"What is this, Jiordson?" Alan pulled off his fencing mask as he lowered his weapon.
They trained in epee today rather than Sven's preferred foil, since Alan considered epee the most practical of the three weapons. This decision resulted in a barrage of sulky looks and half-hearted whining, all of which Alan ignored with long-practiced ease.
Now that he had scored his ninth consecutive touch against Sven, Alan regretted not insisting on epee sooner - protests or no.
As Sven also pulled off his mask and lowered his blade, Alan explained, "You keep aiming at my body, when you should concentrate on my hand and arm for your opening attack. You cannot expect your initial strike to land in epee, especially against an opponent with a distinct height advantage like me."
The pyrean would have normally interrupted at this point, with either question or remark, but Sven merely watched him with amused patience. As with most things he did not understand, Alan's immediate reaction was suspicion, and his voice faltered for an instant before he continued.
"It is about patience - patience and deceit. You attack one place to force your opponent's reaction, then exploit their weaknesses to land the intended touch. This is how second intention works."
Head cocked slightly to the side, Sven gave him the look - the one that Alan could never decipher - and asked with nonchalance than never boded well, "Oh? How is this?" The pyrean dropped his mask as he lunged forward, blade aimed at Alan's chest. Although caught off guard, Alan's instincts moved his weapon with well-trained fluidity. He made to parry the attack, but the tip of Sven's blade flicked around his in an elegant disengage. Sven moved quickly, but Alan had prepared for as much. Taking a half step back, he caught Sven's blade with his second parry.
As the clang of metal rang through the training area, another rattle joined it when Sven's weapon slipped from his fingers and bounced to the floor. The sudden lack of pressure against his own blade caused Alan's epee to swing off to the side, and suddenly Sven was there, arms wrapped around Alan's neck and lips pressed against his own.
The kiss was more deliberate than romantic, but Alan's weapon and mask nevertheless slipped from his grasp. One hand remained raised in a parrying motion, forgotten by both men.
When Sven pulled back, his hands slid off Alan's shoulders as his heels reconnected to the ground with a soft thump. Alan could only blink, while Sven, a mischievous smile pulling at the corners of his lips, regarded the human with his startling green eyes.
"Well? What do you think now?" Sven asked and eyed Alan with a mixture of amusement and genuine curiosity.
An excellent display of patience and deceit.
Alan was very aware of the warmth still tingling on his lips, but he felt no surprise. With that single gesture, all the clues, all the hints, fell into place with such ease and simplicity that Alan wondered how he had missed them all this time.
For an Elite Inspector, he could be remarkably dense.
"I think," Alan maintained a slow and deliberate tone as he straightened his back. With his gaze fixed on the pyrean, he came to the further realization that, like Sven, he had been waiting for a very long time. If the Elite did not revoke his license for high treason against humanity, they would surely do it for obstinate stupidity.
"I think," he repeated as he pulled off his glove and tossed it to the floor by the forgotten weapons and gear, "That you are still a lousy epeeist, but we might make something of you in foil."
And then he pulled Sven toward him so that their heads bumped and their lips could meet. Feign in time was the correct response to second intention, but Alan was in the mood for counterattack.
Both Alan and Sven moved with determined caution - more wary than passionate - as they discarded the old and comfortable boundaries between them for something new and uncertain. When they did kiss again, it began as deliberate as the first before turning into something longer and deeper.
After a moment, Alan felt hands curl into the cloth of his shirt and pull him closer. Responding in turn, Alan had a third realization that now it really was "like that" and no one - human or pyrean - was going to let him hear the end of it.
You win some, and you lose some. That was as good a lesson as any, and Alan already had enough education for one day.