Mutant Fight Club - "Two guys to a fight..."

[x-wildchild.livejournal.com]

Backdated, because I suck.

While Kyle's learning a little more about fighting, the manager of the fighting club calls an old friend, and learns that he too has a rising star.



Paul looked over his desk past the piles of bills and bounced checks, glancing through the door at the practice ring. Mike was knocking the new kid around with a series of Thai kickboxing moves, but the kid - Kyle? Yeah, Kyle - was adapting pretty darn fast. Darren had been right, the kid hadn't been really taught to fight, but he had the instincts. Sloppy, untrained, but he'd gone five rounds with some of Paul's heavy hitters, and not even realized what an accomplishment that was.

Removing his ballcap, Paul ran a hand over his balding scalp before picking up the phone and dialing. He waited past a few rings, then heard a familiar voice on the other end, one he'd thought he wouldn't be calling for quite a while.

"Vin-man? It's me, Paul E. Yeah, really. No, hey, whatever Ian and Axl say about the checks, my money was good. Vinnie, have you ever known me to go back on my word? ... Okay, other than that time? Or that one? ... Or... okay, that doesn't count." He sighed, switching ears with the receiver and pulling out a pen to make some quick notes. "Vinnie, listen. I got a guy that might be a contender. No, not just another jobber, this kid's 'special', if you know what I mean. Yeah, I know you do. Yeah, yeah, I know how much I owe you. Yeah, Yeah, I know. With interest, of course. Trust me, I think this kid could pay it back in two, three nights. No, he's not... uh... we're training him here. No, seriously. Would I lie to you, Vinnie? Okay, again?"

Paul sighed and leaned back in his chair, listening to the fixer on the other end of the line harangue him mercilessly. "You want to hear me say it, Vinnie? Fine, I'm small-time, you're big-time, happy? Yeah? Listen, how about an exhibition bout? Yeah, I'll front the cash. Seriously. You've got someone? Who? ... that can't be his name. You're joking. Toynbee? Never heard of him. Tell me he's got a ring name that's... ? Vin-Man, this isn't 1988. Hey, okay, okay. You're the man, I got it. Of course I'll come through. Yeah, I know how much I owe you. Trust me. No, seriously. Okay, stop laughing, Vinnie. Just... yeah, I'll call... okay, you'll call me. Got it. Vinnie, you won't regret this, you... Vin? Vin-Man? Hello?"

The office seemed a lot more humid, and Paul wiped the sweat from his head with a rag before replacing his ball cap. Outside in the ring, he watched Kyle surprise the taller Thai boxer with a double-leg takedown and follow it up with a series of punches and elbows to the face. Paul winced, but turned it into a smile. The kid had the viciousness in him. He was a fighter, all right.

And Paul was going to make so much money.


-----

Kyle talks to his last opponent, and learns that he's just a little too eager sometimes, and than takes that lesson to heart.



Kyle still wasn't used to the short hair - he kept running a hand over his head because it felt so odd and naked. But there was going to be no more hair-pulling. Even accidentally. That had hurt more than getting punched had.

And besides, it looked bad. And this time, there were people watching. Not a lot, just a scattered few, most of them reminded him of his parents neighbors. Which just served to remind him how damn far he'd come that he didn't think of them as his neighbors anymore.

He'd trimmed down his claws twice today, just for good measure. It made him feel a whole lot -less- paranoid about ripping someone's face open. "Blood's good for business, but not that good." , he'd been told.

A hand fell on Kyle's shoulder. "That was a damn good fight, kid," his opponent from the ring congratulated him. Kyle had to look up to meet his eyes, which was a novelty for the teenager. Taking a look at Kyle's somewhat ragged haircut, the man chuckled. "Maybe I should give you the name of my barber, though." He ran a hand through his own close-cropped hair and grinned. "I hope you didn't pay anyone for that haircut."

Kyle grinned, shaking his head. "Thanks. And nah. I, uh, well.." He pointed a thumb over at Darrin, his oppoment from the test match, who was seated on the edge of the ring, wrapping tape around his wrist. "He got my hair, by accident, and man, I wasn't expecting it to hurt like that. So I just cut it off.." He shrugged, and ran his hand through it again. "I might get it trimmed up later, but it's not like I was doing it for looks.."

"That was kind of obvious," came the reply with a chuckle. A few of the other fighters greeted the older man, half calling him Mike, the other half calling him 'Prettyboy', generally accompanied by joking punches and smacks on the arm. Some of the fighters took the time to greet Kyle as well. Now that he'd been blooded, as it were, and managed to hold his own against one of the regulars, that made him a regular too.

It was weird, being talked to like he was an equal. Well, not quite equal. He was the 'new guy', and 'fresh meat', but they weren't treating him like some dumb kid. That was just.. it was cool, but damned weird. "You've got a pretty nasty hip toss thing goin' there... " Kyle said. "Twice, man. You got me -twice-." He shook his head, laughing. "Mats don't taste good. Worse the second time around."

"That's because you're too eager, kid," Mike replied. "You've got good instincts, but you don't always think. Sometimes that can be a good thing, but sometimes it gets you a mouthful of the mat against people who know what they're doing." He grinned. He liked the kid, most of the fighters did. He was definitely on the young side, and needed to learn a bit about fighting, but that would come with time.

"Yeaaaahhh." Kyle admitted reluctantly. "Not the first time somebody told me to think before I did something." He cracked another grin and added. "My roommate says I talk first, get up, move around, eat lunch, go to class, and then think about it later. Maybe. Course, he's not exactly king of tact himself. The guy just -can- -not- talk to girls."

"I take it you don't have that problem?" came a husky voice as a smaller hand touched gently on Kyle's other shoulder. The ring girl, who had been in short-shorts and a bikini top, stepped into view. While her current clothing might have covered more skin than her ring wear, it emphasized her figure just as much. "Hello, Brooke," Mike said neutrally, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

~Don't say huh. Don't. Say. Huh.~ Kyle looked over his shoulder. "Not usually, no.." He finally said. "I mean, girls are people too. Forge, my roommate, gets all mucked up because he forgets they're people." Course, it didn't hurt any that Kyle had a -boyfriend- and not a -girlfriend-, but he wasn't going to go advertising that. Somehow, he got the idea that some of the guys here wouldn't get it.

Being out of the mutie closet was hard enough.

"Forge, huh? That's a funny name," Brooke said, draping herself more on Kyle's arm. He was cute. The hair needed some trimming, but he was young, and she liked them young. He was muscular, he was tall without being too tall, and those ears...there had been some rumors running around when Kyle had come in with his hair away from his ears. Brooke let out a little sigh. She thought it made him look...exotic. Like a buffer, hotter Legolas or something.

"It's, um.. " Kyle was just a bit confused. She was clinging to his arm. Definitly confusing. "His last name. He hates his first name, and so everybody just calls him Forge." He shrugged with the free shoulder and added. "It fits. He's, kind of like an engineer. Inventor type.."

"Oh...I get it," Brooke replied. At some point Mike had quietly wandered away, recognizing the look Brooke had in her eye. She was on the prowl. Mike couldn't say that he approved, the way she cut a swath through the younger fighters, but he figured it was the kid's mistake to make.

Tracing randomly on Kyle's bare arm, she kept smiling. "I watched you fight. You looked good out there."

"I, uh... did?" Kyle said quietly. "I guess so.. I've got a lot to learn, but Mike said I did okay." Why did his voice keep threatening to crack? She couldn't -possibly- be .. ~Dude, -hello-. Hottie~. She -was- flirting. Pretty blatently too, if he was catching what he thought it was. Kyle's nose wasn't wrong often.

He was going to need -such- a cold shower before grabbing the bus back to the school. Thank God for locker rooms.

"He got some good licks in, but you were the one the fight," Brooke reminded him. And that was what mattered most. She liked winners. Preferably soon after they won. They were always more...enthusiastic. "So, want to go get something to eat?" she asked. When in doubt, cut to the chase. Besides, she was a little hungry after a day's work. You wouldn't think it, but those signs tended to get a little heavier as the fights went on.

"I kinda have to get back to, um..." Somewhere in Kyle's brain, something went -click-, and he stopped for a moment. Girls did -not- go for sixteen year old guys. "My dorm. I've got exams coming up." It was true. He jeft left out the part where it was his Geometry exam and if he didn't get to some major studying, it was going to kick his ass sideways and backwards. "Raincheck?" He added, at Brooke's little frown.

Brooke put on her best pouty face. "But I was hoping..." she trailed off hopefully. Still, if he was serious about his exams, it just actually made him a little hotter. Tall, muscular, -and- studious. She was looking forward to engaging in a little extracurricular anatomy studying, to borrow the cliche. Stepping around so that her arms were around his waist, she leaned up and kissed Kyle very softly on the cheek, not-so-incidentally pressing her chest up against his. "I'll hold you to that," she said even lower and more huskily than normal, before turning and sashaying towards the womens' dressing room, putting a little extra bump into the sway of her hips. She didn't have to turn around to know Kyle's eyes would follow her all the way to the door. She smiled to herself. A little delayed gratification never hurt anyone. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have other options.

Kyle waited until Brooke was out of earshot - and for Kyle, that meant until she was far enough away that he couldn't hear her before letting out the breath he'd been holding and shifting to try to relieve some of the discomfort in his groin.

He'd been right. He was -definitly- going to need a cold shower before going home.