Easy | O. Diaz

Pairing: Oscar x Flores!Reader

Timeframe: Season One

Summary: After finding out about the claim Oscar put on her, Y/n sets out to spite him.

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A/N: Ok, now I’m gonna start alternating the order I post my imagines in so it’s not just back to back Spooky fics hehe x

I left a little over 4 years ago when I went to college, thinking my block would never be the same, but now that I was back I quickly discerned that Freeridge did not change. At all.

Same houses. Same cars. While the kids playing on the streets were a little older, they all looked the same to me.

As I approached Spooky’s house, I realised it was just how I remembered. Three Santos sat at the doorstep with bottles held loosely in their hand, scanning the streets and commenting on what they saw.

“Hey, hey, look!” One called out, nudging the Santo next to him to look my way. “That’s the hyna we been talking about.”

The Santo met my gaze and grinned eerily as he looked me up and down. I furrowed my brows and glared at him, but he remained unfazed. Still, I continued walking along the pavement.

“Flores,” the other one sang like my surname was a melody.

I told myself to ignore them. Freeridge was my home too, and I was not going to let three men in cargo shorts ruin my otherwise happy return. I was doing so well too until the third one opened his damn mouth.

“Isn’t her little sister that weird girl with asthma?”

I stopped in my tracks, fuming, before turning towards Spooky’s house and marching towards the third Santos, who was still snickering. I could tolerate being talked about, but I did not play when it came to Jasmine.

“Aren’t you the one who cried like a little bitch when I kicked him in the balls?”

The other two laughed because they were there when it happened. Spooky hosted a party to celebrate our high school cohort graduating, and I kicked one of my classmates in the groin after I caught him trying to slip something into another girl’s drink while she was not looking.

Not that same classmate was rising to his feet and walking towards me with a deathly glare.

“I’d like to see you try and do that now, puta.”

I suppose his point was that he was no longer the scrawny little high schooler he was when I humiliated him. However, I could see through his little act. They were all the same to me. Same fragile ego. Same macho hyper-masculine pride.

“Trust me,” I hissed. “If you had any balls left, I would.”

The other two laughed again, and I stood and waited for the third to throw a fit or try and scare me into walking away. Instead, he just smirked, as if he knew something I did not.

“Ayo, Spooky!” He called out, glancing back at the house. “Your girl’s sure got a mouth on her.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.

“What?”

I had no recollection of having anything more than a casual friendship with Oscar Diaz, mostly because that was all it ever was between us. I wondered if he told his gangmates something I did not know and felt my heartbeat quicken.

“Claimed you last week,” the Santos explained, smirking at my reaction like it was just what he wanted. My frustration grew tenfold. He looked me up and down again before snickering. “Not that anyone else wanted to.”

His words would have stung if I gave two shits about his opinion of me. I wanted to make a snide remark about how a guy with a receding hairline had no right to be picky, but my opportunity to make a comeback was interrupted.

“Y/n.” I looked over Santo’s shoulder and saw Spooky coming out to greet me. The other three took their seats on the doorstep, sipped their coronas and enjoyed the show. “Nice to see you again.”

“Wish I could say the same for you,” I glared.

“C'mon,” Spooky laughed as he walked closer to me, even as I continued to scowl. “Don’t be like that.”

There it was. The same Spooky I knew and tolerated who never took my anger seriously. In high school, when I got angry with him for taking so long to do his portion of our group project, he thought he could make it up to me by bringing me homemade tamales.

Granted, I did eat the tamales because I knew how good of a cook he was, but that was beside the point. He could not just charm his way out of everything, and if no one had taught him that yet, I was more than willing to do so myself.

“Did you claim me?” I asked angrily.

“And what if I did?”

He continued to smirk, which made me even madder. The three Santos behind them chuckled, and I found myself flustered. They found my anger amusing and Oscar’s annoying charm admirable.

“Well… then you need to disclaim me,” I demanded.

“Or what?”

He inched closer to me and raised his brows as he posed his questions. I knew he teasing me. Trying to get a rise out of me. And perhaps, given that I was no longer a high school teenager, it would have been appropriate to respond maturely. To walk away and be the bigger person.

However, part of me felt like I was being challenged. Like he was asking me if I had enough nerve to go up against the Santo’s newly risen leader. He should have known better than to underestimate my wrath.

I glanced over Spooky’s shoulder and noticed his toolkit laid out. He was still fixing up the car he bought in high school- the one he loved so dearly. Quickly, I turned back to Spooky and grinned sarcastically.

He was startled by my fake enthusiasm. So startled that he did not have enough time to stop me from bolting towards his toolbox and grabbing the biggest nail I could see. By the time I got to his car, I looked back and saw him standing dumbfounded.

His shock morphed into horror as he witnessed me dragged the nail along the side of his car, scratching the red paint. I contemplated leaving at that until I remembered the three pendejos still sitting on his doorstep, and so I did the mature thing; I punctured one of the back tires and tossed the nail on the ground before making my way home.

If it was not clear to him when we were in high school, I knew it was clear to him now; I was not to be fucked with.

***

It was my first Saturday back in Freeridge, and my tia gave me her express permission to go out and have fun. If I had known all my old friends were going to a kickback at Spooky’s house, I would have never agreed to them picking me up on their way there.

I was several drinks in when I stumbled my way over to Sad Eyes who sat alone on one of the sofas. He was the most tolerable Santo, in my opinion, and therefore the best person to talk to about the claim Spook put on me.

“It doesn’t mean he wants you like that,” Sad Eyes explained. “It just means no one else can make a move on you.”

I hated that so much. Though I had no prior plans on doing anything with any Santo other than Spooky, I hated that he had gone ahead and taken that choice away for me.

I wanted to retaliate.

“Not even you?” I asked Sad Eyes.

“Y/n, I’m flattered. But I don’t like you like tha-”

“Oh my god, stop,” I rolled my eyes and shuffled closer until our knees touched. “I just want to get back at him a little bit.”

“Wrecking his car wasn’t enough?”

I laughed aloud, even though I did not find Sad Eye’s retort all that humorous. Just as I finished, I placed my hand on his chest and gazed into his eyes with as much affection as I could fake. He finally caught on to what I was doing.

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Y/n,“ Sad Eyes warned.

"If you know what’s good for you,” I threatened while still smiling at him. “You’ll be quiet and enjoy this while it lasts.”

A brief glance over Sad Eye’s shoulder confirmed that my plot for rebellion was working. It was a good thing too, considering I had no plans of stopping any time soon. At least not until the night got interesting.

“Whatever it is you two got going on,” Sad Eyes groaned. “It’s annoying as hell.”

“There’s nothing going on, that’s my whole point,” I argued.

Sad Eyes must have been studying me closely as I glanced over to Spooky again because when I looked back at him, his hand was reaching for my face.

“Your cheeks say something else,” he commented.

I reached for my face defensively. Had I been blushing? Or was Sad Eyes just trying to psych me out so I could leave him alone? There was little time to figure that out before a shadow loomed over the two of us where we sat.

“Compa,” Spooky nodded. “You good?”

I turned to Sad Eyes who sat up straight.

“Yeah,” he answered sheepishly.

“Why you talking to Y/n, then?”

I rolled my eyes. Something about two idiots talking about me like I was not even there made my blood boil. I turned to Oscar and snapped before Sad Eyes could come up with a half-hearted excuse.

“How is that any of your business, Spooky?” I scowled.

“Just never knew you two were so close,” he shrugged.

I rose to comment on how it was still none of his business. Regardless of where I stood with Sad Eyes, I did not need to report to him about the men I conversed with. Claim or no claim. However, before I could even begin reprimanding Spooky, Sad Eyes shuffled away and headed to the house.

“Man, I don’t need this shit,” he grumbled.

“You know what? Me neither,” I scoffed.

While Sad Eyes raced for the door, I started walking towards the fence. Oscar followed me out as I headed towards the pavement with every intention of calling it a night and going home.

“Y/n,” he called out.

“God, just leave me alone!“

“It’s late, Y/n,” Spooky warned. “You can’t just walk home alone.”

We were a few houses down the road when I turned and groaned at the sight of Spooky still following after me. Was it not enough that he ruined my return and my Saturday night? Did he really have to annoy me all the way to my front door?

“I can’t believe you,” I scoffed. “We haven’t talked since high school but the minute you hear I’m moving back you put a claim on me like I’m a fucking house on the market.”

I shoved him as hard as I could, but the booze in my system weakened my arms. Oscar barely stumbled back and when he continued to move closer to me, my frustration with him only grew.

"Like… who the fuck do you think you are? My handler?”

“Just come back to where everyone else is,” he spoke calmly.

In hindsight, I knew he was just trying to lead me back to where I would be safer off, but tipsy-me took his attempt at staying rational as him patronising me- treating me like one of his little homies or the little hynas who look to him as a leader.

“I get that you’re used to running these streets, Spooky,” I droned. “But you can’t tell me what to do.”

Spooky chuckled, and so I decided I was not yet done with him.

“And you know what? If you wanted me, you shouldn’t have gone and gossiped about it to your stupid friends,” I snapped. “You should’ve just grown a fucking pair and told me yourself.”

I waited for him to retaliate and say something snarky, or to, at the very least, be fazed by what I said. However, Oscar did not do that. Instead, he smiled and nodded his head once before replying briefly.

“Ok, fine,” he quipped. “I like you, Y/n.”

His response was the last thing I expected him to say. My breath hitched as I struggled to think of a response. However, my trusty encyclopaedia of comebacks disappeared from memory and I was left with no other choice but to drop my jaw in shock and stare blankly.

“What do you have to say?”

Spooky’s tone was teasing, even more so than usual. He grinned at me like he had won the back and forth dance we had kept up for as long as we knew each other. I furrowed my brows, unable to let that be the case.

“It’s never gonna happen,” I hissed.

His annoyingly charming smile was not going to work on me. I glared at him and breathed heavily, fuming from how annoying and infuriating he was.

I tried not to be startled when he inched closer and lifted his hand. I knew I should have slapped his hand away, but by the time his fingers grazed over my skin, I felt paralysed by something. Something that burned inside of me. Spooky’s smile lingered in the silence before he eventually met my eyes and laughed.

“Your cheeks say something else.”

My anger grew as I watched him toss his head in laughter. I wanted to punch that stupid grin off his face. Anything to get him to stop enjoying how flustered I was. I huffed and thought of what I would do.

While my arms were weak from the beers, I had a feeling the strength in the rest of my body would only be heightened. Before Spooky could finish laughing in my face, I grabbed his shoulders and thrust my right leg up swiftly until my knee collided roughly with his groin.

Spooky toppled over in pain and I bent down to smile at him before turning back around and walking home on my own, in the silence, where there were no more stupid men to annoy me.

***

He never told anyone what happened, most likely out of embarrassment. Somehow, that made it even better. I walked my streets thinking of what Spooky was getting up to. Whatever it was, he had to carry the knowledge that I kicked him in the balls and walked away smiling.

I thought for sure he would leave me alone, but it was as if the streets of Freeridge pulled us even closer together. I was not even meant to be at the Martinez house. I was only meant to drop in with some snacks for my sister and her friends.

However, just as I was about to leave, the front door busted open and la diablo himself came strolling in. The kids held each other in horror, but I watched with mere dismay as Spooky peeked through the curtains and watched the police cars zoom past.

“One of the homies got shot,” he explained.

“I wishIwere the homie,” I mumbled to myself.

Spooky must have heard me faintly because he turned around quickly and chuckled when I realised I was sitting on the sofa behind him. He ambled over and planted himself on the empty space beside me.

“Flores, mi amor,” he teased. “You know, if you wanted to get me alone, all you had to do was ask. No need to orchestrate a police lockdown.”

I had to hand it to him, he had no fear. Even after I kicked him in the groin, he was still back at again with his antics. I could not discern whether it was because he was just that ballsy or because I was just that lovable. Given the fact that I had been called a bitch by almost every man on our block, I ruled out the latter.

“Diaz,pendejo,” I spat. “Don’t know if you realise but we’re not alone.”

I gestured towards the dining table, where Jasmine and her friends sat in quiet fear. Before Spooky could say anything further, I stood up and headed towards the kitchen where I left the food I had brought.

“I’ll fix up some snacks,” I smiled at the kids.

Their little shoulders slumped in relief as the tension began to ease, but when the pendejo followed me into the kitchen, my anger rose once more.

“For all of usexcept Spooky,” I added, turning back to offer him a glare.

I tried to ignore his watchful eyes as he stood mere steps away from me while I quickly made guacamole for our chips. I knew he was just trying to agitate me, and I refused to give him that satisfaction. Even if I wanted to tell him to back it up.

“I wouldn’t add that if I were you.“

His voice startled me so much, I almost dropped the pepper grinder I held in my hand. Of course, he had strong opinions about food. If the sight of him did not repulse me, I would have listened.

“If I were you, I’d be quiet,” I warned.

I laid the snacks out on the table and took the seat in between my sister and Jamal. Ruby, Monse and Olivia sat on the other three seats, which left Spooky no choice but to hover from afar.

“What are you guys playing?” I asked as I ate my way through a handful of corn chips.

“Truth or dare,” my sister answered. “You want in?”

I nodded, glancing to the side momentarily just to check what Spooky was doing. Luckily he was on his phone trying to get a hold of Cesar. Now I was the one to slump my shoulders in relief. Being watched was stressful.

“I pick… Truth,” I stated when it was eventually my turn.

Before Ruby asked me his question, he exchanged knowing looks with my sister and the rest of their friends. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously.

“Is it true you had a crush on Spooky back in high school?”

My eyes widened in shock and I immediately turned to my sister, who was conveniently avoiding looking me in the eye. Perhaps it was on me for thinking I could trust my 8-year-old sister to keep a secret.

“Way to tell my business to the whole block, Jas,” I groaned.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Ruby persisted.

I turned to face him and he quickly sunk back, intimidated by my glare. I turned to the side again, just to make sure Spooky was not in earshot. When I was certain he was still making phone calls in the bathroom, I sighed.

“Ok, yes… I did,” I admitted.

“No way,” Ruby gasped, his shocked expression matching the rest of his friends. I realised Jasmine must have told them, but they refused to buy it until now. Perhaps I would have been better off lying.

“Yes way,” Jasmine grinned. “He made her tamales one time, and it was all she talked about for a week.”

“Because they were good tamales,“ I argued. "Not because I liked him.”

“But you admit it.”

My head whipped and my jaw dropped when I realised Spooky was not only back, but he heard what I just said.

“You liked me,” he added, smiling amusingly as she moved closer to where we were all sitting.

“Keyword: liked,” I corrected.

“Well, actually-“

“Jasmine!” I shrieked.

It was bad enough everyone knew about my schoolgirl crush on Spooky, they did not need to know anything more. I swore to myself that the minute Jasmine and I were alone, I would deliver a much-needed lecture on girl code and avoiding my wrath.

I could feel Spooky watching me intently, his annoying grin ever-present on his stupid face, which was why I continued to look away. Thankfully it was only a matter of seconds before the police sirens returned and a voice on a megaphone announced the end of the police lockdown.

“Well, I’m leaving,” I huffed.

My feet could not have carried me out the door faster. I focused on my car where it stood parked in the driveway, desperate for a quick getaway because I felt mortified.

“Y/n c’mon we should talk about this.”

Spooky sure seemed to have a knack for following me during my storm-offs. I felt him reach for my hands in an attempt to get me to stop, but I shook him away and kept walking.

“Nothing to talk about,” I retorted. “And don’t think this changes anything between us. I’m still mad at you!”

I slammed my car door shut and quickly locked myself in. Oscar stepped back and huffed, accepting his defeat. I sighed in relief before inserting my key into the ignition and waiting for the engine to sound.

My heart dropped when I turned the key only to hear the engine sputter. I glanced over at Spooky, whose spirit recovered instantly. Now he was smiling to himself, amused by the fact that I was now trapped.

“You good?” He snickered, tapping on the passenger window.

I cursed beneath my breath and tried again, pleading my beloved car to cooperate. However, each time I turned the key, the engine refused to make the sound it needed to in order for me to get home.

“If we push it to my place, I can check to see what’s wrong for you,“ Spooky suggested.

“No way!”

That was a trap if I ever heard one. Not to mention, I barged out of the house with the intention of getting away from Spooky. Waiting around for him to fix my car would be betraying that pursuit.

“C'mon… I’ll do it for free.”

I sighed. That was a damn good offer. Especially considering the fact that all the repair shops in our neighbourhood were run by mechanics I had already managed to piss off and were, therefore, likely to overcharge me for even just a consultation.

I could have sworn Spooky knew this because he smiled at me like he had already won the argument. Begrudgingly, I put my car in neutral and got out of my seat. I glared at Spooky and made sure to cut him off before he could say anything.

“Shut up and help me push.“

As we dragged my car down the road, I realised how competitive he and I were. Halfway through pushing my car, Spooky asked me if I needed to take a breather, and the rage I felt made me want to finish the job myself.

I wondered if we were always like this. If we stayed somewhat friends throughout high school because we annoyed and challenged each other so much that we both grew to like it. I felt it must have been true because even in college with all the intelligent people I found myself surrounded by, I never felt what I did when I was with Spooky.

By the time we reach his house, I lifted the bonnet of my vehicle while Spooky grabbed his tools. By the time he got back, he had taken off his flannel. I caught myself staring at his bare arms and the part of his chest peeking through his white tank shirt, and immediately shook myself out of it.

"So, what’s wrong with my car?”

“All that matters is that it’s an easy fix,” Spooky answered, eyes already focusing upon the problem area.

“Why do I get the feeling you had something to do with this?”

I narrowed my eyes at him playfully.

“Yeah,” he laughed. “Because I’m just dying for alone time with the girl who scratched my car and beat me up.”

“Your words not mine,” I teased.

Spooky laughed but never said anything further. Instead, he just went back to focusing on fixing my car while I stood aside and watched patiently. I never thought I would be disappointed by his decision to be quiet, but there I was.

Things felt ever so slightly different between us now that he knew I used to like him. I did not feel so enraged by the sight of his face, and I could hardly tell if I liked it or not.

“Why are you back, anyway?” He asked after a good while. “I thought your plan was to move to New York after graduation.”

“I can’t believe you remember that,” I whispered smiling, pleasantly surprised and, quite frankly, impressed with his attention to detail.

“I remember a lot about you,” he whispered.

There was silence between us for a moment as I tried to decipher whether or not he meant for me to hear that. I hated how much I was overanalysing our interactions now that he knew how I felt about him.

“My tia needed help looking after my dad,” I explained, not wanting to linger in the silence any longer. “So I told her I’d move back and find a job here.”

Oscar paused for a moment and stood up straight. My breath felt heavy in my lungs as his gaze pierced through me. He pursed his lips, as if unsure whether he should say something not.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I elbowed his torso playfully. “Especially when you’re supposed to be fixing my car!”

He shook his head and chuckled beneath his breath as if I was most recognisable to him when I was shouting out demands.

“What about you?” I asked curiously. “I thought you were gonna take up that scholarship for culinary school.”

“I had other shit to deal with.”

I knew to leave it at that. Although I was curious about how he was doing raising his little brother on his own, I had no right to pry. Goodness knows if anyone stuck their nose in my business, I would have had a lot to say about it.

Before the silence grew again, my eyes scanned across his house and landed on his car where it stood, parked in the driveway.

“I see you fixed the paint and the tire,” I smirked.

“Yeah, I had a feeling you weren’t gonna be too happy about me claiming you,” he chuckled.

My eyebrows knitted as I grew confused.

“So why’d you do it, then?”

He paused and gave it a bit of thought. It gave me relief. I had hope that this time he would actually give an answer and not some quick-witted remark that made me want to slap him.

“News got around that you were coming back and…” Spooky paused for a moment and then sighed. “I didn’t want any of the guys bothering you.”

“Because you do plenty of that yourself?”

“Exactly,” he chuckled.

Though we joked about it, I liked knowing his reasons for claiming me were far from perceiving me as an object or trying to get into my pants. It made me not feel so repulsed by the sight.

“God, you’re so annoying,” I sighed.

While it was true, I hardly meant to say it. I just wanted to fill the silence and keep myself from staring at Spooky for too long. I did not trust myself anymore. I shook my head and pushed his shoulder gently. His response was to just bounce back until our shoulders grazed against each other.

“Hmm,” he sang teasingly. “Is that one of the reasons you liked me?”

“No,” I answered defensively, this time pushing my shoulder into his. When he bent down again, I made sure he could not see my face before turning my expression. “I like you ‘cause you do the right thing… even if it’s in your own little messed up way.”

I studied his reaction closely, wondering if he noticed the way I said 'like’ as opposed to 'liked. From the way he met my eyes and moved slightly closer to me, I could have sworn he did. Part of me was even hoping he did.

“Can you pass the rag?”

I reached for the old cut up cloth he seemed to use for cleaning the grease off his hands, trying my best not to frown. When I extended my arm out to pass the rag, he took hold of both it and my hand.

My breath hitched when I realised he was purposefully holding my hand. Spooky noticed my surprise and took it as his opportunity to pull me closer to him, while I was too taken aback to pull away. Luckily for him, I did not want to.

I placed my hands on his chest and leaned in just enough to where his temple was pressed against mine. Our eyes were glued to each other. While I had known Spooky for so long, I felt like I had not truly seen him until now.

“I know I’m irresistible,” I whispered. “But if you wanna kiss me, you should know it’s not gonna be that easy.”

On one hand, it was my way of keeping my standards where they always were: high. On the other, it was my way of keeping my guard up and keeping my heart safe. I did not let a lot of people in. If Oscar wanted to be one of them, it would not come simply.

The thought of him losing interest and giving up so soon terrified me, but I would rather he let me know now than after I go letting my guard down any further.

I smiled as he groaned quietly, frustrated that I was not going to kiss him, for which I did not blame him. Then, as I braced. myself for the possibility of him letting me go, his grasp on my waist only grew firmer.

“Guess I’ll have to keep trying then,” he smiled.

His stayed glued on mine as his hand crept down my backside. I gasped quietly, only to realise he slipping my car keys into the back pocket of my jeans. His smile grew. He knew what he was doing, and I hated how much I liked it.

After whispering a goodbye, pulling away from and walking back into his house, I felt unable to get into my car. Not without saying one more thing to him, first.

“Oscar,” I called out, feeling nostalgia as I used his real name for the first time in a decade. He turned back to me expectedly, and I sighed while smiling at him. “… Thank you.”

It was the first time we said goodbye without having any reason to be angry at the other. It was the first time I left his house trying to fight the persistent urge to grin. Before I drove off, I lifted my hand to my face and grazed my fingers over my cheeks. They felt warm.

I finally realised why.

Happier | O. Diaz

Pairing: Oscar x Martinez!Reader

Timeframe: Season 3 - 4

Summary: She loved Oscar enough to want him to be happy, even if it was with someone else.

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A/N: Still very much in denial about what happened to Oscar, so we’re gonna just pretend it never happened in the first place haha

It was a good thing she could barely sleep that night. Y/n tossed and turned but no matter how hard she tried, there was no chance of her getting any rest. Not when her best friend was out on a mission to kill a gang boss and there was no telling when he would be back.

Hoping to ease her worries, Y/n got out of bed and headed for the kitchen, hoping a glass of water would calm her nerves. She was halfway through filling her glass when there was a loud knock at her door. Cautiously, she approached the door with one gripped tightly around one of her abuelita’s chanclas, ready to use it if she needed to.

After opening the door, she let out a sigh of relief. It was no robber trying to break in and rob her home. It was just Oscar. Battered and bruised beyond recognition, but she knew that face and that stiff posture anywhere. Immediately, Y/n looped one of his arms around her shoulders and helped him hobble over to the nearest chair.

They spent the next hours chugging away at her abuelita’s hidden stash of liquor as Y/n bandaged and stitched him up. By the time she got to dealing with the several wounds on his arms, she could feel Oscar’s eyes watching her closely.

Her hand trembled, he noticed. She was trying her best to stay steady and fix him up quickly, but it was clear she had been shaken up. Y/n was facing down, her eyes averted from his, but Oscar knew she was getting teary. Every time he winced in pain, she jumped.

“Stop worrying.”

Oscar’s voice was smooth and gentle. He intended to calm her down, to assure her that the worst was behind them and that he was ok. However, from the way she shot up and furrowed her brows, it was clear she could not be so easily convinced.

“I’m not,” Y/n defended.

“You have that look in your eye,” Oscar stated, the corners of his mouth perking up as he pointed it out. He took pride in the way nothing could get past him, especially when it came to his best friend.

“Yeah, well, it’s never been this bad,” she argued.

Y/n had her fair share of endless nights bandaging Oscar up when he showed up at her door after a job or a scrap with another gang member. However, none compared to his injuries that night. He had just barely escaped death and Y/n was not oblivious to it.

“I’m fine, Y/n,” he assured, chuckling at how cute she was when she kicked up a fuss about him. Hardly anyone did that besides her.

“And what if you weren’t?”

While she treasured how confident her best friend was, particularly when it came to surviving jobs, she was concerned he had grown accustomed to treating his life like a monopoly.

“We don’t ever have to find out,” Oscar answered, meeting her gaze. She kept looking at him as if she was scanning his expression for any trace of doubt. “Don’t worry about me.”

Any other day, Y/n would have happily challenged him. However, that night she was exhausted. And, in all honesty, just relieved that her best friend managed to come home in one piece. Thus, she decided to save that argument for another day.

As Y/n began stitching a long gash along Oscar’s forearm, he noticed how bare her clavicle was. Normally she wore the silver pendant she had gifted to her, on her quinceanera, on a thin chain around her neck. However, it was missing.

“Where’s your necklace?”

Y/n was startled by his question and mindlessly lifted her hand to her chest, her fingers grazing over the place her treasured necklace once sat. Remembering what happened to it, she pursed her lips and went back to stitching his arm.

“The twins broke it,” she explained quietly, not giving any further thought.

While she was still bitter Luisa and Luis snapped her pendant in half during one of their raids through her room, Y/n had far more pressing matters to attend to.

“What are you gonna do now?” She asked quietly.

With Cuchillos gone, Oscar was faced with a significant decision. He could either stay in los Santos and in Freeridge, or he could take the opportunity in front of him and carve an escape route.

He did not need any more time to ponder his answer. Oscar has spent the entire drive back to Freeridge mapping his exit plan out in his mind.

“I wanna get out,” he answered.

“Out of los Santos? or Freeridge?”

“Both.”

Y/n was surprised. She always knew he wanted out, but considering how long of a history he had with their block and with his gang, she knew better than to hold out hope he would go.

“Hold still for me,” she whispered, as she held up an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to the open wounds along the side of his cheek.

Oscar tried his best not to move. However, as Y/n inched closer to him, he because ultra-conscious of close her face was to his. He watched as she focused on his cut and found himself smiling at how pretty she looked. Even in the dimly lit room in her family home.

It had only been a few days since he set off to deal with Cuchillos, yet he only just came to realise just how badly he missed her.

Perhaps it was the liquor, or all the blood he lost dragging himself all the way back to her doorstep. Or maybe it was years of repressed feelings finally coming to fruition.

Whatever it was, it lead to Oscar placing his hands on the sides of her face and pulling her lips towards his. The cotton ball in Y/n’s hand fell to the ground when she momentarily lost all the feeling in her limbs. She kissed him back, passionately. As though she had been standing on the edge of a diving board just waiting for that one last push.

The push to send her falling.

She was just starting to regain control of her hands when she felt him pull away. Confused and startled by how quickly it all happened, Y/n stared at her best friend blankly.

“I’m sorry,” Oscar choked, taking a moment to clear his throat before finally meeting Y/n’s gaze. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

Her heart immediately sank. She could feel her cheeks burn up as she felt instant regret for kissing him back. Oscar realised how flustered she was and quickly shook his head.

“No, hey,” he said softly, taking hold of both her hands. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Every part of him wanted to keep kissing her. To wrap his arms around her waist and pull her closer than they had ever been.

“I need to clean my life up first,” Oscar explained defeatedly.

He normally hated coming off as anything less than tough. However, Y/n had seen him through it all. If there was ever a person he happily let his guard down around, it was her.

“I get it,” Y/n replied weakly.

She detested it with every fibre of her being, but she understood it well. Cuchillos may have been dealt with, but there was still so much left for Oscar to deal with.

If he was ever going to allow himself to be with Y/n, he wanted to be worthy. And Y/n deserved someone who was clean and who cut all ties with anyone who could bring harm upon her.

“I’m going to Bakersfield for a couple of months.”

He knew Ray had a gig at a rehab centre for people in his exact position; for guys who wanted to get out, but needed time to unlearn the mentality that kept reeling them back in.

Oscar glanced down at the sight of their hands. Hers were clean and untainted, but his her calloused and bruised. Time apart seemed like the best thing for the both of them.

“Can we try this again when I come back?”

She sighed. If it had been any other person. Any other guy. If anyone else had gotten her hopes up only to ask her to give them a few months, her pride would have told her to walk away. However, it was not just anyone, it was Oscar. With him, her pride stood no chance against her heart and her hope, both of which were telling her that he, of all men, would surely be worth the wait.

So Y/n nodded and went back to sterilising his wounds.

***

In the months that Oscar spent in Bakersfield, Y/n spent her time in Freeridge convincing herself she was doing the right thing. That her situation was nothing like the type of girls who waited around hopelessly devoted to guys who would inevitably end up screwing them over.

It was Oscar, she reminded herself. The same Oscar who she knew since birth. The person she trusted most in the world. He had never given her a reason not to have faith in his word, so she saw no point in starting now.

“When did you get back?”

Y/n was delightfully surprised to see him standing outside her door when she got home from Costco. He had a full head of curls and wore pants that actually went past his knees, but she recognised him immediately at first glance.

“Yesterday,” he smiled, instinctively grabbing the shopping bags off Y/n and carrying them in himself. “I just finished moving into my new place.”

It was a small way away from her house, but he did not mind the distance. Especially since it meant he was that much farther away from the heart of los Santos.

After unloading the bags down onto the kitchen table, Oscar lowered himself onto the nearest chair. Nervously tapping his finger on the table, he looked up at Y/n.

“You free to talk?”

“Of course,” she answered hesitantly as she followed suit and sat on the chair opposite him. Was he doing this now? “Is everything ok?”

“Just have a couple things I wanna tell you,” he replied breezily.

Y/n nodded along, pursing her lips to keep herself from smiling too soon; from celebrating too soon.

“I know the last time I was here, I said we could try again after I got clean,” he began, Y/n’s hopes rising with each word. “but…”

And just like that, it came crashing down at the bottom of her stomach. No good could come after that word. She knew that well, so she inhaled sharply and braced herself to give the performance of her lifetime.

“I been thinking about it and,” Oscar paused to lick his lips and find the words. “… I just think we might be better off as friends.”

It was not the complete truth. Oscar knew they were great friends, but there was no telling whether they would be better or worse off as anything more. However, regardless, those were odds he did wish to humour. Not if it meant jeopardising everything he had with her even more so than he already did with that kiss.

“You mean a lot to me Y/n, and I don’t wanna lose you.”

That part was true. So damn true.

“It’s ok,” Y/n assured, unsure whether she was trying to convince him or herself. “Maybe you’re right.”

Definitely both, she realised. Whether it was her pride or her fear that throwing a fit would mean losing him, Y/n felt she was better off tossing her feelings back into the steep chasm they came from.

She bit the inside her lip and held her breath. Her eyes were beginning to gloss over, and she was going to stop at nothing to ensure nothing more became of it. Performance of your lifetime, she reminded herself.

“I’ll always have love for you, Y/n,” he stated, his voice splitting as he uttered it out with conviction. “You know that right?”

He needed her to know. Oscar knew she was not as ok as she was letting off, and that things between them would need time before that could ever come right. However, he felt it was right. He convinced himself of it.

There was no guarantee whether he could be a good boyfriend to her, but he knew how to be her best friend. Aside from cooking, it was the one thing he was best at.

“Yeah,” Y/n answered, laughing quietly beneath her breath. “I know.”

Oscar loved her, there was no doubt about it. However, Y/n felt a bitter feeling grow inside her as she realised it was not in the way she loved him. Not even close, apparently.

She felt relief having believed the hard part of their conversation to be over. However, when Y/n mustered enough courage to look Oscar in the eye, she realised his worried expression was still there.

“There’s something else isn’t there?”

Something worse, Y/n feared. Her breath quickened as she tried to think. What could possibly be worse?

“I started seeing someone.”

That. That was worse. Y/n’s jaw clenched as kept herself from dropping it. Performance, she reminded herself. If not to preserve what little pride she had left, it was to preserve his happiness.

“Really?” She asked exasperatedly, making her best attempt at faux excitement. He seemed to buy it, she thought. Either she was just that good at lying, or Oscar was just that desperate to believe she would be ok.

“Her name’s Isabel,” he explained. “I met her when I was in Bakersfield.”

It was just two details: her name, and how they met. Two small details about her, yet Y/n almost immediately began measuring herself against it. What was different? What did Isabel have that she did not?

Realisation settled uncomfortably with Y/n when she came to understand that if Oscar was already seeing someone, the issue was never with him. It was never that he was not ready to enter a relationship, but that he did not want to enter one with her.

And that was a fucking hard pill to swallow.

Oscar studied Y/n closely, bracing himself for the worst. As much as he hated breaking the news to her, he knew in the long run it would be for the best. With Isabel, if things ended, that was that. But, if it was Y/n, he could not imagine being able to bear a life where she is not around.

Y/n gritted her teeth together and forced a smile.

“You’ll have to bring her around to meet us soon, then.”

Oscar sighed in relief, unsure what he did to gain a best friend as understanding as Y/n who, on the other hand, was dying to scream aloud in frustration.

***

She was nice. Oscar brought her over to meet Y/n and the Martinez’s at the beginning of December, and all Y/n could think about was how nice she was. And how that made everything so much worse.

If she were a horrible person, Y/n could at least express some of her sorrow through anger. She could at least hold a stupid grudge against Isabel and justify it to an extent, but she just could not.

Because Isabel was so damn nice.

Even when she and Oscar came over for New Years Eve dinner, Isabel brought her own selection of food and insisted on helping Y/n plate everything up without being asked.

There was no chance of Y/n hating her, so she made the decision to express her sorrow in a different way. Through dramatic and enthusiastic support. Luckily, Isabel did not know Y/n long enough to realise how out of character her enthusiasm was.

The two of them were side by side in the kitchen, plating up the food for dinner when Y/n did a double-take. Isabel was chopping up the cilantro to garnish, but there was something clearly troubling her.

“Isabel,” Y/n said softly, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. Isabel stopped and face Y/n. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she answered exasperatedly.

Y/n narrowed her eyes, and Isabel sighed.

“… No,” she admitted, putting the knife down altogether. “It’s Oscar.”

Y/n’s breath hitched. It was always uncomfortable for her whenever Isabel confided in her about Oscar, but she tried to soldier through anyways.

“We’ve been dating for a couple of months,” Isabel began, her voice growing quiet to avoid being overheard by Oscar and the rest of the dinner party, who were in the lounge area. “But I still feel like I don’t know him that well.”

It did not bother Isabel at first, but as time went by it ate away at her. She shared so much about herself with Oscar, yet he seemed unable to let her guard down around her.

“He’s a complicated person, Isabel,” Y/n said. “That has nothing to do with you.”

She had a point, Isabel thought. Throughout the month they spent dating, she was constantly startled each time she learned new details about Oscar. However, that did not obliviate her worries.

Sure, she knew details about Oscar’s life, but she knew nothing beyond that. It got to the point, where it felt she was doing something wrong.

“I got him socks as a Christmas gift,” she admitted sheepishly.

“Oh,” Y/n tried to stifle her laugh, but she could only repress it for so long.

Luckily, Isabel was the first to burst out in laughter. She knew how ridiculous it was. She knew that a pair of socks was not the kind of gift you expect to get from your significant other, but Oscar did not give her much of a choice.

“I didn’t know what he liked so I panicked,” Isabel cried.

“It’s not that bad,” Y/n assured her. There were far worse things she could have gotten Oscar. “I’m sure you’ll think up something amazing next time.”

The words parted from her lips easily but it left a bitter aftertaste. Next time, Y/n repeated to herself. While she genuinely grew rather fond of Isabel and her company, her affections for Oscar still remained, making it difficult to mean the things she wanted to say.

“Can I ask you something, Y/n?”

“Of course.”

Isabel looked at her intently, wondering if it was a good idea to pry into a relationship that could be completely platonic. Y/n felt uneasy as she waited for the question to roll by. Isabel pursed her lips and sighed before speaking.

“Did anything ever happen… between you and Oscar?”

Her question did not come from a place of mistrust. Though they only knew each other for a month, Isabel trusted Y/n well enough to give her the benefit of the doubt.

However, during the nights she spent racking her brain trying to figure out what she could do to get Oscar to let her in, she kept coming back to Y/n: the one person he trusted most.

Y/n contemplated telling Isabel about the kiss, and about how heartbroken she had been ever since he said he wanted to stay friends. However, she could tell how troubled Isabel was, and she knew telling her would only do more harm than good.

Especially when Oscar had already decided which of the two he wanted to date.

“No,” Y/n eventually answered. “Honestly, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Really?”

“We’re just friends,” she continued. “The only reason we’re as close as we are is that we grew up together. That’s all.”

Isabel nodded. Logically, she knew that it made sense. Perfect sense. Of course, Oscar was more himself around someone he knew all his life. Maybe in time, he would let his guard down with her.

She wanted to believe it, but something inside her refused to be convinced. Y/n could tell.

“He’ll come around,” she assured Isabel. “Just give him some time.”

It was the best advice she had to offer when it came to Oscar. As a man who valued trust and loyalty, time was essential to building or maintaining any kind of relationship.

Isabel smiled gratefully and thanked Y/n for being such a great confidante. She tried to cast aside the unsettledness, but as she stood in the kitchen and watched as Oscar pulled Y/n aside, Isabel quickly understood why she and he were not working.

“I got you something,” Oscar grinned, moving his hand from behind his back to reveal a small present with her name on it.

“You did?”

When Oscar told Y/n he would be spending Christmas in Portland with Isabel’s family, she assumed he would spend all his wages on getting her and her parent’s gifts. It truly did not bother her. If anything, she was more torn up about not seeing him on Christmas day as opposed to upholding their gift-giving tradition.

“Just ‘cause I wasn’t home for Christmas doesn’t mean I forgot about your gift.”

Y/n grinned and unwrapped her gift. Beneath the wrapping paper was a small velvet box. Inside was a small silver pendant, almost identical to the one she was gifted on her quinceanera and had to dispose of when her younger siblings got to it.

“Oscar, this is too much,” she frowned, closing the box and putting it back in his hand. Y/n knew he was tight on money and would be until he could ace one of his upcoming job interviews. She felt guilty knowing he spent anything at all on a belated Christmas gift for her.

“No, it’s not,” Oscar insisted.

While he had to live with his decision to keep things platonic, he refused to let it affect how much he did for Y/n.

“Thank you,” Y/n smiled gratefully. “I got you something too.”

She sped to her room and grabbed Oscar’s gift from the bottom of her closet. When she got back to the living room, Abuelita returned to her bedroom whilst everyone else seemed invested in their own conversations. All except Isabel, but Y/n thought little of it.

Oscar’s smile grew twice in size when he opened her gift box reveal a box set of ties and a pair of cufflinks.

“For your job interviews,” Y/n clarified.

He did not hesitate to pull her close and hug her tightly. It was one small gift that meant so much to him. He had already failed two job interviews after being turned away for his attire and his tattoos. Having something to alleviate one was enough to give him a boost of confidence.

Isabel sighed. She had had enough of standing in the kitchen and looking in on two people who were so clearly more than friends. She garnished the food with the cilantro she chopped before grabbing her bag and heading out the front door.

Y/n noticed her go and was about to follow after her when she heard her grandmother call for her from her room. Luckily, Oscar noticed Isabel’s exit promptly and raced after while Y/n went to check on abuelita.

Outside the house, Isabel continued pacing towards her car and rummaged through her bag in search of her keys, giving Oscar just enough time to catch up to her.

“Hey, where you going?”

“I’m going home, Oscar,” she answered plainly after successfully fishing out her keys. “I don’t think this is gonna work out.”

“What?… Why?”

Isabel was reaching for the handle to open her car door, but stopped. She turned to face Oscar, unsure whether he thought she was an idiot or if hewas the clueless one.

“Why?” Isabel repeated incredulously. “Because of Y/n.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You guys know each other just… too well,” Isabel began. “And I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it.”

She knew a lost cause when she saw one. The prospect of ever getting Oscar to trust her in even a fraction of the way he trusted Y/n was a prime example of one.

“She’s my best friend,” Oscar reasoned.

“But you wish she were more… don’t you?”

Oscar knew he should have answered no. After all, he was the one who wanted them to stay friends in the first place. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realised how badly he messed up.

Isabel took his silence as her cue to leave. Clearly, she had gotten caught in something that existed long before she ever came to Freeridge.

“I’m sorry,” Oscar whispered regretfully.

“It’s ok,” she shrugged, smiling weakly. “It’s probably better I know now rather than later.”

He waited for her to leave before going back inside. It felt like the courteous thing to do. While he felt immensely guilty watching Isabel go, knowing she only ever came to Freeridge because of him, as Oscar walked up the porch steps he felt relieved.

No more pretending, he told himself. Maybe this was the encouragement he needed to finally kiss the girl he loved and own up to it after pulling away. Maybe he could try to make it all up to Y/n if she even wanted him like that at all.

“Where’d Isabel go?” Geny asked, frowning as Oscar closed the door behind him.

“Home,” he answered shortly, causing her frown to grow. Oscar shook his head and smiled. It was for the best, he told himself, knowing this time it actually was.

“Where’s Y/n?”

They looked around the room and realised Y/n was not in sight. Just as they began to wonder where she left to, the sound of her voice echoed through the house.

“Mom! Mom, get in here!”

Geny ran to Abuelita’s room with Oscar and her husband following after her. Her worry melted away and morphed into something far worse. Y/n’s cheeks were wet from tears as she cradled Abuelita’s head in her arms.

“She told me to get her water,” Y/n wept. “But by the time I got back…”

“Mija,” Geny cried, slowly creeping forward and sitting in front of her distraught daughter. She placed her hand on Y/n’s lap and met her gaze with sheer sorrow and sympathy.

“W-We need to call an ambulance,” Y/n stuttered.

However, when she saw the look in her mom’s eyes, she knew they were not going to do that. The next phone call they would be making would be to the nearest funeral home because abuelita was already gone.

Oscar sat at Y/n side and held her hand as she wept while abuelita was carried out of their home. When the news of her cancer diagnosis came out, Y/n knew it was best to prepare for the worst. Yet, even with the small notice she and her family got, she could not imagine how losing her could be any less painful.

***

Oscar fiddled with his cufflink as he approached the front door to Y/n’s home. He was still not used to wear them, much less a proper white button-up shirt, but he hoped wearing it would bring her some joy.

People were already rushing in as the Martinez family prepared to host Abuelita’s memorial. Oscar walked through the front door and panned the room, searching for Y/n, but to no avail. Before Oscar realised, Ruby came barrelling towards him looking panicked and stressed out.

“It’s Y/n,” he spoke frantically. “No one can find her anywhere.”

She was the last person anyone expected to flake, least of all to her grandmother’s memorial. Geny was heard yelling at the twins, which was never a good sign. Normally, Y/n would have already taken Luis and Luisa off her hands to preserve the peace.

“She didn’t even take her car and she’s not answering her phone.”

Oscar wondered how far she could have gotten. With no car, she would have either walked somewhere or caught the bus. Knowing how much she hated just walking to their local bodega, he concluded she did the latter.

“I know where she is,” Oscar exclaimed, before turning back around and promising he would be back soon with the missing Martinez.

Y/n hugged her knees as she stared out into the water. The sun was beginning to set, and she knew eventually it would be time for her to go back and say farewell to her abuelita. All the more reason to stay, she thought.

Oscar parked his car and trampled his way down to the patch of sand where Y/n sat. She wore a black dress her grandmother had tailored for her. When he got close enough to her, he sighed.

“Everyone’s worried about you.”

Y/n squeezed her eyes shut. She knew they were, and she knew it was selfish to run away when they were grieving just as well, but she needed a minute away from all the talk about her memorial and her legacy. She needed a break from the constant reminder that abuelita was gone.

“I wasn’t planning on staying out here,” Y/n stated, her eyes never leaving the horizon. The plan was to just take a breather, but that breath quickly turned into hours. She sighed. “But now I don’t think I can go back.”

“Ok,” Oscar nodded, before planting himself down right next to her. He respected that she wanted time away from everything, but as her best friend he could not, in good faith, leave her to sit all alone.

Although she did not move or say it explicitly, Y/n appreciated him offering up his company. Before, it was just her trying to make sense of all her thoughts and all her grief. Things tended to make more sense to her when she had Oscar at her side.

“How’d you know I’d be here?” Y/n asked.

“You said she used to take you here all the time before.”

She chuckled. Before any of her younger siblings were born, it was just her and abuelita walking hand in hand along the shores every weekend. Even after her siblings were born, abuelita still insisted on continuing their walks, just the two of them. She shared her best life lessons with Y/n on that beach.

Now those lessons were all she had left of her.

“You’re gonna regret it if you don’t go,” Oscar said softly.

“I know,” Y/n sighed.

“So let me take you home.”

Oscar placed his hand atop hers and laced their fingers together. Y/n frowned as her eyes began to water yet again. He watched as she turned to face him and let out a barely audible sob.

“I’m not ready to say goodbye to her,” Y/n cried.

He shook his head and squeezed her hand tightly.

“Who says you have to?“

Y/n smiled weakly and nodded in agreeance. It did not have to goodbye. At least not yet. Oscar shifted his legs so he could stand up, and Y/n mustered enough energy to do the same.

She carried his words with him as she approached the microphone later that evening. This was not a goodbye, Y/n told herself. Before beginning her toast, she quickly scanned the crowd in front of her until her eyes met Oscar’s. He smiled at her, and that was just the push she needed to start.

"When I was ten, and I came home crying because I was getting bullied at school, abuelita took me to the garage and she taught me to fight.”

A smile crept onto her as she glanced at the very spot abuelita pulled out her boxing gloves and showed her granddaughter how to kick ass.

“Then, she also picked me up from school the following week and took me out for ice cream after I got suspended for giving that girl a black eye.”

Laughter erupted throughout the garage space and the house. Y/n could have sworn she heard abuelita laughing along too.

“Abuelita was courageous and brave. She spoke her mind and seized every moment life gave her,” Y/n marvelled before raising her glass up high. “I hope her legacy will encourage us all to do the same… To abuelita.”

As Y/n walked away, she thought about the kind of woman her grandmother was and what she would say if she knew how long her granddaughter had been harbouring her feelings. Abuelita never hesitated to speak her truth and there was no better time and place for Y/n to follow in her stride.

She marched towards Oscar and pulled him inside and into her room, away from everyone else. It was a good thing he did not bring Isabel, she thought to herself, knowing her confession would likely drive a wedge between them, but it was worth it if it meant not hiding.

“I lied when I said I was ok with you and Isabel,” Y/n explained.

Oscar was startled by how direct she was being, especially since he made it a point not to tell her that he and Isabel had already broken up. He grinned, overjoyed by the fact that her feelings were the same and amused by how aggressively she was professing it.

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s great, but… you can’t just kiss you’re best friend and then show up with someone else to her family’s New Years Eve dinner! That’s pretty fucked up, Oscar!”

“Y/n,” he laughed, trying to keep her from ranting because it was no longer necessary.

“I’m not finished,” she sassed.

Abuelita did not teach her granddaughter to throw a punch so she could grow up and allow someone to interrupt her. Even if that someone was handsome and devilishly charming.

“You’re not?” Oscar questioned, taken aback.

“No,” Y/n retorted. She was unsure whether to be encouraged or feel infuriated by the way Oscar just kept smiling, but she ignored it altogether. She had far too much to get off her chest. “I get that you’ve made your choice and that you’re with Isabel and I don’t wanna come in between that, but I’m also not gonna keep pretending that I’m ok with it all… because I’m not.”

She paused and found herself breathing heavily. The room was silent and the tension between them grew and changed. She gazed at him with all the affection she had kept harboured for months.

“And because I love you,” she smiled, before sighing exasperatedly. “Ok. Now I’m finished.”

Oscar held his head back as he laughed. Y/n watched with confusion. For someone who was in a relationship, he was responding really well to finding out his best friend was in love with him.

He moved closer to Y/n and brought his hand up to the side of her face. She held her breath and watched

“I’m not with Isabel anymore,” he smirked.

“You’re not?”

Oscar shook his head. Y/n felt conflicted between feeling pleased and feeling worried that she had something to do with it.

“She broke up with me on new years.”

Y/n knitted her brows as she grew curious. She was so sure her advice about Oscar was the help she sought after. What possessed her to break up with him instead of giving him time? Oscar noticed her confusion.

“She said something about how we know each other too well and how you’re my best friend… but she felt like I wanted you to be more.”

The last time her hopes rose that high, Oscar friend-zoned her. Y/n looked up at him in disbelief, scared to ask the one question she was dying to have answered.

“Was she right?”

There was no hiding the fear in her voice. The slight tremble.

Oscar’s eyes never left Y/n’s. Not even as he lifted his other hand and cupped the sides of her face. Not even as he leaned down and inched closer to her until their temples and noses touched.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “She was.”

Unable to wait any longer, Y/n wrapped her arms around Oscar’s neck and kissed him fervently. He moved his hand away from her face and snaked them around her waist, pulling her body closer to his until it was right where it should have been all along.

Without You | O. Diaz

Pairing: Oscar x Flores!Reader

Timeframe: Season 4

Summary: Y/n knows Oscar wants out of Freeridge, so maybe it is for the best that she lets him go.

masterlist

Oscar made a point not to call her until the day after. Partially because his eyes were too swollen for him to compose a text, but mostly because he knew she would be worried sick at the mere sight of how beaten up he was. He did not want that. Not when there was so much promise ahead of them now that the deed was done.

Y/n raced to the hospital as soon as she clocked out for the night. She held her breath when she read the “Mr O. Diaz” placard plastered over the door to his room. As she made her way to the seat beside her bed she felt unsettled by all the bandages and stitches that adorned his body. He appeared fast asleep, so Y/n made no effort to conceal her concern.

“He’s gonna be ok.” Y/n looked up and saw a nurse standing in the doorway. She offered an empathetic smile and Y/n tried to welcome the comfort of it. “He looked a lot worse when he got in, so he’s doing better.”

She must have been Oscar’s nurse.

“Are you his sister?”

Before Y/n could grow defensive to the hint of hope in the nurse’s tone, let alone provide a response to her question, Oscar’s voice filled the room within in an instance.

“No,” he answered, his voice as coarse and raspy as ever. Oscar gazed upon Y/n for the first time in what felt like a lifetime and reached for her hand. “She’s my girl.”

The nurse’s smile faltered, but she nodded along and excused herself, closing the door behind them. Y/n watched with satisfaction as the door shut before noticing how intently her boyfriend was staring at her.

“Were you awake the whole time?”

“Maybe,” Oscar smirked.

Y/n went to sit on the nearby chair before she felt Oscar pull her closer to him. He shuffled over to make space for her and she happily sat next to him, snuggling closer as he wrapped his uncasted arm around her shoulders.

“Seems like you’ve been well taken care of.”

“Doesn’t compare to how you take care of me,” he quipped slyly.

He heard the hint of hope in the nurse’s voice too, but it did not faze him. Not when he had all he wanted in arms already. From the way Y/n chuckled and kissed him softly, he knew it was common knowledge.

As their kiss deepened, Oscar mindlessly lifted his injured arm, desperate to caress her face. When he winced in pain from the movement, Y/n instantly pulled away and watched him worriedly.

“I’m okay, baby,” he assured her.

Y/n nodded and forced a smile. Oscar knew it was not sincere, but he also knew her worries would never really go away, especially when most of his face was a dark shade of violet.

“You talk to Cesar again?”

Oscar shook his head. Technically he did talk to his little brother if you would count the one-sided conversation he had with his bedroom door. Y/n rubbed her thumb on the back of his casted hand, knowing it was best to drop the subject altogether.

“What are you gonna do now?”

They spent much of their time in the last week talking about him getting jumped out and no longer becoming a Santo. They never really exhausted over what would come next, other than the fact that for the first time, he would have options.

“Ray reached out to me,” Oscar began to explain.

“Yeah?”

Y/n remembered how torn up he was after he left. Not necessarily because Ray was leaving, but rather because he had a huge epiphany that made him rethink everything he was doing. They spent a lot of nights talking it out, and with her encouragement and support, Oscar reached out to his dad again and did so every so often.

“He’s at a rehab centre in Bakersfield,” he continued. “Says I can go there for a bit. Get my head right, before I do anything else. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Y/n smiled.

She was gonna make the suggestion herself. Oscar had been through so much in the past years and, while it was great he realised how much it was hurting him and was taking steps to change that, he needed more help. More time.

“I’m really proud of you,” Y/n whispered. Considering how prideful he could be, it was huge that Oscar was making the decision to go to rehab for himself. “It couldn’t have been easy walking away… after all these years.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

All the times she sat with him. Encouraged him. Supported him. Called him out when he found himself back in his old ways. Oscar knew how crucial Y/n was to him moving on and moving forward, however she refused to let him sell himself short.

“Don’t do that,” she stated, although she appreciated the sentiment. “This was all you.”

Oscar chuckled as her words began to settle. Despite being battered and bruised having just barely escaped death, he felt so strong.

“Have you thought about what you’re gonna do? After Bakersfield?”

“Get out of here. As soon as I can,” Oscar answered shortly. “Maybe even open up my own place… Somewhere far away from here.”

Y/n smiled. The last time he talked about his restaurant dreams was when they were teenagers and he had just gotten into culinary school. His dream was for him to do the cooking and for Y/n to the managing. Watching his eyes light up as he humoured the idea, only this time with the odds stacked in his favour, made her heart flutter.

“Will you come with me?”

She felt like her heart came to a complete stop. Y/n studied Oscar’s face. Surely he was feeling lightheaded from all the medication they put him under. Her suspicions were debunked quickly when Oscar repeated his question, this time slower just for emphasis that he was of sound mind.

Unable to say anything, Y/n nodded her head and pulled his face closer to hers once more until their lips met again. This time his heart was the one fluttering as he became overwhelmed with a joy he never thought he would be fortunate enough to experience.

“Visiting hours are almost up.”

Reluctantly, Y/n pulled away and pouted.

“It’s okay, baby,” Oscar laughed, before sneaking in one last peck. “You should go get some rest.”

“I’ll come back to see you tomorrow,” she promised as she got up from the bed.

After exchanging ‘I love yous’ and one last kiss for the road, Y/n headed out of the hospital. On the elevator down and the car ride home, she found herself unable to stop grinning. The air in Freeridge felt different. Felt light and fleeting as opposed to suffocating.

Upon entering her house, she noticed everyone but her dad and aunt were out for the night. It was late, so Y/n assumed her dad was already placed in bed. She was just about to check on him when she heard faint cries coming from the kitchen.

“Tia,” Y/n said softly as she approached her distraught aunt. “What’s wrong?”

“Beto’s moving to Dallas,” she explained. “He got a huge job so he’s moving with his husband.”

“So, you’re sad because he’s leaving?”

“Mija,” she cried, taking hold of Y/n’s hands and gripping them tightly. “I’m leaving with him.”

“When?”

“After the holidays,” her aunt answered, her tears increasing as she watched the very moment when the realisation hit Y/n.

If her aunt was leaving, the responsibility of looking after her dad would be left with her and with Jasmine. However, with Jasmine approaching her senior year and potentially college, Y/n knew the only way her sister could go was if she bore the responsibility on her own.

The air in Freeridge felt suffocating, yet again.

***

A month had passed since her tia broke the news to her. Y/n spent much of that month contemplating whether or not she should tell Oscar. No matter how many times she played it out in her head, telling him why she had to stay in Freeridge always ended up interfering with his dreams to get out.

By the time he started getting his things in line to go to Bakersfield for a few months, Y/n knew she could not do that to him. He needed to leave. He deserved to leave. She was not going to give him any reason to stick around, even if it meant letting him go.

“I’ve got a job lined up for me when I get back,” Oscar explained. He was crashing at the Martinez’s home until it was time for him to go. “Which’ll be good since I’m getting a new place.”

“Mhm,” Y/n mumbled as nodded along. Her mind was preoccupied as she mentally rehearsed how she was going to end things with Oscar. He misunderstood her worried expression.

“Hey,” Oscar whispered, taking hold of Y/n’s hand causing her to look up at him. “The next three months are gonna fly by so fast… I’ll be back to annoy you before you know it.”

Normally she would smile. Oscar was counting on her to smile. Even just a little bit. He needed some kind of assurance that she was alright, but she continued to stare blankly at the table, a single crease still persistent between her brows.

“Are you ok?”

Finally, she looked at him and Oscar hoped that would bring the comfort he needed, but it did not. Her lips parted and she looked like she was going to say something but after a moment she stayed silent.

“Just tell me, baby.”

Whatever it was, he could take it. At least, that was what Oscar convinced himself. They had been together for almost a decade with, obviously, fights and falling outs here and there, but they always came back stronger. That had to mean something.

“I think we should break up.”

Y/n spilt her words rapidly, unable to stifle them any longer. She stared closely at Oscar, who appeared unresponsive. Did he even hear her properly? When he went to speak, Y/n knew he did.

“If this is some kind of a joke…”

When Y/n’s expression remained unchanged, the reality of it all began to settle with Oscar. This was no cruel prank. This was real. Immediately, he began shaking his head in disbelief.

“No.”

“Oscar.”

“No, this isn’t happening. Not to us,” he stated plainly.

He had already lost enough people in his life, especially after leaving los Santos. He refused to let Y/n be another one. Especially when he had no clue as to what he had done wrong.

“I can’t… I can’t be the person you want me to be,” Y/n cried.

It was the only way she could explain herself without telling him the real reason, and Y/n told herself it was partially true. Oscar wanted someone who could leave Freeridge behind, and Y/n was not that person anymore now that her aunt was leaving.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re moving on,” Y/n began, forcing a fraction of a smile through her tears. “But I’m not moving on with you, I… I just can’t.”

“We can talk this out,” Oscar reasoned, reaching for Y/n’s hand as she stood. “I don’t leave 'til Friday. We can sit down and you can tell me how to fix this. Please just tell me how to fix this.”

That was their system. They talked and communicated before doing anything rash. Y/n was the one who developed that system, yet there was making a huge decision without letting Oscar have any input.

“You can’t, Oscar.” It was perhaps the most honest thing she said that day. “I… I have to go.”

She could not bear the look on his face. Y/n tried to turn away and leave, hoping Oscar would not make this any harder than it had to be. When she felt his hand grip her wrist, she knew that was not going to be the case. She spun around to face him but could not bring herself to look him in the eye.

“You’re breaking my heart, baby,” Oscar choked, his voice cracking as he spoke. He held the sides of her face gently. “Don’t do this. Please.”

It took everything in her to push his hand away and meet his gaze.

“Good luck in Bakersfield,” she whispered, before leaning forward to kiss his cheek which was, to Oscar, the knockout punch.

***

Jasmine was in the middle of performing the Beyonce dance routine she learned for her dad when a figure approached them in their backyard. She squinted her eyes as she tried to make out who it was

“Oscar?” She called out. He had been gone for a few months, but she could recognise him easily. When he got close, Jasmine immediately noticed he was no longer bald. “Your hair.”

He shook his head and laughed as he ran his hands through his short curls. It was one of the many things he reunited with since leaving los Santos. When he finally reach Jasmine he glanced over at the house.

“Is she here?”

“She’s working,” Jasmine answer as she shook her head, disappointed because she was dying for them to reunite again. “She’ll be back tonight, though, if you wanna come by around then.”

Oscar gave it a moment’s deliberation. Jasmine watched curiously as he glanced between her and her dad and stayed where he was.

“Could I actually stick around?”

“It’s just me and dad,” she stated, wondering if he was sure that he wanted to hang around with them as opposed to taking a lap around the block to kill time.

Her curiosity only grew when he sat in the chair beside her dad.

“Hey,” Oscar said after glancing at Mr Flores. “He’s looking a little red.”

Jasmine nodded before grabbing the sunblock she kept in her back pocket. As she went to apply some to her dad’s face, she passed the bottle to Oscar.

“Could you get his arms?”

“Sure,” Oscar answered immediately, applying a generous amount of sunblock evenly to his arm.

Jasmine glanced over at Oscar and smiled at how focused he was. She knew he spent a bit of time with her dad through Y/n, but never got to see them interact first-hand. It was clear how much he cared about her, and she knew how much her sister still cared about him.

“She misses you, you know.”

Y/n tried her best to hide it, but the walls of their house were thin and it only took a few nights of crying and listening to heartbreak songs for Jasmine to put two and two together.

“Then why’d she dump me in the first place?”

“I don’t know,” Jasmine answered honestly.

“She never said anything to you?”

“She doesn’t really talk to anyone. Except to you. And dad.”

They both liked talked to their dad, despite his catatonic state. It was one of the few things they could do with him that resembled how things were before he came back from Afghanistan.

“She’s always been a listener more than anything,” Jasmine added. “Why else do you think I talk so much?”

Oscar laughed. As the two people Y/n spent the most time listening to, he and Jasmine both knew it was true. Oscar’s suspicions that Y/n was hiding something felt confirmed to him. It should have made him feel better about the situation, but it only left him riddled with even more questions.

Before returning to his seat Oscar applied sunblock to the tops of Mr Flores’ feet, remembering the times Y/n reminded him to do so until it eventually became a habit. As he adjusted her dad’s shoes before sitting back down, Jasmine smiled, impressed.

“How’d you get so good at looking after my dad?”

“Mr Flores and I go way back,” he began, glancing over to him and offering a gentle fist bump. “He used to let me hang out here after school when Y/n and I were in elementary.”

Things changed after middle school and when he and Y/n started dating, but Mr Flores always made Oscar feel welcome in their home.

“Makes sense,” Jasmine nodded, remembering that his history with Y/n was a long one, and it showed. “You’re still the only person who Y/n trusts enough to bring home.”

Oscar never pieced that together. Y/n had many friends on their block, but he was the only one she invited over without hesitation. She never talked to him about it, but he knew how protective she was over her dad. How much pride she took in looking after the man who raised her and her sister.

It dawned on him that while he was eager to leave because he wanted to escape Freeridge, Y/n’s situation was different. She had a family there. People still counting on her who she could not walk away from so easily.

Oscar always wanted to leave Freeridge, but he never wanted to part ways with Y/n.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked Jasmine. When looked past her dad to face him, Oscar glanced between the two of them. “Can I ask you bothsomething?”

***

Y/n got home from work exhausted. She did not think twice about the way Jasmine and her aunt were smiling at her from where they sat in the kitchen. They were obviously up to something, but after a 10-hour shift, she figured it was not worth dealing with until tomorrow.

She sighed as she opened her bedroom door, threw her hat across the room and kicked her shoes off. It was not until she closed the door behind her and turned to face her bed that she realised Oscar was sitting at her desk.

“Oscar?” Y/n huffed.

Had it been any other person, she would have not hesitated to reach for her dad’s old baseball bat. However, her bedroom was practically Oscar’s second home.

“Hey,” he smiled weakly, relieved to finally see her.

“Your hair,” Y/n laughed.

The last time he had curls they had just started their freshman year of high school. Y/n threw a dramatic fit and then a funeral to mourn the loss of her best friend’s beautiful hair and to help cheer him up after being jumped in. That was when Oscar knew.

“What are you doing here?” Y/n asked, catching herself and remembering that they were broken up.

“I want the truth,” Oscar spoke incredulously. Did she really think he was gonna walk away so easily? “Not the shit you gave me before I went to Bakersfield. I want the realtruth.”

Y/n sighed before plopping herself down on the edge of her bed. Where was she supposed to start? She did not get the chance to think much about it before Oscar sat next to her and spoke.

“Is it because of your dad and Jasmine?”

She nodded. Oscar exhaled heavily before turning to face her. He could not understand why she kept this from him. He, of all people, could understand not being able to let go of family.

It became clear that there was more to it than that.

“My tia’s moving to Dallas in a couple of months,” Y/n explained. “So someone needs to stay back look after my dad and… and I can’t let it be Jasmine. Not when she has senior year and college to look forward to.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I know you,” Y/n stated plainly. “I knew you’d reconsider leaving Freeridge or you’d feel guilty leaving without me, and I didn’t want that to happen. Not after everything you’ve been through.”

Making the hard decision so the other person does not have to. Oscar could have sworn that was his M.O. Clearly they had rubbed off on each other much more they had realised because he spent the afternoon listening to Jasmine while she ranted about her relationship with Ruby.

Oscar laughed and took hold of Y/n hand. She laced her fingers through his and gripped tightly, feeling a huge weight be released from her shoulders.

“I can’t do this without you, Y/n,” he whispered, his brows furrowing as he spoke. She rested her head against his shoulders and sighed.

No one knew him quite like Y/n did and there was no he trusted more than he trusted her. It was not so much that could not do it without her, because logically he knew could. But he did not want to.

“I love you so much, baby. Pero, my dad needs me more.”

She felt incredibly torn. Y/n wanted to leave with Oscar and run a restaurant together like they always dreamed. However, she also wanted Jasmine to go to college and for her dad to be loved and looked after.

She wondered if it was arrogant to ever hope she could have it all.

“I know,” he assured her, grabbing the sides of her face and smiling. He was not going to make her feel torn. Quite the opposite, in fact. “That’s why I was thinking… maybe he should come with us.”

Slowly, Y/n let go of Oscar’s hand and turned to face him, narrowing her eyes as she studied him. It was too good to be true.

“You’re joking.”

“I found a couple places in Berkeley that have extra rooms,” Oscar explained. “Just a couple blocks from the place I wanna set up the restaurant. There’s even a studio above it. You could be with your dad and crunch the numbers while I-”

“Run the kitchen,” Y/n finished, smiling as she remembered the first time he pitched this idea to her in their senior year of high school.

He had just gotten into culinary school and she was gonna study business at UCAL. However, when he ended up staying for Cesar and her for her dad, they never brought it up again.

“Why Berkeley?” she asked.

“Jasmine said she applied there,” he laughed. It was one of the few things he remembered from her rambles, but as soon as he did he knew where to start looking.

Y/n felt her heart swell up from how much thought he had given his idea in what she assumed was an afternoon. It meant a lot that to her that he was not only considering her dad but her little sister too.

“What about Cesar?”

In the months that passed, Y/n saw him on the streets with the other Santos. He was essentially unrecognisable, but Y/n still held out hope he would come around. She could only imagine how Oscar was feeling.

“I’m gonna keep trying but… when the time comes, I’m going,” Oscar explained. It was hard to say. He did not want to think about leaving Cesar behind. At least not until the moving truck arrived and he made every attempt he could to talk sense into him. “… I just hope I’ll be leaving with you.”

“This is a really big deal, Oscar.”

They had known each other for so long, and there was no one she trusted like she did him, but even this was a big step for them.

“I know, baby. But, hey, it’s not gonna happen right away. Obviously, we need some time to save and plan, so we can take as long as you need,” “Plus, I know you’re gonna wanna stick around until Jasmine graduates.”

“Are you sure?”

“I can’t do this without you,”

“I’m scared you’re gonna regret this.”

If they moved in together, there would be no coming back. Her dad would be with them for the long haul and while Y/n knew what that meant, she wasn’t sure Oscar did.

“I could never regret keeping you in my life,” he assured.

Oscar always knew what that meant. He always knew that Y/n could not leave her dad or her sister, and he never wanted to make her feel like she had to. He always knew keeping her meant welcoming then, and he was more than willing to do just that.

There was silence between them as Y/n gave it some thought. Once her mind was decided, she let out a laugh and pulled Oscar in for a kiss. She knew she was ready and that he was too. She was also so grateful they could take their time.

“I can’t wait to tell them,” she smiled as she pulled away.

“I might’ve already done that,” Oscar admitted sheepishly.

“What?”

“I wanted to pitch the idea to them first,” he clarified.

“Why?”

“Because I also needed to ask them for something.”

“Ask them for what?” Y/n asked, as her confusion only grew.

“For their blessing.”

It took Y/n a while to realise what he meant. By the time the realisation hit, Oscar had already knelt down in front of her and held up a silver ring in between his thumb and index finger.

“Oscar,” Y/n blinked. “That’s a ring.”

“It was the first thing I bought when I left Bakersfield.”

Ray was the one who gave him the idea. He mentioned something about how he thought Y/n was really good for him. Oscar did not care much for his father’s opinion on anything, however knowing he felt that way after only meeting Y/n once, he knew he had something special with her. Something worth fighting for.

He knew it was a risk buying a ring when they were still broken up. He knew there was still a chance she’d shut him out and he’d never be able to figure out what happened. But he knew Y/n, and he knew the love they shared for each other and ultimately decided that he liked his odds.

“I don’t know where I’d be without you, baby,” he said as he reached for her left hand. “And I don’t plan on ever having to find out.”

Y/n clasped her right hand over her mouth and cried quietly.

“So… Y/n Flores. Mi amor…Mi vida,” he proclaimed, before pausing to place a gentle kiss on the back of her hand before continuing. “Will you marry me?”

She opened her mouth and tried to answer, but only found herself letting out sobs. So, instead, Y/n nodded her head profusely and waited for Oscar to slide the ring on her fourth finger before leaning over to kiss him. The two of them stood up soon after and wiped each other’s tears while laughing at how utterly happy they were.

Just as Y/n wrapped her arms around Oscar’s neck and leaned in to kiss her fiance again, the door to her bedroom busted open and her little sister came sprinting in with their aunt following after.

“Ahh, she said yes!” Jasmine cheered, as she wedged herself between Y/n and Oscar and hugged her big sister tightly. “Tia, she said yes!”

She looked to Oscar, half-expecting him to look uncomfortable, but he did not. Instead, he willingly leaned down so her aunt could kiss his cheek to congratulate the two of them. He then willingly stayed for dinner and even let Jasmine show him how to carry their dad into his bed.

Y/n watched in awe and twirled the silver ring on her finger. The air in Freeridge was still heavy, yet somehow all the more bearable now that he was back.

Unplanned | M. Martinez

Pairing: Mario x Diaz!Reader

Timeframe: Season 2

Summary: Y/n and Mario must tell their families about her pregnancy.

masterlist

PART ONE

A/N: This was so much fun to write (also INCREDIBLY sad for me, but that’s moreso bc I’m a very emotional person lmao).

This is a long overdue second part to Planned. 

I initially intended to write this and then write Rewrite as a part 3, but I ultimately decided to make Rewrite a stand-alone because of how much detail I wanted to put into it. 

Think of this, then, as a prelude of sorts :)

My hands shook as I entered the door to my boyfriend’s dorm. Mario was expecting me over to have dinner and watch a movie with him while his roommate was out of town. I would have arrived sooner if it had not been for the notification I got alerting me that I had not had my period in over two months.

“Mario,” I said worriedly the minute I entered his room, slamming the door shut behind me. He was approaching me for our usual kiss ‘hello’ but stopped in his tracks when he realised how panicked I was. “I’m late.”

“What are you talking about?”

I gulped. Mario was a smart guy, even if his brain had the tendency to lag for a minutes. It only took him a few seconds to realise what I was referring to, and what it could mean for us.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” I sighed.

It had not yet began to settle in me until that moment. All I remembered was reading my notification and practically sprinting to Mario’s dorm. He must have noticed my anxiety grow, because he quickly wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“Hey,” Mario whispered as he rubbed my back soothingly. He then pulled away and placed his hands on the side of my face. I could tell he was scared. Terrified even. Yet, he was trying so hard to be brace for the both of us. “We’ll- We’ll go to Walgreens, get some tests and… and we’ll figure it out from there.”

His words helped keep me from spiralling. There would be plenty of time for that later. About 8 whole months, to be precise. For now, we needed to be sure, and Mario was right. We needed to make the trip to Walgreens first, before we could do any of the freaking out I had already made a head-start on.

“Ok,” I replied, nodding as placed my hands over my eyes momentarily. Mario reached for his wallet and then for my hand, squeezing it gently. “Yeah, let’s go.”

I tried to keep my head clear while he and I sped to the nearest Walgreens to our campus. Test first, panic later, I told myself. However, the closer we got to Walgreens the more I became conscious of just how hard my heart was pounding against my chest. 

Was that a sign of pregnancy?

Mario would catch me beginning to spiral and do his best to calm me down. He squeezed my hand as we dodged pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. He kissed my temple softly as we waited in line. Even when we got home, he pulled me into his embrace briefly before I went into the girls’ bathroom and took the tests. 

Once I was done doing my part for the four different tests we ended up buying, Mario and I sat on the floor of his dorm room and waited for the timer on his phone to sound. He had ordered Chinese takeout for the both of us, but by the time we got back it was already cold, which made no difference.

We were far too antsy to hold anything down.

“Hey,” Mario whispered. My head was rested on his shoulder and our hands were intertwined on my lap. “No matter what happens… I’m with you all the way.”

I let out a weak chuckle and turned my head to kiss the fabric over his shoulder lightly. I knew where Mario’s loyalty laid. I always knew. However, him reaffirming it still gave me some ounce of peace in the whirlwind of panic I was in. That both of us were in.

He reached for phone to check how much time we had left. 

“Two more minutes,” he said. It felt like we had been sitting there in anticipation for a lifetime. I could not tell if I wanted time to move slower or faster. All I knew was that I was not yet ready to make any decisions.

If it were negative, Mario and I would be relieved, I knew that much. Maybe we would laugh about it in a couple months. Maybe we would be extra cautious. Maybe we would even go on to tell our friends about it by the time we were graduated and working in fancy white collar jobs.

If it were negative, we could stay in college.

As guilty as I felt doing it, I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped for just one line. Just one line on all four tests. Even when the sound of the timer rang and filled the previously dauntingly silent room, I continued to hope.

“You check two and I’ll check the other two?”

Mario nodded before reaching for two of the tests, just as I grabbed the other two. I inhaled sharply as I glanced between the two in my hand. I wanted to believe there was just the one prominent line, but I could not deny the faint second one. Not even if I wanted to.

Looking up, Mario and I glanced at the tests we held. I sighed, seeing no point in holding my breath anymore. There were eight lines altogether. Mario squeezed my hand once more, and I wished it brought me comfort.

But it didn’t.

***

The week after we found out, Mario and I packed our things and headed back to Freeridge before the New Year. On the car ride, we did nothing but talk. He practised telling the news to his parents, and I practised telling it to Oscar. 

It was all we could do. 

By the time we reached our neighbourhood, it was dusk. The streetlights were on and people seemed to be gathering at their respective households for when midnight eventually struck.

“Pregnant?!”

After Mario broke the news to his parents mere minutes after we made our surprise entrance, Geny pulled us into the kitchen. This time, I was the one who reached for Mario’s hand and squeezed it gently. His mother was the one person he was most scared to tell, with my brother coming in at a close second.

“Have you two thought about what you’re gonna do?” Geny was technically whispering, but it was just as piercing as when she yelled. I hated the thought of her being mad at us, so I could hardly imagine how Mario was feeling. Much to my surprise, when I looked over at him, he was holding it together.

“We’ve been saving,” he explained calmly. He and I had been putting aside as much money as we could so we could find accomodation together for the following school year. It seemed my birth control and his split condom had other plans for that money. “And I’m gonna look for a job, and Y/n will too after the baby comes.”

Geny huffed. I took it she was somewhat relieved that we were taking my pregnancy seriously. She glanced between the two of us and sighed.

“I am not happy about this,” she began. “In fact, I’m very disappointed… In both of you.”

My breath hitched. It was painful to know her disappointment extended to me as well, especially considering she was the only mother figure I had in my life. Yet, beneath that pain was a small joy. If she was disappointed in me, it meant she had high expectations for me to begin with.

Even with everything that was happening, that meant a lot to me. From the way she looked at me as she spoke, I knew it carried much weight for her too.

“But I’m glad you have a plan,” Geny continued. I glanced up at Mario and smiled when I noticed how quickly his shoulders relaxed. “… And I’m glad you came home.”

Mario kissed his mother’s cheek swiftly before leaving the kitchen. In hindsight, we should have known Geny would come around, but our nerves had us questioning everything on the car ride home. Just as I turned to follow Mario, Geny reached for my and kept me from leaving.

“Mija,” she said softly, prompting me to turn around. It was a relief to her call me that. Part of me feared she would not be so kind to me after finding out I was the reason her son had to leave college.

Geny met my eyes with concern. There was a strange softness to her demeanour now that it was just the two of us. 

“Have you told your brother yet?”

I shook my head. My stomach dropped at the realisation that the hard part was not yet over. Maybe it was for Mario, whose mother meant the world to him. But for me, the girl who had no parents or grandparents present in her life, the har part was yet to come.

“I’m telling him after dinner.”

Geny nodded, before pursing her lips. For a moment, she was stared blankly as she thought. 

“If anything happens…” Before she could specify, Geny quickly stopped herself. Instead, she gripped my hands tightly and looked me in the eye with sincerity. “This is your home too.”

If it were not for the wild animals doing jumping jacks in the pit of my stomach, I would have been greatly comforted by Geny’s promise of a place to stay. However, the prospect of needing to crash there brought me great terror. 

In the midst of all my spiralling, I never once considered the possibility that Oscar would throw me out of our home. When we gathered around the dining table and ate, all I could do was count down the minutes before I would have to face my fate.

After dinner, Mario and I walked with Cesar to my house. My little brother must have known I was a nervous wreck, because he tried to keep my mind occupied by catching me up on what he and his friends had gotten up to over the fall. 

However, by the time we reached our doorstep, Cesar was silent. When Oscar opened the door and let us in, my little brother bolted towards his bedroom and locked his door. Mario and I sat with Oscar at the kitchen table. 

“Why are you back so early?” 

He greeted us somewhat gleefully when he opened the door, but it must have dawned on him that we were back for a reason, because his expression returned to its natural state: half-stoic and half-brooding.

“We- uhm,” I coughed nervously as I shuffle in my seat. I looked over to Mario for moral support, but he looked petrified as he watched my brother chop the vegetable he was using for tamales. “We needed to tell you something… To tell everyone something.”

Oscar did not acknowledge my words. Instead, he just continued chopping. I knew it was him waiting to hear the new fully before deciding how he would react. I always felt nervous when he did that, but it did not come close to how anxious I felt that day.

“I’m pregnant.”

Finally, Oscar put his knife down and stared blankly at the vegetables on his chopping board. I waited for him to say something, but when he remained silent I opted to continue explaining mine and Mario’s situation.

“We found out last week,” I continued. “That’s why we’re back.”

As scared as I was, I inched forward and leaned over the table, trying to get a closer look at Oscar. He was not the most talkative person, but I had never witnessed him be so quiet, especially to me, of all people.

“Say something,” I whispered. 

I desperately needed him to lecture me, because I knew after the lecture he would do everything he could to support me. Even if he knew nothing about pregnancy or about babies. He would be there for me, because even though we grew up with no parents, we always had each other. 

“Mano,” I called out, hoping it would provoke a reaction. “… please.” 

Slowly, Oscar looked up and met my gaze with a steely glare. He inhaled sharply, flaring his nostrils as he did so. I instinctively moved back.

“This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

His voice was not loud. He was not shouting. And yet, I had to keep myself from flinching, because his tone was so cold.

“I wouldn’t say that,” I said uneasily, trying to muster a smile despite how tense the room was. Poor Mario did not dare move a muscle. “Remember the time I left my sunglasses on the barbecue?”

“You think you’re funny?”

“I think I’m trying to ease the tension,” I corrected. 

Perhaps it was a miscalculation on my part. Perhaps a pregnancy announcement was not the appropriate moment for an anecdote, but it was a knee-jerk reaction. I just could not understand.

“Why are you being like this?”

“How’d you think I was gonna be, Y/n?” Now he was beginning to shout. “You’re barely nineteen! You realise that’s the same age mom was when she had me.”

“Woah,” I flinched. 

I thought we had moved past bringing up our parents in the heat of our arguments. I thought we decided they inflicted enough trauma on the two of us and Cesar. I thought we agreed that we did not need to inflict any more onto each other.

“You’ve ruined your life,” Oscar spat, expressing absolutely no remorse for comparing me to our mother. My gaze was beginning to turn into a glare. “You realise that?”

I quickly glanced at Mario and he appeared just as startled as I felt. Though it was a well-known fact that Oscar was an intimidating person, when it came to me that was hardly the case. It seemed he was choosing this moment to prove us both wrong.

Disgruntled, Oscar rose from his seat and turned to head towards the sink. Just as he did, he quickly turned back to face me. I braced myself for his next words. How else was he gonna be cruel and completely humiliate me in my own home and in front of my boyfriend?

“And after everything,” he hissed. “After everything I’ve done for you… to make sure you didn’t end up the same way…”

I scoffed before he could finish his sentence, knowing exactly where he was going with it. I could recount every lecture he gave me about not ending up like our parents. About trying to be better. 

The irony in him lecturing me about following in our mother’s footsteps when he was being so masterfully cruel to me in a way that brought me back to the few times our dad made an appearance.

“Fuck you,” I shouted at him as I stood from my chair. “I didn’t realise we were keeping track of the things we’ve done for each other.”

“Don’t turn this around on me,” Oscar snarled. Of course, he could never do any wrong. Not in his eyes. “You’re the one who fucked up. And now I gotta clean your mess just like I always have to.”

He turned and headed towards the kitchen, which only infuriated me more. He had grown too accustomed to having his way. To being surrounded by people who worshipped the ground he walked on. I furrowed my brows in frustration as I watched him continue on with making his food, like we were suddenly don with our conversation just because he wanted it to be so. 

How could he say that to me? After everything? I could not let him have the last word. Just as I went to follow him, Mario’s hand quickly gripped mine. 

“Y/n-”

I shook my hand free and approached my big brother, much to Mario’s dismay. I knew he was trying to defuse the situation, but it was not the simple. It was clear this was not about us anymore. It was between me and my brother.

“No… You don’t get to talk to me like this, Oscar,” I barked as I walked up to him. He was going to regret ever teaching me to fight back. “You don’t have a monopoly over making sacrifices or cleaning messes.”

Had he forgotten all the times I covered him? Lying to the cops when they questioned me about what he was up to.  Lying to Child Protective Services about his whereabouts so they would not put Cesar in the system. Singlehandedly keeping the fort down when he was locked up.

Never once did I hold it against him, or try to make him feel guilty for putting me in a difficult position time and time again.

When Oscar turned to face me, I sighed defeatedly. As horrible as he was being, I could not keep arguing with him. Not when I already had so much to deal with. 

“I know I messed up,” I admitted. “… and I’m not asking you to be happy about all this. I’m asking you to just support me… Just be my big brother.”

He had a tendency to forget that. He spent so many years fulfilling fatherly responsibilities for Cesar, sometimes he would forget I was not a little kid. That I did not need him to be anything more than what he was for me. My brother.

“From where I stand,” Oscar sneered. “I don’t have a sister anymore.”

My face fell, as did my stomach. I knew he would be mad. I knew he might even say some things that he would later regret and apologise for, but there was no way I could have prepared myself for that. And there was no coming back from it either.

He took a step closer to me and it took everything in me not to cower and move back. I refused to give him that satisfaction. He puffed his chest and glared at me like I was some dude him and his gang mates were trying to intimidate. 

“Take your shit and don’t ever come back here again.”

My eyes watered immediately, but thankfully he turn his back on me and headed for his room. With blurred vision, I trailed after him. I wanted to say something to him. I wanted to scold him for treating me like this when I always had his back when things went south for him.

When we were halfway down the hallway, all I could think about was how small he made me feel. How much joy he seemed to take in making me feel ashamed for something I never asked to happen. How he treated his stupid homies with twice the respect and twice the dignity than he did me.

“Y’know it’s too bad I’m not a Santo,” I shouted at him, hoping he would stop and face me, but he just kept walking. “Maybe then you’d have my back.”

I was so sure that would get a reaction out of him, but I should have known he had too much pride for that. He slammed his door right in my face and left me with nothing left to do but scream at him from where I stood. 

Eventually Mario came and comforted me before helping me gather the rest of my belongings from my bedroom. Eventually Cesar came out to help take my things to Mario’s. But, even when I walked out the door for the last time and headed down the street, I hoped Oscar would come out and say something.

He never did.

***

When April eventually rolled by, I gave up hoping that Oscar would come around. Lugging around a tiny human everywhere I went helped me take my mind off it at times, but as my baby grew so did my worries. I quickly found myself haunted, everywhere I was, by the way Oscar compared me to our mom.

Even as I washed the dirty dishes, one of the few chores Geny and abuelita allowed me to do, I could not keep my worries at bay. It did not help that everyone was out of the house leaving me and my thoughts.

Thankfully, by the time I got to cleaning the dirty plates, the front door burst open and in came Mario bearing food from his job at Dwayne’s barbecue joint.

“Hey, baby,” he called out as he approached the table to put the food down.

“Hey,” I said mindlessly as I turned face him. Just as I did so the wet plate in my hand fell and shattered when it hit the ground, prompting Mario to race to the kitchen.

“Woah, be careful.”

Mario immediately searched for the broom, while I did my best to not cry. As much as I blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, I knew it was not fair to attribute all my emotional outbursts to the fact that I was growing life inside me. A lot of it had to do with my fight with Oscar and my own fears, but it was just easier for me to avoid talking about it.

“Oh my god,” I cried, clasping my hand over my mouth as I wept. The poor plate did not even see it coming. That was upsetting to me on its own, but I knew there was so much more to it than that. Mario did too.

“Baby, it’s ok,” he assured as he swiftly swept and disposed the shards of broken ceramic. “This plate was from Costco. I’m pretty sure my mom has more just like it stored in the garage somewhere.”

Perhaps that alleviated my grief over the broken plate, but it did not exactly fix my relationship with my brother nor did it calm my anxieties about motherhood.

“Y/n? Baby, what’s wrong?”

“… I don’t know,” I whispered, frustrated by it all.

Before I knew it, Mario planted himself on the kitchen floor and leaned his back against the white refrigerator. Smiling, he patted the empty spot beside him.

“Sit with me.”

“I’m not gonna be able to get up again,” I reminded him, as I gestured towards my protruding abdomen. I struggled just getting up from the living room couch. 

“I’ll help you up,” Mario insisted. “Just sit with me for bit.”

I sighed before kneeling down so I could sit beside him. 

“Is this about Oscar?”

“Yeah,” I answered sheepishly. We only talked about what had happened a couple times, and each time I refused to let on how much it was affecting me. Truthfully, it was because if I admitted to that I would eventually have to admit to everything else that was weighing on me. “Him and… everything else.”

I turned to Mario and he did not say anything. Instead he placed his hand over mine and stayed quiet so I could talk. I smiled gratefully, before inhaling sharply. I knew he liked how emotional I was as a pregnant woman but I, for one, hated how suffocated I was by all of feelings that bombarded me constantly.

“This isn’t the life I wanted,” I huffed, tilting my head back so I could stare at the ceiling. It was easier than looking Mario in the eye. I was never good as this. Not like he was. “I always hoped by the time we had kids we’d be able to give them what we never got…”

Yet, there I was, sentencing my kid to the same life I had on the same streets that swallowed up so many of the people in my life. 

“Now I just feel like my mom.”

Young and stupid. Diving headfirst into motherhood when I was nowhere near ready for the responsibility that came with it. Maybe I would end up just like her too. Maybe my baby would grow to resent me just as I did her.

“Baby don’t say that,” Mario spoke. I sniffled as I wiped my eyes. I was not expecting him to get it. How could he?

“We just worked so hard to get out,” I whimpered, thinking back to all the work Mario and I put into school and into our college applications. “And I promised Cesar I would come back and get him out too… but now we’re back with nothing to show for it.”

“I know,” Mario whispered defeatedly.

Everyone in Freeridge had such high hopes for the two of us when we left for college. Everyone was expecting us to make it and to come back and share our joy and our wealth with the people who raised us. Mario and I had every intention of doing that, yet there we were.

“You know the hardest part wasn’t even coming back and telling everyone,” I said honestly. “… It was the look on Oscar’s face when he said he didn’t have a sister anymore.”

Mario could not say anything. Instead he just held my hand and sat in silence with me for a bit. Fortunately, that was all I wanted him to do.

***

Near the end of the month, Ruby had the bright idea of hosting a baby shower. He initially envisioned a huge party with all of Mario’s distant relatives, but after a bit of bribery and begging he eventually agreed to keep it small.

“Ok,” Ruby began as he wheeled in a huge chalkboard he apparently ‘borrowed’ from their high school. “Now we’re each gonna nominate a name for the baby.”

“Oh and just a disclaimer,” Mario said before his little brother could continue. “Y/n and I reserve the right not to choose any of the names you give us.”

While we were mostly confident the kids would come up with decent ideas for  names, we felt it necessary to cover our bases. From what Jamal told me during our many conversations while he waited for Ruby, they got up to a lot over the past year.

“So why are we doing this?” Jasmine asked.

“Because, we’ve been struggling to come up with names for a while,” I answered. “So take this seriously, guys, okay?”

“I’ll go first,” Ruby announced as he reached for the chalk. He pulled out a foot stool and stood on it so he write his name ideas at the top of the board. “If it’s a girl, Marisol. If it’s a boy, Ruby junior.”

I took one look at Mario and bursted out laughing. I knew Ruby was completely serious, as so did Mario, which made it all the more amusing. Before Monse could rise from her seat and announce her name ideas next, there was a loud know at the door.

“I’ll get it.”

Usually I would not have volunteered to answer the door, but it was still daylight and we were expecting abuelita to arrive at any minute with some extra food. However, when I opened the door and realised who it was, I quickly regretted my decision.

“Can we talk?”

Oscar glanced inside before speaking. His tone was quiet, almost sheepish, and I knew then that he was here to make amends. However, that did not mean I could not give him a hard time.

“I thought I wasn’t your sister anymore,” I sneered.

His expression grew even more pained.

“Please?”

I had no idea that word was even in his vocabulary. As hurt and annoyed as I was, I knew I was grateful he was here and that we were speaking to each other the for the first time in months. Closing the door behind me, I waddled towards the seats on the porch and Oscar sat beside me.

“I’m sorry,” he said not a second after he sat himself down. That was yet another phrase I never knew he had the capacity to say. “I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

“Yeah. You shouldn’t have.”

I studied his expression closely. It was nice he was apologising, but that did not exactly explain why he acted to cruelly towards me. I wanted that just as much as I wanted the apology.

“When you told me, I just,” Oscar paused for a minute and thought. After a moments deliberation, he continued on. “I never expected this to happen to you.”

“Neither did I,” I shrugged.

I understood his sentiment, I did. No one expects the girl with the full-ride scholarship and the pressure of overcoming generational poverty to get knocked up. However, if I was able to wrap my head around it enough to get on board while carrying the damn baby, Oscar could have at least accepted it without calling me a failure. 

“I’m just used to you being the one keeping things together,” he added defeatedly.

“That doesn’t make what you did ok,” I argued.

“… I know,” he said bashfully.

“Oscar, look, Mario… he has his mom, his dad and abuelita. But for me, I just have you. You’re all I’ve got. I need to know I can count on you.”

My brother nodded. I could tell it pained him when I phrased the situation like that. It hurt to know that Mario had three people in his corner, yet I had no one. 

“You know, before I was ever Santo. Before I was ever anything… I was your big brother,” Oscar explained, a small smile peeking through as he spoke. “That’s how it will always be.” 

I smiled as I thought about how inseparable we were growing up. Before we had to take on the responsibility of looking after Cesar. Before it hit us that we were practically on our own. Before we had to grow up too quickly. Before all of that, we were just two siblings strolling along the streets of our block like it was our empire.

We found ourselves staring out onto those very streets again from where we sat. Maybe it would not be such a bad place for my kid. 

“I love you, mana,” Oscar said, his eyes still glued to the road in front of us.

“I love you too,” I replied.

Just as I spoke, a mother and her daughter drove by in a battered station wagon, and it sent me back to the worst corners of my childhood memories. Of my mom driving me around in her station wagon and me trying to savour the feeling of her presence before she upped and left again.

”… What if I’m just like them?” I asked quietly.

“You won’t be,” Oscar answered, not a beat after I finished speaking.

“How can you be so sure?”

“You won’t be.”

It should have been enough. It should have been enough to convince me. However, even after we got up and returned to the baby shower, I could not shake the feeling that it was my destiny. That, no matter what I did, I would end up becoming some abominable mix of parents and raise hurt and traumatised kids just as mine did.

I placed my hand on my belly and breathed deeply. In just a matter of months, my fate would unfold. All I could do was hope my baby would make it.

“How are the baby names coming along?” I asked cheerfully, forcing a smile as I glanced at the chalkboard that was now halfway filled with baby names.

“Cesar’s up now,” Mario explained to me as he got out of his seat so I could sit down. I thanked him quietly as I took lowered myself onto his chair and he stood behind me with his hands hovering lazily over my shoulders.

“Ok, if it’s a girl, Elena,” Cesar said as he wrote his idea on the board. “And if it’s a boy… Manuel.”

I grinned. I could not place my finger on it, but something about that name felt right. Call it intuition or instinct. Either way, it was definitely far more appealing than Ruby junior.

“Manuel?” I repeated, before looking up at Mario who matched my expression. It seemed we had at least one name banked. “I really like that one.”

Mario leaned forward and kissed my temple softly. As the baby shower continued, I found myself finally able to cast my worries aside if at least for the time being. I was convinced there would be plenty of time for that later. 

NEXT PART

The 1 | M. Martinez

Pairing: Mario x Turner!Reader

Timeframe:Season 1 - 2

Summary:[Based on The 1 - Taylor Swift] If only she had gone to college with Mario, or if only he stayed in Freeridge with her. Maybe then, they wouldn’t have broken up. Maybe then, he would not be at his parent’s doorstep with his pregnant girlfriend.

masterlist

A/N: this is a part of my folklore/evermore-inspired fic collection

It was sunny in Freeridge. Y/n approached the booth Mario sat at and placed two glasses of house lemonade on the table. She had been working at her dad’s barbecue restaurant for so long, navigating the place felt like second-nature to her. Mario loved to just sit and watch his girlfriend

“Thank you baby,” Mario sang, looking up with a grin knowing Y/n could not resist the urge to kiss him quickly before proceeding. After a swift peck and even swifter ‘you’re welcome, baby’, she sat opposite him and pulled glass close to her chest.

Out of habit, Y/n began stirring the ice in glass with the straw it came with. Mario took a sip of his drink but could not ignore his girlfriend’s behaviour. He reached for her free hand and smiled when she gazed up from her glass and met his eyes.

“What’d you wanna tell me?”

All week Y/n had been acting strange. If Mario had not been so preoccupied with his college applications, he likely would have confronted her about it sooner. However, eventually Y/n asked him to meet her at the barbecue joint and he knew she would fess up soon enough.

“My dad wants me to work here full-time,” Y/n announced, a wide smile slowly appearing on her face as she spoke. “I’d be taking on a more managerial role and eventually work my way up to being his business partner.”

She sat frozen for a moment while she surveyed Mario’s reaction. He was the first person she was telling the news to and she was counting on him to be excited with her.

Mario shook his head in amazement and chuckled beneath his breath as he reached out for both of Y/n’s hands. He knew that this was something she’d been hoping for for a long time.

“That’s so good, baby,” Mario exclaimed, intertwining his fingers with hers. He could not help the way his heart swelled when smile grew as she let out a sigh of relief. “I… I’m so excited for you.”

He meant every word. She knew it. Yet, for some reason, something was not sitting right with Y/n. Whether it was his delayed reaction or the way he, too, was acting strange for the past week, she just could not place her finger on it.

“I love you,” she murmured blissfully as she rubbed her thumb against the back of his right hand. Y/n was a blubbering mess the first she said those three words, but since then they came with such ease. Such confidence.

“I love you,” he replied, lifting her hand and pressing them softly against his lips. When Mario met his girlfriend’s gaze, his heart began to race, but not for the usual reason. She could tell something was up.

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Her tone was comforting and far from accusatory. Y/n trusted Mario completely. Whatever he was hiding, she was confident he had his reasons for keeping it from her. Reasons Y/n would respect if it did was not so obviously bothering him.

“I applied to U-Cal,” he admitted, purposely averting his eyes. Y/n’s brows rose in surprise. In all their conversations about college and life after high school graduation, he never mentioned applying. She held her breath in anticipation of what he was going to say next. “I got in.”

Y/n exhaled as her mouth fell open. She struggled to fully process it, but she could not keep herself from smiling.

“Mario, that’s amazing!” Y/n gripped his hand tighter, prompting him to finally look back at her. When she looked into his eyes, she took a minute just to bask it in. Her boyfriend, the college attendee. There were very few people she could think of who deserved the opportunity more. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”

Those words were enough to make Mario giddy, but coming from Y/n made it all the more meaningful. All the hours they spent studying together and all the times she helped him cram for the SATs and all the assignments that came before and after. It was all amounting to something for him.

“How’re you feeling?” Y/n asked, trying to maintain her smile despite how riddled she was with worry. In one revelation, there was suddenly a limit placed on the amount of time they had together before he would inevitably leave for college. “Do… Do you know when you have to go?”

“Less than two months.”

“Wow,” Y/n stated blankly. She should have expected it, but hearing aloud just how little time they had left was jarring. Mario was too overjoyed to notice the way Y/n’s bottom lip trembled ever so slightly.

All he could think about was college.

“I know, I’m so excited!” Mario cheered. “They sent a brochure and it’s so cool all the clubs and events they have.”

As her boyfriend named off a handful of the clubs he was interested in learning more about, Y/n nodded along despite being unable to completely focus. Less than two months. They had less than two months to spend together, and he seemed elated by the thought it flying past.

“I just can’t believe it,” Mario sighed. Y/n blinked and channelled her attention back to him. Normally when Mario was happy, it rubbed off significantly onto Y/n. However, this time was different. He was happy because he was going away. How could she not take it personally? “I can’t believe I get to finally leave the house, the block and…”

“And me?”

The words parted from her lips before she knew what she was speaking, but even so, Y/n did not regret it. How could she regret her feelings? How could she ignore how insignificant Mario was making her feel?

“Y/n,” he whispered, his brows crinkling together when he realised how teary-eyed his girlfriend was. Mario struggled to understand where she would get such a crazy thought from. “C'mon, baby, you know that’s not true.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Y/n questioned immediately. “The deadlines for applications closed months ago. You’ve kept this from me for months.”

“That’s…” Mario wanted to say it was not true, but it was. He never meant to keep his application a secret, he just never expected anything to amount from it. Did she truly believe he kept her in the dark maliciously? “That’s not fair.”

Perhaps it was, Y/n thought. Perhaps deep down she knew he never had any intention of hurting her, but it did not change the outcome. Silence filled the, thankfully empty, restaurant for only a moment. In that moment, Y/n was confronted by a terrifyingly burning question.

“What’s gonna happen to us?” She spoke in a quiet voice. One riddled with insecurity and an overwhelming fear of what his answer would be. In an even quieter voice, she added, “What’s gonna happen to me?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Mario was not expecting her to react this way. The Y/n he knew and loved was always so supportive. Always so optimistic. Always so confident that things would work out for the best and they would come out stronger because of it.

However his question only infuriated Y/n more. This was different from her wanting to pick up more hours at the restaurant or him getting cut from the football team.

“I don’t know you just sound like you have this whole plan to leave everything here behind,” Y/n began frustratedly. “I just wanna know if I’m included in that.”

“Oh my god, how can you think that?”

Mario was dumbfounded. Whenever he spoke of moving on to bigger and better things, it always with the assumption that Y/n would be right there with him. It was always so clear to him that she was the one for him, he believed it went without saying.

“Well, how could you make this huge decision without giving me so much as a heads up?”

Mario knew there was not much he could say to defend himself on that front, so he found himself rambling off until his words eventually formed a coherent response.

“You know, I just… I just thought you would be happy for me.”

“Iam happy for you,” Y/n defended. How could he even question that? “I… I just feel blindsided.”

She was always upfront about her plans for after graduation, which was a topic they discussed frequently, so it was not like he did not have an opportunity to let her know sooner. Anytime she mentioned the option of applying for colleges, Mario was quick to dismiss it.

Y/n questioned whether it was intentional, but it was not the case. Mario did not expect to get accepted, so keeping his application a secret was done so to avoid disappointment. If he had known the outcome, Y/n would have been the first to know.

“But you know I’ve wanted out! I’ve told you that so many times,” Mario reasoned. “I’ve always felt suffocated here and- and trapped like I’m just constantly being held back and-”

He lost track of where he was going with his response. In all honestly, Mario did not hear half of what he had said. He was just so desperate to make things right again. To have her fingers intertwined with his once more. It was not until Y/n spoke that he realised his words and their insinuations.

“…You think I’m holding you back?”

His stomach immediately sank. Y/n’s voice was so shaky and quiet it sounded almost unfamiliar at first. Nothing like the confident voice Mario could listen to for days on end. This one was painful to hear, even more-so when he saw tears that began to stream down her cheeks.

If Mario’s words were incoherent beforehand, they were straight foreign by that point. He was, somehow, even more desperate to fix things between them, but it was far more difficult thanks to the hole he dug for himself. Mario reached out for her hands, but she shuffled out of the booth before he could obtain a grasp.

“Y/n-” He called out, but to no avail. She stood up and was headed for the kitchen. “Baby, that’s not-”

“-No, stop,” Y/n interrupted bitterly. He’d said more than enough and while she was not the one going to college, she was most certainly smart enough to take a hint. “Just finish your lemonade and leave and just-”

All of the anger and frustration flooded her senses and clouded her judgement. Y/n inhaled sharply as she though of what to say next. Mario was startled when she looked him in the eye, but it was ultimately her final words that left a lasting impression on him.

“Just don’t ever fucking come back.”

There was not enough time for Mario to process her words and chase after her. By the time she locked herself in the storage room, he was already a tearful mess trying to figure out whether she meant for him to never come back to the barbecue to joint or never come back to Freeridge.

Or, even worse, to never come back to her.

***

Y/n never spoke to Mario again. Never saw him one last time before he left. She never even replied to one of his millions of texts and voicemails. If he truly believed she was holding him back, she was gonna do him a favour and let him go.

In the months after their falling out, Y/n invested all her energy into her job. If there was something wrong with the stocktake, Y/n raced to fix it. If there was an opportunity to learn more about running a restaurant or flipping a patty, Y/n was the first in line to take it up. If there was a grease trap waiting to be cleaned, Y/n already delegated the task to her little brother.

“- And I have Jamal covering for Paula while she’s at the orthodontist,” Y/n explained, tracing next week’s roster with her pen. Dwayne smirked, impressed by how well his daughter was doing in her new role as assistant manager.

“How’d you get Jamal to agree?”

Upon her promotion, Y/n’s most prominent struggle was getting her brother to respect her authority. Jamal used to treasure the way he and Y/n were equals in the restaurant kitchen, because she had some degree of authority over him in every other aspect of life. However, much to his dismay, Y/n was not above adopting her tactics as an older sister to ensuring her subordinates stayed in line.

“I have my ways.”

“She threatened me!” Jamal called out from the kitchen, having overheard Y/n’s and Dwayne’s conversation. She swore that boy had selective super-hearing.

“With love,” Y/n added, even though her dad knew his kids too well to buy it.

Dwayne chuckled as he took the roster off Y/n. She grabbed the timesheet from behind the counter and clocked her and Jamal out for the day before grabbing her bag and keys from the nearby booth.

“How was the convention in Berkeley, by the way?” Dwayne asked.

Y/n had recently come back from a convention about burgers; one she managed to get free admission into thanks to a friend of a friend. The convention itself was nothing spectacular, but all Y/n could think about on the bus ride home was how Mario was among the many students she saw at the U-Cal campus.

All she could think about was how different things would be if she had known he was applying there. Maybe she would have applied too. Maybe they would be meeting in between classes on one of the picnic tables outside the building.

“Good,” Y/n replied shortly. Her dad did not need to know the doubts that filled her mind on the bus trip home to Freeridge. It was not like it would make a difference anyways, and she couldn’t say she was unhappy with how her life after graduation was turning out. “I’ll tell you all about when Jamal and I get back.”

Y/n adjusted her bag strap and furrowed her brows when she turned to face the empty kitchen. Jamal had more than enough time to get the potato salad from the freezer room so they could go to the Martinez’s for New Years Eve dinner, but she could not see him anywhere.

“Jamal, c'mon!”

“Calm down, I’m right here.” Y/n turned around and jumped when she realised her little brother had been standing behind her for a hot minute with the bowl of potato salad gripped in his arms.

“We’ll see you later, dad,” she said as they headed out of the barbecue place for the night, her arm placed loosely over Jamal’s shoulders.

Despite her falling out with Mario, Y/n maintained a good relationship with his family over the course of the latter half of the year. It was easy to do considering how close she was to them when she and Mario were dating and the fact that Jamal and Ruby were constantly getting themselves into trouble and Y/n was their go-to person for help out of it.

When she and Jamal arrived at the house, Geny greeted her with a hug before abuelita quickly whisked her towards the kitchen. Y/n helped set the table as the others moved the furniture around per Geny’s instructions.

“Who’s that?” Ruby asked aloud when he heard a car pull up into the driveway. The only person they were expecting was Monse who was heading over on foot. Geny seemed just as confused as her son.

As if on cue, the door bursted open just as Y/n finished setting the plates. In came an eerily enthusiastic Mario with a blue cap placed backwards on his freshly cut head of hair. The blue cap Y/n got him last spring, she might add.

It was clear there was no way out for her now that she was there and he was too. There was always the option of excusing herself and letting Mario know how affected she still was by their breakup, but Y/n’s pride refused to let her do so.

He greeted his younger siblings, his grandmother and his parents first. They questioned him about the reason for his early return, but he held off on giving them a proper answer. There was someone he wanted to talk to first.

“Hey,” Mario spoke awkwardly as he gently tapped Y/n’s shoulder. She held her breath and turned to face him, smiling nervously as she met his gaze. Both were riddled with mixed emotions. They were both so anxious to speak yet somehow so happy to see each other after months of separation.

“Hi,” Y/n huffed, placing the last bowl of food down on the table.

“Um how- how’ve you been?” Mario asked. Neither one of them were active on social media, so he always wondered how she was doing. Every time she came to mind, which happened very frequently, all he could do was hope she was happy and well.

“Been doing good,” Y/n replied. If you focused solely on her role at the restaurant, her answer rang true. However, if you accounted for all the breakdowns and sleepless nights she endured in between? Not so much, but Mario did not need to know. “You?”

Y/n noticed the way his expression turned sour at her question. She had very little time to contemplate why before Monse eventually came bursting in with a chirpy 'happy new year!’ followed by a bombshell.

“Did y'all know there’s a pregnant white girl on your porch?”

Mario could not bear to look at his parents, so he found himself looking at her, which was somehow worse. Y/n stared blankly at Monse for a moment as she wrapped her head around the news. When she finally did, she turned to Mario and the tension between them grew exponentially.

Eventually he turned to his parents to explain himself, but it was difficult leaving Y/n to deal with the news. He had hoped to be able to tell her himself in private, but he was never the best at knowing the right opportunity to speak.

While Mario and Geny spoke to the pregnant white girl, whose name Y/n learned was Amber, she and the others took their seat at the dining table.

“Are you ok, Y/n?” Jasmine asked, shifting her chair closer to her.

“I don’t know,” Y/n sighed truthfully. She always hoped the next time she’d see Mario they’d patch things up. She never could have anticipated he’d be showing up with a baby on the way.

Once Mario, Geny and Amber finished talking, they came back inside and approached the table. Y/n and Jasmine were in the middle of a heated conversation about the new lip gloss she was using when Mario, out of habit, took his usual seat next to Y/n.

“Ahem.”

Jasmine went silent and glared across Y/n’s shoulder to Amber who stood expectedly. Y/n turned around and was startled to realise how close Amber was standing to where she sat, not to mention how big her belly was. Mario must not have wasted any time in moving on from her.

“Hey…girl,” Amber began. Y/n had never felt so uncomfortable. “Would it be ok if I sat there? Wanna be next to Mario is all.”

“Her name is Y/n,” Jasmine stated pointedly before Y/n could even reply. She was never the kind to wait for a signal before jumping to someone’s defence. “And she was sitting there first.”

There was already so much tension in the room, Y/n did not want to add to the fire. Not to mention when she glanced at Mario his expression was riddled with so much nervousness and so many silent apologies, Y/n could not bring herself to make things harder for him.

“It’s ok, I’ll go,” she said as she got up from her chair.

“Thanks sis,” Amber chirped as she gleefully sat down.

Immediately, Y/n cringed and Mario buried his face in his hands, not able to look her in the eye as she left their end of the table. She had to physically bite her tongue just to keep herself from saying something that a court of law would most definitely use against her.

Y/n made her way to the available seat between Geny and Jamal and was, at the very least, grateful it was away from Mario and Amber.

Everyone sat in silence as Amber finished her 'Super Big Gulp’ with seemingly no clue that so many eyes were staring at her. Just as she finished slurping the last of her drink, she looked up and smiled nervously, finally putting her cup down so dinner could commence.

“I am so sorry about your recent loss, my heart goes out to all of you,” Amber began, extending her arm out and gesturing to the rest of us. Y/n held her breath, hoping for Amber’s sake that she was not about to say something stupid. “And as a beneficiary of white privilege-”

Y/n huffed, squeezing her eyes shut.

“These kinds of tragedies are, like, foreign to me,” Amber continued. Y/n could see Geny gritting her teeth in the corner of her eye. “So on behalf of my people. I am sorry for keeping your people down.”

Jamal looked up at his big sister to see if she, too, caught on to the way Amber was glancing between the two of them and Monse when she finished her sentence. From the way Y/n hands were clenched, it was alarmingly clear that she did.

“By the way this all looks so good, mama,” Amber said to Geny, who rose to say something in retaliation before her husband quickly placed a bread roll in her mouth to keep her from doing so.

***

Jamal never gave her a detailed explanation. All he said was that Y/n owed him one after he covered Paula’s shift and that abuelita needed help sewing a dress because her hands were apparently 'cursed’.

Y/n had been seated at abuelita’s sewing machine for a few minutes when she felt her gaze from the opposite side of the able where she sat. They had been working for around an hour, and abuelita was conscious of how quiet her pseudo-granddaughter was being.

“You’ve been gone for a while,” she stated.

It unlike her. Y/n was always stopping by the house. Whether it was to drop off Ruby after she had to pick him and Jamal up from the cemetery at three in the morning. Or to drop off some extra groceries to make up for all the food Jamal and his friends went through during their countless meetings at the house.

When Y/n turned to face her, abuelita simply looked back at the fabric in her fingers, as though her eyes never left the stitch she was working on.

“I think you know why,” Y/n replied.

A week had passed since Mario and Amber made their arrival, and after the New Years Eve dinner, Y/n could not bring herself to face them again. What was she supposed to do? There was no Youtube tutorial on how to cope with life when your first love makes a comeback with his pregnant girlfriend.

“How are you feeing?“

"I told you, abuelita. I’m fine,” Y/n said softly.

Every time she greeted the Martinez matriarch, without fail, she always asked her how she was. That day was no different, and it had been about an hour since Y/n gave her usual response.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Y/n froze, instantly regretting all the times she previously confided in abuelita. That woman had sixth sense for what the kids in her life were up to, and now Y/n realised she was included too. Abuelita took her glasses off and looked at Y/n. Although she struggled to come up with an answer, the pace of her breath and the way she shifted uncomfortably in her seat was enough for the matriarch to know.

She still cared for him.

Abuelita thought of giving her advice. Of giving her comfort. She imagined it was an incredibly difficult position to be in. Prior to their breakup, everyone was expecting Mario and Y/n to make it.

Before Mario came back, abuelita held onto the hope that they still would. That they would reconcile and make it work. That they would learn from their past argument and become a stronger couple because of it. Y/n held onto the same hope.

However, holding onto that hope appeared pointless now. Mario was the kind of person to do everything in power to ensure his kid grew up in a two-parent household. And Y/n was not the kind of person to get in the way of that. Abuelita knew it true and well.

Yet, even so, she could not help but reach out for Y/n’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze and frowned apologetically. Pobrecita, she thought to herself. Young heartache was a piercing and gruesome pain.

“Abuelita, I bought the white thread you asked for.”

Mario had just arrived home from a trip to the store when he turned and realised Y/n was there. They had not spoken since the New Years Eve dinner, so he was grateful Amber was treating Ruby to lunch. Perhaps then he could get a minute alone with Y/n.

“Ah thank you Mario,” abuelita said as she took the thread from Mario’s hand. She glanced between him and Y/n, contemplating whether she would leave or stay. Much to Y/n’s dismay, abuelita decided to go, leaving her and Mario with nothing but thick tension.

Y/n quietly prayed that Mario would leave as well, but when he did nothing but stand silent, she cough aloud and headed to the kitchen, hoping he would not follow her. She seemed to have no luck.

“Can we talk?” Mario said quietly, gently grasping Y/n’s arm. Her breath hitched at the feeling of his hand and, against her better judgement, she stopped in her tracks.

When she mustered enough courage to look him in the eye, they exchanged a look that only the poets would be able to describe. Suffice to say, it was clear they were both conflicted by the situation they were in and the feelings that never left even after their fight at the barbecue joint.

“I think we both know that’s not a good idea,” Y/n sighed.

“Please,” he begged, his voice beginning to waver at the thought of letting her go again when there was so much left to be said.

She was still as she tried to calculate whether or not sticking around would be abandoning her principles. Mario was a soon-to-be father. He was not hers to have intimate conversations with. Not anymore.

“I’m so sorry,“ Mario whispered.

She did not think he noticed the way she clenched her jaw every time Amber called him 'baby’ or how her hands shook when she had to set an extra plate down for her. But he did, and he had been filled with guilt ever since.

“You don’t have to apologise,” Y/n said.

“Y/n-”

“No really, Mario,” she assured. Perhaps she was kidding herself trying to respond rationally to a situation that had her reeling, but it felt just as ridiculous trying to punish him for a crime that simply did not occur. “We broke up and you… moved on and now you’re having a baby. You did nothing wrong.”

It should have brought him great comfort to hear her say that. After all, it was the very thing he tried to convince himself of after his one-night stand with Amber, after finding out she was pregnant and every moment since. But it did not.

“Then why doesn’t it feel right?”

Y/n was quiet. How was she supposed to respond to that? Mario shook his head. He hated how he felt, but he had little control over the matter. Moreover, talking his feeling out with Y/n was his go-to medicine for conflicted feelings. It came natural to him.

“We were really something, don’t you think so?”

She did not dare answer, even though she was dying to say yes.

“I know I’m responsible for what’s happened and I don’t… I’m not trying to dismiss that, but I just,” Mario paused and thought. “Ever since Amber told me she was pregnant… Even before then. Ever since we broke up, really, I just keep thinking to myself…”

Y/n inhaled sharply and braced herself. She knew where he was going. She would be lying if she said her thoughts did not take her down a similar route.

“If one thing had been different-”

“Don’t,“ Y/n interrupted, her voice growing quiet. She shook her head. He was the one who moved on. He did not also get to be the one haunted by regret and what-ifs. “Don’t do this to me, Mario.”

He pursed his lips and nodded sheepishly. Perhaps it was unfair of him to ask her if she thought about how things would be if they hadn’t broken up. If he had just told her about the damn application sooner. If he had not

Y/n could have sworn he was turning to leave, but just when his feet shifted, he turned back. There was one other question he had. One that had been eating away at him for over two weeks.

“Were you in Berkeley last month?” He huffed. Y/n’s eyes immediately widened, and he took it as a sign of confusion. "I don’t know, I… I passed a bus stop there and I thought it might’ve been you.”

Since seeing her, Mario questioned if it was a sign. Was it meant to be Y/n all along? He was already feeling conflicted by his situation, but seeing the familiar girl at the bus stop sent him spiralling down an endless path of loaded questions that had no clear answer.

There was no way, Y/n tried to convince herself. He could have easily been referring to a different bus stop to the one she sat at while waiting for hers after the burger convention. And even if he was not, what good would it do if he knew it was her?

“No.”

His heart sank. He was not sure what he would have done if she said yes. Maybe he would have believed it was a sign. Maybe he would have held hope. However, now that her answer was no, he had no choice but to let those possibilities go and, with them, her.

Y/n glanced at the clock and cursed herself for sticking around. She was due back at the restaurant in five minutes and Amber was likely to be back in around the same time. She had to cut the conversation off before either of them said something they could not take back.

“Mario.”

“Don’t,” he whispered pleadingly. He may have been away from Freeridge for 5 months, but no amount of time could rid him of the ability to know her tones of voice. And this one was telling him goodbye. “Please don’t say my name like that.”

Like it was the last time. Like she was gonna miss saying it.

Y/n had to turn away for a moment. She could not look at him when he was like that. When he was begging her not to say goodbye to him and to their long history together in Freeridge. Not when she was trying so hard to go.

“Look, maybe if things happened differently, things between us would be different,” she reasoned, hoping it was enough of an answer to the question he never got to ask. “But this is how it’s turned out. I think we should both accept that and… and move on.”

It would have been nice to grow old with her high school sweetheart. It would have been sweet for it to have been Mario. For their epic love story to live to see another era. But it was painfully clear that fate had other plans.

“Yeah,” he sighed after a long moment of deliberation. He was not fully convinced. Perhaps he never would be. But there was nothing else either of them could do. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

Y/n sniffled and wiped her damp cheeks before reach for his shoulder. She contemplated kissing his cheek, for old time’s sake, but decided against it. It would only do more harm than good.

It was a bitter sense of familiarity for Mario; watching Y/n leave and being left with nothing but all the words he wished he had said.

She had looked at him sorrowfully. Her lips parted for a moment, as if she was about to say something, but instead she just walked away. Y/n had said many things to Mario during their time together in Freeridge. Many awful jokes, many corny pick-up lines and many many words.

But, so long as she had a say, goodbye would not be one.

***

A full month had passed and Y/n was doing surprisingly well with keeping her distance. She and Mario managed to avoid each other thanks to her keeping her distance from his home and him eating at any and every other establishment in Freeridge.

She was sitting in the storeroom on step-box, scrolling through Ruby’s instagram page in search for intel on how Mario was doing, when Jamal bursted in.

“Y/n, table four,” he muttered, placing the tray of food he held in his older sister’s hands. She furrowed her brows in annoyance, but not after quickly putting her phone away before Jamal caught on to what she was doing.

“I’m on my break,” Y/n scowled, handing the platter back.

“Customer specifically requested you,” Jamal retorted, shoving the platter back to Y/n whose frustration grew tenfold.

“Customer can bite me,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Customer has annoyingly refused my service three times now, so I’m leaving his food here.”

Jamal placed the platter on a nearby empty shelf before walking away to avoid his sister’s wrath. She grumbled as she went to serve the platter and vowed to get back at him someway somehow after.

It did not take long for Y/n to realise why the customer was so adamant on her service. She could recognise that blue cap anywhere. Y/n hesitantly placed the platter down in front of Mario, but not without glancing back to Jamal and narrowing her eyes.

“Um- Are… Are you free to talk?” Mario asked sheepishly.

Y/n was still looking at Jamal and was puzzled by the way he looked at Mario. There was definitely something he knew that she did not. Given the fact that he was at Amber’s baby shower, Y/n presumed it had something to do with that.

She was far more curious than she was nervous. After all, she had spent the first five minutes of her break cyber-stalking her ex-boyfriend’s little brother. Y/n huffed and reluctantly sat opposite to Mario.

“Everything alright?” She would not have asked has she not noticed how puffy his eyes were. Mario was an emotional man, she knew that better than most people, but he never cried without some reasoning.

“Amber gave birth yesterday,” Mario began. Y/n nodded slowly. She would have jumped to the conclusion that his tears were from the joy of entering fatherhood, but judging from his expression, she knew that was not it. “… It wasn’t mine.”

“Oh, Mario.“ Y/n’s heart sank. Casting aside their history, she knew becoming a father was a big deal to Mario, because family was a big deal to him. She could not imagine how gut-wrenching it must have been to have that taken away from him after months of getting his head around it. "I’m so sorry… Are you ok?”

“I am,” he answered sincerely. After spending the rest of the night eating cake with his family and laughing about what had happened, he got through one way or another. “Obviously, I wasn’t at first, but it’s ok… I guess she just wasn’t the one.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I think you may have dodged a bullet.”

Mario chuckled. His parents and friends had been telling him that the night before but hearing it from Y/n hit different, and it was nice to have a light-hearted conversation with her. He missed them so damn much.

Once his and her laughter faded, Mario got up the courage to ask her the one question he thought about since seeing an old photo of the two of them after two days in Berkeley.

“Did you ever think about me? Or about us?” He cleared his throat before continuing. “Y'know after the last time we were here?”

She was dying to tell him about it all. About all the nights she spent recalling their conversation at the very booth they were sitting in. About all the ways she overanalysed their last exchange before he left for college.

However, now it was different. Now, they had time. Perhaps she would tell him over dinner at his place after she clocked out for the day. In any case, she could settle for the short answer now and bore him with the finer details later.

“…Yeah,” she answered. It felt freeing be able to talk to him without worrying about everything else that was happening. To just tell him how she truly felt. “I thought a lot about how I shouldn’t have left.”

“I should have told you about U-Cal.”

Y/n smiled, grateful to hear him say that. If he had said it five months sooner maybe they would have saved each other a bit of heartache. Nonetheless, he said it and she was thankful.

“I’m guessing you’ll be on the next bus back to Berkeley?”

She was sad to think about it. They were finally somewhat reconciling, but it would only be a matter of time before he was to leave again.

“Actually, I’ve decided to sit this semester out,” he answered, his smile growing when he noticed the way Y/n immediately perked up. “There’s some things I wanna sort out here before I go back.”

“Oh yeah?” She asked teasingly, doing a terrible job at stifling her smirk. “Like what?”

“My mom wants me to repaint the deck.”

Mario grinned, prompting Y/n to scoff offendedly. He laughed as he rose from his seat and slid next to her, reaching for her hands with ease like they were home for his.

“I’m kidding! C'mon, you know it’s you,” he chuckled. From the way she smiled proudly at him, it was clear she did know. Even so, it did not stop him from inching closer to her and meeting her gaze. “It’s always been you.”

It was all he could think about on his way to the barbecue joint. Even as he was brushing his teeth in the morning thinking about what he was gonna say when he finally saw her again.

“I didn’t mean what I said when we were here before,” he whispered, regret still weighing heavy on his chest.

“I know,” Y/n murmured, intertwining her fingers with his.

She came to that realisation a long time ago. She cursed herself for thinking that Mario would intentionally hurt her. The same Mario who carried her books to class and fell asleep in the parking lot waiting for Y/n to finish her shift so he could drive her home.

“I think I just… felt scared, I guess?” Y/n looked up at Mario and he raised his brows in confusion. “You always talked about wanting to get out and it just felt like it’d only be a matter of time before getting out meant leaving me too.”

“When I used to think of where I wanted to be in the future,” Mario began, wrapping one arm around Y/n and his other rested on the table, intertwined with her hands. “Sometimes I saw myself as a successful entrepreneur. Sometimes I’m in the NFL. Sometimes I’m a trophy husband. And sometimes I’m in a fancy office job, living in Brentwood with my seven kids. ”

Y/n bursted out laughing. She had heard the NFL dream and the trophy husband dream, but the office job with seven kids was new. However, she was quite fond of that one and of the idea that he’d be only a few neighbourhoods away.

“But, no matter what,” Mario added. “I was always with you.”

Y/n untangled her fingers and placed them against the side of his face, pulling him closer until their lips were connected. She could feel him grinning, and it only added to her joy.

Maybe they would get to grow old in a townhouse in Brentwood, or a flat on the very block they fell in love in. Maybe he really was the one.

Y/n moved away for a moment and smirked at the way Mario immediately began to pout.

“We’re not having seven kids,” she stated.

“Of course that’s the part you take away from what I said.”

Mario missed her so damn much. He did not waste another second and quickly pulled her close again. Her giggles were muffled by his lips on hers. Eventually her break would be over, or Dwayne would get back, or Jamal would become fed up with having to watch his sister suck faces with his best friend’s brother. But for now, they were gonna make up for lost time.

“When we finish kissing,” Y/n muttered after pulling away momentarily. “I’m gonna need you to explain how you fell for the walking micro-aggression that is Amber.”

“Guess I’m just gonna to have kiss you forever then.”