Title: Confidence Artists
Fandom: The Road to El Dorado
Pairing: Miguel/Tulio/Chel
Categories: Humour
Length: 11k
Rating: Explicit (but only a bit)
Author: Fayhe
Author's Summary: The grey light of Spain carries their history with it, and it's gleaming through the cracks. Two long cons, in thirteen conversations. For aron_kristina. A very happy Yuletide to you! You asked for romance, sex, adventures and bickering, so clearly your taste in genres is excellent. I would apologise for the startlingly skewed porn-to-plot ratio, but I'm not actually sorry at all :)

My comments: I like to imagine that Miguel, Tulio, and Chel went on loads of fun adventures together after fleeing the City of El Dorado, relieving rich people out of their excess gold through complex three-man cons. This story delivers on that front. But there's an undercurrent of tension between the three regarding what happened in El Dorado - would Miguel really have preferred to stay in the city if it weren't for the last-minute boat malfunction? Did Tulio ever apologize to Miguel about Chel?

Speaking of Chel - I resented her in the movie in that she seemed written to keep Miguel and Tulio apart but I think this fic redeems her as a professional in her own right. That the fic accomplishes that while being full of quotable and beautiful lines is amazing, and I'm glad it exists.

Chel glares. "Oh, really, mister body-language-expert. If it's so simple, then why don't you seduce him."
Tulio pauses with a double handful of hair, staring into her eyes.
"Fine," he says.
The guitar in Miguel's hands gives an alarmed twang.

Chel almost trips over Bibo as she leaps through the door, out of breath and with her feet throbbing from careering through the streets in these shoes. Tulio and Miguel have the money spread out over the table and they're being morons about it, just as they were when she left.

"We have to leave!" she gasps. "Now!"

Tulio looks up from where he's been rubbing his cheek dreamily against a large pile of money. "Why?

As always when she finds her thoughts swaying idly religious, Chel has to bite her lip against laughter. She wonders how well a breathy my only wish is to serve the gods would go down right now. Maybe she'll save it for next time. Oh, there will be so many next times.

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