to go get some ice,” Chloe said, biting back her smile, “Beca?”

“I don’t know where the ice is- Oh!” She narrowed her eyes at her girlfriend, who gave her a pensive stare “Oh, yeah. No, we’ll find it.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Emily pleaded, kneeling next to Aubrey as the woman pressed her fingers to her temple. She ignored the sound of the door creaking open and then closing a few seconds later. It left them in a start silence for a few moments.

“I’m good, White Lightning.” Aubrey moved her stare to Emily, despite the nasty bruise stretching against her eye, she had a small smile on her face. “Though, I should have known better going up against a superhero.”

“White Thunder, but nice try,” Emily said moving her cool fingers under Aubrey’s chin as she got a better look at the colors that overtook her face. “Oo, I got you good.”

“It’s not the first time, trust me.” She moved a breath into her lungs easily “It is the first time I’m going to make the person buy me a drink, though.”

“Oh really?”

“You’ve wounded me, Emily. The least you can do is entertain the idea of a whiskey.”