Untitled Part I
She saw only him.
Thousands of voices erupted around her, the cheer of the crowd, a cry of joy unparalleled in measure, the soft, initial lull of the first few who had spotted him increasing so much, so quickly, that the very foundations of the arena around them shook. But all the sound in the world could not draw her attention from where her blue green eyes were locked.
He climbed quickly, easily into the ring, his shoulder length blonde hair tucked away beneath an orange cap as he stepped forward, quickly whirling the man the world had come to see as his sworn enemy and slamming his hand into his face, the cheers around them only increasing. As she watched the barrage of blows being dealt, a smile curled the corners of her painted lips, and her heart beat just that little bit faster.
On other nights she had smiled as she watched others deliver such punishment to the man she had come to loathe with all her being. Tonight, however, her smile was different. Tonight her smile was true.
For still she saw only him.
In all his beauty, his eyes glimmering with the excitement of the moment, his face a picture of self-satisfaction, and a cockiness he could never quite deny. Each turn of hand, every blow and the perfection of the swift kick delivered into the slightly taller man's chin touched her deeply, a desire burning in her as she watched that could never fully be explained.
They were friends. For a long time now they had been such. Friends...
His intelligence and charm had intoxicated her from the very first time they met, and even then she had found herself longing, curious if you will, for a chance encounter that might lead them beyond the bounds of friendship and into passion. But he had belonged to another, as another had belonged to him, and she had come to believe her curiosity would forever remain unsatisfied.
But times had changed, and much had come to pass. If nothing else, the man he now had laid out in that ring had been good for her in one wondrous way.
He had brought them together.
She had stumbled, fallen, on countless occasions, and her blind loyalty to the man who had mastered her had seen her walk paths that most would never dare to walk. She had made choices, many bad, and been hurt. Above all else, she had hurt others. And when he had done his worst and left her lying in a pool of heartache, turning her away for another...
Then he had come.
Walking back into her life like the Knight in Shining Armour from the days of old, her Prince Charming in a Fairytale more resembling a Grimm Brother's story than the clever tales she recalled from her childhood. He had reached for her when she was at her lowest, adored her when she was at her worst, and with his wild heart he had rekindled a passion in her that others had killed slowly, painfully over time. She had believed herself lost, dead even, and he had reminded her what it was to be alive.
How she loved and adored him… How she craved his touch. The moments she spent in his arms were her finest, the smile she wore for him always true, her words always heartfelt, and though she tried her best to carefully mask the extent of her devotion to him in a vain attempt to keep him from seeing the truth, he knew her. Every word she spoke, every look she gave him, said more to him than she herself could ever express and he had come to understand her, his knowledge of her more intimate than she had ever allowed any other to have.
She could fight to keep him away from the depths of her heart... But there was no deceiving him.
Yet still he welcomed her company. It surprised her no end, and there was not a night that passed when she fell asleep wrapped in the safety of his arms that she did not whisper a silent thanks to God for leading her to him.
He moved back into the ring, playing to the eyes that were locked on him with his proud smile and his taunting poses, before stepping through the ropes to dance on the wooden box that now housed the man he had attacked. For the briefest moment his eyes locked on her where she sat, notebook in her lap, a microphone in hand, and the gentle curl of her lips burst into an unbridled smile. Though his face expressed no recognition of this, his eyes shone just a little more wickedly, the deviousness in him she had come to love there for only her to see.
There was no way to say what came next for them. He had been hurt far greater than she dared to imagine even she had been, and there would be no taming his wild heart, though she had no desire to do so. He had allowed her a freedom others had denied her, and she had toyed with it for a time, content to know it was there should she want it, but the desire to keep running to others slowly leaving her. It frightened her a little, but she was willing to stay with him. To take whatever pleasure in him he gave her, and to savour that beyond anything else in her life, she had his friendship. He was a voice of reason when all seemed lost, and an ear to listen when she ached. In him she found all she needed, and though he had others, though he had his blood, she was not hurt by his desire or his love for them. While she knew others who would begrudge him his blood, she loved his blood as much as she loved him, and she took joy in seeing them together. Together they had strength, together they had loyalty, and she admired them their unwavering passion for each other.
How could she ever deny the power of what they were combined? In all honesty, how could anyone?
The gentle touch of a hand against her arm drew her attention from him as he moved up the ramp, and she smiled at the cameraman motioning to her that she could go if she wanted to. She smiled, standing, but again her eyes found him as he disappeared, her bright smile deepening again.
He was her desire, her passion, her friend.
Others insulted the depth of that, their whispered accusations trying to torment her with their belief that she was a passing fad, a vessel in which he would take out his frustrations only to cast her aside when he tired of her.
Others were wrong. There was very little she believed in anymore, very little that struck her heart as truth undeniable, very little she trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt, and all the words in the world would not change the simple fact...
She believed in him, she believed in them...
And nothing else mattered anymore.
~ The End ~