Chapter Text
Rolo’s Pawn Shop!
Hiring Imeadieatly!
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You must have thrifting experience and be a fast runner.
Verpit Sal’s! Fast Food
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Culinary school experience required…
Zs Real Estate Enterprise.
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Must attend our 6-month disciplinary course before being considered…
It should not be this difficult.
Lance leaned his head back to the ceiling. “ All I need is a job. Is that too hard to ask!” he exclaimed out to the empty living room.
He had been on his laptop scrolling through all sorts of jobs for the past two hours straight. And that is not even counting the past 3 months of endless nights of searching, bathed in the ghostly blue glow of his phone.
From jobs needing someone with a master's degree just to simply re-stock some shelves and even jobs that seemed great until he saw the salary pay that would make blue-collar workers riot. Lance had seen it all.
Except for something decent because of course not.
When he did come across such a rarity, it was always out of the way from where he would be moving. Though it was a great university, Lance sometimes cursed himself for being a part of the ever-expanding Institute of Altea.
But his 12-year-old self couldn’t help but be captured by the majesty of the school all those years ago. The first school dedicated solely to uncovering the mysteries of the heavens had begun to expand worldwide, and Lance will forever be grateful for that day that changed the course of his life for the better.
The day the Institute of Altea arrived in Cuba.
However, he managed to stumble onto the field in the middle of a jet's test run, it was purely accidental, but felt like fate.
Those sleek white jets were nothing but a blur passing by overhead; they were unmistakably the fastest birds he had ever seen. The sound that came after was deafening and burned through his eardrums as they broke the sound barrier.
It was a terrifying show of power. It was, unbeknownst to him at the time, an engineering breakthrough. It was everything he didn’t know he needed.
The adrenaline that coursed through his whole being just by watching made his skin shiver with anticipation. The ground held no support and thrummed along with the engine's roar. The sensation only lasted a second as the jets flew by.
But the memory refused to fade.
Just like those big, precious eyes and wild hair that refused to be tamed. Small, gentle hands gripped his arm with anticipation. Always eager for the next adventure.
If she could see him now, what would she say?
Probably something like-
“ Lance?”
He leaned his back upside-down over the arm of the couch to his annoying female replica.
“ Hey V,” he replied to his sister, who wore a growing grin.
“ Don’t do that, or you’ll crack your head open again.”
“ That was a freak accident, and you know it.” he counteracted.
She rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything and moved to the other side of the furniture. Before Lance knew what was happening, his legs were thrown off the couch, forcing him to whip his head up and sit upright.
“ Wha-” he cut himself off at the sight of his culprit occupying the other side of the small sofa with the computer she had snatched. Scrolling through his computer that she had snatched and placed on her lap.
She promptly ignored him and kept her eyes on the device, “ Have you tried other websites?”
“ At least twenty of them,” he answered with a defeated sigh. “ I even went back to some and refreshed the page, logged out and back in, but got nothing.”
Veronica’s glasses glare with the blue light as her eyes rapidly skim through Lance’s saved job search websites.
“ Even with your resume you still get turned down?”
“ You would think working a stand at the farmers market for all four years of high school would catch SOME people’s attention! “ he exclaimed, thrusting his arms out in frustration.
Ever since he could lift a bunch of bananas- which he finally managed to do at the embarrassing age of fourteen while cousin Felipe (who Lance was convinced for a time he ate scrawny kids like him with straight black coffee for breakfast) lifted it at five according to legend- he helped his family's farm business the best he could from harvesting fruits with his siblings in the fields under the hot sun to working the register at the market when he came of age. It was a family effort, and everyone had their part. Lance’s specialty was the people, and he quickly became a favorite among Varadero's customers.
Though his parents wanted to grow the business beyond Cuba, once they had saved enough, they exchanged tearful goodbyes to the rest of the family and left for sunny California.
Once they got settled, soon there was a new corner shop, just a mere few hours away from the coast, that was thriving with customers. Whether it was intrigued students from the School of Altea convienetnly nearby or fellow Cuban’s who longed for a taste of home, it was never a boring day.
“ If I add any more years, Mom and Dad are going to be accused of child labor.”
“Well, that’s not necessarily a lie!” Veronica snorted.
“ Oh, all those blisters and days in the crops, all for no pay!” Lance feigned his complaint, throwing his arm back, mimicking a faint. Veronica nodded her head, agreeing at his dramatics
“ Oye, what are you complaining about?”
The twin's banter abruptly stopped, and they quickly turned to see their child labor abuser standing behind the furniture.
“ Hi Mama, how long have you been there?” Lance nervously asked.
“ Long enough,” she answered with a smirk.
The two exchanged a nervous glance as the small woman worked her way to the front of the couch.
She swatted at Lance’s right, signaling him to move further into Veronica’s side so she could sit on the unoccupied side. He slid to the right, and his sister whisked the computer back into his lap, both of them knowing where this was going.
The short lady sat with a sigh, mumbling something in Spanish about her back while rearranging the pillow behind her.
Once she was comfortable, as comfortable as possible, with three people squished together on the tiny sofa, she took the laptop into her lap.
Lance let out a small sigh.
“ Here, try this website, It is specifically for jobs in London,” she explained and set the device back in his lap.
“ How did you find this? You could barely open Google a week ago.” Veronica questioned, leaning in to inspect the screen.
“ Well, I was online shopping for supplies for the shop, just like you showed me a week ago,” she emphasized at his sister, “ and a blue square with letters appeared about jobs in London. So I clicked on it.” she looked quite proud of herself as Veronica gawked at her.
“ You clicked a pop-up?!” she shrieked right in Lance’s ear. Making him flinch and accidentally click on a brief description of a job.
“ Yes, I guess you could say it did pop up out of nowhere.” the older woman pondered.
“ That was, like, the one thing, the only thing I told you not to do!” she stuttered in disbelief.
Lance took his hands off the keyboard and stared at the black screen TV a few feet away from where they were seated. Best to let them run their course before proceeding any further.
“ I don’t see the problem; it works, and the instructions are clear. It said “Click here,” which was very helpful, unlike your complicated technology advice!”
Great, now there was yelling in his right ear, too.
“ COMPLI-”
“Tio said I could have a paleta!”
Much to Lance’s relief, their argument was cut short as a small beaming child came rushing up the stairs holding a red ice pop still in its wrapper.
“ Cool! Here, let me open for you.” Lance eagerly offered, taking the chance for an escape; he quickly got up and was dragged back down by strong hands on both his shoulders just as fast.
“ I got it, Nadia,” Veronica said, already opening it.
“ Have you found anything yet?” his mama asked
Of course, they could work together just fine as long as it was at his expense.
“ What is going on? I heard yelling.” an eager voice said.
Lance turned to find none other than his brother Louis standing behind the couch, trying to hide his grin behind his hand.
“What?” he deadpanned.
“Nothing,” his brother insisted, “ you just look like you're having fun.”
Before Lance could argue back, he felt a small hand on his knee and turned to find a red-smeared face staring back up at him.
“Why do you have to go so far, Tio?” his nephew squeaked out with a frown.
“Because,” he swiped her long brown hair out of her face and away from the sticky dessert. “ my school is growing and putting more schools in different places. And when they do, they need people to tell others about this cool new school, " he said with a small smile.
“ And who better to ask than the equally coolest McClain?” he said with a grin, making the little girl laugh.
But her joy was short-lived as she threw herself on his legs, wrapping her arms around his torso, promptly knocking the laptop away once again.
“But why so far?” she cried into his chest.
He scooped Nadia up onto his lap and hugged her tightly. He tucked her head under his chin before gently pulling the sniffing girl back and placing a small peck on the forehead.
“ I’ll be back before you know it, so don’t worry so much. And if you promise not to get in any trouble while I'm away, maybe Tio will come back with something special just for you.”
Possibly a bigger couch, too, he thought to himself.
“Really?” her big eyes, shiny with unshed tears, beamed at the mention of a gift “I promise! I promise!” she gasped, scrambling off of him and running out of the room.
“I gotta clean my room!” she announced.
Yeah, he was really going to miss everyone. He could barely wait for summer break already.
“ Woah dude, check out this job,” Veronica said, taking Lance out of his thoughts.
He had no clue how his sister got the laptop back, but she was now staring intently at a job description.
Lance took it back and looked at the job description.
-Urgent Help Needed-
-Care for a paralyzed individual for 6 months-
-Will teach everything you need to know in a week before the 6 months begin
-Living Quarters provided
-Must have experience operating someone in a wheelchair
“ You did help Tia Rosa when she was wheelchair-bound for a whole month after that car crash, so that counts,” Louis commented.
He could only see the perfect benefits for his situation as he read the description. Though there were some things he had no clue how to do, the job promised to teach him.
So, all in all, not bad. It was the perfect job.
It was almost too perfect.
“Who is this for anyway?” he mumbled and scrolled to the bottom of the page. His curiosity tugged at his pessimistic side. No job was this good.
A shiver went down his spine as he read the name.
Turns out, there was a catch.
A big one.
“Oh,”
It was Keith.