Junkmetra Cupid 3
Mako stared at his tablet sized phone and reread his last message over and over again in his head.
His chest ached at the words that echoed in his mind. He’d known that Jamie’d been a bit upset ever since his best friends started dating, making him a third wheel now whenever they hung out and he couldn’t spend as much one on one time with them that he used to.
No, upset wasn’t the right word. He was happy for them, sure. He’d ran all the way over here at six am to tell him all about how his best friends were finally together and did a little jig before passing out on the couch. He was glad they were so happy together, but being the third wheel was awful. He’d know. Hog’d made friends with Ana, Reinhardt and Torbjörn and Ingrid not too long after moving in and when Ana and Reinhardt finally got together, he was glad, but felt left out and lonely as the only single parent left in their apartment complex. (He still had Jack and Gabe, but it wasn’t the same...) Even though, at the time, he had Jamie to care for and raise and he didn’t really want to let himself dwell on it for too long, it still felt awful, especially since he had a crush on Jamie’s old doctor, Angela, who also lived in the building and knew he had a snowball’s chance in hell with getting a date with her.
Eventually Jamie’s insistent ‘when you gonna ask ‘er out?’ ‘You ask ‘er yet?’ ‘’M not gonna stop botherin’ ya until ya ask ‘er!’ wore him down.
And to his shock, she agreed and they decided to do it the next night.
Angela chuckled when she told him that she’d been expected him to ask her out sooner and she’d actually been a bit interested in him since Jamie told her (when he was ten, the little shit) that he liked her and that she should go out with him, “Look, ‘e’s a big terrifying bloke who scares th’ shit outta everyone ‘e meets, ‘e can be a roight bastard at toimes ‘n he snores loud as hell. But ‘e took me after I lost... well, almost everything ‘n is takin’ really good care of me, even if ‘m a pain in the arse ta deal with most of th’ toime... ‘N any bloke who would give up everythin’ ‘n move across th’ planet for a kid ‘e watched between work at a garage for, what, maybe a year maybe two?... Tha’ koinda bloke is someone worth a shot at least.”
And for that, when he got home and saw his adopted son and his best friends eagerly anticipating the details with excited expressions, he walked past them, all quiet like, then smacked Jamie upside the head as he walked to his room to change.
“th’ fuck’s tha’ for?” He cried.
“Fer tellin’ ‘er I snore. Luckily fer you, tha’s not a turn off for ‘er.” he told him.
“So...” Lúcio said, motioning with his hands for Mako to go on while Hana had her fingers crossed, “Please have a second date, please have a second date!!”
“Jamie’s crashin’ with you this weekend.” He told him.
“YES!!” They cried, hugging and jumping up and down, which with their height differences was hilarious, but it was nice to have so many people happy for him.
that wasn’t something that really happened until he met Jamie...
He remembered that day so clearly... he had been looking for work to pay for his ailing mother’s medicine, he’d applied everywhere nearby and still nothing. He’d gone to this tiny hole in the wall shop near his mother’s home to pick up some groceries with the tiny amount of money he had, carefully looking through the aisles with a too small for him basket for the freshest fruit on sale for his mother, wanting to give her a healthy treat after dealing with more bad news from the doctor.
While he had been carefully looking at some local plums that were cheap and fresh when he spotted a tiny child dashing around, laughing . He watched as the little one seemed to trip over nothing and suddenly fly forward and he immediately knelt down and slid his hand under the tyke and caught him before he hit the floor.
The little one was surprised and looked up at him.
‘Ah, here it comes’ he had thought, ‘the crying, the angry parents screeching, the accusations, the coppers...’
But, to his surprise, the little boy smiled at him and grabbed his thumb and squealed with delight, “You’re HUGE!” He cried.
Mako stared, gobsmacked at what was happening. He nearly pinched himself to check to see if he wasn’t dreaming when a man and woman ran over.
“Jamie!” The woman cried, “There you are!” Mako snapped out of his daze and held the little one up to the woman and she immediately pulled him to his chest, “Thank you.” she breathed, relieved, “We had ‘im in th’ trolley, but ‘e managed to slip out th’ moment we had our backs turned...”
The man chuckled, “Our little escape artist strikes again!” he joked as he ruffled the kid’s hair, making him laugh more.
Mako got up off the floor and picked up his basket, glad he hadn’t put anything in it yet and told them he was glad they were all together again and accepted another thank you before they parted, little Jamie waving at him with a broad smile on his face.
He waited until they were out of sight before pinching himself to make sure that was real. It had hurt, so it was real. He’d picked a few plums, paid and drove back to his mother and told her all about what happened, ‘How did he get out of th’ Trolley though?’ she had asked, ‘Honestly Mako, don’ tell me tha’ if ya don’ know how ‘e did it! Now ‘m jus’ gonna be thinkin’ ‘bout it all day!’
He remembered how she’d come up with theories all through out supper and the dishes before falling asleep watching one of her old favorite movies.
The next time he’d see the Fawkes family, it was a week later and he still had no job and their savings were starting to dwindle. He had been reading the job listings on a cork board by the entrance before going in to check out the sales for the day, when he heard a laugh and felt something latch onto his leg, “Mr. Piggy Man!” an excited voice called from below. Mako looked down and saw the little boy from last week hanging to the bottom of his shorts and looking up at him with bright eyes.
“Jamie!” The couple from before ran up and the man scooped the boy up into his arms, “Oi, son, tha’s no way to greet someone. Whaddya say when you wanna say ‘Hey’?”
“G’day!” the boy cried out.
“Attaboy!” The man said, “A good G’day is always important when seein’ yer mates, ain’ tha’ roight?” He said, looking to Mako for confirmation.
Mako nodded, even though he didn’t really have mates to speak of, never really had any except for a dog he had growing up and his mother. The two males of the little family seemed to laugh and fool around as they passed him and made their way into the store. However, the mother walked right up to him instead.
“Sorry ‘bout them.” She said, “They forget an important part of a greetin’ is introducin’ yourself.” She held out her hand, “My name is Maggie Fawkes, the big drongo is my husband Jackson and the little firecracker is my son, Jamie.”
“Mako.” He said, giving her hand a shake that was firm enough to be professional but not enough to crush her hand. She seemed pleased and impressed by it and noticed him holding a flyer for a bouncer job at a strip club. That’s when he noticed her eyes, they were a pretty shade somewhere between yellow and orange and seemed to sparkle with intelligence.
“You job huntin’?” she asked.
“Yeah. Me Mum’s sick ‘n ‘er medicine ain’ cheap.” He said, surprising himself a bit that he’d tell someone who was basically a stranger something so personal.
She smiled and motioned for him to follow her into the shop, which he did, although he had no idea where this was going...
“You know much about mechanics?” She asked.
“A bit, ‘nough ta keep me boike in good order.” He replied.
Her smile increased as did her pace and he actually had to speed walk a bit to keep up with her, “Jamie really loikes you.” She told him, “Been gabbin’ on ‘bout ya all week. Never really warmed up to anyone outside family so quick...”
Mako blinked at that. Children didn’t ‘warm up to him’, children cowered in fear of him. Adults cowered in fear of him. The few people he could count off his fingers that didn’t fear him was his mother and apparently this woman Maggie and her family. But he said nothing about it and simply continued to follow her in silence, trying to work out how perfect strangers could be so nice to him when it was him.
“Jack!” she called, waving to her husband, who had been looking at fruits with Jamie in the cart. When they reached them, she motioned to him, “Jack, this is Mako, he’s lookin’ fer a job ‘n knows a bit about mechanics, why don’ you hire ‘im?”
Her husband’s eyes widened at the suggestion and Mako pinched himself on the leg. Still hurt, so this was really happening right now.
“Think ‘bout it, luv, you’ve been sayin’ you need an extra set of hands ‘round th’ shop since Aussy left ta live with th’ seppos.” Maggie pointed out.
“I have needed an extra pair of hands...” he said thoughtfully, “Not just fer th’ work, but keepin’ Jamie out of trouble...” The pair not noticing Jamie taking off his shoes and socks off and plopping them beside him before he turned around and started climbing down the trolley like a monkey would, clinging to the metal with his fingers and toes.
Mako grabbed him by the scuff of his shirt and brought him up to his eye level, “Don’ do tha’, you could fall ‘n get hurt. If you wanna get out, tell yer parents ‘n stay close ta ‘um.”
Jamie seemed shocked by the action, then laughed, “Again! Again!”
“If I do it again, will you do what I said?” He asked him. Jamie nodded and he carefully lowered him back towards the ground, then back to his eye level again, making him laugh before he turned back to the boy’s parents, who were smiling at him. Mako carefully handed the kid to his mother and the boy’s father held out his hand, “You’re hired! I’ll give ya th’ address ta th’ shop ‘n we’ll fill out th’ paperwork tomorrow ‘n you can get started.”
“Jus’ loike tha’?” He managed, confused.
“If you can handle our son, you can handle anything.” Jack laughed. Maggie pulled a pad of paper and a pen out of her purse and they made plans to meet at the address she wrote down the next day before waving good bye.
“Hoo roo Mr. Piggy Man!”
“It’s Mako.” he corrected, then smiled, “See ya soon kid.” When he told his mother how the child had escaped and got him a job, she had laughed harder than she had in weeks and he’d laughed right along with her.
After that, he’d become very close with the Fawkes family, it was hard not to, they were just such friendly, kind people. He found himself being more of a full time babysitter and a part time mechanic due to snatching Jamie up before he went and did something dangerous and settled him on a table with odds and ends to play with. It also didn’t help that the family lived over Jackson’s garage business, so they were always around in one way or another. Maggie was a college professor who taught chemistry and even helped him find a cheaper alternative to his mother’s medicine that used the same ingredients as the brand name stuff and always sent him home with sweets of one kind or another to take home to his mother.
Eventually it was normal for him to end his shift early on Fridays and drive to his house to pick up his mother and take her to the Fawkes’ for dinner. When she got too sick for that, they’d close up early and the family would follow his bike home and they’d have dinner at his house, sometimes Jamie would go in his side car, squealing with delight at the wind in his hair and cry out for him to go faster.
His mother adored Jamie, treated him like he was her grandson, constantly spoiling him with little treats she’d exhaust herself making or letting him take some old appliance to fiddle with, often usually fixing it up while he did so, playing games with him, showing him pictures of Mako when he was his age and chatting with him about anything and everything.
One night after the Fawkes’ left, his mother told him that, “Mako, I loike tha’ family.”
“I know ya do, Mum.” He said as he worked on the dishes.
“You wanna know why?” she asked him.
“'Cause Jamie’s th’ closest thing you’ll ever have ta a grandchild?” He guessed.
“I will have grandchildren, Mako. Jamie’s jus’ practice.” She assured him, “’N a delightful little imp, but anyways, I mean, ever since you’ve met this family, you haven’ been depressed whenever you read those romance novels of yours.”
“I didn’ get depressed-” he started.
“Yes you did.” She said, “You love romance, Mako, but you feel you don’ deserve love. I have no idea why, since I raised you to be a wonderful man who any sheila would be lucky to have-”
“Mum. ‘m not-” he began, ready to remind his mother that he wasn’t exactly the best looking bloke or the nicest.
“-but for some reason you just don’ see yourself worthy of it.” she continued, ignoring him, “I loike tha’ family because they treat you well ‘n tha’ little boy thinks the world of you. ‘N ever since you started workin’ for them, you’ve been startin’ ta look hopeful when you read those books again.” She then leaned back in her chair and mused, “You think either Jack or Maggie has a sister whose single? ‘Cause if so, ‘m gonna ask them to set you up with them.”
“Please don’.” He pleaded.
“Mako, I am sick ‘n old ‘n don’ wanna die with you all alone, so ‘m gonna do it.” She told him plainly.
Not too long after that, he lost his mother. The Fawkes family helped him with the arrangements, they were by his side at her funeral and even let him sleep in a hammock they set up in the garage when it was still too painful for him to go home to an empty house.
The whole Time, Jamie just stuck by his side, giving him hugs when he felt awful in an attempt to cheer him up, he even slept in some of the cars they were working on in the garage with him. When Mako asked him why, he said, “Cause I don’t know how to make you feel better and this is the only thing I can think of.” Mako chuckled sadly and told him to keep at it. Eventually the pain lessened and he found that, despite going home to an empty house, he didn’t feel as lonely as he thought he’d be. It probably helped that he learned that the Fawkes decided that they were going to have another child and that Jamie would soon be a big brother.
Mako was glad for them, and was looking forward to seeing another member of this kind family come into the world. And Jamie was excited about being a big brother and had been making little toys for his incoming sibling out of spare bits from the garage.
“Mum ‘n Da’ told me ’m gonna have a little sister!” Jamie had told him over the phone as soon as he could, “They said we’re gonna call her Eva!”
“Tha’s a pretty name.” He said.
“Yeah! ’m gonna teach ‘er all sorts of fun things! Loike, loike how ta build things ‘n how ta play with fireworks safely ‘n ‘n!”
Jamie would go on and on, but Mako never minded. He often would relay Jamie’s words to his mother’s urn on the mantle at home, laughing at the things Jamie had in store for little Eva.
But that never happened.
Mako had been driving behind them on the road, Maggie’s doctor and his house were in the same direction and they were going for a check up as a family. Jamie had been twisted around in his seat, making funny faces at him and making him chuckle when a truck suddenly swerved into their lane and crashed into the car and pushed them off of the road.
Mako still had nightmares about that moment and felt his insides twist and churn at the snapshot of that moment when the car lurched off the road and Jamie’s face went from joyful to terrified in the backseat, the metal of the car barely inches from him.
He’d nearly leapt off his bike with the motor still running, but managed to stop as to not cause another accident and ran to what was left of the car, barely noticing the man in the truck sitting in his seat in shock at what happened. He couldn’t recall barking at the man to call for an ambulance, although according to the man’s statement, he did. He remembered hearing Jamie’s screams of pain and remembered almost ripping the door off the car to get to him. He remembered the metal that engulfed his right arm and right leg, the child motionless with a cut on his forehead, passed out from shock the doctors would tell him later. He remembered calling for Maggie and Jack, telling them that he’d get them as soon as he got Jamie out, but hearing nothing back.
He remembered agonizing for what felt like years, trying to figure out how to get him out without risking further injury, he remembered telling them what shape Jamie was in, but he’d find a way to get him out and then he’d get them.
He couldn’t tell you when the ambulances came, or the cops, he distinctly remembered the tools they had to use to get Jamie and his parents out though. And recalled throwing up on the side of the road when he saw the state they were in. He remembered being too big for the ambulance and revving his bike as loud as the sirens as he followed close behind the ambulance so Jamie would know he was there with him. That he’d be okay...
But he wasn’t.
Jamie lost his hand and his arm up to almost his elbow on his right arm and everything from the knee down on his right leg. He lost his mother, his father, and his unborn baby sister in one foul swoop.
Jamie had been so quiet when they finally let him into see him. his eyes, the same eyes as his cheery, no nonsense mother’d had, looked as if someone scraped the soul out of him. Mako had gathered the boy in his arms and broke down and cried.
Jamie soon joined him.
After that, it was as if it had gone from images and slow motion to being in a movie that was being fast fowarded through. Mako had to call Maggie’s brother, make arrangements, tell their other friends and have them spread the word, explain to Jack’s clients about the situation, call Maggie’s employers too, call Jamie’s kindergarten, all while trying to figure out how to comfort a child who had lost everything who needed to learn how to live life with out his family and parts of his body.
Maggie’s brother Austin helped with some of the burden when he got back, but he told him that he’d need to go back to the United States eventually, that he’d looked up a good doctor for Jamie there and that, while it would probably be hard on the boy, that he was planning on taking him back with him.
Mako asked if it was possible to just move back here, but Austin pointed out that the amount of doctors who were qualified to look after Jamie just weren’t plentiful around the area and that, while he didn’t want to take Jamie from the only home he knew, it might be good to get away, to give him some space and time to heal.
Mako thought the second excuse was bullshit, but he couldn’t argue the first one. The people at the hospital they were at now said that the best physical therapists and prosthetic makers were closer to the coasts and they lived in the middle of fucking nowhere.
“Then ‘m goin’ too.” Mako told him. Austin was delighted with the idea, “He really does adore you, you know.” He told him and even helped him apply for a job at his company as a security guard at night, “That way Jamie has someone around to look after him 24-7! I really appreciate the help, Mate!”
Jamie had not taken the news well, understandably so, and it took Mako promising he’d be there with him and that he’d help him find a place his whole family would like to bury their ashes when they got there that he begrudgingly accepted his fate. Eventually they had gone through everything and the three men were on a flight to the US... only for Mako to need to help Jamie find a place where his uncle would like to be buried not too long later. After that, he decided to just take the child in himself, that no one else could handle him at this point who Jamie would be willing to trust.
He was grateful that the US child services people let him adopt Jamie so easily, not that raising him was anywhere close to being easy, but Jamie was the first person in years to make him feel as if he could be loved by someone other than his mother and the two were all alone in a strange country with no one they knew to help them. They were in this together now and he would do his best to look out for Jamie just like Jamie’s family had looked out for him.
“Mako?” Angela called, snapping him out of his little flash back. He turned to her and saw that she looked concerned, “The blind date didn’t go well, did it?” she asked quietly.
“It didn’.” He confirmed, “‘E showered, bought ‘er flowers, actually fuckin’ tried, but...” Angela sat next to him and rested her head on his chest, “Is he alright?”
He held up his phone, “’E hoired someone to help.”
“Please don’t tell me he hired a whore.” Angela pleaded, covering her eyes as if to hide from their adopted son’s shame.
“I asked, he said no.”
“Gott sei Dank...” she muttered as she let her hands slide off of her face.
“‘E hoired a matchmaker ‘parently.”
Angela’s head popped up from his chest, “He WHAT?!” She grabbed his phone, tapped in the passcode and reread the texts only to stop when she read the last text he got from Jamie.
“Poor thing.” She murmured, then scowled as she placed her head back on Mako’s chest and pulled out her own phone and began typing.
“What are you doin’?”
“Texting Hana. I am planning to interrogate Fareeha as to what happened on that date and I want her to suffer a bit. Telling Hana that Jamie’s date with Fareeha has him running to a professional matchmaker and not her for a new date is all I need for her to go for the jugular.”
“If you want ‘er ta suffer, why aren’t you invitin’ her Mum instead?” He asked.
“I still need her to talk freely, if I bring Hana, then we just want to know what happens and I’m a mediator. If I bring Ana, she knows she’s in trouble and will clam up and not tell us anything.”
“Fair enough.” He chuckled before he looked back at his phone, “Angie, we have plans next saturday?”
She tapped one last time on her phone and her phone began dinging repeatedly, informing them that Pipsqueak had seen the message and was now pissed, “That’s when we’re having the roof party, remember? You and Jamie are in charge of the ‘barbie’ this time.” she reminded him.
“I’m gonna ask Jamie to bring this matchmaker to th’ party.” Mako said, “Jus’ so we can see what their angle is.”
The dings became more persistent and Angela looked at her phone, “Have him send their business card over as soon as you can too, Hana’s getting fussy and I’m quite curious about this mystery matchmaker’s qualifications myself.”
Mako smiled and gave her a smooch on the forehead as he tapped at his phone, “Pipsqueak saw my phone, she’s pissed and wants the 'detes’ on this matchmaker. Oh, and we’re on the barbie next Saturday, Angie says to bring your new matchmaker friend too. Let them have a good idea of who your friends are, says it’ll help.” and hit send.
His son may be a third wheel, and Mako didn’t want him to be alone, but if this matchmaker was messing with his son then they would find out just how big the family they’d made over here was.