Criminally Good

For as long as he could remember, Augustus Fletcher had had a very vivid image regarding his future — the kind that he was asked to present in front of class, at a job interview, at family gatherings. People loved to wonder about his dream career, his aspirations, his five-year plan, and without fail, the ambitious man always included three things: adventure, music and starting a family of his own. With his friends being of the rowdy sort, and a piano set up in his bedroom no matter how old he was or where he lived, the first two had been more than easy to achieve.

The third, not so much.

He hadn't exactly given up on the hope that one day, he could have a child of his own, not even when some of his more conservative relatives had really rubbed in the fact that as long as he'd associate himself exclusively with men, his chances were slim. Nevertheless, as his college years had begun to shape him into something drastically different than what his five-year plan had entailed, he had unwittingly wound up pushing the idea into the back of his head. 

It was almost ironic, really, how he had found the love of his life only at the expense of a bright future. He had still had his ivory keys, and as far as adventure went, growing inseparable with an infamous Robin Hood of the Internet served well, but every flicker of red and blue lights in his and Eddie Vasquez's rearview mirror had meant a little more distance between him and his third big dream.

Yet, there he was — not that many years later, either — standing in the hall of the tiny but cozy apartment he had grown to share with Eddie and the young girl they had adopted. It hadn't been an easy process, not with both of the men carrying criminal records on their conscience but mudding through all the bureaucratic hellholes had certainly been worth it, in the end. Augustus wasn't convinced of any less as he watched Eddie hurriedly flip a grilled cheese on the pan he had always known how to work, all the while their plucky daughter awaited on the other side of the kitchen counter with her gigantic backpack already resting on her shoulders.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" the girl grumbled with an unhappy frown, one that Eddie returned with equally heavy-handed dramatics. "If I'm not at the school early enough, someone else is going to sit next to the cute boy I met", she continued with a bitter reminder, and already meeting one another in a knowing look, Augustus and Eddie couldn't help but suffocate amused smiles.

"She gets that from you", Gus pointed out matter-of-factly, easily recognizing the suave charmer that Eddie had hardly ceased to be around him — even if the little girl hadn't inherited the natural flirt from him in biological ways, it was evident all the cheeky comments and effortless compliments slung around their household on a daily basis had gained a grip on her. 

With a lavish bow, the Vasquez pursed his lips into half a smirk. "Make sure to crack a good joke around him. If you make him laugh, he won't want any other girls next to him, no matter how late you are", the man advised while sliding the finished grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate and shooting their daughter an encouraging wink. Augustus didn't hesitate to roll his eyes, but remembering how Eddie's numerous tricks had worked on him like sheer magic, he couldn't stop his heart from leaping in his chest. 

Truthfully, he had spent more than enough sleepless nights tossing and turning in the worry that their daughter would turn out just like them. There was a lot he admired about Eddie, and plenty he appreciated about himself, but they were also united in their impulsive tendencies and risky life choices that had landed both of them in prison. Up until now, he had always believed that they had been doing something good by hacking into the bank accounts of filthy rich people that were, in one way or another, cruel or unjust, and then transferring those neat numbers into the accounts of the less fortunate. A judge had been less easy to convince.

Eddie had endlessly comforted him with the reminder that most parents, especially new ones, fretted about screwing up their kid, but the grain of truth hadn't stopped Augustus from wondering if she was doomed to go through all the horrors they had, more than once. He had been scared, and maybe he still was, that the deep-rooted mistakes they had committed would follow the daughter they were raising together.

When he watched Eddie and her bump fists while she munched on her breakfast sandwich, however, a little bit of that anxiety dispersed and he could rely on the belief that rather than their now-sated thirst for danger, she had been blessed with their wit and courage in entirely different ways.

"You can brush up on your comedy skills in the car, hm?" Augustus called out from the hall where he was gesturing at the door, and with an enthusiastic nod, the pre-schooler was dashing towards him, accompanied by the jiggling of her backpack. As she tugged on her shoes, Augustus turned back to Eddie for a goodbye, but the latter was way ahead and met him in the middle with a soft smooch on the cheek and an instant smile.

Before either of them could say anything or do more than stand with their fingertips brushing together, the ever-so-dramatic girl was speaking up from the front door. "The sandwich could use more cheese, by the way", she retorted with sharp sass and a judgmental roll of eyes, and within seconds, Augustus squinted his eyes shut at recognizing the bitter edge in her tone.

"Well, that she definitely gets from you", Eddie managed through his booming laughter, and after booping at Gus' scrunched-up nose, he was returning to the kitchen with a shake of his head.

Unsure how exactly he had gotten so lucky to have such a beautiful child that somehow represented the good and the bad in them in the most wonderful mixture Augustus could have possibly imagined, he turned to her with his hand extended out. As her tiny fingers interlocked with his, he huffed out a truly blissful breath and supposed that, yes, she certainly got a lot from them, but they might have gotten even more from her.