I - This Guy Again

2004

You know, I had a father who said that family isn't important and that it just holds you back from being strong. I never believed him. So much so that I left him and moved to Los Angeles to start over and find a new family that I can care for, and in return care for me. And I did.

My name is David Stahelski. I was born on August 23rd 1980. I have short brown hair that I gel up a bit and brown eyes. I have a toned and muscular body since I've had to look out for myself.

I've only ever had a father growing up since my mother died shortly after being born. He treated me poorly and even more so when we moved from England to the USA. He would drink a lot and spend all his money on prostitutes. I hated him for that and so I just left him and came into LA.

That was when I was just 14 years old. Eventually, I met Dom and Mia Toretto who I hanged out with, partly because we share the same passion for cars and street racing. I was totally into the Jaguars, but I didn't mind whatever as long as it's fast and sexy.

At some point, I became a member of Dom's family group and got to know people like Letty, Vince and various others. Dom even let me live with him and his sister, that's how much he cared for me. He is pretty much that older brother I always wanted.

I became a natural behind the wheel and I was actually the closest to ever beat Dom in a race. That alone got me some respect. So that's my life. Now back to the present.

I just finished getting dressed with a short sleeve henley shirt and jeans and boots and met up with Letty, Jesse, Vince and Leon who were waiting for me.

"Good to go." I told them and we got into some cars. I got into Letty's in the passenger seat and we headed our way through the streets to the Toretto Market and Cafe, where Mia and Dom work and we hang out at.

After roughly 10 minutes of driving, we reached our destination and exited the cars. The whole drive here, I swore Vince's car was acting up a bit.

"Talk to me, Jesse. This ain't working, brother." Vince said. I was right, it was acting up. We all gathered around his car as he lifted the hood up.

"It's your fuel map. It's got a nasty hole. That's why you're unloading in third." Jesse told him. I swear Vince doesn't think things straight.

"I told you it was third." Leon told Vince who instantly told him to shut up.

"I'd lengthen the injector pulse a millisecond. Just tune the NOS timer, you'll run nines." Jesse then said.

"Damn." I muttered which made Letty chuckle. I saw Vince grabbing Jesse's chin and point. I looked to where he was pointing and I groaned because it's that red truck that belonged to that Steve McQueen wannabe who's been coming here everyday for the past three weeks, reading the same magazine and eating tuna sandwiches with no crusts. I swear this guy is spying on us as well as Mia and Dom.

"What?" Letty asked me, hearing my groan.

"He's here." I replied, pointing to the truck. I looked and saw the blonde fool by the counter, chatting with Mia, though a bit too friendly to my liking since I see her as a younger sister.

"What's up with this fool? What is he sandwich crazy?" Vince spat, equally as annoyed as me.

"No, V. He ain't here for the food, dog." Leon said as we walked away from the cars.

"Chill out, bro. He's just slinging parts for Harry, man." Letty told him off.

"I don't know about that." I added.

"I know what he's slinging." Vince told Letty. And I knew as well.

"He's trying to get in Mia's pants, dog." Leon muttered as we entered the establishment.

"What's up, guys?" Mia greeted us with a smile. I pulled my wallet out and gave her a few dollars and grabbed an apple to munch on since I haven't eaten yet.

"Hey, Mia." I greeted with a smile as well and then took a bite out of the apple. The guys greeted her and both Jesse and Leon went to the back and grabbed some chips or crisps as us Brits call them.

"Hey, Dom." I greeted him as he's sitting at his desk. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Dom, you want something to drink?" Letty asked him. Now these two happen to be in a relationship. I couldn't be more happy for them. As for me, well, I am yet to find the right woman for me.

Dom raised a beer can replying to Letty.

Vince started to be rather unwelcoming and stared blonde down, who stared back.

"Aye, he's beautiful." Jesse complimented as he messed with some sunglasses.

"I like his haircut." Leon added as he munched on some chips.

"I swear you two are gay." I mocked them and Letty laughed at my mockery of them. I took another bite out of the apple.

"Vince!" Mia called to him but he still stared blondie down.

"Vince!" Mia said a bit louder and this time he acknowledged her.

"What?" He asked her.

"Can I get you anything?" She asked him.

"You look good." He replied instead. Blondie looked like he was going to say something but he just stood up and paid.

"Thanks a lot, Mia. See you tomorrow." He told her as he's about to leave.

"Sure." She said. He then walked away.

"Tomorrow?" Vince breathed.

"I love this part." Leon told Jesse. Vince tapped the counter and then slammed his hand on it and walked to face the guy.

"Yo! Try Fatburger from now on. You get yourself a Double Cheese with fries for $2.95, faggot." Vince warned him. I walked out to watch.

"I like the tuna here." Blondie replied, walking to his truck. Sure you do. I'm the only one who actually likes the tuna here.

"Bullshit, asshole. No one likes the tuna here except for David." Vince corrected him.

"Yeah, well, I do." Blondie told him but then Vince shoved him into the truck and that got him a punch in the face. The two then started fighting. I expected this to happen eventually. I casually stood there eating my apple.

Vince tackled him and then they punched each other again. I heard the guys inside arguing until Dom stood next to me, watching the fight.

"I told you this would happen." I said to him.

"Yeah. Should've listened." Dom said and then we and the others walked up to the pair fighting and Dom pulled blondie off of Vince and shoved him onto one of the cars.

"Hey, man. He was in my face." He told Dom with his hands in the air.

"I'm in your face." Dom spat at him. Vince got up and tried to get at blondie but Dom stopped him and pushed him back into Leon.

"Relax! Don't push it! You embarrass me!" Dom barked at him. He and Vince knew each other since third grade apparently. You'd think Vince would be smart.

"Get over there!" Leon snapped at Vince and pushed him away.

"Jesse, give me the wallet." Dom ordered him and when he got the wallet, he opened it up and I looked as well and saw this guy's name: Brian Earl Spilner. What kind of a name is that?

"'Brian Earl Spilner', Sounds like a serial killer name." Even Dom knew how ridiculous the name is.

"Is that what you are?" He then asked Brian, holding the wallet in front of his face.

"No, man." Brian answered. I swear there is something up with this guy.

"Don't come around here again." Dom warned him and gave him his wallet and we walked away, back to the cafe/market.

"Hey, you know, man. This is bullshit." Brian called out and Dom, annoyed, walked back to him.

"You work for Harry, right?" Dom asked for clarification.

"Yeah, I just started." Brian replied.

"You were just fired." Dom spat at him and we left him there.

"I'm telling you, Dom. There's something up with him." I cautioned him and then took another bite.

"Maybe." He muttered.

Later, at night

The rest of the day was just us hanging around at the establishment until it was closed and then me, Mia, Dom and Letty get back to the house to freshen up and ready our cars for the street race tonight. I changed into a long sleeve shirt and wore a leather jacket and then we got into our cars. Mine is a custom Jaguar in a dark green colour.

We all drove to where everyone else was tonight and as we were parking, I could've sworn I saw Brian here as well.

Anyway, once parked we all got out. I was behind Dom and we greeted Marvin with some handshakes. I then saw Vin, who was a friendly rival of mine.

"Hey, man." I greeted him and he saw me and chuckled.

"David, what's up man?" He greeted me back.

"Nothing much. I won't be racing today, just hanging out." I told him and he nodded. I noticed some form of tension between Dom and Letty and I shook my head, walking up to him.

"What did you do?" I sternly asked him, like a parent when they suspect their child's done something.

"Nothing, I just talked with some girls." He said in pure honesty. I nodded in acceptance of his answer. Letty really needs to be trusting of him.

"Okay, Hector." He then said to someone he spotted was walking up to us.

"Yeah? What's up man?" He said and they shook hands. And then Edwin walked up and greeted Dom with fist bumps.

"How we doing this tonight?" Edwin asked Dom. I leaned on my car.

"One race. $2,000 buy in. Winner takes all. Hector, you're going to hold the cash." Dom explained and then the ones that will do the race handed the money to Hector.

"Why Hector?" A racer asked.

"Too slow to make away with the money, man." Edwin joked and we all laughed.

"Okay, good luck, guys." Dom gave them luck and then my suspicions of Brian being here were actually true because….

"Hey, wait. Hold up." Brian called out, stepping next to Edwin. We all frowned upon seeing him.

"I don't have any cash. But I do have the pink slip to my car." He said, wanting to race Dom? He's a newbie, you can't just immediately go for the top dog.

"Hey, there's no way you can just get into the ring with Ali because you think you're game." I talked him down.

"He knows I can box." He shot back, pointing at Vince.

"Check it out. It's like this. I lose, the winner takes my car. Clean and clear. But if I win, I take the cash, and I take the respect." Brian then bargained.

"Respect." Dom repeated, laughing with some others at that. I didn't because I knew I wanted some when I first got into street racing so that I can be taken seriously because of how good I am.

"To some people, that's more important." Brian said.

"He's right, Dom. remember when I first got into street racing?" I reminded him and he nodded, realising that Brian had a point.

"That your car?" He asked Brian, pointing to a green 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse. Damn, it looks really good.

Jesse lifted the hood up and examined what made this girl tick.

"I see a cool air intake. It's got a NOS fogger system and T4 turbo, Dominic. I see an AIC controller. It has direct port nitrous injection." Jesse listed off.

"Yeah. And a standalone fuel management system. Not a bad way to spend $10,000." Dom commented. That got quite the reaction from others around us.

"You see that shit? He's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up. Period." Edwin spotted. Brian is one crazy boy.

"So what do you say? Am I worthy?" Brian asked Dom.

"We don't know yet. But you're in. Let's go." Dom smirked. Alright.

All of us got into our cars and drove out of the alleyway to some random stretch of road. All of us aligned and parked along the road for the race and got out of our cars and some others readied the road up for the race.

I stood next to Letty and Mia as the racers, including Dom and Brian drove up to the starting line. Brian got over the line which made me laugh. What a noob. Then the cars were revving loudly, just like a dog barking at another dog for a fight.

I saw Hector on the radio with Leon, checking the police scanner to make sure we don't run into cops and then he raised his arms up, signalling the drivers.

"GO!" He then declared.

All four cars sped off, with Brian being the slowest and Dom at first place. And then I saw to my surprise, Brian catching up to Dom, being neck and neck with him, but then sparks flew off of his car and a plate flew off. He then barely overtook Dom, though he will have a little trick up his sleeve.

And I was right because he used some NOS to gain more speed and finished in first place. I smirked. He and the other two racers came back while Brian spun out of control.

We all gathered around Dom and I hugged him in congrats for winning the race. Then as we parted Hector slapped the money into his hand.

"Here's what you won, right here. There you go." Hector told him.

"Hey, sister, hold the money. Count it." Dom requested Mia. He then grabbed Letty and lifted her up.

"Me and my trophy." He flirted with her. I shook my head in amusement.

I saw Brian parking next to Dom's car and he got out and surprisingly had a smile on his face. We walked up to his car and it was smoking like a BBQ.

"Was that fun?" Jesse questioned and lifted the hood up, which made a lot of smoke come out, making the crowd buzzed.

"What are you smiling about?" Dom asked him.

"Dude, I almost had you." Brian stated. Yeah, right! He destroyed you. I nearly beat Dom by just centimeters when we raced.

"No you didn't. He beat you easily. And I nearly beat Dom by only centimeters. You're nothing compared to me." I put him in his place.

"Exactly. You never had me. You never had your car." Dom agreed and the crowd exclaimed at the shots fired.

"Granny shifting. Not double clutching, like you should. You're lucky that 100 shot of NOS didn't blow the welds on the intake." Dom further talked him down.

"Almost had me?" Dom asked me and I shook my head.

"Now me and the mad scientist got to rip apart the block and replace the piston rings you fried." He then explained, which made Brian look away in embarrassment. Dom then shut the hood down.

"Ask any racer. Any real racer. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning." Dom told him the most important thing to learn when you're a racer, And the crowd cheered in agreement.

Then there was commotion about cops and we all scattered to our cars instantly.

I got into my car and I drove down the road and through some alleyways right before I heard the sirens.

For a very tense 5 minutes of careful driving, I evaded the cops and hid in some shadows in an alleyway. Once all the cops disappeared.

Now in the clear, I drove like any other regular joe in the city and headed back to the house.

Once I reached there, everyone else was there and I let them know I made it back but didn't go in because I'd rather wait for Dom to get back.

After a long wait of sitting on the porch, a taxi was heading back and I noticed that both Dom and Brian were in the back. They got out and walked towards the house. I got up and walked up to Dom.

"Where have you been? I was worried about you." I said.

"Johnny Tran, I'll explain after." Dom said. Shit! He just had come across that stupid git.

"Take care." Brian said as he was about to walk down the street. Me and Dom were about to enter the house when Dom looked through the window seeing people chilling and drinking with music playing.

"Yo, Spilner. You want a beer?" He asked Brian.

"Yeah, sure." He replied.

The three of us entered the house and saw everyone act as though nothing happened. I saw two women kissing each other. I smirked as I knew those two. In fact, I encouraged them to embrace their sexuality and feelings for each other and were grateful to me for my advice.

I then saw Letty on the floor, Vince on the guitar and Leon chilling with a girl with a Corona in his hand. He saw Dom and looked like his blood was running cold.

"Yo, Dom. Hey, man, we were just about to go looking for you, brother." Leon tried to calm him down but Dom had enough and smacked the beer bottle out his hand. Then he stormed to Vince.

"Where were you?" He questioned him.

"There were mass cops there. They came in from every direction. That shit was orchestrated." He answered in annoyance.

"This your beer?" Dom asked him about the bottle next to him.

"Yeah, that's my beer." He told him and Dom grabbed it.

"Yo, Einstein. Take it upstairs. You can't detail a car with the cover on." Dom requested Jesse who was making out with a chick.

"Can't even get that right." He then muttered walking to us. I grabbed a Corona and took the bottle cap off and took my first sip.

"You alright?" Letty asked him, which made him stop and look at her.

"Am I alright?" He questioned her intelligence with that question.

"It was just a question." She backed her reason up for asking. I noticed Brian walking in, a bit awkward.

"Yo, Dom. Why did you bring the buster here?" Vince asked Dom as he saw Brian.

"'Cause the buster kept me out of handcuffs! He didn't just run back to the fort! The buster brought me back." Dom barked at him, rather accusingly. Vince looked like he was stabbed a bit. He then walked to Brian.

"You can have any brew you want, as long as it's a Corona." Dom stated. I snorted. Dom is such a Corona loyalist.

"Thanks, man." Brian thanked him, taking the bottle.

"That's Vince's, so enjoy it." Dom said and we looked at Vince, who looked ready to punch a wall.

"Hey, bro. You got a bathroom?" Brian asked.

"It's upstairs. First door on the right." I said to him. Dom then sat down and rubbed his head.

"He's got no call being up in here. You don't know that fool for shit." Vince growled right into Dom's face.

"Yeah, he's right, Dom." Leon agreed. Oh yeah….

"Well, what about me when I came into the picture?" I asked them both, in case they forgot that they were suspicious about me when I first met them all.

"Vince, there was a time I didn't know you." Dom shot back at Vince.

"That was in the third grade!" Vince shot back. I decided that I had enough for today so I went upstairs and got into my bedroom and stayed there, drinking the rest of my beer and once I drank it all, I changed into my nightwear and went to sleep.

Now I used the Fast and Furious Wiki for the timeline of the films. And just a warning in advance, I am NOT a motorhead or whatever the term is for people into cars, so if I get details and facts wrong, then just deal with it as I try to be as accurate as possible.