Wilder House: Is John home?

Though it hadn't been more than a few days since his fight at the arena and his trip to not only Celi's house, but her workroom at Nova Cari College, John was already back to working. His bruises were mostly faded by now, little more than dark yellowish brown blotches on his tanned, tattooed skin. His long curly hair was kept out of his face with a bandanna as he hammered nails through new shingles in the Uran District. As the blistering heat of the sun beat down on him, he simply ignored it, hammering with the beat of the music that flowed from the boombox his team had brought along.

He was grateful he'd decided to do this job, despite the discomfort of kneeling on a roof while wearing only a pair of jean shorts, his work boots, gloves and tool belt. His shirt had been discarded before he even got out of his truck when the weather report had come over the radio. But working long hours in the hot sun not only helped his family pay the bills, a portion of his money went into his savings so that he could someday move out and build his own place someday. But that was still a few months down the road at best and the work day was drawing to a close.

So he began meticulously packing his tools away, as did his team members, and started getting ready to go home. Hopefully, no one had needed anything from him today. His cell phone had been forgotten at home, still plugged into the electrical socket in the garage near his bunk. It had been taking a while to charge and he'd left without it, but didn't have enough time to retrieve it. Ah well, he'd be heading home soon and it wasn't as if it had been ringing off the hook all day...

"Why the hell won't he pick up?!" 5 hours, 5 long hours. That's how long Celi had been trying to get a hold of her "dear" friend, model, and the guy who fucking said that if "You need anything at all, call me up". Well then, why the hell wasn't he picking up when she needed him too!? Sure, she could write off the first 30 minutes or hour as him being busy, but people usually hear their phones if they've been ringing almost constantly for hours! "Does he even check his damn phone for messages?!" It was because of John's obvious lack of interest when it came to answering her ~desperate~ calls that the young designer was forced to drive all the way out to Southside Samo district to try and see if he was home ~or at least find some way that actually worked to get a hold of him!~.

Now normally Celi wouldn't be this ticked off over not be able to get a hold of someone, in fact, she'd ususally forget it if she didn't hear back from them in an hour or so, even if it was over something important. But this had not been her day, and not hearing a single word from John at all when she needed to get a hold of him ~quite badly if might I add~ was so not helping her temper one measly bit!

A dead alarm clock, a late start in the morning, the cat somehow eating everything in their fucking kitchen. Not to mention her "I can sleep through the end of the bloody world" sister wouldn't get out of her damn bed this morning. Add in getting pulled over not once, but twice for speeding, pretty much getting sexually harassed by the second cop to pull her over, having to deal with the secretary from hell once she finally got her sister to school. And oh yea, and let's not forget that once she got to the college she finds out she has until 3:30pm for her and her model of choice to meet with a Vogue ~yes I did say Vogue~ editor before she took off on the next flight to Paris!

Of course, on a normal day, this would be no problem at all since it was about 10am when she received this information. But today was not a normal day, and Celi couldn't for the life of her get John to answer his fucking phone! And oh god, it was already 3 o'clock too! So yea, Celi was not having a good day. And as soon as she got to John's house, if it turns out he wasn't at home, then she'd have to find herself a new model because the next time she saw that damn Wilder, he was so. very. dead.

But gleefully evil thoughts aside, Celi did her best to hide her murderous frustration at her MIA model as she walked up the cracked concrete walkway to the Wilder household. Apparently somewhere between her daydream of pushing John off a cliff into a pit of rattlesnakes and tying him to some railroad tracks in the middle of the Sahara Desert, the young designer had made it to the fighter's home with no major incidents. So putting on her best "I swear I'm not here to kill your son" smile, Celi rang the doorbell and braced herself for whatever was to come. After all, you never knew who'd answer the door at the infamous Wilder house.

The doorbell - or what was left of it - sounded like it needed to be put out of it's misery. A wiry, barely recognizable ding-dong warbled through the house and after a few moments, the door opened to reveal a short, beautiful middle aged woman with long brown curly hair and green-blue eyes. There were matching streaks of silver cascading from her temples, clearly visible with her hair pulled back. She wore a simple white tank top and a pair of 'mom' jeans and her feet were bare and dirty. There were age lines clearly visible on her face, but it didn't detract from her looks at all.

This woman standing in the doorway was the infamous "Mama Wilder" that the majority of Rai Island knew about. This petite, yet slightly stocky woman had given birth to every one of those misbehaving boys that raised hell all over town and then some. It was said that she had wanted a daughter so badly that she refused to give up, even after having eight sons, and was finally granted a little girl. Her looks were the envy of women her age and older, her voice was said to be that of an angel. And her cooking was rumored to be the undisputed best around.

But what people gossiped about most was her personality. Some people claimed she was a bad mother because of her sons' - illegal, more often than not - shenanigans, while others praised her for not having gone insane having to deal with boys like that. Her fiery temper was enough to make even some of the toughest police officers back down in fear of her motherly rage. But she simply stood in the doorway, looking as if she'd been in the garden for the last few hours and trying to figure out who this pretty young girl on her doorstep was. "Hello there." Elaine said easily, "Which one of my boys are you going to slap the shit out of? Whoever it is, he probably deserves it."

A sudden knowing look made the woman smile warmly at her. "Ah, so you're Celi." Elaine confirmed, "I was wondering who kept calling John's phone, so I took a peek inside and saw how many times you've called him. I also read through all his text messages when he leaves his phone on the charger like he did today. No, I'm sorry dear. All my hooligans are still out and about right now, but John's due home from a roofing job in a few minutes."

Despite not being able to send her guilty son out for the slap upside the head that was probably well-earned, the mother stepped back from the doorway and gestured for Celi to enter. "Would you like to come inside while you wait? I can get you something to snack on and show you humiliating pictures of my children while you wait?"

"Sorry about the mess dear, I've been in the garden all afternoon and had errands to run this morning." Crossing the living room floor, Elaine led Celi to a worn old couch and directed her to have a seat. Surprisingly, it was incredibly soft and comfortable to sit on and there was an old coffee table with a couple Nintendo controllers, an ashtray and some magazines strewn across it. "Give me just a moment and I'll be right back." The woman promised and disappeared into the kitchen, only to return a couple minutes later with a large plate of soft, homemade chocolate chip cookies and two cups of cold pink lemonade.

Once she set the refreshments down on the coffee table, she retrieved a fairly large photo album from the bookshelf and returned with it, plopping down comfortably next to Celi. Opening it, she started with the baby pictures, which were all neatly placed together. Pointing out each child, she named them off in order of their birth - Terry, John, Chuck, Fred, Casey, Raph, Keith, Bobby and finally Joanna. Then came the pictures of John and Terry as toddlers, being rather large for their ages compared to the children they were pictured with. Another picture showed Terry and John as little kids, standing with their much shorter younger brother Chuck.

There was one with the four oldest boys wrestling around in the backyard while the twins, as toddlers, were attempting to shove Cheerios up their noses. Another picture showed Terry and John around nine and ten years old, in their underwear and towels tied around their necks, posing like superheroes - Terry in Superman underwear, and John wearing Batman. "Oh, I remember when this one was taken. The boys were so into crime fighting and justice... I wonder what happened." She chuckled in amusement.

Elaine smiled warmly as Celi chuckled and fawned over the pictures of her kids, the girl's anger seemed to be calming down. The likelihood of John getting smacked was far less now. That was always a good thing, because the boy sure had his mother's fiery temper. Speaking of her children, they should be getting home at any minute now...

As if on cue, the door swung open and Keith strolled inside, his backpack slung over his shoulders and his sketchbook clutched to his slender chest. Following him immediately was Joanna, clinging tightly to her huge stuffed bunny and Bobby looking like he just got away with something. Once they were through the door, Casey and Raph strolled inside, chuckling about some joke and playfully shoving each other. Fred followed after the twins, talking to Terry about the chords and timing in a song.

A few moments later, and the door was still wide open, with nobody bothering to close it. At some point, a stray dog wandered into the house and Keith brought it a bowl of water and gave it some of his leftover lunch he hadn't finished. About five more minutes passed with the door open, then the familiar sound of John's beat up old truck was heard whipping into the driveway.

Moments later, he sauntered into the house, his skin browner than the day before and tinged with a little red. It was obvious he'd been working all day as he was still hot and sweaty. Spotting Celi sitting with his mother on the couch with the photo album in her hands made him quirk a brow. Great. His mother had decided to embarrass him. That meant Celi must've been upset with him for some reason. "Hey." He greeted her casually, lifting a calloused hand to the magenta haired beauty.

John knew that look only too well. Well shit, just got home from work and already Celi was upset with him. But anger? No, she wasn't mad at him. Even if she had been, he could deal with anger far better than what he was seeing in her expression right now. She looked disappointed, hurt, and that was something even John couldn't stand seeing.

He crossed the living room without sparing a thought to what any of his siblings were doing - or to the front door, which remained open - and took hold of Celi's delicate hand, pulling her up from her seat. Elaine, deftly caught the photo album as it slid from her lap. She knew full well that her son realized he was the cause of the girl's frustration and disappointment. At least he had the sense to try to patch things up with the pinkette.

Leading her into the garage, which also doubled as the room he shared with Terry, he turned to Celi with a serious look on his face. "I'm not really sure what I did wrong, but I can't stand having you look disappointed in me." John said in a no-nonsense tone, "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. And I wanna make it up to you."

Though he still wasn't exactly sure what the problem was, John could tell when someone was struggling with some inner turmoil. Whatever it was that he had done had triggered something painful from her past and it had obviously upset her enough that she was acting this way now. He wasn't sure what that painful thing was. He wasn't sure if Celi was going to tell him if he asked her. And he sure as hell didn't know what to say in delicate situations like this without completely mucking things up.

So he just held her. Silently wrapped his powerful, tattoo covered arms around her and held her close to his body. It was as if he were wordlessly telling her that everything was going to be all right, that he would make sure of it, and that he'd keep her safe. He wished he could give her strength just by willing it but he didn't know how to tell her. John had never been good with showing his tender side, particularly because it made him feel so vulnerable.

Kind of like he was feeling now, with the magenta haired beauty in his arms. The two of them standing there, clinging to each other for support nearly raised a red flag for him, but he relaxed. He was at home and Celi was here. They were safe from prying eyes and nosy townsfolk. Absently, John noticed his hand had been stroking her hair. When did that happen? It didn't really matter. All that mattered right now was the young woman in his arms.

Whatever it was that had been bothering her seemed to have been eased away by simply holding her. As her body relaxed against his, a small smile curved his lips. Women were hard to understand sometimes, but the answer to their problems could be simple after all. Especially in situations like this. Frankly, John was rather pleased that he didn't have to try to comfort her verbally. He'd always felt himself lacking when it came to being particularly social.

But as long as Celi could take comfort in him, he felt accomplished. It was yet another thing he could add to his list of difficult tasks he could take care of. As the lovely fashion designer raised her gaze to his and thanked him, he grazed his rough thumb across the smooth skin of her cheek. "Y'know, if you're still needin' some more comfort, you can always spend the night here with me." John suggested cheekily, nodding towards one of the beds in the old converted garage, "I know it's a smaller mattress than what you're used to, but you can share with me."

"Usual escapades?" John asked, quirking a brow at her and crossing his now empty arms. There was still a slight warm from her and he wanted to keep it close, without making it obvious. "I'll have you know that there ain't no 'escapades' goin' on. Not since you first showed up in my dressin' room at the arena."

He knew Celi had just met his mother just now and was sure she didn't want to make a bad impression, but he didn't particularly care who thought what. Well, hey... he could come up with a different solution. "Since you don't wanna stay here with me, does that mean you'd rather take me home with you?"

John smiled at her, relieved that she was no longer upset. He wasn't exactly sure what she'd like him to work on with her, but since he was sort of in the dog house he was pretty much at her mercy. Perhaps it might just be his ego, but John could swear that Celi was happy to have him to herself. Well, he could get behind that feeling one hundred percent. The thought of some schmuck trying to score with the lovely fashion designer in front of him was enough to make John's blood boil. With the attention she'd been giving to him though, he was sure no one would snatch her from him.

And he'd make sure of it.

Reaching forward to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear he held her gaze with his. "Well, you have my full attention now." John said, leaning in close and pressing a soft kiss to her lips, "So I'll take you home and you can work me as hard as you like."

John let Celi lead him out of the garage and back into the house, towards the front door. Elaine had already put the old picture albums away and had tossed a bunch of cookies into a large sandwich bag. "Hey Ma, I'm taking Celi home and working late. Don't wait up." John informed as she tossed him the bag. "All right honey. Don't get into too much trouble dear." She chuckled warmly and gave him a peck on the cheek, before turning to Celi with a wink, "You let me know if he gives you a hard time, hun. Mama will take care of that."

"Aww, Ma..." John said sheepishly, but kissed his mother's forehead and led Celi out before he could be embarrassed further. "All right. My ride or yours?"

Now that he and Celi were in the clear, he grinned at her and looped an arm around her waist, pulling her towards him. His tanned, muscular arm was powerful and felt almost as if she was being grasped by steel beams, but his hold was gentle enough not to hurt her. As he walked with her towards her vehicle, his powerfully built chest swayed slightly with each step. "Well now, do I detect a hint of desire in that lovely voice of yours?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her, "And you don't wanna come back later, huh? Does that mean we're gonna have a sleepover?" Before she could answer, he stepped to the driver side of her car and opened the door for her, gesturing for her to get in. "After you, sweetheart." His words were simple, but he watched her every move as if he were relishing them.

At her flirtatious suggestion, John lifted a brow. He loved it when she was being sassy, almost as much as he loved getting down and dirty with a certain fashionista. Without wasting any more time, he made his way around to the passenger side of her car and jumped in. The moment his tush hit the seat, he leaned in until his nose was only an inch from hers. "Up to me, huh?" He asked, liking the idea, "Well then, I say yes, honey."

Now if one were to ask around the island about John Wilder, they'd quickly find out that he was a rather confident sort. That was true, but it wasn't simply arrogance - he had the strength and skill to backup any claim he might make. But the only claim that he was thinking of making right now was a claim on Celi. "I'm ready whenever you are." He said with a wink.