For my wonderful friend CheeseIsKey, as part of the "Midsummer Gift Dream" Creative Damianya Server Secret Santa!

As per the rules of the secret santa exchange, for this short story, I was inspired by this song: "Versus" by Heaven Pierce Her

Enjoy! Xxx

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"This," Damian said loftily, "is extremely stupid."

He was quite confident in his assessment, but, alas, he was alone in it. Becky rolled her eyes and pretended not to hear him, while Ewen and Emile looked appalled.

"Come on, Boss, you can't deny you were curious too!" Ewen started.

"I'm not," he said through gritted teeth.

"Yeah!" Emile joined in enthusiastically, and Damian wanted to scream. "This way, the class gets to find out who's stronger once and for all!"

Damian shuffled on his feet, slightly jostled by the growing crowd gathering in one of Eden's smaller gymnasiums.

"Is that really necessary?" Damian hissed, the annoyance only building up inside of him. "We already know Forger is strong. She doesn't need to go up against Bazooka Bill to prove it!"

"Oh? Are you worried about her?" Becky teased, her attention sharper than a hawk's - as usual.

Damian kept his mouth shut, knowing that anything he said could be turned against him. It didn't help that she was right, too, because there was Bazooka Bill - a literal giant, his muscles giving the impression of a caricatured Marine - against Anya, of all people. Short, stubby-legged, as-light-as-a-fairy Anya, and even though she had garnered a reputation for being surprisingly athletic, Damian couldn't help but bite his nails off in agitated suspense.

Why hadn't any of the teachers stopped this? Damian had half a mind to inform Henderson, just to try and get someone who could stop this whole charade, or to talk some sense into Anya, when she seemed absolutely intent on proving herself by battling Bill -

Oh my god. Bill was going to wipe the floor with Anya, he just knew it, and then she'd have to go to the hospital, or worse -

"Sy-on!"

"GAH!"

Damian leapt out of his skin, startled by a pink-haired goblin who had run up to him, beaming.

"Don't worry, Sy-on! Bill can't hurt me. And besides," she grinned widely. "It's only arm-wrestling!"

Too close! He took a careful step back, trying to put a bit of distance between them. She had a way of burrowing into his personal space, and it set him aflame.

"I'm not worried, idiot," he flicked her forehead, but he couldn't think of a rebuttal, or an excuse for his apprehension, which he knew made him look like a stick-in-the-mud. Her enthusiasm had tricked the others into backing a spontaneous arm-wrestling match, but not Damian: from personal experience, he knew that Anya was strong, but at the same time, he was terrified to consider the worst case scenario.

But you'd better win, he wanted to tell her, and as usual, kept it all inside. It didn't seem to make a difference to Anya though, as she flashed Damian a final smile, and circled back to Bill.

Somehow, students had found out about the illicit arm-wrestling match, and started to place bets with each other on who would win. Bill was the obvious favourite, given that he was a human brick, but Anya's feats on the sports field had been surprising in many ways, to the point that people wondered if she was indeed hiding a hidden strength. It would have made an interesting story, anyway.

George emerged from the crowd holding a microphone (where did he get that?), somehow connected to a network of speakers surrounding the gymnasium (did he steal it?), immediately capturing the attention of the gathered crowd.

"Welcome everyone to the Forger-Watkins Face Off! Today we bear witness to a historic event - where we will finally learn who is the strongest in Eden College!"

A cheer went up from the crowd, joined by Emile, Ewen and Becky.

"You can do it Anya!"

"YEAH! Show Bazooka who's boss!"

Damian held his breath as Anya nonchalantly walked over to the table set up for both her and Bill (Eden students could organise fast when they wanted to), and promptly held out her hand for him to shake.

"Good luck, Forger," he intoned, his bass voice rumbling from within his chest, and Anya winked at him, a wicked glint in her eye.

"I don't need luck. I'm going to win, you'll see."

How was she so confident? Damian crossed his arms in an effort to hide their shaking. This was insane. Why would she do this? What did she possibly have to gain?

"The competitors are invited to take their seats! Everyone please stay back, and give your support!"

George held up his fingers to start the count, and the crowd chanted together: "THREE."

Anya and Bill settled into their seats, elbows resting on the table.

"TWO."

They clasped hands, both meeting each other's eyes.

"ONE."

A sudden glare reflected off Bill's glasses, while Anya tensed.

"GO!"

Static crackled the air as Bill's muscles bulged through his uniform, in a way that could only be described as being activated, and the shockwave generated from his energy sent a small crack in the table, right where his elbow had dug into the wood.

Damian's stomach twisted, and he wanted to be sick, surely Bill was going to break Anya's arm, surely -

The crowd must have thought the same, because they turned as one to Anya Forger, the girl who was taking on Bill fucking Watkins, and there was a collective gasp.

Anya hadn't moved. She stayed as still as stone, unmoving, her spine straight as a flagpole, staring Bill down with single-minded laser focus as she resisted his push, and the sight of her sent a rush through Damian's spine that was keenly similar to awe.

"I don't believe it!" George shrieked into the microphone. "Forger is holding her own against Bazooka Bill, but for how long? Can Forger's famous nerves of steel beat Bazooka's iron strength?"

One of those metals is definitely stronger than the other, Damian corrected George inside his own head, but he did not dare say anything out loud as he evaluated the two in front of him.

It was impressive. He couldn't deny it. As the seconds ticked by, more and more veins protruded on Bill's forehead as he clearly tried to bring Anya down with his strength, but she was exerting an equal force of her own, a force that was invisible to all except Bill.

Pleasepleaseplease , Damian send a quiet prayer to the heavens. Please don't get injured. Please don't die. You have to win!

It was strange that on some level, Damian did actually believe that she could win. Everyone in Cecile Hall knew that Anya was strong - they just didn't know how strong - and somehow, the rumour that she could be as strong as Bill had spread, even reaching those in Wald Hall until, eventually, Bill challenged her himself.

"So that we can put those rumours to rest!" he had said, although he probably had no idea what he had just started, because now there was a sizable crowd of students from Halls all over Eden College, and it had somehow turned into the inter-Hall event of the century.

If Damian looked closer, he could see the beginnings of sweat glistening on Anya's forehead, now creased in concentration.

"COME ON, ANYA!" Becky cheered, projecting her voice to be able to be heard over the rest of the crowd. "Don't give up! You can do it!"

"Beat his ass, Forger!"

"Ba-zoo-ka! Ba-zoo-ka!"

Voices clashed in the crowd, the rhythms of the chants clashing with the other:

FOR-GER! FOR-GER!

BA-ZOO-KA! BA-ZOO-KA!

"Forger is still holding her own against the mighty force of Bazooka Bill - what incredible strength! How long can she keep this up?"

Both Anya and Bill's arms trembled against their own force, and then something crazy started to happen.

"Are you seeing this? Forger is proving to be a force to be reckoned with-"

Bill's arm started to tilt backwards.

Oh, shit, Damian's eyes widened in awe, and a thrill of victory rushed through him. He couldn't believe it, and neither could the crowd, because there was a half-second of awed silence, before the noise resumed with twice the volume, twice the intensity.

"FORGER! YEAAAAAAAAHH!""

"BAZOOKAAAAA!"

The voices and cheering and shouting was sensational, and yet Damian felt somewhat removed from it as he waited for something bad to happen. Anya could still get hurt. Something could still go wrong. And he wouldn't be able to stop it…

Through the noise, a whisper reached his ears:

"Isn't she scared? I swear, she's something else if she can go against Bazooka. Maybe she's not even human."

What? Ordinarily, Damian wouldn't respond to any sort of whispers, but at an anticipated event with cheers and shouts, it sounded so out of place that it immediately caught his attention, and he tried to tune out the noise of the crowd as he listened out for the whispered voices again.

Another whisper responded: "What if she does win? If she can beat Bazooka, what would she do to us?"

"Exactly! I knew she was bad news from the first day when she punched a student. She's too wild, I bet she's the kind of student that would just snap one day."

Something cold trickled down his spine. What was that?

The words by themselves were not what caused Damian worry - it was how the words were said. There was a suspicion there, a genuine fear of what Anya was capable of - and how Anya could use her strength to brutalise anyone she wanted.

Those idiots! They had no idea what they were talking about. How dare they talk about Anya like that - they barely even knew her! Damian had half a mind to find the voices and give them Tonitrus Bolts on the spot.

Damian stilled as another thought occurred to him: what if Anya heard the whispers? But, no, that was impossible, because the cheering was so loud, there was no way that she would have heard anything -

BOOM!

The air vibrated with something akin to an explosion, sending a shockwave through the entire crowd, forcing every single body in the vicinity to take one collective step back, bracing themselves against the blast.

The vibrations rattled Damian's very bones, an unpleasant sensation that had him gritting his teeth against the quake that rocked the gymnasium, and as the tremors died down, Damian was finally able to raise his gaze, to see the cause of the uproar.

Bill had slammed Anya's hand into the table, winning the match.

Everyone stilled, holding their breaths, before letting them out in an almighty roar, a wave of noise and sound that overpowered everything else:

"RAAAAAAGHHH!"

And in the centre of it all, Bill shook Anya's hand, ever the sportsman, even if he did look slightly dazed. Damian could see Bill's mouth moving, perhaps expressing his appreciation for the match, or his condolences for Anya's loss, but from where he stood, Damian couldn't see the expression on Anya's own face, blocked by the curtain of pink hair which she let droop in front of her. If he narrowed his eyes, he could see the red marks on her hand, showing where she had taken the impact.

"Well there you have it, folks! Now we know once and for all that Bazooka reigns supreme in the measure of strength, but let's hear it for Forger - for putting up a hell of a fight!"

Damian chewed the inside of his cheek. She didn't look hurt but… she just went against Bazooka Bill in a test of strength! He wouldn't be surprised if the sting of her defeat had transferred to a real sting of pain, and Damian no longer had the energy to pretend that he wasn't worried about her.

BA-ZOO-KA! BA-ZOO-KA! BA-ZOO-KA!

The cheering reached a towering volume, and as one the crowd surged towards the competitors, presumably to congratulate Bill on his win and clap him on the back. The last image that Damian could see was the utter confusion on Bill's face as he stared at his own hand, before the crowd swallowed him up in their celebration.

"Have you seen Forger?"

"Not since the match," Damian said honestly, craning his neck to look up at the giant towering above him. "Congratulations, by the way."

Anya had mysteriously disappeared after the match, somehow vanishing between the gaps in the crowd, and even though Emile and Ewen and Becky called for her, she was nowhere to be seen. Damian had secretly hoped to see her on his way to the next class, or at least at lunchtime, but when she didn't appear, the worry only gnawed further at his insides.

Finally, he had decided to head to the library, where he knew she sometimes sought sanctuary in for the peace and quiet, wandering through the shelves in the vague hope that she might turn up.

Damian closed the book he had been pretending to read, returning it to its place on the shelf, and gave Bill a questioning look.

"I need to apologise to her," Bill explained quietly. "Are you sure you don't know where she is?"

"Why does everyone always assume that I know?" Damian grumbled, before sighing in resignation. "And what do you need to apologise for?"

Bill surreptitiously checked both ways over his shoulder, and leaned closer, inadvertently prompting Damian to lean in, too.

"I wish to apologise for my unsportsmanlike behaviour."

"What?" Damian blinked. What the fuck was Bill on about?

Bill lowered his voice, and what he said next made Damian stop breathing:

"I suspect that she let me win."

"What?" Damian exclaimed.

"She let me win."

"No, no, I heard you the first time, just-"

"I would like a proper rematch. I did not correct the crowd in time, and now everyone has the false impression that the victory was deserved, when in fact-"

"Stop, wait," Damian pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "Are you saying that Anya might… actually be stronger than you?"

Bill nodded, the light reflecting off his glasses.

"Huh," said Damian, feeling very strange. "Well. How about that."

"Are you… all right?"

"Yep," Damian squeaked.

"Your face has gone very red."

"No it hasn't!" Damian panicked. "I am fine, a totally normal colour!"

Bill stared at Damian.

Damian stared back.

"Well… I… uh…" he cleared his throat. "Gotta go. Gotta study… and stuff. Bye!"

Without waiting for Bill's reply, Damian hurried away, failing to hide his flushed face behind his hands.

How embarrassing! Damian lamented, and what was worse, was that he didn't even understand why he was feeling so strange. Suddenly his palms had sweaty, and his heart thrummed with the speed of a hummingbird's wings, and why was his skin all tingly, and why was it so warm -

Wham!

Damian reeled back from the collision, instantly losing his footing. There was no time to react, except for Damian's brain to scream ohmygodI'mgonnadie as he plummeted towards the floor.

But he didn't hit the ground, and after a moment, Damian creaked his eyes open, somehow finding himself in the impossible position of being held above the ground.

Call it fate, or a miracle, but to Damian, it was more like misfortune of the highest order, a stroke of the worst luck in the world.

"You okay, Sy-on boy?"

Emerald eyes stared down at him, and dammit, he couldn't even speak, but one thought stood out from the chaos of his mind:

Wow. She really is strong.

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I had so much fun writing this, and I was so beyond excited to get your name as my giftee! Thank you Cheese for being an awesome friend, and I hope you enjoyed this little ficlet about arm-wrestling hahaha