UnHappyMess

The Reason Why

What do you think you're doing?

The entire conversation, heart-rending though brief, was permanently burned into Lev's memory, and had been for the past two months.

It happened a couple of hours after the match between Ziro Acera and Nickolas Pierce had taken place at Riviam's lookout point, or as many at Somber Ridge high school had dubbed the fight, 'Presidential Brawl'.

Ziro and Nickolas (or Nick, as many at Somber Ridge knew him by) were longtime bitter enemies, and short-time sole competitors for the position of their senior class president, the latter made so because of a deal proposed by Nick and ultimately accepted by Ziro: a hand-to-hand combat match with a few karate/taekwondo point scoring rules. The loser, would drop out of the election.

The brawl, though a paltry bloodbath, had left bruises that lasted for weeks on both competitors. Nearly every student from Somber Ridge had been in attendance, cheering on the fight in a tumultuous ring surrounding the two. The victor — to everyone's shock — was Nick, who had somehow bested Somber Ridge's best despite his seemingly non-existent know-how of any fighting styles. Despite the baffling win, it was a still a win that Ziro would have been able to accept, if afterwards he hadn't caught sight of Lev strutting up to Nick with opened arms and words of praise. What was just as bewildering was the gush of gratitude coming from Nick in response.

What had made Ziro absolutely sick to his stomach and blind with outrage, were Nick's following exact words: "Five months of training with you gave me the keys to victory! You, Lev Novas, are the best teacher I've ever had."

Five months. Nick had first challenged Ziro the second week into January, and the match had been scheduled for the last week of May, two-weeks before the day came for Somber Ridge's future senior class to vote on their class president.

It was bait, Ziro had realized then, as Nick had obviously made sure that his gratitude towards Lev had been acknowledged loud enough. But, it was also ammunition to wound Ziro, kick him while he was already down — because what had utterly destroyed Ziro, was the fact that it was true.

Lev hadn't denied it. For five months, he had met with Nick in secret, training him to fight and win against his best friend — his brother. For two months, Ziro had never known why. Lev had never wanted any of it to be a secret, but even then as Nick blatantly revealed the truth and Ziro irately confronted him, he still couldn't bring himself to explain. And after what had happened between him and Nick afterwards, part of him was glad that he never did reveal the reason...

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"What do you think you're doing?" Nick had questioned, eyebrows creased in confusion, and arm held out to guard his personal space.

A victory party had been raging on downstairs; students of Somber Ridge who had witnessed the Presidential Brawl had attended Nick's celebratory event held at the Pierce Mansion in the city, that had taken place later that evening.

Upstairs in Nick's bedroom, Lev had stood stunned on one side of the wall where he'd been shoved to by Nick, who was right across from him.

"I...I thought...You said we made a good team," Lev had sputtered.

"Yeah, made, as in past tense. And anyway, did you seriously think that was an invitation to try and kiss me?" Nick's laugh had been scornful, his eyebrows crinkled with derision.

"...but...before you-you kissed me..."

Nick had shrugged, an exaggerated lift of his shoulders. "A lot was on the line then, and you were about to screw things up by telling Ziro about what we were doing. Desperate times and all that, you know?"