School was out for the day and Mac could not be more relieved at the notion. As nice as it felt going back to school, he had forgotten how draining it was on the mind. You’d think Boxing would be the more monotonous task to undergo, but life had a funny way of surprising you. On the other hand, as tiring as it was, at least he could look forward to a fun day of training with Doc and a nice talk with his newfound friends. Okay so, it might’ve only been two at the moment, but Li Mei and Jared made very pleasant company once Mac got back into school.New York's streets were bustling with the afternoon traffic. Everyone and their mothers were out and about enjoying this time. It was quieter than most hours, but of course, considering this was NYC, it was still expected to be full of life. Sweet smells of food wafted through the air and happy laughs and jaunts were thrown amongst the small trio that sauntered down the footpath, bags slung over shoulders and jackets zipped up tight as the afternoon breeze started to kick in.
"I still can't believe you have to fight Bull on Friday," Li Mei said.
Mac laughed at the comment, "Well, what do you expect? WVBA has some pretty odd combos for fights"
"As odd as that one against you and that Walrus….?" Jared piped up, looking as delirious as ever.
"...Walrus? You mean King Hippo?"
"Potato, Po-tah-toe"
"Jared, lay off the Mary J, it's fucking you over" Mac said, laughing and shaking his head, as he and Li-Mei took the lead. Jared trailing close behind. Mac wasn't sure how he managed to score such friends like these two, after all Li-Mei was his stark opposite. She was full of life and Mac usually just….hung in the background. Even as a national champion he had hated being the center of attention. Jared…well, he was a massive bloody stoner. Jared never knew where he was or why he was there, but he'd just vibe and go with it anyways.
They had been loyal to Mac ever since he started going back to school. It felt nice having peers that were around his age, and weren't busy managing taxes, businesses or beating people senseless in the ring. The trio soon arrived at a small Italian restaurant. It wasn’t flashy, or big. It's simple oak frame design around the windows and door stood out against the urban setting that New York was famous for. The window itself had the restaurant’s name written on its surface. Casa di Famiglia. It meant: Home of Family, which, to Mac anyways, was exactly what it was.
As they pushed the door open, and the little bell above it dinged, the small crowd of people inside it clamored ‘Hello!’ and ‘Heya!’ in various forms. The crew behind the countertops and in the kitchen saw Mac and gave a hearty group “HELLO!” from where they stood. Mac gave a shy chuckle in response. Like I said, he hated being the center of attention. Luckily for Mac, the eldest man behind the counter, a man named Giovanni, had managed to hush them up and get them back on track. “Che cos'è questo!? Non ti pago per stare in piedi! Torna al lavoro!” He cried, flinging his hands up in the air in disapproval. The trio all laughed as the cooks and workers went back to their jobs. Mac slowly made his way to the front register, Giovanni gave a patient smile as he greeted the boy, “Ciao Mac! Che cosa succede? How have you been?” He asked. Mac smiled back, “Heya, G,” he replied, gesturing to Li Mei and Jared to find a table, “Nah, nothin’ much is going on, I’mma go hit the gym with a few of the guys soon” he continued.
“Ah, the boys, how are they?”
“Oh yeah! They’re alright!”
“Buono…and Doc?”
“As right as rain on a fall afternoon in the windy city”
Giovanni blinked, a little confused at the comment, but nonetheless laughed and nodded. Giovanni himself had known Doc for a long time, as, once upon a time, Giovanni was also a boxer in the WVBA. A champion under the alias, Pete Zapasta, though Mac argues with Aran that his name was Pizza Pasta. Whether or not this is true has yet to be confirmed. However, a horrible accident in the ring had caused him to eventually retire due to the mental trauma it gave him, and though he never specified what, Mac already knew the reason why. The death of Kid Quick.
His death caused grief on many people in the WVBA, one of the many being his own trainer. Even just thinking back to the event left Doc speechless for the next couple of hours. It hurt Mac to see him like that, even after all this time that had passed, the fact he still hurt really did show how close they were.
But no time for that now. Mac was here for food, not to feel sad. "Can we just have two coffees, one with an extra espresso shot and-", “A HOT CHOCOLATE WITH EXTRA MARSHMALLOWS!” Li Mei called from the table.
“AND MAYBE A PIZZA?” Jared added, both responses causing a firm look of disapproval from Mac. Luckily, Giovanni was generous enough to not add anything extra onto the charge. He liked to spoil that boy sometimes. “Not-a problem mi amico’s!” he heartily cried, before turning to the kitchen “Mio figlioccio! I have some drinks for-a you!”, “Yo! I gotchu” a voice called back. Before Mac could even blink, a tall boy, curly locks atop his head and a charm necklace around his neck dashed into the small cafe area and began working on the drinks. His spindly arms dashed around grabbing the ingredients at a pace not even Mac could match, and how even with the rapidfire movement, no ingredients spilt from the speed. “Careful Dean, don’t spill” A voice from the kitchen called, which the boy responded to with a raspberry.
Mac laughed a bit as his lanky friend placed three coffee mugs down on the counter. All three drinks were piping hot. Two coffees, one with a star drawn on top to signify it was an extra espresso shot, and a hot chocolate next to it that was packed to the brim with marshmallows and dusted with cocoa sugar. Now, despite just being a lot older than Mac, and arguably more mature, Dean was one of Mac’s closest friends. The Speediest Barista in all of New York that Mac had known since his time on the streets. Dean took Mac in and treated him as a brother, some of the only real family he had had since he was 12. Mac was extremely loyal to the boy, and treated him like a mentor, despite him only being 2 years his senior.
“Thank’s Dean!” Mac smiled, as he carefully balanced all three mugs on his arm…somehow. Dean gave a small grin from underneath his visor and nodded in response, “Naw, it ain’t nothin’” The boy replied in his usual raspy tone, “You know I love doing what I do”, “That’s a fact,” Mac said, sipping his coffee and sighing in content, “Perfect as per usual, I don’t know how you do it.” “Kinda helps when you have 5 years of practice,” Dean said, prompting Mac to shake his head with a smile. As he set the other two drinks down and nudged them gently towards his friends, both of which eagerly grabbed their cups in delight. Mac then pulled out a third chair at the table for himself and set his bag down on the floor. He went to take a seat but stopped halfway as he remembered something important.
Eagerly he reached for the front pocket zip of his bag and unzipped it, rummaging inside the pocket until he found 3 slips of paper. All 3 slips had the words: ‘General Admission’ and were dated for this coming friday. A small WVBA logo printed just in the top left corner of each. Mac waved the tickets in the air with a smirk, “Look what we got here, eh?”, Li and Jared both grinning in excitement as their eyes locked onto the paper. “Front row seats to a night of bouts! All expenses paid by yours truly!” Mac said, “You get to witness the incredible feats of Great Tiger vs Aran Ryan! Mr Sandman vs Super Macho Man, and of course, me and Bull!” “OH MAC!” Li cried happily, impatiently snatching a ticket from Mac’s hands and holding it tight, “I’LL KEEP IT SAFE THIS TIME I PROMISE! I WON’T LOSE THIS ONE!”, “How did you get this dude? These are like a shit-ton of money!” Jared said as he took another ticket, “Doc and I know some good connections” Mac joked. He now held one last ticket in his hand and he turned to Dean, waving it in the air to get the barista’s attention.
“How about it, Dean?” Mac asked, “Front row seats to your little brothers show this Friday?”, “...Oh geez, T-thanks Mac but…” Dean started, pausing as he tried to gather the right words to say, “...I can’t go…you know I don’t like going there anymore”. “Oh come on, Dean” Mac groaned, frowning at the taller boy, “Not even this once? You’ve never even seen any of my matches”
Dean rolled his eyes at that comment, “That’s a lie, I’ve seen plenty!”
“I mean you haven’t seen any LIVE matches”, Mac said.
“I’m sorry Mac, but I can’t go…”
“Why? You say that everytime I offer you to come” Mac said, taking a few sips of his own drink, though quite angrily. It was only then that he realized that was a stupid comment to make as he saw Dean’s eyes nervously shift to the Kitchen and to the countertop.
Dean sighed as he grabbed onto his charm tight. Li and Jared both sipped their drinks lightly, avoiding making eye contact with either of the two teens. After a moment of brief silence, Dean finally spoke up. “It’s not that I wouldn’t love to go…but…the place has too many unpleasant memories Macky…what else can I say? Plus if I went back, you know Doc and the others would be quick to jump on me and push me to take on boxing…” He paused briefly to look Mac in the eyes, seeing the younger boy's face screwed into disapproval around Doc’s name being tainted like that. Still, Dean continued on, “Most of the guys are just…like that…they have a one track mind…it’s nothing new.” “But you know…they miss you,” Mac added, whispering as he approached the countertop, “Don’t you think you owe them at least a ‘Hello’?”
”...No…not really” Dean said bluntly. Mac groaned in response, sipping the last of the coffee in his cup. “Eccoci qui! Mangia!” Mac turned around to see Giovanni bringing a fresh hot pizza to the trio’s table. “Come on, Mac! Grab a slice!” Jared called.
The teen looked back at Dean with a frown before shaking his head and moving back towards the table. He managed to grab one of the bigger slices and tried to take a bite, but stopped before it hit his mouth as heard a faint beep from his jacket’s pockets. Reaching inside, he pulled out a small nokia phone. On the small, green screen, a small message blipped reading:
Oi, ya feckin coming or wut?
Looking at a nearby clock, Mac gasped as he realized the time. “3:25! Shit! I’m late!” he cried. Zipping up his bag and shoving the admission pass in his jacket pocket, and the pizza slice in his mouth, Mac said a quick goodbye to his friends and Giovanni as he dashed out the restaurant door.
------
“What the feck is keeping ‘im?” The impatient Irish man grumbled, pacing up and down the training area. Aran had been waiting for a while now, and it wasn’t like Mac to be late. Suppose he could cut the boy some slack, seeing as he was still getting used to a new school routine, but hey, he was Aran Ryan. He liked to make other’s lives hell and even if Mac had been at school for a long time, that wasn’t an excuse for him to stand Aran up. Leave him bored out of his wits and with no one interesting to taunt…except Don. Yes, Don had made the unfortunate mistake of sitting right next to the entrance way while fixing his ‘hair’, and he was really starting to regret the decision. Nonstop jeering and jaunting coming from the Irish joder were beginning to become more tenasive than usual, and Don was reaching his limits.
“How dare he keep me waitin’!” Aran yelled once again, “Where in the feck do ya think he-”, “¡Por el amor de Dios! ¡No sé!” Don finally screamed. The Irish man, for once, was silent and unable to react…for five seconds, before giving him a smirk, “Well gee, ya plunger, you don’t need to shout '' he joked. “I’m gonna stab him” Don mumbled to himself before he felt a light hand pat him on his shoulder. Looking up the arm, Don found Disco Kid giving him a patient smile. “Now, now, now Donnie, lighten up” Disco said, “We don’t want a sour mood before training~ Cause then ya won’t focus! And ya don’t focus, then ya fight like garbage!” The other two boxers eye the younger man with confusion. “He makes a valid point” Aran finally piped up, “Callate Pendejo” Don growled. Just then, the door behind them opened and in ran a sweaty, and out of breath Mac.
“Oh LOOK who finally graced us with his feckin’ presence!”
“Oh ¡Muchas gracias! ¡No vuelvas a hacer eso, bastardo!”
“Heya Macky! How ya doing?”
All three boxers gave their greetings, and Mac gave a weary smile as he high fived them all. “Sorry I kept ya waiting, Aran '' Mac apologized, “Just let me get ready and we can get onto it, yeah?”, “Oh we feckin’ better! You’ve been keepin’ me waitin’ long enough! Ya tool!” Aran retorted. The younger boy laughed as he made his way to the changing rooms and slipped into his training attire.
Once he was ready, he strapped his gloves ons and made his way to the ring. “Alright Ryan,” He said smugly, “Ding ding!”