𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄
✩ 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐞𝐩 𝟏

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐋, 𝐋𝐀
sᴀᴛᴜʀᴅᴀʏ, ᴏᴄᴛᴏʙᴇʀ 𝟹𝟶ᴛʜ
𝟺:𝟺𝟻 ᴘᴍ

𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟖

✰... ❝ 𝑪'𝑴𝑶𝑵 𝑴𝑨𝑵, 𝑯𝑼𝑺𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑼𝑷! ❞ the dominating shout rung in connie's ears causing a drastic feeling of strength flowing through his veins. connie felt so much more overpowered, the next punch he threw nearly made his trainer stumble back, it was a sharp jab against the boxing mitts.

connie hopped his body from side to side with a lopsided grin on his face, his tongue poking his inner cheek as he continued to move around a bit to take some time to breathe, "shit," he let out a gruff, breathy chuckle.

"that's what i'm talkin' 'bout springer," connie's trainer, jerome, raised his fist that was covered with his boxing mitts to bump it against connie's boxing gloves. jerome 'jerry' richards, former boxer professional for 12 years in his late 20s. not too long after his early retirement, he opened his own boxing gym to train those of all ages.

driving through the neighborhoods in south central, he ended up seeing connie in his open garage, practicing his punches. this was back when connie was only 15 years old with no equipment besides his wrapped bandages. deciding to take him in to train him, 3 years passed and connie's been better than ever.

jerry wiped the sweat that was trickling down his forehead of his dark skin before patting connie's back to walk the both of them to the center of the ring, "listen though, it ain't always about how many punches you can throw. you gotta be quick with your movements. gotta be able to slip around to avoid your opponents punches so then, you're able to hit em with a 'pow pow'," jerry demonstrated to connie, making fake punches and pretending to dodge them.

"pow pow," connie whispered under his breath as he copied what jerry did with his movement, later nodding excessively that he understood now. jerry laughed and patted connie's back before pulling off his mitts, "go ahead and jump rope after this while i grab the other equipment. yo ricardo! come take these gloves off for con'," jerry called out to connie's other trainer before leaving the ring.

"you just keep getting better and better el amigo," ricardo chuckled, looking down at connie while untying his gloves. ricardo was a short man with a skin complexion of olive. he was only 20, 2 years older than connie. ricardo was quiet, he barely talked around here so it still sends connie off guard hearing ricardo's voice.

ricardo doesn't talk frequently due to people all his life teasing him about his voice not matching how he looks, his voice being so disembodied. he was tall and really fit, his voice on the other was so cracky and dry, people teased him for sounding like he smoked cigarettes.

"gracias ricky," a corner of connie's mouth lifted, a light chuckle of confidence coming from the back of his throat. after ricardo got done pulling off connie's boxing gloves, connie jumped down from the ring after slipping through the ropes and walked heavily, feeling his body ache a little bit to where he left his jump rope.

connie's goal when jump roping is to never stop, no matter how tired his legs or hands got. counting under his breath as he jump roped, his ears perked at the sound of the gym door opening and closing.

"yo, gym is closed bro," connie panted out and shouted so the person who came in could hear. the gym wasn't closed, connie only said this to keep the gym all to himself. he's doing private training and he didn't need anyone else in here to interfere. but the voice connie heard, wasn't a voice he thought he'd hear.

"ion think that's a bro connie," ricardo uttered.

"no shit," connie muttered. he looked at the doorway and saw a girl revealing herself from the dark, the light of the flickering light bulb angled good enough for connie to see her face. it was you, "the gym doesn't close til 6 pm..." you said. your voice sounded like it was coated with gentleness and sass, all sweet and smooth whilst it sounded slighty raspy.

you felt your voice sort of fading to whispers as your eyes traveled down to the strangers face and his body. you even thought you later choked on your words and your voice, the way they suddenly faded away causing you to stop talking. his jaw was sharply structured besides his chubby cheeks of his heart shaped face. his small nose was pierced with two studs on both sides, other piercings being doubled on both ears.

connie wasn't wearing a shirt, he never wears a shirt when he trains. your eyes boring upon his sweaty chest, small words that were tatted on the left side of his chest glistened in the light. your eyes traveled from that same tattoo on the left side of his chest and down to his left arm that had tattoos all over it, including his sleeve while his right arm was completely naked.

or was it the right side? you asked yourself, raising your hand a bit to see if it was the right or left and hummed lowly that it was the left side. another look wouldn't hurt right? you told yourself as you looked down at his shiny, toned abs on his tanned skin. your eyes stopped near his v line to see he had another tattoo.

you flickered your eyes back up to his face and noticed that he was checking you out too. when you first walked in, connie almost thought he would've tripped on the rope while jumping. he kept his gaze on your pretty face first, a gold hoop nose ring on your nostril that went along with the other double upper lobe piercings you had and the large hoop earrings you wore that had the words '𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅' on them.

your makeup was simple, fake lashes with lip gloss that was lightly coated on your plump lips making them shimmer in the light. his eyes moved down to your body, studying it even. the small yet simple tattoo on your collarbone caught his eye just like your curves and your cleavage in the pink tracksuit you wore. your hair was laid in a slick down puff, your side burns being curled up, down to your jawline.

you watched connie avert his eyes away from you after the two of made some eye contact. behind all the sweat that was trickling down his reddened face, you couldn't even tell that he was beginning to blush just from looking at you. and you thought his face and body was already attractive enough til you heard him speak...again, since the first time he opened his mouth it was more from afar.

"what's a princess like you doing in here," connie rasped out, his guttural voice sounded unsteady the more he jumped, not slowing down while being on his jump rope. you sauntered past the flickering light bulb with your arms crossed against your chest, the closer you got to the attractive stranger the more you began to see his dimpled cheeks appear. his bottom lip was tucked in a bit after sticking out the tip of his tongue to rest it on his bottom lip so he could exhale better.

"what...do you mean by that?" you questioned, squinting your eyes at him a bit. connie stopped jumping and began to wrap the rope before tossing it on the ground. connie grabbed his water bottle and slumped in the black, foldable chair and tilted his head back, feeling the cold water hit the back of his throat.

"i mean..look at you, then look at me, then look at yo' surroundings," at every word connie said, he pointed at you then at himself then moved his finger in a circle to point at the humid, sweaty gym, "just saying, ain't it too dirty for you to be here," connie snorted at the view of your eyes rolling back, his arm resting on his knees as he lowered his head down.

"dirty or not, it don't phase me," you shrugged nonchalantly. your nose definitely tingled a few times when you walked in here, the musk wasn't so strong but it still carried a damp, sweaty towel like scent.

connie felt in his gut that you probably were lying and holding in your breath so you wouldn't smell the sweaty gym. connie tilted his head to the side a bit to keep his eyes gazed upon you, licking his lips too, "answer my first question though, whatchu hoping to find in here princess?"

"i came here to box, what else?" you bit your bottom lip to hold back your smile, your eyes narrowing at his head that was slowly cocking to the side and his face that had a questionable facial expression pasted.

"you, came here to box, in that typa outfit?" connie looked at you up and down, licking the corner of his lips as he did so. you brushed your hands down to your waist before moving them behind you so your hand could be resting against your ass, your cropped jacket showing off your abdomen.

"yeah, i don't look good enough?" you laughed lightly, you were joking of course. you wasn't boutta box in no designer tracksuit and fluffy slides. shit, you couldn't even box in general.

"nah nah, you look fine," connie waved his hand as he leaned back in his chair again before looking up at you, "just not something i'd see everyday. pretty girl wanting to box in a designer tracksuit and fur-ball flip flops ," connie propped his arm on the top of the chair and rested his cheek against his knuckled fist, letting out a chuckle at the sudden gasp you made.

"aight first off, it ain't fur-ball flip flops, they're fluffy slides," you raised your hand out to him and corrected him, your shoulders bouncing up and down from laughing so much at his comment.

"fur-ball, fluffy, furry, same thing," he raised his hands out in front of him and shrugged, leaning back in seat to spread his legs apart a bit.

you looked away from him for a second so he wouldn't see your lips that you were struggling to refrain from curving up into a smile. not only was he funny, he was smooth with it and you didn't have to know so much about him to know he pulls females left and right like it's some hobby. you closed your eyes, letting his deep, pleasant voice settle in your ear drums.

fluttering your eyes back up, you kept your hands behind your back and took a few steps closer to him slouched in his chair, "well i guess it's your first then..." you paused, hoping that connie understood the cue for him to tell you what his name was. but clearly he didn't understand since he just stared at you blankly, his leg was moving from side to side while keeping his head cocked to the side.

"then..." he drawled lazily.

you sighed softly at the stranger for not catching onto your words, "this is where you tell me your name," you took another step. connie stayed quiet to study you again, he could feel the eagerness of you wanting to talk to him linger in the air.

he averted his gaze again to look at his shoes, making a wincing sound before throwing his head back to look at the ceiling, "not until you tell me yours." he looked at you in the corner of his eye to check if you reacted the way he thought you would- pout.

"besides, it's classified information," he grunted softly as he pulled himself up to rise off his seat, his man boobs flexing as he swung his arms back and forth.

before you even got the chance to tell him to stop playing around and that you actually wanted to know his name for real, your head whipped to the direction of the office door that swung open. heavy footsteps approached you, a smile growing on your face once you seen who the person was.

✩ 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 ✩