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A while ago I posted a bit of backstory for the Ryan/Esposito Noir AU that [info]mb_jazz_freak87 requested over on a post in her LJ. Since today's Daily Drabble is a bit more of their backstory, I figured I'd go ahead and stick the comment fic in with it. \o/

Title: Swing and a...
Author: coffeebuddha
Rating: PG-13/FRT
Characters/Pairings: always-a-girl!Kevin Ryan, Javier Esposito
Word Count: 498
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Summary: Javier moves to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday.





Javier moves to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday. Well, no, that's not wholly accurate. Javier's parents move to the city two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday. Javier is dragged along against his will, barely refraining from kicking and screaming. They're here because the farm dried up and it's the only place his dad can find work, which Javier intellectually understands, but he hates it and the only thing stopping him from hitching his way back home and begging the Lowells to take him on as a farmhand is the pinched, resolute look that's settled unhappily on his mama's face.

They arrive at the height of summer, the heat sticky and oppressive in a way that makes him long for dust.

When they pull up, a group of kids are playing stickball in the street outside their new apartment building. A girl is just stepping up to bat. She's like no girl he's ever seen before; her light brown hair is pulled back in a messy braid and her too big clothes should by all rights be on a boy. Even the farmers' daughters wore dresses when they did their chores. It's probably a city thing, he decides as he climbs out of the truck--it's already been sold to the Lowells, but Mr Lowell is letting them use it for the move since he and dad go so far back--and the girl swings.

She connects with the ball with a solid crack, and Javier has enough time to hear the little girl on the stoop scream out, "Woo, Kev!" and watch the truly beautiful arch the ball makes before it slams right into his head.

When he comes to, his mama is kneeling next to him with his head cradled in her lap, his dad is yelling at a sandy haired man who's giving back just as good as he gets, and the girl--'Kev', apparently--is standing by his feet with her head cocked to the side and her hands on her hips.

"Ow," he says, and the girl rolls her eyes. (There's a furrow between her eyebrows that he'll later learn is usually reserved for when she's fretting over her little sister, but he thinks he can be forgiven for missing the significance under the circumstances.)

"If you have time to watch it coming at you, you have time to duck out of the way," she says philosophically. Javier has the feeling that he's being judged and found wanting.

"Ow," he repeats, because it bears repeating.

"Oh, you'll be fine," Kev insists, kicking gently at his ankle. "When you're feeling better, you should grab a mitt and come join us." She pauses and a wicked grin spreads across her face, her blue eyes dancing. "I mean, we already know you can catch."

And that's how it happens that two weeks shy of his eleventh birthday, Javier's forced to move to the city, nearly gets a concussion, and falls in love.



Title: A Dame that Knows the Ropes
Author: coffeebuddha
Rating: PG/FRE
Characters/Pairings: always-a-girl!Kevin Ryan/Javier Esposito
Word Count: 491
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
Prompt: [info]mb_jazz_freak87 requested more of the R/E noir au.
Notes: Title's taken from a quote by Mae West. "A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up."






Kevine realizes early on that she isn't beautiful like her little sister. There's nothing sour or unpleasant about the realization; it doesn't even hit her suddenly. It's just something that is. Jenny is the kind of child who provokes exclamations like, 'Oh, where did she get those eyes!' in complete sincerity. Kevine is the kind who provokes exclamations like, 'I don't care if I can't prove it, that little brat owes me for a new window!'

Jenny is the warmth and brightness of the sun with a clear summer sky's blue in her eyes. She's sweet as a soda pop with twice the bubble.

Kevine has a thin ring of grime at the quick under her fingernails and a bad habit of punching uppity fellows in the nose. She's tough as grit with all the appeal of a volatile thunderstorm.

It's okay though, Kevine thinks when she's fourteen and Jenny is thirteen, and all the boys who play ball with her scuff their toes in the dirt when they look at her baby sister. Jenny has admirers, boys who blush at her smile and whisper about the delicate curve of her waist. They buy her candy at the corner store and vie for her attention like a pack of dogs begging for scraps.

Kevine, well, Kevine has pals. She doesn't inspire blushes, but she doesn't need those half as much as she needs someone to have her back in a scrap or ready to toss her the ball when she sees an opening to get the ball back to home plate when there are three on base.

She has nights spent laughing over illicit bottles of booze, afternoons raising eyebrows over the racy stories in brown paper covered books, and lazy Saturdays perched in the highest tree near the baseball stadium.

More than that, she has Javier. There are unhappy murmurs, sometimes even threats, about his pale mother and his dark skinned father, but Kevine doesn't listen to them. Why would she when she has Javier's low voice whispering hilarious secrets about Mrs. Irvine's secret visits with the ice man and the lengths Mr. Thompson will go to keep his shirts white when money's a little too tight for bleach. Javier's her best pal, her confidant, her partner in crime, and she loves him with a ferocity that scares her a little bit in its vastness.

And if sometimes it seems that she'll never notice the way that Javier, who never grants Jenny more than a friendly smile, occasionally buys Kevine chocolate when she's had a bad day, goes just a bit rosier in the cheek when she grabs him by the wrist, and watches her with the same wide, wanting eyes as the dogs who hang around outside the butcher's shop?

Well, Javier is willing to wait, because Javier has always loved a good thunderstorm, even when he can only smell the far off ozone of it on the breeze.




Thank you for reading! Feedback is always appreciated!

First commenter gets to pick the next prompt! When requesting, please keep in mind that I try to keep these between 100-500 words. For a list of my fandoms and squicks, go here. The list is worth checking out again even if this isn't your first rodeo, because it's just gone through a major overhaul. AUs, crack, genderbending, etc are all welcome in addition to more canon compliant prompts.

IMPORTANT: I'm embarrassingly behind on, well, pretty much everything at this point, so please keep the spoilers for the latest season anything still airing that's on my list AWAY from my journal in your prompts and comments. Thanks!


Date: 2012-04-02 04:26 am (UTC)
ext_252155: silver wings (Default)
From: [identity profile] zilentdreamer.livejournal.com
I can sympathize with Kevine.....*sigh*

So good!!!!!

Date: 2012-04-02 04:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeebuddha.livejournal.com
Thank you!

You have the prompt, dollface. What would you like? :)

Date: 2012-04-02 04:53 am (UTC)
ext_252155: silver wings (Default)
From: [identity profile] zilentdreamer.livejournal.com
please please please do something Aaron/Wendell!!!!!

I recently blasted through your and rispacooper's series on Archive of Our Own and am now suffering from serious withdrawals.

Date: 2012-04-02 06:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] abbynormalitis.livejournal.com
Guh. I freaking love this 'verse.

I have this die-hard weakness for always-a-girl!au's and this is perfect, om Kev's smarmy attitude to Javier's pining puppy-love.

May I use this opportunity to beg for more?

Date: 2012-04-05 02:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeebuddha.livejournal.com
Thank you, honey! :D

You can try, but no guarantees. lol

Date: 2012-04-02 11:40 pm (UTC)
uberniftacular: (Castle: R/E hug)
From: [personal profile] uberniftacular
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeee. ♥

Date: 2012-04-03 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coffeebuddha.livejournal.com
Hahaha Gee, I wonder if you like it... ;)

Date: 2012-04-03 10:34 pm (UTC)
uberniftacular: (Castle: R/E laughing)
From: [personal profile] uberniftacular
:D

This 'verse is awesome. ♥

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