No Pain, No Gain

"Move it ya slowpokes! My granny can ride faster than you two!"

Sheesh, even on an empty stomach Mindy wants to make a task as simple as getting food into a race.

Zamir was perfectly comfortable cruising along the Turquoise district streets, thankfully filled with relatively light 9am traffic. The air was filled with the soft hum of cars passing on their morning commute and the occasional snippets of conversation from early risers on their way to work or school. They had even seen a few students with bulky backpacks and hastily put together uniforms cruising past them on the street, obviously running late for class.

Ever since Air Treks had become a regular part of society, even the road design was slightly altered in order to accommodate riders. A small strip of the road about five feet across was reserved for riders only, outlined in jagged lines of bright red to dissuade any cars from crossing the boundary. It was a transition as simple as putting in a bike lane. though with a higher speed expectation and even greater safety laws. When a human body is capable of accelerating at highway level speeds in a densely populated area surrounded by vehicle traffic and pedestrians, the city could not afford to take any chances.

"I'd prefer not to get arrested on a Monday morning," Zamir commented with a roll of his eyes as he watched Mindy suddenly spin around and ride backwards, "unless you intend to pay for my ticket."

"What's the matter Zimmy? Ya scared to lose again?" she asked with a wide smirk spreading from ear to ear, "besides, you won't have to pay for a ticket if ya don't get caught."

His roommate was incredibly tall, sneering down at him from a height of 6'8. Her dark brown hair was fastened into two braids that loosely flapped in the wind draped over her shoulders, dark brown eyes glinting with excitement and anticipation at the possibility he would take the bait. Her open red button down shirt was lightly buffeted by the wind along with the dark green tank top she wore underneath. Her legs were covered by baggy tan cargo pants that were frayed at the bottom and ripped around the knees, a single light grey belt holding them against her hips.

"I'm not five years old. I know when I'm beat and have no problem admitting defeat." If she had no competition, this brief reckless impulse was bound to die down. She never had any fun unless somebody else was roped into one of her schemes, feeding her hunger for competition. It was going to just be another boring Monday, one where he wouldn't be fearing for his life riding through traffic or catching a kick to the stomach from Mindy getting too into the race and treating it like a real battle. It was just going to be a normal ride to work and a stop for breakfast.

"If you think I'm going to let you keep your winning streak after that crap you pulled last time, you've got another thing coming!"

"Damnit." Zamir facepalmed as he cursed under his breath, of course Joel wasn't going to let a previous loss go when he was so close to beating her.

"It's not like it was the first time you lost, figured you would've been used to it by now." She replied, casually crossing her hands beneath her chest as she remained blissfully unobservant of the road behind her. In these sorts of situations Zamir already assumed the responsibility of keeping watch, not just for other riders but also for any officers on patrol that could pull them over for improper use of the Trek lane.

"I almost smoked your ass and you know it! If you didn't grab my belt when I finally passed you." Joel's eyes narrowed at Mindy as his hands had already finished tightening the strap of his backpack, even fastening it to his belt loop. It only took losing belongings one time for a rider to remember to buckle everything down that can move.

"Then you wouldn't have distracted that traffic cop with your Turquoise Tigers boxers,." Zamir commented, smirking as he earned a hearty laugh from Mindy and an embarrassed frown from Joel as he blushed from ear to ear. "Thanks to you we managed to get away while you only got a slap on the wrist."

"You're both just lucky he was a fan; I lost half my check paying him to not fine my ass." As Joel attempted to pick up what remained of his dignity,

"Speaking of fines, could you please just turn around and ride next to us." Zamir's eyes nervously darted to his left where he noticed a few lingering gazes from the passenger seats of a few cars.

Mindy followed his gaze before shrugging and heading his advice, lifting a leg and smoothly pivoting on her toes while decelerating to fall in line on the opposite side of Zamir.

"Since I know it'll be a waste of oxygen talking you out of this, I'm at least going to make sure you do this safely. If either of you go overboard, somebody starts reporting us, or I see a patrol car I'm calling this off." Zamir's gaze briefly locked with Mindy's, "And that means no Tricks."

Contrary to popular belief, i.e those who were not stormriders, a trick is not something as meager as a backflip or a 720 degree turn in midair as you leapt from one roof to another. No, these feats of athleticism were classified as Maneuvers in the modern AT community. Tricks were on an entirely different level, consisting of specialized techniques that were extensions of a rider's personal road. They could only be used by those that truly had the fundamental workings of their quirk understood down to a science, and understood their own bodies enough to perceive ways they could bend the rules of their road to their own advantage.

Anybody with enough training and talent could pick up a pair of ATs and perform complex Maneuvers, there were entire sports now dedicated to athletes that specialized in riding. But to perform a Trick required a degree of dedication, focus, risk, and even obsession that most people just did not have at their disposal. The only individuals willing to dedicate themselves to this task were stormriders, and many had already suffered crippling injuries or even died attempting to either discover a new Trick or from ones that went horribly wrong. To have even a single Trick was a mark of great strength in their world, and placed you at a level above any average stormrider that wished to challenge you. Even though Mindy would never harm them, Zamir always was acutely aware that she was the only true stormrider out of Toul Tool To aside from their superiors. As the sole enforcer of the team who was often assigned to participate in battles as a representative, she was leagues ahead of him when it came to battle experience. He hadn't even seen her in an actual battle before, as measures were taken at the venues she fought within neutralize any attempts to get any application of her road on video. Come to think of it, Zamir never learned what her road was in the first place.

Not like she's ever volunteered the info. Would it be a bad idea to ask?

"Come on Zee, I want to see her in act-"

"Don't argue with me on this." Zamir's tone was grating and firm, leaving no room of negotiation as his eyes glared daggers into Joel's. Despite his tone, it wasn't anger that was motivating Zamir's sudden outburst. It only took a moment for Joel to give a slow nod of understanding and for Zamir to sigh in relief.

"No problem bro, I'll be careful." Joel gave an assuring smile as he reached out and gently grasped his friend's shoulder as they slowed down to a halt at the red light before them.

No matter how good you two are, something can always go wrong.

"Me too, cross me heart." Mindy agreed, a soft smile on lips as she utilized her thumb in order to make the gesture.

"Thanks," Zamir gave a soft nod before briefly reversing so that his friends could move to stand beside one another.

He knew that the smartest choice would've been to talk them out of racing altogether, to keep reminding them of all the risks involved and how much trouble they could get in. A part of him still wanted to stop them, but his curiosity outweighed his fear. He was always hearing stories about stormrider battles and watching a few shaky posts on the web, but never once had gone out to experience one firsthand. He was always either working, sleeping, or was too terrified going by himself. They were illegal, and being caught in attendance meant having your affiliation on file and a mark on a public record. Stormriders were always associated with gang activity. violence, and recently even crime. To be identified as one meant being ostracized from anyone outside of that lifestyle and once everyone refused to hire you, the inevitable relocation to the Vantablack district. But still, there were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people still willing to call themselves stormriders despite these risks. People were willing to live, fight, and risk it all on a quest for prestige in an underworld everyone seemed to just want to go away.

Maybe he was so drawn to it because he wished to understand why they all were fighting so hard, and perhaps get a glimpse at the final goal at the end of the line. The Vermillion District's King had rarely shown their face, and anyone who expressed any interest in challenging them was crushed before they could make any significant headway. Their rules and decrees were hardly noticeable and their presence was practically nonexistent aside from rumors that seemed to eventually find their way to every stormrider's ear in one way or another. There was a reason Vermillion District was known as the kingdom of the Phantom King, an unseen force that seemed to be more like an ambitious and powerful rider.

Maybe you'll be the one to show me...

"We go on green." Joel lowered his body until his fingertips were on the pavement, one leg placed beneath his chest while the other extended beside him.

Even though it looked like a basic runner's stance, Zamir knew that it was the orthodox starting position taught to riders who participated in sports that required quick and sudden acceleration from the starting gate. Due to the pressure sensitive controls, it took a considerable level of balance in order to avoid accidentally setting the ATs off and propelling oneself directly into the ground due to the loss of balance. The front foot was meant to get the body in motion while the rear foot was supposed to apply thrust and increased acceleration, with timing being the most important factor in the success of the starting technique. Zamir usually saw that sort of stance at sporting events or the olympics, rarely in friendly races on the street.

That stance and the look in Joel's eye was all Zamir needed to understand that Joel intended to put his all into this race, and was willing to exhaust every technique in the book in order to do it.

"Fair dinkum." Mindy grinned as she lowered her body and placed her arms at her sides, turning her rearoot that it pointed sideways slightly and keeping her front foot forward.

Her knees were bent so that she was in a half-squatting position, though her body appeared not to waver in the slightest as she still maintained an upright posture. Her left arm gently floated in front of her chest while her right hand rested behind her at the level of her waist. Just the very thought of standing that way in his ball roller ATs made Zamir feel queasy from the lack of stability and footing, but Mindy looked as calm and composed as if she were standing upright.

They were both leagues ahead of him when it came to things like this, as it took Zamir all that he had just to keep up with them. Was this where he would always be? Staring at their backs and chasing after them instead of riding alongside them? His eyes briefly flicked up to the traffic light to see the adjacent lights beginning to shift, signaling the approaching change for the one facing them. He lightly ran his hands up to the back of his hat to unfasten it, removing his hat and clipping it to one of his belt loops.

Unlike his friends, Zamir adopted a more neutral stance. He kept his feet shoulder width apart and made sure his weight was evenly distributed straight over the ball mechanisms, his hands held behind his back to counter his weight as he slightly leaned his chest forward. While Mindy and Joel only had two pressure mechanisms on each foot to keep track of, Zamir had to remain acutely aware of about ten. His ATs required him to have such a consistent level of self awareness that shifting his weight the wrong way could send rotations in conflicting directions and force his ride to stall on good days or result in a wipeout on bad ones. Despite the difficulty, Zamir still forced himself to learn how to ride the more complex AT mechanism because it was the only model available when he joined Toul Tool To.

I may not be fast enough to overtake one of you, but I can at least keep an eye on you to make sure you're safe.

As Zamir felt the microseconds pass before the light would turn green, the world seemed to suddenly glitch as the physical form of his friends altered before him. Superimposing over Joel's body was the form of a rhino, as blue and rough as the denim jacket that had covered his back. The single massive ivory horn was gunmetal gray, and even though Joel remained motionless Zamir could see the beast pawing at the ground in preparation to charge.

"What the-"

Mindy was suddenly covered in bright armor, light glistening off the adamantine material as a shield covered her leading arm and a lance was firmly grasped in her off-hand preparing to strike. Her brown braids had suddenly become golden blond and he could see hints of war paint on her cheeks as a soft ephemeral glow radiated from her skin.

"actual hell?" As suddenly as the visages appeared, the sudden flash of green seemed to baish them like a fleeting dream once his companions both surged forward.

They had already put about five yards of distance between them in the brief window of Zamir's hesitation, the young man quickly placing his weight towards his toes while pushing off of his rear foot in order to chase after them.

What did he just see? Why did he see it? These questions and more were abuzz in his mind but he had to push them aside for the time being. His first, second, and third priority was keeping an eye on this race and the streets. He was going to have to listen for sirens, calls for help, and the signature melodies of the racers' ATs while also ensuring that he kept up and didn't fall behind. A smirk graced his face as he lightly chuckled, glad to find himself back in the position of lookout and denmother once more. He understood his responsibilities and by now he knew them well, besides…

"I know the song of your ATs anywhere, if you leave me behind I'll just take a shortcut to catch right up." As long as they were riding, as long as those AT wheels were turning, Zamir would never lose track of their position. Because connecting riders to their ATs, forging and maintaining those bonds, was his road, the road of everyone that called themselves tuners. The Ring Road.

Against his expectations, Joel had managed to grasp an early lead on Mindy. His orthodox stance had managed to do the trick and allow him to gain ground quickly, but he was left with all of his weight forward and without much room for posture correction. It seems that sort of starting technique was specialized for straight-lined sprinting, as obstacles and directional correction were not accounted for in sports where the only direction you had to go was forward. Joel's legs even momentarily wobbled from the overcommitment before quickly correcting, preventing the worst from occurring as he shot passed a few surprised pedestrians who held their jackets close as they were buffeted by the wind that followed Joel's speeding form.

Mindy was on Joel's tail, but appeared to not be in any sort of rush to get past him just yet. Her legs rhythmically moved as she shifted her weight from one side of her body to the other, her long and easy strides allowing her to maintain distance with Joel as she remained in line with his back. Her knees were bent and her body was hunched somewhat, causing her form to become smaller as she gained on the boy in front of her with arms swinging through the wind in tight controlled arcs.

When the pair of them came across a car that was parked in the AT lane, one look at the moving traffic to their left informed the pair that trying to go around it was far too risky of an endeavor. Not desiring to be halted by trying to weave past newspaper dispensers and parking meters that lined the sidewalk, they simultaneously determined that the best course of action would be to go over the obstacle.

Once he was about ten feet from the car, Joel bent his legs and pushed hard against the ground. The familiar hydraulic hiss of the wheels filled the immediate area as he took to the air, soaring effortlessly over the car and tucking his legs as he performed a tight front flip as he crested over the top of the car. As his legs extended, he hit the ground with an audible smack against the asphalt and grinned at his achievement. Taking a moment to glance behind him at the status of Mindy, he felt his heart lodge in his throat as she appeared to be even closer now.

"Jesus! Did you clip through the car?" He laughed as he returned his attention to the road before him, seeing the next turn rapidly approaching.

"Nah, I just took the express route." She explained coyly with a sneer once she saw the upcoming turn.

Rather than jump early, Mindy continued to ride along the ground during the period that Joel was in midair. Once she was about a foot from the car, she jumped straight into the air and crossed her arms over her chest as she performed a tight spin. Her ATs then lightly skipped across the top of the car to give her an extra push forward, allowing her to get another small burst of acceleration to place her behind Joel. While Joel's tucked roll was an excellent way to keep a person's momentum going forward, the shape created drag against the wind and was prone to air resistance. By keeping her body straight and spinning instead, she was able to cut through the air with more ease and stop short just enough to let her ATs get some traction on the top of the car without potentially damaging it.

Rather than try snapping back with a retort of his own, Joel simply continued his forward stride. It was about a quarter mile to the next turn, where he would be forced to slow down in order to turn safely. While the idea of slowing down after getting so much of a lead was troubling, if Mindy was going to keep riding his tail like this then she would be forced to slow down as well once he stopped. Worst case scenario, she wastes extra energy trying to go around him and he could overtake her once more in the straightaway. As the turn quickly approached, Joel knelt down and leaned his body in order to make a wide but smoothe turn. Instead of hearing Mindy breaking behind him, he saw a flash of red as she shot past him on his inner line to catch the turn before he could. It only took a brief second for her to get past him and teasingly hold up a middle finger before she rose to her full height and began kicking her legs to create more distance between them.

As Joel desperately attempted to make up for his lost lead, a sudden realization hit him and he couldn't help clenching his teeth at his own ignorance. "I can't believe I just let her draft me into a slingshot pass…"

While drafting was a cycling sport used to conserve energy, in motorsport racing it also allowed a brief window for the person drafting behind to gain a sudden burst of speed thanks to the air pressure of his slip stream yanking her forward and keeping her near his back without her needing to go full throttle. One tiny window was all she needed to take advantage of his decelerated force in order to amp up her acceleration and shoot past him.

"Rookie mistake," he grumbled to himself, his eyes widening when he watched Mindy leave the road and suddenly cut into an alleyway.

Figuring that she knew a shortcut that he didn't, Joel quickly prepared to follow her. A few moments after her form disappeared behind the brick corner of the alley, Joel made a turn and was horrified to see a complete minefield of garbage and trash cans. In the edge of his vision he could see Mindy scaling the wall of the left adjacent building and was already near the top, while Joel unfortunately had no time to get that much air without crashing his shoulder into the wall and falling into the smelly horde of garbage below.

"Oh hell no!" It was sheer reflex that saved him, as he barely managed to clear the first metal trash can as he drifted towards the adjacent wall to his right.

Allowing his body to fall into the similar position of months of practice, he slightly leaned his upper body away from the wall while he aimed his bent knees towards it. Once his wheels made contact with the brick, he carefully pressed his weight into the wall and meticulously held his balance as he performed a wallride to avoid the assortment of broken glass and dripping black bags that he knew would ruin not just his wheels but also his clothes.

Every passing second on that wall felt like he was one miscalculation away from falling, and the horrid smell of trash forced him to instinctively hold his breath. He couldn't recall how long he spent in that state of suspension, but the dip he felt once he reached the end of the wall allowed him to get a welcomed breath of fresh air.

"Hey! Nice one, I thought you were gonna eat shit back there but you surprised me!" Joel was clutching his chest in an effort to calm his heart as he looked around only to find Mindy waving at him from the edge of the low rooftop of the opposing building that he'd just passed.

"Are you nuts?! How did you even get up there so fast!?"

"When you find a way up here I'll tell you." Joel felt himself internally shutter at the idea of being up so high, his dizziness already threatening to set in at the mental image before he forced himself to chase after Mindy's form as she jumped the gap separating her from the building before her.

She may have had the high ground, but Joel had no intention of allowing her to get away so easily. As he left the alley, he corrected his course once again down the route to their destination that he was familiar with. With a quick vault over a bus stop bench, he was back on the road once more and weaving his way through a few straggling cruisers. The repetitive sound of hydraulics made him glance upward and watch in awe as Mindy gracefully leapt from one street light to the other, her ATs perfectly utilizing each cylindrical platform as a foothold in order to gain speed. Anybody else would've fallen and broken their neck by now, but Mindy was jumping from post to post like a child jumping along the cracks of a sidewalk.

"So this is what separates the stormriders from the athletes…" Nobody in their right mind would do something so stupid, so risky, just to win a race.

Her pride as a rider was truly pushing her to pull out all the stops, going as far as deviating from the path to lead Joel into a trap in an effort to trip him up. Unlike the other times they raced, she wasn't nearly as close and chatty. She was actually taking him seriously and doing everything in her power to avoid losing. If he wasn't still reeling from being one bad muscle shift from needing a long shower and a tetanus shot, he'd be flattered. With newfound vigor, he pushed himself onward and startled cruisers quickly began clearing a path for the determined by.

"Beep beep! Sorry! S'cuse me! Running late for a date!" Excuses, explanations, and apologies easily rolled of his tongue as he gave nervous smiles and apologetic waves to everyone he could as he passed by. At least giving them a reason would make them less likely to report him for reckless speeding, especially when most of them appeared to be around his age.

When he saw upcoming traffic and a red light rapidly approaching, he briefly weighed the pros and cons of taking the upcoming gap in the cars. If he really pushed it he was positive he could clear the three lanes of traffic before anyone could hit him, but Zamir's warning from earlier resonated in his mind and he forced himself to brake with clenched fists. As he watched the gap approach that he had been anticipating, he was taken aback as he watched a car that was speeding suddenly plow through the space his body would've been if he'd kept going.

It was an interesting thing seeing how close one's own mortality could've been, how a miscalculation of a single person's choice could make everything go so wrong so fast. He felt his heart banging against his rib cage as his breath caught in his throat, reaching up and clenching his jacket as he attempted to steady his breathing. Whether Zamir had known it or not, he'd saved Joel's life that day.

"Hey Joey, you okay? You look like you saw a ghost." Mindy was crouching on a telephone pole above, a concerned expression on her face as she remained blissfully unaware or uncaring of the eyes and fingers now trained on her position.

"It's fine, just a bit winded."

"That's what happens when ya keep filling the pantry with donuts and PopTarts."

"Don't you dare disrespect the food of the divine!" He couldn't let this get him in a rut, putting on a brave and challenging smile once again in order to mask his brief fear of death.

Returning his smirk, Mindy bent down and grabbed the base of the outstretched telephone pole as she let herself hop off. Though when Joel thought she was going to end up breaking her legs from the fall, she maintained her grip in order to hook the back of her leg around the base of the pole and hooked her other hand around it as well. As she let go of the light post's arm, her momentum allowed her to smoothly spin down the pole's length, her cargo pants providing enough friction to slow her fall and the material tough enough to keep from tearing or ripping as she descended. As Joel and several other onlookers silently watched the Maneuver in awe, he began to call out to her when she was near the center.

"Woah, I had no idea you were a-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll rip out ya fucking tongue!" She quickly interjected before pushing herself off the wall and in an arc over his body, landing on the crosswalk with a brief spin in order to dissipate her speed before she kept going.

"No!" Joel had been completely oblivious to the crosswalk light being green and was just standing there like an idiot when he could've made a left turn and kept pushing.

By the time he prepared to follow after Mindy, the light had changed and he was forced to follow traffic and go forward. He could already see her three blocks away with her form only getting further, way beyond the ground he was capable of covering at the pace she was moving. It wasn't going to be easy, but he was going to have to take a quick shortcut. It was the only path that he knew could bypass the lost ground he had, but it would require employing horrible means that no self respecting rider would usually employ.

"So you really are a starter for Queen Highschool's AT team?" A wide grin brightened the seat next to Joel as he chatted with a girl on the monorail, her magenta colored hair styled in two long twin tails as her legs lightly kicked against the leg of the chair the two sat on.

She was wearing a long dark skirt with a cream cardigan, white button down shirt, and a dark blue tie around her neck. She was of a pale complexion and had dark eyes that had been gleaming with fascination from the first moment she saw Joel enter her cart wearing his ATs. She had a babyish heart shaped face with lips lightly covered with pink lip gloss and a slight divot in the bridge of her nose where he assumed glasses would usually be sitting.

"Yeah, I've been on the team for two years now but I've been riding for eight." Joel was slouching against his chair as he returned her smile, his feet resting on the back wheel of his ATs to alleviate some of the soreness while he could.

"You've been riding since you were nine years old?!"

"My brother would teach me in secret, our mom wasn't the biggest fan of her baby boy strapping two supermotors to their feet." He lightly rubbed the back of his head as the two of them shared a laugh.

"My parents were a bit more accepting, they rode ATs themselves when they were younger." Her gaze briefly went to the window and settled on the lane of riders below, watching a line of riders in matching uniforms that appeared to be training for a circuit.

"Does it run in the family?"

"I just ride ATs for fun and occasionally go to the parks with my friends." She passively twisted her finger through one of her twintails as she briefly stared at Joel's airtreks. "From the look of those wheels and the scratches you use those just about everyday."

"What can I say, if you want to be a champion you've got to practice like one." Still, it was rather peculiar that she was able to notice his wheels and the scratches on his frame like that. Most hobbyists just liked the look and feel of air treks, never really knowing how to look much deeper than that.

"You really know your stuff, what school do you go to?"

"Motley Magnet School." She took a moment to present her school insignia, a red star with a purple MC inside of it.

"Oh, you live on the north side of the district. I think our schools are supposed to compete in two weeks, think I'll catch you at one of the games?"

"Maybe," she took her time stretching out the word with a coy smirk and innocent shrug.

"If you're there I promise to do a cool trick," Joel proposed, leaning up straight in his seat and meeting her gaze with a challenging smirk.

"You sure you shouldn't keep your mind focused on the race?" She arched an eyebrow as she crossed her arms, slightly shaking her head in disbelief as Joel chuckled and started unlocking his ATs.

"Don't doubt my ability to do both."

As the subway reached his stop, Joel stood to his feet and began cruising towards the door before turning around.

"My bad, nearly forgot. My name's Joel, Joel Cruz."

"Kiryu Minami," she gave an enthusiastic wave as Joel rode backwards towards the exit. "See you round Joel, good luck with your race!"

Before Joel could say anything more, the door closed and the subway drove off to its next destination. How would that girl know that he was in the middle of a race? She must've been referring to their upcoming school competition right? As he stared off at the disappearing rear end of the train, Joel lightly shook his head in disbelief.

"Minami...why does that sound familiar?" He was going to have to approach this question later, as he had breakfast to catch and a race to win.

With a quick 180 degree turn, he quickly rode towards the stairway and jumped up to grind seamlessly down the spiraling staircase and earned quite a few surprised gasps and even a few curses from other exiting passengers as he leapt off the end with a quick 360 before continuing on his way. Even on ATs, there was no way in hell Mindy was going to catch up.

"What do you mean I lost? I got here first!"

"You got here first because you cheated." Zamir dismissively explained as they now waited in line, the smell of freshly made hash browns and sausages filling the air as they stood in queue for their order. "You're ATs went silent, which means you turned them off. I know you didn't run here which means you got a ride. In other words-"

"Get fucked mate," Mindy grinned as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "To think ya felt so outclassed you got a ride instead of getting here yourself? Where's the sportsmanship? Where's the honor?"

Joel felt his face growing red with embarrassment, swatting Mindy's hand aside and causing his friends to chuckle at his expense while he tried to think of some excuse to get him out of this mess.

"But I-"

"Lie to me and you go hungry."

That shut him up quick, and Zamir's knowing smirk was all the confirmation Joel needed to know he meant business. It was impossible trying to get a lie over his head.

"Ugh fine, whatever. I lost and you won as usual."

"Shame really, if you didn't get distracted at that light you might have actually beaten me here. Better luck next time," she playfully thumped the bottom of her fist against his chest before it was her turn to order.

Joel lightly pinched the bridge of his nose as he gave an exasperated sigh, only to feel Zamir's hand gently pat him on the back.

"Don't worry about it man, for thinking outside the box I'll buy you a regular priced breakfast."

The prospect of more food seemed to do the trick just fine as Joel gladly clasped Zamir's palm and pulled him into a one armed eliciting a groan from Zamir as he lightly pushed him away and coughed.

"Ugh you're still wet man! Save the brotherly love for after you take a shower or put on some deodorant."

"It's the smell of living Zee, enjoy it while you can." Especially when a simple warning ensured that he could still have a body to sweat with or still have friends to annoy.

Even though Zamir could sometimes be a stick in the mud, at the end of the day he was the balance that Joel and Mindy needed. He kept them out of trouble, made sure to keep them grounded, and whenever they got into a bad situation he was the one that usually found a way to get them out of it. He was one of the most cautious people that he'd ever met, but he never once thought of Zamir as the type to be a coward. After all, it took bravery to keep chasing after people like him and Mindy for so long without asking for much in return aside from their portion of the rent.

"Yo Joel, what do you want?" The young man snapped out of his brief stream of thought and smiled as he approached the counter and glanced up at the menu.

"Now how much is the Mclobster?"

In a split second Joel suddenly found himself crumpled on the ground with a sharp pain in the back of his head, Zamir looking at the cashier with a calm expression yet with a visibly pulsing vein near his temple. His hand that was held up in a chop was lightly smoking from the force that he had hit the back of Joel's, and he calmly reached in his pocket to fish out his wallet.

"He'll have pancakes and some ice water." He calmly told the visibly shaken cashier who silently nodded and took the money.

"Can I at least get an apple pie?"

"No," Zamir nodded with a polite smile as he took the receipt and glanced down at his friend. "Only winners get pie."