Only Annie | Eric Coulter

11 - Can I Be Him

* * *

"You took me back in time

To when I was

Unbroken."

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|| E R I C

Punch. Thud. Kick. Punch.

The more I think about the shit with Lyanne and her lying ass, the more my anger worsens; travelling from up my head down to my hands, sending blow after blow towards the punching bag.

It's tattered and teared, and I'm only making it worse with my hard punches.

I know someone is watching me. They've probably been there for at least thirty minutes now,  scared to make the smallest of movements. I've been assaulting this bag for twenty minutes straight, and it they're smart, they will know I'm in a bad mood and I'll beat the shit out of the person who crosses me.

The doors of the training room open, and I don't have to look back to see who it is. Her rapid footsteps is enough validation.

"Are you stupid?" Is the first thing that comes out of Annie's mouth, and it makes my lips twitch up in a smile, "What are you thinking, not wrapping your hands before punching that poor bag?"

She stands in between the bag and my hunched form, hands on her hips, eyebrows pulled together. Her eyes take note of the blood dripping from my hands, watching as they make a pool on the floor.

"You look pretty." I say to cut the silence, and she only rolls her eyes at my attempt to divert her attention.

She grabs my hands and pulls me towards once of the benches propped up on the side. Walking over a medicine cabinet, she grabs an assortment of ointments and cottons and gauze. We make eye contact as she walks back towards me, and I manage to get a small smile from out of her.

She cleans up the blood on my hands while she stares at me like a little kid getting scolded, purposely pressing onto my wound harder than she should. When I don't give her any reaction, she presses harder, but she's only able to get a raised eyebrow from me.

"Why are you abusing my hands?" I mumble, watching her wrap the bandage tighter than it should be.

"I'm doing you a favour. It seems like you want to keep getting yourself hurt." The tone in her voice relays a message of her worry, and I instantly regret being lazy and forgetting to wrap my hands.

"I'm sorry." I whisper, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"I know you're an unfeeling soldier," She starts and looks deep into my eyes, drowning me in her earth-colored irises. "But you have to stop hurting yourself, Eric. Do you know how much scabs and wounds you've gathered this month alone?"

I nod my head every now and then as she continues her speech, opting to stare at the way she's animatedly moving her hands around, gesturing and emphasizing with her pursed lips and wide eyes and crinkling nose.

And I laugh like a maniac. A laugh so loud it surprises her and cuts off her speaking. The sound of my laughing fills the entire room before she gives up and stops restraining the laugh that bubbles deep within her.

Annie laughs so hard that she cries, her eyes creasing, her hands coming up to clutch her middle. She throws her head back, letting lose, not caring if anyone else saw her practically snorting.

We haven't laughed like this in a long time, not since the baby. We've been buried with stress and negativity, and through this unexpected event in the training room, through my bleeding hands and her scolding, we found the reason to smile.

"I'm trying to be worth it." I say lowly as our laughter dies down, "And so far, I haven't done a very good job."

She smiles her 'you're forgiven' smile, pulls me close, presses her head against my chest. "You don't have to try--everything I seek, you already are to me."

"I'm sorry for leaving you alone with the baby," I mutter whilst I stroke her hair gently, "I needed to set things right. Being with me hasn't been easy for you and I--"

She kisses me, and when she pulls back, her eyes are gleaming, "Shut it with the sappy talk, Eric. Let's go home."

...  

|| T R I S

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on Eric?"

I grimaced, looking at Uriah with disgust. "Me? Have a crush on Eric? Death wish."

"Well, you keep staring at him. You keep showing up where he is. You are--"

I bring my hands up to his lips, shushing him. He didn't see Eric when he was punching the life out of the punching bag, he didn't know why I was crouching here for half an hour.

"It's just weird." I whisper, looking back at Eric as he gets scolded by Annie, "Seeing an asshole like him soften up whenever she's around. He's all tough and scary like an alpha wolf, but when with his queen, he suddenly turns to a huge, huggable teddy bear."

Uriah gets silent all of a sudden, and I look back to see him with a pout on his face.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"It's just that I had the biggest crush on her, and now you're stuffing her successful love life to my face."

We try to stifle our laughs as Eric and Annie leave the training room.

...  

A/N

Song Inspirations:

Tom Leeb - Are We Too Late

Imagine Dragons - Next To Me