Maverick Jones traveled with his family to the Texan outback. Luis Gutierrez was a recently moved Guatemalan to Mexico. Maverick participated in the Texan Revolution, believing Texas should be a nation of its own, and Luis was drafted as one of the 1,800 soldiers in the Mexican army to attack the Alamo. They stood opposite each other, neither really wanting to fight for countries; the lack of nationalism between both of them made them hesitant, but they fought. Maverick died, of course; every Texan did in the Battle of the Alamo. Luis didn’t, but some days he’d wake up, wondering briefly what those steely gray eyes had seen before the unnamed American had died.
Luis was a member of an all-Latino gang. Maverick was an underling of the great Capone; he was the beer-dealer at the local speakeasies. One day while he was delivering to a well-known one in downtown Manhattan, Luis’ and his gang came in and riled up the place. Maverick was taken hostage and beaten the shit outta before being left under Luis’ eye. He was interrogated about Capone, but no one could get anything out of him. That is, until Luis tried. Something about Luis made Maverick sputter; the loose accent, cheeky smirk, accusing glare- it made Mav’s palms sweat. Maverick didn’t exactly ‘break’, per se; he started telling Luis things no one ever knew before; things about Maverick’s family, his education, where he’s been and what he’s seen. Neither know who kissed who first, but suddenly Luis was unhooking Maverick from the chair, not looking him in the eyes as he let Maverick escape. Luis was killed for his ‘accident’.
Maverick was a worker for the CIA. Luis was a revolutionary. Not much is known about their affair, but they met at a market in Salamá, and a few weeks later, together in Maverick’s room, shirtless and on each other like the United States to countries it didn’t belong in. Both of them were killed by the revolutionists.
Maverick was a ‘bad character’; slouchy leather jacket and toothpick dangling from his mouth. Luis, on the other hand, was a good kid; he always did his homework and was never late to class except for once when his mother needed help getting down the stairs to watch the television. They met in detention, and couldn’t keep their eyes off of each other. Maverick took Luis out on a ride in his dad’s Oldsmobile and they went to a lake outside of town and threw some rocks into the lake and blew off some steam and kissed and fucked in the backseat. Luis went to college when he graduated and Maverick went to the burger joint in town.
Maverick worked next door to this pet store. He owned a gardening store specialized in succulents, and the pet store next door was so damned loud one day he stormed in there to see Luis surrounded by dogs, petting them and rubbing their tummies. Maverick’s heart leapt into his throat and any yells he wanted to spew died in his chest. Mav would come over all grumpily and listen to Luis tell him about the different types of snakes they had, and Luis would come to Mav’s store and point out cacti and they both agreed that golden barrel cacti were the easiest to manage.