#and I've loved getting to delve into Teto who is one of my favorite but lesser shown sons | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

im-fairly-whitty · 6 years

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Hermanos -- Coco Villain!au

Hey guys! It’s been a while since the finale of the villain!au. Miguel is getting the care he needs and Enrique is getting some much needed rest, Ruy has been spending time with Iria on her side of the afterlife while he recuperates and everything is generally blessedly calm.

Except things never end that cleanly, not when there’s been literal decades of turmoil to repair. The Rivera family at large has been undergoing some serious upheaval. Teto and Matty is doing his best to rebrand the family charities and foundations as being separate from their now disgraced parents while Teto does most of the heavy lifting with PR and finances.

Ruy meanwhile has been characteristically absent and trying to ignore the growingly obvious unaddressed issues that still lie between him and real happiness, instead content to distract himself with Iria’s company while he recovers.

But Teto isn’t one to leave jobs half finished, and even though he’s spent nearly the last century feuding with his younger brother, he knows this may be his only chance to try reconnecting with him, and that it’s his older sibling duty to at least try. Even if he’d rather die again.

Here’s part 1 of a 2-part special for the villain!au, it’s a dig into the two youngest Riveras and their brotherly relationship, so enjoy. The Iria and Ruy POV are written by @slusheeduck , and the Teto POV is written by me.

Part 1

“You know, I’m sure if we just sent flowers by mail there would actually be a higher chance of emotional repair.” Teto said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at the door of the house where his younger brother had reportedly been staying for the last couple of months.

Ever since the disaster.

“And we would have to pay triple for shipping.” Jasmine said with an ironic little smile, “Wouldn’t want that, would we?”

“Hilarious.” Teto said, rolling his eyes, “But if I get punched in the face let the record show that this was your idea.”

“It’ll all be over in a few minutes anyway.” Jasmine said, kissing his cheek, “And we both know it’s the right thing to do.”

Teto sighed, holding her hand more tightly. Everything about this was strange, the real fresh flowers he was holding, seeing Jasmine young and alive looking again, but mostly him about to voluntarily speak to Rodrigo.

Well. Pride was a dish best eaten quickly.

Teto let go of his wife’s hand just long enough to rap loudly on the door.

The knock rang loud enough to be heard through the whole house. Ruy, as usual, let out a grumble of protest as he threw an arm across Iria’s lap.

“Don’t,” he mumbled against her skirt, clearly very content to keep using her lap as a pillow. “They can come back.”

He looked up just in time to catch Iria roll her eyes, though the act was softened as her fingers ran through his hair.

“You do this every time there’s a knock.”

“I just got you back, Estrella. I shouldn’t have to share you yet.”

Iria pressed her lips together, then let a breath out through her nose before she pushed his bangs back to look at him. “Look, it’s someone I expected. Please, honey, if you could be a dear for just two minutes and open the door?”

Rodrigo’s brow furrowed. “If you are the one expecting them, why would you want me to open the door?” he asked slowly. “Most of your friends on this side still look at me funny.”

Iria gave him a small, tight smile. “They’re not from this side.”

Ruy’s eyebrows rose, and his face brightened. Ah, so it must be one of his friends coming to say hello. Probably not Seba--he wouldn’t be so sneaky--but Tonio would. Or Paloma, or Cheque--Cheque would definitely be this sneaky. He pulled himself up, scrunching his face at the stiffness in his torso as he did. The majority of his injuries had fully healed, but he still wasn’t quite at one hundred percent. He really ought to talk to the person in charge of this side.

Ah, but that didn’t matter. He gave Iria a sweet, quick kiss before getting to his feet and making his way to the door. It’d be nice, seeing someone from his side. As much as he didn’t want to go back just yet, there were still some skulls he missed. So, once he reached the door, he stretched out his back, ruffled his hair, and opened the door with an excited grin.

The grin immediately died as he saw his least favorite person in the entire world on the doorstep, and, with only one spat-out profanity as a greeting, slammed the door right in Teto’s stupid face.

“Well, we tried.” Teto said, an entirely unexpected chuckle escaping him.

Ruy’s reaction had been laughably predictable, and now he was off the hook. He’d come, he’d tried, and now he could leave.

“Not yet.” Jasmine said, catching his sleeve as he turned to go and knocking on the door again.

“We’re closed.”

Iria had been sitting on the edge of her seat as Ruy went to the door, and she sighed as she heard the door slam and the snarled out snark. She’d...figured it’d go like this. And, honestly, she wasn’t all that keen on having Teto of all people here to see him. But...well, his wife had sounded surprisingly rational for a Rivera--even one that had married-in--and she’d raised a good point about the two at least making an attempt to reconcile after...everything.

She got to her feet and made her way out to the foyer, wincing as Ruy turned and gave her a look of complete betrayal.

“You were expecting them?”

She held up her hands. “Listen, honey, I…”

“He made my life hell for twenty-three years, Rita! And that’s not even counting all the years of him judging me at the welcoming parties!”

“I know, Ruy, I know.” She stepped forward, cupping Ruy’s face and brushing her thumb against his cheek. “But...look, his wife and I talked…”

“Like she’s any better than him.”

“Listen. She said he’s...a little in shock, after everything that happened. He just wants to talk, and if things go south, both Jasmine and I will end it right away.”

Ruy’s jaw set, eyes hardening as he stared at nothing in particular over her shoulder. This was the very last thing he wanted, especially after what had happened. He didn’t want to let any Rivera into his last safety net, much less the one he’d fought with for so long.

“Ruy?”

Iria’s question was followed by another knock at the door. He grimaced, then looked down at her.

“You promise we can kick him out if he does anything awful?”

“Yes.”

Ruy huffed out a breath, then took her hand and quickly kissed the palm, though his eyes were still hard as he lifted them to look at her.

“Anything. I mean it,” he said, then let go of her hand and took a deep breath. He set his hand on the doorknob, hesitating until he felt Iria’s hand land on his shoulder. He set his face into as emotionless an expression as he could, then let out the breath as he opened the door again.

“Jasmine, he doesn’t want to see me. Let’s just leave.” Teto said, taking her hand.

“You both need this.” Jasmine said, shaking her head and resolutely refusing to let him pull her down the steps, “And Iria agrees. This is for both of you.”

“You called ahead?” Teto asked, grimacing.

“Of course I called ahead, idiot.” Jasmine said, yanking him back, “Now please stop acting like a child.”

Teto whined but dutifully stood behind her, pulling on his best disinterested face as the door opened again.

His mask nearly broke as he got his first good look at his brother.

He looked...clean.

Aside from looking alive, just like he had before he’d died, Rodrigo actually looked put together. Clean tasteful clothes, clear eyes, even his hair looked like it had been cut.

He looked uncomfortably like the Rodrigo that had lived in Mexico with them. Not the Rodrigo that had spiraled into madness, taking the family name with him. Whatever had happened to him in the last few months, it honestly looked as though he had fared the best of any of the Riveras.

And there standing behind him was the mystery woman who must have done it, Iria. He’d never heard of her before he’d started asking around a few weeks ago to track Rodrigo down. Apparently, she was some old flame of Rodrigo’s from back in New York he’d never cared to write home about. Teto had assumed she must be some tramp...but when faced with her handiwork he could already feel his respect for her rise exponentially.

“Rodrigo...” he said, keeping his face neutral as he floundered for words. “You, uh, you look good.”

Rodrigo rolled his eyes. “And you look like a cabron, as usual. Thanks for the visit, don’t come back.” He started to close the door, but Iria caught him.

“Ruy.” There was a definite note of surprise in Iria’s voice as she stopped him from shutting the door. She’d heard horror stories about Teto, certainly, but...well, she’d never seen him be actively unfriendly. With anyone.

Well, unless they deserved it.

Even so, maybe that was a better reason for them to have this talk. At the very least, she could find out what had made Ruy hate his brother so much. She looked up and gave her best ambassador smile. “Come on right inside. Let’s have our talk somewhere besides the front porch.”

Teto glanced at Jasmine.

I didn’t expect to get this far.

She raised an eyebrow back at him as she stepped into the doorway first.

Well think fast, dear. She seemed to be saying.

Teto nodded to Iria as he entered her home, which was very tastefully designed and decorated, and joined Jasmine on one of the parlor sofas that Iria had motioned them towards.

As they made their way back to the sitting room, Ruy huffed as he grabbed a poncho haphazardly draped on the stair bannister, pulling it over his head as he entered the room. He gave a cool glance toward Teto and his wife, then walked over to where Iria had sat and threw himself down beside her. While normally he would find some way to maintain contact with her, this time he simply crossed his arms beneath the poncho and sank down into his seat, sending a dark stare Teto’s way.

Iria glanced over at him, still reeling from the way he was acting, then shook her head and turned her attention back to Teto. Better to get this over quickly so she could get her normal Ruy back. “So...there was something you wanted to say? That’s why you’re here, yes?”

“I...yes.” Teto said, looking at the flowers in his lap.

Jasmine put her hand on his knee and he glanced at her gratefully. He took a steadying breath and looked at Rodrigo, who had seemingly materialized one of his ridiculous woolen ponchos out of thin air when he hadn’t been looking.

“There’s not really any way to say this easily I suppose.” Teto said, recalling the phrases he’d practiced in the mirror that morning on the off-chance that they did end up talking, “But with everything that’s happened I thought it was my responsibility to reach out to you. With...everything that’s happened...we wanted to let you know that we don’t stand with our parent’s...choices. If we’d known anything about all that we would have left the mansion much earlier.”

He leaned forward, setting the bouquet of flowers they’d brought on the coffee table between them.

“I’m really sorry for what happened Rodrigo,” he said, sitting back again, taking Jasmine’s hand in his, “None of this should have happened, I think we’re all still processing it. I know I’m not welcome here, but...I didn’t want to just leave it unsaid. I guess.”

Jasmine squeezed his hand in approval as he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He’d said what he needed to. Now he just had to weather whatever Rodrigo threw at him without lashing back at him, and then he and Jasmine would be able to escape for good.

Ruy kept his gaze fixed on Teto, jaw clenched tightly as his brother spoke. He let out a long breath through his nose once Teto finished. Clearly he thought he was doing Ruy a great favor here. What an arrogant prick.

“So….what? Am I supposed to forgive you?” he asked, acid in each word. “You only apologized for the things you didn’t do. Que generoso! What a kind brother I have, saying sorry for what other people did.” He narrowed his eyes. “Look, you may not have splintered my arm or killed a kid, but you’re just as bad as everyone else in that family. So stop pretending you have the high ground and head back to them.”

Iria stared at Ruy as he spat his response to Teto’s apology, and she quickly took his arm as she noticed the way his shoulders trembled--with anger, she realized. She pulled his hand into hers and threaded her fingers through his, swallowing as he squeezed it tightly in a silent plea to help keep him grounded. Almost immediately, she put on a cool expression as she looked up to Teto and Jasmine, ready to push them out if Teto fought back too hard.

“If you had actually listened,” Teto said, showing his teeth in a false smile, “then you would have heard that I haven’t apologized for anything, hermano. A lot of bad has been done by a lot of people, but not by me.”

It had been a while since he’d actually spoken face to face with Rodrigo, he’d forgotten just how aggravatingly thick he was. All temper, no brains. The worst part was that Teto knew he could be intelligent if he wanted to. He just never seemed to want to.

Jasmine’s hand was still in his, but she wasn’t showing any sign of him having gone too far. Rodrigo had misconstrued what he’d said and now he was fixing it. Teto wasn’t the one being confrontational and abrasive. As usual.

A sharp, harsh laugh burst out of Ruy at Teto’s words. “Not by you! Oh, sure, of course not. You’re the model son. You’ve always done right by everyone.” He tilted his head toward Iria, but kept his gaze on Teto. “You know what his favorite nickname was for me while we were growing up, Rita? Accident. And you know who gave every new member of the family a crash course on the Rivera black sheep and what a disappointment he was? I’ll give you three guesses.”

Iria bit her lip, then squeezed Ruy’s hand to bring his attention back to her. While nothing she was seeing was making her any more keen on his brother, Ruy getting worked up would be good for exactly no one’s sake. It took one soft, “Ruy,” to get him to finally turn his attention back to her. His expression was still sharp, his body still tense, but he softened ever so slightly as he fixed his eyes on her face.

“Alright.” Teto sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, “So the grand tally of my earth-shattering grievances against you are being a good son, a fight we had when I was nine years old, and having to be the one to explain why the youngest child of the family was an alcoholic addict that had drained our parent’s bank account, sullied the family name in the papers with outrageous stunts, had broken our mother’s heart, driven our father to madness, traipsed off to the United States without a second glance, left scar on my face, and left us all behind without a single phone call or letter for the three years it took him to drive himself off a bridge.”

Teto looked up at Rodrigo, surprised to realize that there was no anger inside him at that moment, just very very tightly wound exhaustion, decades of it, rising to the surface.

“So tell me Rodrigo.” he said, his voice tired and stiff, “What part of that is my fault. Where did I wrong you. Where are the lies I told. I didn’t have to slander your name Rodrigo, all I could do was try to keep your own self-sabotage from bleeding back to Mexico to stain the rest of us.”

Ruy pulled his hand away from Iria’s to point sharply at Teto. “Do not blame me for whatever happened to Papa,” he said through his teeth. “He made it very clear that I was no son of his, even before he died.” He sank back in his seat, crossing his arms as he looked off to the side. “And don’t pull the concerned son act. None of you even wanted to hear from me once I left. You probably thought my dip into the bay was the best thing that could have happened to the family.”

Now Teto was angry.

“Why does everything have to be about you?” he said, his voice rising, heat flushing through him, “Why do you always have to be so dense? Why do you always need all the attention, all the spotlight? You don’t exist in some kind of vacuum Rodrigo, your actions? They actually affected other people, I know it must sound crazy to you.

“But guess who had to do all the social damage control once you left? Matty. Guess who had to keep the family together? Coco. Guess who had to talk Mama out of her depression when she would stare at the wall for hours without moving because you’d just left and hadn’t called. Guess who had to face Papa roaming the house listlessly for days because his favorite son, who by the way was the only one who had ever been the son he wanted, had run off and gotten himself killed. Because it wasn’t you Rodrigo. It was the rest of us who had to try and find a way to hold our family together after you shattered our parents.”

Teto didn't remember getting to his feet, but he was standing now, shouting down at Rodrigo as the words spilled from his mouth, leaving an acrid burning taste behind.

“It didn’t even matter that you’d done everything possible to hurt our parents, because their golden musical child of course would be better someday, of course Rodrigo would come back, of course precious Ruy didn’t mean it and would someday return the triumphant prodigal son. You never had to do anything Rodrigo, because our parents didn’t have the sense to cut you off before you cut yourself off, because you were their only son that even mattered.”

Ruy sank back into the seat, eyes wide as Teto’s voice steadily rose and even cringing back once he got to his feet. He stayed completely still as the accusations spilled out of Teto--even if he’d wanted to get a word in edgewise, there was no way he’d be able to. He didn’t even move once Teto finished, too much in shock after hearing his ever-cool-headed brother be emotional.

Iria sat still during Teto’s accusations as well, but she quickly took Ruy’s arm again as barb after barb flew at him. Right now, it didn’t matter if what he said was true or not; it was too soon after everything that had happened to be having this sort of confrontation. “Look,” she said once Teto went quiet. “I think it’s time for you to le--”

She trailed off as Ruy let out a strange noise, and looked up at him as his head tilted back before he started to laugh. He covered his eyes as he laughed almost hysterically, shaking his head.

“Ayy, Teto, I didn’t think you could be funny,” he said as he wiped his eyes. “Me? The favorite? Que gracioso!” He shook his head again, his last few laughs turning bitter. “They didn’t mourn me. They mourned the musical son they wished they’d had. There’s a reason Papa only put up that damn first magazine cover on my grave; that was the last time I tried to get him to look, to listen to what I did. And after all that, what did he do? He sent a telegram saying ‘Sorry, Ruy, couldn’t make it’ after the debut I begged him to come to.”

He let his head fall forward for a moment, then let out another bitter laugh. “But my brother. Why can’t you be more like him, Ruy? Why can’t you be like the perfect son that we actually wanted to have? The smart one, the war hero, the one who has a lovely family and rolls over every time we ask him to?” He lifted his head to stare up at Teto, mouth in a hard line. “There was definitely a favorite son, but it wasn’t me.”

Teto stared at him, shoulders still shaking slightly from his shouting.

He tried to find any trace of sarcasm in Rodrigo’s face, any sign that he knew what he was saying was absolutely ridiculous, that he wasn’t that dumb.

But it wasn’t there. Rodrigo truly believed that he had been wronged, not only that, but that he hadn’t been the golden sunshine child of the family that had drained the life out of their parents, leaving the rest of his siblings with only shells.

There were so many things Teto could say that he found himself speechless, the words clogged up behind a barricade of emotion inside him.

“I can’t do this.” he said hoarsely, turning to Jasmine, “I, I can’t. I can’t do this one Jasmine.”

She stood, her mouth a hard line as she looked pityingly at Rodrigo. They both could see how deep this ran and neither of them knew what to say.

Ruy let his head fall back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. “Wish you could’ve been there when they crossed over. You probably would’ve loved seeing that. Leti convinced me to come see them, and the looks on their faces. It was like they’d forgotten who I was, and they’d expected to see that pendejo on the front of that damn magazine--all starry-eyed and desperate for Papa’s approval.”

He gave a bitter laugh. “The very first word out of his mouth was ‘Rodrigo,’’ he said, doing his best impersonation of his father’s disappointed tone. “Like I was just some kid who’d tracked mud into the house.” He pressed his lips together and idly rubbed his cheek. “I hadn’t even done anything yet and I was still the family disappointment. Definitely wasn’t like the hero’s welcome you got.”

“So Papa missed your stupid concert. The one concert.” Teto said, the barest edge of a hiss back in his voice, “And that was the end of your world? He missed your debut concert, you knew he was a literal celebrity with a freakishly busy schedule, and that one time you couldn’t manage to get his attention, the one time you were ignored, that is what tipped you into your spiral of self-destruction? You’re even more pitiful than I thought.

“I guess one missed concert sure is enough to erase all those hundreds of hours he spent with you on his lap learned the piano or guitar or whatever else was going to be your freakish prodigy accomplishment of the week that he could go brag to everyone about. I guess two hours of missed concert sure erases all the nights he would stay up late crowing over your scribbles on lined paper, or him constantly taking you on private outings to concerts and performances, and press conferences and parties and literally anywhere else that he could show you off to whoever would possibly listen.”

Teto squinted at Rodrigo, actual childhood hate coming back to him. “You want to talk about being ignored? Alright, let’s talk about being ignored. First of all, imagine never being called your real name, because it was a cheap copy of your father’s. Second, did you ever stop to think for one instant how much time Papa spent with me? He never took me out with him anywhere. Not once. Not once Rodrigo. I hate music. It’s never made sense to me, it gives me migraines, and that made me unlovable to Papa, all he knows is music and your blasted bones are made of it. I don’t remember a single time that he was ever interested in my projects, not a single time I had a real conversation with him about something I loved.

“I grew up thinking that maybe if I was perfect then maybe he would love me back, I went into business because that’s what Mama did and he loved her. I hate business, but I did it anyway. And guess what, it still didn’t work. I enlisted because it was the right thing to do, and when I got back it was to a press conference, not Papa’s love. He wasn’t proud of me Rodrigo, he was proud to show me off. So don’t you dare try to tell me I was the favorite son, don’t you dare talk to me about being ignored. I did everything I could to keep from being forgotten and failed, you did everything you could to be ignored and failed even then.”

There was something wrong with his throat. It felt like it was closing up, making him choke on his words, and he was really shaking now. Something was in his eyes, he wiped at them with the back of his sleeve, wet marks left behind on the fabric.

Ruy once again froze as he stared at his brother, but this time for an entirely different reason. This was...wrong. Teto didn’t cry. Teto didn’t have emotions, and he definitely didn’t show them. He was logical, he was calm; he was the polar opposite of Ruy. And seeing him start to break down left a sick feeling in Rodrigo’s stomach. He couldn’t bring himself to move or speak for a very long moment, until finally he shook his head slowly.

You’re...an idiot,” he breathed, eyes wide. “You had all the freedom in the world. You could have done anything. And you threw it away because you wanted his love?”

“You already had his love, why were you so eager to throw it away?” Teto said, rubbing his eyes. He felt Jasmine’s hand on his shoulder.

“Because it wasn’t worth all the effort to keep it!” The words were almost a snap, but too incredulous to keep any of the sting. “You thought he showed you off? What do you think happened on all of those concerts he brought me to? I was always goaded into playing whatever I’d been writing or even making stuff up on the spot. And I kept performing, I kept writing songs he would like so that he would keep loving me.”

Ruy sat up straight, running his hands through his hair. “Do you even remember what I was like when I went to school? Every day, every hour I was terrified of doing something Papa wouldn’t like. That I’d get that Rodrigo again like I had growing up. He liked me plenty when I did music, but everything else? I was just disappointing him over and over.

“But I kept thinking, if I work hard, if I show him that I love music the same way he does, he won’t stop loving me. My first concerto? It’s Papa’s song. It’s everything I knew he would love. That’s why I begged him to come. That’s why I needed him to be there. Because I didn’t know what I would do if Papa decided that even my music wasn’t worth his time anymore.”

Ruy blinked, feeling his eyes sting, and he leaned forward as he looked up at Teto. “You could have gotten out from under his shadow. You could have been your own person without even trying. And you didn’t. That’s your own fault, not mine.”

“I did, Rodrigo.” Teto said, blinking hard as he looked down at him. He put an arm around Jasmine’s waist, pulling her to his side. “I cut my losses. I stopped performing for him when I got back from the war. I knew it was a losing game, but I didn't make others suffer for it. I married Jasmine, she’s my whole world, we have children and grandchildren and great and great-great grandchildren. Everything Papa did to me I made sure I never did to my children. I was in business, but I made the best of it.

“Papa rarely gives me the time of day, but I knew that family was still important, and that I still needed to be there to support our siblings and parents so that the next generations could be provided for and safe and happy. Jasmine and I have an entire legacy Rodrigo, we’re not perfect, but we’ve done the very best with what we had, love or no love. We didn’t let it rule our lives. Or afterlives.”

He took a shaking breath. “So why did you have to punish the entire family when you realized you were losing?”

Ruy flinched as Teto spoke about marrying Jasmine and the grand family they had, an awkward chill running between him and Iria even as she rubbed his back. Maybe that would have saved him--and the family, too. Or it would have made him just like Teto. Which was the worse option?

He wilted in his seat as Teto shot another accusatory question at him, and he pressed the base of his hand to his forehead as he stayed silent. It wasn’t fair, having all the family problems foisted on him--Teto clearly didn’t understand the immense pressure that came from being the “favorite” (please), and he was just trying to blame him for everything, as usual. He let out a soft whine as he shifted, still keeping his head down.

“I just wanted it to stop,” he whispered. “Just for a little bit. Just to get some peace.”

“And did it work? After all that, did you find peace?” Teto asked, feeling calmer just from having Jasmine against him.

Seeing Rodrigo this close to admitting that maybe he wasn’t right, that maybe he had messed up, it was surreal. Seeing him as anything other than sarcastic and raging hadn’t happened in decades.

He wondered for the first time how much Iria must have hurt when his brother had died.

Did it work? No, no. Nothing had worked. Nothing had made things stop, not even his death. And he’d even driven off the best thing in his life when he’d frantically tried to find some peace without her. No matter what he’d tried, he hadn’t been good enough. Not for Papa, not for Rita…

He tried to hold off on touching Iria much while his brother was here--a part of him still fearful that any show of how much she meant to him would make his family ruin things--but the wave of utter failure that hit him was too much, and he turned to bury his face in her shoulder with a soft, begging “Estrella.” She was still here. She hadn’t stopped loving him. Not yet.

Iria blinked as Ruy threw himself at her, hands automatically going to stroke his hair. She pressed her lips together as he held her tightly--as if she’d disappear--then looked up at Teto and Jasmine coolly.

“This would probably be a good time for you both to leave,” she said softly as Ruy’s face pressed against her neck.

“Iria, thank you again for allowing us in your home,” Teto said, feeling a surreal sense of calm, not taking his eyes off Rodrigo, “but I’m not leaving until my brother can give me a real answer. He’s an idiot but he’s not an imbecile. I know he’s better than this, and I want to know why he hasn’t chosen to live up to his own potential yet.”

“Really, I’m going to need you to--”

“You try it!”

Iria went silent as Ruy pushed himself up, trembling as he snarled out the words with glistening eyes. He sucked in several breaths, blinking rapidly as he stared up at Teto.

“You try it,” he repeated, pushing himself up to his feet. “You try having the entire Rivera family legacy on your shoulders. You try being told again and again and again that you’re so talented, but your recent work...eh, not that great. You try--”

“I’m not talking about music Rodrigo,” Teto interrupted sharply, “I’m talking about you. I don’t care about your concertos or your symphonies or whatever you wrote or didn’t write. I don’t care what Papa told you or didn’t tell you. I’m talking about you.”

“My music is all I have!” Rodrigo snarled, stepping forward to get into Teto’s face.

“What about her?” Teto snapped.

He pointed at Iria.

“What about her Rodrigo? What’s more important? Your precious music or the woman you loved and who loved you? Did you let your own disappointments get between you and what should have mattered more?”

“You leave her out of it. I never wanted any of you to find out about her and this is why.” He took several breaths, then set his jaw as he stared up at his brother, quickly swiping at his eyes. “I...I…”

“I don’t appreciate being used like this,” Iria said tersely as she got to her feet. As she set a hand on Ruy’s arm, she looked up at Teto with a hard stare. “You don’t know our history. You don’t know how we got to where we are now, and trying to use me as a...a crowbar to get whatever confession you’re looking for out of Rodrigo is not appreciated.” She let out a short breath as she rubbed Ruy’s arm, then sent another frown to Teto. “I asked you politely to leave, Senor Rivera, but if I have to ask again, it won’t be nearly so polite.”

“While I agree that my husband is beginning to be rather blunt,” Jasmine said quietly, looking up at Teto for a moment, “I would respectfully ask that they be allowed to at least reach the end of their conversation. It’s true that we don’t know your history, that’s an unfair assumption to make, but similarly, you don’t know their full history either Mrs. Solares. This is something they’ve been struggling with for nearly a century now, and this is most they’ve spoken in nearly that entire time combined.

“What Hector is trying to say,” Jasmine continued, gently pulling Teto’s arm so that he silently sat down on the couch when she did, “is that it’s been terribly painful for their family to see Rodrigo engage in so many behaviors that are not only destructive to others, but to himself as well. The reason we came was to try and extend an olive branch of sorts, because Rod-, because Ruy has been greatly missed-”

“Don’t call him Ruy,” Iria interrupted.

“My apologies.” Jasmine said calmly, nodding, “because he’s been greatly missed from the family and there’s been so much dysfunctional anger built up over the years on both sides. With everything that’s happened, so many assumptions being overturned and the family at large having to reinvent himself without Hector Sr and Imelda to dictate things, this is the first time it’s felt like there’s been a good chance to reach out.”

“I don’t want-” Teto stopped as Jasmine looked at him warningly, then carefully continued, “My wife is better at these things than I am.” he said, looking at the floor, “What I’m trying-”

“So’s Rita, but she’s not speaking for me,” Ruy said shortly. He puffed a breath through his nose. “Can you just leave?”

“She’s not speaking for me, Rodrigo, Jasmine speaks with me.” Teto said tiredly.

Rodrigo rolled his eyes at Teto’s response, but otherwise remained quiet, eyes narrowed as he listened.

“But alright.” Teto continued, “I’d hoped for a conversation, but evidently I assumed too much to think you were ready for that kind of thing.”

“Thank you for allowing us to visit.” Jasmine said as they both stood, taking Teto’s arm, “We wish you both the best as you...adjust.”

Iria gave them a short nod as Ruy fell back onto the sofa, wilting again. He pressed his lips together, then, before Teto and Jasmine were out of the room, he said, “That potential you were talking about? I did live up to it. And I was miserable. And when I gave up on it, I was still miserable, but at least I wasn’t living someone else’s dream anymore. That’s more than I can say for you.” He shrugged. “But that’s what family’s about, isn’t it? Trying to make the world’s worst father love you when you know he never will.”

“I don’t think you have a dream anymore Rodrigo.” Teto said as he pulled the door open for Jasmine, “As long as you think of your future as either what Papa wants or what he doesn’t want you’ll never be happy.”

And then they stepped out the door, and were gone.

-----------------------

This has been an extremely interesting familial relationship to explore, seeing the same but different traumas affecting siblings differently even into adulthood, and the emotional complexity that comes with trying to repair long burnt bridges.

Part 2 will be posted this Sunday. And don’t worry, this isn’t going to dethrone teacher!au, this is just some role play work that Slush and I have been doing over the last couple months to relax that we’ve finally finished and have finally gotten around to posting.

- Wit

#villain!au #ruy #rodrigo #teto #coco #wit writes #my ocs #and I've loved getting to delve into Teto who is one of my favorite but lesser shown sons

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