#such good writing n characterisation n meow meow n summer loves. ugh

[roaldamundsen]

It's too hot, I hate summer so I had to torture 90s Domingo.

College was… hard, he didn’t feel like he fit in at all. Things were expected that he just didn’t know about, and while he knew it would be hard as the first one in the family to visit college, he had not realized how high the bar really was. Maybe it would have been easier if it had been music, the people would at least be more open, instead, he was surrounded by future suits and sometimes he felt how each course sucked a little bit more of his life out of him. Summer break couldn’t come soon enough, summer break meant he would see him again. Domingo had nursed his crush ever since he realized that he never looked at a girl, he only ever looked at Ignatio. Radiant, mischievous, and carefree. He had tried to keep in touch but with the two jobs Nacho’s been working it had been hard to find the time. The summer would be theirs though, and maybe Domingo would even find the courage to shoot his shot. The idea of holding hands under the vast New Mexico night sky made him giddy. Nacho has only gotten more muscular since he last saw him, and wouldn't dream to be pulled into those arms, all the girls at the pool were looking. Natcho never paid them a lot of attention, though he knew of a girl or two who would disappear with him during school. But now he didn’t even glance at the giggling gaggle they passed at the public pool and Domingo hoped. This hope was fueled by treasured memories of clumsy hidden kisses and some groping the last time they had a sleepover and the way Nacho didn’t even flinch when he asked him about applying his sunscreen he just offered Domingo his back and kept on telling the story that the question had interrupted. It was fouled by the banter and playful wrestling when they finally dived into the water, the easy touches as they walked back, and the fact that he didn’t even had to ask to reapply the sunscreen he just started and Nacho accepted it. Said hope was killed by a simple whistle that Domingo almost didn’t hear. But Nacho suddenly stiffened, linked around, and then was off like a shot.

As Lalo walked back to his car past the screeching of the public pool there was suddenly the tug of recognition in his gut that stopped him in his tracks. Unsure what caused it he looked around and there he saw him laughing with some other boy. Said tug soured and surged through him red hot, ugly, and deep in the pit of his stomach, he would not call it jealousy, of course not, he named it: betrayal.

His cielito had his arm slung around the shoulder of the stranger laughing and talking animatedly. They must have just gotten out of the pool, both still wet their swim shorts plaster to their legs their bodies leaning into each other. All that he could have overlooked but for the look on that pendejo’s face, all soft adoration and longing, he wanted to rip his throat out. 

Even more so for knowing that he should keep away from Nacho, and if he did this could be his summer love, something not destined to end but with the potential of growth. It was clearly what the other boy wanted, fawning over his amorcito, so helpful as he got his dirty paws all over him under the guise of applying sunscreen. He ground his teeth as the clear picture of that intruso hand in hand with Nachito, a perfect young love unfolded before him. He knew he was the disturbance, this could be his cue to step back, break the boys heart, let the other one comfort him.

Instead, he stepped towards the fence and gave a quick whistle. His ángel looked up searching and broke into a wide smile, getting up instantly and sprinting toward Lalo. That hungry thing inside him sighed with satisfaction, letting him go might have been the right thing to do, but doing the right thing was not the Salamanca way.

Domingo, unsure of what to do, followed. The man was older, maybe a customer? Maybe someone Nacho would need an excuse to get away from… but then he saw him grip the chainlink fence and lean forward almost pressing his body against the barrier to get closer to the stranger. Clearly not a stranger to Nacho, not the way he looked at the man, infatuation written all over his face. Domingo felt suddenly sick, stopping far enough away so he wouldn’t hear the whispered conversation yet unable not to hear Nacho and the stranger laugh together. There was a comfortable intimacy in their interaction that made his skin crawl, this is not how his summer was meant to be! But it was clear from the look on Ignatios face that he was too late, he had lost his chance and the heart he had hoped to win had already been gifted to someone else.

YOU WRITE THEM SO GOOD. LALO YOU SNAKE. I CAN SEE IT HAPPENING. oh my god anon oh my god oh my goddd it's so excellent. it's heartbreaking. it's everything I love about these three really. also I am eternally grateful that a few people are still interested in the 90s au that I didn't pick up 💔