"What Sparring Leads To"
by Sara Jaye

This is a random little story I wrote for a challenge, and because I've liked the idea of writing a before-game Hector/Eliwood fic for a while now. For all intents and purposes, they're about 13 or 14 in this fic.

(Fire Emblem aint mine, I'm just borrowing Hector and Eliwood for a while.)

-

"Hector, you know I'm right."

"No, you just have a selective memory!" The blue-haired lord put his axe down and smirked. "Out of all our matches, I won WAY more often than not, and there weren't that many draws!"

Eliwood laughed.

"Remind me again whose snoring shook the rafters and distracted everyone in numbers class?" he said.

"That has nothing to do with our battling, Eliwood!" Hector argued.

"I've actually written it down how many wins and losses each of us has." Eliwood held out a piece of paper. "See?"

Hector frowned.

"Well, who cares about numbers?" he scoffed.

"I'm still right." Eliwood smirked.

"Eliwood, please. We both know those were just little practice matches anyway. In a real fight, I'd beat you in five seconds!" Hector argued.

"Be that as it may, fights are not won by physical prowess alone, Hector," Eliwood said. Hector snorted.

"Now that's just a ridiculous thing to say!"

"It's true," Eliwood said. "When fighting, you also need the concentration and attention span to know when the opponent is coming, the skill to dodge them, and the reflexes to strike back. It's a matter of brains working together with brawn in the end, and-"

He was silenced by a sudden, impulsive kiss from Hector.

"Mmph!" Eliwood's mind took about a minute to register what was going on before he pulled back. "Hector?! What the-"

"It was the only way I could get you to shut up for a second," Hector said, ruffling Eliwood's hair. "And if you'd stayed still it might've worked better."

"Hector..." Eliwood touched his lips with a fingertip, blushing deeply. "...You realize that was my first kiss, don't you?"

"Oh, was it?"

"You KNOW I've never been kissed by anyone outside the family before!" Eliwood protested. "You stole my first kiss!"

"Aww, I'm sorry." Hector gave him a little squeeze. "But it doesn't seem like you HATED it, so..."

"H-how can you tell?"

"You're getting all flustered!"

"How do you expect me to be after THAT?!"

"If you really didn't like it you would've pushed me away the second I did it."

"I couldn't, you completely took me by surprise," Eliwood argued.

"Your instincts would've made you push me away...and they didn't." Hector smirked. Eliwood sighed.

"...So I didn't hate it. There, you satisfied?" he grumbled.

"Very." Hector pulled him in for another kiss, but this time Eliwood managed to stop him before their lips touched.

"Why are you doing this?! I-I mean, we're both guys and everything, right?"

"Hey, that was MY first kiss too, Eliwood." Hector smiled. "Come on, what's a little experimenting between friends? Nobody else has to know!"

"Well..." Eliwood sighed. "...It DID feel pretty nice. You have very warm lips, Hector." Now it was Hector's turn to blush.

"...Thanks," he mumbled.

"Aah, now who's getting all flustered?" Eliwood smirked.

"Are you going to need me to shut you up again, Eliwood?" Hector teased.

"Maybe..." Eliwood grinned. "You'll have to catch me first, slacker!" he taunted, breaking free from the embrace and running into the loft.

"C'mere, you!"

After a good chase, Hector managed to catch the redhead and entrap him once more.

"Who's stronger now?"

"You may be stronger, but I'm the faster one," Eliwood said. "I always have been."

Hector pulled Eliwood against him once more and grinned.

"Shut up."

This time, Eliwood didn't make any moves to break from the kiss.

-End-

Aaah, amusing fluff! :D I especially liked having Eliwood yell at Hector for stealing his first kiss.

And for the record, I believe in HectorxEliwood as a very deep soul friendship that contains manlove, but ultimately it's just deep soul friendship. (Hey, they each have a kid in the future! Besides, I love HectorxFarina and EliwoodxNinian too.)