THAT FUNNY FEELING. @mcteofuentes - Tumblr Blog

* ❈ — an introduction to mateo fuentes.

mateo. sometimes teo, mat, or matty. forty-six. cis man. he/him pronouns. fluid. single. father to maribel elise. lead foreman of creekside construction. lives in the suburbs. has three pets: james (cat), taylor (cat), daisy (dog). hosts a book club called all booked up. loves long drives through the outskirts of town, strolling through bookstores, and going on camping trips with his daughter. portrayed by oscar isaac. written with love by nessa (she/her).

ATLAS • BIO • STATS • CONNECTIONS • PINTEREST • PLAYLIST

#hc • life and times of the dreamers and the simple creatures.

leighash

WHO: ashleigh & OPEN.

WHERE: suburbs, near the garden.

WHEN: late night, cgw (april, 2026).

"I swear, I'm not a neighborhood prowler or anything," Ashleigh winced when she realized how silly it sounded, and how weak. Truth be told, she wasn't even sure that there were hours at the community garden, but it seemed like something that would be locked up at night... right? Then again, this was a small town. She glanced at the fence surrounding it, knowing it would be easy to hop. "Honestly, I took off my watch while I was planting earlier today and I left it inside and... yeah, I probably should have just waited until tomorrow to get it back, but here we are and -- wait, what are you doing out so late, anyway?"

mcteofuentes

At the sound of the other's voice, Mateo straightened from where he was and put on his best Making-Small-Talk face for the younger woman. "Hey, no judgement here. If you wanted to come back for another round of volunteering, be my guest." Mateo wiped the sweat from his brow with the wrist of his gardening glove. He had just finished pulling all of the weeds from the community garden's entrance, wanting to make sure the outside of the garden looked as good as it did on the inside. Mateo didn't realize how late it was until Ashleigh mentioned it. "Gardening," Mateo said. He was kind enough not to add "obviously" to his response. "I like coming here to clear my mind sometimes. It's where I can come to unwind, to get my hands dirty in a productive, predictable way. It's nice." Mateo gave her an uncertain smile, standing there for an awkward beat before speaking up once more. "Do you need help finding your watch? I've got time to spare."

#ashleigh.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

mariah-h-kenmore

Mariah honestly had no notes on the project and how it was going. She was really happy with the work, the workers, and the company. But she knew that Cage wouldn't let her down and whoever he trusted, she also trusted. She nodded as he checked the clipboard and looked around also seeing many of the things he was talking about. "Well, you already answered a couple. They wanted to make sure we were still on schedule and they wanted to know where w are with the budget. They are very impressed with the quality of the work. They were asking about inventory. They know some supplies were having trouble coming in. They don't want to delay the completion of the building though so they wanted to know if there were any other materials we could use if materials are low or slow."

mcteofuentes

"Good, good," Mateo nodded as he heard Mariah speak. "I'm a foreman, not a miracle worker but I'll do the best I can to make sure we maintain what we are doing," he said, sounding as composed as ever. He ran a hand through his hair. "Don't worry too much about the materials, they're always on time with the shipments. And if worst comes to worst, we can always make a stop at Rocky Ridge to get emergency supplies." Not that he would have to make a quick trip over there. Or so he hoped. Not really good with small talk, Mateo took a moment before asking a question. "What about you? What are you most excited for about this building? About your business?"

#mariah.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

dominicdasilva

Dominic let a breath go slowly as he mulled over the question. Obviously, he'd been getting them a lot, both in idle chatter in town and with customers who had come to the restaurant. It had taken him a little time to decide, but in the end, he'd put his name forward for the committee. "There isn't much point at all, and the coast really is the last place that needs anything doing to it," he commented with a shake of his head. He'd loved the coast since moving to town at the age of eight and spent a ridiculous amount of time there, especially so since his return. The fact that anyone was thinking of ripping up the land for a resort was criminal. "But it's the way of the modern world, isn't it?" He shook his head a moment. "Always someone wanting to do something with empty land."

mcteofuentes

"Agreed. Plus, I don't think Merrock needs anymore tourists around here," Mateo spoke with a huff. Truthfully, Mateo was just trying to survive life in Merrock, keep food on the table and a roof over his head, and hopefully raise his daughter well. The last thing he expected was for the town to have a threat of a new beach resort being built. "I like Merrock as it is. There's enough local businesses to keep us afloat and I think we have just enough foot traffic of people around here. We don't need the Benefactor to ruin that. I can't imagine something like a beach resort would help us in any way besides making it unlivable for us locals."

#dominic.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

xjoellasuh

Mack's was a quieter place to get a bite to eat, and with the hours that Joella worked, she appreciated that. She looked over at the television and gave a soft hum. The resort meant a lot of things, and in theory, it would be nice to have one but at the same time, Merrock thrived on small businesses and families working. She came from a small part of a big city in Texas, but being eight when she moved, she didn't understand much about what was actually happening. Armed with her drink and waiting for her food, she glanced over at Mateo and smirked. "It would ruin the skyline and the view. I like my beach the way it is, and if that prevents me from getting to walk around barefoot, I probably won't be a happy camper. She adjusted the clip that was in her hair and tugged it up into a messy bun. "A cute little place to escape would be nice though... hypothetically. Right?"

mcteofuentes

Mateo blinked at the wordy response Joella gave, but took a bite of his food before responding. "I mean, I feel like Merrock is already enough of an escape. Don't think we need anymore escaping around here," Mateo said, readjusting his glasses as he gave the other an offended look. "There's already so much development happening on its own in Merrock, so it just seems like a waste of resources to build something new rather than work on what's already here," Mateo said, leaning an elbow on the bar. "And like you said, it would ruin the beach view for us locals."

#joella.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

mariah-h-kenmore

Starter for: @mcteofuentes

Where: Mariah's building Downtown

When: April 2026

Mariah walked around the building, smiling to herself. She couldn't believe how much work had already been done since her and Cage's first meeting talking about the renovations. She could see they were in a great spot for a summer opening. Mariah had already planned to start promoting the business and based on her investors' walk through last week, they were also happy with the progress.

Seeing the lead foreman, Mariah made her way toward him. "Hi, Mateo. Everything looks really good. Are we still on track for a summer opening? How's the budget?" she asked before looking around again. "The investors were really impressed last week, but they had lots of questions."

mcteofuentes

Getting to be the lead foreman for Creekside was a job that Mateo took pride in. And he was excited to be on the project for Mariah's new business. Cage had said it was a restoration. And they sure had come a long way since the crew started working on it. With his metal clipboard in hand, Mateo looked over his daily log of any happenings with the construction and eventual operation -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. It wasn't his first time on one of these, of course. He doubted Cage would have put him in charge of running the show if it was.

A polite smile made its way onto Mateo's face as Mariah greeted him. He put the clipboard to his side, drained the last of his coffee, and ran a hand through his hair. "Construction is going according to plan and on schedule," he noted, looking at his clipboard once again. "I've got some concerns about inventory, but so long as the supplies keep arriving on schedule, we'll manage with what we've got." The guys were working fast, really fast, to go onto the next thing as quickly as possible. It was straightforward, not a ton of guesswork. In and out, most of the time. He liked that. "The budget's good, nothing that's going to push us over so far. I'm glad they were impressed. What kind of questions did they have?"

#mariah.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

cagenewman

WHO: cage & @mcteofuentes

WHERE: job site, countryside

WHEN: april, 2026

Every now and then a job got called in that Cage knew he could delegate to the guys, have them fix it up in a week... or he could call up Mateo, ask him to tag along, and the two of them could get it done in a day, no stress. This was one of those days. Someone getting ready for spring, the front porch on their historic cabin needing a lot of old, rotted boards replaced. He probably could have done it himself, but it was more fun to do it with someone to talk to, and Mateo was one of his favorite people to talk to, after all. And he was sure he could use a break from bricks and metal downtown, working on the restoration of Mariah Kenmore's building. Sometimes, fresh country air was just a little better. "I can't wait until the weather gets a little more steady," Cage grunted as he lifted a nail from the board he was working on replacing. "This up one day, down the next, chances of snow thing is getting old."

mcteofuentes

Getting back into the world of construction had been a breath of fresh air for Mateo. Getting to be hands on with projects and getting to do actual work was something that had been a missing piece in Mateo's life. Plus, it didn't hurt that Cage was someone who was easy to work for. It was a no brainer when the younger man asked him to join him for a quick project, allowing him to get back to the basics. He took pride and great joy in the work he did with his hands, whether on the clock or in his free time. Mateo came to stand beside Cage, following his line of sight as he watched him remove the old board. "Me too. I'm sick of not knowing what the day holds when it comes to weather. I feel like I'm either under or over dressed depending on the day."

#cage.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

joshlane

You're on the committee for this whole... operation bring down the Benefactor and their wild, way out there plans, right? We ought to get together some night and compare notes. And by notes, I mean that I have an entire binder of research that will absolutely make you laugh at me, since it's worse than taking notes in history class. @mcteofuentes

mcteofuentes

Damn right I am. Can't let the bastard change our town even more. I mean, why can't he go bother the locals of Kennebunkport or Bar Harbor? They're more tourist towns than we are. I think I need to copy your idea of a binder. All I have is a notepad, mostly filled with angry comments from my inner monologue. I'm open to comparing notes, though.

#josh.#conversations • comfortable silence is so overrated.

xespietamayo

Espie was at Mack's enjoying some dinner at the bar while she waited for Lilia to get out of dance over at Slippers. She was a little preoccupied by her food rather than the news, having already heard the updates for the week at the latest council meeting. Upon hearing Mateo's question however, she paused to take a sip of her diet coke before responding. "It's such a pointless endeavour. There is so much for us all to lose, having a resort here. Much more than it would benefit any one of us, in my opinion. And whoever is behind this whole plan is severely underestimating how much those of us born and raised here are willing to do to stop the development."

mcteofuentes

"In all of the years I've lived in Merrock, I can't say I've seen anything as ridiculous as this," Mateo noted with a sigh. In a better world, Merrock wouldn't have to go through something like this. In a better world, there would be no threat for Merrock to be a tourist trap for outsiders. "I agree, whoever is up to the idea is rather wasting their time. I've also got the feeling it is something that would end up being rather detrimental in the long run, so I just hope we can put a stop to whatever this is. I mean, I don't want to be a "year-rounder" when I've been a local to this town almost my entire life."

#espie.#face to face • sometimes i’ll check in for a good time.

who: MATEO & OPEN (1/3).

where: Mack's.

when: sometime during March, 2026.

The atmosphere of Mack's was alive with laughter and chatter as Mateo settled in for a rare night without his daughter. The TV above buzzed in the background, its glow lighting the dim lit bar area. Watching the evening news, Richard Starr's voice echoed as he talked about the rumor of the Benefactor's plans to purchase a plot of land to turn it into a resort of some kind. Mateo took a swig from his beer and set it on the bar top in front of him, eyes squinted at the TV. "Don't think Merrock needs anymore development along the shore," spoke Mateo as he raised an unimpressed brow. "I mean, the economy is flourishing, our small businesses are thriving, and I don't think a new development is needed. What do you think?" Mateo asked the person next to him, before tossing a handful of fries into his mouth. "Like, what's the point of all of this if we're doing fine as a town already?"