Hope you don't mind the sweat...

Robin swept the last of the hairs, and dust into a corner, where one of his fellow students knelt with a dustpan, easily finishing off the task. He collected several brooms, and when Miki deposited hers in his hand, her smile was somewhat amused, and her eyes dropped down his body before looking at him solidly again.

"So... meet you at the door after I change?" Miki suggested, her angular face shining with both sweat and exhilaration. Further back on the mat, Robin could hear the telltale spritz of a cleaning solution being sprayed across the mat from a hand pump.

Robin thought about it for a moment. Just a ride home and a conversation couldn't hurt. It wasn't like he was going to invite Miki up for coffee, after all. Just a quick ride across half the city.

"Don't you live around here? I'd hate to put you out of your way." Robin remarked, unable to ignore the fact the girl was obviously taking the opportunity to look him over once again.

"Oh, I'm not just giving YOU a ride home." Miki remarked, pointing at the small curtained plywood, where two students were busily pulling out their cell phones and documenting the end of their class with a couple selfies. "I promise we'll keep the discussion off your daughters."

"Ok. Sure." Robin nodded, a bit relieved that he was going to be at least somewhat chaperoned. A bit of inane late teen conversation seemed like a nice reprieve from the usual bus scents and smells. Especially on a cold night, he could expect at least three to four requests for housing, funding or medication, except not as genteel in delivery. Plus this would have the advantage of not flash freezing his hair on the long walk to the bus stop. What was the worst that could happen, after all? You get ogled by a couple teenage girls. Big deal. You sit in the seat, smile, and complain to Lauren about kids these days when you get home. Then you laugh about it, give the good version of the story to Viola, and the three of you have a fun little session like you have been the last few weeks.

All of these thoughts whirled through Robin's head as he stripped off the sweat soaked Gi, and neatly folded it into a package, tying the light blue belt around the item with a solid pull. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants, followed by the blue jeans and shirt. While he would have preferred just the sweat pants, Lauren had joked that they were far too likely to cause a traffic accident. He had snorted at the thought, but found it flattering A rather thick sweater completed the activity, and the feel of sweat on the collar as it settled around his neck brought home the warmth of the dojo, all of which emanated from a large heater, hung near one end of the brick open space.

Near the front of the Dojo, most of the class was already saying their goodbyes and bowing respectfully at the threshold before exiting. The large entry was dominated by a shoe rack, which every participant stopped at in order to retrieve their various footwear before heading out into the dark of the chill evening. Miki sat at one of the small chairs, pulling on a pair of sneakers, and looking up at his approach with a grin. Out of the blue gi, she looked much more like a typical young woman, complete with the band t-shirt that he'd never heard of and customary half open jacket. Robin's eyes flitted to one of the other two girls, the one he thought of as Pink, because of her hair. She had very conspicuously taken a picture of him as he had finished rounding the mats, with his bag slung over one shoulder.

"Hey, no photos..." Robin pointed at the girl who inclined her head with disbelief, before shrugging and taking a selfie.

"No photos? You're right, Em, he's a cryptid." Miki laughed to her other friend, who was studiously not paying attention to Robin in any way shape or form and wanted him to be very sure that he noticed that.

"Whatever. He's kinda boring to me." The addressed girl remarked, before again flipping on something on her phone. "Hey, so ship wise, what do you think about Sorox?"

"Is that uhm, a cleaning solution for a boat?" Robin asked, completely out of his depth on the conversation as the girls gathered their things and proceeded to bow at the door. The difference in temperature outside the soaked glass windows was noticeable, and when he stepped out, holding the door for the others, a soft gust of wind through his hair amplified the feeling of cold as it permeated the sweat.

"Not you, These two." The girl held up her cell phone to the other two girls, but obviously allowing Robin to see it, shining brightly in the dark of the evening. On it was a picture of two anime young men kissing, both of which with rather prominent spiky hair. It caused a bit of a lurch in Robin's stomach as he thought about how his own hair tended to spike exactly like that when sweaty. For a moment, he wondered if the girl was trying to just get a reaction out of him, but the way that Pink started a discussion regarding something called "Ships" was far beyond anything he understood. He felt like he'd just walked in to a discussion of a tenth season of a soap opera that he'd never heard of.

"I think you girls have completely lost me." Robin admitted, tossing his gym bag into the trunk of Miki's small car. The little Honda was obviously used, and even more obviously old, but seemed fairly well loved. When Miki started up the heater, he knew it was well cared for, as the little vehicle practically leapt to attention.

"You don't know what a ship is?" Miki asked. "Oh my, we've got a virgin here, girls!"

The laugh from the back seat brought a blush to Robin's features, and he was actually surprised that he was embarrassed by this. It was just three young women, after all. How much trouble could they be?