C11 The Clash

The hallway was too small for three men and the storm gathering between them.

Arun stood rigid, blood drying on his lip, knuckles still wrapped tight. Daisuke leaned against the wall with a mocking smile, cigarette burning low. And Riku… Riku was a statue, silent but heavy, anger simmering under his skin.

The air cracked.

Daisuke broke it first. “Look at you, Dragon. Stalking him like some lovesick mutt. I almost expected you to bark when his opponent laid hands on him.”

Riku’s jaw shifted, his silence more dangerous than words. His eyes never left Arun.

Daisuke’s grin sharpened. “But I’ll give you credit—you’ve got taste. He is something, isn’t he? Fierce. Untamed. The kind of man who doesn’t kneel for anyone. That’s what makes him beautiful.”

Arun snarled, disgust dripping from every word. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not standing here. I’m not yours. I’m not his. You’re both insane.”

The words hung in the air like sparks on oil.

Riku finally moved. Slow. Deliberate. His voice came low, edged with steel.

“Daisuke.”

The way he said the name wasn’t a greeting. It was a threat.

“You don’t speak his name. You don’t breathe near him. He isn’t yours to look at.”

Arun snapped, fury bursting through exhaustion. “And I’m not yours either! Both of you, get it through your heads—I don’t want you. I don’t want men. I don’t want—”

He stopped himself, chest heaving. The disgust in his voice echoed too loud, even to his own ears.

Daisuke chuckled, stepping closer to him, ignoring Riku. “Hear that, Dragon? He hates you. He hates me. And yet… he can’t stop looking at us.”

Riku’s eyes flicked to Daisuke then, a rare, lethal motion. His fist clenched at his side. “Step away.”

“Oh?” Daisuke’s smirk widened. “Or what? You’ll kill me in front of him? That’s one way to show him you care.”

Arun’s head whipped between them, realization dawning. This wasn’t just a rivalry. This was a war—and he was the prize.

Riku took a single step forward, the floor creaking under the weight. Daisuke didn’t move.

The tension snapped—like the last breath before a blade falls.

And Arun, standing between them, felt the terrifying truth settle in his gut.

Neither man would stop until one of them bled.