Re: [punching, the redux]
Even as he did it, Adrian knew that a strike to the face was the wrong move - and the fact that it had been his first instinct didn't say anything good.
Something had shifted between them, that much was evident, and it wasn't purely because Adrian was different. The anger hadn't faded, but he was getting tired of this. He obviously wasn't the only one. The feeling circled back around, though, into something bitter - something nasty. Patrick shouldn't run out of patience. He didn't get the right to.
Patrick was practiced, and he was a good fighter. Adrian had never trained anywhere, but he knew now what a long and dirty history of fists he had behind him. He didn't move expertly, but he did let his instincts tell him when to dodge, when to pull, when to duck, and when to shift his center of gravity back so a punch came just short of his skull. He took a punch to the side with a solid exhale, then pulled just out of range of the flurry of punches to his head. In fact he began pulling back at every strike, blocking, stepping away, letting Patrick get thoroughly worked up. "So you want to hurt me," he said, and stepped back again, almost to the ropes.