Training

Evie stared at the message before throwing the phone to the floor. There was a knock at the door, which caused Evie to jump. It was just the pizza she ordered. She paid the man and came back inside locking the door. She thought about calling Cor, but decided to wait. She didn't know for certain that it was Jason. Maybe someone at the Citadel, whose number she didn't have, decided to use 'Vee' because it seemed easier. Or maybe it was someone's phone pulling a wrong autocorrect. She decided to ignore the text and wait to see if they said anything more.

The next few days went by slower than Evie would have liked, but she felt much better by the end of them. She missed her job and everyone at the Citadel. Mostly she missed Cor. He made her feel safe and, well, useful. She didn't want to admit what else she felt around him. He had texted her at the end of each day to check on her. Every time she got one of his texts, she felt giddy, and it made her forget about the other strange text she had received. She was folding and hanging her clean laundry, when she heard the buzz of her phone. She hopped over to grab her phone. Sure enough, it was him.

C- How are you?

E- Feeling great! Ready to be back at work. All this resting is boring.

C- I'm glad you got rest, you needed it. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.

E- Coffee?

C- I'll grab some for us, you just meet me in my office and we'll catch up a bit.

E- Okay, see you then! :)

She bit her lip, realizing that she was smiling bigger than was normal for her. Oh Gods, I like him, I like him way more than I should.

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Evie walked into Cor's office early the next morning to see him on the phone at his desk. He gestured to her coffee and for her to sit. After his call ended, he looked her over, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"You look yourself again," he commented.

"Thank you, Marshal," she said grinning up at him, "I feel it, too."

"Good. I was hoping to start training with you later this afternoon, after some Kingsglaive reviews."

"Reviews sound official," she commented with a hint humor in her voice.

"Oh, they can be if the individual being reviewed is not doing well," he said, chuckling, "I wouldn't worry about this bunch, though. They need a bit more discipline and maturity, but that will come with experience. Overall, they have done well."

Evie smiled at how proud Cor seemed of the men under his command. He noticed and raised a brow in question, but she just kept smiling and shook her head. The way her eyes lit up when she smiled always made Cor's morning brighter. He cleared his throat and handed her a folder to sort through.

Evie was happy to be back at work. She hated feeling useless and restless. And she had missed Cor. She knew letting her mind wander with how she had been feeling about him was a bad idea, but it felt too good to deny. It didn't help that she had to watch him spar with some of the Kingsglaive before their reviews that afternoon. He was wearing black training pants and one of the tee shirts he usually layered. He had started sweating after the third fight and Evie stared wide-eyed as he removed his shirt, revealing his muscled, scarred, and very attractive torso. She fixed her face and looked away blushing, hoping no one saw her school girl-like reaction. She saw Gladio out the corner of her eye and looked up to see him looking directly at her, covering his mouth and obviously laughing. Crap. He definitely saw her ogling her boss. He winked and she rolled her eyes before turning away. She would definitely be hearing about this later.

She took notes while Cor met with different young members of the Kingsglaive. The image of him shirtless was burned into her brain and it was becoming quite hard to pay attention. She followed as he walked one young soldier out of the room. He was looking down the list for the next name to call, when Gladio stepped up next to her.

"Enjoying the view, today?" He asked with a big smirk on his face.

Evie glared at him before walking back in the makeshift office with Cor and another Kingsglaive.

"You've done well, Linus," Cor complimented the young man at the end of the last review. "Keep it up, and we may promote you to the Crownsguard someday."

"Thank you, sir," the man said, obviously pleased. The two men got up, shook hands, and walked out. Evie followed with her notebook as she had done so often today. As the man left, another man that Evie recognized approached Cor. It was Nyx and he was wearing that always charming smile of his. He greeted both of them and handed a note to Cor.

"You are well, I hope, Miss Evie?" He asked her as Cor read.

"I am, thank you. And you?"

"Very well," he smiled.

Cor wrote something on the note before handing back to him to be returned. Cor turned to Evie and sighed, obviously tired of meeting with people.

"Do you have something to change into?" He eyed her over as he asked. She was currently wearing a tight, gray pencil skirt and a pretty satin floral top half tucked in, and a pair of low slingback heels. Hardly sparring clothes.

"Oh, yes! I do," she had almost forgotten about their training session, honestly, "I can go change now, if you like."

"Yes, that would be great," he answered.

Evie changed quickly into a pair of dark green gym shorts, a tight black tank top, and tennis shoes. She put her hair up and looked at herself in the mirror. The shorts were a bit short, but they were comfy. She shrugged and walked out to meet Cor. He was currently talking to a young recruit about something. She knew this recruit, as he had spoken to her a few times over the last two months or so. She believed his name was Thomas, but she always kept their interactions short as he was rather awkward to be around. Gladio was leaning against a wall nearby and stood up to talk to her while she was walking.

"Hoping he takes his shirt off this time?" He asked, obviously still amused that he caught her thirsting over her boss.

"Oh, quit it," she smacked his arm playfully, "I was just surprised."

"Sure, you were," he winked, "well if it doesn't work out with the Marshal, the runt talking to him right now seems to have it bad for you."

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Cor was reading a note from Titus the recruit had brought to him when she walked out. He saw her from the corner of his eye, but kept reading. He noticed the boy who had brought him the message was distracted, though. He looked up at him only to see him staring and practically drooling over his assistant as she spoke with Gladio. He looked her way and could see why. She looked damn good in those shorts and that tank top. He shook his head and focused again on the recruit obviously checking her out. Cor couldn't help feeling angry on a personal level at the thoughts the boy was probably entertaining about her.

"Thomas!" He shouted, startling the boy.

"Y...yes, sir? Sorry, sir," he answered refocusing himself on the Marshal alone.

"Take this back to the Captain, then go take a cold shower."

"y...yes, sir!" The boy practically ran out of the training room.

"You ready, Evie," Cor called to her, still obviously annoyed with young Thomas's disrespectful gaze towards her.

"Yes, sir," she answered with a tone that was both mocking and sexy. Cor sighed, pushing certain thoughts and desires away.

They trained for about an hour. Cor taught her how to watch for enemy blows and how to time her attacks so she wouldn't be so sloppy. He also taught her how to use her strengths to her advantage. Yes, she was small, but she was also quite limber and quick. He attacked her from the front and she was able to jump away towards the wall nearby and kick from it to give her more power when she landed her counter attack, a swift kick to his jaw. Cor was surprised and pleasantly so. She had effectively created a new move for herself on the fly. He smiled with pride and stood to his feet.

"Good! Very good, Evie!"

"Oh...thanks," she blushed at his praise.

They continued training, but Cor decided to amp it up a notch. He made it behind her and grabbed her with one arm around her waist and another around her neck. This was something Evie was obviously not prepared for. She fought to get free, but the more she struggled the more tired she became and his grip was still strong.

"Stop fighting me, Evie," Cor commanded. She wasn't sure why, but his commands were just as sexy as the rest of him. Get it together, girl!

Evie slowed her movements and finally did as he said, remembering that he was teaching her, not testing her.

"Good girl," he whispered into her ear, "If someone has you in this position, don't fight so hard. You will only wear yourself out, giving them more advantage over you. You need to find what will get them to release you before you can fight. Take your right arm up and hit me hard and swift with your elbow, right into the space under my ribs."

She did so, making him grunt and loosen his grip around her.

"Good, good," he said, "At the same time you do that, grab my arm that is around your neck with both hands near my elbow, pull for leverage and swing away in the direction of this arm with everything you have. That will give you a chance to fight back or run if you need to. Try again." He tightened his hold on her and she did exactly as he instructed. She was successful in getting him to lose his grip but wasn't quite able to swing away as well as she hoped. So she simply dropped with all her weight causing him to drop her.

"Good compromise," he commented, "but that won't work every time. Especially if someone strong really wants to hurt you."

"I just need practice, I think," she replied, breathing hard.

"I agree," he moved towards her and handed her a small towel, "but you did very well. I don't think it will take you long at all to learn."

"Well, I do have an excellent teacher," she replied in a flirty tone. Oh, Gods, what am I doing? Maybe he won't even notice the way I said that. He simply smirked as he sipped his water.