GANGSTERS - SIDEMEN AU

ELEVEN - THE FIGHT

"So, the 'recruiters' usually hang around under this bridge... because that's where a lot of fights happen, so they can see who's a good fighter and recruit them?" Josh read the crumpled paper from the envelope Kirsty gave them, "So, what we've got to do is show we're tough by knocking a few heads together."

"This is the stupidest thing we've ever done," Tobi said, turning his hat so the peak faced backwards.

"I don't know about that - remember the time we launched fireworks inside the school theatre?" Josh reminded him, thinking back to when they were still young and (barely) innocent.

"How we didn't end up dead, I'll never understand."

"Me either, mate."

They turned the corner to go under the bridge, the first thing they could see being a large crown of people gathered in a circle around a fight that was going on. Fires were burning in bins that were dotted around the area, used to keep warm when watching the brawls.

"Look - that must be them." Tobi pointed discreetly over to where a small group of men (and one woman) wearing dark clothes were leaning against the wall, smoking cigarettes and discussing something as they watched the current fight.

"So, all we've got to do is show we're good in a fight?" Tobi asked, Josh noted that his friend looked quite confident.

"We might need to win a few, then if that doesn't work, we have to do it again another night."

"Let's just get it done tonight,"

"Hopefully." Josh sighed. He had never enjoyed fighting, he'd just always been good at it. Now he was watching people fight as a game, screaming with delight as one of the fighters hit the floor.

"God, I know we're no angels, but this is just grim," Tobi muttered, watching them drag an unconscious man away, his nose and mouth dripping blood.

— WITH THE OTHER SIDEMEN —

"Ow. Ow. OW!" Harry yelped each time the needle stabbed his skin. Vik gave a defeated sigh and shook his head.

"Be careful and don't rip your stitches open, then you won't have to go through this again," he gave his friend some advice. Harry had been running around the warehouse and banged his shoulder against one of the shelves, tearing open the stitches on his shoulder and allowing the wound to bleed again, "At least try not to until we've moved to the house. This place is just unsanitary, I wouldn't be surprised if it got infected."

"Will do. When are we going to the house anyway?" Harry asked, Vik glanced at the date displayed on the monitor next to him.

"Uh - two days from now, not long to wait, I think we should start packing stuff up. JJ and Simon have started packing the guns up, Ethan's said he's gonna pack his stuff up, and I don't know what we're gonna do with Tobi and Josh's stuff. I'm scared to touch Tobi's hats, I think if one even has a smudge of dirt on it when he comes back, he'll murder us all."

Harry was quiet for a few moments, "Yeah, that's probably true... ow!"

"Alright, it's done, you can stop whining now." Vik laughed, cutting the thread and putting the used needle in a nearby bin. Harry looked at his shoulder, the black thread of Vik's neat stitches standing out against his pale skin.

"I need to get out more, look how white I am. I'd love to go to a beach someday, but I'd get thrown into a police van within minutes," Harry complained. Vik frowned, he couldn't remember back to when things were normal for him, he was sure it was the same for Harry.

"I'll take you to the beach one day, Harry, I promise." Vik held out his pinky, Harry grinned and linked his own with it, shaking their hands up and down for a moment before letting go, "If I don't take you to the beach someday, you have my permission to break both my pinkies."

"Here's the problem, I don't want to hurt you, so I'll just pretend," Harry said, Vik laughed once again, an infectious laugh that had both of them laughing together within seconds.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" A grumpy JJ hollered, Vik screeched with surprise and fell off his chair. Harry was beyond laughing, instead making sounds comparable to a seal, then slowly sliding off his own chair to join Vik on the floor.

The Sidemen may have been wanted criminals, but that didn't mean they couldn't be good people. It just meant only a few people got to see that side of them.

-- BACK WITH JOSH AND TOBI --

Tobi hit the ground again, small rocks cutting at his skin and a warm stream of red running down his face. He wasn't sure whether it was from his nose or his mouth or some cut from being punched repeatedly, but it was very distracting.

Josh's beard was covered in blood, making it look more brown than black. The two of them had beaten two other pairs who had fought them, but they were wearing down. Josh wasn't entirely sure if there was more of his opponents or his own blood on his hands, but there was one thing he was sure of and that was that he and Tobi had caught the recruiter's eyes.

Rather than watching from a distance, the group of people from Kirsty's gang had joined the main crowd, keeping a close eye on Josh and Tobi.

"You good?" Josh asked his best friend, grabbing Tobi's hand and pulling him to his feet. Tobi wiped his mouth and nodded, Josh turned back to their opponents.

The two men grinned maliciously, they had watched Tobi and Josh go through two other fights, and probably thought they could win simply because of the fact that the previous fights had worn them down. Josh was determined to beat them to the ground.

"You two pretty boys 'ave only gone this long out of pure luck." One of the men growled, then swung his arm at Tobi, who barely dodged it.

"I think you're mistaking skill for luck," Josh corrected him.

"We'll see 'bout that,"

A few minutes of throwing punches lasted before Josh and Tobi were finished. Tobi was laying on the ground, unconscious, Josh was thinking.

"STOP!" One of the recruiters yelled, "I want to speak to those two, I think my boss would like to meet them."

Finally, Josh thought, collapsing to the ground with exhaustion.

A/N - sorry this took so long, feel free to hate me lol. vote if you enjoyed and plz leave a comment (also I'm thinking of writing a Harry Potter Sidemen au, but not sure whether to make it just set in Hogwarts so it's separate from the original story, or include it with the original story so they're at Hogwarts at the same time as Harry)