| Title: Racer X Author: Shifty Email: [email protected] Summary: How the team came about. Mainly Leon's life. His friendship with Jesse. His home situation. His joining the team. Disclaimer: I don't own any characters that appeared in The Fast And The Furious, but I do own anyone else who didn't appear in the movie. No copyright infringements intended. Rating: PG-13 for language and violence Archive: Ask first Feedback: Please Racer X By Shifty Chapter 1 "Well, isn't this jus' a nice little shithole". That was Skye. His step-mom. She was never happy about anything, so he wasn't surprised when that was the first thing she said about their new house. "When you become a milionaire, let me know, and we'll move where-ever the fuck you like" his old man, Luis, replied sarcastically. His Italian accent was almost totally gone, as a result of spending a good portion of his life in the states. "I wanna go home!" Jason whined, folding his arms over his chest. That was his little brother, who sat on his left. His older brother, Daron, was sitting on his other side. Leaving Leon sandwiched between the two of them. Seventeen and hating every aspect of his life like a teenager should, he kept his angry green gaze on the air conditioner that had failed to work during the entire trip from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Jason finally climbed out of the stuffy car, and Leon escaped behind him into the even hotter L.A air. Leon scratched at his sandy-blonde curls, walking to the end of the trailor they'd been towing the entire time. Just as Skye had said, this place was a shithole. The only thing that stood out to him on the whole street was the shiny electric blue Nissan 300ZX on the driveway of the house across the road. The hood was up, and two latino's were digging around under there. Another was sitting rubbing car polish in circular motion on the driver's door. The forth and youngest was simply sitting on their brick letterbox and watching. Import cars had always held a place in Leon's interests. Ever since he was a little kid. His Uncle, who had lost that title when his Mom had left, owned a yellow Mitsubishi 3000GT. It had a mean greddy front mount, Veilside body kit, two tanks of Nos under the passenger seat, a b16a dohc vtec motor with spoon sports headers, aem cold air intake exhaust, and chrome valve covers. It was beautiful, and Leon had never been enchanted by anything in his life before he saw that machine. "Leon! Get yer ass over here and help yer brothers you lazy shit!" his old man bellowed at him from the shade of the porch, where he was already chugging away at a half empty Corona. He made no effort to help Daron and Jason himself. Leon looked over his shoulder at him, them took one last fleeting glance towards the latinos. The youngest one was looking at him now. He looked about Leon's age. Shaved head, ebony eyes, goatee, teasing smile. Leon got the impression he was laughing at him, even though he made no sound. "Leon!!" his dad shouted sharply, and Leon turned quickly, hurrying over to help his brothers unpack the trailor. * * * The latino kid's burning ebony eyes stayed with Leon the entire time he unloaded the trailor. Long after the four of them had abandoned the car for the heat and gone inside. Long after Daron had retired from the job of heaving the boxes inside, leaving Leon and Jason to finish. When they did, Skye and their old man were lounged on the couch they'd moved into the living room. Someone had hooked up the TV, and they were watching some stupid show that had every second word beeped out. Leon noticed the beer hanging limply from his father's hand, and the two empty bottles on the floor by the couch, and quickly made himself scarce. Outside, a warm breeze was blowing. It brushed agaisnt his sweaty blonde curls, and ruffled the bottom of his loose shirt. Leon kicked at a clump of grass, sticking out from what looked like a massive weed that covered the entire front yard. He hated this place already. A female voice screamed out a heavy stream of words in Spanish, and then a door slammed. Leon looked over the road, and the youngest of the four latino's had emerged from the house. He muttered angrily to himself in his native tongue, not noticing Leon or not caring. Either way, he didn't acknowledge him. Keeping up a stream of liquid spanish curses, he kicked at the Pirelli tyres on the 300ZX that still sat on the driveway. This earned him a burst of protest through the open front window, which he responded to with a one finger salute and a string of spanish profanities. Leon didn't know spanish, but he could tell from their tones that neither were too happy. Leon was still watching him when the latino turned around and noticed him staring. He seemed to pause for a moment, then disregard him all together. He jogged across the road, making a bee-line not to Leon, but to the house next door. Leon hadn't noticed it when he came outside, but there was a white Jetta parked against the curb. Words were exchanged that Leon couldn't make out, then the latino returned to his view, a scrawny white kid in tow. He had on baggy jeans, a beanie and a white wifebeater that made him look even scrawnier. To Leon's surprise, they latino waved him over. The white kid looked jittery. He was rubbing his arm and looking around, as though he thought someone was watching them or something. "C'mon, we ain't got all night, homes!" the hispanic called when Leon hesitated. He glanced back at his house, where his Dad must've been upto his fifth beer by now, then jogged over to them. "Wass yer name, G?" the latino asked as he trailed the two of them across the road to the 300ZX. It was a beautiful car. They'd been revving the engine before, when Leon was still unpacking the truck. Sounded pretty powerful. Sounded like a street car. "Leon" he replied after a moment, watching the latino open the driver's door. "Yeah? That's Jesse, an' I'm Hector" he replied, pointing at Jesse, then climbing into the car, "Wanna come fo' a ride?". Leon looked from Hector to Jesse. Neither of them seemed to fazed about it. Maybe they had their licenses already. Jesse looked only Leon's age though, if not, younger. "C'mon. It'll be fun. It always is when Toretto races" Jesse told him, moving into the back of the car to push the passenger seat forwards. He blinked with wide eyes, waiting for Leon's decision, then seemed to lose interest in it and climbed into the car. Leon looked over at his house, made a quick decision, and climbed in after him. Chapter 2 Leon had never seen so many rev-head teenagers in one place at one time. All in semi-suped up cars, all listening to that heavy crap his old's hated so much, all waiting for one person. "How come they don't get racin' before the cops come?" Leon asked, perched on the hood of the 300ZX with Jesse. It turned out Hector had three brothers, Chucho, Elias and Pedro. They were the three latino's who'd been working on the car this morning. It also turned out that this car belonged to Pedro, the youngest of those three. Elias owned a Mitsubishi 3000GT, and Chucho had a Toyota MR2. Leon wasn't sure if Hector had his brother's permission to use his car, but Hector didn't seemed to fazed about it, so he didn't ask. "They're waiting" was all Jesse replied with. He was still acting like he had the jitters. Rubbing his hands together. Fidgeting. Looking around as though he were bored. He'd coloured in a few of his fingernails with black permanent marker, and had a little rabid piranha tattooed on his shoulder. "Waiting for what?" Leon asked, running the risk of sounding like a nosy little shit. It was a risk he was willing to take. If he was to survive in this place, he had to know his shit, and the only way he'd get to know his shit was through asking questions. "Toretto" Jesse answered. He wasn't too talkative. Hadn't said much the whole trip here. Leon had decided to let him be. He was a little wierd, and Leon wanted to work out what his deal was before he dove head on into a friendship with him. Hector came into his view. He was with a black guy sporting cornrows and a bandana. "I'ma go see wot Hector's doing" Leon announced, and got off the hood before Jesse said anything. Jesse watched the new guy walk over to Hector and Edwin. He didn't know why Hector had bothered to bring him at all. Toretto wouldn't be happy about it, that was for sure. But then again, Hector never really thought of what Toretto would think before he did anything. He'd told Jesse once that Toretto was just wound up too tight. Needed to take yoga or get a massage or something. Anything. Jesse didn't see that as an excuse to push Toretto's buttons. Obviously, Hector saw things a little differently. "Oh, hey, Leon. This's Edwin" Hector pointed a thumb at the black guy he was talking to. Leon smiled vaguely in greeting as Edwin looked him up and down. "What's with the white boy?" he asked when he was finished his observations. Leon didn't say anything. Waited to see what Hector would say in his defense, if he bothered to defend him at all. "Fuck off, man. He ain't white, he's a wog" Hector replied with an easy smile, "He'll fit right in wit' Toretto. You jus' jealous coz Dom hates yo' stupid ass!". Edwin didn't look happy, but he didn't seem to be able to come up with a good answer to that, so he didn't bother. Leon was glad to see that Hector had stood up for him. Seeing as he lived right across the road, he guessed they would be going to the same high school, and being the new guy in the neighbourhood, Leon needed as many friends as he could get at the moment. "Doan worry about him" Hector said as the two of them headed back towards the 300ZX, "He's jus' an asshole coz he thinks it makes him look heaps cool". Leon nodded, understanding. Jesse was still sitting on the hood. Still looking as nervous as ever. "Hey, Hector, what's wrong with Jesse?" Leon asked, grabbing the latino's arm before they got all the way over there. He didn't want Jesse to hear and get offended or upset or something. Hector looked at Jesse, then back to Leon. He didn't seem to understand the question. "Wotchoo mean?" he asked, looking over at Jesse again. He looked fine to Hector. Looked exactly how he did every other day. Hell, he had two feet and a heartbeat, what more did he need? "I mean, he seems nervous about something..." Leon trailed off, not wanting to sound picky or like he was over-analysing the situation. Hector looked over at Jesse again. He was wringing his hands together. Looking over his shoulder at nothing in particular. "Oh, yeah, he's got some attention thingo. Like, he gets bored quick and fidgets an' stuff" Hector said after a long moment of observations. Leon furrowed his brows, not really understanding. "Uh... it's got a name. Y'know, how kids chuck tantrums and stuff?" Hector tried to elaborate, but his limited knowledge got in the way, "Hang on". He turned again to look at Jesse, "Hey, Jess. Wotchoo got again?" he called. Leon looked around nervously, afraid they might've embarrassed him by screaming it across the road, but he found that no one had even acknowledged the question. The music and voices were too loud already. Hector's yelling just added to the noise. Jesse got up off the hood of the car, and walked over. He'd dug his hands into his pockets. Leon guessed it was so he couldn't fidget with them. "Wot?" Jesse asked when he finally reached them. "That thing you got" Hector repeated, not seeming to care anything for who might hear, or how Jesse might feel about his bringing it up. "Uhh, that attention... disorder..." Jesse didn't seem to know what it was either. He used his hands when he spoke though. Leon hadn't noticed it before, but he didn't seem to be able to talk without using his hands. "Wot, like, A.D.D?" Leon asked, supposing that if these two could talk openly about it, he could too. "Yeah, that" Jesse pointed at him, then nodded with a nervous little laugh, "Uh huh. That shit. That's wot I got". His elusive blues gaze met Leon's cool green for a moment, and Leon smiled faintly, letting him know that he didn't mind what he had, because he seemed like a cool kinda guy. The kinda guy Leon wanted to be friends with. Jesse's smile seemed to hold some kind of appreciation and acceptance. The moment was broken by a loud engine, followed by another two. Excitement surged through the crowd so strongly Leon could almost taste it. What could possibly get them so riled up? "Dom's here". He looked to his left. A short, toned Puerto Rican girl was standing between him and Hector. "Hey Let" Hector grinned, and Jesse echoed the greeting. Hector pointed at Leon, "That's Leon. He jus' moved in nex' door to Jesse. Leon, dis's Letty". She nodded once in greeting. She was beautiful, with smouldering ebony eyes and shiny black hair that looked fantastic against her caramel skin. But she held a certain strength about her. A hard core air. A 'don't mess with me' feeling. She wore oversized cargo pants that left a good few inches of her pale blue boxer's showing. With this she had on a wifebeater, slashed to show her toned, tanned stomach, and platformed combat boots with fire coming from the toes. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail. And her eyes burned with anticipation. A Mazda MX-6 pulled into the crowd, which parted like the Red Sea. It was followed by a Nissan 220SX and a Honda S2000. From the Nissan stepped a brunette guy with three day stubble and angry blue eyes, dressed in some stage of grunge. From the Honda, an Asian in all black, and a leather jacket. And from the Mazda, a willowy girl with long black hair, and a tower of muscle sporting a shaved head and the unmistakable makings of a true leader. "That's Vince" Hector said over his shoulder to Leon, pointing at the one who'd emerged from the Nissan, "The rich boy is Johnny. That's Mia, Toretto's sister. And, uh, Lance must be around here somewhere" Hector looked over his shoulder, and scanned the crowds for a moment, but didn't seem to be able to find who he was looking for, "Lance is Johnny's cousin". "Who's that guy?" Leon asked, motioning towards the owner of the Mazda who dripped with ego and arrogance. Hector grinned, "Wot, you stupid or sum shit? Dat's Toretto". Chapter 3 Dominic Toretto. Even for an eighteen year old, he was tall and massively built. His shoulders must have been two times broader than Jesse's, he was a good head and shoulders over Leon's head, and everything about him screamed the same message. Leader. It was obvious. It was in the way he walked. The way he looked at people. The way he spoke. The way he was. It radiated off him in waves. He was the king here. And he knew it. Leon stayed with Jesse as Letty and Hector walked over to Toretto. He didn't want to leave Jesse on his own, and he didn't really want to go over there. Toretto was intimidating. In appearance. In the way he looked at you. In the way he spoke to you. Leon didn't want to go over there and have to bare that look. "Toretto, is he a cool kinda guy?" Leon asked, turning his head to look at Jesse. "Yeah. He's a bit up himself sometimes, but that's only coz everybody loves him. Most of the time he's cool. I don't actually know him, like, personally, or anything, but from what I've seen and heard, he's an alright type'a guy" Jesse explained, again, Leon noted, using his hands ellaborately as he spoke. "Yo, Leon. Come over here" Hector called to him from where he stood with Dom and the people he'd arrived with. Leon and Jesse walked over. Leon tried to keep his cool. Tried not to act like the nervous new-comer that he was. "Dom, this's Leon. He jus' moved in nex' door to Jesse" Hector pointed at thumb at Leon. Dom eyed him with an eyebrow raised. He look neither pleased or displeased. He showed no emotion at all. It was only when he brought his gaze back to Leon's that he spoke. "Where you from?" he asked. His voice was a gravelly barratone that seemed to rumble right out of him. "Uh, Santa Barbara" and noticing Dom's smirk, Leon added quickly, "Queens, originally". This earned him a cocked eyebrow and a low rumbling chuckle. "Queens, hey? East-sider. Haven't had one of those around in a while" he commented. Leon wasn't sure whether that was meant as a good or bad thing. So he said nothing, because he didn't want to sound like an idiot in front of Dominic Toretto. "Yo, Dom, we gonna race or what?" Johnny asked impatiently. He'd been joined by another Asian, about his age, in snake skin pants, and a skanky looking Asian girl who held some resemblence of Johnny himself. "Ah, Leon, dat's Lance, and Trisha Tran" Hector pointed to who he was talking about. Leon looked over at them and nodded in greeting to each one. They all kept their faces stone cold. He knew the type. Rich assholes. Snobs. "Toretto. Race. Now" Johnny insisted, and Dom nodded, holding up a hand to tell him to keep his shirt on, they were getting there. "Three races. Two G buy in" Dom called, "Winner takes all". A cheer went up from the crowd, and it amazed Leon that one person had the power to do that. He'd never been to a street race before. But the longer he was here, the more intoxicating it became, and the more he loved it. The cars, the girls, everything here was beautiful. It was all fierce and frenzied and fast and furious. He loved it. Every single inch of it. He loved the smell of patent leather upholstery and petrol and aftershave and perfume and wax and gloss and everything else that mixed together in an assault of his mind and his senses. It was decided. The first race would be Lance against some white boy named Josh. The second would be Johnny against a hispanic Hector had been calling Nestor. And the third was Toretto against Edwin. Leon walked back over to the 300ZX with Hector and Jesse. Hector had been given the job of holding the money for the races, which started a few feet to the left of his car. The race spanned from the starting line that was just the white line painted on the road to signify traffic lights, along the quater mile to the trainlines up ahead. Leon wondered what would happen if a train happened to be coming, but didn't dwell on it. These people, no matter what society thought of them, really were intelligent, and would've taken something like that into consideration. The beginning of each race was marked by a change of colour in the traffic lights. The first race, Lance versing Josh, was started by the lights going red. Leon sat on the hood of the 300ZX, listening to Jesse as he explained to him why Lance was going to win, according to all of the things he ahd under the hood of his Honda, and what they did for the performance of the car. Leon listened intently and tried to catch most of it. He wanted to learn about these cars. They were so beautiful and intriguing. He thought himself lucky that Hector and Jesse ahad bothered to ask him over along at all. As Jesse had predicted, Lance won easily, and Josh sourly handed over the money. The roar of the crowds was almost deafening. "Hey, Jesse, is this like, the only scene around here?" Leon asked over the noise. Jesse shook his head, "Nah, this's like the little league of street racing. Once you get to a certain point, you move on up with the big boys at the Isle". Leon thought about this for a long moment. "How do you know when you've reached that point?" he querried. Jesse only shrugged, "How the hell am I s'pose to know? They jus'... *know*, I guess". Leon nodded and turned his gaze back to the race that was going to take place between Johnny and Nestor. Jesse proceeded again with his reasons on why Johnny was going to win the race. It seemed that the Trans, who had all the money in the world, put a substantial amount into their cars. "How much would all that shit cost?" Leon asked over the roar of the crowd as Johnny sped over the finish line one car length before Nestor. "Uh, about 100 grand, maybe 200" Jesse shrugged. He was a fast thinker. Good at maths. He always had been. Hell, besides auto shop it WAS the only thing he was good at. "Shit. That's alot of money. You sure they don't LIVE in them cars?" Leon rubbed a hand over his sandy blonde curls. "Nah" he gave a nervous little laugh, "They got this big ass house in one'a the expensive suburbs, y'know?" Jesse replied, looking across at him, "Like, six times the size of my place. Pool. Tennis court. Like their own fucking resort". "Why do they come here then?" Leon asked, looking around at the people who had turned up tonight. None of them looked any richer than he was. They all looked like normal, working class citizens. What the hell would people like the Trans come here for? "Makes 'em feel good, I guess" Jesse shrugged, rubbing his arm, "I dunno. I ain't never been rich before, so I don't know wot goes through their rich little heads". Leon smiled vaguely and turned his attention back to the race. It was so quiet it was unbelievable. How so many people could all hush up at the same time, with no one asking them to or signalling when they should be quiet, amazed Leon. It wasn't like school assemblies where about 80% of the students would be quiet while the other 20% continued to whisper and joke the entire time. No, it was deathly quiet. Not a single person said a word. No coughing. No whispering. Nothing. And it was all because Dominic Toretto was pulling up to the starting line. "Who's gonna win this one?" Leon asked softly, not wanting to break the fragile silence. "Toretto" Jesse said firmly, but that was all the information he volunteered. Leon nodded and sat in silence, waiting for the race to begin or someone to break the silence. It was so quiet it was almost uncomfortable. Edwin's car was atleast two car lengths behind when Toretto crossed the finish line. Leon found himself vaguely glad that he had lost. Edwin wasn't exactly his favourite person right now. The roar of the crowd reached almost deafening point. "Don't mind Edwin. He's just egotistical". Leon turned to look for the source of the female voice, and it was Toretto's sister, Mia. She had Toretto's friend, Vince, with her. He had a lollypop stick hanging out of his mouth. It looked out of place in his tough, grungy appearance. "Leon, right?" Mia smiled warmly, offering her hand. Leon took it with a smile, "Yeah. An' that'd make you Mia". "Yep. And this is Vince" Mia jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at him. Leon nodded and Vince grinned. He looked a little tipsy, but at least he was a happy drunk. "So, what brings you to L.A?" Mia asked, genuinely interested. "Parents. My Dad and his girlfriend wanted to move here. Didn't really get a say in it" Leon shrugged. Mia cocked an eyebrow, "So, you didn't want to move?". "No" he shook his head, "No, I didn't mind. Hell, anything had to be better than our old place. Our new house, it's not so great, but it's an improvement. And I can't complain about the neighbours" Leon answered with a quick smile aimed at Jesse. Mia nodded with a warm smile, "Yeah. You're lucky you live near Jesse and Hector. Vince is just around the corner from you, y'know? And me, Dom and Letty are on the next street". "True?" Leon raised his brows, "Shit. This is one small city". "Yeah" Mia smiled with a nod, "So I guess that means you're gonna go to the same school as us". Leon nodded with a shrug, "I guess so". "We'll look after ya" Vince offered, taking his strawberry loolypop out of his mouth so he could speak, "Ask Jesse. We looked after him too". Leon looked back to Jesse, and he smiled in the nervous way that he did everything, "Yeah. I didn't get my head flushed down the toilet once". |