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Abolish had never been one to skip an arena fight in life, always happy to take the opportunity to size up future opponents or pick up a technique to try. And yet, as the clanging of swords continued to ring through the arena, only made louder by the distinct lack of a roaring crowd, he found himself considering leaving early just this once. It seemed neither competitor was eager to give in, landing ineffective blows in an attempt to protect themselves and retreating every few moments to catch their breath. It felt more like a game of hide and seek than anything, two cats chasing each other back and forth in abscence of an easier bit of prey.
In other words, Abolish was bored. Huffing under its breath, it angled its gaze up towards the sky, allowing the noises of battle to fade into the background for a moment. The marble railing was cool under its arms as it leaned more of its weight against it, allowing itself to feel small under the gaze of the stars for a moment before turning its gaze back down to the arena.
Scott was breathing heavily, sporting a deep gash along his arm that send blood twisting down his wrist to mingle with the blood on his blade. From the way he stood, it was clear that one of his legs were injured as well, though there wasn't any visible wound from this distance. Good. Maybe Owen could finally finish him off, and they could all go home already.
"Some fight, hm?" The figure next to Abolish asked suddenly, pulling flames gaze away from the battle and towards yet another reason flame really wanted to get out of there. Pyro had come to lean against the railing next to him some time ago, standing just close enough to touch- not that Abolish wanted to do that. Before he could get caught up in the way the man's armor shone in the moonlight, casting severe shadows across their face, he looked away again, swallowing past the lump in his throat.
"Yeah, it's…entertaining," it muttered, as if it hadn't been daydreaming just a minute ago. Pyro grinned, head tilting to the side in a way that felt distinctly owlish.
"Really? You look kind of bored."
"Well, its not exactly the fastest fight I've seen," Abolish grumbled, feeling an unwanted warmth rise to his face at how easily Pyro had guessed what he was actually thinking. Glancing back at the arena, he watched as Owen landed another hit on Scott, sword sticking in the man's torso in a way that was less than unlikely to be survivable, "looks like Owen's going to win though."
"Good. That's my featherholder!" Pyro exclaimed, though the celebration felt rather flat and awkward. Maybe that was just because of the boy's awkwardness, though, constantly tripping over their words and insulting others. As if well aware of this tendancy to upset, they glanced down nervously at the other champion, "sorry about Scott, though. He's your ally, right?"
"Mm, not really," flame hummed, watching as Scott swayed before crumpling to the ground. Blood smeared faintly on the ground around him as he tried to stand just once before falling down again. This time, he didn't get back up. "I've tried to remain impartial, for the most part."
"Right. You save it all for the arena," he agreed, shadow falling across Abolish as he shifted slightly closer. Abolish's fingers twitched, some instinct urging him to reach for something, be it his sword or the other's hand, he wasn't exactly sure which. Gods, he really was tired.
"It works. Have you seen anyone trying to hunt me down and kill me yet?" Pyro flinched at that- likely recalling the fight's they'd taken place in so recently, not to mention the way they'd ended. It was a wonder there wasn't any blood anywhere on Pyros' armor, not that Abolish would've minded if the soldier looked just a bit less perfect than he did.
"Well- no."
"Then my point stands." Abolish decided, finally stepping away from the railing. Scott's body was gone, whisked away by the gods to that strange shadowy plane he'd visited after his own death, most likely. Repressing a shiver as he recalled that place, the sickly-smelling warmth of the air as it'd been rowed back to shore returning to its nose for just a moment, it raised its hand in a farewell, "anyways, I'm going to head home."
"Wait!" Surpisingly, Pyro didn't bid him an easy farewell as flame'd expected, half-staggering forwards and reaching for Abolish's arm. Strangely, his voice shook as they spoke, nervousness—or was it fear?—lacing the words, "C-can I walk with you?"
For a moment, Abolish stared at Pyro. The spot where they'd grabbed it seemed to burn, even though logically it knew Pyro should be much colder than it was. Their face was too darkly shadowed to tell what their expression was, but judging by the slight tremble to their grip fear wouldn't be entirely unlikely. Even if this was sone sort of trap, it wasn't like Abolish couldn't easily take them in a fight. Smiling quickly, Abolish nodded. Allowing Pyro's hand to linger on flames arm, he turned and began walking towards one of the many exits,
"I don't see why not. Come on, I'd rather not get stuck congratulating victors for gods knows how long."
"That's fair. It's been a long day." Humming in agreement, Abolish moved down the marble steps, shining almost silver in the moonlight. Finally, Pyro's hand dropped from where he'd still been half-clinging to his arm. Resisting the urge to reach back and intertwine their fingers together in lieu of the touch, Abolish reached the bottom of the steps, waiting for a moment for Pyro to catch up,
"Yeah, well. It's only going to get worse from here, I think. Which way are you going?"
"Do you mind waiting a moment? I wanted to talk to you somewhere just a bit more private, if that's alright."
"Oh. Alright, yeah," Abolish agreed, glancing around for a moment. There weren't many places for them to go, considering that most of the space atop the cliff was taken up by the coliseum lit up behind them. In the end, he opted to move a ways further from the entrance, grass increasing in height until it was standing nearly up to its knees. Pyro followed, stepping much more easily over the uneven terrain, even in the dark. It was near enough to the cliff edge to peer over the side if it so desired, the occasional gust of wind enough to create a momentary worry of toppling over the side. Abolish hardly noted these things past the most clinical of observances however, gaze fixated fully on the taller champion next to him.
"Sorry to keep you, I just. Needed to ask you something," Pyro asked, hands darting across their armour, making microscopic adjustments before settling it back to how it was before. After a moment of this, he took of his helmet, hair plastered uncomfortably to his forehead. Setting it down in the grass, he stepped closer, hands raising as if in surrender, "or do something, I guess. Tell me to stop if you want to."
Just as Abolish was crinkling his brow, lips parting to ask what in the world they mean by that, they closed the miniscule distance between them, a featherlight kiss being placed to their half-open mouth. Unable to hold back a slight gasp, its hands immediately rose to the other's shoulders, leaning into the kiss even as they pulled away.
"Sorry. I-I don't know what-" before Pyro could continue the apology, Abolish pulled them back down with a bit more force than may have been necessary, pressing flames lips back to his. So much for not getting attached.
Whatever other thoughts of admonishment he may have had were chased from his head when, a moment later, Pyro's hands were running through his hair, scratching at his scalp with taloned fingers. Gasping slightly at the feeling, he pressed himself even closer to them, feeling the heat of his own body immediately warm their armor.
Only when Abolish felt as if he were going to pass out if he went without breath for a moment longer did he pull away, hands resting on Pyro's jaw to keep him from pulling too far away.
"Holy shit," Pyro breathed, one hand continuing to run through its hair while the other traveled across its torso, ghosting over its smaller scars to trace the edges of the larger ones beneath its pecs. His hands felt even cooler than usual- or was it just warmer?
"Y-yeah," Abolish agreed, leaning up to press another, quicker kiss to the edge of his mouth. Pyro turned into it, immediately trying to deepen the kiss again, only to startle a moment later, jumping away from Abolish as if he'd been burned. "What?"
"Look," Pyro hissed, gesturing towards the coliseum. Making their way down the steps were the other champions, chattering amongst themselves as they broke off into their various factions for the evening. Nikos glanced up, meeting Abolish's eyes with a knowing grin before gesturing for the two of them to come closer.
Regretfully, Abolish picked up Pyro's helmet from the ground, wishing he had something to hide his own surely flushed cheeks as he handed it back to him. "Oh. See you around then?"
"Yeah. See you around," Pyro agreed. Settling the helmet back onto their head, they glanced back at Abolish only once before walking towards the other feather holders.
Watching him go, wind whipping away the excess warmth of being pressed to someone else, Abolish wondered just how soon that would be.