#sicario soldado

[jesuiscalmedammit]

Blackmail – (14) This is the end || [Alejandro Gillick x reader x Matt Graver]

Previously: chapter 13

Note: 2 years. It's been almost 2 years since the last update. I'm terrible. But anyway, here's the final chapter.

It took a few months, but eventually you managed to loosen up in Alejandro’s presence. The awkward feeling slowly melted away and happiness gradually took its place, bringing back the feelings you had forgotten about in the past year or so. The warmth he radiated when he was around you was in stark contrast with his cold, calculated personality when he was working. You were drawn to him, every cell in your body wanted to be near him while he was at home and a delicate smile crept on your lips whenever you laid your eyes on him.

He had been gone for a week and you were missing him by now. The days like this, when you knew he was about to finally come home, were always filled with joy and anticipation. You just wanted to hug him again to know he was alive and well. Sure, there could be small wounds or bruises, but those were nothing you couldn't handle.

You were planning to cook dinner for him—his favorite, no less—along with a dessert you had learned from a friend you made in Bogotá not long ago. When he sent a message from the airport that he would be home in two hours because he had to take care of something first, you began to cook then quickly did your hair and make-up before picking a dress you thought he would like to see on you.

This was the day when you knew you were ready to make a move on him. Until now you had been sleeping in separate bedrooms, but tonight you wanted to change this. It was time to let things go back to the way they had been before he left you.

The front door opened shortly before everything was ready in the kitchen, so you didn’t have the opportunity to go and meet him there. Instead you waited for him to go to you, and turned away from the food for a second to give him a kiss when he stopped next to you and put a hand on the small of your back. He looked a little confused at first, probably not understanding why you suddenly changed your mind, but then he flashed a warm smile at you then headed to the living room.

“It smells great,” he said, referring to the food. “Thank you for taking the time to cook for me. I’m starving.”

You couldn’t help but giggle. “I knew you would be so focused on work that you forget to eat all day,” you told him almost scoldingly.

Alejandro shook his head before turning his attention to his phone. You didn’t mind the silence, at least you could pay full attention to the food in front of you. Within a few minutes you could put the plates on the table while he poured you both some wine. Everything went so smoothly without exchanging words that you wondered how you hadn’t noticed things were back to normal before.

To your surprise, he began to tell you about his latest job, going into just enough details to feed your curiosity without saying too much. He wanted to keep you away from that part of his life now that you successfully left it behind. You were honestly grateful for that. Sure, you had gotten used to the cruelty on Matt’s team, but it didn’t mean you agreed with it.

By the time you served the dessert, the two of you got lost in a pleasant conversation. He had plans; plans to take you away for a long weekend somewhere nice, to take you to a restaurant in a neighboring town he had just heard of, and to stay home and watch your favorite movies with you. These were things you had done when you were together as a real couple, so you guessed it was his way of returning things to the old normal.

Once you finished, you quickly put the empty plates into the dishwasher then returned to Alejandro with a seductive smile on your lips, your hand already extended to him. He stood up and took your hand without a question, silently watching you before leaning down to kiss you, his movements surprisingly hesitant. Maybe he wasn't sure if he decoded your signals correctly, after all you'd been keeping your distance since you arrived, but you were quick to take the lead and deepen the kiss that felt oh-so-good after all this time.

“I missed this. I missed you,” he corrected himself with a smile. You were by now grinning from ear to ear, your chin resting on his shoulder as you pressed your body as close to his as possible. “Does this mean things will be back to normal?”

“Normal as in how they used to be before you had to leave?” Alejandro hummed in agreement and you placed a soft kiss on the base of his neck. “I think so. I'm sorry it took me this long,” you said quietly.

To your surprise, he let out a short laugh at this then leaned back to grab your chin and make you look at him. “You don't have to apologize. You were with someone else before I returned, I would have found it alarming if you could jump back into this relationship without a problem.”

The always thoughtful and understanding man you loved so much. It was nice to know he was still there for you despite what you had done with his good friend. You were afraid in the beginning that he would be mad at you for being with Matt, believing you both betrayed his trust, but that wasn't the case. He understood that there had always been some sort of weird, twisted connection between the two of you, and it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

********

It was three in the morning when you woke up from a dream that wasn't really a nightmare, but wasn't a pleasant one either. Your arms were wrapped around Alejandro's body with your head resting on his shoulder, and you watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed in his sleep. After all those months you dreamed about the day you had arrived, more specifically the moment you found an unfamiliar phone in your suitcase with a note from Matt.

Maybe you remembered because Alejandro brought him up after dinner, but now you couldn't really get past your rising curiosity. You had never checked that phone. You never turned it on to see what was on it, to see if there were any messages left for you. As the minutes slowly passed, you couldn't stop thinking about it. All you had to do was quietly leaving this bedroom and heading to your own, opening the suitcase and turning on the damn thing. It wasn't that hard.

After carefully placing a kiss on his collarbone, you slowly let go of him and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for a few moments to see if he woke up. But there was nothing, he was sleeping soundly without noticing your absence. Gulping, you walked into your room and took the phone from the bottom of the closet. You turned it on and it asked for the SIM card’s PIN code. How could you possibly know that? You checked the note it came with, but there was nothing.

Then you tried the year you were born in, a long shot, you knew, but to your biggest surprise that was it. And soon the notifications began to arrive from a messaging app. Every single message came from the same person.

Matt: Are you in Bogotá? I'm sure he went back there.

Matt: Are you okay?

Matt: Is everything okay there?

Matt: Look, I know it must be weird to be with him again, if you want to talk to someone, I'm here.

Matt: Don't you miss your family and friends?

Matt: You can come back anytime.

Matt: Come back to us.

Matt: Why aren't you reading these? Come on, open the app and read them.

Matt: Answer me, please.

Matt: Steve was shot. He's okay. He said he wished you were here with us.

Matt: I hope you know that we all miss you.

Matt: I called your parents. Some kid had told them you were working in the middle of nowhere on another continent and you wouldn't be able to call them. I assured them you were okay and they seemed relieved. I hope it wasn't a lie and you're really okay.

Matt: I miss you.

Matt: My wife knows, by the way. I told her I slept with someone. We're going to counseling, although I doubt that could help us. All I can think about is you. It's been three months and I'm sitting here like some lovesick puppy. Pathetic.

Matt: [message deleted]

Matt: Is he treating you right?

You let out a groan after the last message. He knew Alejandro, he knew he would always treat you right. Shaking your head, you began to type a reply.

You: Stop writing to me.

Just when you were about to turn off the device, it vibrated in your hand.

Matt: I was beginning to think you would never read these.

You: I just found this phone and wanted to see what you did with it.

Matt: But you read the messages.

You: Out of curiosity.

Matt: You can’t let me go.

You: I only wrote to you to make you stop.

Matt: If that was true, you would’ve stopped after the first message. But you keep replying.

You: Why are you even awake this late?

Matt: I'm on a mission, we had a long night and I can't sleep. I could be asking you the same thing, though.

You: I was looking for something and bumped into this phone.

Matt: In the middle of the night?

You: Try to get some sleep. Take care.

Matt: WAIT!

Matt: I need to know if you're that annoyingly happy couple again.

You: We're getting there.

Matt: Good for him.

“What are you doing?” you suddenly heard Alejandro's voice from the door. He had his arms folded over his chest as he watched you, but his posture wasn't threatening at all. You felt safe, even when he sat down next to you and took the phone from your hand to read the messages. “I never thought he would end up like this. Didn't seem like the type of man who gets this obsessed with someone.”

You drew in a deep breath as you looked at him. “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have checked it,” you apologized quietly. But he wasn't mad. Instead he kissed your temple before turning his attention to the device. “Let's just turn it off again, okay?” you suggested.

Shaking his head, Alejandro between to type, so you leaned closer to see what he was writing.

You: We're happy, don't ruin it. Focus on fixing your marriage. - Alejandro

Matt: Guess it means she couldn't keep it from you. You okay?

You: Do you even care?

Matt: I thought we were friends.

You: Goodbye, Matt.

With that he turned off the device and gave it back to you. “Do you want to go back?” he asked you.

You leaned your head on his shoulder and put the phone on the bed behind you. “I have everything I need here, why would I want to go?”

“Maybe because you miss your family.”

You did miss them, that was true, but he was now your family too. Leaving him just didn't feel right, you were feeling the same as you had a year ago. Your heart was filled with this warm and soft feeling that was most probably the kind of love only he could make you feel, and there was an invisible string pulling you back to him every time you left his side.

After inhaling and exhaling, you laced your fingers with his and said, “Matt told them I was okay. He would have told me if something was wrong with them.”

“One day we'll go and meet them, okay? I'll arrange it.” He kissed your head softly, his nose buried in your hair until he waited for your reaction. When you hummed in agreement, he let out a short laugh. “Remember that restaurant we went to before that mission last year?”

“Oh, of course I do. I haven't had anything nearly as good since that,” you told him with a dreamy sigh.

“I have a reservation for tonight. I wanted to surprise you, but I think you could use this information after all of this,” he said, and you could tell he was smiling as he talked. “We’re gonna be okay, won't we?”

You looked up at him, just silently observing him for a while before finally making a move and leaning in to kiss him. He grabbed a fistful of your hair as he kissed you back, his movements becoming more and more impatient before he finally pushed you on the bed. As long as you understood each other without words, things would surely be okay, you knew that.

[mcqraw]

BENICIO DEL TORO as ALEJANDRO GILLICK

[hollytanaka]

If you want to start a war… kidnap a prince. King will start it for you.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (2018)

[cinemajunkie70]

A very happy birthday to Benicio Del Toro!

[cinemabuffoon]

[migrationsradio]

"wipe and clean boys" - Soldado

[nxvermore]

[wftc141]

Mexican Army Special Forces Colonel Alejandro Vargas + CIA SAC/SOG Paramilitary Operation Officer Matt Grave

[steampunkforever]

Sicario is one of the great modern Neo Noirs, and was acclaimed writer/director Taylor Sheridan’s first screenplay. Sheridan went on to write even more western crime, with hits like Wind River, Hell or High Water, and whatever that monstrosity is that Paramount is pumping out as the Yellowstone cinematic streaming universe. It’s impressive that the flops seem to be relegated to an Amazon production and that one Jolie forest fire action flick. People like Tulsa King, right?

Sicario: Day of the Soldado wouldn’t be a flop in my eyes if I hadn’t seen Villenueve’s Sicario first. The character development was interesting, the plot was fairly tight, the score was impactful, and the action was fairly entertaining. Except I’d already seen the first movie.

Sheridan’s script for Day of the Soldado is by no means insignificant, but the vast gap between the first and second film really highlights how much impact a director can have. Villenueve just has that spark, and though Day of the Soldado is a film I eventually warmed up to, it simply didn’t have the sophistication or grace of the original Sicario.

Part of it may boil down to the way Villenueve handled the politics in Sheridan’s script. Sicario’s verisimilitude means that it doesn’t talk down to the audience (remember when people used to say “no human is illegal?”) about the US southern border but it also shows the inhumanity with which that border is controlled. It doesn’t deny that there is a border problem, but it doesn’t whitewash how deplorable US foreign policy in South and Central America really is.

Day of the Soldado, on the other hand, is directed with the politics of a Call of Duty game. Sheridan’s violence and legal gray areas are just as uncomfortable as before, but in watching it I was left wondering why the shock value felt degraded compared to the original when the score was still swelling in all the right places.

The movie felt empty, a solid noir bereft of the point Sheridan was trying to make with the first Sicario, because rather than coming right out and saying “ICE is cool” or whatever, it just didn’t say anything.

[jesuiscalmedammit]

Yes, I'm working on chapter 14. Help me.

[cinesludge]

Movie #20 of 2023: Sicario: Day of the Soldado

“So, you want to be a sicario? Let’s talk about your future.” 

[ursahlee]

[choco44443333]

Sicario: Day of the Soldado 2018

Sicario: Day of the Soldado 2018

Agent Matt Graver teams up with operative Alejandro Gillick to prevent Mexican drug cartels from smuggling terrorists across the United States border.

[cinemabuffoon]

Thinking about how Benicio Del Toro says “mi amor” at the beginning of traffic

[migrationsradio]

"If you guys would start wars someplace cloudy, I wouldn't have to."

Sicario (2018)

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

Sicario 2: Day of the soldado

It’s even worser than the first movie. 

At least it was less slower this time.

Hope we will not endure a third movie. For my part I will not.