#dumbies

Leo would 100% use brainrot terms to bug people around him, but it would 100% be an affectionate thing. Usagi wouldn’t get too annoyed, knowing he at least had Leo’s attention lol :]

Steve and Alan opened a healthfood shop that I assume promptly went bankrupt. Circa 1975. I wonder what they named it.

Stay safe and healthy! I’m wishing you all the best!! 💖

Sparky knew he wasn’t incredibly smart. He didn’t really pretend to be. When he dropped out of high school junior year, it had been a disappointment but not a great surprise to his parents, who’d conjured up reason after reason to get him out after that. That’s why Sparky was all alone and trying to make his own way at seventeen with no skills and no diploma. But, dumb as Sparky was, he did know one thing. Knew it as well as the workings of his own body. Engines. Sparky knew the language of engines. Now, when it came to driving, he was a complete joke, with laughably slow reflexes and a frame far too tall to fit into a T-180 without folding up all funny. But he knew a track and he knew what makes cars tick and that’s all that really mattered in that often confused head of his. When the Racer family took in this scruffy, ridiculous kid off the streets and pretty much accepted him as their own, Sparky learned another thing he was good at- and that thing being the unbreakable, stubborn attraction to guys that were way, way out of his league. Rex Racer became the principal embodiment of that funny little skill. He was twenty-one, two years Sparky’s senior by the time he came to work for the Racers, and the kind of man who made stunning good looks seem simultaneously effortless and impossibly difficult to achieve. With those casually curated muscles and the chiseled, yet somehow boyish features that constantly looked somewhat pissed, it was impossible to deny he was absolutely gorgeous. When Rex spoke, it was always with the calmest surety- as it every word that escaped him had been thoroughly and completely vetted beforehand. And his driving. He was so young and already getting records and Sparky had never seen anything like it. The added clientele boost from Rex’s electrifying driving was the only reason Racer Motors had been able to hire Sparky in the first place and he wasn’t likely to forget it. Mr. Racer was a man whose trust came at a high price, but who’d never break that bond once it formed. It had taken him a while to completely let his guard down around Sparky- and that was thanks mostly to Mrs. Racer, whose stubborn compassion never seemed to run out. Personally, Sparky thought Rex was more like his father, just a little bit more obvious in his trust or lack thereof. Speed, on the other hand, was his Mom’s spitting image. Sparky liked Speed. The kid reminded him of himself- they were both oddballs with a one track mind and a passion for racing. Someday Speed was going to be a driver and he was going to be great, that much Sparky knew. Rex was a bit of an oddball, too, just... in a different way. He’d had friends in high school- been quite popular, to Sparky’s understanding- but he’d always been... quiet. Not entirely present. Sparky saw it now too- Rex, constantly, had big plans brewing in his mind. He didn’t just want to float through life having fun. He wanted to change things. Having friends must have been easy when you looked like Rex and not an overly lanky, stubbled kid who wore bright orange and had a weird accent and was clearly gay, though. Sparky didn’t think Rex was gay. Not that he had anything to judge it off of, it just seemed like... Rex was too far out of his league to be into guys. That was most of the reason for it. Anyway, at the Racers’, Sparky could fix things. He could rewire transmissions and weld auto bodies and pluck at gear ratios for hours until he was covered with grease and completely unaware of what time it was, and then he could go in and Mrs. Racer would have left a sandwich out for him when he finished up. For the first time in his life, he didn’t feel incompetent. It was a really jarring environment, even if he did love it. Sparky was fixing up the Mach Four that night- just fixing some cosmetic issues and replacing some wiring. Rex had won another big race at Thunderhead- track record- and the family had been up late celebrating. But Sparky snuck out of the party at some point because he still didn’t quite mesh in with the family, and because he was feeling fidgety and he needed to do something with his hands. But only when Rex came walking slowly into the garage did Sparky realize he was a) covered in oil and, b) up embarrassingly late doing work no one had asked him to do. Rex paused in the doorway once he noticed Sparky leaning over the engine, and he quickly cleared his throat. “Hey... What are you doing up? Thought you went to bed hours ago.” “Guess I couldn’t sleep,” Sparky replied, and the lameness of it hurt his brain so he went back to fishing around in the car’s guts. “Thought I’d get her tuned up a little- you wore her out today.” He paused, thought over how weird that sounded, then added, “Beautiful race.” Rex chuckled. He had a really nice laugh and it was bothersome. “You told me that earlier, Sparky, but thanks.” Sparky noticed he was wearing his grey tank top, the one all covered with grease stains and used for working in the garage and not much else, and he had to try not to stare or blush when he really really wanted to. “Looks like we’re a pair of insomniacs. Mind if I join you?” “No problem!” Sparky said, put at ease somewhat by the thought of just working side by side and nothing more demanding than that. He motioned to the open engine. “Here. The converter needs to be adjusted a bit-“ He paused, looking over at Rex. He was standing by the car now, close by, but he looked unfocused and he still had his hands in his pockets. So... preoccupied. That busy mind of his somewhere else completely. “Something wrong?” Sparky asked. His voice seemed to snap Rex out of his reverie, at least for a moment. His hazel eyes focused again, but they looked alarmingly sad. It wasn’t something Sparky was really ready for. “Sparky,” Rex said slowly. “If you had to choose between a hard thing that might make a difference or an easy thing that lets you stay with the people you love, what would you pick?” Sparky took a long pause. “Well... Why do you ask? Are you thinking about signing with someone, cuz I’m sure Pops would understand-“ “No,” Rex said, quickly shaking his head. “Sorry. Forget it. You said the converter needs work?” Without looking up, he reaching down into the engine and started realigning gear and wires- all a clear sign for Sparky not to talk any more, so he didn’t. There were probably fifteen minutes of silence as the two of them worked before Rex finally spoke again, softer this time. “You’re going to do great things for this family, Sparky, you know that?” Sparky paused and took a swallow. “Rex... Is everything okay?” “Someday people might say things about me. They might try to hurt my mom, and my dad. My brother.” Rex looked up, at last, and Sparky was shocked to see emotion in his eyes. “I need you to look out for them, Sparky. I... trust you to do that for me.” He met Sparky’s bewildered gaze and an almost pale-looking blush settled on his handsome cheeks. “I’m going to miss you. I wish you could... No. Just take care of them, okay?” He put a hand on Sparky’s shoulder and the world did a pirouette when Rex leaned over and placed a nervous kiss on the very corner of his mouth. And Sparky stood there in shock as Rex walked away, and he was left standing there for far too long because Rex didn’t come back. He never would come back.