“What the fuck, Shafir?!” Eliqinor easily tossed Shafir to the ground and Shafir realized his mistake in the heat of his anger. What pulled him back to his right mind was the feeling of his face meeting the dirt on the ground. Eliqinor pinned Shafir’s arms to his back, and a heavyweight helped hold him down. That didn’t stop him from writhing on the ground like a fish out of water fighting for its life. A growl came from his throat as a warning. He didn’t care how much his arms hurt as he thrashed. That only prompted Eliqinor to press harder down on him. The man honestly had so much muscle it was almost always a losing battle with Eliqinor and there was the possibility he would fuck up his shoulders in the process, but he really couldn’t care less. 

“Get down here and fight me like a man.” Shafir spat out the words like he was trying to spit at the older elf. Fuck him, Shafir thought and kicked his feet. If he was lucky, he might connect with Eliqinor’s backside. Eventually, Eliqinor began laughing at Shafir’s futile attempt to get out from under him. Shafir wondered if that’s how the junior knight might have felt when he was pinned under Shafir. Eventually, his will to fight died down and Eliqinor made himself comfortable sitting down on Shafir’s ass. There was no way that was comfortable, at least, for him it wasn’t.

“I would, but it seems you have already lost. Shafir… Just come back with me and we can talk-” 

“Fuck you.” Shafir tried to squirm, hoping he could deter Eliqinor from pressing his entire weight against him. It would make him rub against the ground comfortably and humiliate him further in front of the crowd of onlookers. This, of course, backfired, as Eliqinor probably still saw Shafir as a threat. “Get the fuck off. I can’t fucking stand you!” There was a moment of silence and then Eliqinor slowly loosened his grip on Shafir, lifting his weight off. 

“You’ll follow me then? And actually, listen this time?” Shafir sighed and nodded, careful not to bust his chin against the ground. He hated this guy. Shafir hated this guy. He couldn’t even bear to look at Eliqinor. His stupid face and his stupid- The pressure was lifted off him and Shafir took his time standing up. Brushing the dirt off his clothes, he felt eyes on him and he looked up and saw that the crowd of knights was still there. The nosy lot. 

“The fuck you all staring at?!” The knights looked away quickly and shuffled off to their duties, seeing that the show of their captain taking down the vice-captain was over. If he had to be honest, while none of them had done anything wrong, he couldn’t help but feel contempt. They looked at him like he was a damn creature they could gawk at for show. 

Eliqinor straightened out and cracked his neck before placing his arms neatly behind his back. The only sign of Eliqinor being in a fight was his hair was slightly messy. To think he looked perfectly fine while Shafir looked like he had a fight with a dirt pile and lost. Once Eliqinor started walking away, Shafir followed like a dog being dragged on a leash. They exchanged nothing for most of the walk back to the office and honestly, Shafir couldn’t care less at this moment. 

Shafir rubbed his jaw from where Eliqinor’s fist had made contact and his muscles screamed in protest. It seemed no matter how many times they fought, his body still wasn’t used to the force that Eliqinor used. It wasn’t as strong as it could be because Shafir knew how easily Eliqinor had taken down some of the bulkier elves when they were still teens. Though the pain felt like a dull ache compared to the burning that sat around his wrist. The same wrist that Eliqinor had grabbed, it itched and blazed like it was incinerating his skin. He felt the urge to rip his glove off and scratch at it. To rip and tear his skin open until there was nothing left of that black curse. 

“Did your mission go well?” Eliqinor didn’t dare to spare Shafir a glance and walked as if this was a normal occurrence for them. Typical. Shafir’s hand absent-mindedly covered the wrist that ached and sighed loudly. Eliqinor didn’t see his actions as one for concern, which explained why he didn’t turn around and bother him about it. At that, Shafir felt a wave of relief wash over him. “How… Have you been well?”

“As well as one can be when they are always being treated like shit.” Shafir rolled his eyes and Eliqinor stopped in his tracks. This caused Shafir to full bodily run into Eliqinor’s back, and Shafir had to push Eliqinor to get him to move out of the way. “The fuck? Move out of the way. You fucking mountain.” This only made Eliqinor look like he was going to lose his calm demeanor, causing the older elf’s eye to twitch, and Shafir took pride in his ability to get under Eliqinor’s skin. The man was notoriously well-known for keeping his cool in all things. Except, of course, with Shafir.