A is For Ashtray
The first time Rick's eyes landed on the rough and tumble street captain, it had been on a street corner in one of Beycity's less… favorable neighborhoods. The teenager had been leaning back against a grimy alleyway wall with six or seven other kids grouped around him as he gave a basic lesson on how to salvage parts from blades you won (or stole).
For some reason, something about the teen had caught Rick's eye. Maybe it was the sparkle in the younger's dark eyes as he checked a piece of a beginner's work or maybe it was the way his shirt pulled taunt over his toned chest when the ravenette went to crouch to another kid's level, but whatever it was it had sparked something in Rick that had made him go over and ask the guy out.
And it was that spark that the teen (who Rick would later come to know as Carlos) thoroughly squished like the end of a cigarette into an ashtray when the captain coolly informed Rick, that no, he did not want to be spotted with the same guy who couldn't even beat his former captain in a stadium battle, never mind out on the streets.
But you know what they say: "anger makes the heart grow stronger."
…Or was that distance?
B is For Blink
It was amazing what could happen in the time span of a blink. Really, it truly was.
For one, in the blink of an eye wars could change direction, assassinations could be carried out, people could die, things could end…
And sometimes, things could begin.
Like them. Their relationship. Which, as Carlos insisted (and thus made Kai's lips twitch) had gone from stalker and stalkee to dating boyfriends in the blink of eye when Rick had cornered Carlos on that same corner they'd first met on and kissed him for the grand total of one second in front of about half the Blade Sharks before declaring that if Carlos didn't find that gutsy enough for him, then he obviously didn't know anything about guts.
Carlos had then grabbed the much taller Rick Anderson by the lapels of his pristine white vest and pulled the older teen into a steamy kiss that attracted many a howl of encouragement from the gathering crowd before whispering seductively in Rick's ear that he still had him beat seeing as Carlos's kiss had lasted way longer than a blink.
C is For Cuts
The first time Rick had seen Carlos after a street battle it had sent the older teen into a rage as he watched his-almost-nearly-probably-in-a-week-or-two-more boyfriend stumble into his apartment (that Rick just maybe-might-have broken into in order to kiss the ravenette some more without the younger finding a way to evade him) covered in enough scrapes and bruises and bleeding gashed to make a nurse wince.
Carlos, in the face of Rick's avenger-fit rage, had simply asked the older teen if he'd been off the streets so long that he'd forgotten what it was to participate in a battle.
That and why the hell Rick was in his apartment in the first place.
Rick had just snapped his jaw shut and wrapped the tanned teenager up in his arms, content to stand there for a while with Carlos sputtering and blushing in his arms while he kissed away all the cuts he came across.
D is For Drink
"Drink?"
Those had been the first words he'd heard anyone say to him since the ambulance had taken away his co-captain, blood leaking from the clear-through bullet wound in his chest.
It might have been because he'd warned his third that if anyone came after him he might snap.
It could have been because he'd isolated himself up on the roof of his apartment building soon after.
Or perhaps it could have been because he'd conveniently left his phone in his apartment after he'd texted Kai a five-word message about what happened.
Cam's dead. It was Them.
He hadn't felt anymore was needed.
He accepted the beer (and Rick's hand, which apparently came with it) deftly.
"Guns aren't allowed in battles." Rick's smooth, deep voice said quietly through the night.
Carlos nodded slowly. It was one of the few, scarce rules of street blading. No guns. Officially, it was because it made the battles go too quickly. In reality, it was because no one really wanted to die, or become a killer.
They just wanted to blade, freely and without restriction.
"So what happened?" Rick asked, pushing his four-months-lover gently, trying to figure out what was going on. He'd known something had gone wrong when Carlos hadn't called him after when the battle was supposed to end, but when Carlos's bloody third in command had come to his door looking like a deer in headlights… that's when things had gotten crazy.
Who got shot during beyblade battles, Street or otherwise? And what did it have to do with Carlos and his gang? Possibly one of the cleanest street-blader gangs out there?
Carlos absently fingered the bullet in his hand; utterly perfect even after making its way through his second's body and into the brick wall directly behind him, mere inches from Carlos's head.
It was medium sized and somehow white beneath the red blood that covered it; the insignia of a large capital B with a lightning bolt through it was pressed into the metal.
Carlos tossed it into the air lazily once before catching it in his hand and holding it between his thumb and finger so Rick could see the symbol.
"What happened was that Biovolt got sick of playing around." Carlos squeezed Rick's hand tightly as the realization hit him, leaving him feeling dazed. "It seems they want their toys back, one way or another."
Rick simply blinked a few times before nodding and throwing back the last of his drink, blessedly not asking Carlos why the hell Biovolt cared about him so much as to kill over him.
E is For Effects
Kai Hiwatari sat tense under the fingers of his own lover as he considered what the effects of his last message from Carlos were going to be.
So Biovolt was back, their twenty-four-hours' notice being the death of Carlos's second, a kid named Cameron who was also from the Abbey, though he hadn't quite been there long enough to get too fucked with, thus being expendable.
His death, if anything, just meant that Biovolt wasn't taking prisoners this time.
But did that mean that all of them were marked? Or was it just people close to them they had to worry about? God, Kai hoped he could keep this away from the stadium this time; the last thing he needed was the Bladebreakers or anyone else getting involved again…
Though, he guessed that would be impossible this time around, what with Rick and all…
Kai just hoped Rick knew what he was doing with Carlos, because if the ex-street-blader hurt the other teen… well, let's just say that Kai had known Carlos longer than Rick and that it would really suck for both him and the All-Starz if Rick went mysteriously missing.
As Kai sighed and leaned back in his lover's arms, Miguel just stayed silent and watched his red-eyed boyfriend of a year and a half try and puzzle out what to do next, trying to keep his worry for the younger teen and the other ex-Abbey kids from showing.
He had a bad feeling about this, a feeling that told him regardless of what Kai and Carlos and Rick and everyone else tried to do, the ripples from this particular stone would definitely have side effects for everyone. Upper-Ground blader or not.
F is For False
Rick had forgotten just how false the world of Underground (also known as Street) Blading was.
Sure, he remembered making alliances with people only to start scheming to get them ousted a few months later, and he remembered doing whatever was necessary to keep his gang on the top. But, he was sure he'd never been as good at it as Carlos was.
And seeing as back in his day Rick's gang had been number one in New York, that was saying something.
It was amazing, really; watching the 5'10 ravenette as he moved around the assembled group silently, talking with people and feeling them out, subtly coaxing them into giving out information, sensing how they would react if things got any more heated before compiling it and moving on to the next group.
The fact that he was doing all this while still grieving for his second (at said second's funeral) was all the more impressive.
But it also made Rick consider just what else about the younger blader was false; it made him wonder if, perhaps, Carlos wasn't just good at coaxing information but feelings as well…
Rick sincerely hoped that wasn't the case, he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if it was.
Rick's attention snapped back to the present as he felt someone take his hand. Feeling the smooth leather of Carlos's traditional wrist guards rub against his black and white ones Rick was content to wrap his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders.
His shaking shoulders.
"Carlos, baby, you alright?" All his earlier fears disappeared after seeing the ravenette's face, pale beneath his tan and his eyes red rimmed.
"I'm fine," The teen replied, biting down on his lip. "Just not sure how much longer I can keep this… stuff, up. Not here at least." He said, straightening up. "It's usually Kai who handles this sort of thing, but…"
The rest didn't need explaining. Kai couldn't be here because it would draw to much suspicion from the media, who would ask questions that couldn't be answered lest his past as a street blader come up which would put him out of favor with the public…
Which wouldn't be good. At all.
Rick just sighed. Yeah, he was getting really sick of all these falsities, but at least having Carlos here, confessing to him that he was sick of it too, which Rick was sure he'd never told anyone before, went a long way to helping him figure out what was false and what wasn't.
Yes, yes I'm starting a new story even if I already have so many others to work on, but the good news is that this one is only going to be about four chapters long and that I've already got most of it planned out.
Also, you owe this fict, and the up-coming chapter of Coming Over For Christmas, to the lovely Garfakcy-chan! Who I have spent I rather long time chatting to and gave me the ideas for both this story, the new COFC chapter and the very idea of this pairing! Give it up for Garfakcy-chan everybody!
Sincerely,
BlackRoseGirl666
Ps. I'm currently undecided on what other parings to have in this story besides the ones mentioned as of yet, please don't feel afraid to give me some suggestions!