Serenity

Avira saw Coilean coming, watched him. He waited until he was right in his field of strike, and then, daintily, moved out of the way.

It was almost like he had just glided to the side, letting Coilean sail right past him.

Avira felt a smirk curling his lips. Physical fights were easy for him. Slight and delicate looking, he was always underestimated by his opponents. It was an advantage he had always had, but he knew this time, his rival would have quite a number of tricks up his own sleeve.

Avira was excited.

As soon as Avira stepped aside, he dug a foot into the sand and pivoted, using the momentum to aim a powerful roundhouse kick to the vampire's head.

"You'll have to do better than that, kid."

If he thought he'd just be able to step out of the way then he was a fool.

Coilean wasn't a beginner fighter. He had been fighting for longer than this vampire had been alive.

Stepping out of the way of an attack was the basics.

Avira saw the pivot coming and ducked down. Using his own weight to brace himself, he caught Coilean's leg. Twisting his upper body, using the werewolf's own weight and momentum against him, he sent the other male flying again.

Avira leapt lightly back, watching the werewolf land. He didn't speak, pupils narrowing to slits, amethyst eyes glassy.

This was fun. He hadn't had so much fun since....since a very long time. And they were just getting started.

Coilean gave a quiet yelp when he was tossed.

He tried to twist in the air and land gracefully, but alas, he was not a cat that always landed on its feet. He landed rather harshly on his front, face in the sand.

He laid there, spread eagle for a moment, silently praising the young vampire. He was good. He'd give him that.

But now he knew that he was good, he could put more effort into fighting.

And with that thought, he jumped up and ran at Avira again, quicker than he had the last time.

Avira barely had time to blink before he had to raise his arm and block a blow. He should have expected Coilean to be faster than he appeared, this was textbook tactics. How silly of him.

Luckily Avira was no amateur fighter, he used the same tactics as Coilean did.

Thus saying, he dug his heel and in and darted, skidding to a halt some ten feet away. The blow had hurt, his arm stung, but he brushed it off.

Avira licked his lips, crouching low, like a predator about to pounce. But he wasn't going to attack yet. No, he was learning right now. Learning and waiting, watching.

"Tch."

He turned to regard Avira, body completely relaxed. His silver eyes ran over the tense, crouched figure.

"Y'know you're pretty good." His hands perched on his bare hips as he cocked his head to the side slightly. "I'm a little surprised."

He took a few casual steps forwards with an easy grin on his face.

Avira inclined his head to show he appreciated the compliment, but said nothing more. He kept his lips tightly sealed and eyed the werewolf carefully. He could strike at any given moment.

Avira was good at staying still. Years of training had taught him how to not move for hours on end.

So he just crouched there, watching Coilean carefully and waiting for the appropriate moment to do something.

He watched the younger vampire with keen silver eyes.

he had learned patience long ago. Sometimes it took hours to exorcise a Demon. years to train a wimp to be able to fight. Decades to try and get his brother to clean up after himself.

Patience was a virtue he was proud he had.

And so he stood, hands casually resting on his bare hips as he grinned at Avira.

This was unnerving.

Coilean was unnerving him, and Avira was a bounty hunter trained and raised to be patient and undaunted by every and anything. And yet currently, he found himself wanting to move, do something. Anything to make his nerves stop prickling.

It was a waiting game, and Avira already knew he was going to lose, if he didn’t do something to distract the werewolf.

Don’t play fair. Humph. He never played fair. He was a bounty hunter.

Avira made a motion with one hand and purple energy hurtled at Coilean. Spirit was an element Avira did not particularly favor whatsoever, but in this situation, seemed to be useful.

Coilean arched a brow at the purple mass heading towards him and cartwheeled out of the way, darting in a circle around Avira.

"What do we do now, eh, Avira?" he muttered in the vampire's ear.

His arms shot out to wrap around Avira from behind, hoping to actually grab him and not let him through his grasp.

Shit. He’d been hoping it would move faster than that. He really needed to work on his spirit control.

Coilean was suddenly behind him and Avira shivered as lips brushed his ear. Arms slid around him and instinctively, he whipped back with his elbow.

There was a satisfying crack as elbow met rib and he shoved forward, stumbling, bracing with his hands, and then literally back flipping away. He landed again and glared.

There was a pink tint to his cheeks though, easily mistakable for exertion.

It wasn’t his fault. Everyone around this compound seemed to like flirting and….TOUCHING and oh god he didn’t need to be thinking about the roof right now. What a mistake.

He stumbled back a step, hand lifting to rub at his sore ribs. "Now that wasn't very nice."

His lip twitched at the glare. "You glarin' 'cause I got your back?" The twitching spread into a smirk. "Or something else? Pink is a good colour on you."

He was flirting because it seemed to distract him. If he was distracted, he was more likely to make sloppy moves and he'd get a few good hits in, maybe finish him off.

Otherwise, he wouldn't flirt. He wasn't an overly flirtatious person.

Avira hated compliments because compliments made him blush and that meant he was distracted. He also hated them because he couldn’t handle them and they embarrassed him.

“Shut up.” he snapped, making the first sound since the fight had started.

Cursing mentally, he darted back, then to the side, zigzagging, keeping moving. He had to get back on track, Coilean was distracting him and irritating him at the same time. Avira got violent when he lost his temper. The aim here wasn’t to hurt, just to have some fun.

He needed to get his head back in the right mindset.

His grin widened and his tongue ran over his lower lip slowly.

"Did I hit a nerve there, Avira?" He rolled the R, almost making it a purr.

He kept his eyes on Avira even as he started zigzagging around. Silver eyes followed the white tail of hair that followed the vampire as he moved.

This was getting amusing. If he could get him to blush just by whispering in his ear, he couldn't wait to see what other methods he could use to distract him.

If it wasn't already removed, he'd have pulled off his shirt to see if that affected him any. So far, though, it seemed not to. Pity, he wouldn't mind those bright amethyst eyes trailing over his chest.

Avira swallowed thickly. He could almost completely ignore Coilean now, and that was good. All he had to do now was actually think up a plan.

The words ‘don’t play fair’ kept coming to mind.

There was just one thing between him and winning in that case. Literally in this case, Coilean was standing between him and the ocean. But that was easily fixed.

Avira had been raised to use all opponents’ tricks against them, and Coilean had started this ploy all on his own.

Darting, Avira appeared in front of the werewolf and trailed a hand slowly up his chest. This seemed to work just as Avira had hoped, and he managed to spin them, switching their positions so his back was to the water. A moment later and he sprinted to the element he controlled, right where Coilean couldn’t get him.

Coilean was shocked when Avira's hand ran up his chest.

Now that was a new development. But it could also be a tactic much like his. Distract through flirtatious advances.

And, lo and behold, soon their places were switched and Avira turned to dart towards the sea.

His hand curled around Avira's wrist and he jerked him back against his chest.

"Leaving so soon?"

Avira squeaked. Coilean’s hand gripped his wrist, and a minute later, his back connected with the wolf’s chest.

He was momentarily stunned, flush painting his cheeks pink again. Then he remembered they were fighting and this wasn’t the time to be….doing whatever he was doing.

He spun around and lash out with his other hand, trying to hit the wolf in the neck.

Coilean chuckled throatily at the squeak. So cute~

When the vampire twist and lashed out his hand snapped up to enclose around the fist before it could meet his neck and do any damage.

"That could've done quite a bit of damage if it had hit," he informed, eyeing the fist within his grasp casually. His other hand still gripped the young vampire's wrist.

"But now." His eyes turned to meet Avira's. "Now, you're caught."

He grinned widely. "Do you yield?"

Avira wasn’t sure whether he was more embarrassed or incited. Embarrassment was easily present, his cheeks flushed his eyes wide, whole body leaning back, away from the wolf. However he was also thoroughly annoyed. Dare he say angry.

Yield? Did he YIELD? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

Avira snarled and wrenched his arms, not getting them free, but moving them enough. The water behind him rose up over them in a wave.

“I yield when dead.” he growled, and let the wave crash down.

His eyes twinkled and his impossibly wide grin widened further.

This boy didn't give in. he liked that in a person.

His eyes flickered up to the wave and he waited, grip still tight on the wrist and fist.

He wasn't afraid of getting a little wet. He could swim just fine so it wasn't like he'd get drowned. And Avira wouldn't have sent the wave at them if he couldn't swim himself.

He leaned forwards, lips brushing against the younger man's ear. "I have to say, Avira, I'm impressed," he murmured. Hopefully he'd hear him over the roar of the wave. It was rare people impressed him and even rarer that he voice it aloud.

And then the wave hit him.

Avira heard what Coilean was saying, but it was barely processed over the feeling of warm breath and soft lips on his ear.

The wave hit, he wrenched away and dove deeper into the sea. Avira swam down and out, trying to drown his embarrassment in the icy water. It worked, mostly, and he came up fifteen or so feet away, gasping for breath.

Controlling water gave him the ability to slam his hands down and climb up on top of the water’s surface, glancing down at himself. His pants clung to his legs and his shirt, white, not only stuck to him, but was clearly see through.

Oh well.

Raising his eyes, he glared heatedly at Coilean.

“Stop….DOING that.” he snapped.

Coilean swam upwards, breaking the water and throwing his head back as he gasped for breath, kicking his legs to keep afloat. His water-darkened braid slapped back against the water harshly.

He ran his hands over his face, wiping away most of the water.

His jeans felt light at the moment, but they dragged in the water and he was certain that when he made his way back to solid land they'd weigh a tonne.

"Doing what?" he called back, silver eyes glinting with mirth.

Avira bristled.

“You know exactly what I mean.” he hissed. “And I don’t appreciate it.”

He reached back, pulling his hair forward and beginning to wring it out. As he did, he walked across the water, back towards land. He was, momentarily, done with fighting. He was irritated.

He hated being used or tricked, and this place… It was strange. Community was not something Avira wanted, he had lost everything he loved once already before. That twisted, dark, disgusted feeling was something he never wanted to have happen again.

Avira didn’t need someone plucking at his heartstrings. Not because they wanted to, and certainly not because they happened to be fighting one another.

He arched a brow.

"What, flirting?" As the man passed him, he began to swim to catch up. "I flirt because I like you."

His lip twitched. "That's kinda what most people do nowadays. We're not back in the times when I'd have to ask if I could court you before I could get close to you."

When he was able to touch the wet sand with his feet he stood, and immediately grimaced. His jeans were heavy and sopping wet and sticking to his skin uncomfortable.

"I don't usually flirt with people, kid. When I do its a big deal for me." He pulled his braid over his shoulder as he tromped up the beach, sand sticking to the bottoms of his feet and the hem of his jeans.

He looked back at the man over his shoulder. "But if you dont like it, I'll stop."

Avira blushed a bright pink, averted his gaze. He flicked his hair over his shoulder and walked onto the beach, stopping only to drop down on a rock and comb his fingers through his hair.

He hadn’t said he didn’t like it. It just….

Emotion was something Avira had thrown out a long time ago. Emotion was something that Avira didn’t want anything to do with. Pain like having your heart ripped out wasn’t something one wanted to live through twice.

“….I have the emotional range of a rock.” he grumbled.

It was possibly the silliest thing he had ever said, and the most pathetically true.

He was someone who craved affection and was starved for companionship. His emotions and feelings were so long gone though, he no longer realized it. Just put it down to not hunting enough.