BASICS.
Name: Javier Castillo Age: 30 Occupation: Barber / Weed Dealer Neighborhood: Westside Gender & Preferred Pronouns: Cis Man, He/Him Sexuality: Bisexual Face Claim: Tommy Martinez
BIOGRAPHY.
tw: deportation, death, foster care, crime
Javier was born to two immigrant parents from Venezuela in Los Angeles, California after they left Venezuela to seek out a safe place to raise a family. He has one younger sister that he hasn’t seen since he was five years old but he thinks about her all the time. When she was born there were complications and his mother had to go to the hospital. Because she and Javier’s father were undocumented, they were detained and deported shortly after Andrea was born.
After his parents were deported, Javier was put into foster care where he and his sister were separated immediately. He was five years old and never saw his infant sister again. He bounced around foster homes all over the state for a few years until his behavior got out of control and he was sent to a group home in Half Moon Bay when he was ten. Javi spent the next few years there until he emancipated himself at sixteen.
There was never anyone who took an interest in Javier. No family to keep an eye on him, no foster parents that would love him. He learned to be self-sufficient and watch his own back at a young age. For a long time he wouldn’t let anyone close to him, pushing away every person who ever tried to be his friend. Until he moved to the group home and met the two best friends who would become his family.
Noa and Ricky were both around his age and came from the same kinds of mess. At first Javi was skeptical that anyone could understand what he’d been through. Some of the foster homes he’d been in before coming to the group home were darker than he ever chose to speak of. To this day they’re the only ones he’s ever told about his experiences. It didn’t take long before the three of them were attached at the hip and causing chaos all over town together.
Smoking pot and petty theft kept Javier busy for a while but as he got older, the three of them started getting into more trouble. With no one to keep them accountable or guide them in the right direction, things got out of hand before he knew it. Javi started getting picked up by the cops and falling into trouble way too often. He didn’t see a future for himself that didn’t revolve around criminal activity so there was very little that motivated him to keep his shit together. Besides his budding feelings for Noa anyway.
It seemed he wasn’t the only one who felt that way though and when Ricky confessed his feelings for Noa, Javier took it hard. He got angry and pushed them both away, putting distance between them when the pair started to date. He got picked up by the cops more frequently, started selling pot and dabbling in using other drugs. It wasn’t until Noa told him that she felt something for him too that he pulled himself back from the ledge. Ricky and Javier got in a huge fight over it and before they could settle it, make things right, the unthinkable happened.
Things happened so fast after the shots were fired that night. Javier couldn’t get to Ricky in time but he could get to Noa. He threw himself on top of her and they barely escaped with their lives. He couldn’t say the same for Ricky. They’d gotten in over their heads that night, involved in something they didn’t realize was as dangerous as it was. When Ricky died that night, so did any chance of Javier ever making things right again. He did everything to push Noa away, realizing that if she didn’t get the hell out of Half Moon Bay, something or someone might come for her and that was a reality he could not live with.
Javier eventually convinced Noa to leave, but not without destroying their relationship first. He said a lot of hurtful things, it was easier to let her go if she hated him. She’d neve abandon Javier any other way and he knew that. So he broke both their hearts and never said goodbye to her, hoping that she’d find a life that was better and safer somewhere far away from here.
Nothing held any more meaning in Javier’s life and so he got himself locked up for a few years, assault and battery, possession of drugs, and grand larceny. Javi spent five years in a state penitentiary before coming back to Half Moon Bay and getting a job at a barber shop. He’s stayed out of major trouble since then, deciding that prison wasn’t his favorite place on earth and now keeps to selling weed and cutting hair.
Though he’s got a very rough exterior and doesn’t have too many people that he considers to be friends, Javi does have a good heart underneath it all. He’s terrified of letting anyone get too close to him but for those who somehow sneak past his walls, he will go to hell and back for them with no questions asked. He’s a ride or die in every sense of the word.
