This is the story that sort of started it all with the "agency 2.0", this is how Wucro inspired me to take all of these characters I had designed for my fantasy novel some years earlier and commit to porting them into a new setting, which would become the "agency" setting he and I ended up writing a lot of stuff about (and drawing, in my case). So nostalgic! xDxD
Benx checked on his phone again to make sure he had the right address. After re-reading a few text messages, he shrugged his shoulders and pressed the doorbell in front of him. After about half a minute, he heard the door unlocking, and he got to see who would be his mentor for the day. The person in front of him was Eos, who was wearing jeans and a red shirt. His hair also had a bit of a red tint to it. "Hello there. Benx, right?" He said with a smile, holding out his hand for a handshake, with his other hand on his hip.
Benx just looked at Eos for a few moments. He looked about as young as himself, likely a bit younger, he thought. The orange-haired male had gotten into contortion and gymnastics after seeing a friend of his perform. He had made some good progress, training by himself, watching videos online and getting assistance from a few people. In his latest training session, the coach recommended he should train with Eos. The best coach he could find, he was told. The two exchanged messages online and arranged a session.
"Uh, yeah! Nice to meetcha." Benx responded, reaching out and shaking that extended hand. The trainee was wearing a tight white shirt and comfy purple shorts. He was also a bit sweaty, as he had warmed up before coming here. He had to admit, Eos didn't look like he expected him to. For "the best coach he could find", he expected someone older, with more experience. Those clothes also didn't scream flexible either, he'd never wear jeans to stretch. Still, he went inside the large house, and Eos closed the door behind them.
"Follow me, there's a good area for us to train here..." The red-haired teen said with a smile before walking across the living room, then walking down a set of corridors and a set of stairs. Benx looked all around, this place was quite large. "Jeez, this place is massive!" He exclaimed. Eos chuckled in return. "It sure is. Wait until you see the gymnasium..." He teased as they approached a large door. Eos unlocked the door and stood aside, giving his new pupil the chance to peek inside.
The place was as big as a real gymnasium. Windows at the top let the sunlight in. This place had countless pieces of gymnastic equipment. Mats, a pommel horse, a trampoline, rings hanging from the ceiling, parallel and uneven bars, everything you could think of. It even had changing rooms on one side. "My god, you weren't kidding!" Benx shouted, looking all over to take it all in. He was also curious how this teen was able to afford all of this. He didn't see anyone else in the house, at least.
"Mmhm. Now, why don't you show me what you can do? Grab a mat, sit on it and try to touch your toes." Eos ordered with his arms crossed and a smile in the corner of his mouth, taking his shoes off using his feet, keeping his red socks. Benx felt like this kid didn't really believe in him or something. He was eager to prove him wrong, however. "Alright, you got it!" He said, taking off his own shoes, socks and also his shirt. Benx then sat down and turned his head at Eos for a few moments, smirking. He proceeded to lower his torso between his spread legs, his arms reaching way beyond his toes. The flexible 19-year-old turned his head back again, ready for the look of amazement on Eos' face.
"Alright, good! Seems you're not a complete beginner... Hold still!" Eos replied, realizing how much of a show-off Benx was. Still, his torso wasn't perfectly flat, as there was a bump on his lower back. The ginger 17-year-old stepped on top of it, forcing his pupil's torso to lay itself fully against the ground. "Hey! Um... Ok." Benx replied, feeling a little pain there, but far from unbearable.
The pair stayed in silence. For thirty seconds, then a minute. Benx started to shift around more and more as time went on, while Eos just had his hands on his hips. Thirty more seconds, and the trainee's patience started to run out. "Um... For how long exactly do I have to do this?" He said in a frustrated voice, resting his upper body on his elbows and turning to look at Eos. "Oh, come on, don't be so whiny about it, it's not that bad." He replied, intertwining his fingers near his chest. "U-uh... Yeah! It's alright... I guess!" He responded, trying his best to sound happy. "I did this all the time back in the day. You'll see, this is the real deal, trust me." The smug trainer responded, looking down at Benx's face. "Alright, grandpa." Benx said in a low tone of voice, resting his upper body back on the floor.
"Hey!" The 17-year-old protested, but let it go once he saw Benx looking forward, more focused. Eos kept this exercise going for another half a minute before stepping off Benx's back. The pupil immediately rocketed his torso back up. "Oh, thank god!" He said, taking a moment to catch his breath. "Hey now, no time to slack off! Spread your legs more, let me see your splits. This is still just easy stuff, y'know?" Eos teased, crouching next to Benx, with his face close to his pupil's. "Who's... who's slacking off?! I'm ready for all you got, give me your worst!" He said, moving his legs apart without even using his hands.
"Hope you don't regret saying that!" The red-haired 17-year-old said, sitting directly behind Benx. Eos pushed his feet against his trainee's lower back and grabbed those split legs. He then began pulling them back, forcing an oversplit on Benx. "Tch." The pupil proudly and confidently sputtered. Splits were his specialty, this was gonna be no big deal at all. Eos was in fact surprised at how far he was able to pull those legs back. But Benx never turned back to see that expression before it went away. "Hey, it's uh... Starting to hurt a bit..." He said through his teeth as he was nearing a 45° bend on each leg.
"Alright, just stay quiet and keep focus now..." Eos replied, pulling them a bit further until they did in fact hit 45°. For someone younger than him, Benx was surprised at how tight Eos' grip was. He could barely move his legs at all. It was very uncomfortable, but Benx didn't want to show weakness. His breathing became more and more erratic the more he was forced to hold that position. "Doing fine there?" Eos cheekily asked. "Barely... even... a challenge..." He said through his clenched teeth, drops of sweat forming on his forehead. "What a show-off!" was all Eos could think. After another minute or so, the trainer gently pushed Benx's legs into a more natural position.
The trainer then stood back up. "Good! Now, let's see how good that back of yours is. Can you do a cobra pose or maybe a cheststand?" Eos asked. "Of course, what do you think I am, an amateur?" Benx chuckled and stuck his tongue out, resting his chest on the back and swinging his legs over, planting his feet on either side of his head. "Ta-da!" He happily exclaimed. Eos chuckled and clapped a couple of times before approaching the pupil. "Relax your legs for me." He asked as he reached to grab at them. The red-haired 17-year-old pushed those legs further, making Benx's butt move toward his head, and further, creating a deeper bend. Before he could go all the way however, Benx protested.
"H-hey! A bit slower, maybe?" He said, not wanting to admit he was in pain. "Oh, seems we'll have to work on your back quite a bit, huh?" He teased, to bring out more fight in his trainee. "N-no! I'm fine, just asking to give me a bit more time!" He grumpily replied. Eos laughed and came up with a devious plan. He pulled back a bit on his legs, giving the 19-year-old some comfort. "I suppose you won't mind if I do... this, then?" He teased, stepping on top of Benx's legs, compressing his backbend.
"Hey! Ugh..." he said, quickly focusing again. The pain wasn't unbearable at all. It seemed Eos knew what Benx's limits were just from that little test. It was uncomfortable, for sure, but he could tell he wasn't at risk of getting hurt. Benx had to admit it was impressive. That didn't make it less annoying though. "What is up with you stepping on me? Starting to think you just do this for the fun of it... Not sure if you're even flexible at all...!" He said, closing his eyes and focusing on his exercise.
"Oh? Is that a challenge? Or maybe you just need a demonstration... Anyway, only after you hold this pose, ya little baby..." He winked. Benx chose to ignore that one, too focused on his stretch to care. After another minute, Eos hopped off Benx's legs. "Alright, let me go get changed then. You can have a bottle of water or whatever you want..." He said pointing to the mini-fridges on the corner. While Benx went to get one, Eos went into the changing room.
Benx drank half of the bottle and Eos still wasn't coming out. He took the time to do a bit more stretching by himself. He grabbed a cylinder, placed it on the ground and began to do front splits. He then placed his ankle on top of the cylinder in front of him and continued to drink from his bottle. Only after he was almost done that Eos returned. He was wearing a very flashy and shiny red bodysuit, with some yellow details around the shoulders, ankles and forearms. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" He said while waving. "Jeez, that is quite... extreme for a demonstration, huh?" He said, a bit taken aback by what he was seeing.
"Oh, not at all. Most other clothing is quite limiting..." He said, scratching his neck. "...Anyway! You can just sit back and watch, then you can decide if I do this just for fun." He winked before jumping into the backbend Benx did just a little bit ago. He reached his legs as far as possible without any discomfort on his face. He then pulled back a little. At the same time, Benx approached him. "Let's see how you like this..." He said, standing on top of Eos' legs just as he had suffered through.
"Oh, thank you! Nice to have some help to stretch..." He teased, much to Benx's surprise."Oh, you show off!" He exclaimed. "As if! Look who's talking! And I'm not done anyway..." The 19-year-old looked down and almost fell back as he saw the contortionist's torso emerge further through his legs. His shoulders easily got past his knees. Benx knew how few people could do a ruppelbend like that, and yet this kid was doing it like it was nothing. "G...Good job! Nice to see kid..." He said, trying to keep composure. "Kid? You're only, like, 2 years older than me, at most! Anyway, get off me, got plenty more to show ya." He confidently said.
"Pft... whatever, I'm sure that if it doesn't involve that crazy back of yours, I can keep up!" Benx fought back, stepping off his trainer's legs. "Be my guest!" Eos replied, undoing that backbend and sitting on the mat. Benx grabbed another mat and sat next to him, determined to copy every one of his moves. Eos chuckled, and slowly brought his right ankle behind his head. He then did the same with his left ankle. That gave Benx hope, as he could copy that without much issue.
Eos' next move caught Benx off guard. The 17-year-old began sliding those legs down his back. The lack of friction due to the bodysuit helped. His feet eventually touched the floor behind him. Benx couldn't really follow, only getting his right leg down to his shoulders. "Jeez, are you even human?" The 19-year-old asked. "Last I checked, yes. Not like you have much to say either. Your splits are quite incredible, y'know?" Eos smiled, sweetly this time. That gave Benx a lot of confidence. "Oh, really? I'm sure you're much better though..." He said, feeling happy inside. "For now, maybe. But I'm sure you now know that I don't do this just for fun. I mean, it is a big part of it, but... Wanna keep training together?" Eos asked, presenting his fist. "You bet!" Benx responded, completing that fistbump.