Manly Fighting [Closed]

[stopthat_destro]

Who: Rex and Hoffman, eventually Iago
Where: THE SHOWERS BECAUSE ALL FIGHTING HAPPENS THERE FOREVER
When: Second night of the flood
Warnings: Language (PROBABLY), mild violence and a few references to past sexual assault.

Comments

[expectremorse]

Hoffman had had a rough couple of days.

He was thinking about everything that Lupin had said, about it hurting to care. It's like moving the scar tissue around again, like learning how to eat. He had let everything that had happened with Sarah slide, but Rex's behavior had cut into everything.

That was why he couldn't care. It was a sad fact. It was better not to care because then...

Calm down, Calm down. What would Angelina do? Well, she had a right to defend herself. So did he.

He hated this flood. He couldn't think, every time he closed his eyes he saw rage. Violent burning rage. Buffy forgave him and the little bastard had ran around like it was some big deal. Thinking that he didn't care. He cared!

He had decided that he needed a nice hot shower and then bed. He wanted to be calm.

He was on meds that made him calm.

But then every time he thought about doing something for himself he saw Rex laughing. Be a man about this.

A man had a right to have his honor defended. He had a right to defend himself.

[expectremorse]

Hoffman didn't see it coming.

Rex's fist hit square to Hoffman's jaw. He staggered back out of sheer shock and surprise. Pain came next. Hoffman touched his face in shock before looking back at him-blinking.

Then he smiled and his eyes flashed. He curled his on fist, stepped forward once, and punched-at Rex's gut.

[stopthat_destro]

Rex wasn't sure what, exactly, he was expecting. There was a brief, brief moment of pride when he realized that punch connected and actually seemed to hurt Hoffman, which was then replaced with a creeping dread because he'd just punched a serial killer who tortured one of his friends.

And then that fist knocked the breath out of him.

He doubled over, arm around his stomach, coughing for breath. It hurt, yeah, but he'd been through worse before and didn't give up. He had to remember that. Rex looked up at Hoffman, lip curling in a feral sort of sneer, then launched himself to tackle the big man to the ground by his midsection.

If that'd even work. He didn't know. He just figured getting Hoffman off balance would work in his favor.

[expectremorse]

If your opponent can't see they can't fight, if your opponent can't hear they can't fight, if your opponent is off their feet they can't fight. Hoffman was too intently focused on Rex coming at him straight. He adjusted-too slowly and went down on his back with a groan.

He figured then, somewhere between his ass hitting the tile and the sensation of his shoulder hitting the floor that he could use his opponent's own momentum against him. He grabbed Rex's arms and tried to fling him forward in the hope of forcing him to land on his back.

[stopthat_destro]

Damn, that was a short-lived victory. Rex was too inexperienced in fighting to really expect Hoffman to actually use his momentum to throw him like that. Sure, he understood physics well enough that, intellectually, it made sense, and he should've seen it coming, but his mind and body weren't the best coordinated in a fight. He let out a startled cry as he landed on his back. It took him a moment to register that, but once he recovered, he twisted to right himself, reaching out to grab Hoffman by the hair so he could slam the other man's head down against the tile. That was, of course, assuming Rex could grab the former cop before he had a chance to get up.

[expectremorse]

Hoffman had never been one to shy away from pain. The minute he felt Rex's hands close in his hair Hoffman pulled away with a grunt and staggered to his feet to try and kick the younger man. He slipped on the tile, foot going out toward the younger man's leg.

[stopthat_destro]

Rex was just getting up when Hoffman kicked him in the leg, sending him stumbling flat on his ass, catching most of the fall with his hands, which was more painful than he'd anticipated. He looked up at the other man, all wide-eyed like he was afraid he'd lost the fight... but really, Rex was planning on bringing his foot up to kick Hoffman in the nuts if the older inmate made the mistake of trying to loom over him or something.

He had no qualms fighting dirty.

[expectremorse]

There comes a point in every fight where someone loses their sense of self and they become all about doing damage and harm to others. Hoffman had fallen into that point. Later, much later, he'd be proud of resisting-but now he wanted to see the boy bleed.

Dropping low, he curled his hand into a fist and put all the fury he could into a square punch aimed at Rex's head, stepping wide in the hope of preventing Rex from kicking him off his feet. The movement left his feet wide apart, leaving himself exposed.

[stopthat_destro]

Rex leaned back, partially as an immediate response to Hoffman coming down on him fists a'blazing, and partially to give his body the right leverage to arc one foot up to kick the older man square in the balls, as hard as he could. Thank god he was still wearing shoes.

[expectremorse]

Hoffman's first fell short. The world exploded in red and white and blue stars. He let out a sputtering cough and withdrew his fist almost delicately before falling to his knees with a loud groan.

He reached out a desperate hand to grab for Rex-any part of Rex. Not like this, Not like this, Not like this. He couldn't go down like this. He couldn't!

[stopthat_destro]

Rex tried to scramble to his feet as Hoffman went down, but the serial killer's hand managed to catch him by the lower calf, keeping him from escaping. "Let go!" he snarled, trying to yank his leg free. He was in an awkward position, and it was difficult to lash out like he wanted to.

[expectremorse]

Hoffman's world was a thin haze of red. He dragged the boy toward him and made a grab for the back of his neck. What Rex had tried to do with him he'd try and do too-returning the favor.

Except his balls were spasming in waves of pain and his fingers didn't have the same strength they would normally have.

[stopthat_destro]

Rex tried to wrench free from that grip, squirming angrily. The neck was a very sensitive area for him-- not physically, but psychologically. It triggered too many memories when somebody grabbed his neck like that. If he managed to get his neck free, he was going to turn his head and try to bite Hoffman's fingers, just to get that hand away.

[expectremorse]

Hoffman collapsed on the tile floor, vision blurred. His fingers let go of Rex's neck.

"Get back here you little shit! both of you!"

Seeing double's a beautiful thing.

[stopthat_destro]

Rex twisted around a little, just so he wasn't on his stomach anymore, and saw those fingers in his face. Fine, Hoffman was so into the vampire thing, right? Then he wouldn't mind some biting. Rex clamped his teeth down on the larger man's fingers, trying to draw blood, then let go so that he could try to scramble away again.

[expectremorse]

The minute Rex's teeth clamped down on Hoffman's fingers, he let out a roar of anger. Driven by adrenaline he lunged forward and slammed himself on top of Rex-shoving him face first into the tile.

"You're not going anywhere."