troubled waters (FierroChase AU)

one

Alex Fierro was not normal. Not that it hurt him though, or that it made him feel less valuable or anything. In the contrary. He didn't care much what people were thinking about him. He was born into a family that did not appreciate someone being different, especially if that someone was Alexander Fierro, only son, heir to the house, his father's designated successor and future partner in business. Partner in crime.

Loki Fierro was known throughout Chicago for his illegal affairs, going from money-laundry, fraud, blackmail to far less agreeable crimes. He held a considerable part of the city in his hand, controlling its economy and its people. His men were feared, his name respected, everybody knew about his power. He was way beyond appreciating money, he had enough of that. He lived, he worked, and he committed crimes solely for power.

But he was growing old. Even for the calmer tasks of managing his younger partners, for plotting and scheming. He wanted his power to remain, he wanted to leave something existential behind. He thought a lot about death, about god and how everything was to end. Therefore, the idea grew inside of him to leave something behind. To create a dynasty, something to endure, something to survive him and secure a legacy for the decennies to come. 

His son, Alexander, was the perfect tool for this purpose. He was intelligent, fast-learning, did not care much about other's feelings; he was ruthless in a dangerous way, although he did not show that side of his very often. He appeared predestined to step in his father's shoes. Aged 17 when the events in this book took place, he was not far from majority, set under growing pressure from his father to prepare, to ensue, to succeed. He never went to a normal school for a very long time, disrespecting his teachers, intimidating his classmates, showing his immense intelligence in plotting against the other kids at young age; he was ready to be his father's successor in every way.

He didn't go to high school officially anymore, he took some advanced lessons with one or two preferred teachers of his, achieving fast progress. His father's connections made it possible to get him a certificate, to graduate. At the same time, Loki had been preparing him for his succession. Alex knew everything about how to run the organisation, to thrive in the criminal environment he was born into. However, Loki did not know two things.

First, Alex actually showed no interest whatsoever in running the top criminal organization of the US, he had been taking classes of pottery and art in secrecy, pretending to train in a dojo downtown, training at night, so nobody noticed, and he wanted to go to college to study French and Art. Second, Alex was not always a he. Sometimes Alex was a girl, sometimes a boy, he was genderfluid. He could never dress the way he wanted to though, knowing exactly what his father's reactions would look like. He kept calm, acting like the perfect son, but secretly he had been making plans.

So, there he was, on a beautiful sunny day in September,getting off a plane at Logan International Airport, Boston. Finally ready to leave the suffocating normality of his father's town behind. Ready to be himself. Extraordinary, creative, beautiful. Thriving. But different.