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By the time Teddy walked into the private Calloway training grounds, Gutter was already panting on the ground, staring up at the ceiling and streaked in dirt.
“I’m not going inside yet, dad,” Gutter said, without looking over. His voice was strained.
“He knows,” Teddy said. “He sent me as a voice of reason. Have you actually been out here all day?”
Gutter rolled rapidly and stumbled to his feet, eyes wide as they took in Teddy. He looked like he’d been out there all day, clothes ruined with dust and an inexplicable cut on his cheek still slowly leaking blood. Teddy wondered how, exactly, Gutter had managed to get cut without an opponent. (Unless he did have one? )
“Uh,” Gutter said. “Yes - that’s - you can tell him I’m fine, ok, I’m working on - “ He broke off.
“Working on what ?” Teddy said. “Even Joaquin said he didn’t know.”
Gutter switched from uncomfortable to smug in the space of a breath. He took down his ponytail and used putting it up again as an excuse to look away from Teddy as he said, “Something cool. Something no one’s done before.” He dropped his hands. “And something you’re not going to know about yet, so drop it. You’ll see in the tournament.”
Gutter knelt down to pick up his two swords from the dirt, cringing a bit on his way back up. He was going to hurt himself like this, more than he already had.
“What,” Teddy said, “Going to try it out in the tournament without ever practicing it on someone before?” Gutter’s shoulders stiffened. “I thought you wanted to win.”
“I’m going to win,” Gutter snapped, turning to face him. “You don’t even know what it is - “
“If you can beat me with it,” Teddy said, “I’ll help you train for the tournament, and I won’t say a word to anyone about the magical sword on the ground back there.”
Gutter froze, eyes wide. He didn’t turn around, and Teddy could almost see him contemplate his chances of getting away with denying it. And then his chances of Teddy not saying anything to anyone anyways , if Gutter told him to just get out. (They were high, and they both knew it.)
Three breaths passed. Gutter said, “Meet me back here tomorrow morning. I don’t need your help, but I’ll kick your ass if it’ll keep your mouth shut.”
“Right,” Teddy said, and smiled at Gutter in a deliberately infuriating way. Gutter’s eyes narrowed. “Better go rest up then, sleeping beauty.”
“Go home ,” Gutter said, but he did move to put the swords up on the wall. The magical one, Teddy noticed, stayed right where it was. Gutter didn’t even look at it. Teddy wondered what, exactly, it was enchanted with, and just how worried he should be. Enchanted blades weren’t banned in the tournaments - nearly every noble’s sword had some magic embedded in it to maintain a sharp, clean blade. Honor rules governed most of the use of magic within the tournament. It would be just like Gutter to bend them.
“I mean it, Teddy,” Gutter said, and started stripping off his ruined shirt.
Teddy went.
When Teddy showed up at the arena near noon the next day, Gutter still wasn’t there. He took his time warming up, running through a series of stretches and movements and wondering what Gutter’s secret technique was. The most Joaquin had to offer was exactly what Teddy had seen the day before: an enchanted blade, glanced in the training ring before Gutter spirited it away. A brief glance had been enough to reveal it wasn't cursed - a relief - but nobody'd gotten close enough to see any identifying marks.
The magical sword wasn’t in the practice arena that morning. Not that Teddy had looked that hard for it.
The door opened at just past midday, and Gutter strode in as though he wasn’t a minute late. “What, getting started without me? That doesn’t seem fair.”
“I don’t know, getting a few extra hours seems like an advantage to me - “
“Shut up and get your sword,” Gutter said, and pulled his twin swords from the sheaths at his hips. He did some basic twirls with them as Teddy jogged over to the edge to pick up his own blade.
What he wasn’t in a swordsman, he made up for in showmanship. The blades in Gutter’s hands danced like they were a part of him; there just wasn’t the force to go behind them. If he hadn't seen Gutter drop them a hundred times before he mastered that trick, it might even be intimidating.
He cast blade guard on himself, and said, “Ready?”
“Are you ?” Gutter said. His smile was cutting. “Three - two - one - “
Gutter came at him with the two swords, a simple cross-cut that Teddy was still just barely able to dodge. He used the bulk of his broadsword to push Gutter back, but nearly lost him again as Gutter slipped to the side and took another swipe at him - gods, shit, he was fast . It never stopped knocking him off-balance.
Still, Gutter’s weaknesses were Gutter’s weaknesses and nobody knew them better than Teddy. When he managed to catch Gutter’s blades against his again, he pressed down with his weight and sent Gutter stumbling backwards. A moment before Gutter's arms were going to buckle and send him to the ground, Teddy dropped the pressure and backed off.
“Don’t go easy on me,” Gutter snarled.
“Don’t be predictable,” Teddy countered.
Gutter stood again, re-positioned his swords at his sides, and snarled, “I’ll show you predictable,” and then a word that glowed .
It didn’t sound like Gutter’s voice. It sounded like Joaquin’s voice when he was The Nightingale - it sounded like old magic and barely-harnessed power. It sounded like a reminder that Gutter was the son of a demigod. It knocked Teddy’s breath out of him.
Or maybe, he realized, staring at the ceiling, the sword currently hovering above his chest was what did that.
“Predictable enough?” Gutter said, sounding deeply satisfied.
“Where did you get that,” Teddy breathed. He didn’t want to move. The sword hovered, unsupported, above his heart. He knew that he was protected by blade-guard, but being impaled on a magical sword point-blank still wasn’t something that he was eager to experience.
Gutter tilted his head back, and the sword spun back again, coming to rest at Gutter’s side like a third appendage. It adjusted to his height, his stance, without Gutter even needing to look at it.
“Won it,” Gutter said. “From a tournament of heroes. They gave me a crown and everything.”
“Sure,” Teddy snorted. He shifted back to a fighting stance. “Alright, you got me. Now let’s see if you can do it again.”
“You’re
on
,” Gutter said, and they moved in as one.