Man About Town (THE Effin' Justin)

[Adrian]

Adrian let out a loud, exaggerated sigh.

"You must not like money. That's fine. I can certainly see to it you won't make anymore after tonight. Goodbye."

The door to the establishment opened, and a rather pissed-looking Adrian came out, slamming the door behind him. It was a business investment gone awry, the small start-up internet cafe not yet fully built had 'respectfully declined' Adrian's offer of setting up their wireless and wired networks with Hanlon Networking. Adrian left with the somewhat empty threat, hoping it would either frighten them into a call back or causing them to live in worry for the rest of their established life. Could he really make it so that they had no business? It was possible, but Adrian felt he, at least, was above such low-lifed business practices. Threatening them was still an option, but he didn't feel it would do well to follow through.

Regardless, Adrian was unhappy. Here he was, working as an independent operative of his father's company, actually going out and WORKING instead of simply getting fat off his company's coffers, and he was denied, simply because of the stigma that his immediate family had bestowed upon their name. His mind boiled with rage, at the stupid cafe, at his mother and father, at the world, at everything.

And he still had to walk four blocks to get back to his car.

[THE Justin]

Stu was walking down the street, not wearing his coat, only a regular shirt and jeans. As such, he was without his gun, something he seemed to find himself without most of the days now.

He walked with hands put in pockets, head bouncing to the beats of the iPod that played in his pocket. He was carefree, not really paying attention to anyone, instead just letting the music show him the way.

The way right into that boy he fought before.

"Sorry."

Stu attempted to just brush it off, but he knew this kid. It wouldn't end that easily.

[Adrian]

Stu wasn't the only one who had grown since the last time they met. When Adrian and Stu bumped into each other, something they seemed to do more often than was healthy for either of them, Adrian would turn, and in his already bad mood, attempt to shove the boy before he could even say anything in his defense.

Upon seeing him, however, those characteristically dead black eyes, and, even stranger, hearing him apologize, Adrian found himself stopping dead in his tracks. Last he knew, this kid was halfway nuts, if not all the way there. To hear him not going crazy, seeing him actually stop and apologize, well...

It made Adrian feel like the crazy one.

Not that his rage was any less sated. Adrian narrowed his eyes, shooting an accusatory glance at the boy. "You... you came here too? Were I you, I'd pray you didn't have any intention of ruining my newest car like you did my last one."

Adrian eyed the boy, unsure whether to wait for a reply or continue storming off. While he waited, he couldn't help but wonder just what was going on in this kid's head. With eyes as black as the devil, Stu was harder to read than the average guy, and Adrian hadn't been particularly good at reading even them. For this reason, he found himself staying a little longer than he expected.

[THE Justin]

Stu looked up, eyes focussing on the boy.

Adrian.

He needed to talk to him. He had assaulted the boy twice, once with his gun, the other time ruining his car before getting into a fight. He stepped back from the boy, afraid that he was going to come out swinging.

"Adrian... hey... I know we've had our qualms..."

He expected to be hit. Stu had pounded in his car's hood.

[Adrian]

Adrian glared at him for a long time before replying.

"Qualms?! You've been nothing short of a psychopath. I don't even know your name!!"

Adrian was quivering with rage, but a small voice he rarely ever heard at the back of his head tried to tell him that he wasn't really mad at this boy. He was mad at what had transpired. Adrian stopped, and took one deep breath, followed by another. Finally, he spoke once more.

"Where ya headed? My cars not too far, I'll give you a ride."

[THE Justin]

Stu looked at him, just slightly shorter, but compared to most they knew, they towered like giants. He smiled, and just agreed to the ride,

"I'm going to the park to meet a friend. You can drive me if you really want, but I don't mind walking.

Hey, sorry about the old car, yeah? I was a... different person then. I've changed."

He offered his hand to shake. A measure of niceness compared to what he used to have done... which would've been to just punch Adrian in the face.

[Adrian]

Once again, Stu apologized, this time for specifically for the car he destroyed. He held his hand out to shake, and the sheer vulnerability the boy put himself in was strange to Adrian. There was absolutely no good reason to refuse the boy's apology; after all, the car was never really his. It belonged to the driver, who he was paying big bucks to drive him places when he didn't feel like it. Of course, the nice car was part of why the fees were so high, but, regardless...

Adrian extended his hand, admittedly somewhat cautiously, and accepted the handshake, giving the boy a firm grip and a short shake, just like he'd been taught by his father.

"Don't worry about it... Stuart, was it? People just call you Stu, if I'm not mistaken. Things change, people change. Heck... if I was the same person I was, I'd have already thrown you into the ground and started punching, most likely."

Adrian laughed, though he suspected there was nothing really that funny about it. He had changed, it seemed, and he had a feeling he knew the blonde, female reason behind it.

[THE Justin]

Stu shook, a smile on his face. The comment about throwing him to the ground made his hand squeeze harder.

"Is that so? I think I'd send you to the ground first... Like I would've had we really gotten into it the last time."

He winked at the boy. Almost subconsciously his body began falling into its fight preparations, muscles tightening and legs coiling, preparing to launch himself away from any attacks. He was readying for a throw, but he knew he was stronger than this boy.

But then again, who knew what had happened? They both seemed to have mellowed out... but Stu was itching for a small spar, if nothing else.

[Adrian]

"Huh."

Adrian could feel the grip tightening, and knew that, with their hands clasped in a handshake, that along the lines this converstion was heading, things could turn very interesting very fast.

"You know what, Stu? That sounded a little like a challenge."

Adrian smirked back at the boy, his competitive nature getting the best of him yet again. "You probably shouldn't throw those kind of words around unless you're willing to back them up."

[THE Justin]

The grip tightened more, Stu hand enclosing Adrian's in a firm grip. He smiled at the boy, giving him a slight wink.

"I think that I could take you Adrian. I mean, its almost happened twice before..."

Stu began to twist the boys arm so that it would be moved behind him, where Stu would have him in a better position to take him down. He expected some resistance, so he kept his guard up, readying for any sort of attack against him.

[Adrian]

Stu spoke, and, much as Adrian had expected, used the handshake to pull him into an arm-lock. Adrian pretended to fight it, but allowed Stu to get behind him, which, considering the boy's higher strength, would have likely happened anyway. Once he got there, however, Adrian's right foot would stomp down on Stu's own right toes, and his head would shoot back, the back of his head knocking into Stu's nose and/or forehead. He held back, however, not wanting to break the boy's nose, at least not yet.

His foot would remove itself from over Stu's toes, allowing the boy to stumble back from taking the headbutt, if he were wont to do things of that nature. If all went successfully, Adrian would then around, clockwise, his left hand swinging out as if it were about to back-fist Stu, but snapping into a defensive blocking position instead. His right hand, coming around half a second later, would be the actual striking hand, swinging into a mid-range uppercut aimed for Stu's stomach.

[THE Justin]

Stu was surprised that he was allowed to get the upper hand, but then felt the foot smashing downwards on his toe. He immediately roared, his head pulling back instinctively, only thing saving him from a guaranteed broken nose.

The boy twirled away, a hand coming forth. Stu's arms snapped up, and the boy's other hand came in, and he felt it impact on his stomach. He grunted, but he wasn't going to double over for this boy, even though it hurt a little bit.

He took initiative, moving through the boy's blow, grabbing the boys arm and , and pulling him. He returned the boy's strike by throwing his right arm around, and with the boy facing he opposite way, hopefully, he would hit him directly in the side of the head. Should the strike miss, he was more than able to quickly pull the boy down, and drive his left knee into the boy's ribs.

He wasn't pulling any punches, and he figured his opponent wouldn't either. This was a fight of dominance. A friendly fight, but a fight none the less.

[Adrian]

Adrian's strike connected, but the hand was grabbed, once again, and Adrian found himself being tugged forward. He faltered, but allowed himself to be moved, feeling out the tug and knowing that, in a pure bout of his strength against Stu's, he wouldn't have been able to hold on anyway.

Unfortunately for Stu, with the wealthy youngster's left arm already up in a defensive position, it would be hard to get a clean strike on his head. Adrian barely caught the wide hook out of the corner of his eye, and moved his arm only a little bit to block the hook at the wrist, sending it back behind Adrian's head, since he was being pulled in. The boxer was in a tough position, basically a bad clinch, and had to move fast to escape. Stu's knee came up, and Adrian's formerly blocking left hand would strike, swinging in to punch Stu's knee at the inside of the kneecap as hard as he could. With little musculature there, it would be Adrian's fist against pure bone, which would, at the very least, cause a good shock of pain throughout the other boy's body. There was little to no chance of any permanent injury, though, considering the position, but more importantly, the knee would be driven off course.

As his attack would impact, something that would be difficult for Stu to see and react to considering Adrian's body blocking his vision, Adrian would yank hard, hoping to use the pain to pull his right arm back. As he did, Adrian would power his upper body back up, initially swinging his left arm up, forearm held out in a clearing motion to attempt to sweep any unsuspecting arm defense Stu would have mounted, and his right arm would swing upwards quickly thereafter, shooting forth in an uppercut motion directed at Stu's chin, albeit a bit sloppily since Adrian, bent over as he was, wasn't able to line up a perfect shot.

[THE Justin]

Stu let the boy hit his knee, knocking his leg back, a slight grimace of pain as his knee wobbled from the impact. The wobble is probably the only thing that saved Stu from the devastating uppercut, as it force him to lean away from the boy, as he swiped upwards with both his arms.

As the boy came up, it left him quite open, and Stu took this to his advantage, his body already lowered from the attack and trying to overcome the slight pain. He drove forwards, his shoulder driving towards just the area below the boy's ribcage, which would knock the air out of him as well as hopefully knock him down.

If he fell, which there was a good chance since Stu was just plain out stronger than the boy, Stu would immediately take to straddling his stomach, and in the boy's hopefully slightly dazed condition, he would start with two quick strikes to his face, one with each hand, keeping the boy on his toes. Then, he'd follow with a third strike with his right fist, a large pound downwards.

He would continue this assault as long as possible, two quick's followed by an opposing right, trying to wear the boy down. Should the boy not be bowled over, Stu would then grip tightly and pull upwards, once again using his immense strength to lift the boy over his head and into a suplex. This would crash the boy downwards from quite the height, but also potentially hurt Stu.

He felt confident in his ability to knock him down.

[Adrian]

Adrian would be wide open for the shoulder strike, and would take the hit fully. However, instead of falling over immediately, Adrian would, almost instinctively, throw his weight forward while back-pedaling, making for an awkward motion, but it was the best he could do to keep himself from falling immediately. He caught his breath, as best he could, and raised both hands up above his head, clasping his fingers together. He would then swing both hands down in an axe-handle smash type punch, both hands colliding with Stu's exposed back. It would hurt, but not enough to do anything about Adrian's present situation. Furthermore, putting as much power into the punch would cause Adrian to forgo his backpedal, and after the punch landed, he would be slammed to the street, and mounted.

Adrian was a total stranger to ground combat, but, from where he stood (or lay, rather), it seemed pretty simple. Stu wasn't trying any kind of fancy submission, he was just trying to punch Adrian. So, as far as Adrian would visualize himself, he was just in a different kind of punching match. And punching matches were something he could win.

Adrian, upon hitting the ground, knew he was in a bad position, and put his hands in front of his face to guard from the punches. The blows would rain down, with Adrian looking through the slit between his forearms, and he would take them on his rather tough arms, feeling the sting but knowing he could take much more. When they paused, Adrian saw Stu rear back his right fist for a much harder punch, and Adrian pulled his arms in tighter, taking it on the arms once again.

And one more time, he would take the full set. And then two more quick punches. Adrian bid his time, trying to lull Stu into a false sense of security. He had been able to gauge the timing between the spurts, and between the quick and the strong punches. After the two quick punches, Adrian would power upwards as Stu reared back for his punch, using his near-perfect abdominal conditioning to throw his upper body up as hard as he could against Stu's body weight, his left hand roaring forward in a hard left hook, intent on striking Stu directly in the jaw before he could even think to bring his striking fist back down to block.

As he punched with his left, his right hand would go backwards, pressing against the pavement to push himself up further. Adrian was by no means a weakling, and Stu wasnt' a particularly heavy guy. If the punch connected, Adrian would follow through, bringing his fist across the boy's jaw, and then torque it backwards into a sort of back-hand, except the point was not to strike. With Adrian's hand on the opposite side of Stu's head, he intended to use the sudden imbalance the boy would be undergoing from Adrian's attempt to dislodge him to shove him to the side, off to Adrian's left, Stu's right. His left arm would be doing the direct shoving, and his right hand was pressing against the ground to center him and provide a pushing-off point.