Summary: After the State Championships, Aiden and Harvard both end up hurt, albeit for different reasons.
Aiden was seriously starting to regret his life choices. His neck and chest were covered in hickeys, some of which hurt, and he had a hand shaped bruise on the side of his waist.
Heâd asked the guy he was with last night to be a bit rougher than usual, hoping a bit of physical pain would help distract him from the emotional pain of watching the love of his life fall in love with someone else.
And now he had an ache inside his chest and stinging pangs of pain on top of it, and he found himself staring at the bruises in the mirror and wondering why he had ever thought this would be a good idea.
He sighed. God, he hoped Harvard was having a better day than he was.
Harvard had taken a hard hit to the shin during his last match, and although he couldnât see the bruise yet, he could definitely feel it.
He stood on his good leg, lifting his other leg up to the sink so he could run cold water over the bruise. Harvard was glad there was no one else in the school bathroom, because he was fairly sure that he looked ridiculous.
As Harvard tried his best to cool the injury, he found himself wondering if he couldâve avoided this whole thing if heâd spent more time learning how to defend his low lines. He couldnât help but think that maybe, if his parry 2 had been a bit better, he couldâve stopped his opponent from getting that hit in the first place.
âBro, what are you doing?â asked a voice from the doorway.
Harvard glanced up at the mirror to see Eugene standing behind him, staring at Harvard like he thought Harvard was insane.
âI took a bad hit to the leg. I couldn't find ice, so I figured I'd try using cold water to numb the bruise.â
Eugene raised his eyebrows incredulously. âIs it working?â
Harvard put a hand on the back of his neck awkwardly. âKind of?â
âLook man, Iâve got Lidocaine and Ibuprofen in my bag. Do you want some?â
âYes,â Harvard said quickly. âPlease.â
Eugene grabbed his bag and handed them over, along with a paper towel for Harvard to dry off his leg. He was shaking just a bit from muffled laughter, which Harvard chose to ignore in favor of grabbing the painkillers.
âNext time just ask, bro,â said Eugene. âDonât run off and try to fix it yourself.â
Harvard found himself smiling, despite the situation. Mostly because Eugene was definitely not the first person to say something like that to him. Over the years, Harvard had heard variations on that sentiment from Aiden, Kally, Coach Williams, both of his parents, and most of his old fencing coaches.
Harvard sighed. âIâm hoping there wonât be a next time.â
Eugene gave him an incredulous look.
âBut I promise Iâll ask for help if there is.â Harvard conceded.
Eugene patted his shoulder. âAwesome. Now letâs see if we can find you a chair and some ice."
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