#carlos cougar alvarez

[scuddish]

ÓSCAR JAENADA as CARLOS “COUGAR” ALVAREZ THE LOSERS 2010 | dir. Sylvain White

[buffaluff]

the losers (2010) is the best comic book movie adaptation ever made, i WILL be dying on that hill.

[kiytsunebi]

i've always liked cougar/jensen's dynamic so i don't know why i was surprised i fell in love with ghostsoap

[cookiemom6067]

[i-rec-this]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Losers (2010) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen, Franklin Clay/William Roque Characters: Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez, Jake Jensen, William Roque, Franklin Clay Additional Tags: First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Character of Color, Podfic, Podfic Length: 45-60 Minutes Summary:

Figured that Roque would pass out and make Jensen carry his lazy ass halfway across Afghanistan.

[cxce15]

NEW CHARACTER OBESSION DROPPPPPP

Drumroll please ladies & gentlemen

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

Carlos Alvarez my lovely people aka Cougar from The Losers

Which to my surprise is technically DC

Movies great in my opinion a lot of people only watch for Chris Evans which is valid but come on...

Look at this man

Anyway I would love for my some fanfiction to be created as soon as possible for this man if anyone who writes sees this post.

Thank you for stopping & listening to my Ted talk - goodbye

[olderthannetfic]

Reading Comprehension – The Film Version

I was talking to someone a while back about the grammar of film editing and how they'd like to know more, but info isn't really available. This is one of my soapboxes. It floors me how simple a lot of this shit is to explain, yet even top film schools just assign In the Blink of an Eye and call it a day. Walter Murch is a great writer, and he has the film cred to back up his treatise on aesthetics, but can we really not manage at least a couple more books anybody cares about? (No, On Film Editing and that book of interviews with Murch don't... cut it.)

For all that film has supposedly been democratized, Youtube et al. are a wasteland for actual discussions of film grammar. Every Frame a Painting has some stuff. Lindsay Ellis has a couple of videos. But most educational film content is very much aimed at either the technical side of camera and editing or is waaaaay too obsessed with the screenplay. (I await the whiny-ass anons from last time who insist that their favorite youtubers discuss this all the time. Nah, dude. If they did, you'd have been willing to name names.)

It's an approach that's overly literal and overly verbal, which makes sense given that what reading comprehension we're taught is all focused on picking apart some essay or maybe a classic book.

Unfortunately, words aren't what define film: reaction shots are.

Having a command of film grammar matters for everything from detecting political propaganda to recognizing when Hollywood is like "Ohhh, but we gave them liiiines in the scriiipt" but the actual product they put out completely undercuts those characters, whether it's not even filming a single or stuffing them behind other characters in the group shots or being embarrassingly incapable of lighting dark skin properly or a host of other obnoxious shit.

Anyway, I made a couple of my own little attempts to put out some free educational materials about how film grammar works.

Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez: Human Exclamation Point is about how to make a character feel like a lead when they have no lines and like two seconds of screen time.

Aisha is the Object; Clay is the Subject is about how to make someone not a protagonist by training the camera on their butt all the damn time.

IDK why I was suddenly thinking about this this afternoon, but I was.

[andydrysdalerogers]

Undercover - One - Jake

Pairings: Jake Jensen and OFC Samantha Matthews

The Losers have made it back to their families and are out. Well, almost. A threat against the British crown needs to be handled and the CIA has tapped the Losers for one final mission. And they are sending in Jensen.

Jake Jensen hasn't been a civilian in years but now he's undercover to find out why his target is where he is and who he's after.

Enter Sam, someone who Jake doesn't expect and well, he didn't know he was looking for.

Can Jake handle his mission and falling in love? Especially when the truth leads to a bigger mission than expected?

*~* A Jake Jensen Story *~*

Author's note: this story continues after the events of the Losers. I may weave other characters into it but they are all minor.

The playlist is available on Spotify.

cover photo by me! Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Warnings: angst, death, smut, and a bunch of stuff a can’t say because it gives away the plot!

"Alight Losers, focus up.”  

Colonel Franklin Clay looked at his exhausted team.  It had been a long, few months, getting back from Bolivia, getting to Max and Roque’s betrayal of the team. They had just received their pardons, visiting the families that thought them dead and were now back together for their final debrief.  

Or so they thought.  

“We got tapped for an undercover ops,” Clay explained.  “It’s going to be a long one but the request is coming from an outside source.”  

“So not your typical ops.” Sgt. Linwood ‘Pooch’ Porteous commented while kicking his feet onto the desk in front.  

“Not this time.  One will be in deep cover at a company where the target works.  The mission is to recon and discovery of the target’s mission.”  

“Who’s asking?” Pooch flipped a pen in the air. Sgt. Carlos ‘Cougar’ Alvarez caught it and put it down shaking his head.  

“Dunno.  Our handler should be coming in…” 

“Right now.”  A tall, dark hair individual came in, suit, no tie, followed by another man.  “Nick Fowler, CIA director of Foreign Affairs.” 

“Clay.  That’s Pooch, Cougar, Aisha and… Jensen!” 

A blonde stood up from the snack table, licorice in his mouth.  He wiped his hands on his jeans and walked over.  “Hi!” 

“Great.  This is Inspector Harry Hart, British Intelligence.”  

“How do you do?” He shook everyone’s hand before clearing his throat.  “We would normally send in our own man but since our target is based in the US, we need an American to blend in.  We need someone who can also blend in seamlessly and get close to the target.”  

“That would be me,” Clay said.  

“Excellent.  And this is our target.”  He flashed a picture.  “John Fitzgerald. He is a former MI6, turned mercenary. He has been keeping low until just a few days ago when we intercepted intelligence that he is a threat to the crown. The King has been informed of the situation but is obviously not involved for his safety and the safety of his family.”  

“Shit,” Clay mumbled. He picked up the photo of the target.  “I know him.  We worked together 20 years ago.  I can’t go in.”  

“Who can?” Fowler asked.  

Clay furrowed his brow. “What company?” 

“It is,” Hart shuffled his papers, “ADR Diagnostics.  A tech company.”  

The Losers all swiveled their heads and looked at Jensen, who looked back with wide eyes. “What?” 

“Jensen can go in,” Clay said.  

Hart stepped forward.  “Name, rank and qualifications?” 

Jensen stood up straighter. “Captain Jake Jensen, masters in computer science and Data Analytics.” Jake started to sweat a little as Fowler and Hart inspected him.  

“Well, he does have the look of an IT guy,” Fowler commented. “What do you think, Inspector?” 

“Captain, you understand that you will essential be a civilian working undercover to find out what is going on with Fitzgerald?  There is not a timetable.  The faster you discover his motives, the faster you are out.”  

“Colonel,” Jake turned to Clay, “I thought we were out?”  

“They haven’t given us our papers yet Jake.  This would be our last mission.” Clay turned to the team. “It’s up to you.”  

“I’m in,” Pooch said.  Cougar tilted his trademark hat. Aisha shrugged.  Clay turned back to Jensen.  “The company is based near your family’s hometown.  You can stay near them and visit like normal since you do have to keep up appearances.”  

Home. Something that Jake had longed for.  His reunion with his parents has been joyful.  Especially since his cousin Savannah and niece Grace had been visiting.  Her husband and two other children had stayed home with the flu, which was a bummer but still.  

“Alright,” Jensen clapped his hands together.  “I’m in.”  

“Excellent. We will get you planted as a manager of an IT group.  You start a week from Monday to allow you time to get settled.  The apartment we have procured for you is in the town center and you should be able to walk to the office,” Hart explained.  

Civilian life.  

Not something he was expecting. But here he was, Captain Jake Jensen, IT guy. He stood in front of ADR Diagnostics and looked up. The weekend had been interesting.  His parents had been thrilled that he was going to be closer to home.   He settled into his loft apartment and set up his reconnaissance equipment to maintain contact with the team.  He was to check in every Friday, under the guise of drinks with old friends.  He had studied his target.  

Fitzgerald was a handsome man, loyal to the crown, until an accident killed his partner, and he went sideways.  He left the service, went underground.  The threat that brought him back into radar was interesting.  Fitzgerald was looking for leverage against the old King of England.  His Majesty, King Harold had just stepped down to his son, Anthony, his only child, in a swirl of worry as Anthony had not had any children of his own.  

Jake found it curious on the line of succession the next person would be Anthony’s cousin, Lewis, to inherit.  From what Jake found online, the people of England despised Lewis for his snotty attitude to the common people and his utter disdain for his uncle and cousin, so much as speaking out against them. What could Fitzgerald be looking for to hold over the old King? He must be connected to Prince Lewis in some way, Jake noted to himself.  

Walking in, he was greeted by his new supervisor. “Jake?” 

“Yeah, Jake Jensen.” He offered his hand.  

“Michael Anderson.  Follow me.”  

Jake internally snorted remembering his break into the last company.  He followed the man to the bank of elevators and went up.  

“So, Jake, you’ll be heading a team of techs checking for security for our clients. Your team is four plus you and you will be reporting to me.  We do a daily report due at the end of the day before you leave. You have to send that to Sam, my assistant.”  

Jake nodded along. “Cool. No problem.”  

Michael looked over Jake. “I know it’s your first day but lose the tie. We’re pretty casual here. Polo and jeans will do.  Fridays can be a t shirt.”  

“Sure.” Jake pulled off his tie and stuffed it into his backpack. Getting off on the 14th floor, Michael directed him to an air where five desks were situated.  “Guys, focus up.” Four heads popped up.  “This is your new team leader Jake Jensen. This is Fred, Dave, Rob and Pete, your team. Make him feel welcome and shit. I’ll check in with you guys later.”  

“Uh, Mr. Anderson?” 

“Mike, please.” 

“Right Mike. Uh computer?” 

“Right.” He pulled a laptop out of his own bag. “Email is set up and will have all your system logins. Sam should have emailed you your report instructions and everything you need. Have any questions, ask your team or send a message to Sam. Otherwise, own your team, Jake.”  

“Thanks.” Mike walked away and Jake turned back to the guys. “Hi.” He awkwardly waved his hand.  

“Sup, boss man, I’m Fred. De facto mouth of the team.  That Dave, Rob and Peter,” pointing to each guy. “Uh I’ll let you set up.”  

“Thanks. Just set up and you guys can tell me where you are.” Jake moved to his new desk and took out a frame. Pictured was his niece Grace with his cousin Savannah. They had lost touch for a few years when his asshole aunt and uncle cut Savvy off. Now she was married and happy and Jake got back in touch with her. A perk of no longer being dead.  

As he set his desk up, he looked up to see a beautiful brunette walk across the floor. Her long dark hair with blonde tip bounced with her curls in a sleek ponytail.  She wore an emerald-green blouse with dark jeans and heels. Jensen couldn’t help but stare. And then she looked up. Cupid lips, soft pink cheeks, cat eyeglasses framing big eyes with lashes. Her smile made Jake swoon. When she looked in his direction he ducked and moved to open his email. “Stupid,” he muttered to himself. No way a girl that gorgeous is single. He concentrated on the task at hand, reading the first email in his new inbox.  

From: Sam Matthews  To: Jake Jensen  Hi!  Below are your logins for the system. I’ve attached a sample excel sheet to use for your daily reports. Any questions, you can email or instant message me.   Welcome to the team Jake!   Sincerely,  Sam Matthews  Assistant to Michael Anderson  

Jake reviewed all the info given and then sat with his team.  But his mind never left the beautiful brunette. I wonder where she works, he thought to himself.  

Closer than you think, Jake.  

The day went smoother than he thought, ADR’s systems sophisticated but simple. He was able to catch up to where his team was at and log in the progress.  He caught glimpses of his dream girl as she walked around the office. Lunch time with the team was easy, the guys were really nice about inviting Jake and keeping him in the conversation.  But it was around three that Jake got his break.  He was headed into the break room for a much needed pick me up in the way of coffee. Making sure that he didn’t get lost, his eyes wandered around the floor before his reflexes caused him to dodge someone.  

“Excuse me, sorry,” he heard and looked to see a flounce of curls walk away.  It was dream girl. He was about to say something when someone else caught his attention.  

“Pardon me, I just… you’re new.” A British accent hit Jake’s ears and he looked to find himself face to face with John Fitzgerald.  

“Yeah, hi. I’m Jake, IT.”  

“John, accounting.  Sorry, did you see a brunette pass by?” 

Jake stared a second too long at Fitzgerald and shook himself back to the present.  “Uh, yeah, she went into the elevator.”  

“Sly minx, she is.  You must know how that is,” Fitzgerald flashed Jake a rouge smile.  Jake swallowed and nodded unsure what to say.  “Well, I’ll see you around Jake.”  

“Likewise.”  

This guy? Jake shook his head as he poured himself a cup.  Dammit. Now I have to be all douchebag around this guy, he thought to himself as he took a sip.  Another voice startled him that he spilled his coffee a bit.  

“Is he gone?” 

Jake turned to see his dream girl in front of him. Her glasses were pushed up into her hair, showing off her big eyes that he now knew were brown with flecks of green and gold in them. She was chewing on her bottom lip, making it fuller.  Jake was memorized.  “Uh, yeah.  I told him that you went up the elevator.”  

“Thank you.  God, he just won’t take no for an answer.”  

Jake was captivated by her voice. It had a slight accent to it but barely noticeable.  “Sorry for my species.” He wrinkled his nose at the comment and went to leave, knowing he had just made a fool of himself.  

But then he heard it: her giggle.  “Thank you for apologizing.  I’m Sam, by the way. Sam Matthews.”  

Holy. Shit.  

His new boss’s assistant is his dream girl.  

And suddenly, being undercover was not so bad.  

NEXT

Taglist:

@patzammit

@texmexdarling

@slutforchrisjamalevans

@firephotogrl74

@tinkerbelle67

@before-we-get-started

@bunnyforhim

@alexakeyloveloki

@sunnyhummingbee

@whiskeytangofoxtrot555

@peaceinourtime82

@saucy-sassy-sparkly

@kmc1989

@kandis-mom

@lokislady82

[forever1kay]

DC Masterlist

MISC

The misc masterlist will feature characters I don’t plan to write about often. That list will be created eventually, but as of now we’ll just focus on the masterlists below!

-

→ Titans

This list includes characters from the 2018 series Titans. Works about Dick Grayson and/or Kory Anders will frequent more, but I do still write about Conner Kent, Gar Logan, Rachel Roth, Donna Troy, and Jason Todd. You can request other characters such as Hawk and Dove, Tim Drake, or Blackfire but they will be in the misc masterlist.

→ The Losers

This list includes characters such as (Jake) Jensen, Carlos “Cougar” Alvarez, (Franklin) Clay, (William) Roque, Linwood “Pooch” Porteous, and Aisha Al-Fadhil.

→ Black Lightning

This list includes characters such as Jennifer Pierce, Anissa Pierce, Lynn Stewart, Grace Choi, Jefferson Pierce, Khalil Payne, Issa Williams, and Peter Gambi.

→ Justice League

This masterlist includes Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ezra Miller’s Flash, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman!

→ Young Justice

Including characters from the 2010 DC cartoon show Young Justice. Including characters such as Conner Kent (Superboy), Wally West (Kid Flash), Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson), Kaldur’ahm (AquaLad), Karen Beecher (Bumblebee), Jaime Reyes (Blue Beetle), and Virgil Hawkins (Static Shock).

→ My Adventures With Superman

Here I will write about Clark Kent/Superman. If you would like anything written about Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen, you can request it but it will go in the misc masterlist.

→ Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman

I really only planned to write about Clark Kent/Superman, Jack Milner and Jimmy Olsen but you can request works about other characters. If I fulfill your request, those works will go into the misc masterlist.

→ Smallville

Okay, you caught me! I haven’t actually watched the show yet. I’ve only seen short clips. For now, I only plan to write about Clark Kent. This list may possibly be updated after I watch the show.

[scuddish]

ÓSCAR JAENADA as CARLOS “COUGAR” ALVAREZ THE LOSERS 2010 | dir. Sylvain White

[amethystina]

💗 Five Comfort Characters, Five Tags 💗

I got tagged by @miss-ingno! Thank you so much 💜

I honestly don't think I have any "comfort characters" as such unless we're talking about my own OCs, but I'm going to assume that no one wants to hear about those. So I'm going to pick characters that I like or find very fascinating instead. This is by no means an exhaustive list because they're basically just the ones that popped into my mind while writing this, but yeah. Also, I'll be splitting it into female and male characters because I can.

Female characters:

Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. I just find her so incredibly lovable. And her whole aura and outlook on life just makes me so relieved.

Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones. Never mind that I never finished it. I still love her to bits (I also have a crush on Gwendoline Christie but that's neither here nor there…)

Evelyn Carnahan/O'Connell from The Mummy. The movie is a childhood staple and I always looked up to how much braver and more capable she became as the story progressed.

Edith Cushing/Sharpe from Crimson Peak. This might be partly because I love the movie so much, but I just like how HUMAN she is. There's something relatable about her even if we have so very little in common and I find that fascinating.

Joan Watson from Elementary. I just really like her. She's smart, she's funny, she's resourceful, she's badass, she's human. In the best way possible.

Male characters:

Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII. I mean, he's an asshole and all, but he's been a favourite character of mine for so long that it's probably hardwired into my DNA at this point.

Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez from The Losers. Because he's just calm and sensible and I can probably write him in my sleep. That's how comfortable I am with him.

Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch the Third from the Simon Snow series. I just finished reading this series and there's just something about Baz that I find very likeable and relatable. I'm very partial to Baz.

Arthit "Oon" Rojnapat from SOTUS. Look. When Arthit cry, I cry. It's as simple as that. And I'm always a sucker for "seems like an asshole but is secretly a big softie."

Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Okay, so this one is partly just nostalgia, I will admit, because Supernatural played a big part in my life at the time I was watching it. And Dean was just always the character I gravitated towards.

Bonus — My UNcomfort Character:

Kang Yo Han from The Devil Judge. I love the fucker to death but it also makes me incredibly uncomfortable to know how similarly we seem to think and work as human beings. It's like watching a "Worst Case Scenario" of yourself x'D

And I'm still terrible at tagging so just do it if you want to! :D

[ao3feed-ineffablehusbandz]

Истории, написанные мною за учебниками

Истории, написанные мною за учебниками

by Blood_like_lemonade

Тот самый сборник драбблов и миников, который должен быть у каждой авторки

Words: 1888, Chapters: 5/?, Language: Русский

Fandoms: БИ-2 | BI-2 (Band), The Losers (2010), The Losers (Comics), 我在惊悚游戏里封神 - 壶鱼辣椒 | I Became a God in a Horror Game - Pot Fish Chili, Nochnoy Dozor | Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko, Nochnoy Dozor | Night Watch (Movies), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: Gen, M/M, F/M

Characters: Shura Bi-2, Lyova Bi-2, Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez, Jake Jensen, Mu Sicheng, Tawil, Bai Liu, Mu Ke, Tigress | Tigrerra, Bear (Nochnoy Dozor), Tiger Cub (Nochnoy Dozor), Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Relationships: Lyova Bi-2/Shura Bi-2, Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez & Jake Jensen, Bai Liu & Tawil, Tigress | Tigrerra/Bear (Nochnoy Dozor), Bear (Nochnoy Dozor)/Tiger Cub (Nochnoy Dozor), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Drabble Collection

From https://ift.tt/wGWSIVN https://archiveofourown.org/works/46367239

[cookiemom6067]

"A Second Chance" by @amethystina - Part 10 of "Sniper and Hacker"

Prompt by Anonymous: I don't know if you're still taking these, but I wish you would write a fic where Jensen thinks Cougar died at the oil rig (I haven't read his death yet, just the beginning of Grief), but he actually escaped and is trying to find Jensen, who's doing his damnedest to disappear, and like in Grief he tries and fails to outrun his grief & Cougar can't find him because Jensen's fucking great at his job, but eventually he does and puts him back together after he fell apart. Sorry if it's an awful idea

Rating/Warnings: T / Spoilers for the comics, Suicidal thoughts and almost attempted suicide, Grief

Notes: When this was originally posted on my Tumblr way back in 2015, it was written in a way that didn't fit AO3 (too meta, I guess you can say) but I decided to give it a quick edit and here we are. It's a fix-it for the comics, even if I glossed over how on earth Cougar survived, simply for the sake of the prompt. I mean, I'm not going to lie — I desperately want to change that ending and I will do it even if it defies all logic. Well, at least this once.

[scriggle-scraggle]

Óscar Jaenada

[tenderjock]

Despierta, mi bien, despierta

Three days on the edge of the world and one day back home.

: :

The sunset is beautiful.

Before the last golden summer light slips below the horizon, Carlos snaps a picture on the phone that Jensen had given him. It doesn't do the view justice, of course. The mountains look distant, the sky puke-orange and watery. Carlos saves the picture anyway.

He knows that Jensen tracks him, is the thing. If he didn't have the phone on him at all times, maybe Jensen wouldn't be able to track him, but that's quite frankly not an option. Still, it's both uncomfortable and uncomfortably familiar, that feeling of being watched. Carlos hasn't been in a town bigger than three hundred in two months, hasn't spoken English in much longer than that, and hasn't felt the need to acknowledge his former teammate's complete fucking lack of boundaries. Hasn't really felt the need to acknowledge his former teammates at all.

His chest feels tight. Carlos turns the phone off and tucks it away in his pack. Once it is secure, he goes about setting up his camp for the night. He probably should have started doing that before dark, for optimal backpacking safety, but there's still plenty dusky purple twilight to see by.

It's February in Patagonia. This high in the mountains, the air is crisp and cold and thin. When Carlos settles in his bedroll for the night, he places an unsheathed Bowie knife and his hat next to the small, banked fire, where he can easily reach them if the need arises. He doesn't carry guns anymore. He didn't realize, at the time of deciding this new fact about himself, that it would make him feel so very naked all the time.

Carlos frowns at the stars winking into existence above him. Before his mind can start spinning in the way it has been threatening to do since he took that goddamn phone out, he rolls over and squeezes his eyes firmly shut.

The moon rises and sets, and Carlos tosses and turns below her pockmarked face.

: :

The next morning, he hikes approximately fifteen kilometers before lunch, not a record-breaking distance by any stretch of the imagination but it's something. Carlos finds a sheltered alcove along the line of a steep cliff – a nest, the part of his brain that he cannot fucking shut off says – boils some water, drinks it hot and slams a disgusting MRE. After he's eaten, Carlos lays down on his belly in the dirt and wriggles forward until the ground falls away under his chin.

He stays there for the rest of the day, breathing slowly in and out of his mouth. A hawk wheels through the clear mountain air below him, and Carlos watches it spin, wind brushing the brim of his hat and the locks of dark hair that curl around his cheekbones.

: :

It's the fourteenth. His little calendar notebook that he's been very carefully keeping says so, and Jensen's phone confirms it. When Carlos wakes up at dawn, he doesn't immediately break down camp for the morning. Instead, he digs out a strawberry-flavored protein bar and a box of long-stemmed wooden matches. He sticks one into the unwrapped protein bar and sets it on fire.

It's not the best birthday cake, but Carlos has had worse. He watches the match burn down, humming Las mañanitas to himself. Before he can psych himself out, Carlos takes a picture of the gray-yellow sky, the dark cliff dropping off suddenly below his perch, and sends it to Jensen.

Prior to starting his day's hike, Carlos very carefully turns the phone off and then very carefully tucks it in his pack. Jensen could probably track him even with the phone off, but the thought doesn't make anxiety curl in his ribcage anymore.

He starts walking, one scuffed boot in front of the other. It's a start.

: :

It's Jake's day off, which is technically every day now because he no longer has a job and is rich as sin due to all the money he funneled out of Max's – Maxs's? – accounts before all the shit went down. Anyway, he's in his boxers at his sister's kitchen table, stuffing himself with Special K Red Berries because Rikki refuses to buy better cereal. Says it's bad for developing teeth, or what-the fuck-ever.

There's a knock at the door. Jake reaches for a gun that isn't there. He considers the lack of weapons, the probability of assassins being sent after him at his family's home in suburban Massachusetts, and his ability to fight said assassins My Little Pony underwear.

"Ah, hell," Jake says to himself, puts down the bowl of cereal and shuffles over to the front door.

It's Cougar.

It's Cougar, and if he isn't a sight for sore eyes Jake doesn't know what is. His hair is longer, and braided back, which is a good look on him. He's bundled up, because it is early March in New England and Cougar always hated the cold. He's dark-eyed and stubbly and minus a rifle but still wearing that stupid cowboy hat, and it's Cougar, it's Cougar, after months of nothing but a little dot on a computer screen and the occasional blurry, lopsided pic of a wilderness scene.

Seriously. The man has no concept of the artistry of photography.

Jake blinks at Cougar. Cougar blinks back. After a moment, Jake manages to get his mouth back in working order and blurts out, "You're in Argentina!"

Cougar's steady solemn mouth tilts. "My phone is in Argentina," he says, and really, that's the oldest trick in the book and Jake should've fucking expected it.

Before Jake can respond, Cougar pushes his way in. He's got a duffel on his back and he smells fairly unwashed, which – Jake kind of thought that the days where he could identity his teammates by musty human funk scent were firmly behind him, but here they were. And it's not – it's not bad.

It's just Cougar.

Cougar starts casing the place, checking sightlines and exits. Jake stares at him, uncharacteristically lost for words. He hadn't expected to see Cougar again for a while yet, is all. To be honest, a part of him hadn't expected to see Cougar ever again, not after Cougar looked at him with his eyes like burning holes in his face and told Jake that he dreamed about those kids every night. Not after they got back in the States and Cougar up and disappeared, leaving every gun he owned and a piece of paper that just said Hasta luego.

That had been Jake's comfort, for the last eight months, that if Cougar was gonna off himself it would be easier to do with a gun. That and the phone, making its slow sure way south across Latin America. They had kept Jake from grieving too early. Or maybe it had helped soothe the grief that was already there.

"Coug, man," Jake says finally. Cougar doesn't look over but his hat tilts a little, which is almost the same thing. "You – you okay now?"

Cougar is silent. He lets out a slow, measured breath, then nods. "Yeah, Jensen," Cougar says, quiet like a silver sunrise. "'M okay."

[lisenakira]