Chapter 10:

LUNA'S POV:

Steve drags me downstairs and I stumble after. He had been down here when I had first met him, and I had watched him spar with his inanimate partner. Now it was my turn I suppose. I sit down on a bench against the wall as Steve picks a pair of gloves for me. He kneels next to me and shows me how to put them on, which is good because I was actually clueless. Then he walked me over and showed me how to punch right. This, I had a vague awareness of how to do, but not as much as he did. After my tutorial on punching correctly, he left to go get some water and I banged on the bag repetitively until he came back.

Once I hear him coming down the stairs, I hide against the wall. Then, as he enters the room I jump at him screeching. You see, I thought I would scare him, but nope. He catches me in midair, laughing.

"You were trying to scare me!" he exclaims.

"Maybe I was!" I giggle.

And we break out in a "tickle war" and I'm squealing and laughing until I can't breathe. We end up on the floor laughing and rolling around and I'm feeling like I'm at a disadvantage considering I can't tickle in these gloves. I try to shove him off with them, but he's so much stronger than I am. My mind wanders into ways to evade him.

"Get off!" I squeak.

"I'm not on you!" he replies.

"Well, then, stop!" I say, not sure of what to reply with.

And he stops. Just like that he stops and is sitting in a bundle in front of me.

"Oh so I could've done that earlier and avoided the tickling?!" I laugh.

His smile is contagious and we both just sit there, smiling from ear to ear.

STEVE'S POV:

Luna and I are smiling wide and sitting like little kids in kindergarten. My heart is jumping rope with its own strings, and I feel them tugging towards Luna. I've been in love with Peggy for so long, is it possible she's become a fixed automatic in my heart? What if I don't even love her now, but I'm using her to shield me from the possibilities in front of me. I find myself wanting Luna more by the second, but I sit there dumbly grinning and staying stock still.

"You're cute." She says giggling.

"Oh I know." I wink.

Rosy red crawls into her cheeks. She looks so innocent, crisscross-applesauce and blushing, and it makes me want her more. Have you ever wrapped yourself in magnets and then sat beside something magnetic? No, because that would be really strange, but you get my metaphor. She's drawing me in and I can't stop.

"You're really fun." She continues. "And sweet, and strong and muscly." She laughs.

Her laugh is one of those that you would be able to hear in a crowd of thousands. Honestly, I think I've fallen in love with a girl I've known for like, two days, and she's so much younger than me. And then as if she's reading my mind, she says:

"You know how weird it is that people judge by age? Like, what if an eighteen year old had the mental power of a thirty year old? But people still treat her like a little girl because of her age. It's just a number, you know? Why should it tell us who to love and not love, and who to be friends with and not friends with, or hire or not hire?" she makes an excellent point.

"Well, that's a very beautiful perspective for a very beautiful girl." I laugh, trying to cover the obvious pleasure I found in her speech.

"So, can we be ageless? Or like, you know, not of age or whatever?" she stutters.

Then I think about the situation. I met this girl two days ago, not even. How can you love someone you've known for so little time? I fight against myself yet again, until all feelings of love and like are gone, and Luna is just a brand new friend again.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"Okay. Just checking."

"Checking what?" I ask.

"You were kind of dazed out."

"Sorry."

I guess I was thinking really hard. I laugh and shove her over and stand up.

"Hey!" she squeals.

"Hey is for HORSES! Straw is cheaper." I laugh.

"What?!"

"It's a saying!"

"Well then STRAW!" she giggles.

We laugh again, and her eyes sparkle in a different blue than the first time I'd seen her. A happier, brighter blue. A free blue and a blue that I hope I'd inflicted, because it was the most amazing heartwarming BLUE you'd ever see. All in the color of her eyes. And then I'm fighting inside again, and hoping that she'll win this time.