Chapter Text
"I thought you said you knew how to fight with a quarter staff?" Abolish commented blandly, as Scott picked himself up out of the dirt. He tried not to pout as he brushed the dirt off his knees and collected the staff off the floor.
"Yeah, a thousand years ago," he muttered. His Sire had liked his fledglings skilled, and had supplemented Scott's already decent skill set from his noble upbringing, adding quarter staff and hand to hand combat to his passable abilities with swords and bows.
Abolish was standing to the other end of the courtyard, watching calmly as Scott gathered himself. He had said he wanted to brush up on some weapons skills, and Scott had volunteered to spar. He wasn't so arrogant as to think he would be able to easily beat Abolish in combat, but he hadn't expected to be knocked onto his ass within a few seconds of their first bout.
"Do you need me to go easy on you, then?" Abolish asked and he sounded so goddamn genuine Scott actually growled at him. Abolish raised an eyebrow back at him.
"I'll take that as a no, then," he said. Scott didn't bother responding, just took his position again near the centre of the courtyard, waiting for Abolish to make the first move.
Scott managed to survive a couple extra beats in their second bout before Abolish landed a solid hit on the back of his knee and sent him to the floor again.
He rolled over onto his back and glared at him. Abolish just stepped back, giving his staff a casual twirl around his body.
"You're doing this deliberately," Scott grumbled.
"Doing what?" Abolish asked, far too innocently.
"Distracting me," he muttered. Abolish was a little too slow turning away from him to fully hide the way a small grin appeared at the corner of his mouth, so Scott knew he was correct.
Abolish had changed out of his usual button down and slacks into a soft linen shirt and loose fitting pants. That had been bad enough — Scott was struggling to drag his eyes away from where the shirt hung open around Abolish's throat — and then Abolish had picked up the staff and Scott should have known he was done for. Abolish wielded the weapon with fluidity and confidence, stepping and twirling like a dancer, in a way that had Scott practically entranced. He never should have agreed to this.
"I have no idea what you mean," Abolish said, the neutrality in his voice finally sounding a little forced. Scott pushed himself back onto his feet with a scoff, stepping up to Abolish again.
He held his ground better in the third round, getting Abolish slightly off balance at one point, but it didn't take long before he was forced backwards, Abolish ducking easily under a swing of his staff and slamming directly into his chest. They both hit the dirt that time, Abolish's weapon pressed flat across Scott's chest as he knelt over him, pinning him to the ground. Scott didn't need to breathe, but still felt like the breath had been knocked out of him.
Abolish's hair was slightly tussled, framing his face prettily has he loomed over Scott. The open collar had shifted, revealing a slither of collarbone and the firm muscles of his neck and shoulder.
"This is deeply unfair," Scott hissed, and Abolish didn't bother hiding his grin that time. "Did you even want to do any training, or was this your plan the whole time?"
Abolish shrugged, and Scott had to resist the urge to growl at him again.
"The training was a bonus. I was mostly testing a theory," Abolish said, still crouched over Scott, knees either side of Scott's hips.
"And what theory is that?" Scott asked, though he kind of didn't want to know the answer.
"That you're easily distracted," Abolish said with another shrug. Scott did growl that time and, with a surge of vampiric strength, pushed his weight up, twisted, and flipped them over. He had the distinct feeling it only worked because Abolish allowed it to.
"And that you're easily pissed off," Abolish said, confirming Scott's thought.
"Rude," Scott said, attempting to scowl down at Abolish, but it was hard to stay pissed off with such a pretty man pinned under him.
"Not my fault you're predictable, Scott," Abolish said. Scott could resist no longer, and lent down to kiss him.
"Proud of yourself, aren't you?" Scott grumbled against his lips, and he felt Abolish huff out a little laugh.
"Just a bit," he said before wrapping his arms around Scott's neck and pulling him in for another kiss.