Mal had been in a slump ever since his father's artful manipulation of him led to the destruction of their apartment.
Eating slid to licorice, jolly rancher candies, and an occasional yogurt when she and Mandy could get him to eat one.
Sleeping became next to nonexistent. Even with her curled up next to him, he stared up at the ceiling.
The only thing Mal did with any regularity was study.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but not completely healthy, either.
The only thing that comforted Sorcha was that he didn't intentionally cause himself any other types of physical harm. Well, she amended, as she tightened the straps on her boxing gloves, not ones that require stitches and bandages, anyway.
Her danger prone dope hurt himself well enough without trying.
Like the bloody nose he got from walking into the front door was proof enough of that.
And the broken toe she still couldn't figure out.
"Ready?" she asked as Mal joined her in the ring. "Or do you want to call sparing off?"
He shook his head.
"No, this was a good idea."
"Yeah, but you've already gotten a bloody nose and we haven't even started sparing yet."
"I'm fine."
Malcolm Bright was never fine but she opted not to say so.
This time, she amended silently.
"Okay, but if you get a black-eye or a fat lip, you're explaining it to Gil."
Malcolm rolled his eyes.
"It's my mother you need to worry about."
"That's why I said explain it to Gil."
Mal's lips quirked. The closest he got to a smile in nearly a month.
"That's not a nice thing to do to Gil."
"Survival of the fittest, Mal."
And she had gone enough rounds with Jessica Whitly to know when to send in a ringer.
"Let's begin, okay?"
Sorcha swallowed her reservations and slid her mouth guard into place.
Five minutes later, she was placing an icepack to Mal's chin.
"Don't," he grumbled as he rest his head in her lap. "Don't say I told you so."
"Wasn't gonna." She saw his dubious look. "What? I wasn't."
"Right." He blew out a breath. "Guess I gotta call Gil."
"Uh-huh."
He squinted up at her.
"Why do you sound so cheerful about this?"
"Because I wanna hear you explain how you injured yourself before we even started sparring."
"Tripped going to my corner," he blithely replied. "Bounced my chin off the edge of the mat."
"He'd believe it."
Mal let out another sigh. "Sadly."
Her lips quirked as she couldn't resist pointing out, "You don't got to explain walking into the front door or breaking your toe now."
A frown was Mal's response.
A/N: Hello, all! Hope this finds you well!
I just want to send a special thank you to Rookblonkorules for their lovely reviews!