K.O

2.

The blue haired man didn't hear his first alarm go off, and barely heard the second one as it trilled 15 minutes after the first. He groggily pulled his phone out from under his pillow to silence the annoying ringing. Caught a glance at the time and sat straight up in bed. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck I'm gonna be late oh shit. The man jumped out of bed and rushed to his closet grabbing his bag and throwing it on his bed. He hurriedly grabbed clothes and threw himself into the shower. Moving as fast as he could he showered, got dressed, checked to make sure all of his stuff was in his bag and was pulling on his shoes when there was a knock on the door.

"It's open!" he called out, just managing to pull up his mask. The door opened to reveal a petite woman, silver haired in twin braids on her head. She looked up and saw the blue haired man fixing his mask and chuckled quietly.

"Sal- you really have to pick a better alarm tone, all this rushing is gonna kill you." She said with a soft laugh. Sal rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I know, I know, I just like my sleep Mapes." He replied standing up and grabbing his gym bag pulling it across one of his shoulders. She smiled again and shook her head before responding.

"Oh trust me we know, now come on, Ash will kill us both if we're late again." She said ushering Sal out of the door.

"Me? Oh fuck yeah she'll definitely kill me. You? Maple, she loves you to death and wouldn't dream of hurting you." Sal said, bumping Maple's shoulder. Maple laughed and they made their way out to the front of their shared house. They all three had lived together since high school, and hadn't planned on changing that anytime soon. Sal jumped in the passenger seat of Maple's beat up Jeep that never had the doors on it, and she slid her way into the driver's seat. He had been wary of driving ever since he and his mom had the accident, so Maple or Ash tended to drive.

Maple clicked on the radio and turned it to a random station and turned up the volume a bit. Sal pulled on his seatbelt and gave Maple a thumbs up. She smiled at him before they took off to the gym about 10 minutes away. As much as he hated to admit it, he enjoyed the wind in his hair whenever Maple pushed the speed limit a little. She knew that, but was always careful not to push it too far, and didn't want to send her best friend into a panic attack.

They made it to the gym with minutes to spare and rushed in, Ash was leaning against the ring phone in hand talking rapidly. She saw them walk in and frantically gestured for the both of them to come to her. Sal looked at Maple and she shrugged, so he took off in a light jog to get to Ash. He was just about to ask what was going on when she politely shushed him, he nodded.

"-three weeks from now? Yes he can absolutely make that. Yes. Yes he'll be ready. Mhm. Thank you, have a nice day." Ash hung up the phone and took a breath before looking at Sal.

"So, you know that you've beaten everyone in your weight class here right?" She asked, Sal nodded, confused.

"And we talked about getting you a shot for the title?" Sal paused eyes going wide before he nodded again. Ash smiled and Sal could have cried.

"You've got your shot Sally! Three weeks from now in Arizona!" Ash said with the biggest smile Sal had seen in a long time. It took him a second to process. He starred at Ash for half a second before he felt the tears.

"I- I've got a shot- I'VE REALLY GOT A SHOT!!! Holy fucking hell!! This- I- thank you!! Thank you so much Ash!!" He stumbled over his words tears of joy running down his cheeks.

Ash wiped his tears and Maple pulled him into a big hug.

"This wasn't me, Sal. This was all you, you're amazing in the ring! People were bound to notice!" Ash said ruffling his hair. Sal laughed again and hugged her before tossing his bag to the side of the ring and pulling out his wraps and gloves.

"Well come on then! I've definitely got to get some training in before then!" He exclaimed while wrapping his hands. Maple nodded in agreement before getting the ring set up.

He was going to win this title, he didn't care what his odds were. He was going to do it.