Title: Blow Me Away Date: June 27th, 2015 Words: 2,064
Getting punched hurt. A lot. At least it wasn’t my face, Ray thought as he rubbed his stomach. The worst part was knowing that Jordan was holding back. Ray knew this because one, he asked Jordan to not beat the shit out of him (his exact words were “don’t like fuck me up or anything, I mean, have you seen me? I’m like a goddamn kitten”) and two, Jordan was smirking at him.
“You alright there kiddo?” “Hey now, I’m older than you, fuckin’ asshole…” “You wanted to learn how to fight so I’m teaching you.” “And what a teacher you are… you deserve an award, truly.”
Sometimes, Ray had really good ideas. Like buying a slushie machine for the office or that time he ran out of shampoo and used dish soap to wash his hair. Usually, however, his ideas turned out to be really, really bad. This was shaping up to be one of them. A long time ago, the last time the Cockbite had reared his ugly head, Ray had asked Jordan to teach him how to fight. He was tired of just sitting on the sidelines while everyone else went out and tried to kick ass. Jordan had agreed and shortly after, they both forgot about it. Or at least Ray had forgotten. Jordan, apparently, didn’t forget shit which is why months later, here he was, teaching Ray how to fight.
The two of them stood in the parking lot outside of the apartment complex Ray’s mother lived in. When Ray flew to New York to take care of his sick mother and even sicker grandma, he wasn’t expecting for Jordan to be passing through. Something about coming back from New Hampshire? Jordan was hesitant to talk about it so Ray didn’t ask questions. He knew when to be quiet and the other hybrid seemed to appreciate it. As it turned out, Jordan had missed his flight back to Austin and Mama Narvaez had refused to let him pay for a hotel room. Ray had to sleep on the floor while Jordan took the couch but hey, he’d slept in worse places and at least the floor was carpeted. Ray stood up, hand still on his stomach. It would probably bruise and it stung a little, but no real damage was caused. Jordan watched him with his head tilted slightly to the side.
“You okay?” he asked again. Ray nodded, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Yeah, ‘m fine, just… just no more stomach punches, ‘kay? Go for my shoulder or something- I think I might throw up if I take another stomach shot.” Jordan snorted and Ray gave him a ‘so done with your shit’ look. If anything, that just made Jordan smile more. Great. “Alright, fine- but just know that when you get in a real fight, you’ll probably get punched in the stomach a lot. It’s an easy target and you can surprisingly take a lot of hits there.” “Great, can’t wait. Gonna puke on the other guy.” “I’ve seen it happen.” “Right, because you’ve been in so many fights.”
For a moment, Jordan looked grim. Ray just rolled his eyes and waved his hand dismissively. “I’m kidding… kinda. I know you’ve seen some shit.” “Oh?” “Yeah. I mean, hey, most of us have,” Ray shrugged, raising his fists up infront of himself when Jordan did the same. Back to practice then. “Besides, I know just a little about everyone.” “Ah, so you’re that guy then.” Jordan lunged forward and Ray took a step back. “… I guess I am, yeah, whatever that means.” “So, what do you know about me?” “You and Seamus escaped fucking hell from the sounds of it, lived in motels and shit like that… and somehow you became the CEO of a successful company, which is weird and I suspect foul play, but kudos.”
Jordan actually laughed and Ray smiled. Jordan took this opportunity to lunge forward again and punch Ray right in the arm. Ray hadn’t been expecting it and nearly fell over, tripping over his feet to stand up. “Focus Ray.” Jordan said, moving forward and throwing another punch. Ray managed to move out of the way but he could feel Jordan’s knuckles graze his side. “This is by far the oddest fight I’ve been in.” Ray teased with a smirk, throwing his own punch. Jordan didn’t even have to move, that’s how badly Ray missed although in his defense, he was paying more attention to what he was saying instead of doing.
“This isn’t a fight.” Jordan scoffed. Ray’s ears twitched under his hood as he moved his arms down to block his stomach. The punch Jordan tried to surprise him with connected with his forearms and Ray hissed. Yeah, he was going to be so bruised tomorrow morning. “You’re right, because if this was a fight, I’d be bleeding and curled up on the ground at this point.” Jordan laughed again and Ray took this chance to move and punch his stomach. The hit landed but Jordan barely flinched, just arched an eyebrow and watched as Ray skitted back out of his range.
“There are three kinds of fights Ray.” “What, just three?” “Yeah. Just three. Anything else is a skirmish or a tussle.” “… and those are different from fights?” A police car drove past, driving slow with the sirens on silent, blue and red lights flashing and lighting up the street. Instantly, Ray and Jordan stepped out of their defensive positions. Jordan stretched his arms behind him, discretely making sure that his tail was hidden. Ray grabbed his phone and placed it to the side of his head as if he were a human and was on the phone. The police car didn’t stop and once the lights had stopped dancing over the parking lot, the two men resumed their fighting stances.
“The first kind of fight,” Jordan wasted no time in striking again: this time, he kicked Ray’s shin and although it hurt, Ray didn’t topple over like he suspected, “is a Show Fight. Think of UFC fights. They’re either done for entertainment or they’re to prove a point, to prove who the tougher guy is. They last awhile and end when someone taps out or cries uncle- the point is to beat someone into submission, not to kill them or severely hurt them.”
Ray nodded and Jordan nodded back before kicking his leg up to slam his shin against Ray’s chest. Ray bent backwards and avoided it but this left him wide open for a sweep of Jordan’s legs against his own. Ray fell on his ass with a low groan, the loose gravel digging into the palms of his hands. Jordan stood above him and Ray had to really crane his neck back just to see his face.
“The second kind of fight,” Jordan continued as he held out his hand for Ray, “is a Resolution Fight. These are the kinds of fights that happen when people are really, really upset or angry. Like crimes of passion, when husbands kill the man their wives are cheating on them with.” Jordan pulled Ray to his feet and gave him a moment. Ray brushed himself off and frowned at his hands. They were scraped up and raw, almost to the point of bleeding.
“Resolution Fights are quick. They aren’t about holding out- no one is trying to prove anything. I’ve never seen a fight like this take longer than three minutes. You go in, you hurt the other person, and you’re done. Most fights fit into this category. They happen in bars, on street corners, in abandoned parking lots. These fights can kill people but they don’t have to end in death. They usually end when one person can’t fight anymore, otherwise it’s no longer a fair fight.”
“Fights have to be fair?” Ray asked, looking Jordan over. Because if so, then this was certainly not a fair fight. Jordan had experience and knew what he was doing. Ray was amazed that he was still standing. “No, they don’t have to be.” Both men circled around, keeping their weight on the balls of their feet, fists held up in front of their faces. “But they should be. You don’t ever want to get into a fight with someone who’s not willing to fight fairly-“ “I don’t want to get in a fight ever. Period.” “Smart choice. Fighting’s not fun.”
The two continued to move in a circle. Jordan walked fluidly and with grace, practically stalking forward with each step. Hell, this wasn’t a real fight and Ray was still pretty scared of the guy. Ray himself moved with a significant lack of finesse but he hadn’t tripped yet so that had to stand for something, right?
“The last kind of fight,” Jordan moved his hands to his side and Ray was very, very nervous about that, “is a Death Fight.”
Ray didn’t have a chance to move. Jordan sprinted forward and tackled him to the ground, long arms wrapping around his chest. Ray felt the wind get knocked out of him and struggled for air. His head should have hit the ground, bursts of color should be dancing across his eyes because it should have hit the ground with an echoing crack, but nothing happened. It took him a few seconds to realize that Jordan’s hand was protectively cradling his head, meaning he took most of the shock from the fall. His other hand was loosely wrapped around Ray’s neck, a silent threat. Jordan had Ray pinned to the ground underneath him, legs on either side of his chest, holding his arms down, meaning Ray couldn’t get up even if he wanted to.
“A Death Fight,” Jordan continued as if he didn’t just tackle Ray, “is when you have no choice but to fight for your life. It’s killed or be killed. These fights can last just a few minutes and they can last hours under the right circumstances. These fights can only end when someone is dead and the reason you’re out here with me tonight is so that in case you ever find yourself in a fight like that, you come out on top.” Jordan squeezed his hand and for a moment, Ray couldn’t breathe. He tried to gasp for air, hands struggling against Jordan’s knees to try and claw at his hand. It was just for three seconds, three impossibly long seconds, and then Jordan let go and moved off of Ray in one fluid motion. Ray sat up and coughed, rubbing his neck and trying to stop himself from shaking.
He could feel Jordan’s eyes on him and he knew that the other hybrid was worried. Hell, he could practically feel the concern rippling off him in waves. Ray smirked and pushed himself off the ground. “Well, let’s hope that you and I don’t ever get into one of those then, huh?” Jordan tensed up as Ray adjusted his glasses. A moment of silent passed and then “It’s because I’d totally win and that would be so embarrassing. Death by Ray Narvaez Jr. How pathetic.”
Jordan’s laugh was genuine and it echoed in the empty parking lot. Ray started to giggle too. “You ready for round two?” “Dude, you fucking kidding me? My ass is already so sore, like seriously, it’s worse than when Seamus-“ “Stop. Oh my god, please stop, I don’t want to hear about it.”
Ray snickered and although he really wanted to go inside and go to sleep (the living room floor was starting to sound so nice and snug right now), he lifted his fists again. Jordan looked surprised but the emotion passed quickly and was replaced with smug confidence. “I thought you were done?” “I thought you were going to teach me how to fight but so far, all you’ve done is talked about fighting. And thrown a few sissy punches. Seriously, my grandma can hit harder than you and she just had a heart attack.” “Well we can’t have that, now can we?”
Ray rolled his shoulder back and the fur on his ears and tail stood up on end. Jordan crouched a little lower and there was a glint of something in his eye. Amusement maybe? “You ready for round two?” “Bring it on.”
