Garrett Donnelly (garrettdonnelly) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-02-04 17:07:00 |
|
|||
A massacre was a strange thing to celebrate, and yet that was how Adrian had spent his night, with the people he called family, eating and drinking and recounting the gory details like it was something to be proud of. Which, in his case, it was. A job well done elicited praise, and for Adrian that was better than any monetary payment he could have ever received. Forget the violence, the casualties, the heat they were likely to bear from the cops; none of it mattered. He didn’t think in terms of black and white. Leo had wanted the competition out of the way, to assert the dominance of the Giacoma family, and so he ordered, so it had been done. He felt like he was on the winning team, and they’d just scored a home run; it was a good fucking feeling, even with Mr. Crankypants bitching up a storm in his head. After dinner at Leo’s, they’d gone out, and by this point it was just him, Nico, and a couple of beers. He was buzzed, but not drunk, and happy, as much as a guy like him could be happy. The itch for drugs, Frankie’s death, the big damn hero through the door; all were tucked away in the back of his mind, currently unimportant, kept at bay by a combination of booze and an adrenaline high. He knew better than to talk openly in public, so there was no reminiscing here, but his tongue was looser than usual, and he stared down into his beer as he swirled what was left around in the bottle. “S’a good night,” he said, looking up at Nico with a grin. Nico was in a good fucking mood. He’d been missing the nitty gritty but tonight had been the perfect opportunity to get back into the swing of things. Beheading a guy with a shovel hadn’t exactly been the best thing but it had felt damn good and so had celebrating. Seeing Gianna had just been the icing on the cake, precious little princess that she was and then to have time with Adrian afterwards? He thought maybe he’d dress in drag just to say thanks to Leo for a fantastic fucking day. The others had left the bar after a few beers and a few celebratory shots but Nico hadn’t seen Adrian in a while and it would be nice to share a couple beers. “Fuck yea it was,” he replied with a wolfish grin, like he could go out and take care of a few more folks. He wasn’t worried about the FBI or the cops. Hell, he wasn’t even fuckin worried about the National Guard because he trusted Leo. “Gonna be a good weekend I bet too.” He had an appointment with Morgan and he sure as hell wasn’t letting Gordon through while Leo said it was probably a bad idea. “Got any plans kiddo?” One of the most lasting impressions Adrian’s past had left upon him was a severe distrust and borderline hatred for law enforcement of any type, and while he didn’t exactly share Nico’s nonchalance when it came to the cops being on their tail, he trusted the higher-ups to know if shit was going to go down or if it was manageable. Obviously it was, or they wouldn’t have gone out to celebrate, right? Right. As long as he was careful, which he always was, there’d be nothing to worry about. “I like the sound of a good weekend,” he agreed, because the longer this lasted, the better. He liked feeling untouchable, especially in a city like Vegas. “Me? Nah. Nothing special.” He shrugged, and took another swig of beer. Sure, it was all fun having conversations with faceless names on the weird journal things, but he didn’t have many friends. Couldn’t trust well enough for them. “Most everyone does,” Nico teased before finishing off his beer. He signaled for the bartender to bring them another round before turning to Adrian. “Nothin’? Seriously?” He shook his head and sighed, a little disappointed. Adrian needed to get out, to have as much of a life as any of them could. “How you been with the journal? Don’t see you writin’ much.” He took a swig of his beer. “An’ that’s fine an’ shit, but you gotta get out and do something that ain’t just work or family shit, ya hear?” Having a balance was important and Adrian had a good head on his shoulders. He’d be careful with what he shared and who he made friends with. “Maybe find a nice girl to spend some time with?” he suggested, eyebrows raised in question to see what Adrian thought of that idea. Adrian was constantly in tune with his surroundings, which meant he was also acutely aware of the people in his vicinity; their body language, tone of voice, little things most would overlook. How they spoke was often more telling than what was said. And so, that disappointment registered loud and clear. Having a social life was never high on his priority list; he got along just fine on his own, outside of the Family, that is. Most of the social interaction he got these days was on the journals, rather than in person, and even that wasn’t much; he observed more than he participated. But if it would make Nico happy, he could try socializing a bit more. If that was odd, or unhealthy in any way, to be so willing to change simply to please another person, he didn’t realize it; hell, he’d been doing that for a while anyway. “Nothing yet,” he amended with a shrug, trying to play it off as casual. “I’m on the journals, yeah. Talked to some people. Haven’t found anyone in my door yet or whatever. I think my guy’s on some TV show, though.” He really only had a vague understanding from what some guy had said on the journals, something about a gay angel in a trenchcoat. Awesome. As for doing things beyond ‘Family shit’, yeah, Nico had a point. “I hear.” He delayed any further response by downing the rest of his beer, an uncomfortable prickle crawling along his spine at finding a ‘nice girl’. He had no problem with what he did, felt no guilt, and his morals were more than a little skewed, but that didn’t mean he wanted to drag some girl into things. “Yeah, maybe,” he said finally, once there was no more beer. He hadn’t spent a lot of time with Adrian, just one on one. In fact, they hadn’t really spent much of any time together until after Frankie died, but he knew enough to have a general sense of the boy. He carried the Rossi name now, and there were certain responsibilities that came with that. One of those expectations was a fair bit of stability in life. That meant a job, which Adrian had, and a social circle that could be used conveniently for alibis. The kid was a bit lacking in that department. He’d get there, he just needed a bit of encouragement. Nico was good at encouraging when it came to family and he’d welcomed Adrian into his with open arms. “Try not to let it get in the way of things,” he advised. For once, he was really fucking grateful that he had the upper hand when it came to Jim fucking Gordon. “If it does, you let me know.” Nico was dead serious about it. They weren’t going to let some fictional character fuck shit up. When Adrian replied to his suggestion about a girl, Nico rolled his eye. “Hey, kid. I don’t mean go get hitched. I just mean, might be good to find a girl to warm the bed some nights, ya hear?” He’d never suggest marriage, not in their line of work. Marriage was a necessity sometimes, to forge alliances. People like them didn’t marry for love and they certainly didn’t do what they did around people who weren’t like them. Keeping that kind of secret never went well, particularly when Adrian was destined to take on a higher role within the family at some point. He was a Rossi, after all. If he stuck with Nico, he’d be set for life. “Gotta live a little like normal fucks,” he advised. It was, for the mos part, a strong suggestion. There’d be stronger suggestions later on if necessary. Admittedly, Adrian had never really considered that his headcase might interfere with his life to the point of concern. Sure, the guy was loud and pissy, and he disapproved of just about everything in his life, but he was just a voice. He didn’t have actual form unless he went through the door, and that was a separate world entirely, not here at all. Still, even with Nico’s warning, he wasn’t too worried. Annoying, sure, but his guy wasn’t going to screw him over, not when he actually had a good thing. No way. “Yessir. I can handle him, though,” he added, not wanting to appear weak or incapable, because that was bad. He respected Nico too much to ever let him get that impression. One of his problems was that he’d always been a little too eager to please, and while normally he had a handle on it, especially when Frankie was around, sometimes he slipped, and sometimes he caught himself too late. “Oh, sure,” he agreed with a shrug and a laugh, as though the prospect of marriage was downright comical. Which, in his line of work, it was. “I hear. Please, I’m not lookin’ for marriage, or even anything serious. No way.” He’d been sort of apathetic about searching out female companionship for himself, and while he tried to play it off casually, he made a mental note to start acting a little more like the rest of them did in that regard. As long as he kept himself distant and detached, it’d be fine. No more falling for anyone, that was for damn sure. Live a little, sure, he could do that. No more sticking to himself. There was the repair shop, and the jobs he did for the Family, but maybe Nico had a point; maybe he needed more than that. Might be suspicious otherwise, and the last thing Adrian wanted was to screw everyone over. It wasn’t even about the consequences; it was about the shame of failure. “Yeah, okay. Thanks,” he added, as an afterthought. Nico was just looking out for him, after all, and even after all these years it was something he couldn’t quite get used to, not when he’d spent so, so long with no one to look out for him but himself. Nico just grinned and clapped Adrian on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit, kid,” he encouraged, before downing the rest of his beer. This weekend had been fucking perfect really and even the chance to hang out with Adrian was the icing on the fucking cake, wasn’t it? If the kid took his advice, that was the important part. It was all about image with all of them, which was exactly why very few people knew about his go to whore or the fact that he paid someone to beat Jim Gordon out of his head. They were just two more skeletons in a closet already full of skeletons, and at the very bottom was his fucking father, deader than dead and better off than what he deserved. Tonight wasn’t time for that kind of reminiscing. “Keep yer head up,” Nico suggested. “Yer doin’ good things, and it ain’t goin’ unnoticed.” Nico grinned like that was the best fucking news in the entire world. All it took was Nico’s encouragement to turn things around, on the drop of a dime; Adrian’s posture straightened, his eyes brightened, and his grin came far more easily. Maybe his loyalty was blind, but this, a real sense of family like he’d never known, made it all worth it, and no amount of morals or laws could beat that. He’d never cared about the skeletons in other people’s closets, not when he had enough of his own, and he didn’t push for information; not with Nico, or with anyone else. He was content in his ignorance, but even with added knowledge, the chances of anything changing were slim to none. One thing he definitely wasn’t was judgmental, and he knew he had no ground to stand on in the first place when it came to that. “Thanks,” he said, practically beaming at the praise, and the knowledge that his hard work and dedication were paying off. “That’s exactly what I want t’hear. I’ll keep it up.” He ordered another beer, good mood restored. |