The Heart of Tony Winters

by P. S. Power

  “I do. Well, as much as I think anyone should get married. I mean, that’s clearly a scam, marriage in general. If that’s what they want though, we all support them here. Even Rick. Even with that strained old man look on his face…” He chuckled at that, which got his uncle to roll his eyes.

  “Of course I support my friends. It’s different for me, but that doesn’t mean I won’t back them up.”

  Tony knew that. He was counting on it in fact. In a lot of ways.

  “We should get that televised. The wedding? Maybe the reception as well. How do we set that up? We could put it up on line or something? I don’t really do a lot with computers. I can learn?” That made sense, given his fighting career had just ended. No one else really knew that yet, but he was about done with it.

  Other than helping people in training, that was.

  It wasn’t what he wanted in life really. No, that was all about helping people. A thing that he’d told everyone, but that no one had really seemed to understand yet. Normal kids, at least the rich ones, knew how to do that kind of thing. Put stuff up on line and all that. Even the poor ones were better at it than he was. Deidre had never really settled that long in any single place. They hadn’t ever had nice things like cable or internet. Much less computers. The few times he’d been on one of those it had been at school.

  Well, or the library.

  Anthony did like to read, which was something he decided to do more of, since it looked like he might have the time for it now. Smiling, he carried on a bit of a conversation with whoever was on the cell phone, using Rick as a go between. He didn’t get a name at all, but that was fine. It was mainly just about making sure that Nick and Raul were being supported in their love, even if they were two men. As far as that went, he really did.

  By the end of the call, even Rick seemed fine with it. The shock finally being worn away. For the day at least. As soon as they hung up, he had to check his messages, which meant he found out about the two other calls that had happened while he spoke.

  “I’m going to run out of charge here. How far from home are we?”

  Looking around Anthony actually knew the answer.

  “A few minutes. That’s the Wal-Mart. You know, where all your Christmas presents are coming from? What kind of stuff do you want?” Tony looked at his uncle then and smiled. “That’s the next holiday, right?”

  He really thought it was, but got rolled eyes in response to his words.

  “Noooo. That would be Thanksgiving. You know, where we have all the families in and eat too much?”

  Anthony shook his head. It was a thing that he’d heard of, but never celebrated. Honestly, Anthony didn’t even know what day it was on.

  “Nope? I’m not up on that one. Um, seriously. Something about turkeys? The day they gained their supremacy or freedom?” He really wasn’t sure, but Rick had just dialed a number, so shook his head, instead of remarking on the words.

  That lasted until they got home, though not too long after that.

  Chapter three

  It was late in the evening when they got back. About five anyway. Before dinner, which Tony had to figure was going to end up being something he was making that night, given how busy everyone else was at the moment. He was exhausted, having not slept in a little over a day, but people needed to eat. That meant, after a trip to the bathroom, a shower and a good tooth brushing, that he was in the kitchen making roasted chicken breasts for six people.

  Steve had gone straight home, but Ashley was still there, planning out strategy with Raul and Jen. Nick eventually moved into the room with him, not being on the phone as much as the others for the time being. That part just had to do with the raw fact that he’d been smart enough to not rush into the ring for a brawl the night before. On live television.

  So everyone getting with him had been all about the new gay icon of the week. Not the far more interesting idiots that had committed crimes on television for the whole world to see and examine.

  Working quickly, seasoning the raw chicken breasts with garlic, onion powder and black pepper before wrapping it up in foil, he got it in the oven. It left the chicken tastier he’d found. Most of the time they fried things like that, then took the fat off with paper towels, at least at home. At the gym for lunch they did it differently. They were going to have salad with it, as well as a few veggies. Not that Anthony didn’t want pizza or maybe a hamburger, since he wasn’t in training any more. Not for a pro fight at any rate.

  Tony knew that doing anything like that, while possibly allowable, would be mean. Rick pretty much stayed in light training all the time, even if he didn’t have a fight coming up anytime soon. Jen however was a pro and going into a heavy rotation for a real match that was coming up. So tempting her wouldn’t fly. Not for him.

  Even if she wouldn’t complain about anything like him having an extra snack or two.

  Nick sat back letting him do the work for a bit, watching him. It wasn’t the gay man craving his young boy flesh or anything. Not that he was worried about that with his buddy. Oh, the guy might have made a pass or something at some point, if he wasn’t dating Raul. That could happen. For that matter he might do it anyway, if he were drinking or on drugs. That wasn’t going on that night however and Tony, while cute enough, wasn’t going to tempt the man beyond all reason or anything like that. He was a good person after all.

  Shaking his head, the other guy wrinkled his nose a bit.

  “This is a mess, huh?” There was a wave over his shoulder toward the front room where everyone else was still talking to people. Each other at the moment from the tone of things. People were softer when on their cells. Not whispering, just not projecting like normal. You didn’t have to when someone had your voice pressed to the side of their head.

  Thinking about the whole thing, Anthony made a face. He worked for a bit before responding. It was probably odd seeming, but he didn’t want to say the wrong thing about it all. Finally, he shook his head.

  “Not really. No one is going to be banned I don’t think. Maybe from the venue, but no one pressed charges for the fight or anything, right?” Not from what he’d been hearing from the others. “Jen is a woman, so she won’t face any charges, I bet. Given that, since she’s the only person on our side that did more than push people back at all… No, it won’t go to that. Not past a few threats from the Rends camp, trying to get lighter treatment for themselves.”

  The other fighter, who was fit looking and a bit lean through the face, quirked his mouth a little then.

  “Yeah. That sounds about right. There probably won’t be long term fallout from this. Well, it’s publicity, I guess. At least Jen can use this for her bad-girl reputation building, right?”

  That was, more or less, just the truth. Jenny was a sweet and kind person in general, even if she was a pro-fighter. Ashley was in the same boat, more or less. They trained all the time, which kept them out of bar room brawls and street fights. So something like a big controversy was about the best thing that could happen to either of them. That, or getting parts in movies.

  No one had mentioned that to him yet, but Jen had the looks for that kind of thing and Ashley looked really different with makeup on. Not that anyone would be thinking about that part of life at the moment. A few people at the gym had mentioned that kind of thing a few times, since a lot of MMA people got work that way from time to time. Doing fight scenes or on rare occasion even being the main character in a show since they could fight already. That didn’t mean they could act, of course. If anyone there had skills that way, Tony wasn’t aware of it yet.

  He answered Nick though, getting the meat into the pre-heated oven.

  “Yep. Ash is front and center today too, I bet. Too bad about Fox. I was kind of hoping that she’d be… I don’t know, okay, I guess? There aren’t a lot of trans people in the public eye. This is kind of a setback for them. Not that anyone else should think of it as a group thing, but… You know, people will.” Not that he was that worried a
bout the whole thing on that score. Fox had made her own bed that way.

  Hopefully she hadn’t been cheating for real.

  Clearing his throat Fields groaned a bit.

  “All day I’ve been getting that. From the press? People asking me if I thought that this would reflect badly on gay people everywhere. Like I’m the spokesman for my people or something. I don’t even know if Fox is gay. Just because she used to be a man… Those don’t always go hand in hand.” He made a face as Tony moved to get some white rice started. It was a bit carb heavy, but thinking about it, no one should need to avoid that kind of thing for the day.

  It was weird, but after a moment it was clear to him that Nick was waiting for a reply. What he’d said was just right though, as far as he understood it. Trans wasn’t about sexual interest all the time. It could be, but a lot of men and women that felt like that didn’t think of themselves as liking the same sex. It could be confusing for people. He dealt with things like that by not considering it, most days.

  Finally, he nodded.

  “I know. Though that isn’t our business anyway. This shouldn’t be about anyone else, even if it’s going to be. On the great side, my part in all of this is pretty much done for the time being. I can just sit back and watch everyone else be poked at for a bit, right? My only worry now is…”

  He stopped, since Jen rather stormed into the room, her face fixed and determined looking. She stopped just inside the door, stared at what was going on, food wise and suddenly grinned.

  “Oh! Hey, thanks Tony. I was just going to start something. We all skipped lunch. Things are hectic. Uh… If you have this here, I can catch a shower?”

  Nodding he tried to seem happy about it without going over the top. He was tired, but that wasn’t a good excuse to be lazy or make anyone else have a harder day.

  “I have this. Go. Go.” He made motions with his hands, trying to move her back. She giggled at it, like he was being funny, which was better than Tony had figured would happen.

  Nick didn’t hang with him, going back to the front room as soon as the blonde lady left.

  That meant salad was in order. It was kind of their standard meal, though over the last months he’d gotten better at making it. The chicken would come out right for instance and the rice wouldn’t be crunchy on the top. If he paid attention he could even prevent the lettuce from getting too burnt. It was a bad joke, but one that he used with himself at least once a week.

  “To think, there was a time when dinner would have come from a convenient can and made by a professional chef. Boyardee, most of the time.” Back then he hadn’t really known that ravioli from a can wasn’t actually how everyone in the world ate it.

  At just past six, Tony had the table set for everyone, with two clear pitchers of water, since everyone had kind of stinted that day, not wanting to constantly need the bathroom. That had to be made up now, or it would affect their performance the next day, in the gym. Not that all of them were going to be there working out or anything.

  From what he could tell, things were actually starting to slow down, phone wise. Enough so that when Jen came back, everyone was able to get to the table without having to run away to talk to anyone immediately. Rick nodded as she settled, at the end of it, where he normally sat. His eyes were bloodshot, since he hadn’t exactly been sleeping all day or anything himself.

  “This looks good. Thanks, Tony.”

  That got a murmured chorus from the others. It wasn’t that big of a deal, making a meal. They did it two or three times a day, normally eating together. Probably because that made it harder for anyone to weaken as far as their diets went, being watched all the time like they were. It could have been oppressive, but no one really made a big deal of it. The idea was that you could eat anything you wanted. Just that doing it in front of everyone else, if they were being good, was harder for most people to manage.

  He wasn’t going to have half a cake that night or anything himself. It would be rude to everyone else there, if nothing else. Not that sweets didn’t sound good about then. It had been a long time since he’d had anything like that, himself. Putting that out of his mind, Tony nodded.

  “No problem. We…” He stopped suddenly, realizing that he didn’t have anything to say. Nothing at all. A part of him wanted to come out with something wise, helpful or clever. A joke or even a plan for the next day. That got him to think for a second then shrug. “What’s up for tomorrow?”

  When in doubt, asking a question was a good way of not seeming like a complete idiot. Not talking was another way to do that, but it was too late now.

  Rick rubbed his face tiredly then took a bite of rice.

  “More work on the phone. Interviews likely. You’re in a rest period. Any plans for that?”

  Anthony grinned, being himself for once, not even bothering with his act for the moment. It was kind of clear that Rick had just used his own trick against him. Tossing the ball back, as if they were actually having a conversation. An awkward one that probably wasn’t needed.

  “Not really. Working at the gym? I figured that I’d start focusing on helping other people with sparring and training more, until school starts?” That might not be allowed, he guessed.

  Jen nodded.

  “Well… Lexi could use some help that way. She’s ready, but it can’t hurt to go over things lightly. Denny has been working with her. Robert, too. No one has really been training with him. It’s just an amateur fight, so we don’t have a lot of video on his opponent. The build up to his first real pro fight, so a win is kind of needed there.” She ate then, never looking up.

  That was a bit weird, since it seemed like she was feeling guilty about saying it, but Nick grunted a bit.

  “Tony works with amateurs now? In that case we have like ten people that could use the help. Most of them girls. You’re still not huge after all, which we can use for a bit.” He smiled as if he was teasing for some reason. That didn’t really make any sense.

  Yes, he had been working with professionals in the main, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t help out with people just starting as fighters. They weren’t as interesting in some ways, but someone had to do it. Instead of goofing around as well, Raul just nodded suddenly.

  “That… We have a few promising people that could use that kind of thing, if you’re willing? Also, Chase has been asking after you. He expects you to come back to his classes, now that your fight is finished. I think he wants to see about having you help some of his people who are training for contests as well.” The man looked up, his lean face considering, since that was strict grappling, not MMA or boxing. It would be pretty different trying to put things like that together. The way those things went were a lot different after all.

  You couldn’t really train to fight a single person like he was used to doing. You had to be ready to adapt to whoever came at you. Probably with more than one fight in a day. Double elimination matches, so there was no way to project who would even be there at the lower levels. He started to nod a bit, since what would really be needed would be something very different. Tony probably wasn’t good enough to really do what would be needed that way. Not yet. Still, if he applied himself, he might be able to help the lower ranks practice that way.

  “I might be able to put something together? I can pick your brain on what would work? If you get time, I mean.” After all they also had a wedding to plan.

  Raul smiled though, as if he’d just promised to wash his car.

  “Wonderful! Yes. Chase will help us as well. He was worried that it would be abusing your good will, asking for such, but I assured him that even if you didn’t wish to compete yourself, you would be a good person to ask about helping the others.”

  Just then a phone rang. Everyone slapped at pockets, except for him and Nick. The culprit turned out to be Rick, who rolled his eyes. Then he stood up and walked away from the table, since talking on the phone while others ate would be rude.

  There were murmurs from the living
room after that, until about ten seconds later.

  “What? No… I… I’m coming. Hang on. Be right there.”

  He rushed back in, his face hard looking, about half a minute later. He had his jacket on.

  “Riley got into a fight. He was jumped by three guys, but the police decided that being a boxer that means he attacked them instead of the other way around. I have to go and see about arranging things for him. He doesn’t really have anyone else.”

  Anthony winced.

  Getting involved in police matters always left him feeling uneasy. Too much of his life had painted them as the bad guys. The local ones weren’t that bad all the time from what he’d seen, but he could sense that so far they might have been responding to the fact that Rick and Jen were kind of wealthy, upstanding and normal. His life experience had mainly been about people that were holding drugs, had weapons on them and who didn’t really want to risk going to prison. Not being able to afford a good lawyer meant that you had to fear the cops, just to stay halfway safe.

  The thing there was that Rick was exhausted already. So was everyone else there, more or less. There wasn’t even a single person they could safely send along with him to actually help at all. Finally, Tony stood up, half his food still on his plate.

  “Right. I’ll go with you? It won’t help much, but I can fill out the forms or whatever? The first thing we need to do is call a lawyer. We can afford that kind of thing, right?” If you could, going in with your own mouthpiece just made sense. They’d know how to do things that the rest of them wouldn’t.

  Not that Riley was getting out that day. It was Sunday, so he’d be held overnight, most likely. That was just what normally happened. He muttered that under his breath, Rick staring at him for a few seconds.

  “Lawyer. Right. We have someone for that. Good thinking. I’ll do that first. I need to look up the info on that.” He seemed distracted for a bit, but moved then, to find what was needed. Which ended up needing them to go to his office at the Gym. They actually drove over, his uncle not speeding the three blocks, but looking like he wanted to.