Re: [punching, the redux]
Adrian didn't move from the ring, not yet. He watched Patrick towel himself off, and only when he was fetching his water bottle did Adrian finally climb out of the ring.
He unzipped the bag he'd left up against the wall. "I wanted to fight you," he said. Patrick could think what he wanted, but that had been a part of it. "I wanted to beat you," he said. "I wanted to win."
He hadn't wanted to knock Patrick's head off his shoulders. He'd come into this wanting to prove that he wasn't the same person that he'd been before, that he could hold his own, that he wouldn't be so easily knocked over. He hadn't really succeeded, but it had never been a halfway decent thing to want, considering the opponent.
He drank from the fountain. He hadn't come prepared - he didn't have a preset gym bag, ready to go. He listened while Patrick talked about sparring. His expression was difficult to read. "You never talk about that," he said, leaning against the wall. He could be thinking almost anything, but it wasn't a purely objective observation. He still cared about Patrick, whatever might be different.