─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

castillo escomdido. that was the name of the place the two arrived at. tabby crossed her arms over her chest with scepticism, "are we in the right place?" she asked. miguel looked down at his phone for confirmation before nodding, "yeah. it says we are at least." he told her.

the boy stepped inside, tabby following right behind him. "what happened to ladies first?" she questioned, making him lightly chuckle. they entered a dimly lit bar, everyone around them drinking and talking as music played in the background.

as miguel's head shot in every direction, trying to find a clue, something caught his attention. "hey, gracias, hector!" a voice called out. tabby glanced over to where the voice was coming from, an ever-darker back room that looked more suspicious than the rest of the place.

"hector?" miguel asked, softly. he stepped forward before quickly halting. miguel turned around, "you can stay here if you'd like." he told her.

but tabby shook her head. "where you go, i go. what you see, i see." she told him. miguel turned around, an amused look on his face. "are you seriously quoting adele right now?" he asked her.

she shrugged, "yeah? her words have meaning, diaz. whether you want to admit it or not."

miguel shook his head with a smile before stepping into the room. before they could fully enter, a bodyguard put his arm on miguel's chest. he said something to miguel that tabby didn't comprehend, but she managed to pick up a few words from the extensive training she did on the coach.

but the man sat at the end of the table seemed to have been interested in them because whatever he said next made the bodyguard, pueblo, allow them to enter. as miguel and the man spoke in their language, tabitha droned off and wished that she had stayed outside. or gone to get a snack or something, she was hungry.

she was finally brought back to reality at the sound of puebelo groaning with pain. tabby peered over to see miguel and him brawling. as he threw his fist over to miguel's face, tabby stepped forward, struck it away, and front-swept the man off his feet. once he was on the ground, all but one of the men threateningly stood up.

the man at the end of the table began laughing maniacally, watching tabitha with amusement. miguel continued to converse with him, the both of them growing annoyed.

"look, man. i'm not the guy you're looking for. and honestly, i've never known a fucking carmen." he spoke in spanish. "now if you don't fuck off, all these guys you see here are gonna beat the shit out of you." he threatened. his eyes moved over to tabby, a sickening smile tugging on his lips. "and we'll take your girl too. oh, she a fighter."

that last part was communicated in english. he had picked up that tabitha wasn't fluent in spanish as she seemed disinterested and distracted during their conversation. so he wanted to threaten her in a language she'd comprehend.

tabby looked up at him, genuine t in her eyes. she could've easily taken the australian man and his friends, but these men were serious. they meant business. miguel noticed her discomfort, reaching out to take her hand.

the threat to his girlfriend was all miguel needed to hear to back down. "sorry, uh okay. we're leaving, sir." miguel reassured him in spanish, pulling tabby and leading her out of the door. the second they exited the building, tabby let out a sigh of alleviation.

"sorry i chickened out back there. was pretty overwhelming hearing you all speak, i guess three hours of learning was not enough." she said. miguel couldn't believe her words, "no, no. don't apologise. i shouldn't have brought you in there with me." he explained.

"they were freaking scary. are they like... the mafia?" tabby asked. she paused, her face scrunching up with instant regret. "wait. is that like bad to say?" she inquired.

miguel shook his head. "no. and... no?" he replied, slightly unsure himself. she nodded, "okay... that's good to hear."

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

the two had been strolling down the street. tabby finally got the snack she was begging for, she found two bags of sweet chatica plataintos and a can of diet coke. as she ate the chips, she took her much needed medication.

miguel observed her with a smile, giving her a thumbs up as she swallowed the pill and stuck her tongue out to show it was gone. tabitha quickly cringed at her actions, "sorry, reflex. i had to do that every day in juvie." she said. "it's okay." miguel reassured her, a vibrating noise coming from his phone.

"who is it?" tabby questioned, watching as miguel pulled out his ringing phone from his pocket. he read the name and quickly declined the call, making tabby even more suspicious. "who was calling?" she asked.

miguel winced, uncertain as to how she'd react. "it's sam." he admitted. but tabby didn't seem bothered at all. "oh." she said. "yeah, she's been calling me too. you should probably ring her back." tabby suggested.

miguel was taken aback by her words. "oh? oh... okay." he said, quickly unlocking his phone and calling her back. sam picked up the call in two rings. "miguel?" she asked.

the boy quickly put his phone on speaker so tabby could listen in too. "hey, sam." he greeted.

"where are you? are you okay? i kept calling and, and—"

"yea, look, i-i just didn't want anyone to know where i was until i found my dad." miguel explained.

"did you find him?"

"well, that's-that's actually why i'm calling back right now. the process has been... harder than i expected." he admitted.

"that's why you're calling? your mom is so worried. you left without telling anyone where you were going."

"well, i knew if i told you, you'd try to stop me." miguel argued back.

"because we care about you. miguel, what you're doing is really dangerous and you taking tabitha with you is putting her in danger too." sam scolded him. the two glanced up at each other, surprised by sam's concerns for her.

"your mom and grandma left ecuador to get away from your dad. they probably did it for a good reason."

miguel was unsure what to say. "i—i, uh... sam, you don't understand. this is important to me and i have to do this." he explained. there was silence on her side of the call for a moment. "you're right, miguel. i don't—i don't understand. and i'm sorry. can tabitha hear me?"

the boy looked up at his girlfriend, uncertain as to whether she was going to reply. but tabby just shrugged, clearly doubtful as to whether she was ready to speak to sam or not.

"yeah. she can." miguel confirmed. sam cleared her throat, clearly nervous to speak to the girl. "tabby, your mom's worried sick. teddy, rowan and his dad, they all just want you home— they don't care about what happened before."

tabitha bit her lip back, her eyes moving away from the phone. she took a deep breath, shaking her head to tell herself not to give in. she needed this. tabitha needed freedom.

"we're not too sure why you threw your match, but we'd understand if—"

"there are more important things than karate, sam." tabitha finally spoke up, cutting her off. for a moment, sam didn't reply, the sound of a deep breath was heard instead. "yeah, there are." she agreed.

"goodbye, larusso." tabitha spoke, leaning over and ending the call. she took a deep breath, pushing her hair back and using the hair tie on her wrist to pull her curls into a ponytail. once she had tightened it, tabby noticed the grave look on miguel's face. "what's wrong?" she asked him.

miguel shook his head. "i think sam's right." he said, clearly having an internal conflict. tabby's eyebrows furrowed with bewilderment. "right about what?" she asked.

"i shouldn't have brought you with me." he said. "if anything happens to you, it'd be on me. i mean, you saw what happened in there. it could've been a lot worse. and i-i don't know what i'd do if you got hurt or—"

"miguel, shut up. nothing is going to happen to me, okay?" she reassured him. "and even if it did, it's not on you- it's on me. i choose to come with you, i dropped the tournament to be here with you. that was my choice. and i'd do it again."

despite her encouraging words, miguel was still visibly distressed. "but—" he started. tabby groaned, cutting him off. "baby, i'm not going to let you beat yourself up over something that hasn't even and most likely won't even happen."

he let out an exasperated sigh before a small smile tugged on his lips. "baby, huh?" he asked in a teasing tone. tabitha rolled her eyes at him, "hey, i had to tell you it would be okay. and it seemed like it worked."

"it did." miguel nodded, leaning over and placing a soft kiss on her cheek. "thank you, baby." he said once he pulled away. tabby glanced up at him, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that formed at his mere touch. she cleared her throat, taking a step back to create some distance between them as her face grew hotter.

miguel raised his eyebrow at her withdrawal. "you okay?" he asked. tabby nodded, readjusting the straps of her backpack. "yeah. we've just got to stick together. have each other's backs and whatever."

miguel nodded in agreement. "that goes without saying." he told her. the name hector was called from behind them, catching the two's attention. they watched as two men spoke together, miguel's eyes on the taller man with the beard.

"dad?" he asked, quietly. tabby peered over to him. "you think?" she asked him, not wanting to get into another uncomfortable situation. miguel didn't take his eyes off the man, staring with wonder.

∙ ~εïз~ ∙

tabitha and miguel ended up trailing behind the man for quite some time. the two were holding hands, tabby excessively swinging them with each step they took. the pair found themselves moving around the perimeter of a kid's party where they watched the man kiss his partner and hug his supposed son.

tabby saw the look in miguel's eyes and squeezed his hand, a small but impactful sign that she was there for him. they continued to stroll around before tabby grew bored and decided to wander off alone. she walked around, her eyes naturally drawn to the snack bar but she urged herself to ignore.

she eventually became distracted by the music and the bright lights, managing to bump into an objectively burly man. his beer splashed, most of the liquid on his white shirt and the rest of it on his fingers.

"uh, sorry—lo siento." she quickly said, hoping she sounded apologetic. regardless of her remorse, the man was visibly annoyed. he began to curse her out, making her eyes grow wide. "um... no hablo español." she tried to explain. the man reached out to grab her but tabby quickly slid out of the way and rushed off.

she trekked out of the party, making her way back to the sidewalk. tabby let out a long breath of relief, glad she managed to get away from him. when tabitha rotated around, she watched miguel pull a young boy out of the road just as a car was coming by.

"miguel!" tabby called out, jogging over to them as the boy was returned to his parents. she immediately noticed that it was the same man they presumed to be miguel's dad, and his family.

miguel wrapped his arm around her shoulders to reassure her that he was okay. she wriggled out of his hold, glancing down at the boy and putting two thumbs up which were quickly returned.

"ah. entonces, we are lucky our paths crossed." the man spoke, switching to english once he found out miguel was american.

"i-i guess so." miguel nodded with agreement, nervously chuckling. the mother began to speak to miguel, the only words tabby caught were 'son', 'hero', and 'dinner'.

"no." miguel shook his head, not wanting to be a burden.

"hey. please, we insist." he pleaded. "it's the least we can do. and you can bring your..." he trailed off, hoping miguel would reveal his relationship with the girl beside him.

miguel reached over, taking tabitha's hands in his. "my girlfriend." he stated. the man nodded, a smile on his face. "and you can bring your girlfriend too. if she's okay with it." he offered.

tabby shrugged, she'd never deny herself the opportunity of free food. "sure, why not?"

"oh, uh, i'm—i'm hector salazar." he introduced himself, shaking miguel's hand. "uh, miguel." the boy replied. "and this is tabby." he said, making her nod in response.

"it's wonderful to meet you both." hector said, putting his hand out for tabby to take. she looked down at it before reaching over and accepting the handshake. his grip was firm and assured, giving tabby a good feeling about him.

"it's—it's nice to meet you too." miguel nodded. hector suddenly chuckled. "oh. this is strange. i feel like, uh, we've met somewhere before." hector said.

tabby frowned at his words, glancing over to see how miguel would react. she saw the glimmer of yearning in his eye and all she hoped for was that this would work out for him. she intertwined their fingers, in hopes of calming his nerves.

miguel chuckled anxiously. "i don't think we have." he said. hector laughed. "well, maybe you're a stranger, but tonight, you're family. okay?" he said to them. tabby could almost giggle, the irony was getting worse.

"okay. vamos. come on." hector said, patting the boy on his back as the five began to walk down the sidewalk. "thanks again." he spoke with gratitude. miguel wore a great smile on his face. "of course, of course."

⎯ ❃ jania speaks!
was listening to scott street by phoebe bridgers and i immediately had to work on this chapter. the song makes me think of tabiguel in the saddest way possible (their season 3 arguments and season 4 breakup era)

hope you guys enjoyed and are loving their honeymoon era!! angst is pending...