with : @party–arty​ location : Downtown

The day was nice enough that rather than take her laptop and sit inside the Grind to do homework, Aria instead decided to walk through the downtown district to try and find some place sunny to sit. The streets were busy enough that she had to duck and weave through some parts of the sidewalk, as though everyone else in Eden had the same idea she had. But, she managed to find a spot near the harbor where she was able to sit on a ledge and bask in the warm afternoon sun. So she set her bag down, pulled out her laptop, and swung her legs in a lazy fashion- only to accidentally kick someone walking by in the shins.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” She looked up, eyes wide in worry, only to be confronted with a familiar face. “Arturo?”

“Christ!” Art exclaimed as he felt the collision of someone’s foot with his shins, stopping him in his tracks. He groaned low, leaning over to rub at his legs a moment, and although the kick wasn’t hard, it had certainly taken him by surprise. Looking up, he locked eyes with Aria, someone he hadn’t necessarily seen a lot lately but someone who’s face was a welcome surprise. “You really gotta be more careful with those things, Aria. Gonna take someone out one of these days,” he teased with a laugh, straightening up and taking note of the laptop. “What’re you working on? Especially out here. Isn’t it distracting with all this noise?”

• location: anna’s diner
• with: @edtstarter​

The diner was pretty slow, save for a couple of people. They were regulars, some of which loved to talk about their lives. Usually Briar didn’t mind it, but this one old lady had her there for a good twenty minutes talking about her late husband. The first couple of times that the woman talked about it, Briar listened and felt for the old lady. But months later, it was the same story and the same woman crying as she spoke about her late husband. Briar didn’t want to be rude and leave her there all by herself, but she also didn’t know what to say. She had run out of things to say. The door of the diner dinged as someone walked in. She quickly excused herself, feeling guilty for feeling relieved, but she couldn’t stay sitting there any longer. “Hi – please tell me you know what you want. Hell, I’ll even get you some coffee right now.” as long as she looked busy. 

Art had been coming into the diner more frequently as of late for his lunch breaks, figuring that if he was going to take an hour out of his day to get food that wasn’t being brought to him, he was going to go to a place that had a wide variety of things to choose from. He had hardly sat down when he heard the woman’s voice, glancing up and letting a grin spread across his face when he recognized her. “Hey, Briar. Old lady over there causing trouble?” he asked with a laugh, picking up the menu. “I don’t do coffee -- I’d be bouncing off the walls if I did -- but I will take a Dr. Pepper while I figure out what else I want.”

“What, a homophobic racist? Simple enough, he hates the fact that I run the place better than he does. That, and why wouldn’t I want to work in a place with books?” that had been the original one. He didn’t much care what the current owner thought about him, the man knew he couldn’t get rid of him, and if he ever tried it… well, he could be very persuasive. Not that he normally would use those talents for something personal, but he was pretty sure he could threaten the man and that would be enough. “Good guys don’t exist in this world, it’s the survivors and the dead… and I plan to be the former. Think if it doesn’t work out, alcohol will work better on that front. But that was because you were spiraling at the time, you doing better?” and that was more of his concern, he’d be fine in the end, but he wanted to ensure his brother was ok. 

“I do like the white one alot.” Eleanor nodded in agreement, before she took her phone to take a picture of the couch - so she could show the cashier it when they went to check out. “I’m excited. I can finally say goodbye to my 500 square foot apartment, and say hello to space.” Art had quickly become someone that Eleanor grew close with, and despite the fact that he was Carter’s bestfriend - Eleanor considered him to be one of her close friends. “You know you can crash in the guest bedroom. I am not condemning you to the couch.” She teased as the headed towards the curtain sections. 

"Damn, I’m an honored guest? Gonna get me choked up, El,” Art replied, placing his hand over his heart and pretending to get teary-eyed before bursting into a fit of laughter. “Yeah, it’ll definitely be nicer to have a lot more space you can do stuff with. You can make it more your own, too, since you can actually like paint walls and shit if you want to. You gonna break out your inner HGTV goddess and get that place all done up right?” he asked, following her to the curtains and wrinkling his nose at some of the more ostentatious patterns. “Please never get anything like this,” he remarked, touching a lime green curtain with a tropical print. “God, I can respect a bold pattern, but this is too much.”

• where: record shop
• with: @party–arty​

          It was almost a tradition now, something that had been fully inserted into Reagan’s routine that would hardly be kicked off. Today, she was going to make her usual stop by the record shop for her daily gossiping with Artie, but unlike most days, she was carrying a bag full of treats, courtesy of Roman, Anna, and Andy after she had snapped a lot of pictures of delicious confections for their website and Instagram page. It was on the few days like that day, that Reagan felt like God was truly real. “What’s up nerd,” she called out when she was finally there and found her friend with a smile on her lips. “Do you have some time off? I brought some interesting sweets for us to try and when I told Anna I was comin’ by to see you, the woman just stuffed about fifty extra things in here. Hungry?”

"Nerd? Who do you think you’re talking to?” Art replied with a playful glare, though it was wiped from his face the moment he saw the bag from Red Velvet, replaced with a big grin as he rubbed his hands together. “There’s basically no one in here and the owner said I can do whatever as long as the store’s empty, so lay it on me. Besides, I always have room for Anna’s baked goods. Glad you’re willing to share so I don’t have to wrestle you to the ground to get one or two things,” he laughed, moving around behind the counter to grab out a chair for Reagan to sit in, sitting himself back down onto the stool he used behind the register to get settled. “What do we have?”

“Stubborn old man. Also racist and homophobic, I’ve ordered in a lot of books he’d never approve, and they’re the ones that sell” not that he’d tell that to him, else the books would be out the door and the shop even closer to closing. How he’d ever got hired there he didn’t know. “I don’t know” he hoped not, more than anything he hoped they’d be ok. But he didn’t believe it, not when he also understood her reaction. “Art, we’ve lived in this world our entire lives. It’s… just life. She hasn’t, and I have no intention of pulling her into it, but that doesn’t change the things I’ve done, and will do again. Whatever her decision… she has to do what’s right for her and I understand that. Out life… isn’t right for most people”.

          “I’m just followin’ doctor’s orders,” she smiled and placed both of the grilled cheese sandwiches on the kitchen isle, it wasn’t big, but it was enough to handle all food they had at that moment along with both of the water bottles she grabbed from the fridge. “It’s no big deal,” she told him truthfully, being like that was simply imprinted on her and even if she tried to veer off, it just came down to the fact that it was who she was and that would hardly change. Shaking her head, Anna reached for Artie’s hand and gave it an assuring squeeze. “Don’t apologize, please. I know hospitals can be hard— for most people they are, besides, up until two days before I left the visitation was limited and I was high as a kite,” she joked with a small chuckle, knowing exactly what he meant. She had sworn off mirrors until she had gotten back to Hector’s place and even then, it was hard to see what Jared had done with her reflecting back. “But I’m hopin’ I won’t be lookin’ horrendous much longer, Thalia’s creams and herbs have been helpin’ a lot along with the meds, she also invited me to visit the set of the movie, do you wanna come with?”

"Well, we can’t say no to the doctor’s orders, can we?” Art looked at Anna as she spoke, taking comfort in the feeling of her hand in his own and the words she spoke. He’d been holding onto the weight of his guilt over the last few weeks, but to know she wasn’t upset with him and could even understand where he was coming from meant everything to him. A soft smile came to his face at that and he nodded, returning the squeeze of her hand. “Yeah, that’d be nice. I got a little bit of a tour once already from her, but it’d be cool to see Carter doing his thing. When were you thinking about going?”

“They are, but books are more expensive than ebooks. Plus, he isn’t that diverse in what he gets in” alright so he had definitely been thinking about it too much. But then there was the cartel, and what if it all went wrong and he couldn’t balance both? He had to plan it somehow, decide what it was he did. “Not really, never had any issues keeping my private life private here” well he’d hidden having a relationship for a decade, he could do more. “Course…we all come first. Wouldn’t call it domestic bliss. She’s always know what I’m involved in… not that it’s family, kept that out. But… she’s only just realised exactly what I’m doing… it went as well as expected” and he didn’t want to spell it out. Even this still meant he could be talking about anything, just to ensure if anyone was listening that they wouldn’t understand. 

           “There is only so much a girl can do before she gets complete bored, Artie,” she said as she watched him, “and none of that– come on, the doctors said I need to eat,  a lot, so no keepin’ that for later, we can compliment on the grilled cheese,” she smiled. Living with Hector and occasionally with Art had been good, had been fun, but both the brothers had been taking care of her around the clock and she was far too used to take care of herself not to feel bothered by it. So, she did what she could and tried her best to keep them from seeing the small moments when she was too tired to do anything. She was damned if she wasn’t going to live a normal life. “I’m good, gettin’ slightly better every day,” she shrugged, “doesn’t hurt to laugh anymore and all my stitches had been taken out, from here on out it’s basically up to me— and you’re not wrong, been overwhelmin’ at times but no differently than I would treat him if he was in my place.”

"Oh yeah? Think we can demolish all of this on top of those grilled cheese sandwiches? Challenge accepted.” Grinning, he grabbed the bag of food again and laid the to-go containers out along the counter, having stopped by Anna’s to get a variety of comfort foods he was pretty sure she liked, nodding along as he listened. “True. You both go above and beyond for the people you love.” Opening up the containers, he looked over towards her and licked his lips slowly as he tried to figure out how to word his next thoughts. “I’m sorry for not coming to see you more in the hospital,” he started, clearing his throat. “It was... It was just really hard seeing you like that and it got to me.”

             “MILK stinks when it’s expired, though,” Ophelia countered, shrugging softly. “Like, you can smell it a mile away,” She added, grimacing at the memory of the time she’d accidentally left an open carton in her fridge for more than two weeks. “You did the whole livin’ off of takeout for three straight weeks thing yet?” Phee asked, laughing, “I did that when I first moved out. Couldn’t decide what to make for dinner every night. Although the lack of… Parental interruptions is definitely a bonus, I still fuckin’ love going home for cooked meals,” She continued, shaking her head. “Mmm, I do actually have some good news on the life front. My collection plan got picked up for a summer show in Charlotte so – I’m tryin’ to start preparing for my first real show.”

"Then maybe we’re in the clear since the whole apartment doesn’t reek... Not from that, anyway.” Art laughed and nodded, motioning towards the trash can that was almost to the point of overflowing. “Yeah, though whenever I want, I can just pop in to see Mami and she’ll whip me up something good to take home so I’m not always eating Chinese food. It’s a blessing and a curse being kind of on your own, y’know? No interruptions, but it can also get way too quiet sometimes.” His eyes went wide and a grin spread across his face at her news. “No fuckin’ way, really?! That’s dope, Phee! You’ll have to let me know when it is so I can be front row hooting and hollering for you. Be your personal hype man.”

Location: Some fancy ass furniture store 

Tagging: @party–arty​

“So which one would you pick, hm?” Carter knew that he should have been doing furniture shopping with Eleanor but when they did pick a house he wanted to surprise her with a desk for a home office, a place where she could come back to at night during big cases and when she eventually made chief. It was crazy to him how natural it was all coming to him, a guy who used to balk at the idea of being tied down. But being with El was a hundred times better than any one night stand or crazy party. “Like should I go with a big boss desk or something more minimalist and aesthetically pleasing, yanno? I’m starting to lean towards making her home office look like it’s straight out of the Godfather.”

"Between you and El asking me for furniture advice, I hope you realize that I expect I’m allowed to crash whenever I want.” Art nudged his best friend with his elbow, a grin spreading across his face before he turned his attention back to the desks in front of him. Though the selection wasn’t huge, there was a wildly different vibe with each one and he hummed softly to herself. “I think it depends somewhat on where you’re gonna put it, y’know? Like if you want it to face a window so she can look out at the view, I’d go minimalist so it doesn’t distract from it, but if you’re throwing it up against a blank wall, going whole hog and getting one with a hutch or whatever could be good. Though I have no idea what she’d do with all those compartments, I’m sure she’d find a way.”

“Bookshop definitely isn’t busy. Think he’s looking to sell it. But that’s good to hear, I’m glad it’s working out. We all need something away from this else it’ll become too much” even if his ambition had never really gone away. But he also knew his brother was a lot less involved. He wanted to keep it that way, or at least keep him from seeing exactly what it was he did when he did go out on a job, other than the normal deliveries when they came in. “We kissed on New Years, didn’t think anyone was watching us with the fireworks, but yeah, stopped being a secret now” though really, he wasn’t sure if it was, people seemed to know about it. “She came back. Shouldn’t say that here, you know how mami feels about mass”. 

            THIS seemed to have become a routine for Art and Phee; and if she was honest, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t glad for it. She spent so long agonising and planning over every aspect of her life that it was a welcome break, and she couldn’t help but laugh as he spoke, “Expired milk?” She asked, “God, how do you live?” Ophelia continued, her tone teasing. “If your milk’s expired, I dunno if I can trust your judgement on the OJ, though. I’ll be safe and stick to the water.”

"Hey, I actually drink the orange juice on a regular basis so I know that’s fresh! The milk’s more for whenever Leandro’s over, which is rare since they don’t let me babysit alone,” Art laughed, making his way to the cabinet to grab out two glasses, filling one with water and handing it to her before getting himself some orange juice. “I’m learning how to work on this whole basically living on my own thing. It’s all still pretty fresh. Though it is nice to get to invite women over without having to worry about my mom walking in.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively towards her before another laugh fell from him. “How’s life, Phee Phee? What are you scheming up nowadays?”

@party–arty​

“Which couch do you like better? The white one or the black leather?” Eleanor asked as she looked over at Art. Carter was busy on set today, and Eleanor wanted to look at furniture for the new house - Art was one of the only people she could trust to give an opinion based on what Carter liked. “Thank you for coming with me today.” She told him with a grin. The two of them had gotten closer over the last few months, and she really did have a lot of fun hanging out with him.  

"Hey, no problem. After all, if I’m gonna be showing up whenever I want, I may as well have a say in the decor of your home.” Art flashed her a grin before turning his attention to the couches in question, humming low as he considered the options. "The black one would probably be easier if someone were to, like... spill shit on it, but the white one looks bougier and I think that’s what Carter would lean towards. Besides, you can throw in some pops of color with whatever throw pillows you get for it to spice it up, make it more interesting, more you.”

“With the craziness of Christmas, think it was recovering from that” or he had been at least. Plus now it was no longer a secret that he and Mikayla were together. Though Art had known that longer than most. He’d have to thank him at some point for keeping it quiet. “Yeah, can’t complain” not that he did really, there was a lot he kept to himself, those would be one. Unless he really thought something was wrong. “How about you, figured things out yet?”