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Any characters you might recognize belong to DreamWorks Studios. Not me. Don't sue, I have no money. pNote: While this story contains no slash, it very well could. I'll leave it up to your imaginations.pbr
p"Okay muchachos, place your bets. Start saying adios to your pesatas now, it'll save time."p
Tulio grinned around the table in the dank room, lit only by candles. A thickset, balding man grunted and dropped a stack of coins on the tabletop. A shorter man next to him did the same. Tulio turned to the forth man at the table, who, unbeknownst to the other two, was Tulio's partner-in-crime, Miguel.
p"Placing a bet, sir?" Tulio asked, struggling not to give any hints that they knew each other.
p The blond-haired man just nodded and placed his bet, and Tulio began to shuffle the card deck. As he shuffled, he felt the miniscule indentations beneath his fingers that indicated the number of the card. Using a quick slight of hand trick, ensuring that Miguel received two face cards and the others received only low numbers, he dealt the cards. p
"Hit me." The shorter said flatly, clearly unimpressed with his current deal. Tulio simply nodded and flicked another low card to the player. The other man followed suit. He turned to Miguel and ran his thumb over the back of the card. It was an ace. Perfect. Tulio blinked slowly, signalling Miguel to take the hit. p
"I'll take one." Miguel said, disguising the knowing tone in his voice. Tulio nodded and placed the card face down. The other men continued to take hits, until it was time to reveal the cards.
p
"Oh, look at that, seems I've won again." Miguel said innocently, scooping the coins off the table into a sack.
br"Well, I must be going, actually. Tulio, th-"p
The larger man stood up abruptly. "How'd you know his name? You two know each other?" p
"What? Nonono, my friend. I've simply been here before. We don't know each other at all beyond that." Miguel answered, mocking outrage at the suggestion. "We're not cheating!" P
The shorter man stood up angrily, "He never said you were!" p
Tulio and Miguel exchanged nervous glances, "Uh, I think I hear my wife calling, excuse us..." p
Tulio began to back towards the doorway, as the two men approached him, "I didn't hear anything." one of them growled, tightening his hand into a fist. p
"W-well, I certainly did!" Miguel replied, opening the door. As if on queue, a woman's voice echoed through the streets. p
"TULIOOOOO!!!!"p
"See, there it is again." Tulio grinned nervously, "We'll see you later. Adios!" p
With that, Miguel and Tulio bolted away down the alley, the two men giving chase. Up and across rooftops and through the cobblestone streets, the two con artists easily lost the two men.p
p
"So, did we actually get away with the gold this time?" Tulio asked as he slid down the rooftop and walked towards the house.
p
"Well, we would have, if not for the hole in the sack." Miguel answered. p
Tulio gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tightly. "Nnngg! Why didn't you tell me?! After all th-" p
"Tulio, I'm kidding." Miguel grinned mischievously and held up the still-full bag of coins. p
Tulio glared at him, un-amused. "Not. Funny." p
Miguel just smiled and shrugged, "Well, anyway, pretty easy an escape, wasn't it?" p
Tulio nodded, "Yeah. They didn't even catch that we had marked cards. Either our cons are getting better, or the suckers are getting sucker...ier." p
Miguel chuckled, "Yeah. How'd we get out of that, anywa-"p
"TULIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"p
Tulio and Miguel were nearly blown over by the loud, angry scream that came echoing down the street. p
"Oh yeah."p
They looked at each other quickly, and ran off towards the source of the yelling.p
Chel scowled from her chair as Miguel and Tulio entered the house. br
"What took you so long?" br
Tulio grinned and tried to think of an excuse, 'We were, uh, working!" br
Miguel nodded in agreement, "Working. Big tough manly job..."br
Chel looked at them, sceptically.br
"You were cheating at cards again, weren't you?" br
"Nonono, we were only... Yes. Yes we were... But we won!"br
"Yeah! We won a lot!" Miguel agreed, nodding vigorously, "Besides, it was dark, they probably never got a good look at us."br
"So!," Tulio began, changing the subject, "What can I do for you?"br
"I wanted an avocado." Chel said simply, pointing across the room to the avocado sitting on the tabletop.br
Tulio sighed and hung his head, handing it to here, "Chel. It's 5 feet away from you. You had to call us out of the game for that?"br
Miguel stepped in, "Technically, we had been found out by the time she called us, and besides..."br
He ran over beside her and put his hand on her shoulder, "A pregnant woman needs to be careful! Don't want anything to happen to little Miguel junior, do you?"
p
Chel and Tulio looked at each other, and then back to Miguel. br
"We're not naming the baby Miguel Junior." br
Miguel put on a face of mock-outrage. "And why not?! Miguel is a wonderful name."br
Chel smirked. "What if it's a girl?"br
"Name her Miguelani!"br
Tulio and Chel both stared at him. br
"Oh come on!" he pleaded, "I'd do the same for you!" br
Tulio laughed, "Yeah, like you'd make your poor kid endure years of being called Tulio the Foolio Or Poolio?" br
Miguel snorted with laughter, "Poolio.. I thought of that one."br
Tulio scowled, "Yeah, I know. I got back at you with MiSmell."br
Miguel stopped laughing, "That was YOU? Oh, you are-"p.
"Boys! Shutup!" Chel stood up, and pointed to the door, "Go play outside. And don't get into any trouble." p
Chel sat back down and giggled as she overhead taunts of "Poolio!" and "MiSmell!" from outside. Why would she have another baby, she thought to herself, she already had two.
ppp
Next Chapter: The adventure begins.
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