Harper probably should have headed straight back to her room after her round was over but instead she took advantage of one of the training grounds being empty and attempted to make up for the weeks she had skipped out on. Now she was sweaty, tired, and worse of all still pretty disappointed in herself.
---
Liam had wanted to be there for his girl in the first round, but he'd been held up by a scheduling conflict in one of the observation points. Not a huge deal, he'd planned on heading straight for the tournament after so he could catch her in the second round. Only, when he'd gotten there, he'd learned she'd already been eliminated.
Now, feeling guilty that he hadn't been there for her at the beginning, and disappointed for her, he made his way back to the dorms, fully expecting to find her there. But didn't. Not in her room, not in his. No sign that she'd been there since that morning. It made him wonder where she might be, but he didn't want to rush off to look for her incase she came back.
He was sitting on her bed with his phone in his hands typing out a message for her when she walked in, and he set it aside at once as he rose to his feet. "I'm sorry." That he hadn't made it there, and that she'd need knocked out so early. "Where'd you go?"
---
It hadn’t registered in her mind that Liam would be waiting for her back at the room, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him. In fact she was more than grateful that he was there waiting for her even if he hadn’t been able to show up at the tournament earlier. From his expression and words she could only guess he knew the outcome of her first and only round.
Letting the jacket she was holding slip from her fingers she moved across the room as tears started to prickle at the corner of her eyes. She didn’t hesitate throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder letting the disappointment bubble up from her gut and spill over into a soft sob.
“It’s ok… I’ll be ok…” It took a moment for the words to come in a way that didn’t sound like a choked voice though still not as reassuring as she wanted them to. “I thought I would train some.. You know make up for my display earlier today…”
---
He couldn't quite read the expression on her face when she noticed him, but he was certain he caught the faint glitter of tears at the corners of her eyes a split second before she was throwing her arms around his shoulders. It wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting, but his arms closed around her automatically, pressing her in against his chest.
"Woah, hey. It's o-" she finished the sentence for him, but now he could hear the tears in her voice and it just made him hold her tighter.
"It's just a silly tournament, right? It doesn't mean anything. Just bad luck."
---
“I know..” It was muffled into his shoulder as she pressed a little harder, taking another minute to give him a squeeze as a way of saying thank you. Pulling away she rubbed her eyes before shaking her head and offering up a reassuring smile that she was mostly ok.
“I know it’s just a silly tournament but I felt so… like I had let myself down a little. I was...awful.” It was about the only word she could think of to describe the display she had put on in front of the audience. “It shouldn’t really get to me, I mean…” She bit her lower lip trying to think of the words before rubbing her eyes again.
“I guess after seeing how everyone else fought I realized how I haven’t really been taking it as seriously as I should have… and I felt like I had let people down sort of.”
---
He frowned down at her, head shaking a little. "I'm sure you weren't awful." They'd sparred before, he knew she could fight. God, unless they were both seriously behind...
Wicked Snickers in his mind and Hunter in a way that could have been agreement. The revanent was always happy with any thoughts that got Liam out on the training field, or even just made him question himself.
It was hard not to apply her concerns to himself. He had been hitting the training field pretty seriously when they'd first gotten here, but lately...not so much. "You've never let me down." That much he was sure of, and he rubbed his thumbs in soothing circles at the small of her back. "But we can start hitting the gym, and the training field. The more time spent training the better, right?"
---
She shook her head slowly before trying to put on some sort of smile, unsure if it was to make herself feel better or him. “No I was pretty awful, I even managed to trip over the chain at one point.” Saying it out loud again really didn’t reassure that she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself.
Looking up at him Harper gave a soft shake before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, it wasn’t much but she at least appreciated his willingness and understanding in everything instead of laughing at her. “I wouldn’t let you down, or at least I wouldn’t do anything like that on purpose and if I did I would try to do anything to make it up.”
Reaching she wrapped her arms again around his neck to squeeze another hug. “Thank you, and yea… I should probably hit the training field and the gym more especially with you.”
---
Oh, well...
Liam grimaced before he could catch himself as she mentioned having tripped over her own chain, and now he certainly couldn't blame her for getting down on herself, but still he didn't like it. "We've all got our off days," he said as he hugged her back, head turning so he could lay a kiss on her cheek.
He smiled against her freckle kissed skin as she agreed to train with him, relieved and eager. "Whenever you want to start." Liam knew he'd started slipping as well, so getting some training in with Harper was going to be good for the both of them.
---
She curled her fingers into his shirt as she leaned up to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “Thank you, really. I wish I could say it was all just a fluke or a bad day off but I would feel a lot better with more training for next time.” She let go of his s**t before looking down at herself remembering the fact that she was still rather sweaty from the hours after the match.
“Tomorrow morning we can start.” She finally smiled, a little more at ease finally since the match. “But for now I should really shower. I’m sure I stink and there’s a layer of sweat that is begging to be washed off. What about you?”
---
"Me?" He blinked at her, dark brows lifting as he thought about it. "Well, I mean..." The confusion melted into a grin as he dipped to lay a kiss on the tip of her nose. "I had a shower earlier, but if you wanted some company," he said with a waggle of his brows, knowing full well it wasn't as easy as all that, not this early in the day still.
"I can wait here for you, and we can go grab some dinner, maybe from the bar in town? Better than cafeteria food." It wasn't the most ideal place for a date, but it was better than the cafeteria or their rooms. "What do you think?"
stella cinere
