A/N: These are a bunch of little fics I've been holding onto for almost...two years now? They're pretty much just for my own enjoyment so don't expect high "quality."
These are basically short stories from a "modern-ish" AU of Cad Bane and various OC's from my fics "Space Bound" and "Wake the Ashes." So if you haven't read those you might not get some of the references and stuff. I still haven't forgiven myself for how fucking sad those fics were, so I needed to write a happy alternative for them.
If anyone who read those stories is still around following my account on here, hope you enjoy these!
Seven rounds in and Cad Bane was beginning to grow weary.
Not just the fact that he was several points behind and needed to think up a quick strategy on how to get ahead of his opponent. Everyone watching the fight made it clear who they were cheering for.
He threw a smack to his opponent's jaw only to receive a strong punch across the face, opening a cut from the first round. As Bane struggled to regain his footing and take the upper hand in the round, he was suddenly backed up against the ropes.
There it went again. The chanting, the cheering. One and only one name could be heard throughout that little hall.
"Jan-go Fett! Jan-go Fett!"
He quickly put his guard up as a quick self-defense while he searched for Jango's opening, receiving heavy blows to his middle. He would have new bruises on top of the old ones. Something down there sounded like it had been cracked just now as well. Finally, Jango exposed his blind spot and Bane punched him upside the head. The blow drove Jango back and Bane continued the attack, throwing punches to the nose and eyes and mouth.
Jango, who had noticed the newly developed weakness in his opponent, sent another punch to Bane's recently cracked rib. The bell rang. The referee broke the boxers up and they returned to their corners.
The sound of the Fett's name chanted on in the hall, bouncing against the cruel concrete and old wooden frames.
Bane would not have believed it until he discovered it for himself. It truly is amazing how much even the slightest bit of support—knowing that someone is behind your back if only there to cheer your name—works wonders on a bruised body and an aching mind. A weary fighter.
In his corner he held an ice pack to the side of his face as he used a towel to wipe down his neck and shoulders. In the other corner, Jango squirted water into his mouth and spat it out into a bucket, having been thickened and discolored with red blood.
Both fighters were breathing heavily, in pain, disoriented, but feverishly thrilled with the excitement of the boxing match. Bleeding and sweating for cash. Jango was shaking, he was so giddy with the thrill of it all. Hearing how the crowd cheered him on and demanded that he leave nothing left of his opponent when he had finished.
In the front row facing Bane's corner, surrounded by grown men and women clapping the air and whooping and drinking and having a good old time, little Tee rose from her seat and ran to the ring. She wore a sweater with his fighting nickname—Cad 'the Hurricane' Bane—printed on the front, only oversized because she was still too small for it. Under her arm Tee had her glass bottle of orange soda tucked safely. Her tiny fingers clung to the rope and she looked up at the fighter sitting in his corner.
"Jan-go Fett! Jan-go Fett!"
Bane began to wonder if he would make it after all. Maybe Jango Fett really was the king after all, just as the crowd had been chanting for seven rounds now. Maybe he was just too weary to go on. Would it be so humiliating to accept defeat at this point?
He tossed the towel aside when he was startled by a sound.
Against the ruckus of that name chanted over and over again, a smothered wave crashing down on the hall, one little voice rang out. He could hear it as clear as if the entire hall would have fallen silent at that same moment.
"Go Hurricane Bane! You can do it!"
He stood up and looked down at Tee. Tee, in the oversized hoodie with the face paint on her cheek. She was so small that no one else seemed to notice that she had managed her way into a place like this. She beamed up at him, and jumped up and down excitedly. The orange soda sloshed around in the bottle.
"You can do it, I know you can!"
The other voices, and all else faded. He could feel the strength oozing back into his bones. The pain soothed itself out of his consciousness, no longer a distraction against his thinking. Not a sense of invincibility or that he could take on the whole world and all its fighters, but that this fight could not bring him down. That there was someone behind his back after all, someone who believed he could pull through and win this after all.
He smiled softly. The next round could not arrive soon enough. He'd beat this.
"Thanks, Tee."
And when he won this fight he could say to himself in all honesty that he had won it for her.
"Tough luck, Hurricane. But that's quite all right. You came very close." Jango sipped his boilerhouse. "Much closer than anyone thought you would."
"I'm full of surprises." Bane traced his finger around the rim of his shot glass. "I'm curious, what will you do with your prize money?"
"Pay the bills, what else?" Jango laughed. "And a steak dinner downtown with the kid."
"I could go for a hot fudge sundae right about now. But I'll save it for my next win."
"I think one of these days, you might actually beat me."
Bane glanced at the side of the bar less than ten feet from his barstool. Boba and Tee were at the jukebox flipping through all the songs, Boba making comments like "I really like that one!" or "That band is awful, never listen to them." Tee was staring at him, gobbling up every word he said. Bane looked back at Jango who was still waiting for a reply.
"Fuck you, everyone loves you," Bane snorted.
"I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in this God forsaken world." Jango rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt and sipped slowly from his drink. He caressed one of the cuts on his face, flicking the taped bandage with his fingernail.
"That's why they love you. You're simple. They relate to you."
"And you're not as simple as I am?" Jango pressed, teasing.
He drank down his last two shots and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Simple sounds nice."
Jango smirked.
"Now I've figured out why no one likes you. You think you're better than everyone else."
He hopped off his stool, glaring at Jango.
"Watch it, pal."
Jango rolled his eyes. They had begun slipping back into the same routine conversation they had every time they went out for drinks after fight. Throwing empty words back and forth.
"I think you've had enough drinks for one night. Get your sorry ass home, Bane."
"I'm not even drunk. You're fucking stupid."
"And you're an asshole. Put some ice on that rib."
"Thanks for the drink." He whistled to get Boba and Tee's attention. She ran up to him and grabbed his hand and they left the bar. He knew Jango was smiling as he watched them go, but did not bother to look back.
They took the train home and Bane struggled to stay awake, the whirring of the rickety tracks lulling him into dreamland. Tee kicked the back of the seat in front of her, playing with her toy dreidel and singing the song over and over. Bane groaned and covered his eyes with his hat.
"Enough with the singing."
"Hard fight today, Daddy?"
"That's got nothing to do it with it." He gave up, too tired to argue.
It was dark by the time they arrived at their little apartment. He fixed Tee eat a bowl of cold grits leftover from that morning and put her to bed. She was smiling up at him.
"I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay. And when it's dry and ready, oh, dreidel I shall play."
"Go to sleep."
She kissed his nose. "You fought real good. You'll win next time."
He tucked the covers over her and got up to leave.
"I'm cold," Tee pouted.
"It's not even snowing yet."
"Still cold. I'm wearing both my pairs of socks and my feet are freezing."
He went to his room and took the quilt from his own bed and put it overs hers.
"There you go. All nice and toasty. Now get some sleep."
"Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of gold." She yawned and turned over on her side.
"Goodnight, my little flower." He kissed her forehead.