CHAPTER 8
Matthew
“How much did he drink?” Stryker sighed, eyeing Theo hunched over the toilet.
“A lot.” I muttered, feeling awkward.
“How’s Jack?”
“Asleep. Long night.” Stryker shook his head “he was feeling better, though.”
I nodded stiffly “good. That’s good.”
“Hey, Theo?” Stryker raised his voice slightly “you know what’s a real good hangover remedy?”
Theo groaned in response.
“Fried chicken drenched in oil with fat, sodden fries and crispy onion rings served in a soggy, stained box-“
“I hate you.” Theo moaned, pulling himself back over the toilet and retching.
“Serves you right.” Stryker chuckled.
I smiled, feeling bad for the teen.
He looked back at me “sorry you had to deal with this.”
“You had to deal with Jack. So.” I offered a small smile “it was fine”.
Theo staggered out of the bathroom.
“Hey there, soldier. All better?” Stryker raised an eyebrow.
“No.” He avoided my gaze and folded his arms “please say I can stay here and-“
“Nope. Sorry. We have some training to do.”
Theo groaned again. I tried to look sympathetic. “I’ll go and check on Jack. Uh, Danes?”
“Hm?”
“Do you, uh…remember much about last night? Or did you drink yourself into oblivion?” I tried to keep it casual, but I burned with the need to know. I wasn’t sure if I preferred him to remember or not.
Theo seemed to hesitate.
Stryker’s eyebrow stayed raised.
“I, uh…don’t remember a thing. I mean, after the first few drinks.”
“Figures.”
I could easily tell that he was lying. Great. Was that bad or good? I wasn’t sure. I had no idea what he’d do.
“Okey dokey then. Have fun training.”
“Oh, we will.” Stryker grinned. Theo collapsed onto his bed, covering his face with his arms.
“Ow!” He exclaimed when Stryker punched him in the stomach.
“Rise and shine.” Stryker snorted “up you get.”
“I hate you.” Theo repeated.
“I know.”
I chuckled and dodged out of the room.
Me and Jack found them again in the backyard where Theo was vigorously complaining to Stryker.
“You’ve got a knife!” he was protesting.
“It’s a sword, and yeah. You think you won’t have your weapon knocked out of your hand at least once?”
I watched Theo swallow hard.
“Ready?”
“Not-“ he cut himself off with a sharp yelp as Stryker made a jab at him, blade stopping inches away from his abdomen as he stumbled back, smacking Stryker’s elbow with his left palm to push the knife hand away.
“That won’t do you much good. Come on, Theo, alert, alert-“ the blade was slashing at his face. Theo let out a grunt, bending away from it, but lost his balance and crashed to the floor. Before Stryker could come down on top of him he rolled, fast, and leapt back up.
Before he could even think, Stryker was there, he was on him, driving the knife toward his gut, the blade glinting in the light.
Theo only just managed to leap out of the way, to grab his wrist with his two hands.
But he couldn't hold him. Stryker yanked the knife back and I mused that if this had been real he would have just slashed his fingers off.
Immediately, he came at him again, the blade weaving before him like the head of a cobra. He kept the point in Theo’s eyes so he couldn't see it clearly, couldn't gauge the distance.
“Stop. Stop.” Theo stumbled back a few steps so his back was pressing up against the wall of the inn, keeping an arm out as if that’d stop Stryker if he decided to come at him again. Stryker lowered the sword, shaking his head “you’re not with it.”
“I- I held you off” Theo protested weakly
“Oh, yeah” Stryker chuckled. “Try holding me off when I’m not going easy on you.”
“I have a hangover. And why don’t you try without a weapon.”
“Easy. Here.” Stryker tossed the blade over, and Theo yelped and side stepped it. “You can’t throw an unsheathed sword!” He hissed. Stryker just chuckled again “my bad” he shrugged.
Theo was eyeing him nervously “I’m taking it you trained in martial arts too, huh?”
“What do you think?”
“I think I want another partner”
“Tough. Alright, grumpy, have a go at me then.”
“You’ll punch me into the next century even if I’m the one with the weapon.”
“Correction. I could punch you into the next century, but I won’t do it because we’re training.”
“You suck, mate.” Jack barked out a laugh, announcing our presence .
“My head hurts.” Theo whined at us.
I wasn’t surprised.
Jack and Stryker exchanged a look and Jack laughed “sounds awful.”
“How you doing?” Stryker asked.
Jack shrugged “tired. Still got a bit of a headache, but I’m alright. Got Matt waiting on me hand and foot.” He winked.
I sneered at him. He wasn’t joking, either. As if I didn’t feel exhausted enough. But I also felt bad for him and would feel guilty if I didn't wait on him hand and foot after a migraine attack. So I was stuck as a slave of my own conscience.
Stryker smirked back.
“Can’t you have a go?” Theo asked Jack.
“Against who? You?”
“Yeah. Easier than Stryker, right?”
“Huh.” Jack scoffed “I won’t be doing anything with that attitude.”
Stryker sighed “okay, Theo, we gonna do this or not?”
“Yeah. Right.” Theo muttered reluctantly.
“Hey.” He offered a small smile “they told me you were good, okay? I believe that. You just need to be a little more alert right now, okay? Focus.”
Theo gave a slow nod. The pair faced each other for a moment, then he lunged forward, slicing through the air with a swift thrust aimed at Stryker’s midsection.
The latter reacted instantly, sidestepping to the left and narrowly avoiding the blade.
He countered with a powerful right hook aimed at the Theo’s jaw, but he ducked just in time, pivoting on his heel to regain his stance.
The knife flashed in a series of strikes, each one met with Stryker’s quick reflexes, who blocked and parried with remarkable agility.
He ducked under a wide swing, then retaliated with an uppercut that connected, sending Theo stumbling back.
Regaining his footing, he feigned a strike to the left before quickly shifting to the right.
He aimed for the shoulder, but Stryker had clearly anticipated the move, twisting away and landing a swift jab to the ribs.
Theo hissed. He seemed more cautious, began to employ feints and quick retreats, while Stryker focused on closing the distance, looking for openings to exploit.
I could see that Stryker was indeed going easy on Theo, but the latter was certainly doing much better than before.
Theo lunged once more. Stryker ducked low, dodging the blade, and with a powerful uppercut, he knocked the knife from his opponent’s hand. The weapon clattered to the floor. Stryker hardly seemed worn out, whilst Theo was knelt over panting.
“Not bad.”
“Yeah.” He snorted “you could have-“
“You can’t compare yourself to me.” Stryker said gently “I’m not one to gloat, but I am amazing. You were good, trust me.”
“Better.” Jack agreed.
Theo glanced over at me; I was looking at his hand. He looked too, following my gaze and blinking in surprise “I cut myself.” He said, dumbfounded.
I had to resist laughing at the dumbstruck look on his face.
Stryker frowned “how…how?”
“I didn’t even notice until now, I don’t know.”
Jack chuckled “so much for better.”
“Jack.” Stryker scolded “it happens. Matt, can you take him to disinfect it?”
My head snapped up to protest, but Stryker’s expression told me that it wasn’t a question.
“I can go by myself-“ Theo tried, but Stryker just raised his eyebrows “I’m sure you can. But I asked Matthew to do it.”
“W-why?”
“Because you seem to enjoy being at each others throats and it’s frustrating. Sort it out.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Well,” Jack cut in “I mean, it could be better, I suppose. Just go, Matt, he won’t kill you. Right?”
“I- course not.” Theo smiled tightly, looking back down at his palm.
I sighed loudly. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the even worse tension between us after what we’d done. “Come on, then.”
Theo reluctantly followed me inside and up the stairs, in silence.
“Should we talk about it?” I asked from in front of him, after debating the question.
“Talk about what?” Theo asked nonchalantly.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Danes. I know you remember.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Fine.” I muttered in exasperation “I’ll take that as a no.”
Once in his and Stryker’s room, I got the med kit out from one of the cupboards in the bathroom.
“Rinse the blood off.” I muttered “it shouldn’t need anything more than some alcohol poured onto it.”
“Right.”
I worked silently, wrapping Theo’s hand after having inspected the cut.
He was staring at me as if frozen, and to be fair we were standing uncomfortably close to one another. Despite that, neither of us made a move to step away.
“Do you want me to kiss it better?” I drawled.
Theo cleared his throat “that won’t be necessary. Thanks.”
I realised that I was cornering him. I licked my lips “look.” I mumbled “I won’t mention it again, but if you make another stupid gay comment then I’ll tell everyone that you fucked me, clear?”
Theo nodded stiffly.
“And,” I added “it’s a good skill to learn, owning up to your mistakes. Since you can’t, make sure this doesn’t happen again. I’m not a toy and I’m not a distraction. You’re lucky I’m nice.”
“I was drunk.” Theo protested “I didn’t-“
“You knew who I was, Danes. You goddamn bottomed. So cut the bullshit, admit you did something that you regret and we can move on from this.”
Theo swallowed hard “okay. Sorry.”
“Yeah. Me too.” I stepped back, nodding towards the bed “get some rest. You won’t be doing anything all day until Johnathan works something out.”
Theo hesitated “shouldn’t Stryker be the one to-?”
“Stryker won’t tell you much different. You can ask him, if you want.”
“Nah.” He sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed “I kind of thought that we’d be staying in tents in the middle of forests.”
“Most of the time we are.” I mumbled “I suppose since there aren’t too many of us they decided to treat us.”
I turned to put the medical kit away and paused, something tucked away near the back catching my eye “what are these?” I asked, holding up a bottle of pills.
Theo frowned “dunno.”
I continued staring at him.
“Okay, just because I smoke weed it doesn’t mean those are mine!”
“So… they’re Stryker’s?” I asked cynically.
“Give me them.” Theo growled, getting off the bed and snatching the bottle from my grasp. He turned them over.
“Antibiotics, I think.” He sighed “he has this cut on his arm which was infected a few days ago. He mentioned taking antibiotics for it.”
“Oh.” I smiled sheepishly.
“Yeah, oh.” Theo rolled his eyes, sending me a dirty look. He clearly wasn’t taking being accused of drugs lightly.
“What are you two fools doing?” Stryker’s voice came from the doorway. We turned to face him, catching sight of Jack standing behind him.
“Matthew was thinking I’m a druggie, that’s what we’re doing.” Theo scoffed, rolling his eyes.
Stryker raised his eyebrows “yeah, those are mine, mate. Not antibiotics, though.”
My eyebrows shot up “so-?”
“Sleep pills, Matt.” Jack sighed “look at them, I used to take them too, remember?”
“They’re not labeled because they’re not exactly prescribed. Dad just…gets them for me.”
“May I ask why?” I inquired, genuinely curious.
Stryker shrugged “can never really sleep, I dunno. It’s always been a problem.
” He licked his lips “and Johnathan won’t let me be here if I’m not in good enough condition to be.
I need to sleep.” He sat on his bed, staring down at the pills before glancing up and raising an eyebrow once more “talk about jumping to conclusions, Matt.”
I grunted, lowering my gaze “sorry. Labelling them might help, though.”
Stryker sent a look heavenward, as if asking for patience.
“Why did you lot come up?” Theo asked, squinting at them.
Jack was leaning against the doorframe and jerked his chin towards Stryker “he was worried you were tearing each other’s heads off.” He smirked “worry wart.”
“I think it was a valid concern.” Stryker retorted dryly “since they were about to.” Sighing, he rolled his shoulders back and added “we’ve got fuck all to do today, so may as well get some rest. You.” He nodded towards Theo “200 push-ups.”
Theo blanched, gaping “what?”
Jack audibly sniggered.
Harsh.
“You did a fitness test to get in?” Stryker asked, stretching his arms up above his head.
Theo gave a slow nod “sure, but-“
“Go on, then.”
He screwed up his nose, disgruntled “you’re crazy.”
He was. He was nice and all, but he was too good and too demanding and I understood Theo’s reluctance . He was worse than Jack had been, and that was saying something because Jack seemed to have some kind of superiority complex
“It’s my daily warmup, Theo. Get with the program.” Stryker shot back.
Of course it was.
With an unenthusiastic groan, Theo dragged himself up off the bed and onto the floor into a push-up position.
“One.” Stryker started “two…three…”
He didn’t get to 200.
As attractive and turning on as it was watching him effortlessly push himself up and down from the floor, muscles flexing with each movement, it didn’t last long and much to mine and Jack’s amusement and Stryker’s exasperation, he got to 50 before begging for a pause, panting.
“Terrible.” Stryker muttered “honestly, how did you-“
“Aren’t you supposed to be encouraging?” Theo moaned, covering his face with his arms as I cackled at him, unable to help it.
“Who told you that?” Stryker sighed “we’ll work on it.”
“What type of nutter warms up with 200 push-ups anyway?” He grumbled, cheeks burning.
“The type who takes his position seriously.” Stryker shot back, tone chiding “as you should.”
“I do. But, like…200? A- and we haven’t even had breakfast yet!”
I noticed Stryker’s smile fade slightly at his words. He shifted on the balls of his feet, shrugging “right. We…could do that. Breakfast.” He gave a small nod, brows furrowing ever so slightly.
Theo caught my eye. He glared at the mocking my face must be showing.
“You good?” Jack asked sceptically.
Stryker jumped and nodded hastily “sorry, yeah, I just…forget sometimes.”
I almost laughed, but refrained myself. “Forget…breakfast?”
“Yep.” He nodded towards the door “help yourself downstairs.”
“You not eating anything?” Jack asked, tilting his head.
“Nah.”
The lad gave Stryker a once over.
“I always skip breakfast.” He supplied, rolling his eyes “no need to look at me like that. Jeez.”
“Sorry.” Jack shrugged, nudging past him and patting me on the back “come on.”
I glanced back at Theo, tilting my head to the side in a gesture for him to follow.
Stryker caught the movement and gave him a little push “go have breakfast, then.”
“Right.” Theo stammered, awkwardly falling into step behind me.