Work Text:
Someone save me im writing fanfic on company time
A blunder. If he had any time, he would've scoffed. But obviously, he was too busy throwing himself to the side of Pizza Pastas face -too much force with nothing to stop it- to really do that. ..Challenger vaguely recollected something in some sort of physics class. Inertia, maybe.
Hed been off his game since the match started, actually. Challenger considered himself somewhat of a meathead when it came to fighting. No nerves, no real thinking beyond planting his feet to the floor and throwing punches. It worked, anyway. Today though, hed been off kilter. Thinking. Hesitating. Somehow, something was different about his opponent.
Pizza Pasta, reigning from Napoli, Italy.
Challenger had a lot of questions. For one- whyd he choose the name Pizza Pasta??
(of course, he failed to acknowledge his own name as challenger. -It had been an impulsive decision really. He hadnt thought of what to title himself until it actually came to signing up for the WVBA, so, he kept it simple. Challenger. Technically “the” challenger, but he omitted the ‘the’. It sounded too pretentious.
For two- less a question, more observation, what he hadn't acknowledged until he was staring him down in the ring, was that his opponent looked like a total mobster. They were in New York, and the guy was Italian. ..winning this fight would mean getting hung on a meat hook later, maybe.
He quickly shook that thought away. It was dumb, no way that’d happen. Sure the WVBA was lax, but that lax? Nah. He trusted them at least that much.
Under the warm lights of the ring, with the hum of a crowd and the neon colored signs- now this was the life! Sweat on his brow, blood in his veins? Its what he lived for. Nevermind the slight nerves, hed prove himself champ, one fight at a time.
////
Intense. Challenger wouldnt have thought it would be so intense. He’d seen it in movies- falling, slow mo- maybe with stars and hearts and roses and stuff. Instead, it was quick. Lips connecting, guard lowering.
..he opened his eyes.
He hadnt noticed them slipping shut. The green haired guy in front of him looked equally as confused. Maybe not as horrified as pete himself felt, but still. They were too wrapped up in each other to even try and throw a punch, too busy locking lips in front of everyone in the damn WVBA. What an embarrassment!! He wrenched himself out of the hold, trying his best to look unaffected as he socked the Challenger with a hook.
That seemed to knock them both out of it. Without a hitch the two were properly sparring again, punching, jabbing, dodging, the whole nine yards. It was a careful rhythm the two were tangled in, so focused they had barely realized their time was to run out.
Break!!
They blinked. It was over? The first round? Gee. Usually someone would be down by now. Pizza walked into the break room in a rush- letting Challenger deal with the crowd.
..was that some sort of tactic? He’d heard of the challenger. A real jock type. He didnt look the calculated type, but those punches? Deadly. He was already quite likable as is. At least pizza thought so. Scruffy, green haired chap. With a soft smile and kind looking eyes- kinda guy you could stuff into a locker. Would've, before he started tearing through the circuit like a paper shredder.
..he had soft lips. Hey- he was just being honest. He wasnt sure if they’d talk about the.. Incident. It’d be helpful if they were in the same break space- but obviously, that wouldnt be allowed.
..because pizza pasta cared about the rules, apparently.
He was in Challengers break room before he could think about it.
“What are you doing here?!”
He pushed him against the wall
“What was that?”
“What!”
“The kiss, you idiot!”
“I know that! It was an accident!”
Pizza pasta didnt believe that for a second. It was all part of this jerks plan somehow. Wrap him around his finger just to knock him out cold by the end of the hour.
He had to get him first.
“Im kissing you.”
“What?!”
“You kissed me- now I kiss you. Its fair.”
..What was this italian thinking?! He didnt do it on purpose! Whyd he possibly gain from kissing his opponent?!
..and why was he curious?
WIthout any reason- Challenger nodded.
“Okay- Sure. Sure! Keeps us e-MHPH!”
..oh.
Oh.
This might be the first match Challenger loses.