Written for C/P's Summer Olympics challenge. For the category fencing: write about someone getting into a fight.
Chris Rodriguez has been recovered from insanity for almost four months when Clarisse La Rue punches him in the face.
Here's the thing: Clarisse never pulls her punches. Not for anyone, not for anything. It's got to hurt, but it's got to be a familiar pain for Chris.
Chris and Clarisse used to brawl all the time. He didn't seem to try his best in sword fighting, or try at all, really, but he sometimes liked to really fight her in hand to hand. Maybe that's why he doesn't hesitate to punch her back, fist sinking into her stomach.
The fight goes into full swing quicker than anyone can see. They're sliding and flipping around each other like an elaborate, dangerous dance that involves literally jumping at each other's throats.
Clarisse is all quick, precise jabs and fast feet-so unlike the sloppy, full-charge style she uses on newbies. Her true fighting style is unpredictable, a mixture of different styles where she switches fluidly betwen different martial arts, boxing, wrestling, and more. It's no less powerful, but a lot more hardcore, precise, and dangerous.
Chris is just fast. He's always been a good fighter and strategist, but it's not very well known how strong he is. He's always trying to move ahead, keep distance and close it for only a few moments, or go right in to wrestle his opponent to the ground. His uppercut catches Clarisse in the jaw, a feat for anybody, no doubt giving her a bruise to match the one blooming on his cheek.
Silena Beauregard watches on anxiously, holding her breath. When I said I wanted them to resolve their tension, she thinks, biting her lip, I meant by talking about their feelings. She watches Charlie go to pull them apart, but Sherman and Mark step up, blocking his path. They're shaking their heads and Silena knows Charlie can't get past them. They're a hundred percent loyal to their family, their cabin; to Clarisse.
She turns her gaze back towards the fight. Clarisse kicks Chris in the side. Chris grabs her foot and twists. It looks equal, and she has hope that it'll end up as a tie, but Silena knows Chris is too weak. Clarisse has been training for the year he was away, the months he spent insane, bedridden and weak. Clarisse doesn't pull her punches, Chris is going to lose, and it doesn't look like either of them are going to let the other down easily.
Why? she wonders, watching Clarisse completely body-slam Chris. Why is she fighting him when she thinks he's too weak to handle it? This is something Clarisse herself had told Silena. She isn't completely certain if Chris knows what Clarisse thinks, but Silena suspects that he does.
Then there's this fight - absolutely brutal, ruthless, neither holding back their most effective, painful moves after months of doing just that.
It's hard not to look away but the fight ends soon, with Chris pinned to the ground, Clarisse above him. His hands are pinned above his head. There's a hand pressing down at the base of his throat.
The onlookers are quiet as Clarisse bows her head, hair covering her face. She's leaning in close enough that her shoulder-length hair curtains Chris's face too. With literally anyone else, Silena would have been convinced that they were going to kiss. She still has hope for Chris and Clarisse, since they obviously like each other, but it's just so unlikely that it would be this public and sudden.
"Better than I expected," Clarisse comments. Her voice is low, grip unyielding. "You lasted longer than I thought you would."
Chris grins, easy, with just enough edge to be considered sharp. "Have I ever let you down?" he jokes. Then, "I told you I could handle myself."
"Not well enough," Clarisse tells him, and Chris is still, but acknowledges this with a single nod. "I'll train you to do better."
"You'll train me," Chris repeats. His eyebrows are comically high, face surprised, but his voice is steady. "After all this time."
It's not even surprise that overtakes him, just something pleased. Clarisse glares at him, but she's almost smiling.
He'd known this was coming, that Clarisse was trusting him to handle himself, to be able to handle what she could throw at him. Her punching him had been an expected test, and him performing well meant he had passed.
"You know why," she says, voice softening, eyes tired.
Chris wants to squeeze her wrists in understanding, but he can't, so he nods instead, expression something old and weary.
They're recovering together, and this is a big leap for both of them.
No one hears what they're saying, or if they're even talking, but then Clarisse is rising.
"Tomorrow, six-thirty in the morning, Rodriguez," she tells him. Chris is grinning as he climbs to his feet too.
"Aye, aye, captain!"
Clarisse glowers, shoving at his shoulder as she walks away without another word. Her siblings close in around her, falling into line as she marches into Cabin Five.
Chris is still smirking when Silena hurries over.
"Are you okay?" she demands. His hair is mussed, skin bruised. The most vivid one is the one on his cheek and it looks like it hurts. Silena presses her fingers to it unthinkingly. Chris catches her wrist just as she applies pressure, and pulls her hand away in one quick, fluid movement. "Oh my Gods, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," Chris shrugs. "I've had worse, don't worry. We used to do this for stress relief."
"Fight?" Like that?
"I was an angry kid, Lena, come on, you must know by now." He slides her an amused look, eyebrow quirked, and she flushes. It's clear he knows the snooping she'd done on both of them. It was just gossip she'd picked up on, but that gossip had included twelve-year-old Chris's anger issues. "Anyway," he says, releasing her wrist, "I think I better go before I get into two fights in one day."
"What? Who else would you fight?" Silena looks around, eyes scanning for Clarisse or some asshole who has a problem with Chris. She could most likely convince the latter to go away, if they even have the balls to fight Chris after he just proved himself by fighting Clarisse. However, all she sees is a handful of lingering people standing around. "Chris, no one would try and fight you after you just fought Clarisse."
She turns, and he's shaking his head, smiling that crooked Hermes smile, and lifting those quirked Hermes brows. "Really? Because Beckendorf would totally fight me for you."
Silena lifts her chin, feeling her cheeks warm. "I," she begins. Stops. "You think so?" she asks instead.
Chris waggles his eyebrows. He jerks his chin to her left, and, when Silena turns, she sees Charlie walking towards them. She waves casually, tossing her hair over her shoulder. He smiles. Waves back. Is he blushing? That's adorable.
When she turns back around, Chris is gone. So is the Ares Cabin - including Clarisse, who she wanted to talk to.
"Hey," she hears Charlie say at her shoulder, and Silena spins around so fast that she almost falls. Gods, she thinks, dizzily, and then Charlie's hands are on her upper arms. His hands are big and broad, she can feel his callouses, and they're steady, pulling her upright. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Silena says. For a moment, all she can focus on his hands and how dark his eyes are. "Yes, I mean. Thank you."
Charlie releases her. She can't help but feel disappointed, her skin tingling where they made contact.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he tells her, soft, and Silena looks at him. Blinks. Tugs at a chunk of carefully curled hair. "Chris and Clarisse fighting, I mean. I know they're your friends."
He's so sweet, oh my Gods. Silena smiles at Charlie, even though the image of the dark bruise on Chris's face pops up in her head.
"I don't like conflict," she confesses. She flicks her wrist on habit, the sound of her Tiffany & Co. bracelets clanging together fills the space between her and Charlie. She notices how his eyes don't even move, and smiles a bit wider at how accustomed to the sound he is. "It's not your fault though. It's probably just some weird Chris and Clarisse thing, you know? Insulting each other, beating each other up..." She shakes her head.
Charlie laughs. "I tried to stop them," he says. He still sounds apologetic, like it's his fault they fought in the first place.
He's actually the cutest.
"I saw," Silena tells him. "Thanks for trying. It's not your fault. Sherman and Mark..."
"Are very loyal to Clarisse," Charlie finishes, and laughs again. It's a really nice sound. She could live off that sound. "I was just wondering if you wanted to sit with me at the campfire?" He's confident and open, as always. The setting sun brushes gold along his dark skin, casting shadows around the sharp curve of his cheekbones and jawline. He's beautiful, and handsome, and Silena wonders if whatever Chris and Clarisse have could possibly compare to this: just being with Charlie.
"Of course," she smiles, genuine, and laughs when he offers her his arm. She links arms with him, and follows him to the campfire.
The next morning, she goes to interrogate Clarisse and finds Chris instead.
"She's getting her extra yoga mat," Chris says, stretching. He looks tired, dark bags under his eyes and shirt sticking to his skin with sweat. "I think. Wait for her with me, if you want."
"You guys are doing yoga together?" Silena asks, raising her eyebrows. She doesn't know why she's surprised, they've done a lot of weird things together, and yoga is one of the tamer things, but still. After their fight, she expected their training to be more violent. She's well aware of Clarisse's pent-up rage at Chris, and vice versa.
Maybe this is Clarisse publicly showing how she cares about Chris. Interesting.
"Yeah," Chris says, oblivious to her thoughts. Almost. He narrows his eyes at her, stretching his arms above his head. His shirt rides up an inch or two. "I can hear you thinking from here, and stop. It's not what you think."
"You guys caring about each other is adorable," Silena says. She smiles, wide and happy, because it's actually really freaking cute. "In public, too. I get to skip a step."
"A step in what?" My plan to get you to emote well and talk to each other placidly.
"I," she begins, then stops to regroup. It's hard to get anything by a child of Hermes.
"You what?" Clarisse asks, appearing suddenly in the arena. She's in a cute white workout shirt and black shorts, two yoga mats under her arm. She looks right at home. "Got lost on the way to the Hephaestus cabin?"
Chris snorts. Silena glares.
"No," she says. She elects not to mention the nights she'd slept over in Charlie's bunk, doing nothing but talking and sleeping. Clarisse knows anyway, but she would probably let Silena get away with her vehemence. "I was talking about how cute it is that you and Chris are finally showing how much the other means to you."
Clarisse blinks at her, doing that exaggeratedly slow blink that she does when she's playing dumb. "What?" she asks. "What? I don't know what the Hades you're talking about."
Silena smiles. Looks at Chris. Chris is looking at Clarisse, a small smile on his face, and looking more relaxed than he'd been for a long time. His eyes are laughing, shoulders loose, and his stance is easy and open.
"I'll talk to you later," she says to Clarisse. She means I'll get the details out of you later. Clarisse cocks a brow, but doesn't say anything. "Bye, Chris! Bye, Clarisse! Have fun together." She winks as she walks out, and can feel their bewilderment.
She doesn't know all of Chris and Clarisse's relationship, but she does know that it's improving.
Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series, or the characters. Rick Riordan owns the series and the characters.
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