Flashback

Vito stared at himself in the bathroom mirror with a grave look on his face. Cool water was dripping on the sink from his skin, which he had recently splashed to try to feel more refreshed and get his head in the game. His hair was starting to grow longer, and his muscles were beginning to look a lot more defined. While other teens were busy doing their homework, hanging out with their friends, or even just wasting time during the day, Vito was always forced to work out excessively. But at least he got tons of food for doing it.

His hands flinched off the sink as he stood up tall, hearing his Uncle walking up to the door before pushing it open and stepping behind him. Vito eyed him down through the reflection of the mirror. His muscles were as sore as ever, but he tried not to show any discomfort. Vinnie let a small, blue rag fall on Vito's shoulders, which earned him unamused expression from the teen.

"I could be workin' in the garage right now, pops." Vito chuckled a bit nervously as his usual smirk made his way onto his lips. "These guns could screw together a car a lot faster now, you know."

Vinnie let his thick fingers squeeze Vito's shoulders tightly, in a way a coach would encourage a player. The teen hid his wince rather well, an aching feeling flying through his worn-out body. It was obvious the man was giving him a threatening sign. "No need to let your hard work go to waste. You're always a good boy, aren't you, Vito? That's why you have that around your neck."

Vito's gaze shifted down to the sharp, golden fang hanging by a string that dangled off his neck, reminding him of the day he got it- and how he hadn't been beat since.

"…So don't start fucking irking me. Mike was crappy at any job I gave him, so I used to throw him in the garage. But you're good at entertainment. You were made for this. I made you for this." Vinnie walked out the bathroom with his hands behind his back, satisfied with taking all credit for of his nephew's hard work. "Now, the crowds waiting for the in-house champion. Stop wasting time when you could be making me money."

Vito took in a deep breath. "Well damn, say no more, baby!" The two walked down to the basement, where a crowd of men and a few women were standing around in a circle, just like they did every Sunday. Their cheers were erupting through the walls, as they clapped and sipped their drinks. Vito winked at them and flung the towel resting on his shoulders to the side of the floor., ignoring it landing near the bar table. Mike was scared of these people, their laughs always tortured him. Vito on the other hand, loved their attention and approval. He felt their presence did nothing but fill him with confidence. And when it comes to fighting, confidence is key.

A woman had reached out and ran her hand against his tanned abs as he passed by her, not caring about how inappropriate it was considering their age difference. "Oh, he's just the cutest!" She fawned. "I know, fuckin love this kid!" Another man shouted in response, drinking his beer. The crowds eager screaming didn't stop as a huge, older man lifted up his blue sleeves, walking towards his side of the metaphorical ring while giving Vito a cocky look. "Hope you said goodbye to your mama this morning, kid. I'm guessing you didn't get to though, since she obviously never got a chance to dress you."

The shirtless teen spat on the side of the floor, which caused high pitched squeals from the ladies to echo through the huge room. "Eey, you wanna rumble with the Vito old man? You got it!"

Before he knew it, the man was charging at Vito with the strength of an enraged bull. He threw jabs and swings at him which Vito mainly blocked, but the few that hit his chest and arm sent a throbbing pain through his body, reminding him how stiff his muscles were from overworking. Mustering up all the strength he had, Vito let his clenched fists pummel the man's chest, before doing the same thing with his right hand, only this time whipping the side of his face. His movements were sloppier than usual thanks to the condition of his body, but, it still sent his opponent crashing on the floor.

"Oooooh!" The crowd was growing restless as Vito flexed his biceps. "Oh come on, baby! You're not makin' it easy for me, are ya? Or… are ya just shit?" A coy smile was on his face, watching the man groan on the floor and struggle to stand up. Vito's expression was soon replaced with a questionable look, as he caught a glimpse of his shiny necklace on the floor, the string torn.

What the fuck? Is that my-

Vito took a step to reach for it, but was taken by surprise at the sudden punch to his throat. Choking on his breath, he stumbled on himself before he made a mistake even worse than getting distracted- letting his eyes close during a fight.

The man laughed as he followed up with a clean hook to his mouth, sending him hurling on the floor next to the jewelry he was once looking at. Vito gave a grimace of pain as a crippling shock flowed through him, his body starting to feel full of inflammation. It felt like he tore through all his muscles as he landed on the cold floor. The crowd went wild.

"No way!" "That kid is fucked!" "Vito took the swing and let him win! Imbroglione!" "Get up, pussy!"

All their words started to jumble together as Vito opened his eyes, coughing on blood. The overwhelmingly bitter crimson was dripping out of his mouth in thick strands. As he did his best to spit as much of it out as possible, his expression turned haunted. He played with his tongue in his mouth in disbelief, feeling a gap between one of his front teeth that was never there before.

Fucking hell. Where did it fly out?

He cupped his cheek, feeling a horrible cut on the inside of his mouth, before looking down at the floor. Vito instinctually grabbed his necklace while he could, but before managing to spot his missing tooth, the crowd ran to the declared winner of the match with elation. Vito stood up and bolted against the waves of people, heading upstairs. No one had beat him in a long time. It was thrilling to them, but devastating for himself. Vinnie was gonna kill him.

After a few minutes of being in his bathroom and rinsing his mouth, loud footsteps were heard coming for him. A metallic taste was still stuck between his lips, but Vito shut the tap off and turned to the door, beads of sweat on his forehead.

The door slammed open. "What the fuck was that supposed to be?" Uncle Vinnie looked pissed. Visible cords were showing in his neck as he walked up to Vito with clenched fists.

"Eey, what the hell? Look at my body, I'm fuckin' dying! The guy even knocked my damn tooth out! What'd ya want me to do, huh?" His response was croaky and obviously strained due to the pain running through his swelling neck. Vito was always obedient to Vinnie, but this time, he had enough. Regretting snapping back at his uncle, his eyes widened as the man who slammed his back on the bedroom wall. Vito winced horribly.

"You get your sorry ass off the fucking floor and finish the fight! You always get back up, you fucking idiot! Otherwise, what the fuck am I feeding you for!?" Vinnie was roaring right in his face, which made the teen look of to the side with squinted eyes to avoid eye contact. His body was burning up, his mouth was bleeding out, and his gums had a horrible sting shooting through them. The ache felt unbelievable, and Vito didn't feel like putting up with his uncle's shit. It was overwhelming.

Acting on his impulses, Vito shoved Vinnie backwards with all the strength left inside him, causing his uncle to step back a few times and almost trip over himself. He was complete disbelief of what the personality dared to do. Vito always, always knew his place. His shocked face soon turned into a twisted scowl, glaring down at the teen. Vinnie muttered under his breath with his deep voice. "You want to stop being a good boy? Chepreca."

Vito's frown didn't leave his face as he looked to the floor. He was expecting more screaming, but he got nothing. n fact, his uncle's silence sounded scarier than his yelling. By the time he looked back up, Vito's cheeks hollowed in regret. Nothing could have possibly helped him brace himself for what was to come for next hour.

It all started with a lightning-fast fist colliding with his face.

End of Flashback

"Ugh…" Mike groaned as he woke up, surprised to find himself on the sofa. "Where…" He looked around, using his hand to cover his eyes from the shining light of the living area. His moaning was loud enough for Zoey to peek her head out of her room.

"Mike? Are you up?" She asked, walking towards him. When she realized his eyes were open, she smiled. "How did you rest?" Mike sat up and rubbed his eyes. He felt unusually groggy. "I… What happened?" He looked up at Zoey as she responded.

"Vito happened."

Mike groaned once more, his eyes looking down at himself and realizing his shirt was off. "Of course he did. Where did he even get alcohol from?" Zoey went to the kitchen and put some toast in a toaster to help Mike back up on his feet. "He went out and bought it." She answered, motioning to the bag of beer she still hadn't moved off the counter.

Mike stretched, trying to ignore the aching in his head as he watched Zoey. She seemed a bit uneasy. Probably because of witnessing him drunk, or well- witnessing Vito drunk. "I-I'm sorry Zoey. I really didn't mean to do anything reckless."

His girlfriend sighed as she spread strawberry jam on the warm toast, bringing it to Mike on a plate and sitting next to him. She smiled kindly. "It's okay Mike, I know you didn't mean to." Mike placed a kiss on her cheek which caused her to giggle. After pulling away, he noticed she had some makeup on, her eyes standing out more with the think streak of black liner on top of them. "What's with the look?" He asked, smiling. "Not that I'm complaining or anything."

"We're going to the mall today, remember?" Zoey reminded, self consciously twirling her pigtails. "Does my makeup look okay? Is it too much? Our friends are going to be there! I don't want to look bad."

Mike laughed before biting into his toast. He cringed from the aftertaste, not having brushed his teeth, but tried to enjoy it anyway. "You look great, Zoe. As beautiful as ever. Don't stress about it. And aren't our friends always at school? It's not that different." His sweetness made Zoey smile warmly. She had missed him.

Mike ate faster when he took in the fact that she was already dressed. She wore a thick fitted red turtleneck that had yellow stripes across the chest. Her pants were long and black with three white buttons on each side of her waist. "When are we leaving?" He asked, voice muffled as he filled up on toast.

"In an hour or so. I didn't want to wake you up, I felt bad. But I'm happy you're up now!" Zoey stood up to get her phone from off the counter. "We made a group chat this morning so we could all text way faster. Emin said he can pick us up from the gas station." Mike had already made his way to the bathroom, ignoring his dizziness as he started squeezing blue and white toothpaste on his toothbrush. "The gas station? Why are we going there?" Mike peeked his head out the door as he cleaned his teeth, fluffy foam dripping down his chin.

Because Vito said something about Mal.

"Because… I could use a bag of chips after last night!" Zoey grinned a bit nervously as Mike nodded and continued freshening up. She let out her held back sigh when he stopped paying attention to her.

Zoey wanted to tell Mike about what happened last night with Vito. About how he left off to such a dangerous side of town, about how he literally beat up a guy on the sidewalk for her… Her thoughts trailed off as she remembered what happened when they had gotten back home. Her hand reached up to her neck, rubbing the side of it. The turtleneck she wore was itchy, but she wasn't sure how to tell Mike about the hickeys. It could wait until they got home from the mall, right?

What if Mike would get mad at her for kissing Vito? But… they are dating. And Vito is a part of Mike. Zoey had researched all about dating someone with DID and other people's takes on how they treat different personalities. It all depended on if Mike was okay with it. But what if he wasn't going to be, and now, she hurt him? Her heart ached with empathy before Mike's voice caught her attention.

"Jesus, does Vito ever clean up after himself?" He had opened his bedroom door, looking at all the pants sprawled out over the room, half of them turned inside out. "I bet he was searching all the pockets for his necklace. I took it off after I hit the reset button, but, now that he's back, I guess it's staying under my shirt again."

Zoey walked next to him to relook at the scene. "I fell asleep yesterday, and by the time I woke up, he already made this mess and left."

"Left? Left where?" Mike questioned. Zoey flinched as to hearing what she just blurted out. How should she answer that?

"Uh… Left to go get the groceries. Which was just beer… and he bought a steak too. But only for himself. Also, he eats like an animal." Mike chuckled a bit and started picking up his clothes. "Yeah, Vito does that. I hope he wasn't too much trouble last night. I'm really sorry."

Zoey smiled, changing the topic as fast as possible. "No no! He was fine! So how come he likes that necklace so much?" Mike shrugged. "I don't really remember him telling me who he got that from. He's only told us it's a gift that means something to him."

Looking at Mike as he continued to clean up, Zoey blinked. "I wonder who gave Vito a golden fang. Gold teeth don't really represent anything between relationships. They only represent someone's wealth, or… status. But maybe they just thought it looked cool."

That was definitely food for thought, and as Zoey helped Mike fold jeans in silence, they both contemplated about the same person who could have given the necklace to Vito.

Soon, Mike was dressed in cool-grey sweatpants, a white tee shirt, and a thick denim jacket with white fluff around the collar. Zoey gave him a quick painkiller in hopes of him not feeling too hung over during their outing, and they walked their way to the nearest gas station which Zoey eyed down suspiciously. The streets were pretty warm and sunny, but the chilly breeze was there to remind them it was still autumn.

"So… does this look familiar to you?" She questioned. Mike gave her a confused look before staring back at the almost shabby gas station.

"Uh… Not really. I don't know if I've been down this street before. Why?"

Zoey shrugged. "No reason, just wondering. I hope you like Cheetos!" And with that, she let the door close behind her and headed to the cash register with a small bag of chips in hand and a five dollar bill.

I guess Vito was just mixing things up, since he was so drunk. I wonder what he thought about that led to him calling this place Mal's…

By the time Zoey walked back outside, Emin was honking his car while rolling down his window. He wore a brown beanie and a black collared button up, waving to them with his best attempt at a welcoming smile. "Uh… Hey guys. Hop in?"

Mike sat at the front while Zoey ate her Cheetos in the back seat. The boys were catching up about whatever boys talk about, while Zoey mainly looked out the window and continued thinking about the previous day. By the time they got to the mall, she was licking her fingers clean and throwing her chip bag away in the trash.

Her phone lit up with a text message, and after checking it, a wide grin was on her face. "Paige and Ethan should be here soon. I'll go find them at the entrance, but in the meantime, you guys can keep looking around!" With that said, Zoey ran off to find her friends, full of excitement for them to finally meet Mike.

Emin and Mike exchanged glances. "Well, you know this place better than I do. Where do you want to walk around?" Mike asked. Malls weren't really his thing, and he had never been out with people to one before. Come to think of it, why did people even meet at malls? Just to watch each other spend money or something? At least he got to hang out with good people.

Emin's smile was a lot more relaxed now that the two were alone. "I have a few dollars to shred. We could go to Bluenotes, that's my favourite." Nodding along with the suggestion, the two found themselves walking through the store. The men's section was full of jeans, black sweaters, and graphic tees. It made sense that Emin went there a lot.

A couple minutes later, Emin came out of the changeroom wearing a black and white tie dye shirt and checkered pants. Mike busted out with laughter which caused the other to blush embarrassingly. "Hey! You don't have to make fun of me so fast!"

Mike's cheeky grin was still on his face as he looked at Emin up and down. "They're great on their own, but my eyes kill!" Emin pouted a bit at the response. "I guess you're right, but it's not like you could do any better." Mike's brow raised at his remark.

"You're probably right. I'm not the best at picking out clothes all the time, but Zoey says she likes what I wear, so I guess that's a good sign. She's into a lot of fashion stuff and sewing." Emin's mouth opened, as if he was about to say something, before he let it close and walked off to an isle.

"Hey, how about I give you something to try on?" He piped up, looking back at Mike. After hearing the intriguing suggestion, Mike chuckled and nodded along at the idea.

Meanwhile, Paige, Ethan, and Zoey had made their way in the mall and looked around for the other two. Ethan had a black vest on top of his usual yellow top and dark pants. He chuckled alongside Paige, pointing at strangers in the relatively busy mall and guessing who Mike would be.

"He's gotta be that guy." Ethan laughed, before getting the usual eyeroll from Paige. "That guy's whiter than snow. Isn't Mike tanned?" It didn't take long for a debate to brew between them. Zoey was pulling out her phone and letting the two fight as usual. Before she knew it, she heard Mike's ringtone going off from behind her and turned happily.

"Mike!" Zoey was beaming, which got the attention of Paige and Ethan. They looked at Emin, and who they assumed was Mike, walking up to them.

However, Zoey's expression dropped for a moment as she noticed her boyfriend wearing a dark blue fedora that had a black stripe on it.

"G'day, beauty!" Manitoba smirked, leaning down and kissing Zoey's hand.