My Mafia Host Family

After seeing the airport, the Ferrara estate, the college, the sports center and the area around Eliseo's bookstore, it was refreshing to see that not all of the city was stuck-up. Pazhar had taken the bus together with Jae Sun into a part which definitely wasn't. Many walls were tagged down, several buildings were in dire need of maintenance, and the suits were few and far between.

He had trouble keeping his excitement down, but managed to keep up a calm, friendly exterior. Jae Sun was talking away eagerly about mathematics and basketball, and Pazhar was happy enough - although in a way, he'd have liked the topic to wander on to the guy's friends. Wonder what they were like?

It was a question that would soon be answered anyway. He followed the shorter youngster into a courtyard. The buildings surrounding it were among the worn down ones, and despite the walls not having much in the way of regular paint, there was plenty of colourful pieces filling the areas accessible from the ground. In total it didn't look too stylish, but the Fendarian was more comfortable somewhere he knew he wouldn't be better off wearing a bowtie.

They went in through a metal door which seemed to have rusted stuck in an open position and then started up the stairs. As they passed every floor and were on their way to the top floor, he grinned at Jae Sun. "Whoa... I didn't know I was visiting the penthouse boys. Nice view?"

Jae Sun chuckled. "Penthouse is a nice way of putting it. But yeah, view is nice. Especially in summer, when people wear less. We can look straight down onto the street on the other side."

Streets weren't what Pazhar had thought of when he mentioned a view, but he shrugged and smirked anyway. The smaller guy headed to the door and opened it, tossing his bag into a chair. Not the tidiest and cleanest places, to put it mildly, but the Fendarian didn't feel like making a fuss about that. They could always just blame the wind that came through the small holes in the walls.

After checking into the adjoining rooms, Jae Sun returned with a shrug. "Guess they headed out somewhere, so we can meet them at the court. Want a drink or something before we go?" And before Pazhar could turn the offer down, the other youngster shrugged again. "I'm getting one for myself and I don't want to be rude, so I'll get you one too."

Two minutes later, they were on their way to the court with a soda can each. Jae Sun had changed shoes, but otherwise he was still in the t-shirt and slacks he had worn to school. Didn't look ideal for basketball, so Pazhar was mildly puzzled and joked around with it a bit. Jae Sun didn't seem to care, though.

When they got to the court, a couple of kids in their early teens were playing against one of the hoops, while the other one was free. The two newly arrived headed straight for it, and soon they were playing one on one. They played for a little while, until Jae Sun flashed Pazhar an impressed grin. "You're real good! You could make money off this, you know."

Money? That'd be nice. Pazhar wondered whether he was going to get paid by the local basket team, but as they had arranged a scholarship and judging by what the man at the college had said, he doubted it. "How do you mean?" He asked with a smirk, wondering if the thinking pause made him seem disbelieving.

"Betting." Jae Sun said confidently. "You can play with us for money. You wouldn't believe how many people around here think they're good at basketball."

Pazhar wondered if it included Jae Sun himself... he was decent, by all means, but no resistance at all from him. It was a matter of skill and physique, but also an extra four inches on the Fendarian's part. "Well, I like the sound of that." He said with a light grin.

"Good, I'll have a word with the others after we've played with them. That is, if they haven't already reached the same idea themselves." Jae Sun grinned sheepishly, then looked over at the hoop. "Wanna teach me free throws while we wait?"

"Sure." Pazhar grinned. In his opinion, free throws were 80% practice and 20% technique, but he was happy to give a few pointers.

They had worked at it for a while when Jae Sun suddenly stopped. "They're here," he said with a smirk, then turned and waved at two guys almost as tall as Pazhar.

One of them was bald with pierced ears, sunglasses on his head, an over-sized yellow basket top and long, dark blue shorts. He had an unsettling, almost cruel smirk on his face as he watched the kids in their early teens, and it was clear from the way they stopped playing and watched closely that they knew who he was.

The other one had every bit of hair the first one lacked, and then some. A huge, messy heap of black hair surrounded an unusually sexy face, but between what happened with Eliseo and this guy simply radiating 'top', Pazhar had no problems avoiding undue interest. He was wearing a grey wife-beater and blue sweatpants.

Whereas the bald one was obviously tempted to go over to the kids, he nevertheless came over. "You must be the new nerd." He said with a smirk.

"Hello to you too!" Pazhar returned the smirk, claiming eye contact. He liked doing that with people who thought they were tall, but weren't quite as tall as he was. "I'm Pazhar. And you are...?"

"Derek. Your friend there, Jae Sun, is staying in my apartment." The Fendarian watched the mentioned shorter guy roll his eyes but refrain from commenting, so he decided not to ask and instead smiled at the other one.

"Taejin." The guy said lazily, but offered his hand, and Pazhar shook it.

"Well, enough of the bullshit." Derek demanded loudly, "let's see the guy in action. You nerds can play against us cool guys."

Pazhar cast a quick glance over at the early teen group, who were now mumbling amongst themselves and withdrawing from the court. It seemed the bald guy was disappointed with that, but Pazhar was relieved. He didn't feel like seeing bullying in action.

The game proved very even. Taejin was about Pazhar's level, but even if there was less than an inch between them, that mattered quite a bit. Derek was only a little weaker, but made up for it with taking advantage of there not being a referee to call fouls and arguing loudly with every demand for one. In the end, Taejin and Derek ended up by a few points, but it seemed everyone were happy with that. Jae Sun in particular, didn't seem overly eager on winning towards the end of the game.

"You're good." Taejin remarked, slipping an arm around Pazhar's shoulders. "You've done a lot of this where you came from, haven't you?"

"Yeah." The Fendarian smiled. "I've been playing and coaching basket for quite a while, and basket is the whole reason I'm here in this city."

The Asian's face split into a grin. "Cool." He said, then left it at that.

Jae Sun looked up at Derek, flashing a confident smirk. "He's good enough, right? He should play with us."

"Well, he's better than you!" Derek laughed, then crossed his arms, giving Pazhar a long once-over and then a twice-over. "Want to play basket with us, nerd boy?"

Nerd boy? Was that because he went to college? Pazhar twisted a momentary grimace before nodding. "Sure. I could use some money, for sure."

Derek scowled at Jae Sun. Apparently in his opinion, Pazhar wasn't supposed to know about the money involved? Well, more for the loud, bald guy, probably. "Yeah, yeah," Derek said disinterestedly, "maybe you can join us from time to time."

Pazhar felt a finger rest gently against his ear, followed by a whisper. "Don't say anything," Jae Sun's hiss came, "you're good to go as it stands." The Fendarian smirked down at the smaller guy and nodded. The low volume wasn't needed, though, because Derek was already a good bit away, trying to get a bet.

"Anyone up for basketball? 2 on 2? 3 on 3? 4 on 4? You know you can't beat us, cause you can't play. No skills. My grandma makes better shots than you do!"

~~~~~~

Lisa: Arsenio is the big brother. He's been protective towards his kid brothers all his life :) But he's generally not a very happy person.