"Oh, come on, G. Is that the best you can do?" 

Grian swung his sword to his left, deflecting Etho's strike barely with the edge of his blade. Etho didn't hold back, readily swinging and slashing, trying to catch Grian off guard. Grian was holding his own though against his foe in front of him.

"I'm doing my best," Grian replied between heavy breaths.

"You're getting better, G." Etho commented. Grian rolled his eyes, not sure if Etho was being sarcastic or truthful.

The two of them were on an empty mycelium-covered part of the Shopping District, both holding diamond swords and shields. They were practicing their fighting skills for the inevitable Turf War fight. Grian wasn't the best at PvP, and Etho was doing his level best to teach him the basics. At the moment, though, both seemed focused on other things.

Namely, trying to catch the other off guard by making them blush.

Etho switched to his other hand, using his dominant arm to hold his shield up. Grian tried to hack away at the tough wood, but he could barely make a dent. He noticed Etho trying not to laugh, and he threw him a playful glare.

"Do you really have to look so smug?" Grian whined. Etho grinned back at him. "It's hard not to smile when I'm looking at you."

"I can understand that. I could say the same about you," Etho bantered, taking pleasure in seeing Grian's cheeks turn red.

Grian looked away, trying to hide the fact that he was blushing furiously. "Well, you're not the one getting destroyed in a PvP fight," he deflected weakly. Etho could tell he had no comeback, and he capitalized on that happily.

"Awwww. Are you at the point where you can't even insult me properly?" Etho asked, laughing a bit at that. He tried to make a strike at Grian, but his friend blocked it despite his blushing fit.

"It's just so hard to find something about you that's not perfect!" Grian replied, trying to make Etho blush.

Etho raised an eyebrow slightly, hiding a wide grin behind his mask. "You're gonna have to try more than that to make me blush." And, with that, he raised his sword and charged Grian.

"What do you mean??" Grian asked in surprise, returning Etho's strikes as best as he could. "C'mon, if I were you, I'd be a fluffy blob on the ground by now." 

Grian made a jab at Etho after his remark, trying to hit him to no avail. The strikes Grian were making were weak and easily blocked without even breaking a sweat. This gave him enough time to come up with a comeback.

"I thought you were already." Etho managed to get a good strike on Grian as he was caught off guard by his comeback.

"...Shut up," Grian groaned, trying to land a hit on Etho that he just blocked by raising his shield.

"Never." Etho gave him a wink.

The two kept going at each other with fists and remarks. Etho hit Grian on the side of his leg causing him to stumble a bit which let the other go in for a blow that knocked Grian down. Grian tried to trip Etho, but he anticipated the move and quickly blocked him.

"Etho, this is hopeless. I can't find it in myself to try my hardest against such a beautiful face."

"Oh sweetheart, you're going to have to because I can find myself to hurt such a pretty face like yours."

"Oh Etho, you wound me!" Grian paused for a moment, dramatically clutching where his heart would be. "First you make me battle you with my woefully bad sword fighting skills, and now you defeat me with compliments too? Is there anything at all that you cannot do?"

"C'mon, Grian. Even Scar can do better than that, and you know how he is. Give me all you have!"

Grian dropped his sword and ran at Etho with his fists only. Etho grinned and dropped his tools, too, just as Grian tackled him to the ground. Both of them started playfully punching each other, neither able to breathe properly as they were laughing so hard.

The pair were now rolling on top of each other, fighting for dominance over the other. At the moment Etho had Grian pinned under his body with his arms above his head not being able to move.

"My god, Grian," Etho said between giggles. "You're better at this than your actual PvP skills."

"Shut up, or I'll grab my sword and show you just how skilled I am with melee." 

"Who said that's not what I want you to do?"

Grian started to glare at Etho for once again making him go completely red, before realising something. "Hey! I'm not the only one blushing here!"

Etho looked away, but couldn't hide the pink spreading through his face. "Humph. You got me there Gri."

Grian couldn't hide a triumphant smile, and he relented on the punching just enough for Etho to catch him by surprise and tackle him down.

Their play flirting--or was it fighting?--continued and soon they were both a blushing mess, trying to hide their faces from one another. Flirting while training let alone training with someone you liked wasn't exactly ideal as it distracted both of them. They had decided a rest was well needed, after all they weren't really trying to train anymore.

They were only flirting with each other instead.

Score: 9