𝐶𝐿𝑂𝐴𝐾 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐷𝐴𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒 [DISCONTINUED]

𝟏𝟐 | 𝐀𝐍 𝐔𝐍𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑

"𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒: 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒."
—𝑆𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠

𝒟.

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀 little girl? Hit harder!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm trying."

Diego clenched his fist tighter before throwing the punch, the boxing glove then colliding with the thick skin of the punching bag that Nigel was holding onto.

He grunted as he punched once more, and, with a small chuckle, Nigel chided, "Come on, man, I know you can hit harder than that!"

Diego rolled his eyes in amusement, earning another chuckle from the taller man, and he rolled his shoulders back. He used his forearm to wipe the sweat off his forehead and squinted at the centre of the punching bag.

"Come on, Diego," Nigel encouraged as he slapped the punching bag. "You've got it. Come on."

Diego began to punch again, using all of his strength to power every punch and letting out a grunt every time. He could feel beads of sweat quickly replace the ones he had just wiped away but he had no time to let that bother him as he bounced on his toes and hit the bag.

After getting a good few punches in, Diego paused for a moment, catching his breath as he bounced on his toes. And then, he went back in and began hitting the bag with all his might.

"Harder!" Nigel insisted. "The other guy's gonna laugh at you tonight. More!"

"You know," Diego said in between punches, though he had a grin, "your encouraging words should be more, uh, encouraging."

"It's called tough love, my friend," Nigel rebutted as he steadied the punching bag. "And it works, doesn't it?"

"Be nice to hear a" —punch— "'good job!' once in a while," Diego grunted.

"Good job!" Nigel said in a mockingly cheery voice before rolling his eyes. "There ya go. Happy?"

Diego grinned before sending a punch that knocked the bag out of Nigel's hands. "Very."

"Okay," Nigel sighed as he grabbed onto the bag, which was swinging, and steadied it. "Good enough."

Diego slid the gloves off and tossed them to the side. He wiped his sweaty hands on the muscle tank that he was wearing and sent Nigel a grin as the taller man threw an arm around his sweaty shoulders.

"Hey," Nigel began as the two began to walk towards the lockers, "saw a girl coming out of your room this morning—hair all messy, shirt barely even half on . . . Who was that?"

Diego gave him a mischievous grin. "Honestly, man, I don't even remember her name."

"Ah, I don't know how you pull so many girls," scoffed Nigel as he opened his locker and grabbed a water bottle. He chugged some of it down before slapping Diego on the back. "You ain't even nice to 'em. And your room is filthy."

"Don't need to be nice, don't need a clean room," Diego countered as he grabbed his own water. "They like me for somethin' else."

"Disgusting," he remarked, causing Diego to chuckle before taking a swig of water. "Man, you ever gonna look for somethin' serious?"

Diego's smile faltered for a moment before he scoffed and shrugged. "Guess we'll see. Maybe one day."

"Yeah." Nigel slapped Diego on the back once again before putting the water bottle back in his locker and shutting the door. "I'm gonna head out for some lunch. You wanna join?"