#fritz*

[nitrozem-art]

I'M AN EXTRA EXTRATERRESTRIAL, BABY ! ⭐

[reigen131]

[ghoulluck]

Percy was asleep. The demigodess was drunk as a skunk. She laid on her side, hugging a pillow. Her dark blue leather jacket laid on the floor next to her worn military boots.

Andrea sighed softly as she drunkenly dragged a blanket across the floor. She managed to tuck fritz in earlier. She always felt guilty that her main way of coping was alcohol. Still, she tried to convince herself she was better despite everything.

She gently laid the blanket over her younger sister, making sure that Percy’s legs were on the couch fully so she wouldn’t ache in the morning and tucked her bare feet in so they wouldn’t be cold.

She noted a scar on the demi’s shoulder. Andrea’s fingers traced it down past the back of Percy’s delicate shoulder. She sighed very softly as she sunk down into the couch with the other. She put her arms around her little sister, brought their hands together to hold Percy securely as her eyes began to droop.

Andrea didn’t dream often.

She woke up to find fritz wedged between her and Percy much to her own amusement. She kissed her gangly baby boy on the temple and Percy shifted to try to get comfortable again.

Andrea pet her little sisters back. Again, she felt the scars from Percy’s childhood. “I love you.” She was sorry she couldn’t protect her younger sister from her past.

The demigod trembled and Andrea pulled her in closer, squishing her son in the process and making him groan in pain. “Mom too much.” She snorted lightly, “Sorry baby.”

[ghoulluck]

It was the last day of school. Andrea tapped her foot anxiously as she waited in a line of cars. She was the only parent that didn’t drive one.

When the bell let out, her heart rate rose. She was always afraid fritz wouldn’t come out or someone would come deliver her awful news. Andrea settled on sitting side ways on her bike until she spotted her baby running like hell to her. He nearly knocked her over, but she was glad to hug her boy again.

Andrea closed her eyes, taking in his distinct almost lavender smell before pushing back his white blonde hair to take in his shit eating grin. He was this gangly tall thing now, knobby knees and awkward gait from the growth spurt. Hell he was almost taller then she was.

A honk brought her out of their big hug and she flipped off some suburban mom much to her own regret. Andrea smacked a helmet on him after he climbed into the side car.

“You hungry big guy?”

“Yeah, so hungry I could eat a whole cow.”

She laughed a little about this as she swung a leg carefully over the bike. He had his biological mother’s appetite: burgers, fries and shakes.

“So, Im guessing Keller’s might be a good choice?”

His eyes went wide as he turned his head to her. Keller’s was an old fashioned diner in Southern California. It was by their favorite stretch of beach back when they lived in Los Angelos.

The vacation was more for them to get away from New York and to get away from her relationship with indy and Paulina. Things were just getting a little too serious.

She didn’t need another vice under her belt.

“Are we going on vacation?”

Andrea couldn’t help her grin to match his, “depends on how fast you can pack.” The eleven year old gave a celebratory yell as she moved them forward to ease them out of the parking lot.

The drive home was a short fifteen minutes taking the side roads to avoid traffic and idiots. The pair raced each other up the stairs, andrea lost on that one and they packed a few bags while she arranged airplane tickets and a ride on the phone. She was forever grateful, in a past life this kinda crap would have been a dream.

After they were packed up, she excused herself to a bathroom where she locked herself in. She nervously dailed Alyss’ number. The youth pastor was over fifteen years her junior, but had gotten her sober and given Andrea the first love she had ever known. The pastor picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello?” The voice was high and tinny, “who is this?” The demon hung up.

A knock at the door startled her. “Mom? The car is here.” Andrea swallowed as she brushed back her damp hair, “Yeah? I’ll be right there baby.” It didn’t take more then five minutes for her to grab their shit to leave. Running away was a shitty thing to do, but she had told Paulina about her youth, about when she pulled her first trick, her first like of Coke, her first jolt of heroine. She felt naked and exposed. She didn’t like it.

[ghoulluck]

Andrea had never dyed her hair. The light blonde color was confusing. Alyss had managed to bleach it to a near white highlighting exactly how similar her and fritz looked. She had snapped a few pictures of them both together making funny faces. One of them dominated her phone’s background as her screen lit up with a message from Indy.

[i miss you.]

She didn’t open it. Instead she swiped it off her screen with a thick swallow of guilt. She missed them.

“Hey.”

Alyss’ voice made her perk as she stepped away from the mirror to peak into the bedroom where the woman leaned against the door. The pastor was a few years older now with a permanent tone of disenchantment.

“I got your kid all tucked in.”

If it hadn’t been for cotè, maybe the two would have had something together. Andrea didn’t have great timing when it came to shit like that.

The demon gave a grateful nod, “thanks. You okay?”

Alyss leaned her head against the wood as she shook her head. The news wasn’t a surprise, but it still hurt. Cotè had always been a raw wound. There was even since the beginning some sort of serious mental illness that had become increasingly problematic.

Andrea licked her dry lips as she leaned against the wood of the bathroom door. “I’m here for you,” she stated cautiously as she flicked her eyes to the edging of a bottle hanging just out of the demon’s view, “You want a drinking buddy?”

Alyss looked hesitant before moving slowly to the bed to set the bottle by the bed. She sat down heavily as she patted the space next to her. The demon stepped out over her leather jacket as she walked to the bed to sit.

Alyss quietly touched one of her exposed knees, reminding Andrea exactly the state she had originally come to the pastor in. Post partum depression had set in after the death of her baby blue and the revelation of her HIV positive status had left her on a path of self destruction for years until she landed in the pastor’s fold. Alyss touched the scars carefully before leaning in. Andrea could easily identify the pain the pastor was in and she allowed herself to be kissed. It was as if her mind had gone on automatic as she gently laid the other down.

When the other was asleep, Andrea curled up under the hot spray of the water with half the bottle of liquor in her system. The turned cold spray of water woke her up and she instead crawled into bed with fritz in his room.

“Mom?”

Andrea waved a little bit at the sun mostly as she struggled to open her eyes, “Yeah, baby?” He was siting up in bed, his white hair and blue eyes bright in the pretty California light. She placed an arm over her eyes to shield her own baby blues.

He hadn’t seen her hair dry yet and the white locks fascinated him. He took up his phone to throw himself under her chin with a big grin. They looked so much alike. She tucked her chin closer to his temple and put her arm back so that the light hit her eyes.

Fritz seemed more then happy with the millions of photos he had snapped of them. He sent them secretly to Paulina and Indy and put his phone down to cuddle up with the white haired demon. 

He was starting to think twice about wanting both of their hair blue.

“What’s wrong baby?” She could feel the tell tale digging of his chin in her shoulder meant fritz was thinking about something. “I don’t know if I want our hair blue anymore.”

Andrea couldn’t help a laugh as she got her arms around the eleven year old to wrangle him into a hug, “what why not?” His lower lip puckered, “I look more like you now.”

The demon kissed his temple, “You always look like me.”

Fritz frowned, “please mom?”

She hadn’t wanted to dye his hair so secretly she was pleased. She nodded, more then happy to not have his hair processed and his perfect angel locks intact. He bumped her chin with his forehead prompting a play fight before getting wrangled into a big hug where they fell asleep again.

[ghoulluck]

Andrea calls up the stairs, “Hey, mini me, you ready?”

“Yeah! Be right there mom!”

She’ll never get over the way he says mom.

Fritz stomps all the way down the stairs before gasping out, “I forgot my jacket!” Even if it was a thousand degrees outside, she had taught him to always wear jeans and a jacket when they rode the motorcycle together. The blonde boy ran all the way upstairs before quickly coming down again.

He stood on the very bottom stair and Andrea got down on her knees despite how much it hurt to do so. She checked his shoe laces first, then zipped up his leather jacket before standing. “You ready now?” The little angel nods enthusiastically and it just makes her face ache with how much he makes her smile.

She offers her hand to him and Fritz takes it.

The pair walk until they reach the garage and he claps to turn on the light. Without fail, they both burst into a small laugh before grabbing their helmets. Andrea puts his on first and makes sure it’s on right before grabbing her own. The seven year old runs around the bike to get into the side car while Andrea gives a grunt to lift up the heavy garage door.

It’s nice when it’s just the two of them.

She comes around the side car to make sure he’s buckled in tight and throws a leg over carefully as she walks the motorcycle out. She lets it sit not too far away from her as she closes her garage door. Out of her leather jacket’s pocket, she produces two pairs of sunglasses. Fritz puts his on first, then Andrea as she starts the engine. The machine revs to life and it makes the adrenaline in her system spike a little bit.

When she rides alone, she’s not quite as careful, but with Fritz in her side car, she rides defensively.

It doesn’t take long to get to the club. It’s a thirty minute ride with heavy traffic. Today there is none and she parks in the staff garage.The pair leave their helmets in the side car and push their sunglasses to the top of their heads. Fritz immediately grabs hold of his mother’s hand once they’re close enough to each other. She swings their hands a little as she just enjoys walking with him to the club.

Inside, she meets up with a few of her band mates, some in various states of setting up, but she doesn’t see Johnny so she sits Fritz on the practice couch.

“Hey, where’s Constantine?” 

Elias lifts his head and looks around, “Don’t know, hasn’t shown up for a few days.”

Andrea rolls her eyes as she starts grabbing his equipment to set up.

“Hey -- practice is private,” one of her band mates calls out and she lifts her head defensively to see who decided to crash the fucking party. To her surprise it’s Indy. He didn’t want to get sober, so she didn’t want to waste her time with trying to help him and had ended her sponsorship. “Chill, Elias, he’s cool,” she stated as she strode across the stage with heavy thumps of her boots to jump off it.

She grabbed his arm to drag him out of earshot, “What do you want?” Looking at him now, he doesn’t look very well. He’s shaky, covered in a thin sheen of cold sweat, and clammy to the touch. “Ju-Just--” He can’t seem to form words and she touches his face with the back of her hand. He’s burning up. “Are you high right now or withdrawing?” Her blunt question makes him stare at her. His pupils are normal. He’s withdrawing.

She sighs as she shakes her head and combs her fingers through her eternally wet hair. “Alright, come on, I have band practice,” she stated as she gestured to the doors they had gone through. Andrea points at a seat for him to take and obediently, he sits.

She pulls herself up by her elbows on to the stage and crawls up the rest of the way. “Hey, Fritz, you wanna play drums with mom?” Elias asks as he pulls a strap of a bass guitar over his head. “Can I?!” The little boy explodes into a ball of excitement, jumping off the practice couch and running straight to Andrea to ask her permission first. This makes the demon chortle at her little angel, “Alright. C’mon.” 

He takes her hand to drag her to the set of drums the boys had finished setting up and he makes her sit so he can jump on her lap. He’s so excited that she can’t stop smiling about it. They move around a little so that she can get her foot on the pedal. He sits more to the left and she more to the right, but both her arms are around him as he picks up the drum sticks.

“We’re still working on the new song,” she tells her tiny angel and he gushes immediately, “it’s my favorite one.” She snorts a little as she shakes her head and kisses his cheeks because he’s too damn sweet. “Alright, do you remember how it goes?” He gives an enthusiastic nod, like he had back home when he said he was ready to go, “Bad Things!”

She’s impressed at how well he remembers things, but then again, he’s a vital part of her writing process because he always tells her what he thinks and he’s good at it.

“Yeah baby, that’s right,” she beams proudly as the rest of the band fumbles through the song. She had written the song about Indy. Most of her music tended to be about what she had been through or the people she knew. 

“Okay, from the top,” Elias states as everyone seems to get a handle on remembering their parts. 

The song starts with Fritz banging down the beat with her foot holding a steady beat and she only waits a second as she breathes into the microphone to start. She closes her eyes to focus on the sound as she sings. Her voice is different when she sings, the gravelly element in her pitch becomes more akin to a baby doll and it’s easy for her to loose herself to it. She forgets about everything but Fritz because he’s on her lap, but if he wasn’t she would have forgotten about him too.

Indy recognized the beat, it was the steady way he would tap his booth when he was anxious. He wasn’t quite sure how she had embodied it, but even through the withdraw and the haze that came with it, the song was clear to him. 

He recalled her sitting on his kitchen counter with her legs crossed. Andrea was facing the open patio as she smoked and her blue eyes trained on a composition book that she had scribbled out some lyrics on. She was singing angrily under her breath. He had pissed her off and she wasn’t talking to him right then.

She gave a shit or two about him.

They did a few more practice runs of the same song until Fritz called it quits because his arms were tired.

“That’s okay,” Elias stated, “We’re firing Johnny, so rest your arms for the show, kid.” Fritz was beaming and Andrea laughed a little as he slid off her lap to go hug the older man bashfully. The man spoke to him in Spanish and ruffled his blonde hair as the demon helped the boys put away some of the gear.

[ghoulluck]

Andrea and her mini me sat under the cool spray of the sprinkler. They were nearly identically dressed in black baseball caps, black shirts and basket ball shorts. 

She’s a little red in the face from the sun, but she ignores the fact she needs sunscreen to instead put the last of it on her little boy. It warms Indy to his core to know how much she cares for her baby boy. 

The fuzzy yellow duck that Andrea had bought Fritz for Easter muddles around in a puddle, having the time of his life as the pair drink from giant gas station cups to try to beat the heat. 

He crosses the space of the back yard to plant a kiss on her mouth and he can taste her whiskey sprite. He gives her a complacent smirk as fritz waves. He waves back a little before going around his wife to adjust the boys cap. Fritz smiles wide for the dark eyed man and god he’s a real string jerker like his mom.

“You guys hungry?” Andrea smacks her mouth loudly before slurping her drink down some with a poignant look at her boy. “Can you make the pink sandwiches?” Indy’s brows knit briefly together before he realizes fritz is asking for a corned hash Sand which. Like Ryan and Indy, Andrea and fritz are salt fiends. 

“Yeah, anything else?” 

The little boy scrunches his face up as he tries to think. He just shakes his head no as he puts his big gulp cup down in favor of going to play with his duck. 

“Do you need a refill?” Things have been cautious between them, but they’re still working on the details. “If you don’t mind?” He reaches over to grab her cup and she catches him to give him a kiss this time. “You’re gonna get sunburned,” he murmurs against her mouth before they separate. She just hums at him before giving him a smaller kiss. 

Sometimes it’s hard for them to be apart. Any time they’re together, it reminds them of the ache they have from the lack of the others presence.

[ghoulluck]

The baby blue lights were on her when she walked on to the stage with her heavy boots echoing off the wood and concrete. Indy could see exactly how blue her eyes really were as she shifted her hybrid guitar on her shoulder to put it on the stand next to the microphone. Andrea blew some air into the microphone to check if it was still working like it had before. 

“Uhm, I wanna take a minute to talk about some stuff recently ‘cause I’ve been thinking a whole lot.” Someone in the crowd said something he couldn’t hear. The darkling laughed as she brushed her inky wet hair back, “I know, I was shocked I do any thinkin’ at all.” She looked nervous. Indy felt her eyes lock in on him and he looked down at his boots a minute before making eye contact with her. “So this guy, we’ve been like seein’ each other and all this stuff. We met like I think in high school?” 

She squinted a little. Events were a little mixed up in her drug holed head. “But we sort of had a lot going on and I think we had to go through all this stuff first. Anyways, well, uh, I met him again yeah?” 

Her fingers twitched as she picked the microphone up so she could move around and pace. “Like, he said that he wanted to marry me and you guys know, I mean I talk about it all the time that the only person I’ve ever loved is my son.” She gave a nervous laugh, “so I tell this guy he had to ask my kid, ‘cause I’m not sorry. My kid comes first. That’s how it’s suppose to be—“

The last person she wanted to be was her strung out mom.

Her crystalline blue eyes were on him now, “What I haven’t said is that it’s only been two weeks.” There seemed to be a negative reception of the crowd. “I know that I have a lot of doubts. That there’s gonna be a lot of people who are gonna go hey this is a bad idea. Boy, do I have some news for you. I have made worst decisions. Really fucking bad, bad, bad decisions.” 

The crowd was still as she took in a sharp nervous breath, “I have said a lot of shit I don’t mean and done things for reasons I shouldn’t have. Something with you clicked. Like -- I love you.” It was the first time she had said it. He had said it within the first few days and her silence and hesitance drew an understanding from him. “I’m really scared if I’m honest. I’m afraid I won’t feel this one morning. I’m afraid you’ll roll over and all of a sudden you don’t love me, but right now -- I know you love me and I love you.” 

It was a little awkward to do this in front of so many people. It was the only place she felt she could really express herself. 

“So, yeah—“ she reached behind the curtain and she clasped Fritz’s hand as she brought him onstage. He was dressed just like his mom. Leather jacket, jeans and boots. Immediately at the sight of him, the crowd chanted his name and he covered his little face in embarrassment as Andrea laughed about how shy her little angel was.

She knelt down to be level with her seven year old. “Shut up, ya’ll so my baby can say something. Do is you have something to tell indy?” 

Indy could feel his face heat up as he pushed away from the bar. A light illuminated the dark eyed man as fritz took the microphone from his mother, “You have to promise to take care of my mom and me. Do you promise?” 

He felt a nervous ruckus of laughter dead bolted into his chest as he nodded dumbly. He couldn’t even concentrate on the crowd even if they were looking at him now. Fritz was grinning, “You can marry my mom now.” Shit, he nearly fell all over himself as his legs felt like they were going to give out from under him. His head was swimming and it took him a minute to realize he was probably crying like a little bitch, but fuck he felt whole.

Andrea walked to the edge of the stage where he met her. She was shaking so bad from the nerves. He reached up to catch her in his arms and he kissed her as he laughed. Holy fuck. His heart was pounding as she tore away with a wicked grin to get back on stage with the help of her security crew. 

“So this first song is gonna be some gross ass mushy shit,” she announced as fritz took up her guitar and she dragged the keyboard closer to herself, “’cause I wrote this for my first husband.”