Fast and Furious Fic: Objects in the Rearview Mirror
I'm in the process of writing help_japan auction fics for aquacutie16 , another_doyle and severina2001 . But they are turning out to be (and take) longer than I'd expected, and sometimes one fic inspires another. So I'm posting this little offshoot a bit early because I'm also currently engaged in a fic race (since all of us in F&F fandom are racers at heart, aren't we bbs?) with severina2001. A race which I am losing. Pretty bad.
So I hope all my auction angels can continue to be as patient as they are generous, and enjoy this in the meantime.
<3 Snick
Title: Objects in the Rearview Mirror (are Closer than they Appear)
Rating: PG for language
Words: 1400
Notes: The Team, Mia POV. References/spoilers for movies 1&4.
_______________________________
Objects in the Rearview Mirror
(are Closer than they Appear)
_______________________________
Brian O’Conner was back in town.
Mia knew it even before Letty called; bending her ear about 'the plan' and how he was a federal Agent now and - rat scumbag or not - prettyboy could help them get Dom back. Get Dom his freedom.
Mia hated the plan.
It was a crazy, dangerous, Brian O'Conner of a plan. It was reckless.
Sure Mia would help Letty, whether it was really healthy or not, with her obsession to get the Charger back in shape - she wanted Dom's return just as badly, after all - but not with this. Not ever. And not just because a part of her might have still hated Brian, too.
But then there was that other part. The part that whispered how nice it was to come first for once.
Mia had known Brian was back before anyone. The only one to get the message before Mia did, was Jesse.
**
Mia could remember the whole thing.
It was a Friday night probably like any other in the Toretto household; the sound of Gran Turismo on the PlayStation and Vince’s guitar playing a little too loud for studying, especially with the distraction of a certain tall, blond mechanic-in-training starting to stick around with the others after clocking out at the garage.
So there she stood, behind the couch, lowering a bottle of Corona over Letty’s shoulder.
“Ta, Mia-ta,” Letty purred, raising the bottle in a little toast of thanks before putting it to her lips.
“Miata?” Brian asked, accepting the bottle Mia had clutched in her other hand, before she settled herself on the arm of the couch next to Letty.
“Uh huh. You know, sleek, curvy. Exotic.” Letty shot Brian a leer and pinched Mia’s thigh, earning herself a slap on the arm. Which only made her smirk harder.
“A sleeper - looks harmless, but it’ll surprise you,” Dom’s voice rumbled from his seat next to her. “Temperamental as all hell too. A real diva.”
“Shut up.”
“It’s a game,” Jesse piped up from where he was seated on the floor; back against the wall. “Like a…drinking game. I invented it.” He stretched out his legs, crossing them primly at the ankles and looking pleased with himself.
“It’s not a game, a game has a winner and a loser, dude.”
Leon had just reappeared out of the kitchen with a couple more Corona of his own, to shove at Jesse’s outstretched legs with a foot. Jesse drew his knees obligingly back up to his chin, letting Leon slide by to set one of the bottles down in front of Vince - who gave him a silent nod of acknowledgement but didn’t interrupt his strumming.
“Okay, so a fuckin’…it’s a fuckin’ drinking…some kind of drinking shit.”
“Activity,” Leon supplied, pulling up a section of floor next to Jess.
“Drinking fuckin’ activity.” Jesse nodded vigorously. “So you say what you would be if you were a car, and everybody in the room has to say why you’re that, and if they can’t think of a reason? Drink. So.”
Brian was just smiling that bemused smile he always used when he listened to Jesse. Brian could talk just as much crap as the rest of these guys, but he always listened when Jesse talked. Which was probably more encouragement than Jess really needed, but it was one of the things Mia was starting to really like about him. Probably a bit too much.
“F-150, low rider,” Jesse continued, pointing at Leon, and then Vince in turn, “Harley-Davidson.” Vince just nodded again and repeated his chord-changes.
“Rabbit,” Leon concluded, giving Jesse’s hair a thorough tussle. “You get it, right man? It’s a metaphor.”
“You’re a metaphor,” Letty repeated, swiping the PlayStation controller out of Dom’s hands.
“Letty’s a Barracuda,” Mia said, her tone meaningful.
There was no explanation needed for that one, but Letty growled and gnashed her teeth playfully at Mia’s shoulder anyway, eyes already glued to the screen.
Mia looked at Brian again, and gave him an unapologetic raise of her brows. This is it. Welcome to the family.
But Brian was nodding simply, leaned languidly up against the wall with that generally carefree air he had. Taking it in stride the way he seemed to do with pretty much anything.
“What about Dom?” he asked her. Mia grinned.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“Hmmm.” Blue eyes flashed mischievously in Dom’s direction. “…A Mini?”
Dom cut his gaze sideways at Brian and he paused with his beer halfway to his mouth as a smile curved his lips. Mia watched them stare each other down that way they did, before Dom flipped Brian the finger, and went back to watching Letty’s Alfa Romeo skid through the turns on the TV.
“Dom’s a tow truck,” Mia put in, and Brian snapped those eyes back her way again, with interest. “Helpful. Always working 24/7.”
“Some flamboyant show-off colour, like orange,” Letty teased. “Maybe with a flame job. Big, wide, domed dualie wheel wells.” She took one hand off the controls long enough to rub a hand over Dom’s shorn scalp, making Brian chuckle quietly into his drink.
“Laugh it up,” Dom said, in a tone of dignified calm. “…It’s your turn next.”
The room exploded to life immediately. Letty tossed the controller aside to join in with Jesse and Leon who were putting down their drinks to throw out suggestions and start arguing loudly. Mia could only shake her head and return Brian’s amused-looking grin, over the sudden and complete cacophony. Every now and then they caught words like “woody” and “convertible” and “Nissan 240!!”
“Mustang,” Vince growled sullenly from the corner, surprising everybody into silence.
Brian blinked in surprise, like he’d been expecting a ‘Crown Vic’ or ‘black and white’ crack, for sure. But Mia knew Dom had given Vince his warning about that kind of thing at least once, and apparently, it had finally sunk in.
“Oooh, a classic,” Letty intoned, fervent. “All American.”
“Yeah,” Vince said slowly, setting aside his guitar and eyeing Brian and his customary nondescript t-shirt-and-jeans combo from head to toe. “He’s got that old played-out blue and white stripe job and everything. …Still pretty though,” he concluded snidely, over the rim of his Corona.
“Kinda girly, maybe,” Dom agreed, with a smirk in Brian’s direction. “But still ballsy as hell.” He saluted Brian with his own bottle, then turned a warning glare on Vince that escaped nobody’s notice.
“With a body mod though! Something to make him stand out.” Nobody, apparently, except Jess.
“Something shiny.” Leon agreed smugly. “Chrome maybe…”
The game - and the booze - lasted long enough that they were still stridently discussing things like Brian’s tennis shoes and white wall tires, by the time Brian was good-naturedly bumping Dom’s fist and telling Mia goodnight.
**
“Okay, Jess, I think that does it,” Mia said. She pulled the last of the weeds from the base of the stone and then stood up, dusting her hands off on the back of her jeans.
Mia sighed and picked up the little toy Ford Mustang again, for a last look. The detail really was uncanny, in fact you had to wonder if the blue and white paint wasn’t a custom job - done by hand. She gave the tiny white wall tires a spin, and then she left it on top of the headstone, exactly where she’d found it.
Mia kept her head down as she picked up last year’s flowers and set the fresh wreath. She didn’t look over her shoulder, at the rows of parked cars across the street or do anything else obvious, that might let on just how sure she felt that there were eyes on her. Keen, vivid blue ones.
“See you next year,” she told Jesse.
For the first time in a long time, it felt like the start of something, instead of the end.
Something crazy, Mia thought, as she turned to go, and the phone in her purse began to play Letty’s ringtone. Something dangerous.
Reckless.
**
FIN.