Disclaimer: it all belongs to Tarantino. Nicht mir!
First IB story too. Yippeee!
Tennessee, Donny thought, must be an absolute shithole.
Granted, everywhere outside of Boston Donny regarded as a shithole. He was proud to be from Massachusetts, proud to be born and raised in Bean City. Donny had never been one for history, but when he was a kid, the field trips to Faneuil Hall and the Freedom Trail always made him feel damn proud to be an American- and, furthermore, a Yankee. The synagogues were close, the parks they used for baseball fields even closer.
But Tennessee? Made sense, considering Raine's accent was thicker than his neighbor lady's homemade cream pie. Donny had snorted into his hand, hoping Raine wouldn't see the reaction.
But it seemed the bastard heard everything. He had turned toward Donny and regarded him silently, chewing the corner of his mouth.
"Yank got a problem with that?"
Donny had straightened, looked Raine straight in the eye. "Not at all, sir."
Raine had smirked and turned back to the Italian he had been speaking to, then added as a sort of afterthought, "Good, seein' as you'll be servin' under me reaaaal soon."
Donny had swore under his breath as he followed Raine, the Italian watching him with a bemused grin on his face.
He would not say that he and Raine were friends. Nico was his friend. So was Benny and even Murphy, whose father owned the Irish pub. Raine and Donny were not friends in the least, nor were they acquaintances.
They hardly even spoke during the trip from Italy to France. They had a stare down, and Donny was sure he was winning.
Raine was chewing tobacco, slowly. It reminded Donny of a cow. His superior sighed through his nose, slowly, before leaning forward, unblinking.
"Tell me, Donowitz, what the hell you doin' this for?"
Donny blinked.
"Well.." he spoke slowly. "Serve my country would be the easy way out.." Donny shifted uneasily, feeling suddenly nervous under Raine's gaze. "And I could say that I wanna make m' parents proud of me." He paused for a moment, staring at his newly cleaned boots. "Mostly, though..these Nazis sound like a bunch of fuckers. I'm Jewish, and I'm not gonna watch a bunch of insane cop-school rejects ruin the family I got left." he added.
Raine snorted and clapped Danny on the knee before leaning back, stroking his chin with one hand, the other buried under his armpit. "That's what I like to hear, Donowitz."
The younger man turned away, feeling slightly unnerved by the older man's strange demeanor. He didn't like Aldo Raine. He didn't like his accent or his smell or his attitude.
"I have an idea, Donowitz, and you're joinin' me."
Donny glanced at the bunk above him. Raine was swinging one leg over the edge, and he was sure it would eventually kick him right in the face. Fucking hillbilly.
"All right, sir, shoot."
"Whatcha say if I got a bunch of other Jews like you together. We form a little group of our own, no connection to the military or nothin'. We're out on our own." There was a pause, leading Donny to presume the man up top had taken out his snuff box. "We take on the Nazis ourselves. Whatcha think of that?"
Donny sat up so quickly his head hit against the board. "Mother fucker." he swore, rubbing his forehead. "Not a bad idea, but how are you going to find a bunch of random American Jews? Sir."
"I got connections." Raine answered. "I got me some real good connections, Donowitz. You likin' this so far?"
Donny sighed and blinked, white dots dancing in his vision. He could go for a game right now, some of his ma's homemade blintzes. "Don't have a choice."
"Good." Donny imagined Raine was smirking.
When he woke up from a fitful night, Donny had the biggest fucking headache in the world, and boy, he was damn sure he was going to kill the next person who spoke to him.
And he was confident that person was going to be Raine.
"Donowitz! Get outside, we got some recruits." Raine slammed his fist against the dingy bathroom door as he walked past. Donny groaned, throwing water over his face before hurriedly washing it off with a towel. Even the water here smelled like piss.
"Yes sir." he called back, glancing barely at his reflection in the mirror. He was gonna show Aldo Raine what he was made of. Donny Donowitz was not just some Jewish Yank with a funny accent. Donny Donowitz was gonna make himself into a big name with the Nazis.