Blood in the Water

Chapter Seven

Kevin was, for lack of a better term on Eddward's part, an asshole. He was the embodiment of everything Edd despised, a brutish fool who got by on looks and charm - his knowledge met bare minimum standards. Who needed brains when one had charisma? He did not have to work, to study like Edd did.

One, two - sidestep, kick, dodge, redirect, repeat. The swimmer tried to focus on the bag, tried not to let outside thoughts disturb him. Where swimming failed to ease his mind of troubles he had his Aikido. After his incident, Edd had refused therapy and instead took up self defense. He had learned that talking did not always get one out of a situation, sometimes one was thrown into violence, often needlessly. He had been taught and trained not to throw the first punch, his training was to redirect and use his opponents inertia against them. It was nothing more than applied physics.

When his Sensei had refused to train him for his violent tendencies Edd learned on his own. His form was not perfect but it was good enough. He practiced only when he needed to, and today it was like a damn itch that demanded scratching.

For years he had gone by alone and perfectly fine, he needed no one. Even Marie was a privilege. He and Kevin had been at odds and that had been an excellent outlet for his frustrations because he knew that when he pushed, Kevin would push back with greater force. It was a perfect symbiotic relationship - two alpha males who would take out their aggression on one another as a way to let off steam. It had been an unspoken bond between them, they existed to hate each other!

But now when he pushed there was no retaliation. No, that was not right. Now when Edd pushed, Kevin did not fight fair. He looked him in the eye and tried to analyze the swimmer, his opponent was not supposed to think he was supposed to act! To fight back, to snarl and lunge. Kevin was trying to take a killing blow, to wrap his teeth around Edd's neck and rip out his throat when the man's guard was down! He was trying to confuse Edd with emotions.

Suddenly they had gone from only seeing each other when one needed to let off steam to Kevin following Edd, studying him. He was learning how to make the man cave and crumble, was trying to set him up for humiliation. At some point the damn jock had learned Edd's secret, something he thought only Marie knew. Kevin had somehow found out his penchant for men, learned that he had another weapon other than fists and cutting words.

Kevin had learned that somewhere along the line maybe, just maybe, the swimmer might have looked at him. He was mocking Edd with that knowledge, trying to throw the man off of his proverbial game, setting him up to tear him down.

This was not how their game was supposed to go...

"EDDWARD!"

The voice cracked like a whip and snapped Edd out of his thoughts that were supposed to be peaceful.

"WHAT!" He barked and whipped his head to spot Marie at the edge of the blue mat. He had stopped his motions for a moment and let out a grunt when the punching bag swung around and knocked him to the side.

"Come on man, I've been yelling your name for like five minutes. What's gotten into you!" Marie walked up and offered out her hand. The wrestling room was wide and surrounded with mirrors, however there was no practice scheduled for that day which left it open for Edd to practice.

He stood up and let out a grumble, "My...apologies." He said, not really sorry because it was one of the rare times he contemplated telling Marie to go jump in a ditch. He took a deep, calming breath. That never worked. "What did you need."

"You've been acting weird all day, I'm worried about you. Talk to me."

"There is nothing to discuss." He stated, "I just needed to release some energy is all." That much was true, the man had felt pent up and stir crazy for the last several days.