WHATS UP KIDDOS, yall were so sweet as soon as i posted this monster that i felt i needed to get RIGHT THE FUCK TO WORK on part two. theres no foggy in this part yet BUT HELL BE THERE RIGHT AWAY IN PART THREE I PROMISE
also yo i forgot to sayyyy that theres gonna be MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE scattered throughout. dom and mia adopted matt after stick trained him (allowing him to keep his fighting skills!) good for me, bad for matt. sorry kiddo. anyway, nothing any more terrible than what stick canonically put him through. if u got through the show u can get through this
think i forgot to mention matts 17 here but he is
*
PART 2: in which we get a look at race wars, matts suspicions, and we begin to diverge from the movie plot
- - -
The drive to Race Wars was filled with awkward silence. Matt had opted to ride with Dom- a change from his usual driver of choice, Jesse. (Dom was clearly relieved by this choice, and Matt knew he was probably still sore about the time Jesse took him out to the desert and let him try driving.) He had chosen to get time alone with Dom for a reason, though... He was just having trouble saying it. There isn't enough proof, he fumed. I just need to catch him doing something- anything.
"You're awfully quiet," Dom said carefully, and that was all it took.
"Brian's lying to you," he blurted.
The car slowed almost imperceptibly. "About what?" he asked slowly, heartbeat betraying nothing.
"I... I don't know yet," he admitted, mentally kicking himself. "I've got bits and pieces. A feeling," he finished lamely. He turned sightless eyes out the window and slumped, waiting.
At last, Dom sighed. "Look, Matt. I wasn't the guy's biggest fan when we met. Hell, I was suspicious of him, too. And you think I like how Mia looks at him?" He paused. "But fact is, he hasn't given me a serious reason not to trust him. I'm gonna need more than 'bits and pieces' before I do... whatever it is you would want me to do."
Matt swallowed hard before continuing in a rush. "I... I heard him talking on the phone when I was working on Letty's car. He said something about a raid. I think that's what he was working on when you caught him spying on Tran a few weeks ago." He slumped even further down, suddenly wishing Jesse were here. He hated going against Dom's opinion on anything. Though it had been almost six years since they'd taken him in, a part of him couldn't help but remember Stick's punishments for talking out of turn (and especially for being wrong).
Maybe he flinched involuntarily, or maybe Dom remembered. Either way, he put a hand on Matt's shoulder. "I'm glad you told me," he assured him, and Matt relaxed. There were another couple miles of silence. "The 'spying' thing made me uneasy," he admitted. "Since then, he's asked to be a part of our... second job."
"He knows?"
"He suspects. I told him the next couple weeks would decide things. We get through Race Wars without incident... I might take him on. One stupid move aside, he's been trustworthy. And trustworthy people are hard to find in our... profession."
Matt's silence was a dead giveaway about how he felt. Dom's heartbeat- he wanted to say something- was the only sound in the car for a while.
"I want you to come to me if he does anything that doesn't seem right," he said finally.
"Will do."
"I'm counting on you to be my eyes."
It didn't take super-senses to know that Dom was grinning ear-to-ear. "Just focus on driving," Matt snapped in mock annoyance. "Leave the joking to the professionals."
"Sure, boss," Dom laughed, and hit the gas.
- - -
Matt was popular at the races he attended. At first he was mostly a spectacle- a blind mechanic?- but he quickly earned his reputation in a very different way. It started at the first race Dom took him to when he was 12, a year after he'd been adopted. A particularly rowdy spectator had been making advances on Trinity, one of the female racers. Embarrassed about being consistently spurned, he grabbed her arm after one of the races. As soon as he heard the sharp "fuck off" from several yards away, he sprang into action. Two minutes later, he was silently thanking Stick's brutal training when the other man was whimpering on the ground.
Since then, he'd been making the underground circuit a much nicer place for the women who raced. (If he had to break a couple noses to do it, well, so be it.) It made him the star of their racing group, much to Dom's half-joking annoyance. Jesse insisted he should be flattered by the attention he'd received since then- Matt, however, found it more awkward than anything.
Such was the case at Race Wars. "Back off, Pixie, he's still underage," Dom deadpanned as he elbowed his way through the crowd, Matt close behind attempting to politely remove the woman's hand from his shoulder. "Another day in paradise, huh?"
Matt laughed. "It's kind of flattering... I guess."
"You know, if you didn't feel the need to play Prince Charming to every woman in a fifteen-mile radius, you might get left alone every once in a while."
"Well, I guess someone taught me to respect women."
"Apparently that was a mistake."
"I'm telling Letty you said that."
"You wound me, Matt."
Eventually they fought through the crowd to the front. "Just in time," Jesse called, running toward them. "Letty's up."
Of course Letty's race was a massive success. She did a donut before hopping out of the car to collect the stack of cash her opponent had thrown down in disgust. Matt ran toward her, half-guided by Jesse.
"Fuck yeah!" Letty cheered, throwing an arm around each of them. "Couldn't have done it without my mechanics!" She pointed to Dom. "You can congratulate me later." Matt and some spectators within earshot whistled. Jesse, as usual, had already focused his attention elsewhere... But this time it worried Matt. He could tell from the cologne- Johnny Tran had just walked by.
"Jesse," Matt hissed, beginning to panic when he realized what was about to happen. "If you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do-"
He heard Jesse's pink slip rustling as he waved it in the air. Too late.
- - -
In the end, even Brian begged Jesse not to race Tran, and every one of them steeled their hearts for the imminent loss. Hearing Jesse's choked breathing and erratic heartbeat as he handed Tran the keys made Matt turn away, desperate for something else to focus on.
That something else came in the form of a raging Tran, seemingly not content to just take his car and leave. "The cops raided my garage!" he screamed, sending spittle everywhere. "You narced on me!" Matt stepped up to throw a punch, but Dom put a hand out in front of him. Tran's gang was already there to haul him away.
Dom turned to Matt, then Brian, whose heartbeat was out of control. "Brian," Dom began, deadly calm. "Do you know anything about this?"
There was a moment of what seemed like complete silence from the crowd... and then a shot rang out.
Johnny Tran had broken away from his men and was now standing in front of the group. "That was a warning shot!" he yelled. "The next one goes in your skull!"
Matt had one chance. Summoning all the speed he'd ever worked for, he dove straight for Tran's gun. The shock caught Tran off guard, and he managed to knock the gun out of his reach. Tran had size, but Matt had training, and the scuffle ended quickly with the larger man pinned down easily. A gun cocked behind them, and fired into the sand next to Tran's head.
"That was a warning shot," Brian mocked. "Now get out of here." Tran scrambled in the dirt until Matt let him up. Brian stepped up next to Matt as they watched him retreat. "Nice right hook."
"Nice shot."
Animosity momentarily forgotten, Matt held up a hand slowly. There was a pause as Brian probably wondered what the hell he was doing. Suddenly, it registered.
The high-five rang out amidst the chaos, and Both Brian and Matt, despite everything, found themselves laughing.
FINALLY, A FILL: 2/???
also yo i forgot to sayyyy that theres gonna be MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE scattered throughout. dom and mia adopted matt after stick trained him (allowing him to keep his fighting skills!) good for me, bad for matt. sorry kiddo. anyway, nothing any more terrible than what stick canonically put him through. if u got through the show u can get through this
think i forgot to mention matts 17 here but he is
*
PART 2: in which we get a look at race wars, matts suspicions, and we begin to diverge from the movie plot
- - -
The drive to Race Wars was filled with awkward silence. Matt had opted to ride with Dom- a change from his usual driver of choice, Jesse. (Dom was clearly relieved by this choice, and Matt knew he was probably still sore about the time Jesse took him out to the desert and let him try driving.) He had chosen to get time alone with Dom for a reason, though... He was just having trouble saying it. There isn't enough proof, he fumed. I just need to catch him doing something- anything.
"You're awfully quiet," Dom said carefully, and that was all it took.
"Brian's lying to you," he blurted.
The car slowed almost imperceptibly. "About what?" he asked slowly, heartbeat betraying nothing.
"I... I don't know yet," he admitted, mentally kicking himself. "I've got bits and pieces. A feeling," he finished lamely. He turned sightless eyes out the window and slumped, waiting.
At last, Dom sighed. "Look, Matt. I wasn't the guy's biggest fan when we met. Hell, I was suspicious of him, too. And you think I like how Mia looks at him?" He paused. "But fact is, he hasn't given me a serious reason not to trust him. I'm gonna need more than 'bits and pieces' before I do... whatever it is you would want me to do."
Matt swallowed hard before continuing in a rush. "I... I heard him talking on the phone when I was working on Letty's car. He said something about a raid. I think that's what he was working on when you caught him spying on Tran a few weeks ago." He slumped even further down, suddenly wishing Jesse were here. He hated going against Dom's opinion on anything. Though it had been almost six years since they'd taken him in, a part of him couldn't help but remember Stick's punishments for talking out of turn (and especially for being wrong).
Maybe he flinched involuntarily, or maybe Dom remembered. Either way, he put a hand on Matt's shoulder. "I'm glad you told me," he assured him, and Matt relaxed. There were another couple miles of silence. "The 'spying' thing made me uneasy," he admitted. "Since then, he's asked to be a part of our... second job."
"He knows?"
"He suspects. I told him the next couple weeks would decide things. We get through Race Wars without incident... I might take him on. One stupid move aside, he's been trustworthy. And trustworthy people are hard to find in our... profession."
Matt's silence was a dead giveaway about how he felt. Dom's heartbeat- he wanted to say something- was the only sound in the car for a while.
"I want you to come to me if he does anything that doesn't seem right," he said finally.
"Will do."
"I'm counting on you to be my eyes."
It didn't take super-senses to know that Dom was grinning ear-to-ear. "Just focus on driving," Matt snapped in mock annoyance. "Leave the joking to the professionals."
"Sure, boss," Dom laughed, and hit the gas.
- - -
Matt was popular at the races he attended. At first he was mostly a spectacle- a blind mechanic?- but he quickly earned his reputation in a very different way. It started at the first race Dom took him to when he was 12, a year after he'd been adopted. A particularly rowdy spectator had been making advances on Trinity, one of the female racers. Embarrassed about being consistently spurned, he grabbed her arm after one of the races. As soon as he heard the sharp "fuck off" from several yards away, he sprang into action. Two minutes later, he was silently thanking Stick's brutal training when the other man was whimpering on the ground.
Since then, he'd been making the underground circuit a much nicer place for the women who raced. (If he had to break a couple noses to do it, well, so be it.) It made him the star of their racing group, much to Dom's half-joking annoyance. Jesse insisted he should be flattered by the attention he'd received since then- Matt, however, found it more awkward than anything.
Such was the case at Race Wars. "Back off, Pixie, he's still underage," Dom deadpanned as he elbowed his way through the crowd, Matt close behind attempting to politely remove the woman's hand from his shoulder. "Another day in paradise, huh?"
Matt laughed. "It's kind of flattering... I guess."
"You know, if you didn't feel the need to play Prince Charming to every woman in a fifteen-mile radius, you might get left alone every once in a while."
"Well, I guess someone taught me to respect women."
"Apparently that was a mistake."
"I'm telling Letty you said that."
"You wound me, Matt."
Eventually they fought through the crowd to the front. "Just in time," Jesse called, running toward them. "Letty's up."
Of course Letty's race was a massive success. She did a donut before hopping out of the car to collect the stack of cash her opponent had thrown down in disgust. Matt ran toward her, half-guided by Jesse.
"Fuck yeah!" Letty cheered, throwing an arm around each of them. "Couldn't have done it without my mechanics!" She pointed to Dom. "You can congratulate me later." Matt and some spectators within earshot whistled. Jesse, as usual, had already focused his attention elsewhere... But this time it worried Matt. He could tell from the cologne- Johnny Tran had just walked by.
"Jesse," Matt hissed, beginning to panic when he realized what was about to happen. "If you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do-"
He heard Jesse's pink slip rustling as he waved it in the air. Too late.
- - -
In the end, even Brian begged Jesse not to race Tran, and every one of them steeled their hearts for the imminent loss. Hearing Jesse's choked breathing and erratic heartbeat as he handed Tran the keys made Matt turn away, desperate for something else to focus on.
That something else came in the form of a raging Tran, seemingly not content to just take his car and leave. "The cops raided my garage!" he screamed, sending spittle everywhere. "You narced on me!" Matt stepped up to throw a punch, but Dom put a hand out in front of him. Tran's gang was already there to haul him away.
Dom turned to Matt, then Brian, whose heartbeat was out of control. "Brian," Dom began, deadly calm. "Do you know anything about this?"
There was a moment of what seemed like complete silence from the crowd... and then a shot rang out.
Johnny Tran had broken away from his men and was now standing in front of the group. "That was a warning shot!" he yelled. "The next one goes in your skull!"
Matt had one chance. Summoning all the speed he'd ever worked for, he dove straight for Tran's gun. The shock caught Tran off guard, and he managed to knock the gun out of his reach. Tran had size, but Matt had training, and the scuffle ended quickly with the larger man pinned down easily. A gun cocked behind them, and fired into the sand next to Tran's head.
"That was a warning shot," Brian mocked. "Now get out of here." Tran scrambled in the dirt until Matt let him up. Brian stepped up next to Matt as they watched him retreat. "Nice right hook."
"Nice shot."
Animosity momentarily forgotten, Matt held up a hand slowly. There was a pause as Brian probably wondered what the hell he was doing. Suddenly, it registered.
The high-five rang out amidst the chaos, and Both Brian and Matt, despite everything, found themselves laughing.
It was at that moment the cops showed up.
- - -
NEXT EPISODE: enter: foggy