1 Homecoming

A young man named Leo Salvatore walks off a bus in New York City with a bag on his back. He looks around, takes a deep breath, and smirks.

"It's good to be home." He says to himself.

He then starts to walk through the crowd of people when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns around and sees his old friend, Pauly Santiago with a cigar. The two share a smile and a hug together. Pauly puts his hand on Leo's shoulder and chuckles.

"Jesus, you look like shit. The hell did war do to ya anyway?"

Leo laughs.

"What about you? Looks like you've been eating for two big guy. Who's the father?" He says, patting his friends stomach.

Pauly jokingly slaps his hand away and flips him off.

"Screw you. Come on, my cars over here."

The two move through the crowd of people and get into the car. They soon make it to a small, grimy apartment building.

"Home sweat home." Pauly says.

"I think I prefer the barracks." Leo jokingly says.

"Whateva. Come on, I'll show you to your apartment, wise ass."

They walk upstairs and pass by a passed out drunk man, two prostitutes, and a small man with one eye and a knife.

"Ok, I'll be the first one to admit. This place is a little, rough around the edges. But on the bright side, the owner owes me a favor so I got you this place rent free."

Leo chuckles.

"Thanks Paul, I appreciate that."

"Don't mention it. Ya know, you saved my ass more times than I can count, back when we were kids, it's the least I can do."

They walk into Leo's small apartment.

"Alright, you probably want to settle in after the long bus ride, so here's the key. I gotta go handle some business, see ya tomorrow at Luigi's bar."

"Alright, man. See you then."

The two share a fist bump and Pauly leaves. Leo takes off his jacket, rubs the back of his neck and sits on the mattress in the middle of the living room. He reaches into his bag, pulls out a picture of him as a kid and a old man, and sits it on the floor. Leo then takes off his shoes and lays back on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling until he falls asleep.

The next night, after a day of rejections from different jobs, a frustrated Leo walks into Luigi's bar. He walks over to the bartender and owner, Luigi.

"Scotch on the rocks, please." Leo says.

Luigi nods with a smile and makes him the drink. While Leo loosens his tie, he looks over and sees a beautiful woman, with dark brown hair and gorgeous eyes, serving drinks at a table nearby. As the two give each other a smile, Luigi puts the drink infront of him.

"This one's on the house, son. You look like you've had a bad day." Luigi says.

Leo chuckles a little, taking a sip of his drink.

"You can say that again."

At that moment Pauly and a man in a suit walks into the bar and makes their way to Leo.

"Hey Leo, Luigi. Leo, this is Tony Corinthos, a jackass I work with."

"Keep talkin, fat ass and I'll shut your mouth for good. Hey how you doing, Pauly tells us you fought for this country. Thanks for your service."

Leo and Tony shake hands.

"So, how did job hunting go?" Pauly asks.

Leo sighs and continues to drink.

"That bad, huh? I'm sorry man. Luigi, we'll have what he's having." Pauly says.

"So how do you two know each other?" Tony asks.

"We grew up together. I was an orphan who kept getting into fights and ran away from his foster home, Pauly was the neighborhood trouble maker, rebelling against his parents, so naturally we became bestfriends." Leo says.

Pauly chuckles as he drinks.

"Yeah, I remember when we first met. I was getting jumped by these three ass holes, didn't do anything major, just said I had a sex with all of their mothers. Anyway, they cornered me in an alley, thought I was done for. Then all of a sudden this kid took this rock and hits one of the guys in the head with it, knocked out cold. The other two were a couple of pussies, ran off when their leader got clocked."

Leo wraps is arm around Pauly's neck.

"And ever since then, I've been saving his ass at every turn."

"Yeah, yeah, whateva. The guy really smelled by the way. No offense, Leo, but you smelled like sweaty balls and pickle juice."

Leo flips his friend off and they all share a laugh. At that moment, Leo looks behind him and sees a group of men harassing a blonde woman. He turns around to ignore it, but a large man grabs her by the arms causing him to step in. He walks over, leaning against a table.

"Hey fat boy!" He yells.

The group of men look over at Leo, allowing the woman to get away.

"What did you just say to me?" He asks angerly.

Leo smirks.

"I said fat boy. You know, cause you have tits like a forty year old woman." Leo replies, getting a few laughs from the people in the bar.

"Should we step in?" Tony whispers to Pauly.

"Nah, let him have his fun." Pauly replies, drinking both his and Leo's drink.

The group of men continue to stare at Leo as he scoffs in disappointment.

"Well come on, are you pricks gonna do something, or are we waiting for fatties sports bra to come in?"

The large man gets even more angry and walks towards Leo. Before he can even throw a punch, Leo hits him with a right hook, knocking him out with ease. The bar gets silent as everyone is shocked by this, except for Pauly who just laughs.

"Welp. Who's next?" Leo asks.

Another guy charges at Leo and throws a punch, but he easily dodges and drops him with a left hand. A third man swings wildly which Leo ducks, punching him in the gut, then in the face, knocking him out as well. Another guy grabs a bottle and smashes it against a table and runs at Leo with the sharp piece of glass. Leo then effortlessly lands a spinning hook kick, knocking some of his teeth out.

A different guy throws a punch that Leo blocks. He throws another punch, but Leo grabs his arm and his shirt and slams his face into the bar. He then lifts him up on his shoulders and slams him through a table. One of the men gets back to his feet and grabs a bottle nearby. He tries to hit Leo in the head, but he catches it and snaps the guys arm in half, smashes him in the head with the bottle, kicks his knee, dropping him to the ground, then kicks him in the face, knocking him out for good.

As the fight ends, the entire bar applauds Leo, including the beautiful brown haired woman he saw before, and he sits back down at the bar. Leo then pulls out some money and hands it to Luigi.

"Here's some cash to pay for the damages."

Luigi gives the money back to Leo.

"Please, those men have been causing trouble in here for a month now. If anything, I should be paying you."

Leo smiles, putting the money back into his pocket and continues to drink with Pauly and Tony, enjoying being home.