daybreakacademy | Ella con su triste canto te acompañará

Entry tags:

héctor rivera: coco

Ella con su triste canto te acompañará

WHO: Héctor and closed to close CR only
WHERE: Lumiere to Aube
WHEN: Wibbly wobbly time but a little after the WYMW plot
WHAT: A phone call reunion
WARNINGS: The BIG SPOILER tm (I will NPC the person on the phone as needed)

The conversation starts off in Lumiere. It's not a voice that most will have heard around Imelda, let alone coming from her room. Hitching sobs and gasps, and eventually laughter and quick spoken Spanish. It starts in the early evening, but soon carries late and the door opens but the conversation doesn't stop, a phone cradled to his ear and not a care in the world for who sees him, tear tracked and smiling wide. 'Coco' and 'Mija' and 'Te extraño mucho' are words that come with frequency. Héctor barely minds his path, let alone those he passes.

But there are still one or two for whom he might pause, wet-faced and still heedless as he stops to say, "Mija, este es mi buen amigo, my good friend..."

It's a rare honor, but he does reserve for those already in the know of his situation. None of it holds him so long that he's late for their song. Even with her voice on speaker now, they both sing softly-- as best they can with tears in their voices-- so as not to be heard. But his fingers play upon the guitar and those notes ring out, like it or not, throughout the common room of Aube. Those up terribly late may just catch the tail end, or at least the sung word, "Recuérdame".

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It is still great. And he understands the boy's disappointment in not having a purely happy end, they can both agree this is something good all the same.

He flashes a grateful smile at Peter, not contemplating the video call too much lest he gets lost in the idea of seeing his daughter for the first time and weeping all over again.

And then he's smiling down at the phone in his hands again. "The uh... what happened really shook us up, didn't it? She's been having me see her. I thought it would just be until I could make myself look... not skeletal again, but she's still been talking. And when our younger selves went running around, our two clung. When they went back, we remembered and... it's still hard for her, and I don't blame her, but I guess despite everything she's considering things. And she and I are going to work on getting me home. With all that... she gave the new number for home. Warned Coco I'd be calling, told her I was lost and sick and staying here to get better. Not entirely a lie."

He'll help later, he promises. You can gush about video calls all you want later.

"I was wondering," he says. "If you got along better when you were kids. She was totally different." And Héc, well. He was different too but not as pronounced as Imelda was. "I'm glad she's gonna let you go home for real though. And talk to Coco."

All good things, all good starts. It makes him think that maybe he'll get to see Coco in Mexico later too.

He laughs a little. Soft and rueful.

"She's not so different," He says in her defense. "She's the same person inside. The same passion, same care. Things just got hard for her, that's all. In her element, I'd bet she's just the same as she was." Whereas he? Well, he's always been a scruffy urchin. Peter's never seen him at his best and maybe never will.

"I used to play in the plaza, all day and all night. Foster kid, they never noticed I was gone. Besides Ernesto, she was one the only one who really noticed me beyond my guitar. But, mage family, they didn't exactly approve. I'd say we didn't get into so many antics as we did here until after her quinceñera. But... I'd always admired her. As you know." He turns his smile downward, laughing again. "I don't think Teto so much convinced her as Imeldita did though. The only catch is that I can't go home yet."

Ha. Scruffy urchin is right. Regardless of how old Héc is.

Peter flops on the bed a little more, still grinning at his skeleton uncle. "Right, right, traveling is hard when you're a skeleton," he says. "That's why you told her you're sick, right? Since you can't mention - y'know."

He gestures at all of Héctor. And also all of himself, for that matter.

"But I knew you guys would get back together eventually. You love each other too much not to."

And that's yet another rueful smile won.

"Si. That's why. A little of secrecy law and a little... not hurting her where it's unnecessary." At least, for now.

Of course then he's snorting and shaking his head. "Ay, mijo, it's just chance. We love each other plenty but there'd be no getting back together if not for all this. Or all my being here at all for that matter. And I just told you we're not exactly back together. We're... something. Co-parents. Who are taking things slow. It's different."

But so different he can stop smiling about it.

"I get it." He'd do the same for May if May didn't know everything already. And he'll keep the same secrets with Coco, at least as much as he can. Better with Héctor's. Maaaaybe not so much with his own.

Also, that's not going to make him grin any less. "That's still progress," he points out. "Way more than you thought you were gonna get, right?" As far as Peter's concerned, that's a win.

He rolls his eyes but he really can't stop grinning. "Alright, alright, have your victory. You relentless kid."

He reaches over then quickly rustles Peter's hair. Take that!

But with that done he's back to looking at the phone, that bittersweet look upon him. His thumb runs over the darkened screen. "I waited so long for this. I finally got to apologize. I got to tell her I loved her. That I still do." He looks up again to Peter. "She didn't forget me."

Hey, hey! He didn't ask for that. But he laughs anyway, ducking his head a bit. You missed this dumbass kid, admit it.

"I'm real glad," he says, with a softer expression too. "I mean, you don't always get second chances like that." He had the same with Ben, and he's desperately glad for it. Some nights he manages to talk to his uncle too. Mostly up on the roof in the middle of the night. So ... not so dissimilar, really. "But she couldn't have forgotten you, right? You're her dad. That's way too important of a relationship."

It's nice to hear the kid laugh along. The kid needs more of that. He doesn't have to admit a thing about missing because it's obvious.

It's a nice thing that Peter doesn't have to miss his uncle so much. Even if the reasons for it, Peter's own status, are less than ideal.

He understands Peter's trying to reassure, and his smile doesn't waver for in the end he was remembered. But, he shakes his head. "How much do you remember from four years old, Peter? Me, I can't remember anything. I don't know my own parents' names. I don't even know what my own last name was supposed to be. I died when my daughter was four... and then there was no trace of me at all. But she remembered me anyway. She missed me. She's a miracle, my Coco is. And I'm the luckiest man in the world."

That's a good point, honestly. Peter's own biological parents died at around the same time for him, and he can't remember a darn thing about them. But. He'll maybe keep that to himself. It's clear Coco did remember, and that's good enough.

"I'm glad, Tío," he says, his expression warm. "You're gonna get to be a part of her life from now on."

He might have missed a lot so far, but. Having this now is a lot too, surely.

He imagines Peter doesn't remember. It's fine. He knows how it goes. He's just amazed for otherwise.

At those words, his heart swells. He has to close his eyes a moment, just to imagine it, to think of all he won't miss for once, instead of what he has. He looks up and over then, smiling. "And you."

He reaches over, gripping Peter's arm a moment in a light squeeze. "We're all family now, si? Which means you can be her family too. And she can be yours. If you both want to."

Peter lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Of course he hadn't really thought that Héctor would shut him out now that he has his real family back. But he also wouldn't have blamed him if he had. Coco is his daughter, and Peter is ... well he's just some dumb undead kid. And if Coco had been there all along maybe they wouldn't have bonded like this.

But they have, and - and Peter is relieved to hear that won't go away just because the situation has changed. "Course I want that," he says. "We're going to your home town after everything's done, right? Santa Cecilia."

He knows what that breath means. He won't call it out, but he's glad he can dissuade the notion. The only reason Peter wouldn't come along would be if he chose to go another way himself.

"That's right," He says. "Find a place one way or another, set us all up..." Though maybe he ought to... ask about that...

"There will be questions, of course, but none that we have to answer the way I see it. Which, on that note, I was going to suggest you learn some Spanish but it might actually be safer for you if you don't."

He might still, depending on how things pan out. If he ever gets a clean resurrection that doesn't require him to hide being alive again. But for now, this is his best option, and he's reasonably excited about it. As long as Aunt May comes too, which she will.

"I know some Spanish already," he says. "I took it in school. And I live in New York." He's nowhere near fluent, but he has enough to get by conversationally. He'd gotten the gist of Héctor's call to Coco for sure.

"Español de Latino? O de España?" He laughs then. "I'm teasing. That's fine. I was just thinking it would be easier to keep your secret if you couldn't understand anything." More teasing.

And then more seriously, "It's no city, but I think you'll like it. It's nice enough. And then if you do like the city better, México city's only a train ride away. Could be a good second stop for your whole hero thing."

Uhhhhh. "Maybe I'm not that good at it." He will probably sound quite funny in Mexico, given his mix of Spanish Spanish and New York Spanish. But he'll try, okay, and he won't be half bad.

Anyway, he brightens at that thought. He misses tall buildings okay; Mexico City seems like it would be fun to swing around. "Okay, yeah," he says. "I could do that. I'll have to come up with a Spanish version of my name though."

He's not even missing a beat on this one.

"El Niño Araña."

Spiderman? Nope. Spiderboy.

What? No. Rude, intensely rude.

"Oh come on! Can't I at least be El Hombre Araña?"

Intensely not sorry.

"How old were you again? Seventeen? Definitely not El Hombre."

Ugh. "Seventeen. Technically." If he counts the year he was dead.

Well if Peter's going to round up instead of reluctantly correct him then...

"But only sixteen years worth of experience," He teases. "And having your seventeenth this summer. I hate to bring it chamaco, but a muchacho's the most you are. El Niño Araña."

Uggghhhh why. Grant him this much dignity, Héc, he's begging you.

"But I'm never gonna be older than seventeen," he complains. "So hombre's never gonna happen."

Hmmmm... no.

Maybe.

"First off, you don't know that yet. We're waiting for your birthday and taking measurements." Just as a reminder. "And second, so what? You're a primo now! Part la familia de los muertos! We'll count your age as you mature." He reaches over to tap Peter's head. "Mentally."

But he makes no personal promises on calling Peter un hombre.

Right, right. Technically he's only been like this for maybe six months. There's no real way to know for certain. But ... well, he has a feeling, okay.

"And if I don't mature mentally?" Look, he's just saying. If he could age physically, he'd still probably be a kid at heart.

"Then I guess I'm teasing you forever. You can't guilt me, mijo. I was the kid with my primos half the time."

He doesn't look sorry at all. But he does at least consider the possibility, smile softening. "If you're a kid forever then I'm going to look after you like one. Which means you'll always be a boy to me anyway. But I'm sure you'll convince others to call you hombre."

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