Wolverine came out of his corner easily, almost swaggering, while Rogue bounced lightly on the balls of her feet to one side then another. He’d take it easy on her, no rough stuff because, after all, she was a girl. And if he could get tied up he’d get a feel for those curves barely hidden under that fucking-A skin suit. He watched in amusement as she circled around him, keeping her center of gravity tight and low. She almost looked like she knew what he was doing. He would bop her with a couple of lights jabs and let her get in whatever hits she could, then he get her against the ropes and press against her. He could already see her firm tits squashed against his chest.
WHAP! Lucky shot.
WHAP! Ok, two lucky shots.
Wolverine shook his head to clear away fuzziness that had unexpectedly appeared when she punched him twice in the face, right where the face guard didn’t cover. Sneaky girl.
“Keep your gloves up, Wolverine!” Warren called from ringside. No shit, bub. He brought them up to keep her from getting in another what have to have been a wild shot, ok a couple of wild shots. Pain bloomed in his side when she connected solidly with his kidney.
THUD!
Ow.
Ok, so she wasn’t playing around, didn’t mean he couldn’t. He wouldn’t strike hard, so point in hurting that pretty face and putting her off him, but he wasn’t going to let her take any more free shots. Time to knuckle up. He took a left jab at her face that she dodged, her torso swinging in a low arc to slide under his raised arm, and she nailed him in the gut.
“Oof!” He heard someone stifle a laugh and looked over his shoulder. The guys from class were back, leaning against the wall, along with some other kids and it appeared they were placing bets. Fuck. He couldn’t whale on her like he would a guy, but he definitely couldn’t let her win by going soft or he’d be right back to being the new pussy again. He was not interested in going backwards.
He faked her nicely with a pulled left hook and popped her in the face guard with a right cross. She skipped back neatly, as if it didn’t faze her. Her eyes narrowed at him.
“Don’t pull your punches,” Warren called. Shit, caught. But if he ever was going to nail Rogue then knocking her out cold would probably put a crimp in his sexual campaign.
“Yeh, don’t pull you punches,” Rogue mumbled around her mouth guard. “Hit me,” she taunted, and lowered her gloves, giving him the perfect opportunity. He gave her little more than a tap on the chin and was rewarded with a punishing roundhouse that rocked him to the side. He shook his head to clear it then all he saw was her glove coming right at him. She connected solidly with his nose and, yup, there it went again. Broken twice in a day. Great.
He grit his teeth hard and growled, then lunged forward and wrapped up her arms with his, pushing her into the ropes and pinning her with his chest. Woo wheee, nice curves and her abs pressed against his were rock hard. Hell yeh. She smelled fucking awesome, a little sweaty and that was all good, musky and hot. He was going to make her sweat some more.
“Alright, break it up!” Warren shouted. Rogue unwound from Wolverine and shoved him hard in the chest, pushing him back a few feet. He winked at her and moved forward again, dying to tie her up again, get a good feel. He wasn’t paying attention to anything but the bounce of her tits in that green and black skin suit and caught another blow to the side of the head, followed by two breathtakingly hard punches to his side. Catcalls were starting and he knew they were directed at him. He’d only managed to land a few weak shots and Rogue was using him for a punching bag and, damn, the girl could hit.
He heard Cyke’s voice over the babble, “Twenty bucks Rogue knocks him down first.” Well, we’d see about that. Without thinking, Wolverine threw a crushing left hook that caught her on the temple and followed it up with a bruiser to the face, catching her right where the faceguard didn’t cover. As her head rocked back to absorb the blow he increased his follow through, and she stumbled back and fell on her ass. Wolverine grinned as he heard Piotr claim his $20 from his QB then looked down at Rogue.
Oh shit, she was mad. He might have to rethink getting Rogue in the sack because the look she was giving him was as far removed from “come fuck me” as a girl could get. He leaned over and offered her a hand, which she took, and he pulled her up, her face still thunderous. “Hey, sor-“ he started, but the last part of the word was smashed back in his mouth as she landed an uppercut that slammed his teeth straight through his mouth guard and lifted him off his feet. The only thing he felt after that was his back slamming to the mat and a lot of laughter from the sidelines.
“Ding ding!” Warren shouted, ending the first round. Wolverine opened his eyes to see Rogue looking down at him, her mouth guard out.
“Nice hit, sugar,” she drawled with a grin down at him. It was her turn to offer a hand up, which he batted away, embarrassed. “Don’t be like that now, Wolverine,” she chastened. “I told you not to pull your punches. I’m not going to pull mine.”
He got up under his own power and spit his guard into his glove. “No shit,” he growled. At her continued smile he felt a little better, she wasn’t too mad. “Where’d you learn to hit like that?”
“Junior Golden Gloves for 2 years, sugar. That’s why I train with the guys.” He shook his head and laughed. She just kept surprising him and he liked it, a lot. Tough and could give as good as she got, just his speed. He walked to his corner where Avalanche appeared and handed him a water bottle.
“Dude, you better get serious,” he warned. “She put Iceman in the infirmary a few weeks ago because he was taking it light on her and she didn’t appreciate it. Knocked out two of his teeth.” Lanche nodded to his cousin, who was being coached by Angel in the opposite corner. “Seriously, I got $50 riding on you. Knock her block off. She can take it.”
“Yeh, she can,” Wolverine muttered appreciatively as he took in the rear view she presented as she leaned over the ropes to respond to her coach. He shoved his guard back in and pounded his gloves together, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as he waited for the next round.
She could take it, huh? Well, then he’d give it to her and see just how much she could handle. He suspected a lot.
The second round was much more energetic, almost vicious. Wolverine had the brute strength to make almost every hit end it all, but Rogue was up on him in speed and technique as she weaved out of the way of many of his punches. They both gave and took some nasty hits. Wolverine’s kidneys were killing him and if it wasn’t for his healing he knew he’d piss blood for a week. Rogue had a split lip, and when she realized it she paid him back by hitting with a horrendous jab combination that split one of his eyebrows and blood streamed into his eye before the cut healed. She followed him around the ring as he backed away from her until his vision cleared, throwing everything at him but the kitchen sink. Crosses, undercuts that shoved his head down to be met with an uppercut that bowed him back into the turnbuckle.
He was backed into a corner food and proper now, but damned if he was going to let any girl, even this incredible one, get the better of him. He feinted left, then right, spun out of the corner and landed a punch to her ribs that almost folded her over his hand. He then pushed her into the corner and got in a few nice shots to her torso before Warren shouted the end of the round.
Wolverine backed off and took a deep breath, wondering if he’d taken it too far, actually hurt her and she was going to be put off him utterly now. Rogue pushed herself out of the turnbuckle, shoved her faceguard off roughly. Her black and silver hair snaked down and clung to her sweaty cheek.
He wanted to fist that hair in his hand and bend her neck back so he could bite her, not too hard.
She tried to get one of her gloves off but couldn’t. “Hang on, hang on,” Wolverine said and grabbed one wrist and ripped off the Velcro with his teeth. Her scent made a bitchin little uptick he liked a helluva lot.
Rogue pulled her hand out and tugged out her own mouth guard. “Nice combination. That hurt.”
“Sorry,” he rumbled and looked down. Shit shit shit. He didn’t want to hurt her, ok not much anyways.
“Nah, don’t be. No one ever wants to hit a girl.” He looked up and caught her amused expression. “Think it makes them a bad guy, but if I beat them it makes them a pansy.” She scrubbed at her mouth and inspected the blood on her hand from her cut lip. Suddenly, she reached out and swiped one uncovered finger down Wolverine’s cheek. He felt a tingle and a strange wave of…something…run through him at her touch. His eyes widened as the cut on her lip healed over and the bruise that had started to bloom under her eye faded.
“Ain’t that cheating?” he drawled. She winked and went to her corner.
“Man, you are never going to hear the end of this,” Lance said laughingly as he squirted water in Wolverine’s mouth, and he nodded to the small crowd that had gathered. Wolverine shrugged as if he didn’t care.
Actually, he did.
No guy wants to get beaten by a girl, especially not when he was supposed to be establishing himself as the chief motherfucker around here. But Wolverine didn’t want to beat a girl he really liked to a pulp to prove a point.
Fuck, he did like her. Not just in a get-in-her-pants way. Not good. Sooooooo very not good. What was he going to do now? No idea.
Third round started and Wolverine just decided to let what happened happen. If she went off him because of this fight then he’d get over it, he guessed.
She bounced out of her corner, fresh as a fucking daisy from the healing she’d lifted from him with her quick touch. For a second, Wolverine remembered the feel of her bare skin flicking across his skin. Suddenly he was painfully reminded how differently her touch could feel as she drove at him with a flurry of punches, a frisky combination designed to keep him off balance and on the defensive.
It would have worked on any other kid, except one who could heal. It still hurt and her strikes could disorient long enough to unbalance him, take him down. But he wasn’t going to let her.
He had to get on top and stay there, with her and this whole weird situation he’d found himself in since he got to Westchester. It was the only way he knew how to survive in the shitty system he was stuck in. If you’re not on top then you’re prey for better predators. And he would always be a predator of the first order.
He brought his arms up and covered his face with his gloves, tucking his elbows tightly to his ribs to take most of impact on his arms, pretty harmless. She was frustrated, he could tell from the way her breath turned ragged and her frustration spiked and left a nicely bitter scent he could almost taste. He put his head down and pushed against her, backing her away from him as she flailed fruitlessly against his defenses. He took advantage of her now wild shots and ducked under her arms and nailed Rogue once, twice in the stomach and she folded over for a moment before darting back from his reach. Now he was the one stalking prey, chasing her around the ring with his eyes as she skipped backwards with a wince. He walked confidently towards her head-on, show her he could take whatever she wanted to dish out. He’s eat it up and go for seconds if she didn’t take him out, so she better make every hit a killer from now on.
He rushed his approach, and she fell for his gambit, tried to duck under his arm to go for his kidneys again. Damn, she loved to work those, didn’t she? He knew she was going for what she thought was her safe bet, and he played it against her, pushed past and sent her stumbling into the ropes. She spun around with a hiss and threw a haymaker. He let it connect, but leaned to his side to lessen the impact against his cheek. Her momentum carried her past him again and he pounded twice more into her abs as she went past then connected with an uppercut that flung her head back on her neck.
Warren was biting his nails at this point. He knew if he called a stop to the match Rogue would freak out on him, she’d done it before when she got too rough on an opponent and he threw in the towel out of pity.
But this new kid, this Wolverine. Well Warren suspected the boy would probably not stop at yelling and the claws would make another appearance. But for Christ’s sake, he was going to get in an assload of trouble with Xavier if either one of them landed in the hospital, which seemed probable considering they were going at each other like Tyson and Holyfield. If either of them hit the mat again he’d call it then and there and the reaction of the loser be damned. Angel wasn’t going to lose his job over two hyped up kids turning sparring into a blood sport.
And the other kids, shit they were running bets like it was Fight Night in Las Vegas. He didn’t know who he would place his money on, if asked. He knew Rogue had the best technique and conditioning of any girl on campus and better than most of the boys too, but Wolverine was something he hadn’t seem before. Animal ferocity and endurance. Unnerving in the extreme.
The two teens were now going back and forth, landing and taking punishing hits that made the kids gathered at the apron wince, groan and cheer as their preferred fighter had the advantage and then fell back.
“Thirty seconds!” Warren shouted over the cheers and screams of the students. God, hurry up! Longest thirty seconds of his life, he swore.
At the shouted time the two combatants locked eyes. They both knew it was go time. Rogue charged forward, gloves cocked and ready, just as Wolverine stalked towards her ready to either knock her on her ass if the opportunity presented itself or take what he was sure was the hit of a lifetime if he read her swing wrong. She feinted to his left but he didn’t fall for it, keeping his clenched right fist tucked tightly to his side and against his ribs, cocked and ready to power up and out and drop her. She saw he saw her trick and backed off a bit, then threw her entire body into the right uppercut, powering up off her feet and lunging at Wolverine. At same moment, Wolverine unleashed his coiled strength and unloaded a jab from his waist that sped for her face like a bullet.
Warren closed his eyes, he couldn’t watch. A collective “OOOOOOOOO!” went through the gym as both blows connected and sound made everyone wince. Warren opened his eyes in time to watch both teens fall flat on their backs on the mat. Rogue’s eyes rolled up, only the whites showing. Wolverine’s face was slack and his arm was folded under him awkwardly. Double knock-the-fuck-out.
Angel groaned. He was so fired.
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