sucker punched- the beginning of a love story {eve + danny }

there are deep breaths taken as his fists are keeping motion against the worn leather in the training center. he wondered when they were going to replace the bags in this gym, in fact, everywhere in the district. danny wondered what the hell the mayor was doing with all of their time. just because she was a victor as well, did not mean that she could slack off on the mayor duties.

he punched forward for another moment before someone tapped him on the shoulder. his instincts had kicked in and he had grabbed the persons hand and flung him over his shoulder and onto his back. when danny got a glimpse of who it was, he looked embarrassed. "you cant sneak up on someone like that asshole." danny shook his head before sharing a laugh with the other boy. he apologized to him, and danny followed suit as he lifted him off the ground and onto his feet.

he stepped away from the punching bag and stood against the railing of the gym floor, grabbing his bottle of water and taking a long sip. the water felt smooth going down, his body temperature elevated because they kept it humid as shit in here. he wondered if the trainers kept it this way in order to illicit a fight or flight response out of the careers. he knew that some of the other students had worked better under enormous pressure, and being uncomfortable was always something that danny had hated.

most of them didnt share too much with danny, but that was because they couldnt handle him on the sparing floor. he knew that he was unmatched by most when it came to hand to hand combat. most of the other careers goaded him because his skills with other weapons was not on par, but that didnt matter to danny. his hands would be his savior in the arena.

he didnt need to show everything after all.

his friend had cracked a joke and he laughed along with him, the laughter had died down and he started to ask a couple more questions, danny letting his body rest for a second, answered them rather casually. all the way until someone had walked up to him and commanded his attention.

he had known of evie harlot, a girl that had been in a different world then danny. they trained at the same gym, they had taken some of the same classes, but after that, there really wasnt much for them to have in common. he didnt really focus on other people in his class, mostly because he felt like he didnt need to compare himself. he didnt fight many female careers often, mostly because they all specialized in weapons combat and danny did not. some of them made sure to remind danny that his hands could only do so much, to which he would snap back and tell them to say that to his face.

they never did.

she started with a very awkward introduction. heylo? danny couldnt help but smile, but in an awkward way. he didnt even know what to say to that. she then went on to apologize and explain her reasoning, something that danny didnt expect. he was at a loss for words for a moment, watching the other unravel right in front of his eyes.

"is this girl for real?" he thought to himself as he crossed his arms and waited for her to speak what was actually on her mind.

she straightened herself out and mentioned that she would like to spar against him. danny had been intrigued. most female careers did not ask such a thing of him, so the fact that she had the courage to do so mustve meant something. "spar?" he questioned back to her as she said please and then pointed over to the mat, tossing her bag on the ground. "brave of you to ask ill give you that much." danny had always been a little too cocky for his own good. however, he knew that it was because he was confident in his own abilities. "did someone put you up to this? you do know im ranked number 1 in hand to hand in the class yeah?" danny had wiped the sweat from his face with the towel that was around his shoulder.

his friend had walked away at this point, danny now looking at the girl up and down and trying to piece together just how much of a ego she must have for herself.

he wasnt sure if he was annoyed or curious.

maybe a mixture of both.