This is a story based on my new favorite show Graceland; it is an action, friendship story based around the closeness of Special Agent Johnny Tuturro and Special Agent Mike Warren. I unfortunately do not own any of the characters but I own the piece; hope you enjoy!

Chapter one; Undertow

Working for Bello had its positive aspects, by positive I mean it's a sore excuse to forget about my brush with Odin and sweep it off like bug on your shoulder. Getting lost in my work was something I had taught myself to do after Eddie's shooting, the way the blood splattered from the back of his skull as his body dropped, limp as the continuous red pooled around his lifeless body. You grow numb after that, the sight of pain becoming more of a way than something us as humans prefer to avoid, not me, not us, it's something we must all deal with in this occupation.

I watch the waves casually curl its white toes, spitting droplets, and in that flash of a second you get a glimpse of the sea life thriving inside the crystal clear wave before it crashes with a mighty force; my life's sanity crumbling with the wave. The sound is calmly, the view ever so much adds to the fact, and it looks like one of those commercial shots they professionally Photoshop to entice you to their recommended destination. Expect, this is no television set, this is my home, this is Graceland and some days you think it should all just be a show, something you watch for fun; in hopes that none of what you actually see is real.

I don't even feel the hand on my still pale skin, for a moment anyway before my body jolts forward and I spin around hand already slapping my side; ready. Ready to attack, ready to strike back. I shouldn't be feeling like this already, should I? It's savage, and almost hateful, but it's something I must know how to do. My free hand connects with the base of a man's forearm. "Easy Mikey! Calm yourself!" I was faced with the nonchalant Espanic Joe "Johnny" Tuturro whom I've grown to know and well love over these last months. One minute I'm waiting under the bagadge claim and the next I'm already feeling welcomed by his good-natured smile and charismatic spark.

I pulled my hand away and brushed my fingers briefly to the back of my neck. The muscles were tensed and sore, sore from where I propped myself up on my pillow all night, unable to sleep, unable to unsee the facts that were my tortured life. "I'm sorry, a little jumpy that's all." I spoke after what passed was a lifetime between the two of us, it was not awkward it was merely unsteady.

"I get that man, I get that tracking Odin, watching someone go through torture, blowing their own brains out; it's shit yeah, but it's shit we've got to deal with." And if Johnny's tone weren't so playful I'd actually consider calling the phrase in which he spoke deep. But Johnny doesn't do deep.

Neither does he do patient as he slings his arm around my shoulders and began pulling me out of my room before any protests are able to slip my lips. "C'mon man, dark sky clouding your rays of enthusiasm?"

I smiled at that, because this is Johnny and Johnny works hard to earn a smile. "I just needed my daily dose of Tuturro that's all."

"I'll get my brother on the phone then!" Johnny beams, he was able to crack the hard nutcase that is in fact myself. I pulled my head free from the lock and headed towards the breakfast table where everyone was shouting slang and Spanish; great this wasn't in my vocabulary quite yet.

Charlie notices me immediately and kisses the air in my direction as I return the gesture, it's cute, and it's natural here. "Morning Levi."

"Too happy, too loud." I mumbled with a smile brushing my hand over her cheek and shoulder as I passed.

"Rough night?" Briggs asked fiddling with his Buddhist necklace before returning to his morning round, this is also typical behavior in Graceland, as it is for Johnny to pull me towards him as he sits down. So close I could practically be sitting on him, our knees stuck together with imaginary glue, this is Johnny though, and everyone knows he needed the sense of closeness; apparently I'm his favorite. Whether that was good or bad was still a waiting game. "No one gives a shit about your rough night!" Briggs emphasizes on every word; Biggs isn't a morning person. "You're on Caza duty with Johnny, we haven't got any resent agents but I want you too to set the table, get a lay of the land, play your cards, get to know them and recommend either Charlie or I into it and then get out as quick as you got in." His explanation didn't reach any serious terms as Johnny shot his hands in the air before ruffling my now not so perfect hair.

"We're gonna kick some serious ass, right Mikey Mike?" Johnny grinned full on as he pretended a few Kung Fu hand motions around the outskirts of the table where we sat. I wanted to roll my eyes but the cheek-hurting smile that pried at my lips made it nearly an impossible task, nearly.

Johnny accidentally flicked one of Jakes's dreds into Charlie's coffee and she laughs instead of getting mad, often encouraging Jonny's flirtaous and silly behavior; not that much would stop him anyhow. "Sorry dude, didn't mean to get your braids dirty."

"For the last time they're dreds, get it through your brain Tuturro." Jakes said, in his usual gruff tone of voice, it was never angry just stern and serious. He was a lone wolf but he was whom you could count on for any sort of advise.

Charlie took up the conversation mumbling Spanish here and there; I struggled to keep up with the apparent fascination that was this tale of yesterday, Thursday? They both sounded the same in Spanish I supposed. Johnny roughly translated here and there with his bilingual tongue, he threw in a few jokes because it's Johnny and it's me, and Johnny doesn't do serious. It just adds to his bubbly personality and the annoying way his limbs are thrown all over the place landing on myself half the time. Johnny's translating whispers and the definite closeness between us doesn't go unnoticed and Briggs is looking like he's going to make a comment that'll momentarily push me away and only pull Johnny closer afterwards. Before he gets half the phrase out Paige walks in the room looking sexier than ever in her tight attire; it's hard not to stare or drool in my coffee. Paige looked beautiful, scratch that- she was a fucking knock out! Someone I'd consider and have even considered hitting in up with, but it would always be that line I wouldn't cross because that is Graceland but it's not me.

A few whistles and Spanish slang "versa bien señorita!" I understood along with a few others before Paige waved the comments away and snagged a sip of my coffee. "As much as I'm enjoying the hard up comments I'm going to have to excuse myself from our little band of misfits and go meet someone who will soon lead me into a cocaine ring so large you'll all shove your little side comments up your asses." She said it in her innocent way that made me almost missed the tone of sarcastic anger.

"Slut!" Johnny coughed into his knuckle with a grin.

"Hopefully you'll get rid of that cough while Jangles chops you up!" Paige said with a laugh as she excited the side door, I didn't miss the flinch that passed through Briggs and I nodded at him in a silent understanding that only we knew.

Johnny slapped his hands down on his table, rattling the cutlery and earning an equally rattled expression from Jakes next to him. "C'mon Mikey Mike let's catch a few rides before we've got to head out." Johnny pushes me out of my spot on the edge, glued next to him, so fast I stumble to regain my balance and straighten my posture. Johnny at my side again like he never left, fingers spread out across my shoulder blade. Briggs began to form another unnecessary comment with his lips before Charlie rested her hand on his cheek and quietly asked him to shut up, the only one who could tame Briggs was Charlie and even she couldn't peel back all his complex lairs.

I allowed my body to be rocked against the waves in the making; I stare down at the ocean floor below as colorful fish and sea stars splayed across the soft white sand like a painting. I felt John's ankle nudge mine in a way I know it's him because it's forceful and playful. My eyes flickered beside me, there's his smug grin dripping victory. "Here's the skinny Mikey Mike; if you catch this wave we're celebrating at Hectors and I'll let you drive!" The second one wasn't a promise he could keep but the first… well any excuse to eat at Hectors tacos right?

"All right deal." I shook Johnny's hand, it dripped with warm water, as my multicolored board rocked beneath me with the uneven balance and I quickly snapped my hand back to my side before I tipped into the ocean. Disturbing the peace below.

John laughed resting his head on his hands and propping himself up on his elbows like he was some sort of expert; that bastard was showing off again. "Kiss for good luck?"

The offer wasn't unsurprising I'd actually grown used to it by now. "I need all the luck I can get." I leaned in, face inches from his, his breath hot and ticklish on my skin. I snapped my head away when things got too close before paddling towards a large wave that approached on the near horizon.

"You're a dick!" Johnny shouted but you couldn't miss the laugh hinting at his voice. I glanced back to see the permanent glint in his eyes before he vanished behind the forming wave; my stomach twisted slightly as I forcefully stroked the water. The wave climbed, it was so much more real up close, much more personal, it was almost too personal as the wave propelled me forward and I pushed off bouncing to my feet. The high passed through me so suddenly I couldn't help the immense grin that sprouted onto my face.

In the midst of Johnny's cheers the nose of my surfboard dug into the wave and I flipped over so fast I didn't have time to act surprised. The water hit me like a brick as my board and I were washing machined several times before I broke for air. The sky hitting me like a pillow in the face as the world spun momentarily and I reached for my board, I was in for the day.

After watching Johnny hit a few waves head on so that he made it look personally easy and hear him shout a few "are you okay-s" "don't be a baby-s" and "you know I love you-s" along the way. He finally lifted his board out of the waves and trotted towards me where I sat in the sand. Without of course staring at a girl's ass in a polka dot bikini as she passed us by and purred a Spanish word in her direction but the comment was ignored as she carried on without even looking back. I watched as he dropped the surf board to the sand, tail up and sending grains flying before flopping down next to me where I'd striped free from my wet suit so now I sat in shorts instead, he followed the action and removed his arms and muscular chest free from the sticky fabric. Johnny plastered himself extremely close despite his wetness and the fact I was not, as his fingers grazed along the base of my neck before somehow ending up tugging at my hair. Johnny sighed pleasantly before speaking up a few minutes after, not stopping his task of entangling every finger through my light brown hair. It was Johnny's way of affection I reminded myself, and I watched him out of my eye wondering how easy it was for him to trust the individuals around him. He was like this with everyone; slinging his arm around girls he'd recently come in contact with or sleeping with hippie marijuana farm chicks just for the heck of it despite the risks; because this was so my Johnny and I didn't even question his actions. "What's going on in that sentimental head of yours, hmm Mikey? And really this time."

I stare out at the waves and the ever-lasting sun; we'd have to get going soon but I new Johnny was prying for the sake of my own. I caved, "do you ever wish you could live a life that isn't so fake? That isn't cheated or risked or plastic?"

"Still pissed Abby dumped you huh?" Johnny began his hand leaving my hair to give my shoulder a squeeze. "I don't actually, because after a while I realize that I'm not lying to the ones I love most and I think that's all that really counts."

"It does count but I can't help but ask for more." I sniff a laugh; I suppose I'm just being greedy.

Looking forward to writing the next chapter! Put you input and thoughts of what should happen and I'll take all into consideration.

Love you all

~Dodge Valentine