There's nothing quite like forcing a backpack closed with the power of your ass repeatedly falling on top of it to question your intelligence and dignity. He could build solar lasers of death like a casual summer project, but as soon as the laws of basic physics told him it wasn't possible to fit more than a certain limit of solid objects within a reduced space, his ego decided that no one needed the scientific method anyway to solve something that brute force could accomplish alone. It took him a near judo hold to subdue the damn thing.
With awkward steps and wobbling more than he preferred, he took the backpack downstairs into the cafe, half-threw it on the floor and sat on top of it (holy shit it was as solid as a chair, was it really made of fabric anymore?) to wait for his brother.
"Everything's ready aunt Cass!" He announced with a rehearsed smile and heavy breathing. He tried to even his breaths to conceal the fact that he had finished packing last minute.
"You just finished packing, didn't you?" Tadashi teasingly accused the moment he entered the room, carrying his suitcase downstairs to avoid damaging the wooden floor.
Hiro glared at him.
"Hiro! How on earth did you manage to shove everything inside a carry-on luggage?! Literally!" Exclaimed Cass as she entered the room and noticed the nearly exploding backpack.
"I wanted the regular one to carry my final project for college! It's priorities, I needed the space!"
"Final project?"
"Hiro is going full capitalist-competition against me and Baymax"
"Complement! Not competition."
Aunt Cass processed the information. They were on their way to Mexico. For two weeks of the summer. On vacation. To a cute beach.
And the youngest oF HER NEPHEWS IS TAKING THE WORK WITH HIM.
The horror.
She took a donut in her hand, unsure of whether she needed air, sugar, a book on 'How to raise your gifted teenager for novice parents,' or tears.
"Let him be, aunt Cass. At least he's gonna have something to keep himself busy whenever he gets bored." Consoled Tadashi, fully knowing the kind of… drastic decisions Hiro was capable of making whenever he didn't use his brain and got bored. "The beach loses its novelty after a few days"
Several kilometers away from there, a fraction of the Rivera family members had packed their things and gotten in a bus, ready to visit the same beach as the Hamada family.
They couldn't all go at once. Some stayed behind to manage the shoe store so the business wouldn't be left unattended, but they took turns so the kids wouldn't die of boredom during their summer vacation.
Even the adults had their turn as well.
Having family owned businesses and strong bonds with relatives were an advantage when you wanted to use the kids as an excuse to go on vacation.
Yep.
On this occasion, it was Miguel's, Socorro (with four well-lived springs under her belt), and their parents. Mama Elena declined the invitation this time, opting to stay in Santa Cecilia to take care of the store along with the rest of the Rivera family. Besides, she mentioned, "Coquito is going to benefit from the Mayan Riviera water. She's a Rivera after all, that water is full of spiritual energies." Miguel didn't exactly like sacred cenotes after his traumatizing experience with one involving Ernesto, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
The Rivieran Maya. It was a full blown tradition of the Rivera family to take the new members of the family over there as soon as they had enough funds.
Well, at least he could take his guitar with him and play it until they arrived. As of now, he was stuck on a bus for several hours.
"M'ijo, sing to your sister the song that goes caaaaaran can quin cun cua, she likes that one." Asked his mother. But...
The wat.
"No m'ijo, she's gonna be excited the whole trip and we're not gonna rest. The Carpenter Bear puts her to sleep."
The wut.
"Nooo! I dun' like it! It's sad!" Socorro cried..
"Do you see, Enrique? That song's really sad, oh my god, no, she's gonna be traumatized."
"Le-let… Let it go! Let it go!" Socorro sang instead.
Ooooorrrr mmmmaybe he should feign being asleep because being only 16 meant he was definitely not ready for Let it go Disney Cover #300 (acoustic guitar version HD in stereo) inside a bus full of strangers.
He took his guitar and curled up in his seat, faking a calm slumber.
"Miguel. Miguel? Oh shoot, he's sleeping like a rock."
Yep.
Better wait until they got to the apartment they had rented for two weeks. He still loved his family to bits, it was just… that he was going through puberty and his pride was going to hurt a bit if he began to sing meme songs.
Besides that, he was sure that once they got there he'd have everything under control again. And then he would sing Let it go for little Coco until she was old enough to move into an ice castle of her own if she wanted to. Anything was worth it as long as he didn't have to go to the cenote.
"LET IT GOOOOO LET IT GOOOO CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMOOOORE."
"Sssshhh, Socorro, don't yell, there's people sleeping and your brother is as well."
"... Oh"
Thank God for the short attention span of 4 year olds.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
"I HAVE A ROOM TO MYSELF!" Was the delighted scream of the youngest Hamada, flopping down on the single bed and happily burying his face on the pillow.
"I DON'T HAVE TO SHARE THE CLOSET ANYMORE!" Was the muffled scream from Tadashi in the room right next to his, seemingly celebrating as well on his own pillow.
They do say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
The one thing that Hiro wasn't expecting was listening to aunt Cass talking to someone. If Tadashi was on his bed, and Hiro was in his bed as well, and if they had already talked to the landlord, gotten the keys, and officially had the day to themselves… then whom was she talking to? With a mix of laziness and curiosity, Hiro rolled his head over the pillow just enough to free one of his ears to listen to the conversation.
"...See… vacati…! ...meet yo… we are… neighbors"
"...Cass. And w…?"
"...Corro, Miguel…"
"...phews, Tadashi and Hiro."
Maybe she was striking up a friendly conversation with the people who rented the apartment next to theirs. Guess she'd give them the juicy details later. The only question was… which one was more powerful? The comfortableness of having his teen privacy respected and resting under the weight of more than 25°C during vacation time? Or curiosity of seeing if he was capable of snatching a peek of the new neighbors and avoid being seen?
"See you later, have a nice day!" Aunt Cass closed the door, giving Hiro only a quick moment to Hiro to peek with one eye just enough time to catch the glimpse of a gleaming beach, the sun, and a red denim jacket that disappeared from his view offering his hand to a small toddler girl. And there it goes, another example of when science perished in favour of laziness, Tesla must be rolling in his grave.
From the other side of the door, just in time as he turned his back, Miguel would've sworn a pair of brown eyes and a head full of longish unruly hair had been spying on him through an open bedroom door that was several meters behind aunt Cass, the neighbor which they just learned was also here on vacation. And whom they had just kindly invited over to eat in a few hours. He wondered which one of the nephews she had mentioned brought over with her had been that one, before shrugging and kept walking with little Socorro holding his hand.
Hello! I'm Axureé Rheeid, the author of this fanfic. Welcome to the prologue. I have a few clarifications to do:
Miguel's mom was singing a butchered up version of the Can Can. The carpenter bear is a really sad song from Pedro Infante.
Hiro is 17 and ready to graduate from University (because this little genius manages to do everything fast).
Miguel is 15 and he's going to high school. He's currently attending the music club.
Little Coco is 3 and happy.
Tadashi is 22 and already living on his own apartment with a secure job at the place where he did his social service because I need him alive for humorous purposes surrounding Hiro's life, so he's gonna be with the rest in this trip. :D
I changed Socorro's song. In the spanish version she's singing a song from a political spot that aired over here in favor of a political party in Mexico called Movimiento naranja (Orange movement). The song was so catchy and short, and it was so ridiculous for being a spot, that it spread like wildfire. The closest thing I could find for it's english equivalent was Let it go.
This ship got me thanks to its fanfiction and artwork :DDD I was kept in the hospital for a while and was feeling a little down, but this ship helped me get right through it. I was actually retired from writing fanfic because I'm old af (?) but I got dragged to the dark side and I regret nothing.
The following chapters are going to be actually way longer, I just thought a smallish prologue wouldn't be so bad to set a mood and officially begin to write this story.
Axureé, over and out.