When the morning came for me to find out who my new opponent was, I had been restless. I wanted to train so badly, but I couldn't. I had to wait a week for my shoulder to heal.

"Well, this is a lovely surprise, kid." Tolvorn said as he approached me at the gym. I was sitting on that same bench as before with Eduard.

"Why so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Lodovico really stepped your game up in this next fight. He's pitting you up against his own son. There were three choices for your next fight; Gilbert Beilschmidt, Ivan Braginski, and Lovino Vargas. I was a bit clueless to whom you would want to fight, so Lodovico decided for me. You're fighting Lovino. He's a Generalist like you, so once your healed up we'll have to train all around."

"Any extra info you can tell me, Eduard?" I turned to the Estonian next to me.

"Lovino Vargas as of recent has a record of six wins and one loss. He had his first loss against Cuban boxer Hector Fernandez last week; he was knocked out cold by a right overhand punch."

"So this guy is pretty dangerous?"

"You're getting up to the middle-ranking fighters now, so yes. Lovino Vargas is pretty dangerous compared to the others you've fought. For you to be able to skip over two fighters like Braginski and Beilschmidt is beyond me. Those two rounded off the lower-ranking fighters. Beilschmidt and Braginski have both been losing their last few matches. Beilschmidt has racked up four straight losses; he just gets really overconfident. And then Braginski just hasn't been the same ever since his leg injury that caused him to give up his title shot. He's got six straight losses that dropped his rank way down."

"Wow… What about Lovino? Anything special about him that I should watch for?"

"The guy's cardio is lacking. But he's got a whole hell of a lot of endurance. If you watch one of his earlier fights against Braginski, you'll see that Vargas' sides are both bruised, and his face is battered as well. It seems that he can't get through a fight without bleeding somehow. But even when Braginski teed off and kept beating the hell out of him, Lovino "The Italian Pitbull" Vargas just took the pain, exhausted Braginski, and knocked him out cold in the second round."

"So this guy's a heavy-handed endurance machine."

"For the lack of better words, yes."

"I guess I'll spend my time studying Vargas while I'm waiting for my shoulder to heal."

"Good thinking, rookie." Tolvorn said. "If you want, you can stick around the gym for a while. Socialize with some of the other fighters. You can't train, but you can still strengthen your familiarity with the other fighters. I'm going to head home for the day since I can't really do much with you for training. You know how to study a fighter on your own, but save that for tomorrow. I don't want you being such a stranger around the league."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, coach."

"See you, rookie." With that, Tolvorn left. I looked to Eduard.

"Say… what was the outcome of the Oxenstierna – Novkovic fight?" I asked him.

"Oxenstierna won late in the third round by Novkovic forfeiting due to an injury."

"What happened?"

"Oxenstierna had repeatedly slammed Novkovic to the ground throughout the three rounds. On the final one, it was a messy, exhausted take down. Novkovic ended up with a dislocated elbow. Tried to brace his fall by putting his hand down on the mat, but his elbow bent the wrong way. He said that he doesn't blame Oxenstierna though, and that things like that happen in this sport all the time."

"What a good sportsman."

"He makes a complete 180 degree turn when he's fighting Andelko Begovich. The two couldn't be more disrespectful to eachother."

"So what about Oxenstierna? Is he good sportsman about all this?"

"Nobody really knows. "The Beast" doesn't talk much. He'll say a sentence or two throughout an entire press conference. From what I do know, he's humble in defeat. He's lost only three times in his career, all three to Kirzigian. Last time he lost to Kirzigian, he said that the guy just kept on proving that he was the champion for a reason, and was the better fighter."

"So he's scary, yet humble? Interesting, to say the least."

"Speak of the devil, there he is." Eduard pointed to the entrance to the gym, where Oxenstierna and his coach had entered. The intensity radiating off the Swede could be felt, even with me sitting across the gym from him.

I watched "The Beast" closely, noticing the bruises that still blemished his face from his fight with Novkovic. There were dark circles under his eyes, and I suspected them to be not from being punched in the eyes, but from a lack of sleep. He did look pretty exhausted, to say the least. The man's movements were sluggish, but his coach paid no regard to his condition and immediately put the Swede to work with a sparring partner.

Oxenstierna got in one of the two rings with his partner after slipping on a pair of gloves. His partner was wearing headgear, a chest protector, a mouth guard, and gloves. It just went to show, the highly-ranked Swedish wrestler was dangerous.

Berwald boxed with his partner a bit, obviously slower than what I had seen him like before his fight with Novkovic. His coach shook his head in disappointment and threw what looked to be a roll of tape at the lethargic Swede in the ring.

"Faster, Berwald. You don't get paid to be gentle." He said. I watched as "The Beast" took a deep breath and tried his best to follow his coach's orders.

"Come on, Berwald! We ought to change your name to "The Kitten"! What the hell kind of punches are you throwing here?" Obviously, his coach was still dissatisfied with his performance. The smaller man tossed a second object at Berwald, which the Swedish wrestler batted away with a hand, angrily turning to his coach.

"Give m' a fucking break and maybe I'll be able t' d' what y' want."

"Suck it up, Oxenstierna. Do you want to beat Kirzigian or not?"

"I won't b' able t' even fight him if y' demoralize m' like y' d'."

Oxenstierna's coach stepped into the ring. "Listen here, Berwald." He pointed a finger in the face of "The Beast".

"N'. I'm done listening t' y'." Berwald said, turning away from his coach and exiting the ring.

"What're you doing, Oxenstierna? Firing me?" His coach questioned, following the tall Swede. Oxenstierna turned around and got mere inches away from his coach, staring him dead in the eyes.

"Yes."

"Fine then. You won't beat Kirzigian without me."

"I've never beat him before, now have I? You've always been m' coach. I think you're th' reason I've failed t' get that championship three times."

"Good luck finding a new coach, bastard." With that, his coach exited. Oxenstierna stood there for a moment before sighing shakily and meandering over to the wall, where he braced himself up against it with his arms above his head. He then slammed his fist against the wall and shook his head.

I stood, concerned for the intense Swede, and approached him.

"You okay, man?" I asked. He glanced to me, then looked away quickly.

"I'm fine, rookie. Don't bother m'." He said, standing up straight.

"Well sorry for being concerned. You just seem pretty upset." I responded. He sighed and looked to me once again.

"I am. Trust m'. Without a coach, I have t' train on m' own…. And I have t' train t' fight Kirzigian nonetheless…"

"What if I got Tolvorn to help you out?"

"Doesn't h' have t' train y'?"

"Not for a week or so. I injured my shoulder in my last fight."

"I heard about y' escaping two of Antonov's submissions. That was impressive t' say th' least."

"Thanks, Oxenstierna."

"Please, just call m' Berwald." He said. He offered his hand to me to shake; I smiled and grasped his gloved hand with my bare one. It was like electric flowed through my veins when I looked him in the eyes with our hands connected. He was incredibly intense, but somehow when he was battered and bruised, he didn't seem so scary.

"Then you can call me Mathias." I replied.

"Alright." He said as we let go of eachother's hands. We stared at eachother silently for a few moments, just like we had before. There were no words to describe the look in his eyes. Intensity? Well, that always lingered in those cerulean blues. Contemplation? Connection? I wasn't too sure; it was making me confused.

When he tore his gaze away from me, he glanced to his training partner, whom was sitting outside of the ring, out of his protective gear.

"Y' can head home if you'd like." He said. His training partner nodded and headed off. Berwald then sighed.

"Is your coach around?" He asked me.

"No. Tolvorn left since I can't do any training." I responded.

"I see… Well, I'm going t' head home and rest… I'm s' tired… Haven't had enough time t' recover from fighting Novkovic."

"I can tell. Take it easy, Berwald."

"Y' too." He said before turning and heading over to the side of the ring. He gathered his things, and then left the gym. I turned around and walked back over to Eduard.

"Well, that was certainly interesting." The Estonian commented as I sat down on the bench.

"… Yeah… I agree. Man… that was something else… Shaking hands with him of all people? That was… just plain intense… It wasn't as scary as when I first locked eyes with him… It was almost… compelling."

"That's a first, to say the least. No one's ever called the stare of "The Beast" compelling."

We were both silent for quite some time, before Eduard spoke once again.

"Well that's an interesting thought…" He muttered.

"What?" I asked.

"Mathias, quick question; are you gay? Not that I'll ridicule you or anything, but I just had weird thought."

"Yeah, I am gay. But, uh, why do you ask?"

"Could you possibly be attracted to Oxenstierna?"

I stared blankly at Eduard for a few moments before the thought sunk in, and I realized fully that in-fact was attracted to Berwald.

"Well shit…" I looked away. "I guess I do have a little crush on him… You won't tell anyone, right…?"

"Of course not. Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks a lot… Man, if Berwald ever found out about this, he'd probably kill me… I don't think he's gay in the least."

"Well, surprisingly, you aren't alone in this league. There's two or three others that I know are homosexual."

"Really? Who?"

"Well, Kirzigian is. He's actually married to a guy I'm close friends with. I've never personally met Kirzigian though."

"Who else is there?"

"Then there's Matthew, actually."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Last year when he won his debut, as he was being escorted out of the ring, he turned to one of the guys that was escorting and kissed. In an affectionate way, too."

"Who was the other guy?"

"No one's too sure. No one's ever had the guts to ask him about it."

"How interesting…"

"Yeah."

'Now you've got me curious, Eduard. Are you gay?"

"Actually, I am." He said, blushing slightly. "I've kept it hidden for years and years… I'm just too shy to tell anyone. You're the first person to hear this from me that isn't Tino Väinämöinen."

"Well, I'll consider myself lucky then. You're a good guy, Eduard."

"I've been told that before."

"Probably."

"So how long do you think it's going to be before you blurt out to Oxenstierna that you like him?"

"Eh… Give or take a few months. This'll drive me insane sooner or later."

"I figured that you weren't one to hold in feelings for very long."

I chuckled a bit. "Do I have that obvious of a personality?"

"Well, you're a lot more sociable than the majority of the guys in the league. I'm surprised Oxenstierna even talked to you, when he hardly talks period."

"Well, then that's good news to me."

"I bet it is."

"So who in the league isn't really sociable? I mean, I may not have been around here too long, but everyone I've talked to isn't too bad. Matthew was nice. Nikodemos, well… Nikodemos is just cocky. And then Kirzigian talked to me-"

"Wait; Kirzigian talked to you? When, where, and why the hell was I not told of this?"

"Yeah, he did. After my match with Nikodemos I had just gotten dressed in the locker room and Tolvorn came in, saying someone wanted to talk to me. Turns out, I had caught the eye of Kirzigian. He said that he was glad to see a fighter like me in the WCFL. Gave me some advice, and told me that I would go far in this sport. Also that he wanted me to be his opponent in the octagon someday."

"Well I'll be damned. That isn't hard to believe though; your fight with Nikodemos was pretty awesome. Minus your shoulder injury, that is. Say, how much did you get paid for that fight anyways?"

"Well, let's just say without any sponsors behind my back, I'm underpaid for what I do. My fights with both Williams and Antonov total up to about a 30,500 dollar profit."

"That's still more than I get paid for the amount of work I do."

"How much is Tolvorn paying you for training with me?"

"1130 dollars a week. For a year's worth of working with you I'll get paid 58760 dollars. One more win and you'll have more total profit from your fighting than I make in a year."

"Man, Tolvorn is seriously underpaying you for the amount of work you do. You know what I'm going to do?"

"What?"

"Share my cut with you. A good guy like you shouldn't have to work two jobs when you train like you do with me."

"What? No, I insist you don't do that. I couldn't possibly accept any money from you."

"Well I insist you do. Man, this is a serious problem. I don't want to be rolling in cash while you don't even have half of what I do. I'll split my next pay with you."

"Mathias…" Eduard was going to protest further, but sighed. "There's no changing your mind, huh?"

"Not at all. Consider it compensation for all you do for me, and will do for me in the future. You're an awesome training partner; seriously. You deserve as much money as one of us fighters do."

"Thanks a lot, man… This means a lot that you would do this for me."

"It's not a problem. Say, since we aren't training or nothing, want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure. Ah, I know the perfect place too. Tino, Kirzigian's husband, works at a little café downtown. They have real nice food despite the small size of the place, and not to mention that Tino's working today. He'll be happy to meet you, I'm sure."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

Eduard and I both stood and headed for the exit to the gym.

"Who's car?" I asked.

"We can take mine." Eduard replied. "But what about yours? You sure you want to leave it here?"

"It'll be fine. It's locked, and it doesn't have anything real important in it. Just some gear."

"Alright. Just making sure. Tolvorn always tells me not to let you do anything stupid, which I'm sure you'll do plenty of when not under my watch." He said, letting out a laugh. I playfully pushed him, grinning and laughing as well.

"Hey now, don't be pushing me around. I may be tempted to shove that shoulder of yours back in place." He joked. I shrugged and chuckled.

"You wouldn't be able to hurt me unless you were taking me down, Ed."

"Oh, you want to bet?"

"No, I don't. I'd rather not get hurt again."

"What?" He laughed. "Didn't you just say that I couldn't hurt you? That's one hell of a contradiction."

"Oh shush. So what if I contradict myself, Mr. Von Bock."

"Oh, you fancy now? Jackass."

"Maybe that's what I should call myself instead of "The Rookie". Imagine that," I said as we got to Eduard's silver sedan and got in. "Mathias "The Jackass" Køhler."

We both laughed, basically making fun of eachother the entire time we were heading down to the café. When we got there, the place was basically dead. There was only one car parked outside, which I assumed was Tino's.

Eduard parked his car next to the black Jeep Wrangler, and he and I got out.

"Damn nice car your friend's got." I commented.

"Yeah. Kirzigian bought it for him." Eduard responded as we walked in the door of the café. A small bell rung over our heads, and a guy whom looked like he was twenty came into view behind a counter with a cash register.

"Hey Tino." Eduard greeted the guy. Tino came out from behind the counter and gave my Estonian friend a big hug.

"Good morning Eduard. How are you doing? I haven't seen you in a while." Tino was pretty cheerful to say the least.

"I've been doing well, actually." Eduard replied with a smile. "And you?"

"I've been great. Bored this morning though; it's a slow day as you can tell."

"Yeah. Hey, I wanted you to meet someone." Eduard motioned to me. "This is Mathias Køhler, newest addition to the WCFL. I've been his training partner since he joined up."

"I've heard plenty about you, "Rookie"." Tino said with a smile. "Alexianos was talking about you sometime after your win over Nikodemos."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. I'm very glad to meet you though; he said you seem like a very nice guy."

"I've been told that before."

"I bet you have. So do you two want anything to eat or drink? I've got the place all to myself until four o'clock when Eliza comes around to do her shift."

We sat at that café talking for what must have been a three or four hours. Tino was really nice, and that was an understatement. Alexianos was a lucky guy.

I learned quite a bit about how Tino coped with having to watch Alexianos fight so brutally, and how he dealt with having to live with a man whom was hardly ever home. I also learned fairly quickly that Tino was the youngest out of us, being only twenty-two. I was twenty-three, and Eduard was twenty-five. I actually looked the oldest though, seeing that my height and muscularity made me look like I was at least in my upper twenties.

I, along with all the information I had gained about Tino, learned quite a bit more about Alexianos, and what he was like outside of his job. As it turned out, the Armenian champion was a real sweetheart to Tino, always telling him that he was the only thing that really mattered to him. I almost found that hard to believe, but hey, people are different during their job than they are on their off-time.

As Eduard and I exited the café after our goodbyes to Tino, we entered the Estonian's car, refreshed and both in rather good moods.

"Told you he would be happy to meet you." Eduard said, smiling.

"I think he'd have a smile on his face even if an axe murdered was raiding the café." I joked, laughing a bit.

"He'd kick the axe murderer's ass. Trust me. He may be kind of short, but he is someone to be feared. He has a license to carry a gun, you know."

"And now I know not to fuck with Tino or Alexianos."

"Damn straight. I fear for my life when those two are in the same room together."

"Yeah, I think I would too."

"Haha… Well, let's get you back to the gym so you can get your car and head home. Watch, when we get there your car will be either gone, or your windows will be broken." He said as he pulled the car out of the parking lot.

"I don't know who in the right mind would steal an MMA fighter's car, or steal anything from them. I don't know who in the right mind does that anyways."

"Only people dumber than you, Mathias." He laughed. I playfully punched him in the arm.

"Hey now, rookie, I'm trying to drive." He responded, chuckling.

"Well I'm trying to be the passenger of your lovely sedan."

"Pfft… This piece of junk is a little less than lovely."

"It's better than what a lot of people have, I have to say."

"Well, that's true."

When we arrived at the gym, I said my farewell to Eduard and got out of his car, heading to mine. I unlocked my dark blue pickup's door and hopped in with a sigh.

"Now to go spend my day studying Lovino Vargas at home… How nice." I muttered with sarcasm.

As I headed on my way to my apartment, I glanced over at a magazine that was sitting on the passenger seat. It was flipped open to a page that had an article about my win over Antonov.

I smiled to myself. 2-0. So far, so good.