The Aberrations of S.I.D.E.

No. 10: Sparring and Swearing

"Gusty, this is just getting ridiculous," Ian said, giving Augustus a disapproving look. "This is the fifteenth time I have beat you. You usually win half of the time."

"I did until my sociopath of a mother made me carve out my eye," Augustus grumbled, glaring up at him. "Are you gonna help me up or what?"

Ian sighed and pulled him to his feet. "There we go. Now let's run through it again."

Augustus groaned. "Frosty, come on, you've kicked my ass enough this week. Can you just give me a break?"

"No, and you know why? Because if you're going to keep on fighting, you're going to have to get used to doing it with just the one eye." Ian reached over and plucked Augustus's sunglasses off of his face. "And no more wearing these during training until you get the hang of it."

"Those things are a part of me---"

"No, no, I don't think you understand. See, if they're a part of you, then I wouldn't be able to remove them, since they'd be attached to your skull and making you suffer from even greater brain damage." Ian waved the sunglasses around, smirking. "However, I took them off, which means you can do without them. And they were Jules's to begin with, after all."

"By that logic, if I stole your hair ties so you couldn't wear your hair up in that lame-ass man bun, you'd be perfectly fine," Augustus shot.

Ian gave him a cool glance. "It is a messy bun, thank you very much, and having my hair back actually helps me when I'm sparring. In combat, your sunglasses are a hindrance."

Augustus felt his face go red. "A hind---I wiped the mat with you while wearing those!"

"That was when you had two eyes," Ian reminded him. "These stay off until I tell you otherwise."

"Hey, since when are you the boss of me?"

"Well, you're incompetent at being in charge of yourself, so I've decided to step up." Ian stretched. "You ready to try again?"

Augustus let out a sigh. "Fine, just don't catch me off-guard, okay?"

"I wouldn't catch you off-guard if you did a better job of defending your blind spot."

"You keep on telling me that I need to focus all my energy into my normal eye!"

Ian exhaled. "Okay, here." He took Augustus's wrists.

Augustus yanked them away. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm giving you pointers on your stance, Gusty. You should probably listen and not whine." Ian took back his wrists. "Okay, so since you're a leftie, you need to put your right foot in front of you---"

"I know that," Augustus muttered.

"Gusty, do me a favor and shut your perfect mouth," Ian said. "It's actually lucky that Augustina got your left eye, because you can put your right eye in front, too. And when you go in for the punch---" He pushed Augustus's left hand back, then drew it closer--- "People will see your eye and instantly be freaked out, catching them off-guard. That gives you plenty of time to kick their asses."

"And what if they aren't freaked out by it?"

Ian shrugged. "You could always use your powers. I'm not gonna judge."

Augustus looked down. "I... I kinda want to keep on working without the fire."

"Why?"

"I just---I depend on my powers too much, okay?" Augustus muttered, pulling his wrists away. "Give me some slack."