boxer ⋆ luke hemmings ✔️

07. Manny Pacquiao.

"Pick it up, Hood," Luke yelled, hands cupped around his mouth as he watched Sophie slump against the punching bag. He had absolutely zero idea how long he had spent watching her swing weak punches and even kicks at the supid thing for- he just knew that he wasn't about to leave without having proved something.

And right now, all he wanted was to prove to himself that Sophie was more than just a pretty face.

Woah, he thought, shaking his head as soon as the thought entered his mind. He had to give himself a stern reminder that all he wanted to find out was how hard she could punch. Anything else would just be his exhausted subconscious talking.

"Can I stop?" he could hear her complain, "My hands hurt and this is boring,"

"Your hands hurt?" he asked. Though he wanted it to come out as more mocking than a reinstatement, he managed to stop himself. "You've got gloves on,"

"I've also got a bulletproof vest on. But if you shot me right now, I think I'd still feel it," she murmured, and Luke had zero time to scold her pessimism as the end of her glove slammed against the punching bag, "Why am I doing this again?"

"You said you wanted to train,"

"I said I wanted to watch you train," Sophie said, as-matter-of-factly as she turned to him. When she realised the odd meaning behind her words, her eyes widened, "In the least creepiest way possible,"

"You're not getting much done, you know," Luke raised an eyebrow at her, once again ignoring her whinging, "Twenty minutes in and you've yet to make a dent,"

Her mouth almost dropped open at his words, "A dent? Who do you think I am-" she folded her arms, though it was difficult for her seeing as the gloves were massive, "-Manny Pacquiao?"

"You don't need to be a boxer to punch good," Luke rolled his eyes, ducking under the rope as he made his way towards her.

"No. You need to be a famous boxer," Sophie corrected him, jabbing his chest lightly with the foam glove.

"What about me?"

"What about you?" she paused, placing her arm against the bag to steady it- though it wasn't needed, for the thing hadn't budged an inch.

"I'm not a famous boxer,"

"Mhm,"

"But I punch good."

Sophie said nothing, instead taking a mental note of his cocky tone. She wanted to ask him for a demonstration so that she knew he wasn't a liar, but that would require Luke to do much more damage to the punching bag than every single one of her hits combined.

She wanted to ask, but she also wanted to keep some of her pride. So she left it.

"Come on," he was close to her now, and Sophie took a step back as soon as she noticed how he kept walking forward.

Confused, Luke took another step, this time with his hands out. Sophie just seemed to walk away from him again, which was a little odd considering he was doing very little to make her react that way.

"What are you doing?" he frowned.

"What are you doing?" she retaliated.