ABO Anthology: Time Cross Academy

Friends But Actually Lovers (3)

Now that Klick was actually allowed to move without getting manhandled to rest, he took full advantage of it and refused to let Bruce help with any of the usual things. From pulling his chair out for him, returning his dishes and even talking to his stride, Bruce found himself feeling a strange sense of loss. Klick's independence should have made him happy but the shark merman now lost all reasons to be closer to the bat demon who didn't feel like a blind person with how quickly he was able to move around.

Ruo Han wasn't around for dinner tonight and it was just the two of them. Bruce wanted to let Klick know the news about his change of rooms but decided against it since the cultivator couldn't make it. His new roommate was Ruo Han's old roommate before he was sent to be Shen Long's watcher. In some ways, Bruce volunteered to be the troublesome new roommate's buddy because he hated the feeling of being the only one in his room. The dorm manager approved of the change and Bruce was given the green light to start packing and moving in within the week.

"Why the long face?" Klick prodded at the shark merman with his fork. It was rare to see Bruce being so silent. Wasn't he going to celebrate Klick's official recovery with an overdue sparring session? Here, Klick was, looking forward to getting all breathless and sweaty. There, Bruce was, playing with his food in a strange mood.

The fork dug into his skin and Bruce growled lowly, turning his head to the side to bite the offending object. How dare Klick take this opportunity to launch a sneak attack on his cheek! The fork was twisted out of Klick's hands and the bat demon tried to reclaim his cutlery when he heard the crunching of metal.

"Hey!" the blind bat struggled to stop Bruce from eating tableware. This was the third fork since they started hanging out together, the cafeteria lady wouldn't be pleased to know that he lost yet another fork to a shark. Nobody believed him when he told them it got eaten. Bruce didn't help either and denied it innocently at the side, claiming ignorance.

Bruce swallowed the metal and groaned, downing water to get the bits stuck between his teeth out. Klick's jaw was open in disbelief and Bruce smirked. That would teach him not to jab someone else with a fork!

For some reason, Bruce found his eyes landing on those lips. If he moved a little closer and a little faster, would he be able to claim them with his?

The thought made Bruce backtrack. Hold it. Kiss?

While Bruce wasn't a stranger to romance, it was the first time he experienced it personally. Often, he would hear other people talk about it and recently, Syris has been infected by the love bug. It's one thing to watch his friend talk about it and another thing for Bruce to participate. He refused to acknowledge it and brushed it off as the strange thoughts hovering in his mind after thinking about Syris and Floopy's relationship developments.

Doing the most rational thing he thought he could do, Bruce threw a raw piece of fish into Klick's open mouth and smirked.

When something cold, stinky and slimy made its way into Klick's mouth, the bat demon quickly spat it out.

"Ew! What the heck was that?" he yelled and smacked Bruce on the arm.

Bruce didn't dodge that. In fact, he probably deserved it. Yet, he couldn't help that childish grin from appearing on his face while he laughed. Klick's temper flared and Bruce quickly passed his fork to the bat demon to calm him down. That was probably a little too much testing for the night and he didn't feel like incurring Klick's wrath just yet. It would be terrible for digestion.

Appeased, for now, Klick accepted the fork and finished his fruit salad. They resumed their conversation over mundane topics like schoolwork and Klick's health. Most of their conversation ended up revolving around Syris and Floopy. Bruce found that he didn't mind letting Klick know more about Syris even though he would normally be guarded with such information. He also didn't mind listening to Klick talking about Floopy or complain about others. It was always entertaining to listen to the bat demon rage about something.

After dinner, Bruce thought they would part ways after he accompanied Klick back to his dormitory but the bat demon decided to take a turn and lead them towards the forest. Bruce recognised this place, it was where he fell on Klick, destroyed the stage, ruined the audition and broke the bat demon's leg. He didn't know what the small beta wanted but felt like he should apologise again for ruining everything that night.

While Bruce was in a melancholic mood, Klick was in high spirits. As an assassin, it sucked to be put out of his duties for a while. Fortunately, he recovered well and with such a skilled sparring partner, he would be able to rehabilitate in no time and hopefully regain his former abilities before he met his target. Even among alphas, Bruce was considered strong.

"Hey! You said that you would compensate me before, right? Now that I've made a full recovery, I think I need some help rehabilitating."

The shark merman blinked. "Rehabilitating?"

Klick frowned and tapped his foot unhappily. "Why? Are you backing out now? Afraid of getting your ass kicked by a lowly beta?"

Sensing that Klick's mood had soured, Bruce quickly cleared up the misunderstanding but Klick wasn't hearing it. Instead, the furious beta lashed out without holding back and Bruce almost got kicked in his face.

"Hey! Can't you be civilised and stop aiming for people's faces in a fight? Are we really sparring or are you trying to kill me?!"

Klick grinned. "If I was trying to kill you, you would have been dead by now."

Bruce grunted at a particularly hard kick that he blocked with his forearm. The place where Klick's small foot made contact with his arm stung and Bruce decided that it wasn't wise to hold back. Klick had an aerial advantage and as a fish on land, he wasn't able to fully unleash all his capabilities effectively. Klick already had the upper hand.

Klick yelped when he heard something approaching quickly. It was way quicker than what he was used to and the bat demon grew serious. It was a good idea to get Bruce as his sparring partner. The shark merman was not only strong, but he also had a good battle sense and could help hone Klick's battle instincts. There was always a real sense of danger in the excitement that he felt whenever they sparred. After all, sharks were known to be bloodthirsty creatures who would go insane at the smell of blood. They were born hunters, unlike Klick who was a vegetarian.

Bruce gave as good as he got. In order to keep up with the beta, he was constantly on guard. After a while, he noticed that while Klick was swift, he was still lacking in basic combat fundamentals. The bat demon was often wide open and Bruce didn't know if Klick had formal training. However, as a royal bodyguard, Bruce could tell Klick had the potential to be better.

"Don't make such a big movement!" he scolded. "You'll only leave yourself wide open and no time to react with such a great inertia."

Klick wasn't actually expecting Bruce to give him pointers and was pleasantly surprised. He knew that Bruce was a good fighter as well as Syris' bodyguard. He didn't expect Bruce to be a professional and it was a bonus.

The next time Klick tried to do the same thing and forgot about what Bruce told him, the shark merman mercilessly shoved him with an open palm right out of the air and onto the ground. He leaned in for the final kill and stopped just before the finishing move to give Klick a severe warning.

"If I were your enemy, you'd have died."

The words made Klick become serious. Indeed, he underestimated the power of an alpha.

"Again," Klick said and brushed the dirt off as he got up. He might be tired but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. As an assassin, Klick was proud of his wide variety of skill set. However, he was only slightly above average when it came to close-quarter combat. Their kind preferred to use charms and deceit to approach their target, killing them once the target let their guard down. Against a professional like Bruce, there was much to learn.

Klick's serious attitude made Bruce grin. He knew there was a reason why he liked this beta boy. However, seeing as the other had just only fully recovered and was relatively weak, Bruce stopped the sparring session for tonight.

"Rest," he told Klick. "We can continue this whenever you want. I'll walk you back."

Klick who was already unsteady on his feet nodded. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to continue when his body was already nearing its limits. He didn't hate it when Bruce walked him back to the dormitory but being carried was a separate matter.

That night, Bruce received a few new scratches on his face.