𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐒, Alex Alvarez

seventeen - the man

•~3rd person P.O.V~•
TRANSLATIONS: SPANISH TO ENGLISH (done by google translate so the translations are probably shit😭)
"Abuelita" - "Grandma"
"Papito" - Alex's nickname
(based on the episode "S03:E10")

⚠︎︎WARNING:THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCHNEIDER'S DAD⚠︎︎
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Maria was working on a research assignment for school, in the Alvarez home per usual, when Schneider burst into the room. He seemed stressed, he was moving quickly and his shoulders were held up high. He was tense but she couldn't tell what about.

"I'm worried about Father's visit." Maria's head immediately pricked up. She hadn't heard that his father was coming to visit, but that was a great explanation of why he was so tense. She sat her pencil down, watching it roll across the paper before coming to a stop as she listened to Schneider and Penelope speak.

"I am really curious to meet your dad. I picture the rich Monopoly guy." Penelope smiled, resting her chin on her hand as she spoke.

"No, that's my Uncle Doug. God! Father's visit is stressing me oot! I haven't seen him since before I got sober." Maria frowned, he'd been sober for so long, it upset her that his father hadn't seen him for that. Schneider had grown so much because of the fact he was sober, but his father wasn't there to see any of it.

"Haven't you been sober for, like, eight years?" Elena said, disbelief was clearly written in her voice. Elena had been repairing appliances and things around the complex, connecting wires and screwing in new lightbulbs. Her work intrigued Maria, how she memorized which wire went where and how to do things was extremely intriguing to Maria.

"Yeah, I'm not his favorite child. Plus, he refused to come back to America till it was great again." Maria's eyes widened slightly, glancing at Elena and then at Penelope. Everyone knew what that phrase meant, and where it had originated, and neither was good.

"I have a feeling your father's going to make me want to take my earrings out and punch him in the throat." Schneider nodded, knowing it was beyond the truth.

"Oh, definitely. But please just roll with it. All I want is to get through this and give him as little as possible to criticize. That's why I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into fixing up the building." Elena's head immediately perked up, her eyebrows pulling together and her jaw-dropping slightly in disbelief.

"I did all that. You made me patch up the drywall 'cause you had just gotten a manicure." She said, imitating him.

"Father says you can tell the quality of a man by the health of his cuticles." He said, his voice whiny like a child.

"Anyway, I think he'll like the building, but my real ace in the hole is Avery. He'll love her 'cause she's rich and beautiful, but he won't want to date her because she's over thirty." Elena gave him a non-approving shake of her head. "And he's met Maria before and he loved her then too." Her head perked up, her cheeks growing bright pink.

"Am I gonna have to talk all rich?" She asked, mumbling. She hated talking so professionally, she thought it was incredibly stupid to choose which words made you sound the smartest or the richest.

"Probably." She sighed, folding her arms and leaning back in her seat.

~

Maria planned out her entire outfit the night before including her jewelry and what footwear she'd be wearing as well. A nice white ditsy dress with small purple flowers, purple and white bracelets along with a small pearl necklace, paired with her white converses.

She was extremely nervous. She knew how critical Schneider's father was, everything had to be perfect. She didn't want to be the reason that Schneider's dad was disappointed in him. She sucked in a deep breath, smoothing out her dress in the mirror as Avery walked into her bedroom.

"Hey, Maria," Her head perked up, seeing Avery smiling wide, "you ready?" Maria smiled nervously, giving her a small nod.

"Yeah, I'm ready." She gulped, but walked beside Avery, walking into the Alvarez home. They passed Lydia and Alex on the way, who seemed to be getting ready to do their laundry. Maria gave him a small smile, her nerves shot through the roof, and Alex seemed to see it.

"Ah, Avery!" Schneider's dad shook her hand before his eyes flicked to Maria, his smile seeming to grow even wider. "Maria Isabella Perez." He said, shaking her hand. She plastered a smile on her face, her last name always sending chills down her back.

"It's nice to see you again Mr. Schneider." She breathed, glancing at Schneider and then at Avery. Everyone seemed to notice how anxious she was feeling. Everyone except for Schneider's dad.

"You know, Avery, I met your father at the Bohemian Grove a while back." Maria was glad he wasn't looking or speaking to her anymore. She was beyond grateful that he'd met Avery's dad.

"Oh, dear! Was he orchestrating The Cremation of Care?" Avery asked with a 'rich person' smile. It was much different from her real smile, and Maria wondered if Schneider's father could tell that she was faking her smile.

"As ever." He chuckled. "And we were also dueling skippers at the Mackinac Regatta." Avery nodded along, but Penelope looked confused.

"Ah! Daddy once lost a Mackinac wager when his forestay snapped and his catamaran tacked starboard. Ironically, it cost him his holdings...in Pingtang!" The two laughed loudly, Penelope muttering under her breath as her eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"Shall we?" Schneider's father asked, motioning to the door.

"Yeah," Avery said with a small nod, Maria following quickly behind her. If Maria didn't love Schneider as much as she did, she would've refused to go to the dinner with his father. She hated being near anyone who thought her dad was a good person, and with the type of person Schneider's father was, she was sure his view of him hadn't shaken despite everything he'd done to Maria.

Still, no matter how much Schneider wanted his father to love him, she was sure that if his father said anything about Maria's dad then he'd put a stop to it. Schneider loved Maria, he put up with everything else from his dad but certainly not that.

~

"Wait, wait, wait." Maria laughed softly in disbelief, shifting in her spot on Alex's bed. "You smoked weed, which is why you've been grounded for forever-"

"About four months." Alex interrupted her, before motioning for her to continue. "Anyways, continue."

"Right, you smoked weed, got grounded, told your Abuelita and everyone else you were grounded because you were hanging out with bad people but then today she figured out you smoked weed and then she admitted to taking a weed lozenge?!" She scoffed in disbelief. "You're lying."

"I swear I'm not!" He laughed lightly, shaking his head but then his laughs slowly fell silent. Maria could tell he was being serious now. "I just didn't want you or Abuelita to be disappointed in me." He admitted, his eyes meeting hers as she smiled softly. She cupped his face in her hands as he leaned into her touch.

"That's adorable." She chuckled lightly, her thumb grazing his cheek. "It would've been better to tell me. Besides, almost everyone tries weed, and it's obvious that it was a one-time thing for you." He felt his heart warm at her words, wondering how she could be so caring and how he was so lucky to have someone as sweet as her.

"Thank you, Maria." She smiled wider, placing a small kiss on his forehead.

"You're welcome, Papito." She smiled teasingly as he gave her a playful glare. "Okay, okay, you're welcome, Alex." She corrected herself, rolling her eyes playfully.

"That's better." He smiled immediately, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
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A/n: again, sorry for the late updates, you can blame it on c.ai + school😍 (I got a new puppy, he's an 11-week-old Yorkie and his name is Teddy, he's adorable💗)
Word Count:1,354