Modern!AU|Part One (Untitled)
Texas Peyton…
Texas Peyton…
Texas.
Just Texas.
Yes, Texas was good. Peyton reminded him too much of his deadbeat father; his father who had abandoned him at a young age. He hated him – even more so when he knew that his mother didn’t care too much to have him around because he reminded her of his father.
Texas left the family home as soon as he could. It wasn’t much of a family anyway because he never felt as included into the brood as much as his siblings did. They weren’t his full siblings, they had a different father from him – but it didn’t mean he would have loved them any differently. The three younger ones – his brothers, well he loved them to death. He believed that he was the reason the triplets were as mischievous as him.
But his sister, the only daughter, she didn’t seem so happy to be around Texas. That was why he called her Flames. A mop of red curls as bright as fire – but with a personality that would burn you if you got too close. Texas grumbled in the thoughts of the seventeen year old – she was so younger than him and yet she still thought she was better than him just because of the wealth her parents had. Yet he couldn’t admit he was jealous of the bond that Fergus had with Merida and her brothers – Fergus being Texas’s stepfather.
His eyes left the dog tag around his neck, that stated his name and he groaned as he moved it back underneath his t-shirt. Why did he have to be returning back from the army? Sure he was safe and survived – but he was more than certain that the reception he would gain from his family would be anything less than pleasant – especially from Flames – or even their mother herself. Texas crossed his arms over his chest as he moved his head back and glanced over towards the sight before him – the house. The house he wasn’t too interested in going inside – not yet.
“Maybe later.” He spoke, throwing his bag back around his shoulder as he decided to know where to go. There was one place he could go. He knew that at this time in the day his sister wouldn’t be home – and maybe her reception of his return would give indication of what his mother would be like. Texas decided to head to the school he knew that Merida attended. He was already regretting this. Why should he be the one to reach out, exactly? He had been the one that sent the many unread letters. If they were read… the letters they never bothered to reply to.
On his way his mind went through the people he knew. When he left he didn’t get much of a send off. It was just him going off to the army – to maybe even give his life for this country – and no one seemed to even care. Texas wouldn’t let it show that it bothered him. He wasn’t one to let his emotions come through in what he did. He wasn’t going to show that he cared about them – about Merida and her brothers, of her father and even their mother. Even if their mother was careless, she loved her family - she just didn’t want the reminder of the past. The thing that she regretted – that ended with her having him.
He never had anyone in his life to live for. No love, hardly a family. He would grunt and say ‘love, what is it good for?’ and yet he wanted it. Deep down he wanted something more than just his dog Sawyer to love and live for. He ran his hand over his eyes and grumbled once more. This was going to be such a day – he could feel he was going soft already and he hadn’t even set his eyes on that red haired firecracker.
The school Merida attended was a sports institute. From a young age Merida showed a keen interest in her father’s hobby of archery. Of course, Merida being Merida would always obsess and her hobby became what she wanted to perfect and be the best in. Unfortunately for his sister – archery wasn’t something in the institute she could do in her apprenticeship – and therefore she had to do basketball. She would be able to take her archery in between her basketball scholarship – but he knew, Texas knew, archery was where her heart lied – and sometimes he felt the institute was just a waste of money. She may have gotten quite good at basketball, but she wasn’t doing what she loved.
Coming up to the grandeur building Texas couldn’t believe he was back again. He used to be sent here every night to pick up Merida after the day had ended. It wasn’t the case anymore, Merida had graduated to the next level and she had to live in apartments set up by the school with some other students. Texas had been gone nearly a year – he didn’t know how life had changed for Merida – maybe she wasn’t the stubborn, selfish little girl he remembered her to be – maybe she had changed? He should be so lucky though – right?
The lad looked up at the building as a grumble was rumbling in the base of his throat. He pushed him forward, looking around the masses of students running around to place to place – from class to class. He had almost forgotten how much he missed the atmosphere and the many pushy students. Rolling eyes he made his way towards the basketball courts in hope that maybe he’d find the blue eyed lass there. He doubted that she would be pleased to see him though. He may have acted like his sister was frustrating and they weren’t close – that didn’t mean that he didn’t love her. She was still his kin.
Shoving the big doors, they swung and slammed behind him and he groaned, closing his eyes. Perfect, announce his entrance flamboyantly. How he hated that he could be so stupid and careless at times. “Whoa!” a call came and Texas raised an eyebrow as he looked up to see a team practising. He raised his arm and checked his watch – the time ticking away – so this would be practise – not an actual match. So there was no promise of Merida being here after all. He shrugged his shoulders and moved to the bleachers. Sitting down, his eyes followed the five people practising and he could remember them – most of them.
Bolin – he was the first he saw and the first he remembered. Bolin was the brother of that guy that Merida had been seeing. He remembered because Bolin had been the one that Merida was telling him about the last time they properly talked. How Bolin would always be there for her – even after she had left his brother Mako. No one actually knew if it was Mako that had left Merida – or if it was an amicable break up though. The redhead wouldn’t have been the type to let anyone think she had been dumped. It was funny actually – Texas had recalled the many times Merida and their mother argued over boys and how Merida didn’t want to fall in love. That was most likely why she had that fling with Mako – because she called it just a fling.
Anyway, the noise that had screeched when Texas arrived came from the basketball player. Bolin was practising with a dark skinned girl with brown hair. The girl had passed the basketball and almost made Bolin move backwards – it was a good thing, Texas guessed, that Bolin was built like a mountain. The boy knew Texas though – they knew each other pretty well. It was Bolin that gave Texas stories about Merida that just sort of made his sister seem – well human. He hadn’t seen the side of Merida in Bolin’s tales. Then again, she never gave Texas the time of day to get to see that side of her.
“Come on, Korra!” Bolin mused, his big green eyes batting at the newcomer. Texas hadn’t met her before – she must have been new on their team, he guessed. She seemed strong though. Fast and agile – this girl must have been an asset to the Falkirk Fire Ferrets. The Fire Ferrets, as they called themselves, were the basketball team that Bolin and Merida (along with whoever was on their little team at the time) had come up with. Falkirk for being the city in Scotland that their new apartment resided in, Texas wondered what Bolin would have been like living with Merida. He also wondered if Mako still lived with Bolin – that would have been awkward for his sister.
“Yo, Bolin.” Texas nodded his head and the boy currently with the ball stared at him. His smile grew, the basketball suddenly being thrown through the air and towards Korra. Bolin rushed over, happily grasping Texas in a bone crushing hug – Texas choked, before patting the boy on the back. “Good to see you too.” It was funny actually – out of everyone Texas knew, even though they lived in Scotland, only Merida really had the strong accent. Texas moved out as quickly as he could – he never always stayed in Scotland growing up either. His father would come now and again, take him away, then drop him back when he couldn’t be bothered – which happened often. This was why Texas just said that his father abandoned him.
Bolin and his brother were most certainly not from Scotland. Texas could recall them saying something about Republic City – but they were orphaned at a young age. Texas remembered that Mako and Bolin went from foster home to foster home but they never took to the families. As soon as Mako came of age he took guardianship of his brother and he’s been providing for him ever since. He worked at a factory of sorts – but Texas remembered Bolin saying how his brother wanted to work for the police. This made Texas snort a little actually, someone actually wanting to be a cop – especially someone like Mako.
“Nice to see you too.” A chuckle erupted from Texas’s throat as he glanced around. “So, you’ve not seen the bane of my existence?” Bolin must have known who he meant – being around Texas for as much as he had done, Bolin had come to understand the many nicknames (if you could call them that) that he held for his sister. Bolin nudged his head to a direction. As Texas turned to gaze to what he expected to see a redhead, he instead, saw the orange coloured basketball flying in his direction.
“Whit. The. Hell?”
The voice was shrill, arms crossed over her chest. Merida had to admit that this was the last thing she expected to come across at the moment. She knew she should have gone to her archery class instead of the practise with the rest of the team. Her blue eyes stared upon Texas as she arched her eyebrows with a look of defeat – she was most certainly not happy now. “When did ye get back?” Her arms stayed harshly pressed against her chest, her fingers pressing into her skin, digging her nails – she didn’t care much for the pain it caused – as long as she could keep her glare at her brother.
“Nice to see you too, Flames.” He spoke, his fingers pressed against his nose with a squeeze. She guessed that Texas was checking that his sister hadn’t broken his nose. It didn’t seem as if she had. Pity that. She rolled her eyes glancing between Korra and Bolin before growling, throwing her head back and looking away from them. The shame was that Merida and Texas had a lot in common with their mannerisms. If they took the time to notice – they would have come to the conclusion that Merida took her habits most likely from Texas.
“Why’d ye come back fer?” The redhead asked her question but didn’t stick around long enough to even ask, she stormed quickly on her feet, the heels of her trainers, bashing her way towards the door to the dressing room. She hadn’t heard the pressed sigh that came from Texas’s lips. She didn’t care to be honest. Why did he come back? Didn’t he know just how pressured things at home became when Texas was around? Their mother didn’t enjoy knowing that he was around – that she would be given this constant reminder of her ex lover. Even if Merida didn’t know the story – didn’t know what he was like – she hated the added pressure of her mother making sure that Merida would be perfect.
Elinor seemed to want Merida to be what would be considered perfect. She would make Merida work harder, listen to her, even though Merida tried her best not to. She had disappointed her mother so much in the past – she was glad her mother didn’t know of her past relationship with Mako. Her mother would have most likely had a heart attack. If she knew her precious daughter had a fling – an adult fling – with a boy who didn’t have any sort of high standard reputation – she would have died. Texas was the type of boy that her mother didn’t want Merida to be with. He was brash, insolent and arrogant. He had the worst reputation – not to mention he didn’t have the best past either with the law. The only good thing Merida and her mother could see in Texas was that he had been in the army and even then their mother never would have brought that up as a good thing.
“What’s up with, Princess?” Merida groaned, biting her bottom lip as she heard Korra’s words. The nickname became something of a bitter memory. It left a sour taste in her mouth – and she didn’t even have to say it for that taste to reside. It started off as a joke from her ex. He called her princess because she was the ‘princess of DunBroch enterprise.’ Her father declared him as the King of the business. Everyone knew that Merida was an heiress of the business, which meant that she was always going to be better off. She got everything she ever wanted – and her fees for this institute were never going to be a thing to worry about. Merida didn’t care – she knew her father meant well – he was the only one that ever seemed to get her. That was why when Mako had began to call her Princess out of teasing her – all she wanted to do was hit him.
Mako had begun his teasing and yet the nickname stuck. It was something that he thought would only be for her and him – and she would call him Fire Boy. There were reasons, like the fact he always smelt like smoke and sweat through the work he did, but he would call her Princess. It took that one time – that one little time – where Bolin heard and suddenly it was all around the class. Everyone was calling her Princess and she hated it. It was supposed to be between her and Mako – and now that they weren’t together, even he used it to make her frustrated. They couldn’t even call what they had a relationship because it was a few nights together, fits of passion, but that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. There were no dates – all they had were those memories – but even seeing him now made her double think her motives.
Why did she still think of him even now? She wasn’t sure if she still found him attractive. He was a good looking boy – and he was different from everyone else. Bolin and Mako were different – they weren’t like the other boys in Scotland – and that was what attracted Merida in the first place. Then their personalities drew her in. Hook, line and sinker, she was there dangling after them like a fish on a line. All she wanted was to get to know them – and she did – more than she would have expected with Mako and Bolin became one of her best friends.
Now she was a stubborn, selfish, frustrated wee lass apparently. She had heard it all over. People couldn’t understand what had attracted Mako to her in the first place. Her mother had decided that she wanted Merida to marry – and soon. She couldn’t understand that either. She was far too young to marry – even at seventeen. She didn’t want to be settled down and she didn’t want to be a wife – she couldn’t be a wife. Her mother wanted her to marry because her father wanted security with the business and wanted to keep the business a family affair. The triplets were but six years old, they were far too young to even consider taking over the business.
Her mother wanted her to marry one of her father’s business partner’s sons. But she wasn’t interested in any of them. None of them were her type. What Merida wanted she would never tell… but her mother would never have allowed it? Merida wanted to follow her own fate and she would do that – regardless of what people would think – and one day it would happen. It just didn’t seem to be one day soon. All she had to do right now was to focus on her life – and it seemed to be going downhill – especially with the return of her older brother.
Just who did he think he was?
Coming back into her life like that?
Merida groaned loudly – loud enough for anyone to hear as she swung the door wildly behind her and having it slammed as it swung shut behind her. She really didn’t care about how much of a similar personality she had in comparison to Texas. All she wanted was the freedom to do what she wanted – without the watchful eye of Texas waiting for her to mess up so that he could tell their mother and then they would be in competition to stay in Elinor’s good books.
“Wellllllll, that went well.”
Texas threw his hand over his face. Grimacing at the slight twinge of pain in his nose from where Merida had sent that ball in his direction, he looked towards the boy who had declared just how bad the reunion with his sister had gone. Bolin was far too optimistic – he knew the boy was trying to make him feel better but it just wasn’t working. He had just ruined the perfect opportunity to perhaps make things up with his sister. Merida was just so… hot-headed, rightly named Flames.
“Oh did she just storm off?” His attention was caught though – at a soft voice. He knew it wasn’t Merida, accent was most certainly not there – and it wasn’t Korra, because Korra’s wasn’t as light as this. Texas turned around, raising an eyebrow as he had guessed that this was one of his sister’s friends. He found himself flabbergasted, his lips almost parting as he stared forward towards the blonde that he recognised from before he left earlier last year.
His voice was choked – there was no way this could be the same girl that he had seen last year. Merida’s friend was not this girl – she wasn’t this filled out, she didn’t have these gorgeous green eyes… okay she did have those green eyes – but he never noticed them quite like he did right now – and she most certainly wasn’t wearing a cheerleaders outfit. Her green eyes though, the ones Texas had been admiring widened as she saw it was him. She threw her arms around his neck and squealed.
“Tex? Is that you?” Well no. “Merida didn’t say you were coming back!” Well, of course she didn’t, Merida never would have mentioned anything to anyone about him – right? “You look great!” Of course Texas knew that Rapunzel was only excited because he had been away at war – and had come back in one piece. More or less one piece… the scars he held on his body and in his mind was unnoticeable thanks to both the clothes and the mask he wore. He laughed, chuckled, it almost sticking in his throat as he watched the blonde push back from him.
“Thanks Rapunzel – so do you.” And he meant it – god did he mean it. His eyes watched the blonde as she looked around before sighing. She was obviously frustrated herself in Merida rushing off – but Texas knew Rapunzel pretty well too – she would never have voiced how frustrated in Merida she was. Texas had never really paid much attention to Rapunzel before, in honesty, she was just his sister’s friend. But Rapunzel had been in the house often when he was there – Merida would have done anything to show off her pretty things, obviously. Texas may have not known if Merida was really more into boyish things – but to Texas his sister was a girl – and she would have girly things. “She just ran off. That-a-way.” He moved, pointing towards the dressing room with his thumb.
She perked up, her lips curving into a grin. “Thanks, Tex.” Rapunzel spoke as she moved her hand to his arm before brushing past him and heading to where his sister had gone. He sighed, biting his bottom lip and furrowing his brow in confusion. He had never paid much attention to Rapunzel before. Why was he doing it now? This was unlike him. Something he had in common with Merida was that neither of them was ever that concerned with love. Where Merida was certain that she didn’t want love, Texas didn’t want to worry about love. If it happened, it happened, but he wouldn’t go looking. This was why he was completely flabbergasted at his interest – why did he want to get to know more about Rapunzel?
Texas moved forward, throwing his shoulders and bowing his head. Well that went well and for once in his life he was acting like a mess. He wasn’t sure what he wanted now – he came here for a sort of hint of how his mother would react to his return. Merida had acted like he was a rat carrying the plague. She would have rather stood on him than let him stay in her house. He guessed he didn’t have a choice. He didn’t have any where else to go – and fortunately Merida didn’t live at home anymore. He wasn’t sure about weekends, holidays, or anything like that – but not having to look at her aggravated face twenty four hours a day was bound to be something. He’d only have to put up with his mother’s.
“How do you put up with her everyday?” Texas breathed out whilst glancing towards Bolin. “I would have gone mad.” Bolin, unlike Texas, was a lover and not a fighter. He wouldn’t have looked at Merida for a fight – he would have tolerated, enjoyed her company and began to understand what she was like underneath that tough exterior though. Bolin was the sort of man that Texas really wished he could be. It might have been something to do with the upbringing though. Texas never had a real father figure – he never let himself get close to Fergus – whereas Bolin had Mako. Brother or not, he raised that boy like a son – even if there was only two years between them. Texas really was in awe of Mako for that. He wasn’t sure if he could have done that for his siblings. That was especially so when Merida was that sibling.
He crossed his arms, bucking his head back and glancing at Bolin who was rambling on about Merida and how things were fine at home. He was even going on about that Korra girl… he hadn’t even asked him about her. That was somewhat awkward – but he was glad that Korra was strong, beautiful, and independent and whatever else Bolin had said. He moved his head down a little before glancing up. “How are things with Merida and Mako?” Bolin gave a laugh before rubbing the back of his head. Texas grimaced – this wasn’t going to be good. He knew Merida was hard to handle, but he didn’t think she’d give her ex fling a hard time.
“Merida doesn’t talk much about it – and Mako more or less ignores her. I think he’s interested in someone else.” Bolin’s glance looked away from Texas. The green in his eyes became slightly pale. Texas felt a little bit uneasy – why did he think that wasn’t a good thing. This was the thing about leaving for a year to be in the army – you miss out on a lot and then you only ever hear one side to every story – and if you are ever fortunate to hear more takes, the stories never fit into place. Perhaps the think that Bolin said was known? Maybe he knew that Mako had found someone else and maybe Merida wasn’t pleased about it? Texas would have to find that out. Merida was a jealous person. He knew that – he could tell that, being her brother, and knowing the wrath of a jealous Merida personally.
Texas placed his hand upon Bolin’s shoulder for a split second. His eyes never left the door of the dressing room for his sister. He would have to attempt to get her to talk to him – and he would get that. “Thanks for telling me…” He trailed off when the door opened and out bounded as quick as a flash the redhead dressed and heading for the main door. “Whoa, Flames wait up.” He spoke, following the redhead and Rapunzel. This time he wasn’t heading after her for her friend – as much as he would have to admit he checked Rapunzel out again (now that she wasn’t in her cheerleading uniform) – he was trying to get his sister to co-operate.
“I need to talk about mom.”
