;)

Dante

It was hard for me to tone down the ginormous smile I had, spreading across my lips. Today was hands down the best training day we had since I had started working with the novices.

Being able to spar defensively and offensively with the fighters, brought the combos we had been working on- to life. It felt like Kyle and I were finally completely in tune with what we had practiced, and honestly? I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good to put those gloves on again.

The evening had officially presented itself, which meant training was over, and we'd see everyone again in the morning. I thought Grayson was going to hang back with Sammy, like he usually did, but Grayson let us know he had some things to take care of.

"Don't sweat it." Sammy told him seriously. "I'll work on some stuff here and we'll see you tomorrow morning, yeah?"

"Absolutely. You two have a great night, and Dante- you killed it today." Grayson gave me a large smile accompanied with a fist bump.

Now I was absolutely sure I was grinning like a mad man.

Sammy locked up after Grayson, but when he returned to the mats, he surprised me with what he asked next.

"Did you- um... did you maybe want to spar together for a bit?"

I hadn't noticed how intently I was staring at the beads of sweat he used his shirt to wipe away, but those words made my eyes find his.

"S-Sure." I nodded, following as he made his way onto the mat. In all honesty, I hadn't expected for him to ask me. There was a part of myself (a very large part) that was nervous. I wasn't nervous about sparring, I was more nervous about the complete distraction Sammy was whenever I caught even the smallest glimpse of him.

Watching Sammy fight from afar was glorious because I could study and drool at the same time.

This wasn't exactly the case anymore.

"Thank you. The hand is doing better, but Grayson's still been working on more efficient combos until I'm back at one hundred."

I could already feel the guilt starting to creep through, but I did my best to push it down. Sammy didn't blame me for what had happened. That's what mattered... Regardless of how much I blamed myself.

"I think it's fine. Grayson is just being overprotective." Sammy joked as we both took positions. That made me smile. Grayson really did look out for Sammy. I'm sure, to Sammy, that felt like he was being smothered alive.

I found out pretty quickly that Sammy liked his space.

It was really evident with the novice fighters, especially when they had a series of questions for him, or tried inviting him out to events. Sammy had this cool exterior that gave "get to it or fuck off" vibes.

That made my body warm all over... thinking about how he constantly gave me his undivided attention whenever I spoke. I'm sure it was just him being nice, because there was no way everything I said was anywhere near that important.

Still... I could feel myself getting sucked in immediately when his eyes bore into mine. He was the first to strike, throwing a a sharp jab that almost broke through my block.

Jesus, this man had strength.

I didn't stay in defensive for more than a few seconds, and when Sammy gave me that opening, I took it. I went in with a left hook- right cross to head.  Sammy was able to block that hit, but I noticed the hesitancy towards his injured hand.

"If Serenity plays as dirty as you say, there's no way you can give that injured hand away like that." I told Sammy. And he couldn't- If Serenity was anything like Shaun, any signs of weakness was sure to be exploited. Sammy gave me strong nod, before advancing again.

His jabs were insane. When he threw another, it took more of me than anticipated to block it. Enough force that it actually knocked me back. I didn't think I was going to fall, but I wasn't really given the option to test fate. Instead, I felt myself being pulled forward.

The momentum Sammy had was more than we both anticipated. Instead of me refiguring myself, I lost my footing and accidentally took both Sammy and myself down. Judging from the sound his back made when it hit the mat, I knew that had to hurt.

"Oh my god, shit, I'm sorry." I mumbled, trying to gather my bearings and detach my limbs from this poor man. I barely even had time to process the fall.

"I-It's okay." Sammy groaned out, but his voice sounded off. I must have seriously knocked the wind out of him. At first, I thought I had my hand planted firmly on the mat to lift myself off him, but my wrist buckled and I ended up crashing on his chest again. "I'm so sorry I-"

Before that second apology could leave my mouth, I felt Sammy's gloves plant themselves firmly on my hips. "Dante." Sammy whispered hoarsely into my left ear. "Please stop moving."

As my eyes finally found his, which were now only inches apart from my own, I had a sudden epiphany.

The groans from Sammy actually weren't due to me body slamming him onto the mat.

Oh no.

In an effort to find some stable footing for my hand that still had the boxing glove on it, I had managed to grind my lower half against Sammy's.

My attention was now being redirected towards the growing bulge in his pants... and subsequently, the growing bulge in my own.

"I-I'm-" words tried to string themselves along to create a coherent sentence, but my body was burning up at the speed of light. I wanted to look away from Sammy... being this close made me truly believe I was about to go into cardiac arrest.

But those gorgeous eyes...

When his tongue slipped out to moisten his lower lip, I followed every movement like it was my religion.

"I-I should probably..." I whispered out between the silence that only held the sounds of our heavy breathing. Those were words I knew I should have finished.

I was the one who had laid these boundaries down anyways, right?

These bullshit boundaries... I thought to myself.

Before my body could fully register what was happening, Sammy had rolled us over on the mat. This left me on my back, staring up at him as his knees rested between my legs. He held himself up on his gloves just fine, unlike myself.

"Dante..."

When he said my name, it was everything.

It was a moan, one that made my already restrained cock, even harder.

It was also a question... maybe to ask whether or not I truly wanted this. Truly wanted him.

It was definitely a warning, telling me that once I took that dive there was no running away after.

And maybe, if you asked the Dante from weeks ago, he'd tell you he wasn't ready for such a dive... but this Dante was not that Dante.

So instead of hiding behind my stupid boundaries, and false sense of security, I slid those irritating boxing gloves off, and brought his lips down to mine.

••

Well hey there lovelies!
How is everyone?
Hopefully surviving.
That's all I can ask of you to do this year.

I don't have a whole lot to update you on, but I do have a favor to ask...

Recently, my high ass randomly searched up where the word shiner came from (referring to a black eye) and apparently this word came from this:

"At the time it was said, the skin of black people tended to give off a shine or gleam,the word shiner was first used in the context of shame. Bruising caused by trauma to the eye usually turns black in colour and the word shiner for black eye became a common form of slang."

Sooooo, that being mf said, I'm doing a sweep of my writing to delete any reference to that word. If you do happen to stumble upon it while reading my work, please please please let me know.

As always, thank you so so much for reading and I'll see you guys later this week with more updates!
Love y'all xoxo