Rewritten Past

I stared at the black guy standing close to Miss Serena, assessing his intentions.

Obviously. Might be stereotypes and all, but stereotypes existed for a reason.

But I had a sense this was different, so I took a closer look.

The guy didn't seem to have a thing for Miss Serena.

I heard him call her beautiful, but that was definitely an acknowledgment instead of flirting.

And he was deliberately staying out of grabbing reach or even lunging reach. Roughly ten feet off. Enough space for Miss Serena to run if she panicked.

Which meant the guy was self-aware enough of how he looked, how intimidating he could be, AND the situation at hand.

That alone would have been enough to make me relax around him since he didn't have any bad intentions.

But what made me completely relax and call out so casually was one simple fact. And one I missed before.

This dude was rocking genuine Muay Thai training shorts.

Now, the fact that he was wearing them to swim was ABSOLUTE blasphemy. But they were the real deal.

Plus, he knew about Dragon Ball Z, so he was definitely one of the real ones.

The moment I called out to him, the guy relaxed and knelt down. "Sup, Little Homie. Name's Tyrone. I just wanted to talk a bit." He eyed my arms and nodded. "What kind of training do you do? A kid like you with those arms definitely ain't normal."

April shimmied forward, ducking behind me and hiding from Tyrone.

Miss Serena subconsciously got closer too.

Off in the distance, I could see some of the other guests start waving over hotel staff.

...Ah, right. Still mega racist at this time. And ripped black guy approaching beautiful young white woman... who was effectively still a girl, and two kids set off major red flags.

I grabbed his hand and tugged him over to a chair before pulling one over with a bright smile on my face. "I do lots of training! Mister Tyrone looks like you train a lot too! Do you do boxing?"

My cheery voice defused the situation.

Mostly.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw a staff member... Martha, actually. The hotel clerk we met on the way here.

The older lady peered in with a scowl, ready to tell Tyrone off for sure.

But seeing me strike up a conversation and both April and Miss Serena relaxing, Martha shook her head and walked back out.

Looks like I passed that event flag, thankfully.

Tyrone sat down across from me and laughed. "Boxing? I wish, Little Homie." He gestured towards his build and said, "I got muscle, but I don't got Mike Tyson muscle, you know? Besides, boxing's just punching. I like using everything. Like Bruce Lee said, when it comes to real fighting, you got it train it all. Right?"

My eyes lit up when I heard that.

Ooh, this was a real ni- ninja. He knew game for real for real.

I nodded and said, "Right!" I eyed his build and said, "Hm... you have long arms though. Boxing would suit you. Have you tried the older styles? Not just peekaboo."

Tyrone blinked. Then he grinned, revealing his pearly white teeth. "Damn, Little Homie. You know about that stuff? But yeah, I tried learning it, but it's just not my flow. You know?" He shrugged and said, "Got inspired by Michael Jai White to pick up other martial arts though." He waved at his shorts and said, "Went to Thailand for a bit to learn that Muay Thai stuff. Hurt like hell, but it was awesome."

Behind me, I heard April whisper to Miss Serena.

"Mommy? Is... it okay for Alex to talk to the scary guy?"

Miss Serena responded with a hesitant, "...It seems okay. He's scary, but he seems... nice?"

Go Miss Serena! Plus 100 for not being racist. Unlike that old couple across the pool who are leaving in disgust right now!

Bigots, the lot of them.

I looked at Tyrone and nodded. "Muay Thai is cool! You get to break bamboo all day with your elbows and stuff!"

Tyrone laughed, relaxing. "Yeah, you do. What about you though, Little Homie?" He poked my arm and said, "That's some tough ass arms you got there. You punching trees too?"

I chuckled and said, "Not trees, but wood! Mom has a wooden wing chun dummy set up. I hit it for a few hours every day."

Tyrone's eyes lit up. "No shot! Like the one Jackie Chan used in Rumble in the Bronx? That thing where he went like this?" He stood up and then started miming a vague wing chun stance.

I laughed and then stood up to do a proper one. "No, like this, silly."

"Daaaamn, Little Homie!"

===

One hour after swimming at the pool. It was around 1 PM, lunch time, so we went to get some food at a local family diner.

And by 'we,' I meant me, April, Miss Serena, and Tyrone.

As for how we got into this mess...

"Damn, Sifu. You think training like that will really work for me?" Tyrone flipped a page in his notebook and said, "They always say to train until you're gassed out though."

I nodded and said, "That's how they train you for boxing. But in gongfu, it's about accumulation. You have to raise your floor, not the ceiling. That's how me and Mom are so strong." To demonstrate, I flicked my finger at the corner of the wooden table we were at, leaving a small dent in the wood with my fingernail.

Nothing too crazy. But definitely enough to reinforce the 'prodigy martial arts genius from China' vibe I had going on.

It helped a lot that this was still around the time where martial arts were still a bit mysterious and not completely mainstream like in the 2020s.

Tyrone whistled and said, "Damn. That's like some REAL Dragon Ball Z shi- stuff, huh?" He glanced at Miss Serena and April, quickly correcting his language.

Miss Serena let out a strained smile and said, "Are you sure you want to be having lunch with us, Mister Reynolds?"

Tyrone waved his hand and said, "Just Tyrone's fine, Ma'am. And I got you. Don't worry about it." To emphasize it, he pulled out his wallet and waved an American Express credit card. "I'm no broke ni- Not a poor man."

I listened to Tyrone almost slip and bit my cheek.

Ayo, bro. Code switching is a thing. Don't get too comfortable... lmao.

Miss Serena hesitated. Then she looked at me. "...Are you sure we're okay, Alex?"

Before I could respond, April chimed in with a bright smile.

"Of course we're okay! Mister Tyrone is nice! He's like Spawn!"

Tyrone's eyes lit up and he puffed his chest out. "Damned straight I'm like Spawn! Gotta be like my hero Michael Jai White!"

Miss Serena still looked worried.

But I smiled at her and said, "It's fine, Miss Serena! Mister Tyrone is safe."

And he was.

Though he looked tough, I could tell he was just one of those guys who geeked out over martial arts and anime. Hell, if he was born in the 2020s he'd be a flat out weeb for sure.

Miss Serena glanced at me. Then at Tyrone one more time. After that, she let out a long breath and relaxed. "...Okay. If you say he's safe, I'll believe you."

Hearing that, Tyrone let out a warm smile towards Miss Serena. "Thanks, Ma'am. I know it's hard to trust a guy like me, but for real. We're cool. I don't have any intentions towards you or your daughter or nothing. On God."

Miss Serena's eye twitched.