Tiny Terror

Vasco's Past

  "30 seconds more! You can do it!" Vasco encouraged the boy from the convenience store who was huffing and puffing with the effort to keep up. We ran into each other while jogging, and I decided to tag along with them so I wouldn't be doing it alone. "Almost there!" Daniel, the short male, was panting and sweating like crazy, but he kept up the entire time as he pushed himself to keep going. "Nice job." Vasco commended him when we finally stopped for a break.

  "But Vasco...." Daniel began while wheezing. "Will just running like this cut it? Maybe doing martial arts or something...." He mumbled the rest.

  "There are no shortcuts." Vasco stated while drinking some chocolate milk. Drinking from my water, I held my drawstring backpack in my other hand. "Effort will not betray you. If you give it your all, your body will not betray your effort." He said with a certain look in his eyes that I couldn't read. "Without effort, you cannot just change your body in a day."

  "So Vasco, do you work out every day?"

  "I do 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run." I spit the water out of my mouth upon hearing his workout routine.

  "What?!"

  "Vasco!~ There you are! G'morning." Jace smiled while jogging over.

  "Ho, ho, Jace! Did you use telepathy to find me?"

  "Huh? Yeah, sure! I just guessed you'd be here." Furrowing my brows, I dropped my bottle back into my bag. 'Telepathy?' "Hey! You're still doing it?" Jace then looked at Daniel as he was sitting down and drinking the milk Vasco had given him.

  "Yeah! Well.... Hi!"

  "Oh, have you two been working out together long?" I asked.

  "Just three days so far." Daniel replied.

  "Would you guys mind if I joined? I used to fight all the time and that kept my strength up, but it's very different here, and I actually have to work to keep my muscle." I explained.

  "No, not at all." Daniel smiled. "Do you mind, Vasco?"

  "I can text you when we work out." The taller man glanced at me as I put my backpack on my shoulders.

  "Cool." I smiled. "Oh, that reminds me, Mom wanted to get that recipe from you. They really liked your cooking."

  "Cooking?" Jace raised a brow.

  "I made dinner for them the other day. Her parents are very nice." Vasco grinned. "Oh, and her mom has a bird tattoo like ours! It was done by the same artist, too!"

  "How interesting." Jace said while giving me a look. Oh, no....Mama Bear Jace seems to have been activated. We talked for a little bit more after that, but then Jace and Daniel sat down for a break while Vasco and I went to some of the public equipment to work out. The big guy hit the parallel bars while I sat at a stack home.

  Glancing at Jace and Daniel, they were still sitting down and the big-eared male was keeping a close eye on Vasco while talking to the shorter guy. Looking back to the Burn Knuckles leader, I realized I could finally ask him questions that had built up after the things I had witnessed when around him. Now was my chance to also get to know about his past if he was willing to talk about it.

  "Hey, Vasco?" I spoke up while working with the weights. He glanced at me, showing that I had his attention. "You seem to know a lot about people in Daniel's position. How? And....you made a strange face when talking about change. Why?" My voice was soft because I didn't want Jace to hear and try to coddle his baby from telling me anything. He was quiet and paused what he was doing for a second before continuing.