latino_menace | (no subject)

"Oh, but baby... You don't want to deny me my joy of giving, do you? I'm proud of thinking this up."

He pouts for a moment, then pushes Ramon towards the bike.

"You're allowed to drive. Of course. I don't think I want my concentration that shattered. Promise not to crash, huh?"

'No, of course not baby.' He's getting insanely curious now. 'I won't crash, poke me if I go too fast or anything.'

He swings a leg over the machine and grins, because this Christmas has been spectacular so far and now he gets to ride the bike too...perfect.

Random climbs on behind him, and leans close, wrapping arms around his waist.

"Get us rolling. I'll change things as we go. You know how it works. Cept this time, the surprise is at the end, not half way through, kay?"

'Mmmm OK.' He sits a moment, obstensibly wriggling to get comfortable with Random's arms around him but really just enjoying the feel of it. Then he starts the engine, thinking to himself that the surprise halfway through had been rather nice last time.

There's a wheelspin and he makes the dirt fly from the back tyre, just because he can, and then he laughs and is off. He's looking forward to the shadow walk, he enjoys them.

Random does too, really. But he's too impatient to do it elegantly, or make it pretty, and he just yanks, and there's a spin of violet and lime and they're on a road, with what looks like a kaleidoscope whirling by, occasional flashes of trees and buildings on the side.

"This okay for driving?"

Because it's oddly silent. Only the sound of the sea, and their voices, even the bike oddly muted.

He nods, finding the quiet a curious thing. 'It's fine - just let me know if the road's about to disappear or something, will you? Or if there's about to be an obstruction.'

"The way isn't blocked."

Not many people care what happens in Columbia, after all.

And through the kaleidoscope, the first thing Ramon will find of his home is the scent. Not enough to clue in, and certainly odd against the alien terrain, but there.

He tilts his head a bit, something nagging at him but it doesn't register what it is. Subconsciously it does and his body relaxes a little, because it's familiar, but on the surface he's still looking around, marvelling at what Random can do.

And next comes a sky. Ramon's sky. Odd, against a ground that's suddenly cavas white and formless and eternal, but for a dusty rode, and the boder where it bleeds into Columbian sky.

Random holds Ramon a little tighter, just because. And grins in anticipation.

"We're sort of Cinderella, here. We have the rest of the day, until tomorrow, at noon. That's all I can risk, kay? When we get there."

Because it doesn't hurt to tell Ramon it's a location, not a thing.

'Okaaaay.' His tone is a little wary - or more just insanely curious. Because things are getting a little more familiar now but it still hasn't clicked.

'Not long then. You going to just put me out of my misery amarente?'

"Yes."

And with a sound like an elastic band snapping, they're there. And pulling up right outside Ramon's old home.

"Happy Christmas, lover."

Ramon stalls the bike.

'...'

The ranch.

He looks around wildly, checking to see if this is real, or if there's any people around and part of his brain is telling him that the place is still probably under surveillance. But...Christ.

He gets off the bike and stares out across the land. This had always been his favourite place, there's huge amount of acreage for a start and it's in the mountains, a couple of hours above Bogota but there's a hell of a view if you know where to go.

And he does, and he will. Because it's home.

He turns to Random and grabs him, holding him in an almost crushing grip. 'You brought me home...'

He laughs as Ramon grabs him, hugging him in turn, tight and with a smile, practically being lifted off his feet.

"I thought you'd like it. Glad you do. Just for the night, babe. But we're here."

He is kissed. Soundly. For a very long time.

'I love you. Thank you, it's perfect...'

Closest he's come to being able to be himself again. The place is deserted obviously, because Hector would know better than to come here after the arrest and the raids. But at least he's surrounded with a place that's his.

'A night is better than nothing.' He doesn't quite know where to start. 'Fuck, I don't have my keys and there's no spares left outside. Come on, we'll break in.'

It bothers him to have to break into his own house, but such is life.

"I'll unlock the door for us."

He grabs Ramon's hand, and tugs him towards the place.

"It shouldn't be a problem. But let me get the camera out first. Then show me everything."

'Yes - pictures!' He'll be able to take them back with him. If he thought this Christmas could get no better, he was wrong.

'I will show you everything.' He chuckles and thinks to himself that there's no way he's showing him everything, because he doesn't want this ruined. But 98% of things will be fine.

And it occurs to him that there's something else he should check while he's here, because there's a chance the cops didn't find at least one of his storage places.

Random is comfortably oblivious to this 2% of things, and is currently fumbling with a lense cap.

"Well, inside first?"

'Yes, inside.' He's feeling a little sense of trepidation, because the place was probably torn apart by the Federales, and the Americans, after he was arrested, it's standard. They'd want evidence. But at the same time, he's fairly sure Hector will have arranged for the place to be put back together again because he'll have known that Ramon would want to come back here. And they were working on ways to break him out of that jail, obviously.

A glance through a window confirms it. The place is almost normal looking, although there's dust sheets over all the furniture. He lets Random open the door, almost bouncing with impatience, then heads inside.

He has to stop in the hallway. Tiled floor and cream walls, and arched walkway that leads into the other rooms...he knows it perfectly and had never expected to see it again. And now he's here and although it's unnaturally quiet, he's still home and it's fucking incredible.

Random himself is feeling... intimidated. He covers it by lifting the camera and snapping a shot of the light pouring through the window. And another of the tiles, because he wants them for their front hall.

But throughout, he's edging closer to Ramon, because he's never been here before and there's a silent 'hold me?' in his movements, because this is... strange.

"It's gorgeous. Where do we go now?"

Ramon leans against the wall for a moment, just overwhelmed. Not in a bad way, in the 'just been blindsided by a huge truck' way. As soon as Random's close he pulls him in for a hug, just grounding himself with someone that's a lot more familiar to him than this house right now.

'Can't believe you brought me here...' is murmured into his shoulder, then he eases up on him a little. 'Glad you like it. Come on.'

He takes his hand and walks him along the hall, turning left at the first opening (an arch in the wall, about six foot across at the bast, tapering off into the ceiling at the top) into something like a living room.

The house in Australia? Has nothing on this. It's huge, but comfortable too, large sofas and armchairs scattered vaguely around a big central coffee table that still has an ashtray or two on it. One wall is almost entirely windows, affording a glorious view of first, the pool, and then the land and mountains beyond.

'We all used to hang out in here when work was over. Not really a living room, more a comfortable place where all the guys could hang out and unwind. The higher-up guys I mean, not just the regular ones.'

He lets go of Random's hand and walks over to a big chair, pulls the dust cover off it. 'Mine.' He sits down at points to one on his right. 'Hector's.'

And a slightly dark look as he looks left, at another seat, slightly smaller but there all the same. 'Jack's. I might burn it in the morning.'

He's quiet for a moment, then shakes it off. 'Come on. It's a big place, take a while to show you all of it.'

"That looks comfortable."

Random is now flopping into Ramon's chair, squirming in next to him, with a bright, slightly cheeky grin. Because he can just imagine having sex in it.

"Just leave it. It doesn't matter, anymore. This is our day, not his. Where to next?"

Ramon grins and grabs one of Random's legs, draping it over one of his own to both give them more space and because he just likes it.

Sex? Can certainly happen in this chair at some point. And probably should.

'Next?' Ramon kisses him hard. 'That was next. But if you mean after that...come on.' He stands up and takes his hand, twining their fingers together easily. There's a door at the other end of the room and he walks them towards it. 'This is the fun side of the house.'

It opens into another huge room, one that's obviously solely about enjoyment. There's a flat screen TV mounted on to the wall, about 100' square. Easy chairs are everywhere, there's a pool table and through another large opening in the wall to the right, a full bar, complete with stools, booths, tables, a dartboard and an array of alcohol that easily equals any bar in a town.

On the other side of the main room, french windows open out onto the pool, which is empty at the moment. It's clearly a place where people have hung out - you can imagine parties here where there's crowds of people, some swimming, some drinking, watching sports on TV, playing pool, snorting drugs off every flat surface...because that's exactly what used to happen.

Ramon takes a seat on a stool and looks around, noting that the liquor has been restocked too. 'Hector sent someone to clean this place up, obviously.' He looks around. 'Used to have a hell of a lot of fun here.'

"I can believe it."

He can too. Especially after Ramon's stories about having sex in a crowded room. He traces an idle hand down a counter, then pulls it back with a frown because this whole place is saturated with cocaine, he can see it, feel it like a buzz behind his eyes. It's not painful, but it's making him jumpy. Very jumpy.

And he snaps another few photos, before wandering over to the bar in search of ingredients. Because if there's what's needed, he's most definitely making Ramon a Diablo. It is simply necessary.

"This place is giant. Practically echoing. Must have been a lot of people."

He laughs. 'You haven't seen all of it yet.' His eyes trail around, reliving past triumphs and all the excitement that used to come from his life. He loves his life now too, of course, and wouldn't lose Random for anything...but he was different, last time he was here. No one could touch him here. Until they did.

He refuses to think about it because fuck it, he's happy and Random's here and he gets to show him his home.

'Always a lot of people. I never felt right if the place wasn't practically jumping on it's own. I had to have a lot of security obviously, although they didn't come in here all the time - the house was for close security, friends - although I use the term loosely - parties, business associates. Everything we planned was done inside, normally in the room we were just in, if there were a lot of us.' He looks at Random seriously. 'I don't know if you understand just how big the busniness is Random. It takes a lot to run it and I've got about twenty places like this dotted around the continent, and a few overseas. Lot of work, lot of people involved - but all the big decisions go through me.'

He doesn't think he'll ever be able to make him understand, but it doesn't matter really. Because he won't care, Ramon knows. Random looks at things differently.

"I know how things are run."

He's behind the bar now, rooting around for lime stuff and absolutely failing to find it. And then standing, abandoning the search, and crossing back to take Ramon's forearm.

"And I know what it takes to build armies like that, babe. Know what it's like to look across a sea of heads and have them turn to see if you're watching."

He's pulled into a kiss, because it's his balliwick, and Random sort of almost gets that. Doesn't crave it, like Ramon seems to, but understands the intoxication on a level that isn't quite there.

"I should let you know I refuse to have sex on a horse. Flat. Out. Refuse."