#I’ve seen videos of mma fighters doing this for laughs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

loveau · 4 years

Text

Do Kyungsoo and the Case of the Missing Toothbrush

Genre: romance!!!! fluff!!!! toothrotting, if you will

Summary: Kyungsoo is normally an organized man who barely loses things in his own house, much less his own toothbrush. He sets out on an adventure with you to find it.

Word Count: 3,605

Summary: Sorry for the month hiatus!! I just finished summer school, so I should be free to write now :D! also asDGKSNGJG I HATE HOW RUSHED THIS IS LMAO (loved the concept, but the writing <.<)

Kyungsoo is a man who keeps his house orderly and clean, not for the sake of guests but rather for his own sake. He knows where everything is and how many of each thing he owns in his cupboards save for the amount of soap there’s left. For some reason he always runs low on that. He knows the contents of the fridge, the number of silverware in the drawers, and how many white socks he owns.

He sighed as he examined the cup by the edge of the sink once more. He also looked by the floor, in the mirror cabinet, and once more in the cup that only held one thing: your toothbrush. Kyungsoo scratched at his head, wondering where on earth his toothbrush could have gone. Had he left it by the side of the sink? It was a habit before he had moved in with you before you. You had seen him place his toothbrush on the side of the sink, promptly rushed out of the bathroom with frothy paste flying into your hair and come back with a silly ladybug mug you’d painted during a pottery date with him a year before. You rinsed quickly and threw your toothbrush into the mug before looking expectantly at him. Kyungsoo chuckled to himself when he looked at the face of the turtle (yes, not a ladybug yet painted like one) on the mug.

He sighed to himself and whispered to himself. “I suppose you won’t tell me where my toothbrush went, will you?” He braced himself against the sink and looked in the mirror. With the door left open, he could see into your shared bedroom where you were sprawled out in the middle. He’d been woken up early and on the floor on a day off thanks to your kicking around. Making his way out of the bathroom, Kyungsoo shook your awake and smiled endearingly at your tousled hair. “Wake up, we have a mystery to solve.”

“Last time you said that, it was you who drank all of the milk and not me.” You grumbled. You tried falling back asleep but decided that the hairs going into your mouth wouldn’t let you. “What happened?”

“Apparently, Toothy and Mrs. Paste have been separated. Her husband has gone missing.” You shot up, wide awake and rubbing sleep out of your eyes. Kyungsoo smiled once more at the silliness.

“No way! You didn’t drop him or throw him away, did you? We just bought new toothbrushes last month!” Kyungsoo followed you as you rushed out of the bed and soon caught you as you tripped as your foot caught the blanket. The adrenaline from rushing to save you from an embarrassing faceplant did nothing to combat the swelling oh his heart as he watched you play into his silly antics. “You don’t suppose he ran off with Dawn? The dish soap from a couple blocks down?”

“Why’d he be there?” You shrugged, soon deciding to pick up your own toothbrush and get ready for the day.

“Where is your toothbrush anyways? I saw you put it in the cup last night. And I swear on my life I was sleeping like a rock at the bottom of a lake, so there’s no way I had anything to do with it.” Your boyfriend chuckled at that. He affirmed your dead point and then stated that still doesn’t explain his toothbrush going missing.

“You think the cat took it?”

“We don’t have a cat.”

“Ghost cat?” A little scoff emitted from Kyungsoo’s lips and he left as you wrapped up your routine. By the time you were done fixing your hair, he came back with a roll of… police tape? “Where did that come from?”

He started blocking off the corner of the sink where the cup was. “Remember, Baekhyun’s Halloween party? He made me buy some of the decorations, so I just took back what was left over.”

“And you’re using it on a case of your missing toothbrush?”

Kyungsoo smirked at you and tapped your hip. “I could also wrap this on your legs to see if we can solve a case of your missing pants?” You smacked his hand in a flustered manner and stormed into the bedroom.

“I’ve complained before that it gets hot! Doesn’t help when you’re a radiating oven even in the summer.” Kyungsoo let a laugh out at that and waited for you to come back in wearing shorts. “Did you check the trash? The cupboard?”

“Already did. Looks like we have a case to solve.” You looked at him expectantly. Kyungsoo grabbed your hand and led you into the kitchen. Before he could open his mouth to suggest anything, you cut him off.

“I highly doubt there’s anything amidst the forks and our bajillion cups.” You kissed him once to make sure he didn’t try to rebut. “And there’s nothing in the cereal either.”

“I was going to suggest the fruits but looks like you’re way ahead of me, partner.”

Shaking your head, you tugged your hand from his grip and planted it on your hips. “What has gotten into you this morning? Normally it’s me starting the games while you want to cuddle and hope you can wrangle me into bed so you can ‘surprise’ me with breakfast.”

“Let’s just say I woke up on the right side of the bed.” You cocked an eyebrow. “Or the floor. You could be a professional MMA fighter with that foot.” You giggled and Kyungsoo led you closer to the cupboards with a gentle grip on your elbow. With another cocked eyebrow, Kyungsoo answered your unasked question. “Why don’t we check the cupboards anyways? In case Toothy really did run off with the dish soap.”

For no reason at all, you decided to play along with your boyfriend’s strange antics. This was definitely a first. Yes, he was capable of pulling off pranks. Yes, it wasn’t frequent. But the times that he did decide to joke around he never kept up the charade this long. Especially when it took so much effort and work.

“This isn’t some plot to get me to rearrange the kitchen like I kept saying I’ve been wanting to do, right?”

“Of course not. We’re looking for Toothy. He’s gone missing and Mrs. Paste is getting worried.” Kyungsoo was searching diligently within the cabinet with the bowls while you hesitantly moved around the pots and pans in search for a familiar green toothbrush. You weren’t sure how long he was going to keep it up, much less how long you were willing to play along with it before wrangling the truth out of him by offering to do the laundry for the next three weeks.

“Why do we have to look in the kitchen?”

Kyungsoo put away the rest of the spatulas he had rearranged. “You’re right. We got ahead of ourselves.” He sat down at the dining table and motioned you over. “To do this properly, you need to take statements and questions.” To make a point, Kyungsoo took out a detective’s cap that you recognized from a couple Halloweens ago. He set the bag back on the chair it was originally hiding on.

“You really went hard with this one,” you said while he adjusted the cap on your head. He gave you a satisfied smile, you’re not sure if it was from making the clunky hat look good on your head or with how themed this was. “Do I have to?” Kyungsoo’s response was to pout at you and grasp your hands pleadingly. You bit your lip and stamped your foot before giving in. “Fine.”

“Love you.”

“You owe me dinner tonight. My favorite.” Kyungsoo agreed with a laugh while rubbing the tops of your knuckles. “So… when’s the last time you saw Toothy?”

He pretended to think hard, even moving a hand to his temple to scratch at it. If this were any other time, you’d compliment his acting skills. For now, you were patiently waiting to see where Kyungsoo would take this. “Well, I had just finished showering and doing my nightly routine. I briefly said goodnight to my beautiful girlfriend, who was already asleep before I got to the bed. I mean, can you believe her? I did the sheets so they’d be clean, put away all the dishes, and even put her phone away for her because she fell asleep watching those cheesy 5 minute DIY videos. You’d think after all I did for her she’d at least wait for me to get into bed so I can get my well-deserved cuddles-”

“Your point, Soo.” You lightly smacked him on the back of his head. You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling endearingly at your silly boyfriend, though.

“Anyways, after I checked up on my wonderful yet ungrateful girlfriend-“ Smack. “-I love her so much. I went back into the bathroom to turn off the lights, but I guess I didn’t check up on Toothy since I had placed him back where he was. I did notice the window was open by the shower, though.”

“You’re telling me that your toothbrush snuck out the window?”

“Or he was taken.”

“Why would someone just take your toothbrush?”

“My thoughts exactly! He must have snuck off when he had the opportunity.” Kyungsoo stood up from his chair and took the hat from your head. He smoothed your hair down for a second, but it didn’t matter after you were whisked away into the bedroom. “Let’s get dressed. We have a toothbrush to find.”

“What?” Before you knew it, your boyfriend was chucking clothes at you. Any other time you would have admired the view of him undressing, but you didn’t see why you’d have to be led along a string of mystery on a day off. “Kyungsoo, after the four years I’ve known you and two and a half we’ve lived together, you’ve never been this raring to go so excitedly.”

After getting a simple long sleeve over his head, Kyungsoo turned back and gave you a fond smile. “Not even when I woke you up to take you to the river when I heard there were baby ducklings?”

“It was 1pm and I was the one who told you. It’s…” You glanced at the clock while changing into the clothes he’d thrown you, completely engrossed in your conversation to realize you were still going along with it. “It’s almost 8:30am right now and I still have no idea what we’re doing.”

“We, my dear, are going on an adventure.”

“To look for your toothbrush?”

He kissed your forehead and gave you a kiss. “You got it.”

Your boyfriend took you by the hand and led you out the door. The two of you spent some time walking. Every now and then, the two of you passed by another couple or parent with their child. You said hi to every kid who would look back at you, and one of the kids informed you there was a birthday party and how excited they were to eat cake. Kyungsoo merely watched you interact with the kids and the occasional dog with clear adoration in his eyes. It took a while to walk into the block where a bunch of shops were, and you kept yourself from window shopping while Kyungsoo walked on.

“You know, we can go into the stores if you wanted.” You looked back at your boyfriend with suspicion in your eyes.

“Aren’t we supposed to be looking for Toothy?” Kyungsoo smiled at brought your interlocked hands to press a kiss on the back of your hand.

“We can go anywhere you want to. You’re leading the investigation. Where do you think Toothy went?” A hesitant hum sounded from your lips and Kyungsoo took this as initiative to bring you into a little bakery. “Why in here?”

“Toothy always had a knack for fighting off those sweets. Maybe he has a grudge against them and wanted to fight them off?” Kyungsoo began perusing the lineup of pastries and cakes along the display case. You slowly turned your eyes to the case as well, occasionally looking questionably at the man next to you as he spent his time browsing the selection. Eventually you pointed at a cute looking strawberry slice of cake and Kyungsoo bought it for you. When you walked out, you were feeding bits of it to Kyungsoo. His smug smile only grew when the two of you finished the slice and walked into more stores.

The first couple of stores he coaxed you into them with similar points as the bakery one. You began to wonder whether or not Kyungsoo’s plan for the day was to take you shopping. However, you spent most of the time browsing and when you were done Kyungsoo took you around to another store to do the same thing. You didn’t spend much, focusing mainly on what your boyfriend was up to today. Save for the cake and a couple of snacks, there wasn’t much out of your wallet. After exiting a little sandwich store the both of you stopped during lunch break (to which Kyungsoo claimed you needed to replenish your energy after using your brains deducing where Toothy would have gone), you brought up the idea of going grocery shopping early.

“Perfect. I don’t see why we shouldn’t. Perhaps it’ll bring us one step closer to Toothy.”

“I can’t believe you’re proudly saying that in public. Last time I brought it up and you had friends around, they asked if you called the mouthwash Lizzie Terine.”

“Well, we have a mystery to solve, don’t we?” You were going to comment further until you saw your boyfriend take out a notepad. A glance at it would let anyone see that it was a grocery list with little checkmarks, circles, and arrows. However, upon further inspection you saw that the little “grocery list” did include ingredients for cooking and other knick knacks. They also looked like…

“You aren’t seriously taking notes for the case of your missing toothbrush?”

Kyungsoo looks at you as if you’re the one who’s been acting weird all day. “Of course I would! Did you want to see them?” You can’t really say no when the notes were shoved into your face.

Some lines of the list were perfectly normal, with things such as eggs or more laundry detergent. Other things read: ‘Cookies… Toothy had a particularly hard time battling them. Maybe a grudge.’ Or ‘Dental floss -> Toothy might be at an old friend’s family reunion.’ You felt your eyebrow twitch at the notes and sighed to yourself. This was going on much longer than you thought, and it was kind of getting old.

“Kyungsoo-“

“Let’s go shopping then!” He cheered and tugged you forward, making sure to pocket his notepad for later. By the time the both of you got to the store, you decided to focus solely on shopping instead of playing with Kyungsoo like you’d been all day. Kyungsoo didn’t notice that you would shift gears anytime he brought up the “case”, and if he did, he didn’t bother to make it shown.

“We need more seasonings, right?” Kyungsoo hummed. He checked the list and nodded while reaching up on the shelves of the market to snag a couple bottles and inspect them side by side. At this moment, Kyungsoo looked totally normal and not your strange boyfriend who went bonkers over a toothbrush. Well, except for the fake toy pipe he brought along that went with the detective’s outfit. He shuffled the pipe in his mouth and you weren’t sure whether it was attractive or goofy. After he chose a seasoning, Kyungsoo dropped it in the basket and walked to the next aisle with his hand in yours.

“Can’t we just use the spare pack of toothbrushes we bought?” Kyungsoo squeezed your hand and a teasing smile rested upon his lips. “That way you can stop fussing over… Toothy.”

“You used them to paint one of those DIY projects you saw on social media, again. Remember?” Thinking back on it, he was right. You had been hunched over some painting project and were using the bristles of the new toothbrushes to spray a small amount of paint to look like stars. You ended up having to clean your sleeves and table afterwards, but Kyungsoo decided to hang up your mini painting in the hall anyways.

“Ah, I remember now,” you said and took two packs of new toothbrushes to put in the basket. “We really need to invest in one of the electric brushes, though.” Kyungsoo hummed and asked if you wanted one. When you shrugged in response, Kyungsoo spent time perusing the ones available at the store until he decided you guys would just order one online. For now, the plastic toothbrushes from the shelves would do just fine.

Kyungsoo is silent the rest of the way home. He doesn’t even bring up Toothy like he had been doing all day. You’re unsure what caused this sudden shift in behavior. Before he was so insistent on making you play along, but now he looked nervous.

“I’m not mad, if that’s what you’re worried about.” His attention snapped to yours and his furrowed eyebrows shot up instead. “You look nervous. If it’s because of the game you’d been playing for so long, don’t worry. I was just confused and frustrated why I wasn’t getting answers, but I’m not mad at you because I think it’s dumb.”

Your boyfriend only nods in response and returns his gaze back ahead of him. He takes his hand from yours to wipe it quickly against his pant leg. It’s sweaty. You wanted to continue reassuring him but decided against it since you were pretty sure your last phrase went in one ear and out the other. When the two of you got to the door, Kyungsoo paused.

“I love you, you know.”

“I know.” You were the one now feeling nervous. Kyungsoo’s multiple and drastic changes in behavior made you curious yet afraid for what it all meant. Kyungsoo gave you a warm kiss on the cheek and headed inside. He set the bags on the counter and twiddled with his thumbs, wondering which bag to unload first. You took the bag with the toiletries inside of it and left Kyungsoo to unload the food. “I’ll do this one. That way I don’t have to rearrange the fridge.”

He hummed and turned stiffly towards the fridge. This time, you were the one who gave a soft kiss to the cheek. You hoped that was enough to calm his nerves so that he would tell you what was bugging him earlier. As you headed down the hall, you missed the way Kyungsoo whipped his head around to watch you leave.

“Alright, let’s get you out of your plastic prison, Toothy 2.0.” You opened up the plastic bag to dig around for the little case. Looking up at the ladybug mug your own toothbrush resided in, you paused your actions. “Kyungsoo!” He called back from the kitchen, and you heard the clanging of items in the fridge. “Your toothbrush is in here. It’s in the cup!”

You took another close look at the cup and saw that yes, indeed there was a toothbrush sitting in the cup alongside yours. In fact, you knew without a doubt that it was Kyungsoo’s. You hesitantly reached out to it, wondering if you had gone crazy over your boyfriend’s weird antics and started hallucinating about the toothbrush. Once your fingers reached it, you noticed that it was in fact real. Kyungsoo finally joined you in the bathroom, a telltale sign by the shuffling of his socks against the floor. Before you could grab it and show it to him, Kyungsoo pulled his toothbrush out for you.

“How did you miss it? I swear it was there before we left.” Kyungsoo fiddled with the toothbrush for a while. You noticed him tug at it and he hid whatever he pulled off of it in his closed fist.

“Toothy never went missing.” Kyungsoo still couldn’t meet your eyes since the walk and he chewed at his bottom lip. “I… asked him to run an errand for me.”

“Kyungsoo, I’m still so confused. You’ve been acting so strange all morning and then you couldn’t even talk to me. What’s going on?” He took a deep breath and steadied himself, deciding that he wouldn’t let his nerves get to him. It was all or nothing now.

“The errand… was to hide something while I took you out today.” He now brought his eyes to your face. The depths of your eyes always took his breath away, especially in that moment. He felt like he was drowning in you. He cleared his throat and then put Toothy back in the cup. Once his hand was free, he filled it with your fingers and laced them with his own.

Patiently, you watched. He licked his lips nervously once more. Soon, he was on his knees. Or rather… one. He brought his closed fist up and in between his fingers there was a gleam. This time it was your breath that was unsteady, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look at Kyungsoo either for your eyes were focused solely on the ring.

“Kyungsoo…”

“I was too nervous to do this myself… so my trusty companion helped me out for today.” Your boyfriend took one last breath and looked at you with a confidence that stilled time. “So… will you marry me?”

#exo #kyungsoo #exo imagines #exo scenarios #kyungsoo imagines #exo fluff #kyungsoo fluff #kyungsoo scenarios #kyungsoo x reader #do kyungsoo #exo fanfic #exo fanfiction #female pronouns #fluff #elli writes

126 notes · View notes

princessozera · 3 years

Text

Not OM, I just wanted to post here the first ever fic I actually wrote and published

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY AS A DISCLAIMER EVEN THOUGH I PUBLISHED IT LAST YEAR (2 years ago?) I WAS ACTUALLY YOUNGER WHEN I WROTE THIS. I DO NOT SIMP FOR DAMIAN LIKE THAT ANYMORE, HE IS MY SON.

The Only Exception

(Aged up/Older Damian Wayne x OC)

The seats are filled, the air is comforting, music and perfume floating in the air. Today Rosella Anderson is to be wed to Damian Wayne. But, weddings never quite go according to plan. Talia and Ra's Al Ghul have made it clear they don't like her, on multiple occasions. But with no less than 50 trained fighters and investigators on both sides of the aisle, nothing can interrupt or ruin her special day...... Right?

Chapter 1: Getting Married Today

"Come on, suck it in!"

"I HAVEN'T EVEN EATEN TODAY!" I whined as Alice yanked the ribbons on my corset tighter.

"WATCH IT!" Crystal swats away Alice's hands and undoes the ribbons a bit. "Suffocate her and she doesn't make it down the aisle, pack her like a sausage and my hours of makeup will have gone to waste!" She huffed and finish tying the ribbons, satisfied that they weren't too tight.

"I don't think I ever really appreciated the amount of work it takes to make curly hair not be frizzy," Barbra Gordon says between sips of champagne, lounging on the hotel bed.

"That's why I don't do my hair that often," I laugh, sitting on an ottoman so Alice can put my veil on and Crystal can help me put on my garter. My maid of honor, Cassandra Cain, came over and tried to feed me some fruit slices. I tried to argue, but I couldn't hold my own as she stared me down. I let her feed me some cantaloupe slices until she was satisfied and went off to finish getting ready.

"You really are a queen today!" Stephanie laughed as she walked around the room again, holding a video recorder. I tried to hide my face, but she grabbed my hand and swung it around. "A beautiful princess for Gotham's own prince! Tell us, your majesty, how are you feeling, about to be married off to Gotham's richest stone statue?" The girls laughed but I just shook my head at her. "Me, Tim, and Dick are making a documentary for you two. Any words for the lucky man? Anything you want to say to your future self, your family, your future kids? " Whistles and laughs went around the room and I couldn't help but blush.

"Well, let's take this one step at a time," I laughed to hide my own embarrassment. "Damian," I started, looking directly into the camera, "I don't believe in love at first sight, but damn did we square up on first sight. Not many people can say they had a full on MMA fight with their future spouse within minutes of meeting them. Yet, after that whole fiasco was solved, you've never been anything but gentle with me. People always said we wouldn't last; lava and ice. Water and a drought. Incompatible. But you were the first to look past who I had to be, to see who I was trying to be. You brought me a family, and I like to think I've brought you some serenity. I don't believe in destiny, and I'm not too sure about fate, but I believe in us. I believe that I'll fight for you until the end of time because you'd do the same for me. Because you are my home, and there's no place I'd rather be." I get choked up, wanting nothing more than to have him in my arms right now. I missed him like hell, even though it's only been 2 days since I've seen him.

"This isn't the time to start reciting your wedding vows silly," Cass said and I couldn't help but giggle. She wipes away the tears that I hadn't felt form, making sure to not mess with my mascara. Stephanie sighs happily and puts the camcorder down, reaching over to hug me.

"I'm so glad I get to be your sister," she whispered to me, and I hugged back tighter. We both jerked in surprise at the knock at the door. I immediately reached for my bag, looking for my well-worn notebook, but Cass's hand steadied me. Barbra got up, fixed her dress and went over to the door.

"Who is-" She stiffens up immediately, hand pulling back from the handle. "It's Talia." Stephanie immediately got in front of me, and I grabbed Cass's hand as she reached for her own bag, searching for her gun. I'd never told my friends about Talia, but they took the hint found their way to their respective bags, throwing knives and whips at the ready. Truthfully, I was finding it a little hard to breathe and I doubt it was the dress. The knock came again, more insistent, but no one moved.

"It's your call Rose," Barbra said, her eyes never leaving the door.

"Let her in," I tug on Cass's arm and she helps me stand up. "If she wanted me offed, she would have gotten someone else to do it. Or at least she wouldn't have knocked." Crystal and Alice look between all of us in alarm and decide to take the window as Stephanie goes to back up Babs by the door. The door opens, and there stands Talia, as beautiful and regal as ever. She glances over everyone before finally meeting my eyes.

"Lady Al Ghul, please come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I said, fidgeting with my dress. She steps in, nodding to Babs and Stephanie.

"I'd like to have a word with you before the ceremony," She says, running her hand along the wet counter cluttered with makeup. "Alone," She said with a pointed look when no one moved. That harsh edge was enough to get everyone to cover or flank me again. She didn't respond to this, simply staring at me. I put my hand on each girl's back, one by one.

"Go, I'll be fine. We'll be right here," Babs stares me down, but I nod back. She caves and starts to leave; Alice, Crystal and eventually Stephanie following behind, after she grabs something off the bed. Cass refused to move.

"Do I need to remind you that you can barely move your waist in that monstrous dress? She'd get to you before any of us were the wiser," She whispered in my ear, holding my arm pretty tightly. I wormed my way out of her grasp and grabbed the worn notebook from my bag.

"I promise, it'll be fine. Anyways, I forgot there were 2 more things I needed to do," I flipped through the pages quickly, finding what I needed and handing it to her. "If you could please take care of it? You should be done by the time we're done talking and we can head to the venue." Cass read through it quickly, then looked at me again. She gave a curt nod and walked out as well.

"We'll be right outside," Babs says pointedly before closing the door. Talia and I stood in silence for a moment, before she slowly stalked towards me until she was less than 6 feet away.

"Lady Al-"

"Your still not worthy of my son." oop. Right to the point, as always. Can't say it didn't hurt.

"You're a commoner, a nobody. No title, no land, not even superior health to your name. You failed classes in high school, went to college on scholarships, and couldn't land a proper role in your field until a year in. Failure, after pitfall, after failure." JESUS CHRIST THIS LADY DID HER RESEARCH. My face burned in humiliation, but nothing I could say now would justify everything she just listed out. "And yet... Damian loves you."

"I may not like you, but I know how I raised him, and Bruce has done a good job of bringing up a boy worth more than the names he was born into. Wayne. Al Ghul. Damian. I will have faith in his choice, he is not a stupid boy. Foolish and stubborn yes, but not stupid. If he thinks you are worthy, there may be hope for you yet." holy shit, no way, is this actually happening? I'm too stunned to say anything, just grateful that my mouth isn't hanging open.

"When you return from your honeymoon I expect you to face me in a formal duel and undergo training as necessary," she puts her hands on her hips, challenging me to argue with her, but I was so happy I had to restrain myself from hugging her.

"It would be an honor to battle you Lady Al Ghul," I say, finding my tongue, stifling my giddiness with a bow, and a hand over my chest.

"Talia is also acceptable." She says with a nod, taking another step forward and adjusting the skirt of my dress and finally my veil before turning starting to walk back to the door. "My father and I will also be in attendance to this event, but if you ever wish to gain even an ounce of his approval, you'll need to do another more traditional ceremony at a later date." My heart swelled, and for a second, I legitimately thought I was going to break down crying. This was better than anything I could have prepared for. I couldn't just let her walk out like that.

"Damian'll be elated!" I yelled out to keep my voice from cracking. Talia stops, and I gush on. "I know you haven't had the easiest of relationships, with conflicting ideology and all, but he really does love you, and Ra's, even if he doesn't say it. He looks up to you guys and wants to make you proud. You being here will mean the world to him." I force myself to stop talking before I say something weird or bad. Talia turns back to me, walks up swiftly, and hugs me. I'm stiff in surprise, but manage to hug her back before she gives me one last nod and walks out. Everyone runs back in the second Talia is out.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?" Babs immediately grabs my arms and starts inspecting me up and down for any sign of injury.

"Don't cry don't cry!" Alice pleads with me, fanning my face to prevent the tears from falling.

"Talia hugged her, check her back and skirt for anything weird," I look over to Stephanie, who was staring down at her camcorder. Had she left that hidden on the bed? I didn't even notice. But it was so sweet. I could show Damian later all the sweet words his mother said about him.

"Jesus, you're so teary today," Cass mumbles as she does her own inspection of my dress. When she's done, she sees my tears are of joy, so she hugs me. "Your journal's impressive," she says handing back my heart covered notebook. I'm still choked up and trying not to bawl in relief so once everyone was satisfied that I wasn't going to drop dead in the middle of the aisle, they sat me down so I could calm down while they finished up. I collected myself, the extremity of these emotions leaving me exhausted. I drifted off with the warm glow of my friend's laughter and love filling the air.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"No way, you did not fall asleep!"

"Get up get up get up!"

"Cass, I'm fully warning you right now. If she falls asleep at the ceremony like this, I'm throwing my bouquet at her head"

"You might have to beat Stephanie to it," Cass giggles, as she gently shakes me awake. I take a second to reorient myself, blinking the drowsiness out of my eyes, and stretching.

"Ooh, we could coordinate it though!" Stephanie perks up, "if she falls asleep; Alice and Crystal, take your flowers and make it rain, and then Babs, Cass and I hit her in the head. Guaranteed it'll wake her up!" We all laugh and I get up, taking a minute to appreciate my beautiful friends. It was a debated choice, but the deep purple fit everyone perfectly. We did have to make a few adjustments to Stephanie's overall look though, to keep her from looking too similar to her alter ego, Spoiler. Bouquet in every pair of hands, key cards in garter wallets and phones on silent, we made our way down to the venue.

"We're only running 10 minutes behind, it couldn't be helped," Babs tries to calm my nerves as I all but start jumping in the elevator. Cass also had to put a hand on my waist to pull me back when I almost ran to my place. She escorted me around to the side doors; the girls and I were coming in from the right, Damian and his groomsmen were coming in from the left. He had wanted to avoid any issue of who should walk him down the aisle; I thought it was cute how he couldn't choose between Dick and Bruce. Cass and I were slow dancing to calm my nerves when the rest of the girls came back.

"Pianist and minister are ready" -Babs

"Decorations are gorgeous and on point, everyone is in their seat and there are no fussy children" -Alice

"Lights, audio and AC are perfect and photographers are also ready" - Crystal.

I nodded, yes, everything was going smoothly. Of course, I had used everything I had when planning this. I was floating on cloud nine, simply nodding along when Babs spoke up.

"Has anyone seen Stephanie?" she asks, grip tightening on her bouquet. No one knew so we all just waited around for 5 minutes, everyone starting to get fidgety. Stephanie came back, 10 minutes later, looking a little out of breath and a bit pale, even under her makeup.

"Ok so there's a situation,- the guys are running late but it's okay they're o their way, they'll be here in 20 minutes!" Stephanie sped through the second half of her sentence when she saw that I was going to panic. I breathed out in relief and nodded, satisfied.

"I'll make the announcement, Dick probably went overboard trying to do his hair again," Babs snickered and headed into the ceremony hall. We played a light game of ninja as we waited to hear from the guys, but I soon became hyper-aware of time passing. I don't have the best perception of time, I don't even have a good memory, but I caught the looks my bridesmaids were giving each other.

The questioning looks.

The worry.

I let myself get kicked out of the next round and walked a little ways off, pulling my phone out and calling the number I knew by heart, ignoring the time that read that I was now almost 40 minutes late to my own wedding. The phone rang 3 times, and I turned away from my girls who were really getting into this game, rooting for Cass or Alice to win.

"Damian!" I sighed in relief when the line clicked. "hey, how much longer do you think you guys will be in traffic? If it's going to be another while, I can have it arranged so snacks and drinks are handed out so no one gets restless. I could also give the pianist a break, he's been playing the same chorus on repeat for the last half hour-" I let my voice trail off as I was met by a stone wall of silence. Not even a joke from Dick or Tim or Duke. I waited him out, after a minute of silence, Damian spoke up.

"I'm sorry beloved, I can't do this."

"What?" I asked, but my voice was so thin and breathy I doubt he heard me.

"I can't go through with this. This marriage, this wedding. It's all a joke. Who even cares about this mess? It's all so... stupid. Pointless." not a hint of hesitation, voice more ruthless than I had ever heard it. No. No way. was he serious!? I struggled to find my words, I shook with the pure effort of breathing normally even though I felt like I was having an actual heart attack; tight chest, palpitations, the whole 9 yards. Tremors ran through my body and I finally managed to choke out "Damian-"

"Goodbye Rosella" the line clicked off and I take a shuddering breath.

"Rose?" Cass says, gently putting a hand on my shoulder.

"He's not coming."

"What?"

"He's not coming!" I shriek, clutching my waist to stop my stomach from churning but to no avail; at least I didn't have much of lunch to throw up.

"What do you mean he's not coming!" Babs demands, yelling from where she was

"shit"

We all turn and there stands Jason, looking uncomfortable as hell and very much like he didn't want to be here. That confirmed it for everyone. Alice, Crystal, and Babs started yelling questions at Jason. Stephanie pulled out her own phone and started dialing a bunch of numbers but it seemed like no one was answering. Cass tried to speak with me, but my ears were ringing, it all sounded like white noise. And I felt cold. but hot. but freezing. I raise my hand and draw everyone's attention, all becoming deadly silent.

"Alice, Crystal. please go tell the pianist, the minister, and the photographer. Give them my email so I can settle up the charges later. Stephanie and Cass, please go see if we can keep the party reservations for tonight. Everyone else should enjoy them, even if there is no.... Barbra, could you please break the news that I... we..." everything got really blurry for a second and the floor rushed up to meet me, but I caught myself on the table before I could pass out completely.

Not here, not in front of them. Don't put them through a breakdown.

Everyone was fussing, but I couldn't stand here for another second. "Go. I just want to be alone. Please. go. GO!" I yelled and they all dispersed, shooting me worried looks. Cass gave me a long hug before she decided I needed a moment alone.

"Don't move from here." She instructed me. "Go get the guys," she demanded to Jason before going off. Jason looked at me sadly, trying to find the right words to say.

"Rose-"

"Please leave." he walked away without another word. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I ran with everything I had out of the hallway.

Pardon me is everybody there

because if everybody's there id like to thank you all for coming to the wedding

I appreciate you going even more

I mean you must have had better things to do.

Thank you all for the gifts and the flowers,

Thank you all, now it's back to the showers

but I guess I'm not getting married today

The perfume is suffocating, overly sweet, fake as plastic, thick as sugar. I can't breathe, but I don't need air to run. Don't stop, move. Move. Move. The ribbons are strangling me. The garter is cutting off my circulation. Gloves are hurting me. High heels, weak ankles. My rolls of fat spilling out of the dress. rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. can't stand. can't wait, I throw open the door to the stairs and take them in 3s.

Listen, everybody,

look, I don't know what you're waiting for.

A wedding. What's a wedding?

It's a prehistoric ritual

Where everybody promises fidelity forever,

Which is maybe the most horrifying word I ever heard of,

Which is followed by a honeymoon, where suddenly he'll realize

He's saddled with a nut, and want to kill me, which he should.

Thanks a bunch, but I'm not getting married

I scream as my veil gets caught in the handrail, yanking my head back, falling down a couple of stairs. No question, I rip it off. It stings, it hurts, bobby pins forcefully ripped out. The shoes go too, heels are stupid, why are they so tall. Tall and tall and make my knees wobbly. The taller they are the harder they fall. Up the stairs, 3 at a time, legs on fire. Don't stop, don't stop, hike the dress up and keep running all the way to the 50th floor.

Go have lunch, 'cause I'm not getting married

You've been grand, but I'm not getting married

Don't just stand there, I'm not getting married

But I'm not getting married today.

I slam open the hotel room door, to hell with neighbors. Suffocating, burning, melting heat. I rip off the gloves, scream as I can't get the ribbons out of my dress. I scream, jump, squirm and throw myself around until it finally comes off.

He didn't come. shut up.

He didn't want to. SHUT THE HELL UP

I felt everything to an extreme degree. Too much. Why am I breathing so heavily? Why am I sweating bullets!? I throw my hair up in a ponytail, yank the garter off, tripping over my own two feet. My phone falls next to my head and the only thing I can think to do is to throw it into the toilet. I grab my honeymoon bag- no, my emergency bag that happened to have cute clothes instead of food, and switch into my leggings and a t-shirt. It's all I had. It's all I could ask for.

Go! Can't you go?

Why is nobody listening?

Goodbye! Go and cry

At another person's wake.

If you're quick, for a kick

You could pick up a christening

But please, on my knees,

There's a human life at stake!

I'm parkouring down the stairs, jumping entire sections, falling on knees, but ignoring the pain to jump again. Emergency phone in one hand, I order the uber, start the bank transaction, even though I have to read everything 10 times for it to make sense. What do? where go? don't know. not here. One bad jump and I collapsed entirely, but as I scrambled to throw everything back in my bag, I see the plane tickets. yes. away. out. not here. leave.

Go! Can't you go?

Look, you know I adore you all

But why watch me die

Like Eliza on the ice?

Look, perhaps I'll collapse

In the apse right before you all

So take back the cake

Burn the shoes, and boil the rice

Out of the stairway, but slammed into a wall. Around the corner, Alice and Babs and Crystal and Jason and Stephanie and Cass and Bruce and Selina and Duke and Tim and Dick and Alfred.

Remember when you first met them? He swore he'd protect you but that they'd love you. please stop! I begged myself, think of anything, anything but him. anything but this. Get out, then we can cry, but not here, not now. I watched them split up, so I hid behind a corner farther back. Steph and Cass took up the stairs. Everyone else was gone so I ran out the back door. Out of the hotel, away from the perfume, away from the flowers, the candles, the dresses. From them. And by some small miracle, the car was already here. I jump in, only taking a second to notice that it was, in fact, an uber.

"Hello, ma'am! How are-"

"Please! Just go!" my voice breaks and the tears start up again. I brush them aside furiously/ doing everything in my power not to start sobbing, but he listens to me and speeds off.

BECAUSE I'M NOT GETTING MARRIED TODAY

(A twist on this song that actually inspired this whole fic)

Chapter 2: On The Run

I'm going to kill him

Why didn't he show up?

How fucking dare he

Was it something I did?

I was nervous too bitch; I drank a shot of tequila and sucked it up!

Was it something HE did? Was Talia lying? Did Ra's kidnap Damian? Why did the boys wait to tell us? Did Stephanie know that something was up? Do any of them even-

"Ughhhh," I groaned audibly as my thoughts and emotions started to run together. It had been a while since anything left me this.... discombobulated. Exhausted. A mess. I'd almost forgotten how awfully I reacted to being overwhelmed and out of control. The uber driver shot me a curious look but didn't say anything. Keep it together Rosella. Just, go home and.. I flinched, chagrined at my own stupidity. "Get somewhere safe" I amended under my breath, "and then you can have as big of a breakdown as you want. Just, be a stone again. Close it all out. Suppress the fire, drown the noise." I rubbed my eyes, the dry burn giving me the weirdest throbbing headache.

The ride to the airport was stiff, to say the least. My driver kept trying to talk to me, but my responses were so dry he gave up. He didn't question the extra stop at the bank, even while he waited outside for half an hour while I verified with tellers inside that I was, in fact, the owner of the account and that I was draining it.

Erase your tracks. You were never here. Are you even alive?

Still, we got to the airport as quickly as I could have hoped for and made sure to give him a large tip for his troubles. I walked through the airport, undoubtedly looking like some pompous bitch with only a stone face and backpack, my actual suitcase left behind in my whirlwind out. I only had some snacks, a Nintendo ds, some stationary things, deodorant, and a toothbrush. I hadn't even remembered to grab my disposable water bottle, toothpaste, or hair brush before leaving. Whatever.

It was almost flawless. I bypassed the checked bag lines, slid right through TSA (bless you TSA Pre-check), although I did get some looks when they checked my bag. I guess overall I looked like I should be getting on a school bus instead. I sat down at a cafe and pulled out the tickets, 2 first class tickets to Malaga, Spain.

I'd set up our honeymoon as a complete surprise to Damian. Bruce and the boys had worked so hard to help me clear out a whole month from his schedule. I'd gone through hell and back to make sure all of my project managers could handle any situation that could happen either in making or transporting our different projects out... We were supposed to be jumping cities for a month in Europe. Cities with small populations, so we could avoid drawing attention, but full of gorgeous architecture and delicious food for me; significant art history and cultural relevance for Damian.

It's going to be a technical nightmare to cancel all of those reservations and getting the tickets switched and sold. Do people even actually do that? But I have to, I don't know where I'm going but I don't want any of them to tra- SHIT. My head snaps up and one quick look around tells me I'm already too late. I spot 5 cameras easily.

I grab my things and head over to a gift shop. I grab bunches of clothes and accessories off of the shelves, hurrying off to pay and doing my best to avoid cameras now as I sneak off into the restroom. I throw on some atrocious sundress, flats, and a baseball cap, flipping my hair twice in an attempt to make it look like a pixie cut. For a second I consider actually finding something sharp to hack my hair off.

I need you to not be a social breakdown cliche for a minute, it took you years to properly grow those curls out. Please don't waste my efforts. Yeah, it's for the better, I look like Dora the Explorer with short hair anyway. Tim wouldn't sell me out to Damian, right? LMAOO he bailed at the wedding you really think he wants to hunt you down?? Or what if Tim wants to find me? Or anyone else? Damian's pretty good at following people. Even then, Babs, Cass, Roy are competent hackers, any of them could find my data and track me down... Are any of them even on my side?... I couldn't help but let out a whimper. I pursed my lips, placing my hands on the cold sink to calm myself. What's my plan anyways? I can't go to any of the cities in Europe where I already have reservations. Too easy. I could go to the Netherlands...

"But Damian knows where I lived there, because of the time we visited my friends," I sigh out loud, facepalming. "But not entirely a bad idea..." I say as I start flipping through the different cities I've lived through. Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Croatia, Portugal, Malta, Romania, Hungary, Austria, are all out. We'd either been there or they were part of the honeymoon plan. I didn't want any reminder of him.

Actually, all of Europe is out. I've raved about it too much. We've been too many places, we both had too many ties scattered throughout Europe. I can't speak Russian, Talia and Ra's have connections all across the middle east, and the north half of Africa. Jason and Cass had some unexplainable ties across north and south america. With every city I named, I hated myself more for talking so much. For trusting him with these memories.

Honeysuckle kisses on cotton candy memories.

shut up.

Isn't there ANYWHERE I've lived and worked that my big mouth hadn't mentioned? As I was starting to get desperate and the headache started acting up again, I found actually ecstatic relief. That would be actually literally perfect. God bless my forgetful memory. The apartment I'd never sold. The country I actively avoided talking about because Damian would get jealous.

I snuck out of the bathrooms and headed over to customer service. I had to work my way past a large group of people. Overhearing snippets of conversation, apparently, their flight is somewhere between delayed or canceled. Inspiration hit me. Give the ticket to someone here. Send them to Spain, let them stay at the hotel. He could follow a cold lead. This would give me enough time to go to one country and get a ticket to where I actually wanted to go.

I look around the group. Too many were in pair or more. Some looked very buisness-y type. There! A girl who looked like a backpacker was chilling, glancing through her phone. You're going to sound absolutely mental. I approach her nevertheless. I pitched her my idea, but she was rightfully skeptical. I swallowed my pride and told her a cold version of the truth.

"My fiancee left me at the altar. I'm going to Mongolia. I don't want his ticket, I don't want the hotel. Either take it or I'll give it to someone else. Or let it go to waste. I don't care. I don't want it. I'll even pay the name change charge." The anger in my voice came out clear, and by another miracle, she accepted it. We walked over to the help desk and I spoke with the dude behind the counter. He seemed hesitant at first, but he gave me a double take when he checked my reservations. With a brighter smile, he got me on the first flight he could to Mongolia.

"Will that be for both tickets Mrs.Wayne?" He asked cheerfully before reeling back, caught off guard by my watering eyes.

"Anderson. And no," I managed to spit out. I signaled for the girl from earlier to come closer. "I'm transferring the other ticket to her, we need to get the name changed." He looked uncertain but went ahead. If he was accommodating before, I could tell he was bending over backwards now to get everything situated. I could see his concentration as he tried to bypass things without having to question me again.

"Umm, your profile says you've actually been to Belgium before, how was it?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Beautiful and quaint. Great place to relax and enjoy nature if that's your thing. I'd recommend Lithuania too, or Leinchestein." I say, trying to keep a light tone. He nodded happily, seeming to take my recommendations seriously before handing the girl the new plane tickets. We thanked him and headed off on our respective paths, the girl taking a minute to hug me.

" I hope you can heal soon, and wish you a bright future" she whispered to me. I hugged back, trying not to cry again. She bought me a bag of peach gummy rings and left me at my terminal. I dropped some calls out to friends, blessed that they all decided to take one or more of the reservations around Europe I'd had. I kept the details to a minimum but they figured out pretty quickly not to mention me to Damian if they happened to see him. Some small part of me, thankfully more aware than the rest had the foresight to call some utility companies and get everything at my apartment working again.

The help desk attendant worked miracles, my nonstop flight boarded less than an hour later and I had managed to keep a first class seat. I sat down and started doodling nonsense in my journal, blasting music in my headphones. But around 6 hours into this 19-hour flight, exhaustion overcame me and I drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Beloved," Damian sighed as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "It's almost 11, we need to get out of bed," he murmured into my hair.

"Nooooooo" I whined, stretching further into the sunlight. The doors were ajar, a nice breeze keeping us cool. I snuggled into him. "We're on a vacation, orders from Bruce. And on vacation, you can stay in bed all day."

"But there might be monsters nearby-" He said mysteriously, catching my attention.

"I didn't get reports of any- AH!" I scream as Damian proceeds to tickle me. "No! Sto-" I try to gasp out between laughing. I manage to fight him, tumbling out of bed. He laughed at me as I tried to untangle myself from the blankets.

"That's a dirty trick Wayne!" I gasp, trying to catch my breath. I grab a pillow and chuck it at him, but he just catches it and throws it back. We have a small impromptu pillow war before he taps out after a good hit knocks him onto the balcony. "BOW TO MY PROWESS!" I jokingly declare, jumping up and down on the ottoman. Damian runs over and sweeps me down.

"Please. Don't. Fall. And. Break. Your. Head" He accentuates every word with a kiss, making me giggle. He lets me go and takes the bathroom to shower first. I head out into the kitchen, humming to myself. I grab some of the fruit we bought yesterday and start making a fruit bowl. I'm halfway through cutting the Jicama when Damian's arms are around my waist again.

"What are you doing?" He asks, resting his chin on my shoulder. Before I could answer, his grip around me tightened. "Be careful!" He whispered harshly, putting his hands over mine. "Your knife skills could use some work, you could have cut your finger off like that!" He scolded me but I scoffed.

"Haven't lost a finger yet"

"No, but you did set your oven on fire. THREE TIMES" He elbowed my side and I pouted.

"Excuse you, that 2nd time wasn't my fault, remember? Dick broke into my place and fell asleep making fish sticks," I retaliated, squirming out of his grip and started making some sandwiches for lunch.

"I really should improve the security at your apartment," Damian says as he finished cutting up the Jicama and strawberries, plating them and dropping them off at the table.

"As if that would stop every vigilante from the northern hemisphere from breaking in," I snorted, bringing over the sandwiches. We ate in peace, letting the soft instrumental music from the radio fill the silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sigh happily, turning in my chair, reaching out for Damian's hand. The second I touched the cold seat next to me, my body freezes too. "Damian?" I muttered drowsily, sitting up straight. His bag isn't under his chair. Why am I wearing a dress? Why are my leggings rolled up? I start to panic, breathing rapidly and trying to blink away the tears in my eyes. It's enough to pull me awake and I remember what happened.

"Oh... oh" I hiccup and bite my lip, looking back out the window into the starry night. The tears start falling, but I'm being quiet so I let them. My skin itches. My neck, my wrists, under my eyes. I start scratching, trying to ignore my memories. The trip to Italy, our joint project to improve the villain resistance of the infrastructure of Gotham, the charity events we attended.

"Ma'am?" I look up, a stewardess in the aisle leaning over. I wipe my eyes, catching the furious red color my wrists had become, before turning to her. "Uh, you missed your meal earlier and I was wondering if there was anything I could get you?" She looked uncomfortable now, glancing between my red eyes, red nose, and now red wrists and presumably red neck. I glanced over the menu she handed me, ordering a full meal. She dropped the food off and scurried away, not meeting my eyes.

The meal was laid out beautifully; tomato soup, grilled cheese and grilled chicken with a slice of cheesecake. Yet, I couldn't seem to muster the strength to eat. It didn't really seem appetizing, and I wasn't hungry.

The last time you ate was over 10 HOURS ago, and that wasn't even a full meal. C'mon, one bite. I picked up the fork, but simply twirled it in my hand, watching the metal catch the light. You'll get a raging headache if you don't eat soon. Might get that deep vein thrombosis. I take a bite of the chicken, tasting nothing despite its obvious layer of seasoning. I swallowed it with half a glass of water. It felt thick, heavy, almost like swallowing a rock. But I had to eat. When I didn't immediately throw up, I set up my phone to play a cache of 65 action movies to distract myself and started eating bit by bit. I could tell I was drinking a ridiculous amount of water, but the stewardess replaced my glass without it ever going entirely empty so I didn't really notice how much I had downed. She cleared my tray when I was done, and I just kept watching movies. Whenever I thought I was going to fall asleep, I'd crank the volume up, scroll forward to fight scenes and take a drink of sprite. I was about 4 movies in when I threw off my headphones, whimpering with how severe my headache had gotten despite eating and drinking water.

"Good morning passengers, it is 10 pm and we're about to start our final descent so if you could all please put up your trays and turn off the wifi in your electronics, we'll be landing shortly." Not gonna lie, the time zone jump threw me for a minute, I had taken a second to figure out how we made the flight in 8 hours instead of 19. I shoved everything into my bag, forcing the zipper closed. I wanted to put on some rock or pop punk songs, “Battle On!” seeming weirdly appealing, even though I hadn't heard it in a while. I felt a vein in my neck twitch, so I settled on music from the swan lake instead.

The second we touched down I was up. I only had my backpack so I was able to squeeze by people, ignoring protests and complaints to get off the plane. Off the plane, past the luggage claim, I was going down the escalator when I spotted them. Advika was talking to Zay, looking mad as hell, but she noticed me first. She ran over and almost tackled me to hug me, Zay taking my bag. "Princessa, baby girl, I'm so sorry." She cries into my hair, "I didn't think he was an asshole, oh god, how could he do that to you!"

"We have the plane ready to go," Zay says, joining in on the hug. I let Advika cling to me as we make our way to the opposite side of the airport. Once we're in a more private area, Advika speaks up again.

"I'm going to kill him. How fucking dare he!" She squeezed my hand, and now started pulling me towards the airplane.

"Isn't that Rosella's line?" Zay prods before looking back at me. "But in all seriousness, we will absolutely end him, just say the word. Don't even say it, blink morse code, ASL, anything." I keep my mouth shut and let Advika continue to rave about the different ways she'll end Damian; financially, socially, whatever I wanted. We went out onto the runway and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"The company jet? Isn't that a bit much?" I say as Zay escorts us in, before heading to the back.

"The boss said it's okay. Nearly bit my head off when I called to ask but said it was ok. You did help establish our company in the foreign market," Advika takes a seat but gestures for me to lay down on the couch. "No offense mi princessa, but you look like a fucking mess. Please take a nap."

"I don't know if I can do that," I say, letting out a long sigh. Zay comes back, handing Advika a small purse and laying a platter of cheese and crackers on the table across from us. He sets up instrumental music, from “Carmen” if I'm not mistaken, as Advika takes my hat off and starts combing my hair. I lay back into her, letting her brush out my hair, counting her impeccable pattern. 2 squirts from a spray bottle to moisten my hair, 10 brush strokes. 2 then 10 then 2 then 10. My eyes started feeling heavy so I forced myself to take a deep breath and sit up. The motion made her accidentally yank my hair and woke me a bit. As she apologized I alternated my breathing patterns to try to stay awake, noticing for the first time that we were already in the air.

"Please, just go to sleep," Advika begged, grabbing my hands and forcing me to look at her. I stared at her for a moment before answering.

"I did... on the plane. I dreamed of him. The disorientation of waking up made me think I was on my way to my honeymoon," I let out a bitter laugh and she flinches, looking over to Zay, unsure what to say.

"You look pale," Zay interjects. He comes over to me, placing a hand on my head and then my neck. He doesn't comment on the marks, but he and Advika share a look. "Change your clothes, drink some water, then these, we don't want you getting sick." He puts 2 pills in my hands before going off to find me some water.

"Yeah, getting sick is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me right now. How silly of me," I roll my eyes and Advika snorts, trying to mask her laughter. I leave the Nyquil pills on the couch and get changed. I come back and take the pills, leaning into Advika again so she can continue to play with my hair. She spoke about anything and everything, filling the silence with her happy chatter. Undoubtedly, she was trying to distract my conscious so if I did dream again, it wouldn't be about him. It worked, her happy banter following me into my dreamless slumber.

-------------------

I awoke to Zay gently shaking me, thankfully a lot less disoriented than last time. I gather up my things, helping myself to the bottles of water they had around. I ignore the bandages wrapped around my wrist, but the one on my throat was quickly starting to freak me out. Advika seemed to sense my discomfort, immediately coming over and cutting the bandages off.

"Sorry, your skin seemed a bit raw so we wrapped it up," she explains calmly, alternating to rubbing her hand up and down my arm to soothe me.

"S'ok," I mumble, taking my bag from Zay.

"We called you a cab -it got here a couple of minutes ago-, but you're more than welcome to stay with either of us back in Mongolia. Neha and Juniper also moved here ya know, I'm sure she'd-" I cut Zay off with a shake of my head, and follow him out of the plane.

"I just really want to be alone for a while, ya know?" As alone as I can be with my differing opinions yelling at me and my endless train of thought that does NOT SHUT UP. Zay nodded but Advika grabbed my arm before I could hail the cab closer to the plane.

"I know you want to be alone- and you absolutely do need some time alone, this is going to be a lot to process- but...." She hesitated, biting her lip. "I know how you can get Ro. don't even try to argue with me on this. Please, take some time, but do not hesitate to call me or anyone else." Would this be a bad time to throw up? That's one way to diverge the conversation. Advika held me but I wouldn't meet her eyes. "You know what? If you don't check in with me in a week I will track you down and drag you to live with me. I'm not joking. Do you understand" I want to protest, but then I remember she didn't even have my phone number. Game on. I agree and they both give me a hug before I board the cab.

"Good morning"

"Good morning, where should I take you?" ah. another thing that I hadn't thought of. Without even bothering to check my bag, I knew I didn't have my keys. But I knew someone who might. I give the cab driver an address and I pull out my phone. But I can't even ask because I don't remember her number. I sigh, hoping things hadn't changed as much as I thought.

We're in downtown Seoul before I can start properly stressing myself with the "what ifs". Had she moved? What if she didn't have the key? Would she yell at me for arriving at... Almost 3 am? I decided to do the math to distract myself, reworking the math on how a 4-hour flight turned into a 5-hour flight for a solid 10 minutes before I realized that I had not taken another time zone into play. Small miracles were on my side today. Yesterday? Tomorrow? Whatever the fuck day it is. Since it was so early, there wasn't much in the way of traffic, and the doorman was the same one that had been here when I lived her for however long it was. I explained to him that I was here to see Hong and after some reluctance, he let me in.

Up the elevator to the fifth door, doors opening to crisp air, reminiscent of fall. Exactly 30 steps forward to a door with 4 pastel sierra sunset decorations on the door. I knock, timidly at first as to not wake the neighbors. In 5 minutes, again, a little louder. I did this for an hour before I gave up and simply stood there with my head on the door.

"Hong. Hooooonnnngggggg" I whined quietly. Wow, thank goodness it's so early, everyone would think you're a creeper. lmaooo just imagine getting arrested your first day back. I whined into the door, contemplating just sleeping out here.

"Rosella?" a soft voice came from behind me. I turn to see Hong with Geo's arm around her. There were 2 more people behind her but I barely had the awareness to nod as a greeting. "What are you doing here? Wasn't yesterday your-" She stops, noticing that my lip had begun to tremble.

"Rosella-" she comes over and wraps her arms around me, hiding my face from view of the others. Someone unlocks the door and she drags me inside. The sequins on her dress start to itch, but I continue to hug her. Once I'm ready to let go, she sits me down and goes to change her outfit while Geo sits with me. in awkward silence for a while.

"Rose, what happened?" He eventually asks, sliding over a glass of ice water. "I thought your wedding was yesterday. Wasn't your honeymoon suppose to be in Europe?" I couldn't seem to muster the strength to answer, simply staring at him and sighing.

"You have no tact," Hong comments, combing back in her usual floral pjs. She flops down next to me, placing her hand on mine. "You don't have to tell us now, but I would like for you to tell us eventually." I can't help but smile, she always has a soothing air to her. It's impossible to be mad or upset near her. " I have some clothes you can borrow; I have friends over today so you'll have to take the couch, but you can have the guest room tomorrow." I shake my head, forcing myself to pull away from her motherly touch.

"I could never impose on you, I was just wondering if you have my spare key? I really want to go home." I let my voice crack at the end, hoping she wouldn't push for me to stay here. Geo looked at me like I was crazy, staring particularly long at my single backpack.

"Okay. Geo, could you get her key? It's in the top dresser with a purple tip," Hong nods to him and he leaves. " I do feel the need to remind you that you pretty much purged the place when you left. I don't remember the last time I visited either, so its probably super dusty too."

"I'll make do for tonight. I'll go to the store tomorrow for food and cleaning supplies, ok?"

"You'd better, you forgetful dip stick," Geo grunts as he hands me the key. "Actually, we could probably find somewhere open rn. We could swing by and-"

"I was actually going to walk home it's a nice night and-"

"Absolutely not." Hong interrupted me, sounding her top tier forceful. "I know you've been through some shit in the last 48 hours but I'm not going to let you commit suicide by stupidity!" I took a minute to process this, for a second I thought I was back in Gotham.

"It's not far... I only have my backpack and the crime rates here aren't even that high Hong. You know I took mi-"

"Yes yes, I know about your MMA history, but I draw the line. I don't know how much the others have let you get away with but you are not walking alone at night!" I don't fight her, letting her drag me to her car, Geo driving. We're at my complex within minutes.

"Take care of yourself Rosie." Hong says, giving me a half hug through the car window, Geo simply putting a hand on my head. "I'll come to check up on you- and if you don't answer the door I'll call the cops" she threatened before letting go.

"Thank you, seriously, this is so great that you had my key, and for dropping me off." I hesitate before heading up. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you two been dating?" Geo's blush was extremely visible against his skin, even in the shadows.

"It's that obvious huh? We've been together for about 5 months," Hong replied, blushing as well.

"I always thought you two would look cute together," I said, this time with a genuine smile. I wave them off and opt to take the stairs up. I opened the door to my apartment.

It's freezing, dust dancing in the waning moonlight. I set my bag down, pulling out another change of clothing from what I had bought at the airport. I threw it into the bathroom before heading over to my emergency closet. Never though the emergency stash would be used like this. Maybe we shouldn't use it? Earth shattering heartbreak is too an emergency, fuck off. I'll restock it anyways. I pull out some towels and bath supplies. I get in the shower, letting the steaming hot water run over me.

Since when have I not been able to feel my fingers? I ask myself, flexing them one by one. It's like the stakeout in Boston that one winter, Dick brought us hot chocolate-

No. Don't even. Dust! This place is messy and I want to properly disinfect it- unconsciously increasing the pressure with my loofah- I'll need Lysol, tide pods, scrubs, dish rags. Probably should buy more plates too. Damian always had a peculiar adoration for matching cutlery sets, when he bought me some ramen bowls-

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW! I jerk up, my hand immediately going to my upper spine. I breathe in too quickly, taking in some water. I pull open the curtain and lean over the tub, cough and sputtering, trying to catch my breath.

"What- the- fuck-" I manage to gasp out. I was sitting down in the tub, I guess I had fallen asleep???? I shake the drowsiness off, turning off the water and getting out. Despite, or maybe because of, my broken sleep this last day I was still exhausted once I had gotten changed and my heartbeat had slowed down. I looked to my room door, but collapsed on the sofa, letting the musty leather suffocate me to sleep as my bones sunk into the couch.

Chapter 3: Safehouse

I awoke the same way I fell asleep.

Suffocating.

I wanted to get up, find a tissue to blow my nose, but every muscle in me ached a million ways. Did I fall off the empire state building while I was asleep? Did some cannibal beat me with a meat tenderizer for hours and just leave me on this couch? Holy FUCK.

Even twisting my face away from the couch so I could get some fresh air strained my neck. Every joint felt dislocated, limbs lifeless like a broken marionette. The dust. Allergies. I can't breathe...

Can't breathe

Suffocating! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE- I panic, throwing myself off the couch. Landing on the ground actually didn't cause any more pain. I laid there for a minute, mentally trying to put my joints back in their sockets. It isn't a large enough distraction, and I'm soon hyper-aware of everything. My skin was burning where the sunlight touched, the dust in the air was so heavy I could have sworn I lost my vision again. I could hear the meaningless hustle of cars and people outside on the sidewalk, but worst of all was my pounding heartbeat in my ears.

THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP THUMP-THUMP

I forced myself to get up, groaning as all my muscles pinched as they got back into place. I made a lot of unnecessary noise as I cleaned up my mess from last night. Throwing the shower caddy under the sink, flipping my backpack and letting everything fall out, slamming my dirty clothes into a pile in a corner. And I couldn't help but look around every couple of minutes, not entirely understanding where I was. Trying and failing to compensate for the noises that usually find me when I wake up. When I threw open the balcony windows, I realized I was still waiting to hear another window slide open and a soft "I'm home", even though it was well past noon.

How wild would it be if he actually went on parole after all that? Would a fight have broken out? Would it have been like the whole Owls mishap again?

Get your head out of your ass, they're his family; blood is thicker than water.

Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

He's been helping and fighting alongside them much longer than you have you dip. I storm into the kitchen, only grunting as I smash my hip against the counter. I set out 4 pages of stationary in front of me and made lists; food, clothes, furniture, extra. I took my papers and started walking around, jotting notes of what I needed. Talking to fill the void.

"More toilet paper, hand soap, towels," I hum under my breath, not really checking the cabinets. "As for clothes I should-" my voice caught when I walked into the bedroom. It was freezing. I reflexively bit my lip, eyes watering. Instead of goosebumps, this cold sat in my stomach. The same cold in my hands, from the airplane seat, returned- lacing up my arms, down my stomach and legs. Stabbing my heart and restricting my lungs.

I'm alone.

"I should buy like 4 interchangeable outfits," the whimper barely sounded through the silent tears. I shut the door tight, almost running back to the living room. I sat just outside the ring of light, hunching over my paper. "Jeans, underwear, toothpasTE-" I sniffled but my vision only got blurrier.

"BoOKcASes, a bEd, mayBE a BeAr," my heart squeezed every time my voice broke, and in seconds I couldn't write on the soaked paper. The hiccups were my only air, snot streaking my trembling chin.

"What did I do? What. diD. I DOOO?" I sobbed, wailing into my hands. I curled around a leg of the coffee table, letting its corners cut into my stomach. Wailing until I was dry heaving, scratching my eyes to get rid of these acidic tears, blowing my nose with my shirt- moist blotches sticking to my skin. "Day- Damian" I cried to myself until I passed out again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Afternoons spent silently reading with each other

Matching outfits for galas, some he designed himself, just for me

Our home downtown- bought to have some peace and quiet from his family. Although half the time they broke in, the other half we ended up back in the manor.

Traveling for work, for fun, for missions he didn't think were dangerous.

Sparring with Jason and Cass.

Jason showing me a hundred new bands when I got him into new music genres, trying to help each other find less aggressive ways to vent. Giving him the cream to completely erase the J from his cheek was different, the first time I saw him cry. He understood that blood family wasn't always loyal, and that I didn't mean it when I'd punch or insult someone to hide softer feelings.

Cass just vibing, understanding me and letting me get close. She was always the first to come help me when I was hurt, I became the person she could cry to. The way her face lit up when we were just able to chill a whole night, singing, watching movies and simply understanding each other on a fundamental level.

Barbra growing aggravated as she tried to teach me how to do more with technology than just googling things. Her forgiving my stupidity after I built her a new computer.

The long talks I had with Dick. Anything and everything. The first time hurt, when I called him out. He was giddy and chipper, dramatic as ever but when he caught me staring and stopped for long enough to look back, the pain in his eyes was clear as day. He had just broken up with Kory after all. He didn't need to lie, he didn't need to lighten the mood, he just needed to be honest. But once he could smile honestly again, I couldn't help but remember that he was the one who found out about me and Damian first. He'd been there to spy on our first date, hiding it from Bruce. He was the first to take me out for ice cream then subtly threaten my life if I harmed Damian, the first to swing by for spontaneous days out. To get to know me, to see if I was right for Damian.

Stephanie, Tim and I bonding over teasing and pranking Damian.

Tim and I being forced into caffeine and sleep interventions. Coffee and Coke. And then the beautiful irony of us falling asleep halfway through, especially after I taught him how to sleep with his eyes open.

Cooking with Alfred, learning his famous cookie recipes. Showing him more authentic Hispanic recipes, and him comforting me and being the first to compliment me after I was duped into cooking for the ENTIRE family.

Philosophical and political discussions with Bruce. Talks about war and power, cultural similarities and their origins. Talks about Damian as a child to mess with him. Opening up about paranoia, fear of losing loved ones, the controversies of being "too much" for some people. He understood, sometimes the ultimate sacrifices had to be made in a second. He understood because he was the same. We'd give up our lives before anyone else.

It's all gone.

So much of my past, and now, my whole future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it's cold. i stripped off my shirt and blew my nose.

blood. eww, it's hot. i hold my shirt to my nose, crawling under the table, balling up until i could feel all 4 legs pressing into me.

tuneless humming, watching the room light up until my eyes burn.

I have to pee.

I wash my hands, the water making me aware of my bone dry mouth. My tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth. I let the water pour through my fingers for another minute before walking away, laying back under the coffee table.

long grains. shades of brown. like dead grass. my fingers run over the million tiny bumps watching the wood fade from a blurry brown to a million tiny wooden grains.

My hair is on fire. The sun reaches it from under the table.

There are people in the hallway. They're as loud as the cars outside.

the ac is running. i start humming to drown it out.

i'm melting. i force my eyes to blink but they continue to burn.

I can't breathe. I stagger to the bathroom and after a few minutes of moving my jaw up and down, my mouth manages to open. I swig some water before throwing some on my face. fever? headache at least. I grab a towel to wipe my face, fumbling back into the hall. fuck was i looking directly at the sun? there is only one place colder than the sun. i walk to my bedroom, the cold imperceptible to me now.

but the second i put my eyes directly onto the empty bed frame, i could almost hear them sizzle. it exhausted me. I hadn't realized how hot my face was until i laid it on the floor. like a refreshing bath, calming. i just focused on my heat being transferred to the floor, unaware that I was falling asleep again.

((The writing for the last chapter is intentionally like that, I was attempting to write Rose being in a type of disassociated kind of state; where you aren't aware of time passing, noting seems real, even things in your immediate vicinity. Knowing that you should be doing something, drinking water, changing clothes, listening to music, ANYTHING-but still not doing it. The capitalization/simple sentences and repetition on the latter part was intentional. ))

#I dont know #i guess i wanted to see how/if my writing's changed #YES THIS IS WHERE I GOT THE THING FOR DIAVOLO'S DADS LETTER I REALLY LIKED IT SO I REUSED IT #I couldnt come up with a nice transitory chapter about Rose's friends coming to check on her/ reminding her that she's her own person/#coming back to gotham #BUT THEY DEF DONT GET BACK TOGETHER #not obey me!#NOT OBEY ME #Not OM!#Ozera nonsense

4 notes · View notes

gyrlversion · 5 years

Text

He looked f***ed. Clubber tells how UFC star Conor McGregor

Mugshot: MMA fighter Conor McGregor after his arrest on criminal mischief and strongarm robbery charges after taking Ahmed Abdirzak’s phone and smashing it

The shaken clubber whose phone was smashed and taken by Conor McGregor has branded the UFC superstar a ‘dangerous thug’ – telling DailyMail.com: ‘I was scared for my life.’

Ahmed Abdirzak, 22, was trying to video McGregor outside a Miami Beach nightspot when the snarling MMA legend flew into a rage and ‘punched’ his iPhone 8 out of his hand.

Restaurant manager Ahmed then looked on in disbelief as McGregor, 30, picked up the handset and hurled it to the floor before stamping on it repeatedly.

The Irishman then picked up the smashed phone and slipped it into his pocked before casually strolling back to SUV – laughing and adopting the signature McGregor swagger. The phone contained footage of the incident.

‘He walked away with that trademark McGregor strut that you see him enter the ring with in UFC,’ Ahmed told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

‘I’m not going to lie, I was scared for my life – the guy is a lethal weapon.’

McGregor was arrested Monday evening and released hours later on $12,500 bond.

He faces charges of criminal mischief and strong-armed robbery. It is unclear if police have the phone and the footage it contains.

Crime scene: Ahmed Abdirzak tells DailyMail.com he was scared his life was at risk when Conor McGregor stormed up to him, grabbed him and seized his phone – at this spot here while he and his friend waited for their car. ‘I looked into his face and his eyes were bulging. He was so angry. I don’t know whether he was drunk or on drugs, but he looked f***ked.

Outcome: Conor McGregor, one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, is facing charges of misdemeanor criminal mischief and strong-armed robbery. He is seen leaving jail Monday night after being bonded out

Party venue: The Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami Beach is home to LIV where Conor McGregor was partying

Here to party: Conor McGregor was the least famous celebrity spotted by Ahmed Adbirzak and his friends in the LIV nightclub. The biggest name was rapper Blueface

Videos posted on Instagram show the MMA superstar partying with a number of people, including this woman in a captain’s hat

Inside the club: On one clip, Conor McGregor appeared to be arguing with another party-goer, with his arm raised. Hours later he was involved in the skirmish on the car park

Brit Ahmed, from Slough, Berkshire, and a group of friends flew into the U.S. last Friday for a Spring Break vacation in Miami Beach.

Top of their list of nightspots to visit was super club LIV in the swank Fontainebleau Hotel.

‘Everyone told me that LIV is the place to be. The place is really high-end, the music was insane,’ he went on.

‘We saw loads of celebrities. The big US rapper Blueface was performing live. We had a fantastic evening. There was no trouble inside.

‘There was a lot of A-list celebrities there. Conor was probably the lowest there, nobody was showing him any love.

‘The only reason I was looking at him was because I was from the United kingdom and he’s big there.’

Other footage from inside LIV showed McGregor appearing to argue with a clubber as he partied with a number of women.

In a clip posted on Instagram, the Irish MMA star appeared to be shouting at a bearded man. McGregor edges closer to him, before the camera pans away.

The alleged skirmish outside the club happened at 5am when Ahmed and his friends, including best friend Fuad Nur, 23, ran into the star in the hotel valet area as they waited for their rental car.

‘My friend spotted him on the way out and shouted to him ‘McGregor, McGregor, we’ve come all the way from London’,’ he went on.

‘He turned to him and gave him a salute. I said ‘Man dem McGregor’ [a London street expression of friendship and appreciation] and he repeated it word for word, mocking me.

‘It seemed good-natured at that point though, he seemed friendly. I wasn’t insulting him or antagonizing him at all.

‘I don’t drink, I’ve never touched alcohol in my life. I’ve never done drugs. I was completely sober.’

Ahmed said McGregor began shouting lyrics from the hit rap song Thotiana which Blueface had performed inside the club.

He insists he was about 15ft away when he took out his phone to record the spectacle – and that McGregor saw it and advanced towards him.

Defiance; Conor McGregor shared a picture of him in the back of a Miami Beach Police cruiser taken after his arrest – and showing him grinning

Message: The MMA fighter, 30, posted a picture of himself on social media with this caption

Home: McGregor keeps a house in Miami Beach and returned there after being bonded out

‘He reached out his left hand to greet me, to shake my hand. But then he held my arm so I couldn’t get away,’ said Ahmed.

‘His grip was insane. I could tell he was a professional athlete. I thought he’s going to hit me. I was shocked.

‘I looked into his face and his eyes were bulging. He was so angry. I don’t know whether he was drunk or on drugs, but he looked f***ked.

‘I just remained passive, I didn’t want to fight. Then with his right hand he punched the phone. It was so hard I felt the impact through my entire body.’

Ahmed said he watched the phone screen shatter. He tried to pick it up but says McGregor picked it up and threw it on the floor.

‘He stamped on it four times. He then picked it up and put it in his jeans,’ Ahmed added. ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

‘He did his swagger dance and headed to his black SUV with his entourage surrounding him.

‘I was asking them, “Can I get my phone back?”

‘I tried to run after him and asked for it back but he just laughed.’

Amazingly, Ahmed, a dad-of-one who runs his family’s restaurant, Golis, Southall, west London, said the globetrotting sports star is yet to return the smashed iPhone.

‘He robbed me. It was daylight robbery. It wasn’t just a broken phone,’ he told DailyMail.com.

‘Nobody has taken the phone away from him and given it back to me.

‘As far as I know he’s still got it. It’s got all my personal pictures of my mother and son that I will never be able to get back now.

‘I’ve got friends in the UK who have done really minor crimes and they aren’t even allowed to come to America. They can’t get visas.

‘How is it that this man, a guy with history of arrests and violence can just come in and out whenever he likes – all because he’s a big name celebrity.

‘He’s a dangerous thug, very dangerous. He lives up to his name – notorious. He thinks the normal rules don’t apply to him.

‘I wouldn’t wish jail on anyone, but they should make an example out of him. His fans are already posting threats and jokes about me online.’

Victim: Ahmed Abdirzak tells DailyMail.com: ‘He’s a dangerous thug, very dangerous. He lives up to his name – notorious. He thinks the normal rules don’t apply to him.’

Witness: Ahmed Abdirzak was with best friend Fuad Nur, 23, when the confrontation with McGregor happened

Arrest report: How police dealt with Conor McGregor

Abdirzak said he should at least have his ability to come and go freely from the U.S. withdrawn.

‘I wouldn’t want to see anyone jailed or deported but I believe in justice,’ he added.

‘Coming to the US is a privilege. And if you do bad things you should lose that privilege

‘I don’t see why they should let him in again. He’s had enough chances to behave himself already.’

Monday’s incident came just three days after McGregor completed his probation for a violent altercation last April in Brooklyn when he attacked a bus carrying several UFC fighters by throwing a dolly through a window.

McGregor turned himself in to police the day after the melee and was charged with assault and criminal mischief.

He pleaded guilty in July to a single disorderly conduct charge in a Brooklyn courthouse in order to avoid prison time.

On Friday it was announced that he’d completed five days of community service at churches in Brooklyn and had taken an anger management class.

Had he violated probation, McGregor likely would have been faced jail time along with possible deportation to Ireland.

The MMA fighter, 30, posted a picture of himself on social media Tuesday with the caption: ‘Patience in this world is a virtue I continue to work on. I love my friends dearly. Thank you all’.

The rise of Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor makes his entrance before his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in August 2017

Conor McGregor is known for his controversial, bragging persona in and out of the ring, which draws record numbers of viewers to his fights.

The 29-year-old Ultimate Fighting Champion was born in Dublin, Ireland, and began his mixed martial arts career at age 18 in an amateur match for the Irish Ring of Truth in his hometown.

He soon went professional and debuted in the MMA in 2009, collecting wins both as a lightweight and a featherweight.

McGregor is the first European MMA fighter to hold titles from two divisions – featherweight and lightweigh – simultaneously.

In 2013, after being swarmed by requests to sign McGregor to the UFC during a trip to Ireland, the organization’s president Dana White complied and the fighter became the second-ever Irishman to compete for the organization.

McGregor has said that he collected a $200 check from Ireland’s welfare state just one week before his UFC debut, when he was working as a plumber.

He drew the biggest pay-per-view audience for an MMA fight ever when he fought Nate Diaz at UFC 202 in 2016 and defeated him. For that fight he earned $1million, becoming the first UFC fighter to get a seven-figure pay day.

That year he became the first MMA fighter ever to be included on Forbes’ list of highest-paid athletes.

McGregor has been in a relationship with Dee Devlin since 2008 and they share a child, Conor McGregor Jr who was born in May of 2017.

In 2017 he announced he would go on hiatus from the UFC after winning the lightweight championship.

McGregor went on hiatus while undefeated as the lightweight champion but had already lost his featherweight championship.

In August of 2017, McGregor he was paid a reported $30million to fight undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a much-anticipated, yet ultimately uncompetitive match that he lost on the 10th round.

McGregor’s relationship with the UFC hit the rocks in April 2018 when White ruled that he would be stripped of his Lightweight Championship belt because he hadn’t participated in a UFC event since 2016.

The Irishman responded with a profane tweet that said: ‘You’ll strip me of nothing c***s.’

Then two days before the UFC 223 event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, McGregor arrived with an entourage at the end of a media event and triggered a melee in which he threw a dolly at a bus carrying other fighters.

Several fighters were injured by broken glass and two had to miss upcoming fights.

White called the incident the ‘most despicable thing in UFC history’.

McGregor turned himself in to police and was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.

He pleaded guilty in July to a single disorderly conduct charge in a Brooklyn courthouse in order to avoid prison time.

McGregor returned to the Octagon in August 2018 to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the Lightweight Championship but was defeated in the fourth round in Las Vegas.

He found himself in trouble with the law again in March 2019 after an altercation with a fan outside a nightclub in Miami Beach.

McGregor was arrested and charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and strong-armed robbery after he allegedly smashed a fan’s phone on March 11.

The post He looked f***ed. Clubber tells how UFC star Conor McGregor appeared first on Gyrlversion.

from WordPress https://www.gyrlversion.net/he-looked-fed-clubber-tells-how-ufc-star-conor-mcgregor/

#Entertainment News

0 notes

pete-and-pete · 6 years

Text

WATCH: UFC 229: Khabib vs. Mcgregor Staff Predictions

youtube

Saturday, October 6th at 7pm PST, Khabib ‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov (26-0-0) will take on Conor ‘The Notorious’ McGregor (21-3-0) for the UFC Lightweight Championship belt. It’s been nearly two years since McGregor has entered the octagon and he’s looking to prove that he is still one of the most dangerous strikers walking the face of the earth. And the undefeated Khabib is looking to solidify his legacy as one of the greatest to ever enter the octagon at the lightweight class.

Mcgregor is known to put his opponents down with his masterful left hook and Khabib is known for his arsenal of striking options and elite grappling technique so, who is predicted to take home the UFC Lightweight Championship belt, Saturday evening?

Well, the good people at MMAFighting asked other fighters on the bill and their staff who do they think would be walking away with a win between Khabib and McGregor. You can watch replies from Anthony Pettis (21-7-0) and Tony Ferguson (23-3-0) who will be participating in the co-main fight in the response video above. As well as replies from Jussier Formiga (21-5-0) who will be taking on Sergio Pettis (17-3-0) Saturday evening and the undefeated Aspen Ladd (6-0-0) fighting in the Women’s Bantamweight division against Tonya Evinger (19-5-0).

After watching the pro predictions scroll to the bottom of the page and vote for who you think is going to win UFC 229: Khabib vs. Mcgregor below.

Tony Ferguson:

“Double knockout. I’m gonna keep saying it the whole entire time: I hope these bitches knock each other out. They talk enough shit. F*ck it, man. I hope they deal with what they gotta deal with and squash that shit. This is a man’s sport.”

Anthony Pettis:

“Honestly, before I came here, I wasn’t making a pick. Then I was like, you know what, f*ck it, I’ll make a pick: Conor. I gotta say Conor by knockout. If Khabib gets hit — Conor, if he hits you, you get put to sleep. But I like knockouts, so that’s why I’m going Conor.”

Nik Lentz:

“I think Conor’s going to catch him. That’s what I personally think. I think Khabib’s a little too emotionally invested, and I think the way you beat Conor is to not play his game. Don’t talk to him. Ignore him. Kinda just step back from the situation and let him burn himself out. So stay away from him, know that he has too much power in the first couple rounds to be trading with him. Make the first fight, make him chase you, shoot low — do all these things and then really drag him down into the later rounds and win that way. I think Khabib is definitely [capable] of doing that, I just don’t know if he can keep him emotions in check enough to do it. Conor’s a special guy like that. He gets in people’s heads.

“This is the reason why probably I’ll never fight Conor McGregor. If I fought Conor McGregor, I would take my phone out and throw that shit away, and no one would be able to get ahold of me, and every time I saw him I would put like NASCAR headphones on and shit so I couldn’t hear what he said, and I would just laugh at him. Be like, ‘Bro, you can talk all day because I can’t hear f*cking hear you.’ Because trying, it’s like you’re going to try to combat the best in the world to ever do that. Right? He even got Mayweather. Like, just don’t engage him in that. Sometimes you win the fight by not fighting, and that’s what you would do. Don’t go against where the guy is the absolute best. Just step back and let him kinda burn himself out.

“If you ever need an example of that, you can look at other things. Let’s use the rap game for example, like Eminem. Right? He went after Trump and Trump just ignored him, and Eminem looked like a complete disaster, begging for his attention, and he won. Then he goes out and talks about a couple rappers, they come after him and he just smashes them, he just obliterates them. So if you would’ve just stepped away and just let him go, he’s so mad you ignored him, he makes himself look stupid. I think that’s what you have to do against Conor. I think you just have to ignore him, but nobody’s been able to do that.”

Tony Martin:

“I think Khabib’s going to win. I think that if he sticks to the mindset of, ‘Hey, can you stop 100 takedowns?’ — when he said that, I was like, listen, Khabib’s going to win. Because when he says that, he’s like, ‘Listen, I’ll give it to you, your striking’s going to be way better than mine. That’s fine. This isn’t a striking fight though. This isn’t a boxing fight, kickboxing fight. It’s an MMA fight, and we’re going to find out how good your wrestling is. You could stuff my first 30 shots. We’ll see if you can stuff the next 70.’ So, I think if he goes in with that mindset, it’s an easy win for him. But Conor does have a really good left hand, really good counter-striking, which is very dangerous.

“And the more I watch Conor, I’m like, this is some really high-level shit. You could say whatever you want, ‘Oh, he hasn’t faced wrestlers,’ and that’s fine, but that’s elite-level striking. Like, it’s elite elite. He could go in there against a guy like Anthony Pettis and easily put Pettis away. Right? Pettis has elite striking, but there’s just another level Conor has. It also comes from his confidence. His confidence is so strong, where he truly believes he’ll kill you in one shot, which makes him a very, very dangerous fight. But I’m going to go with Khabib as long as he sticks with that mindset of, ‘We’ll see if he can stop my takedowns.’”

Jussier Formiga:

“Khabib by decision. I think he’s going to dominate him.”

Aspen Ladd:

“If Khabib gets him to the ground, it’s over. If Conor clips him, it’s over.”

Tonya Evinger:

“I think Khabib’s got it. I think he’s gonna take him down. If he gets him down, I think it’s over.”

Dominick Reyes:

“I’m gonna have to go with Conor. I think Khabib’s going to take him down, yes, and I think he is going to batter him a bit, but Conor’s going to make him pay every time he comes in, and eventually, I think that’s going to add up and he’s going to finish him.”

Michelle Waterson:

“It’s funny because I really enjoy how entertaining Conor is, both inside and outside of the Octagon. Conor is a master at range and distance and accuracy, and it only takes one punch to end a fight. Sometimes Khabib can be reckless coming in for his shots, but once he gets ahold of you, there’s no turning back. It’s a five-round fight, and I suspect that Khabib is going to come out ahead in the fight and win.”

Jalin Turner:

“I’ve been saying I’ve got Conor in the first three rounds by knockout, and then if Khabib gets out of the first three rounds, Khabib is going to maul him and probably TKO him in the fifth, something like that. But I’m kinda leaning a little more towards Conor just because I like the dude. I like him as a fighter, I love his style. But you can’t deny Khabib’s grappling, and he’s impressive too. I mean, he’s undefeated, an undefeated lightweight. He’s really impressive. So, dude, I’m torn between the two. But I’m siding with Conor just a little bit more.”

Ovince Saint Preux:

“Man, I don’t know. Conor’s got a good left hand. Khabib’s wrestling is next to none. He probably has some of the best wrestling in MMA. But at the end of the day, Conor’s mental game is totally different. I don’t think Khabib has been fazed by it, just as far as from what I’ve seen he hasn’t been fazed by it at all. So, I don’t know. The only reason I’d probably give a slight advantage to Conor is because of his mental game. The way he mentally gets prepared for stuff, it’s next to none, so it’s a slight advantage. But if Khabib won the fight, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

Scott Holtzman:

“I think rounds one and two McGregor, rounds three, four and five, Khabib. That’s why it’s gonna sell so well because nobody knows. I don’t think [it will be a] decision at all. I think three, four, five, submission or KO for Khabib, and one and two has gotta be a knockout for Conor.”

Ryan LaFlare:

“It’s really hard to say because you don’t know if Khabib is gonna be able to close the distance and take him down. I’d like to see Khabib win. I also like what Conor does for the sport, almost don’t want to see him down. It’s just interesting. If I have to put money on it, I’m going Khabib, though.”

Vicente Luque:

“It’s a hard one to predict. I think on paper, Khabib is the favorite. Khabib is the guy that, he’s more complete. He has the wrestling that is unstoppable. People can’t defend that — it’s crazy. He has the gas tank, as well. So he can push the ground and pound and the wrestling for five rounds at a rhythm nobody can do.

“But you can never count out McGregor. Those two first rounds, I think McGregor will be dangerous. Khabib has to take care. If he connects, I think McGregor has the power to knock Khabib out. But the further it goes, I think Khabib is the favorite, for sure.”

Take Our Poll

(function(d,c,j){if(!d.getElementById(j)){var pd=d.createElement(c),s;pd.id=j;pd.src='https://s2.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/shortcodes/js/polldaddy-shortcode.js';s=d.getElementsByTagName(c)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(pd,s);} else if(typeof jQuery !=='undefined')jQuery(d.body).trigger('pd-script-load');}(document,'script','pd-polldaddy-loader')); source https://heavy.com/sports/2018/10/watch-ufc-229-khabib-vs-mcgregor-staff-predictions/

0 notes

peaceofmindallthetime-blog · 6 years

Text

⁃ we are turning into savages We shouldn’t let violence entertain us. on social media I’ve seen people getting hurt, embarrassed, violated, killed, and abused and the worse thing about it is that in most of these scenarios the person recording the video does not try to help the person that is in danger. Some victims in these scenarios get laughed at, made fun of, and have that video reposted over and over again. Wwe, ufc, boxing, mma fighting, street fighting, these people risk their lives for our entertainment. when these fighters get knocked out, terribly injured, and gushing blood all you see is people in the crowd and people at home watching it on tv cheering. Is this what humanity has come to ? having nothing else to do but laughing and cheering for people who are hurt and in need of help, and people who would knock each other since less for a check. We need to start caring, and show more compassion companionship towards each other and stop entertaining violence.

0 notes

junker-town · 7 years

Text

3 Mayweather-McGregor conspiracy theories that will explain any fight result

However the fight goes, people won’t be satisfied.

Saturday’s mega-bout between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor might be close. It also might not be. Mayweather is a 49-0 boxer, and McGregor is a mixed martial artist who’s never had a competitive boxing match in his life. Mayweather is the heavy betting favorite. If he falls to 49-1 all-time, it’ll be a stunner for the ages.

But even if you think the fight’s going to be suspenseful, there’s one thing you can take to the bank right now: The outcome is going to make a lot of people angry. Neither boxer is a hero, and the event is fighting perceptions — in corners big and small — that various things about it are not real. Conspiracy theories abound.

Theory: McGregor will use illegal moves and end/ruin the fight.

My guess is that McGregor will be beaten... Then he'll get frustrated and just round kick TF outta Floyd

— UG na Rock Boom (@rukibobby) August 24, 2017

I can see Mcgregor saying fuck it during the fight and using his MMA moves on Mayweather.

— Tapia (@Luis_T100) August 20, 2017

Does McGregor still get paid if he decides to kick Mayweather?

— Lexi Arellano (@lexiwub) August 24, 2017

The UFC is McGregor’s primary fighting arena. It’s not that UFC fights don’t have rules. They do. You can’t eye-gouge, crotch-grab, hair-pull, fish-hook, or bite your opponent, among other outlawed acts that normal people would never do to one another. But kicking, elbowing, and kneeing your opponent? All good. Putting him in a chokehold? The literal goal of the fight. These things aren’t permitted in boxing, but if McGregor does them, he’ll spare himself getting beaten up and humiliated.

If McGregor were to kick Mayweather in the head, for instance, that would be the end of the fight. It would also turn the fight into something other than a boxing match, which would make the entire event something of a fraud. But it’s not going to happen, because McGregor stands to lose an outrageous sum of money if it does.

UFC president Dana White, who helped organize the fight, says McGregor is contractually forbidden from using MMA moves.

“There is no way that will happen. That is absolutely in the contract, number one.”

“Number two, this is a boxing match under the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. When you talk about a guy like Floyd Mayweather, the lawsuit if that ever happened...”

“You all know how much Conor likes money. Conor would depart with a whole lot of money if that ever happened.”

This will remain a boxing bout. If McGregor loses, his fans will be insistent that if this had only been a real fight with real moves allowed, he’d have won.

Theory: McGregor’s been sandbagging to lower expectations.

In June, a video leaked of McGregor sparring in boxing gloves. He looked terrible, worrying fans that he’d get obliterated against Mayweather:

People telling me Mayweather will have his hands full trying to land on McGregor -STOP IT! I respect McGregor BUT i ain't Floyd and i landed http://pic.twitter.com/gd4dFi3XUU

— Chris van Heerden (@TheHeat001) June 14, 2017

Mayweather’s trainer, Nate Jones, suggested McGregor’s session was staged:

“I think I’ve seen that sparring. First of all, like I said, I looked at it, but to me it looked (like) it’s a possibility it could be staged. We don’t fall for that, we prepare for anything. Please believe me, I looked at it and I came up with my opinion that it could have been for real but it could have been staged. I don’t know. His style is a different style from Floyd. I don’t want nobody messing with Floyd. He may be more difficult than Floyd’s gonna be for him. Styles make fights. He may give him a different look inside this ring when he’s sparring him than what Floyd’s gonna give him. We don’t take none of that light. That’s a different man. That man’s name does not start with Floyd Mayweather, so we’re not worried about that. We’re gonna train hard. ”

“I looked it and after a while I watched the whole entirety of it, but I know that it could be staged and that don’t mean anything. We’re not gonna take that lightly. That don’t mean nothing to us. I looked at it, but it don’t mean anything. We’re gonna train like never before. I don’t think Floyd looked at it cause he don’t do that. We’re not worried about that, we don’t worry about that. When you look bad, it don’t matter to us because they could be staged. He might get in the ring with somebody else and they could be staged, or it could be him. We’re just going to see what’s going to happen on August 26th when he’s lined up with the very best. We’ll see then.”

If McGregor wins, many are going to think he was putting on a show in that video. It’s hard to imagine a boxer looking that weak and then beating Mayweather without something more complicated being at play.

Theory: This entire fight is a hoax designed to get your money.

This is the theory that’s most flexible and suited to any outcome.

Both fighters have gotten good at looking like they hate the other:

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Golfer Rory McIlroy, McGregor’s fellow Irishman, wonders how real that is:

Certainly that's all I've done is follow the build up to this thing. Now that I'm off Twitter and social media, all I do is watch YouTube videos of Conor McGregor.

I'm intrigued. He talks a good game. If you just listen to his press conferences and what he says, you would think that this guy, he's the one with the 50-0 boxing record. It's amazing. I'm a big admirer of him. He talks about visualization and the law of attraction and all this stuff that he believes in it and he vocalizes it, and he has the courage to say what he thinks. I'm a believer in that stuff, and I'm a big advocate of that. And some of the stuff he does wouldn't be my cup of tea, but he believes 100 percent in himself and he believes he's going to go out there on Saturday night and shock the world.

I'm interested just to see how it all plays out, but I just fear that they do all this trash-talking and they go behind the scenes and they are having a laugh and thinking: I can't believe we are talking all this public for a ride. We are all buying into it and they are like, can you believe these people believe this. I just hope it doesn't turn into it and I hope it's not in any way fixed.

It's amazing, like we were talking about, imagine McGregor knocks him out in the first couple of rounds. They would get even more for the rematch. The rematch would be even bigger. So it's just -- I just don't know what that zero on Mayweather's record is worth, and that's the thing. That's his legacy. If he goes down and lies down for ten seconds at some point in that, you know, is that worth making an extra few 100 million? That's sort of up to him.

Yeah, as you can see, I'm very knowledgeable on it. (Laughter) yeah, I'm interested about it. I'm intrigued. We'll see how it goes.

If McGregor knocks out — or even just beats — Mayweather, some are going to think Mayweather let it happen so he could sell a redemption story ahead of a rematch.

If Mayweather does what he’s supposed to do and just grinds down McGregor over a 12-round win, it won’t quell the notion that they both knew this would happen all along. McGregor’s still getting his money, after all. And every time he claimed he’d knock Mayweather out early, he’ll just have been helping to line his own pockets.

That’s in addition to wondering whether the two men are friends having a chuckle about this entire thing when the cameras aren’t rolling.

No matter the outcome, conspiracy theories will run rampant.

If you think Mayweather is an unbeatable fighter who could never lose to a non-boxer in a million years, anything other than a knockout of McGregor could look suspect. Mayweather isn’t a knockout specialist in any circumstance, but he’d be accused of intentionally letting McGregor hang around until a judicial decision. The reason? So that McGregor could complain about an unfair ruling and demand another bout.

If McGregor does get knocked out, people will interpret it the same way. He’ll be leaving himself room to claim he was sick, that a punch caught him by surprise, or that people didn’t get to see the fight they paid for. For the people, McGregor will be in position to call for a rematch. More money will flow ahead of that hypothetical fight.

And if McGregor wins — as McIlroy alludes to — it could still be seen as a setup for another fight. Mayweather’s not going to stay stuck on 49 wins forever — not when a nice, round number is one victory away. And he’s not going out with a loss. Another fight is a virtual certainty, and one worth as much money as this one.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I know a lot of viewers won’t be happy.

0 notes

johnbattlesca · 7 years

Text

Steve “Nasty” Anderson Remembers the Decade He Spent on Top of Sport Karate

Steve Anderson is an icon in the sport-karate universe. The native of Toledo, Ohio, spent time in various parts of the country before settling in Southern California in 1973, where he rose to the top of the circuit and acquired the nickname “Nasty.”

The Black Belt Hall of Famer now operates two schools in Ontario, Canada, and oversees the instruction of some 500 students. We caught up with him for the purposes of this interview. We’re confident you will find his recollections as enlightening and entertaining as we did.

You started training with your first instructors, “Chicken” Gabriel and Reynaldo Leal, when you were 15. What was it about karate that appealed to you?

Steve Anderson: It was the Bruce Lee thing. Karate carried a mysticism back in those days. All the Orientals were doing it, and I wanted to have their speed and power. I wanted to be able to touch somebody and then have that person die in a few years. (laughs)

Steve “Nasty” Anderson (left) and “Chicken” Gabriel

How did you get interested in competition?

Steve Anderson: Chicken’s school was the most dominant one in Southern California — and in all of California. It was right there with the Black Karate Federation. We were actually a bit better, I thought. Rey was one of the top brown belts in Southern California, and Chicken was one of the top black belts.

What enabled you to build your phenomenal tournament record?

Steve Anderson: Those guys were so competitive, and that helped me set my sights on winning. I thought, If they can do it, I’ve got a good opportunity to do it, too, because I was a better athlete than most of those guys. So I started going to tournaments every week — even when they didn’t go, I’d go by myself. And I’d win and win. It was an addiction.

What was your first significant win?

Steve Anderson: It was in 1980 at a tournament run by Steve Fisher. That was where I first beat Keith Vitali, the No. 1 fighter. Then I beat him again later that year in the U.S. Top 10 Nationals in Stockton, California. Then I beat him in Atlanta at the U.S. Open in October of the same year. So we had three fights that year, and I won them all. Karate Illustrated rated me the No. 1 fighter in the country — in my rookie year.

The newest release from combatives authority Kelly McCann and Black Belt is titled Kelly McCann Combatives 2: Stick & Ground Combat. It’s a streaming-video course you can watch on your digital device. Click here to watch the trailer and then sign up.

Where did you go from there?

Steve Anderson: I felt had to win every single tournament. Other guys would go through a year and win two major tournaments, but I’d win 13. I was the Tiger Woods of the time. I’m not bragging; the record speaks for itself. I went 18 months without a loss, from 1984 to some point in ’85. In ’87 I won my first seven tournaments in a row, so I thought I was headed for another undefeated year, but I lost two or three later that year. Unlike today’s fighters, I was winning overall. I’d win my division, then have to fight four or five more fights to be the grand champion of the tournament. There was only one grand champion when I was around. There weren’t three, four or five of them like there are now.

What do you consider to be the highlight of that part of your career?

Steve Anderson: Winning the U.S. Open in 1980. That pushed me over the hump and made me realize I was someone special. It made the people in Southern California recognize me. As a brown belt, I won 92 tournaments in a row. After I became a black belt, it wasn’t so much that I might lose a match; it was how badly I was going to beat the opposition. I didn’t just want to win; I wanted to annihilate the opposition. I didn’t hurt anybody, of course. It was the embarrassment factor, the way I would talk to them before and during the fight. I would tell them flat out: “You’ve got no chance. You shouldn’t have even come to this tournament. You’re a joke.” I wouldn’t say that stuff now, and if I had it to do all over again, I probably would not have done it then. But when you brag, you’ve got to back it up or people will be real hard on you. So I had to go out and pull off those things. Plus, I was broke most of the time, and I had to make my rent money.

How does fighting now differ from fighting in those days?

Steve Anderson: The competitors are more talented now. A lot of them have adopted things that Billy Blanks and I were doing: weight training, cross-training, doing a little bit of this and that. They kick better, they punch better and they’re faster. But I don’t think they are as smart. One of the things that made me good was I followed the fighters before me. I would often talk to them and see what they did.

Are you saying the mind is as important as the body?

Steve Anderson: Tournament fighting is more mental than physical. You have to be able to deal with the stress year after year as you put up with the referees, who may not be so good all the time, and the hotels. A lot of today’s guys complain about the stress of waiting around to [fight in] tournaments that sometimes aren’t organized well. That didn’t matter to me. The bottom line was when I fought at 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning, which I often did, all I looked at was winning. But a lot of fighters of today aren’t like that; they have no sense of history. They don’t even know that Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez, Skipper Mullins, Thomas LaPuppet and Howard Jackson were great fighters. But where talent is concerned, today’s guys are better. They don’t have it as hard, but they’re more talented.

The karate/kobudo master teamed up with Black Belt mag to make Fumio Demura Karate Weapons: Complete Video Course. Merging Demura’s classic DVDs with new new kata footage, the program streams lessons on the nunchaku, bo, kama, sai, tonfa and eku bo to your smartphone, tablet or computer. Details here!

Are their techniques different from the ones you used?

Steve Anderson: No. It’s hard to change the fighting techniques much. The biggest changes have been in kata and in weapons.

What are some of the techniques you relied on back then?

Steve Anderson: The “California blitz,” my dive-bomb reverse punch and the different ways I did the backfist. My punching skills were the best of anybody out there. My jump-away side kick was also great. With my defensive side kick and defensive hook kick, I could keep people off long enough to go forward and hit them.

The California blitz

Did you have any weaknesses?

Steve Anderson: Offensive kicks. I wasn’t so good at going after people with my kicks.

Are there any techniques you used then but are no longer seen in competition?

Steve Anderson: Now there are no throws or takedowns. I used to throw; I really used to throw Billy Blanks to the ground and punch him a lot. I would do that to a lot of fighters, but I especially liked to do it to the bigger guys because it was an intimidation thing. I weighed 175 pounds when I was throwing those guys around.

What do you think of modern tournament fighters?

Steve Anderson: The fighters are probably better trained, and they spend more time doing it than most of the fighters [when I was competing]. But there are more fighters nowadays, so you have more of a chance of getting some good ones out of that greater pool. Mike Pombeiro was great once, but I don’t hear much about him right now. They used to say Raymond Daniels was going to be something else. I have a guy, Ben Stewart, who’s doing super well. Then you’ve got Jadi Tention, but he’s dropped out of sight. A lot of the young guys can’t last more than three or four years. Some of the fighters of today would have been significant a long time ago, but I don’t know if they would have stayed around for a long time — and that’s how you judge greatness.

Announcing a new low price on the Greg Jackson Mixed Martial Arts Core Curriculum, an online course from Black Belt magazine and the world’s leading MMA coach! Learn the best fighting techniques, combinations and strategies on your tablet or smartphone. More info here!

Why don’t competitors stick around as long as they used to?

Steve Anderson: There aren’t enough financial benefits for them. I made a lot more money than the guys are making now, and they have sponsored teams. I was on a sponsored team — the Atlantic World Karate Team, which was the biggest, the baddest and had the most money — but that was at the end of my career. Now you have teams like the Paul Mitchell Team and all these straight-up teams, and sometimes the guys have full sponsorship when they’re only 18 or 21 years old. Once you know that winning a tournament won’t determine whether you get to the next tournament, you’re no longer hungry. But people like Billy Blanks, Richard Plowden, Anthony Price, Anthony Halloway, Kevin Thompson and I needed to make money at tournaments. We had an incentive to win at all costs.

Were there any fighters you tried to avoid?

Steve Anderson: It wasn’t like that. If Billy Blanks and Richard Plowden were fighting in a $1,000 tournament on this side of the street, and there was a $1,000 tournament on that side, I would go to the tournament on the other side because it was still $1,000. I knew that if I had to deal with Billy and those guys, I was going to have a rough time. I needed the money, so I would go to the easier side of the street because I knew I would have to face those guys somewhere down the road, and the more wins you get now, the more confident you will be then. So when I did go up against Billy, I would win because I had that [previous] win. I wasn’t running or ducking anyone, but given a choice I would rather not fight a great fighter all the time — especially at a tournament. You didn’t want to fight Billy Blanks, Richard Plowden, Anthony Price or Keith Vitali in your first fight because that’s your worst fight. You want to fight a “donor,” somebody who’s easy, so you can build your confidence up. Then you fight a guy who’s a little better and next time a guy who’s a little better than that. Then you’re ready to fight the best guy.

Do you have any regrets?

Steve Anderson: Yes. The first time Billy beat me [was] at the California State Championship in ’83. I wish I had gone forward a little bit more in that fight. Another time, at a West Coast National Karate Association [event] in 1981, I fought when I had pneumonia. I had won the tournament three or four years in a row. This time, I won my division, so I was fighting a guy named Foster for the grand championship. In the first round I had the lead, but the scorekeeper made a mistake; instead of a two-point lead, he thought I had a one-point lead. All I had to do was remind the referee of the score and he would have fixed it, but I forgot to do it. So in the second round, for whatever reason, he won the fight. It wasn’t a good day for me. If I had it to do over again, I’d have got more points in that first round to put a little bit of room between him and me so in the second round when I started to get sick, I would have been able to hold him off. But I fought him six months later in Las Vegas and won $1,600, which was more than the [previous] tournament in San Jose.

What are you most memorable moments in sport karate?

Steve Anderson: The most fun I ever had was in 1985 when I was on the Atlantic World Karate Team with Billy Blanks, Richard Plowden, Anthony Price, Terry Kramer and those guys. The best fighter I ever fought was Price; he never let me beat him by more than one point. The next best was probably Blanks and then Plowden.

Silat for the Street is the title of an online course from Black Belt Hall of Famer Burton Richardson and Black Belt magazine. Now you can learn the most functional silat techniques whenever and wherever you want on your smartphone, tablet or computer. Get more info here!

Some people say you ruined sport karate because you stretched the rules too much.

Steve Anderson: Wilt Chamberlain once said they changed the rules because of me. They tried to put in two-point kicks because they figured I wouldn’t win any more, but I kicked everybody in the head and still won. Keith Vitali did as much to change the rules as I did by doing the jump-away side kick and things like that. What we and what my rivalry with Billy Blanks did was make sport karate. It was way more significant than what Bill Wallace and Joe Lewis did in terms of sport-style tournament karate. We taught people how to really use the safety equipment. If we stretched the rules, it was bad refereeing all around the country because they allowed us to. But I don’t believe that. Sport karate is at an all-time high right now. It doesn’t have as much magazine coverage, but promoters are making more money than they ever made off tournaments. So I don’t think I ruined it. But hey, if they’re talking about you, that’s good.

Photos by Robert Reiff

from Black Belt» Daily » Black Belt http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/traditional-martial-arts-training/karate/steve-nasty-anderson-remembers-the-decade-he-spent-on-top-of-sport-karate/ Steve “Nasty” Anderson Remembers the Decade He Spent on Top of Sport Karate published first on http://thrandythefabulous.tumblr.com

0 notes

thrandythefabulous · 7 years

Text

Steve “Nasty” Anderson Remembers the Decade He Spent on Top of Sport Karate

You started training with your first instructors, “Chicken” Gabriel and Reynaldo Leal, when you were 15. What was it about karate that appealed to you?

Steve “Nasty” Anderson (left) and “Chicken” Gabriel

How did you get interested in competition?

What enabled you to build your phenomenal tournament record?

What was your first significant win?

Where did you go from there?

What do you consider to be the highlight of that part of your career?

How does fighting now differ from fighting in those days?

Are you saying the mind is as important as the body?

Are their techniques different from the ones you used?

Steve Anderson: No. It’s hard to change the fighting techniques much. The biggest changes have been in kata and in weapons.

What are some of the techniques you relied on back then?

The California blitz

Did you have any weaknesses?

Steve Anderson: Offensive kicks. I wasn’t so good at going after people with my kicks.

Are there any techniques you used then but are no longer seen in competition?

What do you think of modern tournament fighters?

Why don’t competitors stick around as long as they used to?

Were there any fighters you tried to avoid?

Do you have any regrets?

What are you most memorable moments in sport karate?

Some people say you ruined sport karate because you stretched the rules too much.

Photos by Robert Reiff

from Black Belt» Daily » Black Belt http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/traditional-martial-arts-training/karate/steve-nasty-anderson-remembers-the-decade-he-spent-on-top-of-sport-karate/

#Martial Arts #Black Belt» Daily » Black Belt #Self-Defense #best martial arts #martial arts clas

0 notes

michaelchinworcester · 7 years

Text

Steve “Nasty” Anderson Remembers the Decade He Spent on Top of Sport Karate

You started training with your first instructors, “Chicken” Gabriel and Reynaldo Leal, when you were 15. What was it about karate that appealed to you?

Steve “Nasty” Anderson (left) and “Chicken” Gabriel

How did you get interested in competition?

What enabled you to build your phenomenal tournament record?

What was your first significant win?

Where did you go from there?

What do you consider to be the highlight of that part of your career?

How does fighting now differ from fighting in those days?

Are you saying the mind is as important as the body?

Are their techniques different from the ones you used?

Steve Anderson: No. It’s hard to change the fighting techniques much. The biggest changes have been in kata and in weapons.

What are some of the techniques you relied on back then?

The California blitz

Did you have any weaknesses?

Steve Anderson: Offensive kicks. I wasn’t so good at going after people with my kicks.

Are there any techniques you used then but are no longer seen in competition?

What do you think of modern tournament fighters?

Why don’t competitors stick around as long as they used to?

Were there any fighters you tried to avoid?

Do you have any regrets?

What are you most memorable moments in sport karate?

Some people say you ruined sport karate because you stretched the rules too much.

Photos by Robert Reiff

from Black Belt» Daily » Black Belt http://ift.tt/2krIXJq via Michael Chin Worcester Systema

#Michael Chin Worcester #Mass Bay Systema #Systema #Russian Martial Art #martial arts #kung fu #black

0 notes