Eliora (boyxboy)

Raw emotion.

No.

No, no, no, no...

I shove Ez's hands off me and take a step back from him. This wasn't supposed to happen, we weren't supposed to be caught. Least of all by Hanniel.

I turn to face him, feeling a pang of guilt at his ashen face. "Hanny--"

"Don't." He croaks, tears rim his eyes. The hurt in them making me feel even worse. 

I take a step towards him. "I can explain, I'm sorry, I..."

"You're sorry?" He asks angrily. "I trusted you...I told you how I felt about...about him and you go do...this." He gestures between us. I bite my lip, my hands falling into tight fists at my sides. Hanniel shakes his head, a sour look on his face.

"Listen Hanny, I swear I would never do this to you purpose it just..."

"It just happened." He retorts dryly and scoffs. "I've heard that one before. I suppose you just happened to be shaging him around the time I told you I was..." He sucks in a harsh breath and shakes his head once again. "Doesn't matter..." He mutters and turns, storming out of the great room.

My feet stay in place as I watch him rush away, I felt the need to follow him, to try to explain but my feet are stuck in place. This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't supposed to find out, at least not like this. 

"Theo.."

"No." I bite out. The last thing I need right now is to hear his voice. "I...need to be alone right now." I turn my face away from him, bringing my arms up to hug myself. I hear him sigh. His arm grazes mine as he walks past me out the same way Hanniel went. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. 

~~~~

I barely dodged the incoming fist aimed at my face.

 I yelped, the fist narrowly missing my head. Lisreli growled. "Eyes up!" He reloaded his fists. "Be more alert!"

I shook my head, moving my feet a little faster. Lisreli took another swing at me and I dodged it perfectly only to double down when he elbowed me in my stomach. "Don't leave your soft spots open. You're leaving yourself vulnerable to attack!" 

I rubbed my stomach, trying to stave off a scowl. I wanted to snap at him and tell him what I really thought about vulnerability. I was frustrated but so was Lisreli. We'd been at this for who knows how long and it felt like all I'd managed to learn was how to pull muscles I never even knew I even had. Lisreli didn't even look like he'd broken a sweat. I fought the urge to stomp my feet.

"Arms up!" He growled again, we'd graduated from controlled commands to growls a while ago and I couldn't decide which one made me un-easier. "You need to work on not leaving yourself open, If your fists are up then half your body should be turned away from your opponent or at least far out of reach." He positioned my arms the way he wanted. We were working on defence. I doubted I'd have half as much skill in offence as I had in defence, and I was absolute shite at it.

It didn't help that I was almost ten times scrawnier than the mountain that is Lisreli, his body was literally made for fighting trolls and ogres, his bicep alone was probably big enough to sculpt two of me. 

"Tuck your chin and angle your head, don't hide your eyes behind your fist, you need them to see," I nodded, not really paying attention. I was thirsty and so tired I thought I might drop. "You also need to learn to block with you arm." He turned to show me.