K.O

4.

Neil sat in Todd's house, absentmindedly playing with his fiancé's hair as they watched TV. The red head was half asleep in his lap when Neil's phone started ringing. Todd shifted and looked up at Neil confused, Neil shrugged and grabbed his phone off the coffee table. Pushing his curls out of his face absentmindedly, he made a confused noise as he read Larry's name on the caller I.D. He swiped the green button and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he answered, confused.

"Hey Neil, sorry I know I usually don't call when you're with Todd, but I've got something major to tell you." Larry replied, talking a mile a minute. Todd could halfway hear the conversation and raised an eyebrow. Neil put the phone on speaker before responding.

"You're fine man, we're just lazing around, what's the major news?" he asked, running a hand through Todd's hair.

"Did Red tell you that I had a title match coming up?" Larry asked.

"Yeah, he shot me a message about it, why?" Neil asked confused.. It was silent on Larry's end for a second.

"Dude- it's against Sal." Larry rushed the words out. It took a second for Neil to process what Larry said. Todd looked up at Neil with a shocked look on his face.

"Wait- wait wait wait. Are you serious? You're not fucking with me?" Neil asked immediately. He didn't know Sal had taken up boxing, and by the look on Todd's face, neither did he.

"No man, I'm dead serious, Red showed me a video of Sal's last match. I almost didn't recognize him, I haven't been home in so long. Did you know he boxed? We haven't kept in touch since Henry and my mom had a falling out." Larry explained quickly. Neil shook his head.

"No Lar, I had no idea. I saw him a couple days ago, he never mentioned that he boxed. That's fucking wild, I wonder who's training and managing him?" Neil asked more to himself.

"You think he'll remember me?" Larry asked, trying to sound nonchalant. Todd snickered to himself.

"Nope, definitely not Larry. I mean come on! With how many other greasy metal heads that grew up in Knockfell? He'll never recognize you." Todd joked, trying to get Larry to stop over thinking. It seemed to work because Larry let out a loud laugh.

"Hey to you too Todd, and you're right. I'm doomed to be forgotten." He said through laughs, Neil chuckled quietly, Todd smiled up at him.

"Nah man, on a serious note, you should be fine if he recognizes you. Ya'll mutually broke up right? Because you guys parents were into each other right? Wasn't a bad break up?" Neil questioned rapidly.

"Yeah.. yeah no wasn't a bad break up." Larry hesitated before responding.

"You good?" Neil asked, concerned.

"Huh- oh! Yeah no there was a fox in my backyard." He replied quickly.

"Alright cool, cool. You better make sure Red doesn't find out about all that. Or this match will be canceled so quickly, and I know you've itching for a match." Neil said with a serious tone in his voice.

"Yeah man I got it. Lips are sealed, I'll be careful." He heard the edge in Larry's voice and knew he was serious about this.

"Alright good, I'll be back late Tuesday night, so expect to hit the gym Wednesday around two yeah?" Neil heard the near silent inhale of the cigarette he knew Larry had.

"Yep, that works for me man. Sorry again about calling. Nice talking to you Todd, bye Neil," Larry said after a second.

"Bye man," Neil replied, hanging up the phone and throwing his head back against the couch. He let out a sigh before bringing his head back down and smiling at Todd.

"This complicates things I guess?" Todd asked quietly, Neil nodded.

"Yep, one more thing he has to hide from Red. God forbid he finds out." Neil responded by raking his hand through his hair.

"Want the bad news?" Tod asked quietly. Neil raised an eyebrow before nodding.

"They did have a fight, a big one. Remember when Larry broke Henry's nose for how he treated Ms. Lisa?" Tod asked. Neil raised an eyebrow and shook his head no.

"Well, Henry never told Sal what actually happened, pretty much chalked it up to Larry just lashing out. Sal got pissed. Had like an hour long screaming match with Larry, and Larry being his stubborn self yelled back. It was a big thing, Larry knowing what really happened being pissed that Sal wouldn't believe him. Sal pissed because most he knew was that Larry broke Henry's nose for no reason. After the argument Larry stormed off, and they haven't spoken since." Todd explained. Neil put his face in his hands and let out another long sigh.

Todd turned in his lap and laid his head on Neil's shoulder, Neil shifted and kissed his cheek, Todd smiled.

"This is going to get ugly quick isn't it?" Todd gave him a sad smile and nodded.

"Lovely" Neil replied with a heavy sigh, he shook his head and kissed Todd's nose.

"That's a problem for when I'm back in Phoenix. I'm here to spend time with the love of my life, not worry about work. Let's finish this movie, yeah?" he asked with a soft smile.

"Sounds good to me baby," Todd replied with a grin, and turned back around in Neil's lap getting settled.