Chapter Text
Alec was the best
Some people were good at writing, or dancing, maybe even singing or cooking, but he was the best fighter in New York City. It was simply a fact.
Ever since he was a little kid he had loved fighting. The fist time he stepped into a boxing gym he had know it was where he wanted to be, where he was meant to be. In Alecs head fighting was something solid, something structured. There was a right way and a wrong way to do things, which is exactly how he liked to live his life, in black and white.
“Hey Alec” the girl at the front desk said as he walked through the threshold of the gym.
Lidia. She was nice enough, and pretty thought Alec.
“Hey lid, how was your weekend”
Lidia blushed at the question, he knew Lidia was in love with him, Christ the whole gym knew that she was, its not like she tried hard to hide it or be subtle. Of course he had tried to shut it down early on, to stop her from getting the wrong idea but she seemed oblivious to his uncomfortable conversations and smiles
“it was awesome, yeah I went to the movies with my brother because Kyle broke up with me..” she looked down at her hands as if waiting for some kind of of sympathy from him, and Alec took that as his cue to leave.
Its not that he didn’t want to comfort her , it was more then he never knew what to say when people where upset . Bedsides she was waiting for him to say things he would never hear from him so it was better to just leave it at that and walk into the work out area
The gym was one of the most prestigious gyms in the city, Nephilim. It was a gym that trained the best fighters in the city and had no time for people who were not willing to give it their all. The coaches were world renowned, the gear was the best, The gym was so elite you had to go through an interviewing proces to even become a member. It was a status that few could say they had the honor of having. The gymitself looked exactly like it sounds, it’s all big open spaces and windows, eight heavy bags hang from the celling’s across from a large mirror. It was supposed to look modern and clean, it is supposed to look expensive.
Alec walked past the other fighters who were on the floor and went straight to the locker room to dump his bag.
Just as he got to his locker he heard the door slam open
“Alec!!! There you are ! I’ve ben looking for you everywhere” a very sweaty men named rob rushes.
“well I just got here so what’s so important” he doesn’t have time for robs shit today.
“I need a someone to corner Jaces fight next weekend because something has come up and I wont be able to attend” typical. Back In his day rob was one of the top fighters in the world. He had money, and titles, the world was at his finger tips! But like most stories his victory came at a price. He was so obsessed with his dream of being the best that he neglected his wife who was pregnant with his baby. Turns out it was twins. Because of complications from birth his wife had died, leaving him responsible for their two new borns. It was not long after that that he deiced to hang up his gloves and open a gym, Nephilim, fast forward 15 years and he is one of the most successful gym owners in new York city.
Oh yeah, he was also Ales dad.
“sure whatever, do you know who he’s fighting?”
“Yeah one of Als guys, from Prodigy” Alec rolled his eyes, of course it had to be from Prodigy.
Prodigy was a rival gym up in Brooklyn. It was it Alecs opinion, everything wrong with the sport. The fighters were disrespectful, and fought dirty, they were dirty. It was really a miracle that they fought at all considering how much they liked to party, Nephilim had been at war with Prodigy for as long as he can remember, it only makes sense that Jaces first should be against one of them.
“I thought Al was done taking people to fights, it was in his words “to much work and not enough pay” Al Bane was argumentally one of the worst coaches in the entire sport, like ever. He was never around, he doesn’t care about whether or not his fighter’s are trained well of not, he is in It for the money instead of a love for the sport. The only thing that keep’s the gym in the was light as Nephilim is Als son.
“hes not taking him, Magnus is .”
Magnus Bane. Even the thought sparked something In Alec, something atoned to rage. If the name did not give it away, Magnus is the Prodigys son, and the head coach of the dreadful gym. In the fight world Magnus was the best, other then Alec of course. Everyone knew the story, he had been groomed from birth in order to be the best, and he was. It was almost like a retirement plan for Al. the two of them had fought many times inside the ring, and there revival was not over once they got out of it. Magnus was self-centered, and arrogant, he never showed up on time and was the definition of disrespect. Whether he was born to make his dad money or not, he was one of the best and Alec hated him even more for.
“that’s surprising. I thought he would be too busy sleeping with every person in Brooklyn to do something as mundane as taking some kid to a fight”
Magnus had a reputation for his notorious drinking habits. He was known as the king of the broken scene. He got whatever and who ever he wanted whenever he want them. He was crazy and unpredictable, his life was something straight out of a play boy magazine
“don’t be petty. He’s as good if not better then you” the look in robs eyes when he said it were enough to tell him that the conversation was over.
Alec just sighed and went to go find Jace.
Jace was a new fighter to the gym, but he was with out a doubt an up in comer. He was also one of Alecs closest friends. The two had met when he was four years old when Alec moved to New York from a small middle of nowhere town in Canada. He had been over whelmed to say the lest, but Jace had taken him under his wing and they soon became family. Although Jace had been In the gym almost as much as Alec had, he had never wanted to give it a try. It was not until they got older and Jace saw all the attention Alec was getting, more importantly the attention from the girls. When he had brought it up, Alec had just laughed and flipped him off, but fast forward a couple months and Jace Was about to step into the ring for the first time.
“how are you feeling about fighting one of Als guys? Ive heard he was personally trained by Magnus himself for this fight” he rolled his eyes as he said it, trying to fake annoyance because truth be told as much as Alec disliked Magnus, if Jordan was trained by him personally then he will be a tough fight, he just doesn’t want Jace to know that.
Jace finished his round on the bag before he looked up
“pretty confident. Jordan has next to no experience, and im sure pretty boy over there has been to wasted to train him properly,” he looked back at the bag before continuing “besides, I was trained by the best fighter in New York” he gave Alec a wink before he started his next round. Even though it was something that he did on the regular, the action still made Alecs heart beat a little faster.
He hummed in response to that answer. The only thing that will hurt him is going to be his ego.
“I heard that Magnus is trying to get a title shot but no one is qualified enough to fight him” Alec could not help but laugh at that. He really did try to stay away from the drama between the gyms but when he was around Jace he couldn’t help it.
“
im sure they don’t want to taint there records by putting his name on it” said Jace when Alec said nothing
“come on, he’s not that bad” a look of disbelieve flashed across Jaces face
Truth be told, Alec may have a deep dislike of the man but he dose have a sliver of respect for him. No matter how much he drinks or parties, there is no way to take the easy way when it comes to fighting, it is a hard and vicious game that there is no easy way to do, he would have had to put in lots of hard work and sacrifice in order to be as good as he is now. Even if Alec dose not like him, he still has a sliver of respect for what he has done
“whatever dude” Jace turned back to his bag to finish his work out
Alec could not help but notice the way that Jaces shirt was just a size too small, the way the fabric stretched across the lean muscles in his back and made everything just look more defined. He cleared his throat. Now was not the time for this
“Okay, I think your ready”
-
The days leading up to jaces big fight felt like near minutes to Alec. He was so caught up in all the last minute preparations, including having to supervise Jace while he ran sprints in a extra duty garbage bag because the idiot decided to wait until the day before to make weight, that when the big day finally arrived he felt like it was already over. Because the fight was to take place in Orlando Florida, and because the promoters of the fight decide they were not going to help them out with the coast of the flight Alec, Jace and Alecs sister all decided to risk the 16 hour drive to the hotel, something that he was sure would be more stressful then fighting
“are we almost thereeeee” whined both Jace and Izzy at the same time.
Since Jace had always been around, he was not only like a brother to Alec, but also to Izzy. The two were attached at the hip most of the time. It made him happy to see how well Jace fit into his life, and into his family. Izzy might have grown up in a house of fighters but she here self was definitely not one. She was the definition on a passasisat, who thought Alec and Jace were absolutely insane for choosing to get punched in the face for fun, all it took was one punch to the head for her to decided fighting was something she never, ever wanted to do again. Because of that, Izzy was more of a family out cast then Alec would ever be, and the second she turned eighteen she moved to a small apartment in Brooklyn, somewhere she knew he family would never follow. For that reason Alec dose not get to see her as much as he would like so he was excited to spend the week with her and Jace.
“I told you guys we should have just flown” Alec said, eyes never leaving the road in front of him. Its not that he didn’t like driving, its just that he chose to avoid it every chance he got, but because he was the only one who thought it would be useful to get a license, he was stuck the whole way.
“aw but then we wouldn’t be able to sing show tunes the whole way” Izzy said while turning up the radio louder then Alec thought it could go, while Jace pretend to be offended by her choice in music. He couldn’t help but smile.
-
At the end of the first day, the trio deiced to get a hotel room, well two hotel rooms because since Jace is fighting he deiced he needed to get in his Zone and stay by himself. He had never been able to say no to him and understood how terrified he must be even if he would deny it.
He remembered the first time he stepped into the ring. He was 12 years old and absolutly terrified. When he walked out to the ring he wanted to do nothing more then run away. The music was too loud; the lights were to bright, it was wrong in every aspect of the word. he looked at his dad who was standing behind him and begged him to stop it, and let him go home where he would be safe. But all his dad did was push him forward and tell him to keep his hands up. It was the most import day of Alecs life. So since he understands that Jace needs space to freak out, he has to share a room with Izzy, awesome.
“so hows nik doing” he asks while walking up to their room door. Nik was Izzys girlfriend. They had been together in the begging just to spit their dad, but then they ended up falling in love and moving in together. Izzy has been in countless relationships but this time it was different, she looked happier.
"oh shes doing so amazing! She just got that job at the new York times which is basically her dream job, im so proud of her” a blush forms across her face “things are going really well”
He puts a hand on his sisters back “ that is awesome Iz, im so happy for you”
“thank you”
As much as he likes to tease his sister about her love life, and all its trouble, he really is happy for her.
The night goes on like that, the two sit and talk about what is going on in there lives and what the future holds. Apparently after Izzy graduates her and nik are going to travel, get out of the city for a bit and experience life outside the neon lights. It makes sense, Izzy has never like the city and it makes sense that she would want to get out of it the second she could, but something about it still made his heart hurt.
“what about you big brother, what’s going on in your mysterious love life?”
that question made his thoughts stop. It was a question with no answer because that was just it. His love life was something that did not exist, nor could ever exist and it was something he would rather not talk about
“you know me Iz, I don’t really do that kind of thing, I’m too busy with the gym” that was what he told everyone whenever they asked. He was “to busy” to have friends or relationships, and in a way it was true, but only he knew that there was more to the story then what meets the eye
“what about that girl Lidia, she is totally into you”
He thought of lidia and her long brown hair, of her blue eyes and sun kissed skin
He looked down at his hands “shes not really my type”
Izzy looks at him as though she is reading every though he has ever had, and knows every secret he has ever kept. It makes him want to walk away, do anything to escape her gaze. He knows he should just man up and tell her, her of all people she would understand, but he just couldn’t. She seems to notice his mortal dilemma and decided to drop the subject and get ready for bed. He was never more grateful for her.