CHAPTER 31

Miguel graduated from sophomore year, ecstatic. He spent that night hanging out with Hawk, Sam and Demitri, but he was woken up the next morning when Johnny barged into his room.

"Miguel! Miguel! Miguel!" He exclaimed, panting for breath as he ran in. Miguel's eyes snapped open when he heard his sensei, and he glared at Johnny.

"Seriously? I was trying to sleep!" Miguel grumbled. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"It's 1 in the afternoon! Get your ass up and pack an overnight bag! I have a surprise for you! We're going to Vegas! I got us tickets to UFC Fight Night, to the McGregor vs. Khabib fight!"

Miguel shot out of bed at this point, his eyes wide.

"What?!" Miguel exclaimed. "What's the occasion?"

"Well, I could lie and say that it's a research trip to learn new moves for the All-Valley, but it's just for fun! It's your summer break! You've been through a lot this year! Lord knows you need a break! So here's what I have planned. I got us a deluxe room at the Bellagio. We explore Vegas this afternoon. Steak dinner tonight. Tomorrow we spend the day in the casino, and then at night, we go to the fight. How's that sound?"

"That… that sounds awesome! Thank you, Sensei!" Miguel exclaimed, running around the room and throwing together a duffel bag with enough clothes for a 1 night trip. Half an hour later, he was showered, packed and ready to leave. The two quickly walked out of the house and got into Johnny's car, setting sail for Vegas…

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The drive to Vegas was about 4 hours long (of course, Johnny knew that already, having made the journey out a month ago), but it went by extremely quickly. Johnny and Miguel were talking passionately about the fight card they were about to see the next day. They were both massive fans of the UFC. They loved all of it - the trash talking, the passion, the fighting. It was their favourite sport to watch, and they watched every UFC event together.

Just as the sun was starting to set, they saw the infamous sign that read 'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas', and Johnny rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Ahh Vegas. I haven't been here in years!" Johnny grinned. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I would have thought this would be exactly your scene. You know, fights, gambling, alcohol."

"Yeah, Vegas rules, but it's also really expensive." Johnny replied. Miguel nodded and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, how did you pay for this by the way? Tickets to the fight alone, let alone everything else, cost 500 bucks each. It's not like either of us are loaded."

Johnny grinned and nodded.

"I just had to call in an IOU with a friend who now works pretty high up at the Bellagio. He's giving us everything free of charge, but the fight, which we are getting pretty discounted."

Miguel chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, that makes more sense." He replied. Johnny laughed.

"Man I'm excited for this. I feel like we haven't seen each other outside of training for like two weeks!" Johnny remarked. Miguel's smile faded slightly, as if he was keeping something from Johnny, but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared before Johnny could see it.

"Yeah, I know, right?" Miguel remarked, before looking at the Google Maps app on his phone. "Turn right here."

Johnny shook his head.

"Nah, if we keep straight ahead, it'll get us to the Bellagio quicker." Johnny replied. Miguel shrugged and nodded, and Johnny kept straight. Moments later, they pulled up to the Bellagio. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"Wow. That was fast." He remarked. "I thought you hadn't been here in years. How do you know your way around so well?"

Oh crap! Johnny forced himself to keep a straight face otherwise Miguel would know he was lying. He merely shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know. I just remember. Spent a lot of time here in my 20s." Johnny replied. Miguel nodded. He believed that. He knew all about Johnny's old step-father's money and how Johnny used it to party his way through his 20s.

The two of them got out of the car at the valet, and they were quickly shown up to their room. When they walked in, Miguel gasped. This was BY FAR the most luxurious place he had ever been. There were chocolates on the freakin' pillows for crying out loud! Miguel had stayed in some rough places with his mom and yaya right after they fled Ecuador, and he never would have believed that he'd be staying in a deluxe room at one of the most famous hotel/casinos in Vegas. The room contained two queen sized beds, a gorgeous terrace overlooking the city, a fancy mini bar, and everything else a 5 star hotel contained. They didn't spend much time in the room though. They merely dropped their bags in their room, and then they went out to explore the city. They had 8 o clock reservations at one of the best steakhouses in Vegas (courtesy of Johnny's friend, of course), but they had about an hour or two to explore the city beforehand. Miguel was in disbelief. Although L.A was a big, famous city, it was NOTHING like Vegas. Vegas was just… unique, and Miguel LOVED it.

After an absolutely sublime dinner at the steakhouse, Johnny and Miguel finally went back to the hotel room for the night, and they sat in their hotel room, watching on TV all of the promotional videos about the upcoming fight. As they were doing so, Johnny reached into his duffel bag and took out a deck of cards, before turning to Miguel.

"You ever play Blackjack before?" Johnny asked. Miguel shrugged, trying to keep a straight face when in reality, he was a BEAST at Blackjack. Miguel had a photographic memory, which enabled him to count cards, a skill that was able to bring down whatever dealer he was playing with.

"Eh. Little bit." Miguel replied. Johnny nodded.

"Let's test your skills." Johnny said. Miguel sat up on his bed and got up and walked over to the terrace and sat next to Johnny.

"We betting actual money?" Miguel asked. Johnny chuckled.

"Of course we're betting money! Why play cards if you aren't betting money?" Johnny asked.

"For fun?" Miguel asked. Johnny rolled his eyes.

"Okay, let's do this. 5 dollar bet." Johnny said, relatively confident that he would beat Miguel.

"Ooh, can I shuffle?" Miguel asked. Johnny nodded, and Miguel started shuffling the cards rather stupidly, dropping a couple here and there, and after a minute, handing Johnny the cards.

"You know what? You shuffle. I can't do this." Miguel said. Johnny smiled, even more confident now.

"Sure. Care to raise it to 10 dollar bets?" He asked. Miguel put on a face of mock-disbelief.

"10 bucks? You know what? What the hell, let's do it!"

An hour later, Miguel had earned 200 dollars from Johnny, even though he was only betting like 10 bucks a game. He had won every single round, and Johnny was shell-shocked.

"What the hell?!" He cried.

Miguel smirked at him and took the cards, expertly shuffling them. Johnny's jaw dropped when he realised what happened a moment later.

"Wait a second… you hustled me!" Johnny exclaimed. Miguel laughed and stood up.

"Good game. Better luck next time." Miguel smiled. Johnny glared at him for several moments, before smiling again.

"You know what? This is great! Now that I know you're some kind of Blackjack king, you can earn a LOT of money at the casino tomorrow!"

Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"How? I don't think I'm allowed to gamble in a casino, Sensei. I'm 16. It's against the law." Miguel stated. Johnny grinned widely and walked over to his suitcase, pulling out earphones and a miniscule suit brooch.

"I know you're under 21, which is why we're going to use a trick that Jimmy taught me." Johnny said. "I might be the one at the blackjack table, but you are going to be the one playing. You are going to sit in the lobby of the casino, hooked up to your phone. I am going to use this spy camera thingy Jimmy gave me and pin it to my breast pocket. With that, you'll be able to see exactly what cards I get, and then through the earphones, we'll have a phone call running so you can tell me what to do."

Miguel raised an eyebrow in shock. This was an extremely sneaky plan from his sensei.

"Really? Is that allowed?" Miguel asked. Johnny chuckled.

"Oh, no. Not at all." He replied, honestly.

"Well, what happens if we get caught?" Miguel asked.

"We get kicked out of the casino, possibly arrested, definitely vacation over." Johnny said. "So, what do you say?"

Miguel grinned.

"I'm on board."

Johnny clapped his hands together eagerly and laughed.

"Atta boy. Now, get some sleep. We win big tomorrow…"

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And win BIG was exactly what they did. They spent the whole morning and afternoon in the casino, at the blackjack table. With Miguel in Johnny's ear, Johnny won round after round after round after round, and soon, the 100 dollars they started the game with, had become 10 FRICKIN' THOUSAND! That's right! Miguel had won 10 grand playing casino games! The casinos were vigilant though. They checked carefully for any sign of cheating, and even at one point randomly took the earphones from Johnny and listened to see if he was actually listening to music, which was what he said he was listening to to the dealer. Miguel had to improvise quickly, singing a random song. Johnny convinced the casino security that it was 'his son who had recorded him a playlist of songs for Christmas', and the casino bought it so they were able to leave the casino with all of their winnings.

"So, kid, what do you think you're going to do with your winnings?" Johnny asked Miguel as they headed over to the arena for the UFC fight. Miguel raised an eyebrow.

"It's not my winnings. It was your 100 bucks we started with. It's your 10k."

Johnny shook his head.

"No, it's your 9900 dollars." He replied. "So what are you going to do with it?"

Miguel smiled widely.

"Well, my family owe 5000 more for the surgery fees. I guess I can finally finish paying off that debt, and still have 5k to keep for myself."

Johnny laughed.

"Jeez. You're so responsible. Such a dork, Diaz." He remarked. Miguel rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. This dork just earned 10 thousand dollars in a day, so…" Miguel responded. Johnny chuckled and the two of them walked into the T-Mobile Arena for the UFC event...

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The fight was absolutely insane! Although Johnny and Miguel were both HUGE Conor McGregor fans and they were both cheering for him, Khabib ended up winning the fight, making McGregor actually tap out in the 4th round. They got to watch some brilliant fighting from both of them, and Johnny used the opportunity to point out to Miguel a couple of great techniques that the two greatest fighters in the world used and how Miguel could use them in the All-Valley. In particular, McGregor's striking and Khabib's grappling takedowns and submissions were things that Johnny helped explain to Miguel how he could include them in his own fights. But on the whole, teaching and learning was neither of their priorities. Instead, they drank beer, ate popcorn, and watched some brilliant fights unfold.

After the event, Johnny and Miguel went straight back to their hotel, and then checked out and prepared to leave after an amazing stay. It had been a 2 day/1 night trip of absolute mayhem, but damn it if it wasn't the best weekend of Miguel's life!

At around 1 am, they finally pulled up to their driveway. Miguel started to get out of the car, but Johnny stopped him.

"Hey, um… kid, listen." Johnny said, taking a deep breath. This was it. Time to tell Miguel the secret they had been hiding for a month. "There's something I have to tell you, and I wanted you to be in the best possible frame of mind before you heard it…"

"Sensei, I know you and my mom got hitched." Miguel interrupted calmly. Johnny's heart stopped, and his jaw dropped.

"When did you find out?" Johnny asked.

"Well, I saw a marriage license buried in the apartment like two weeks ago when I was looking for spare batteries. I thought that you guys were thinking about getting married, but hadn't actually done it yet."

"That's why you were avoiding me for 2 weeks?" Johnny asked. Miguel nodded.

"Yeah. Then, today, during the drive, you somehow knew exactly where to go in Vegas, despite the fact that you supposedly hadn't been there for a year. Then, the icing on the cake was on Google Maps. When we were about to head to the steakhouse, I borrowed your phone to use Google Maps to try and get directions. There, in your search history, was directions to a wedding chapel. I kind of put things together at that point."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Johnny asked. Miguel shrugged.

"I didn't want anything to distract us from the weekend. After all, this was the best weekend of my life." Miguel replied, still extremely calm. Johnny's eyes were wide. Miguel seemed to be taking this extraordinarily well.

"Wow. So, you're not mad?" Johnny stammered. Miguel shook his head.

"No, why would I be mad?" Miguel asked. "Hey, you know, I called Hawk this morning. I thought the two of us could go to Vegas together next week, maybe sneak into a bar or two, and I don't know, GET MARRIED WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE!"

There it was. The explosion. Miguel was NOT fine. Far from it.

"So you are mad?" Johnny asked.

"Of course I'm mad, Johnny!" Miguel shouted. "I'm not mad that you and my mom got married! I'm really happy for the two of you actually. I'm mad that you didn't tell me!"

"We wanted to. We just weren't sure how you would react. You're under a lot of stress and..." Johnny said.

"So what? You just decided to keep a massive, life-changing event from me instead?" Miguel spat. "You thought that would make me less stressed out? You know, we've been through a lot together. I've trusted you with things I wouldn't trust another living soul. It's just… it's a shame you don't have the same trust in me. Good night, Johnny."

With that, Miguel stormed out of the car but rather than going into the apartment, he walked off into the night, quickly disappearing from sight…