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The crew didn’t waste any time getting started on their new project. They were at Riders Edge the next day, getting the parts needed to turn Brian’s heap of sh*t into a masterpiece. Dominic decided to ride in the red truck with Brian, allowing a rare moment of intimacy for the couple to hold hands and talk freely and openly.
Once they were back at the garage, each part was spread out on the floor in the order that they would be needed. Brian found himself sitting next to Jesse, the youngest team member, in his corner of the garage to get ideas of what the car would look like. Jesse puts a floppy disc into the computer, and a model of an orange supra appears on the screen. “Tell me what you think of this.” Jesse asks. “Koni adjustments. Gonna save us about 2 pounds. And they’re gonna give us better traction for the hole shot,” Jesse states as he points at the computer screen with a lit cigarette between his fingers and clicks the mouse to take him to the next screen. “This is your basic layout of the car. And that’s pretty much what it could look like when it’s finished. Red, Green.” Brian is stunned into silence as he sits next to Jesse. He hasn’t had a chance to really get to know him, or really anyone on the team yet, but he just assumed that he was a ‘gearhead’ like the rest of the crew and not a genius. “Holy sh*t, Jesse. Man, you should be going to MIT or something?” Brian praises him. Jesse instantly scoffs at that idea: “Yeah, right? not believing that he was good enough for anything like that. “Nah, man, I got that... Whats it called?” trying to find the technical term for his condition. “That attention disorder...” Jesse trails off, trying to remember the name, hoping Brian knows what he is talking about. Brian looks down, trying to help Jesse. “ADD?”. “YES! That sh*t, yeah.” Jesse replies. “You know, I was good at algebra and like maths and sh*t. Everything else…. I failed. Dropped out of school. I don’t know. It’s just something about engines,” he says, taking a puff of his cigarette. “It calms me down, you know.” Brian nods along, understanding where he is coming from. He has a new appreciation for the man.
Dom comes around the corner, walking into Jesse’s office in the garage to let him know that they were heading back to the house for their traditional cookout. Jesse excitedly jumps up from his chair and runs out of the room, causing Brian and Dom both to softly laugh at the man's actions. Dom walks up to Brian, walking in between his legs, and places his arms around Brian’s neck. “You okay baby?” Brian looks up at Dom, wrapping his own arms around the man’s waist to keep him in place. “Of course. Just concerned for Jesse. I just want to wrap him in cotton wool and shield him, you know.” Dom understood where Brian was coming from; when he first met Jesse, he thought the same thing.
Which is why he allowed him into the team so easily. He knows they weren't easy to get along with, but the team loved Jesse from the beginning, so it was easy for him to be added. Dom doesn’t respond with words but rather lightly kisses Brian on the lips, placing his hand behind Brian’s head to bring him closer to him. “He will be okay. Cause he’s got us.” Brian gives Dom a small smile. “Come on, we are having a cookout at my place, and you are invited,” Dom says. Dom grabs Brian's hand and pulls him towards the exit.
Dom’s role in the cookout was to man the grill, and he was damn good at it. However, this time, Dom had his man next to him, which felt right for both of them. Brian was meant to be helping him, but he was distracted by Dom too much to really be considered helpful. While Dom was getting the grill ready, Brian was looking on with a sparkle in his eyes.
He couldn’t help it; Dom looked fricken hot right now. Once Dom had the grill lit, he finally made eye contact with Brian, who was smirking beside him. Dom raised his eyebrow in question to the blonde, making him smile wider and whisper, “You look super-hot right now.” Dom sends the blonde his own smirk, slowly getting closer to his boyfriend. Before he has the opportunity to respond, they both hear the loud engines of Dom’s team approaching the driveway, breaking the spell.
Dom walks towards the driveway where the three cars have parked. Dom is at the top of the driveway to welcome his team back after they went to the store. Letty, Leon, and Vince get out of their cars with grocery bags in their hands. Vince looks up towards the backyard, spotting Brian standing by the grill. Vince is annoyed. He doesn’t understand why Brian is being included on the team. He always struggled with change, but he just knew something was up with the guy; he just didn’t know what yet. Plus, of course, he was in love with Mia, so he didn’t want Mia to get together with the blonde. “I’m out of here,” Vince states, handing over his bags for Leon to grab. Leon, annoyed, says to Vince, “Come on, dog, what are you talking about?” When that doesn’t work, he looks up to Dom and says, “Yo, DOM!” to see if he can convince him to stay.
Dom is exhausted by his best friend. “Come on, Vince! Get over here and give us a hand!” Vince keeps walking towards his car, not listening to his best friend. “Looks like you got all the help you need brother.” Dom looks back at his best friend and just shakes his head. He knew that his best friend would be an issue, but he really thought he would be over it by now. Dom looked up towards Brian, who was still standing near the grill, throwing him a reassuring smile. As Leon and Letty walked into the house to drop off the groceries in the kitchen, Dom walked back to the grill where the blonde was standing. “Babe, are you sure you want me to stay? I don’t want to come between you and Vince,” Brian timidly asks. Dom grabs Brian's hand and kisses his knuckles. "Yes, baby, I want you right here next to me. Vince will get over it; just give him some time,” sending Brian a reassuring smile and dropping his boyfriend's hands to continue with the grill. “Now, can you please go get the chicken from Mia and let’s get this cookout started?” Dom asked. Brian rolled his eyes and walked into the house to do what he was told.
Dom was standing near the grill, putting more sauce on the chicken. Noticing that it was almost ready, Dom yells towards the back door of the house, where the kitchen is, “MIA! The chicken is getting dry!” Mia, Jesse, and Brian all walked out towards the backyard as they heard Dom shout. Mia is leading them out with a bowl and a beer in her hand. She walks towards her brother, handing him a beer and making him soften. He grabs his sister and tightly hugs her. They all take a seat, with Dom at the head of the table as usual, Jesse on his left, and Mia on his right. Jesse was the first to grab the chicken that was in the middle of the table, putting it on his plate, but was interrupted when Dom grabbed his arm to stop him from taking a bite of his food. “Hey, hold on because you were the first to reach in to get the chicken; before anyone else, you say grace.”
Brian looks over at his boyfriend as Jesse says grace, which is mostly just thanking the car gods. He admired his code. If you looked at Dom, you would think that he was a man that would fly off the handlebars if anyone looked at him wrong, especially after his stunt in Lompoc. But those who really knew him for what he was knew how much he loved and adored his family and how gentle and thoughtful he actually was. He was instantly judged by his looks and dominant personality. When Dom opened his eyes, he was met with blue. Not realising that the man had not closed his eyes during prayer, giving him a little disappointed look before turning towards Jesse and patting him on the shoulder, telling him that he did a good job.
They all started reaching in to grab some food when Leon who was sitting at the opposite head of the table, noticed Vince walking up the driveway. "Oh, look who it is. Old Coyotes ‘R’ Us.” Laughing at his own joke. “I thought you weren’t hungry, Pumpkin,” Leon teased. Vince stands behind Dom and softly says, “I gotta eat.” Dom looks at his best friend and motions for him to come forward, saying, “All right, sit down.” Dom grabs the bowl that Jesse passed him and looks towards Brian to see his reaction, considering the only free seat was the one in front of him. As Vince makes his way to his seat, the tension is thick; everyone is on edge, waiting to see who will make a move first. Brian, noticing that Dom is watching him, sends him a reassuring nod. Brian knew that he needed to handle his boyfriend's best friend if he was going to be in a relationship with the man. This was the moment to show him that.
Mia looks towards Brian as Vince sits down in his seat. She can’t help but be concerned. She knows what Vince is like, and she doesn’t want to see him run away by Vince or, worse, hurt. As Vince sits down, he grabs Brian’s Corona beer and starts drinking from it without touching the rim. After taking a large swig, he places it back in front of the blonde. Brian simply reaches for it and takes a drink of it himself, not allowing himself to react to what Vince says. Letty breaks the tension by tapping Vince on the back and saying, “Let’s eat some grub, man.” Everyone smiles and starts eating again.
