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“I didn’t expect to see you here. You don’t have any classes today, I thought.” Folding herself down as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, Tenya peered over at the blond man sitting leisurely on the ground next to her. Leaning his back against the wall, Faysal shrugged.
“No.” Nodding toward the other side of the hall, Tenya glanced the same direction to see a small group of trainees excitedly bouncing in their places, their instructor just as energetic as he demonstrated a complicated defensive move. “Ash is teaching today so I thought I’d just come watch.”
Full lips quirking up, Tenya nudged him with an elbow. “Not to learn something, I assume?” she teased, laughing as a flush colored his cheeks.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Faysal responded lightly, faint grin appearing as he looked over at her, “though I must admit I do like to watch when he gets into his work. He’s…impressive.”
“‘Impressive’ was not the word that you were thinking, Fay.”
“Guilty as charged.” Biting his lip, Faysal shook his head and gave her an apologetic look. “I hate to ask, but could you call me something different?”
“Oh, yeah, ‘course. I hear him calling you that all the time, so figured it was your nickname…”
“It is, but…between you and me, that nickname is not one that has many good memories attached to it.” Faysal paused, squinting as he thought. “Let’s just say school was difficult sometimes.”
Tenya frowned. “Did you never tell him it makes you uncomfortable?” she asked.
“No. It’s…fine, when he uses it.” He shook his head. “It’s a bit weird, honestly, but something about the way he says it feels different. Even the first time was.”
“…maybe because he’s your…?”
Faysal smiled, watching as one of the younger trainees attempted to jump on Ash’s back and was instead thrown to the ground with a loud thud. Laughter erupted from the group. “Beloved.”
“Gag. You both are sickening.” Tenya sighed. As she looked over at him, Faysal gave her an amused smile and shrug.
“You asked.”
She snorted. “I’m glad he has you, as much of a sap as you are. He’s been so much happier lately.”
They put their hands up to wave when Ash looked their direction over top the heads of some of the chattering students, both grinning as he visibly rolled his eyes and groaned before turning away. “Ash knows he’s in trouble with both of us here,” she remarked, “He’s not going to focus for shit now.”
“Meaning…?” Faysal asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Do you not know?” she asked, “I’m surprised at least uncle never brought it up.”
“What’s that?”
She grinned. “My best friend has…a very obvious type,” she said, laughing as she pointed to her hair before reaching over to ruffle his. “He used to have a massive crush on me that I give him shit for.”
“Used to?” Faysal responded dryly, trying pointlessly to fix the tussled mess she made until he gave up with a sigh, “Dear woman, I believe you need to get some glasses because he clearly still finds you attractive. His eyes nearly fell out of his head when you showed up the other day in a miniskirt.”
“Oh no,” she said cheerfully, grinning, “I’m very well aware he loves the idea of fucking my brains out.”
“And…you are totally fine with that?” Faysal asked, incredulous. She laughed.
“What’s to be upset about? He has eyeballs and I’m hot as hell. Besides, I couldn’t screw with him if it upset me.” Giving him a mischievous look, Tenya’s lips twisted up. “Now you, on the other hand…”
“…never going to happen.”
Subtly nodding toward the class, Tenya’s eyes led Faysal to glance over. Her intention became much more clear as they both saw Ash had turned his head at some point, only half paying attention to his charges.
“He can’t resist trying to figure out what we’re doing. He knows me too well,” she murmured, leaning over to whisper in Faysal’s ear, “What’s he doing?”
“Looking concerned, mainly.”
“Mhm. I’ll wait. You’re welcome, by the way, because I know you likely benefited from his…well, you know,” she taunted, her amused grey eyes meeting his blue ones as Faysal nervously laughed. Scooting closer, she looped an arm through his to whisper conspiratorially to him. “Might want to be careful though, I might decide to steal him if you don’t watch out.”
Faysal shook his head with a wry smile. “Even if you wanted to, I’ll take my chances. The fact I can barely pry him off in the mornings when he stays over makes me think I have good odds here.”
Huffing out a faint laugh, she watched him as he returned his gaze back to the restless group of adolescents that were stretching to get a better vantage point as the dull thud of another student getting thrown to the ground echoed throughout the hall.
Tenya turned serious. “Does it bother you? I mean actually, does it?”
Resting his head back against the wall, Faysal stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Clicking his tongue as he thought, he gave her a sideways glance. “Between us?”
She perked up, intrigued. “Of course.”
“Sometimes, yes.” Shifting to stretch out his legs, crossing them at the ankle, Faysal folded his hands in his lap. “Considering our similarities begin and end at the tops of our heads, we couldn’t be very more different if we tried.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tenya asked, pulling a face as Faysal gave her a mocking grin.
“Well. Isn’t it obvious? You’re as much of a runt as he is, first of all,” he retorted, pinching his thumb and forefinger together to illustrate the point, “and besides that…I don’t exactly have…how to put this gently…your assets?”
Tenya barked out a loud laugh, covering her mouth to try to stifle it as the group in front of them was breaking up into smaller pairs for whatever exercise they were being thrown into. She motioned away when they spotted Ash staring them down from between two sets of the students, his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to do that,” she apologized, “but I was not expecting that answer.”
“Probably not the politest way of putting it, but it’s true.” With a sheepish grin, Faysal shrugged. “I think I’m just not used to dating someone that is…”
Tenya poked him in the side as he hesitated. “Batting for both sides?” she offered, cackling when Faysal turned bright red, “You’ve nothing to worry about. Despite what he says, Ash loves you more then just about anything in the world.”
“He cherishes you nearly as much, Ten.”
“But not equal, I see,” she teased.
Making a thoughtful noise, he grinned. “When you both were on that assignment a few weeks back, he apparently was glad to get away for a few days. So maybe more equal then I’d like to believe.”
“Please. Don’t let him lie to you. He’s full of shit.” Tenya rolled her eyes. “Believe me, Faysal, the man wouldn’t shut the fuck up about you the entire time. It was nauseating.”
“Oh?”
“Yep. You should have heard it. He was damned near waxing poetic about you. It was disgusting.” Looking over and seeing that Ash had once again gotten absorbed into working with his students, she nudged Faysal’s side. “Play along with me?”
“You know I’m the one that’ll be taking the brunt of the consequences, correct?”
“Well aware. Trust me, this will be completely worth it,” she snickered, “So, going back to what we were talking about earlier…”
She draped herself over his shoulder dramatically. “What’re you doing?” Faysal asked quietly, glancing over toward the training mat.
Using a finger to turn his head back toward her, Tenya grinned. She slightly raised her voice, just enough to draw Ash’s attention but not enough to distract the students at work hitting each other with wooden daggers as they clacked loudly. “I’m just saying, imagine it…you, me, and him?”
Chastely kissing him on the cheek, Tenya took the opportunity to whisper in his ear again. “Watch his face.”
“You’re torturing him,” Faysal remarked, not daring to turn his head to look. Without moving, both watched from their peripheral vision as Ash turned his head slowly to look at them, his face flushing as he scowled. “Aren’t you?”
“I mean-” Whatever Tenya had meant to say was cut off as a dagger embedded itself into the wall next to her arm. Staring at each other, Tenya and Faysal slowly turned their heads to look toward the class.
“While I don’t recommend any of you doing that...this is one way you can get two idiots to shut up in a hurry.” Despite his back being to them, Ash turned his head to glare in their direction. Tenya roared with laughter as he turned on his heel to stalk over, the students whispering and giggling. “Of course, it doesn’t always work and sometimes you need to make a bigger point, but generally it does the trick.”
“Were we interrupting something?” Tenya asked innocently, yanking the weapon out and holding it up to him. Ash glowered at them, still a vivid shade of crimson as he snatched it out of her hand. “Can we help you, dear one?”
“You can help me by getting your ass up and helping me demonstrate the next move, you degenerate.” Ash put his hand down, Tenya taking it gratefully to pull herself up off the floor. His glare turned to Faysal, who put his hands up in a sign of surrender with an equally innocent smile. “And I’ll deal with you later. You’re both ridiculous.”
“Of course you will,” Tenya murmured, snickering, just low enough that only the two men could hear her, “This is a defense class, not sex ed.”
Faysal laughed. She ducked before Ash could grab her, turning to wink at Faysal as she took off at a sprint toward the waiting students.