insane // in pain

God, she thought to herself, he looked the same and talked the same so why didn’t Ana want to believe that he was the exact same person he was when she left? Maybe it was because there was a small part of her that was scared he wasn’t, even in the tiniest of ways. No, her fear was centered around the fact that the guy she loved had moved on to someone else and there was no chance for her anymore. Eighteen years of loving the same man and then suddenly having to figure out how to move on and deal with it, while still keeping him in her life. That was a situation that Ana wanted to avoid because it was completely possible. She couldn’t really say anything to his rebuttal. There was nothing to say. They’ve teetered around the fact that this wasn’t just them seeing each other like DJ left for college and was back for summer break. There was a whole eight-year time skip for them and Ana would be a fool to pretend that it wasn’t there.

It was so odd what she was feeling. To have herself blabber on in front of him. Ana never felt more like herself but also not at the same time. To have him back set something back to normal, but also threw other things off course. Where this fluttering was a distant memory and she wasn’t used to it anymore. She wasn’t used to having him around, especially since the last time she really did see DJ, Ana had kissed him and they never never got a chance to talk about it because Ana was gone the next day, for reasons completely unrelated. “You’ve never not gotten in trouble for your big mouth,” she noted, easing back into it, into them. There was nothing to really think about, she had to remember. It was just them. It was just DJ and AK. Even if the roles were switched and he was that one trying to get her to go out. The oddity of the tables turning was the real issue of why things felt weird. Not anything else. Nope.

“Waaaait,” Ana said, putting her weight into her legs and digging her heels slightly into the ground to pause the venture. She looked down at her appearance, old cotton shorts and a thin hoodie. Practical wear for a day in spent in front of a TV yelling out for help from her team. Not something she would want to wear out, much less out with the guy that grew up well, even if he had seen her through her years with pigtails and questionable color and pattern combinations. She redirected their course, making a beeline for her room with DJ in tow, sadly letting go to start to dig through her closest, hoping to find something of hers or Baby’s in there that she could quickly throw on.

Without any hesitation or thought, Ana pulled off the hoodie. Switching it for a loose crop top and the shorts that were extremely lived in for a pair of high waisted denim shorts, Ana was almost ready to go. She wasn’t going to say that growing up didn’t help her, because it did. The girl finally grew into her lanky arms and legs, not that they were a huge issue when she was still in high school, but they were toned and strong now, thanks to all the boxes of liquor she would carry on the daily. There weren’t exactly assets to show off, none like her roommate, but she worked with what she got. A quick brush of mascara and a moment to think about the consequences of wearing a beanie out in the brink of summer before throwing it back on, Ana was ready. “Okay. Now we can go,” she said with a wide smile, taking his hand back and pulling them out of her apartment. “A full day of ice cream. You said it. No take backs.”

They were almost out of the door when Ana pulled back, resisting him. He could feel it in that moment, the strings of his heart starting to ache at the thought that she was going to give him another excuse as to why she wouldn’t be able to go out with him. There was just a moment where he got nervous that she had a change in heart. Or that she really was a different person and didn’t want to involve herself with him. After all of these years pining for her and wishing that she was still in his life, he truly believed that they would be able to fall right back into what they had been. Picking up from the place they had left off on (albeit an awkward kiss that was never discussed again still hung in the air between them). But that moment quickly faded when she started dragging him to her room, figuring she just didn’t want to go out in the clothes she was wearing.

He couldn’t help his mind though. DJ still didn’t know the reasons why she had disappeared all of those years ago, how was he supposed to know what she had been thinking all of that time too? There was no way to really know, and he wasn’t about to ask her for all of the details of what was going through his mind after they kissed. After his dad went missing. That was a day he wished he could forget, but clung so desperately to it so that he could remember that sliver of a moment when everything in his life was going exactly according to plan.

Without a moments notice, Ana pulled off the hoodie she had been wearing. “Oh uh,” his eyes went wide and a nervous chuckle managed to sneak its way past his lips. He quickly turned around, bringing his hand up to his neck trying to play it smooth. Of course he had wanted to look, and there had been plenty of times where he had seen her. Something about the kiss they shared still hung over his head and made everything seem more awkward than it should’ve been. Plus, they were older now. They weren’t in those awkward teen stages where they didn’t have any say in what their bodies were going to do. And he wasn’t sure about how she felt, but not seeing Ana for eight years had only made his heart grow fonder and she had gotten hotter from the last time they spoke too.

DJ was just thankful that she didn’t bring it up when she was all finished getting ready. He turned back to her, smiling and briefly letting his eyes wander down her body for a moment before she pulled the pair of them back out of the apartment. “I promise you, I’m not going to take back what I said. We live in Manhattan for crying out loud, we could spend our whole day going to different ice cream shops and barely hit a fraction of the ones in the city,” he pointed out. He wasn’t even sure how many there were because typically he went to the same three, but bad ice cream wasn’t exactly a thing, you really had to try hard to fuck it up.

Charles squinted his eyes at the other boy, trying to make sense of all his ramble. He was talking too much. Charles wanted to shove his newspaper in his mouth. “I’m talking about Harry Potter, the fuck are you saying?” Charles interrupted him. He had to sip in his coffee after taking in all his blabber. “You talk too much for a small person, don’t you think?”

Charles noticed Peter look sideways at the other girl, however, he didn’t seem to be interested. He knew that the girl actually looked cute and he could have been a great match for him, but he didn’t even dare to stand up. “Dude, your wand needs some workout.” Charles added, gesturing over to the girl again. “What’s the problem with you and you’re not going after women?”  Charles asked, leaning over at the table and looking at him directly in the eye. “You aren’t straight, are you?” He asked, narrowing his gaze at him.

Charles snarled at him as he kept coming with the insults. Charles didn’t have enough time for all technological advancements, if he wasn’t busy studying law or planning out for the Mafia, he’d be with his Irish folks drinking or sleeping with women. It was a routine. “I could not care less what you say.” Charles exclaimed, looking at his phone and seeing a bit of changes. “Oh right, Is there like a way for me to block unknown numbers on my phone? A lot of people keep texting me. It’s spamming my….uhm, what do you call this? inbox?” Charles scratched his head, he had to make sure he deleted some of the Mafia related texts. They don’t usually text anyway, just call.

Peter scoffed and dramatically rolled his eyes. “You called him scar face. The only other acceptable name to call him besides Harry Potter is ‘the boy who lived,’” he pointed out before he pretended to push up glasses that weren’t on his face at all. “A small person?” He raised his brow. “I’m nearly six feet tall my dude. I don’t know what kind of alternate universe you’re from in the multiverse, but here on Earth 1, 5’10 isn’t considered small,” he shot back at him. Now if Charles had known him years ago, his statement wouldn’t have been too off. But considering time had really helped Peter out, he would stand by the statement that he wasn’t small.

A baffled expression made its way onto his features almost causing him to choke on his hot chocolate. In fact, it had caused him to choke on his hot chocolate. When he regained his composure and cleared his throat a few times he shook his head. “I am straight as far as I know,” he shrugged. “Just terribly hung up on a girl from my past that’s all. Relationships always seemed kind of pointless when all I was doing in them was comparing them to her,” he admitted sheepishly before taking another much needed sip of his hot chocolate. He hoped that Charles would drop it, but if he had to guess how he would react to that little discovery, he was sure it wasn’t going to go over well for him.

He kept his eyes trained to the screen as Charles began to ask another question. Seriously? How did this man function the way he did without knowing an ounce about technology. If there was one thing he should’ve known with his track record with women, it would have been how to block a number. His mouth hung open for a moment, brows furrowing in confusion. “I genuinely cannot tell if you’re being serious or not. Are you from a time before technology? Did you not take a typing class ever? What about all of the joys of the internet when we were growing up? How do you not know…. Nevermind,” he shook his head as he took the phone from him.

James glanced down at the phone, at the blue and white screen that lit up before him, showing the conversation he was sharing with his employer currently. Three small dots had popped up in a speech bubble on the screen, indicating that Howard was in the middle of typing out a response to James. He knew that Howard meant well, that he merely wanted to give James the opportunity to get away from the mundane routine of his own life and spend some time to himself, but James didn’t know how to tell the man that he wasn’t interested. He had all the family he needed in the Golightlys, and spending time away from them felt more uncomfortable than James cared to admit.

3:45 P.M. [ from “Howard Golightly” ] Sorry to hear that, James! I’m planning on surprising her with a trip to the movies, but feel free to come home if you’d like. House to yourself!

James sighed heavily, locking his phone and sliding it back into his pocket. Not the exact response he’d been hoping for, to be sure. At this rate, James supposed he might as well stay in the park until dusk and then meander his way on home or to one of the many restaurants and delis that crowded each street corner. He was lost in thought, deliberating on his next course of action when an unfamiliar voice roused James from his thoughts. Blinking in mild astonishment, he turned his gaze towards a young man who came and seated himself beside James, pointing to a couple across the way. James listened, quietly, as the stranger invented a dynamic for the couple as they made their way through the park, sharing ice cream and a good-natured laugh as they pointed at the various landmarks and terrain that the man-made park was dotted with.

“What makes you so certain in your assessment of their characters, then?” James asked with a nod towards the strangers, turning to face the boy who’d taken a seat at the bench with him. “Are you one of those behavioral analysts or something like that?”

Peter couldn’t help but chuckle at the stranger’s remark, glad that he had at least given some thought of entertaining him with this silly scenario he constructed. While he had no authority to what the couple was really like, it was nice for a moment to imagine what they could have had. What their dynamic was and what things in their relationship led them to that very moment. Where the blistering sun had melted the ice cream faster than they could consume it and how it didn’t matter because they were together.

He shook his head, “no, no. Not a behavioral analysts never even studied psychology,” he paused before drawing a sharp breath in. “But I’ve been him before,” he admitted candidly nodding his head back over to the man who had been doting over his girlfriend. “Hopelessly in love with a girl twenty thousand lightyears out of my league,” he clarified before clearing his throat. “In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve been in that exact scenario, knowing that I had ice cream all over my hands but not caring because she had this beautiful beaming smile and was having the time of her life,” he mused for a moment before looking back over to the man on the bench.

It wasn’t so often that he was called upon by the Bratva. Most of the time, Peter was allowed to live his life normally. Visiting his mom on weekends when he could sneak away and leaving small bits of cash tucked away in her coat pockets so that she could think she had a stroke of luck or that she simply misplaced her cash and found it again. However, when he was called upon, he knew that his arrival had to be immediate. Peter would always do his best to get to places, but he often found it hard to get there on time. Something always seemed to happen and he felt as if he was maybe running out of excuses.

This time however, he wasn’t late. He had somehow managed to make it to the meeting place well before he was supposed to be there. Peter silently gave himself a pat on the back and a smirk settled on his features as he pulled out his laptop. It was Celine this time who he was supposed to meet. While she was nice to him, he still was intimidated as fuck by her. He had seen all of the surveillance of her hits being taken out, and he knew exactly what she could do. He just hoped that he wouldn’t one day find himself on the other side of things. His head perked up when Celine got there, smiling widely and waving her over to come sit by him. He pulled up the security feed as she sat down next to him. 

Send me a ★ and I’ll bold what applies to your muse.

Send me a ★ and I’ll bold what applies to your muse.

Ronan appreciated punctuality a great deal; perhaps it had quite a bit to do with his role as an assassin in the Bratve; perhaps it was an unrelated characteristic of his altogether. So when he glanced at his watch once, twice, and ensured that Peter had not shown up at the scheduled time, an aggravated huff escaped Ronan underneath his breath. He knew that his presence did not hold nearly as much weight as that of an Underboss or, naturally, the Pakhan and his family regardless, but he still expected to be respected. Somewhat. Ronan continued to tap his foot, growing more anxious by the moment, as he stared at the clock on the wall opposite where he sat.

The bartender came and faded away with his drink, and Ronan had taken a drink when he heard a commotion from the entrance of the seating area. He glanced over just in time to see a very disheveled Peter Park racing into the room, looking entirely out of sorts as he rushed over to where Ronan was sitting and began to spew apologies rapidly. Ronan remained quiet for the duration of Peter’s small fit of guilt, watching critically as the Bratva-hired hacker plopped himself into a chair beside the White Wolf and reaching for a laptop from the bag he’d brought with him.

“Mr. Park, I’m glad you could make it,” Ronan said instead by way of greeting, waving the bartender over and gesturing towards the young man. “Would you like something to drink? Or perhaps a snack before we get started today.”

Peter smiled sheepishly at the man. If he hadn’t been contracted by the Russians he was sure that Ronan might possibly kill him himself. Especially because of how late he had decided to be when he showed up to their meeting. He truly hoped that he hadn’t thought any less of Peter, surely he must realize that sometimes shit happens and then you find yourself getting a blister on your ankle because you couldn’t find your other sock. He silently hoped that the man had some compassion, even if that wasn’t a trait typically found in assassins. “Uh,” he scratched the back of his neck as a nervous tick. “A drink would be nice. Do they have frozen hot chocolate here? Should I be embarrassed even asking that? I take back what I said. I’ll have a vodka soda with a lime,” he stated firmly. “Oh! But hold the vodka. You do not want to see what happens when this boy gets alcohol in his system.”

God. He didn’t even realize what had happened - this headphones thing was getting out of hand. She’d nearly watched a teenager get taken out by a taxi on her way here… Then again, some of the taxi’s in this city were just aggressive. Lucy raised an eyebrow as he puts the pieces together and starts off on a tangent about… a penny. Lucy peered at it, noting its shininess - well, she might have stopped to pick the damn thing up too, honestly. She liked shiny things. “Well, normally, I’m not a believer in luck in general,” Lucy said, pressing her lips together, before breaking into a wary smile. “But I’ve always had a preference for shiny things, so I suppose our lucky day is upon both of us.” 

Lucy glanced at him, considering him a moment. He seemed to feel bad enough, so she supposed to couldn’t kick up that much of a fuss - not tonight, anyhow. “You should be more careful, I could have really hurt you. Even with your -” her eyes flickered to the penny again. “Penny protection.”

Peter furrowed his brows together. “You’re not a believer in luck?” He asked the older woman almost incredulously. “If there was no luck, then explain to me how neither one of us got hurt. Imagine if I hadn’t picked up the penny at all. We could have had a full on collision,” he expressed his opinion. “But lucky for you, I picked up this penny. And now with all of the magical powers of luck that had been placed with this shiny piece of copper, I am about to have the luckiest day of my entire life,” he joked letting out a laugh to show that he was obviously joking about the whole thing. Sure, he did believe in luck, but quite frankly there were other forces at hand that had made sure that Peter didn’t get hurt from picking up that stupid thing. He couldn’t even think what he could do with a penny these days besides tuck it away into a pocket where it could fall out and be the source of someone else’s lucky day seeing if it landed the right way.

It was like she was cataloging everything that had changed with him, a mental image of the DJ she knew to the one that was standing in her kitchen. That mental image was being nicely folded over creases that were unfolded many times over the past eight years, finally getting a chance to live properly in her memories now that it was being replaced with the now version, the current version, the real version. And he looked good. It was stupid how well he grew into his looks and still retained his bright eyes and sweet smile. She could already feel the flips her heart would take just getting to see that smile again in person, not from a memory in her head.

“Extremely,” Ana answered without hesitation. “And extremely in love with someone, but if you want to sleep with her, you can shell out the cash for it.” It probably bad how much of an automatic reaction that had come to be, but being best friends with Baby demanded it. It was easier to be straightforward with it than having guys try to use her to get to her best friend. But with this, it wasn’t normal. It was her telling him straight up that it was no. No, no, and no. Ana didn’t even want to think about the possibility of DJ and Baby, even if it was a business deal because that was not DJ. Or maybe it was. Eight years changed a person. Eight years changed her, so why would Ana, for a second, think that DJ would be exactly the same person.

There was that part of her that felt like, at least very recently realized, that her life moved on but it also didn’t. Like there was a part of her life that was put on pause for eight years and DJ appearing at her door pressed play again and some part of her was seventeen again. Life never felt completely right without him. Learning to live without him was one of the hardest things Ana had to try to do, but there was so much she had to worry about—where she was going to sleep, if she was going to have food to eat, if she could take a shower. General survival put trying to get over DJ in the back of her mind and it just never happened. It was easier to admit back then, but to say that she was still hopelessly in love with him was harder to deal with because she wasn’t sure who he was.

Ana took hold of her wrist with her hand, holding on to him because she didn’t want to let go. He was real again. He was here. Even with that fear in her heart of him not really being her DJ, Ana knew that she would always love him and she would always want him in her life. To let him go now would pretty much be emotional suicide for her. “Your bites are three times mine,” she said, mumbled by the fabric of his shirt. A small whine slipped when he pinched her cheek, her lower lip going into a pout as she moved to look up at him, only to have her beanie pushed down, again. She still didn’t want to let go so Ana just let it stay, only for DJ himself to pull it back up. She didn’t expect to be met with puppy dog eyes and the feeling of blood rush to her cheeks. “I don’t go out on Tuesdays because the world sucks and I deal with enough people every other day of the week.” She paused, taking a glance around the kitchen. “But there is barely food for one here. So…” Yes. Always yes. It should always be yes.

There had always been a sort of ease that washed over him whenever Ana was around. Even as they were kids, Ana made him step out of his shell. By no means were they very social with other people (there was no need to be because they had each other), but with the help of her he really grew into the person that he was today. In fact, the pair of them would have been shocked at how he ended up. Tragedy and all, DJ had become the kind of person that extended himself to people, roping them in with his friendship and actually making close bonds with the people he had chose to surround himself with. He never let her disappearance hold him back. With every decision he made toward a new friendship, he sat there and thought to himself that what he had been doing would make Ana proud. She didn’t have to be physically around to see it all unravel, but just the mere thought of the smile that would play across her features knowing that he had broken the mold he once was sealed up in was enough for him to continue to put himself out there.

However, no matter how much he put himself out there, he knew in the deepest parts of his heart and in the furthest parts of his mind, that there would be no one that could make him break the mold like Ana had. That it didn’t matter how many friends he made or how he had really fallen perfectly into his life today, he would trade it all just to have one more moment with her. To show her everything he’s done, everything he’s done only because he had learned it from her. And seeing her there, physically holding her and messing around with her had made him realize that he didn’t have to trade anything in his life, not like he always thought he needed to. She was here, wasn’t she? Sure, it had been eight years, nine days, and two hours since they last were together, but holding her in his arms made all of that time feel so small. They could spend an eternity apart from each other and none of it would seem like that long because DJ had always carried a part of Ana with him wherever he went. And it was the part of himself he was the most fond of.

“You of all people should know that I wouldn’t want to sleep with her,” he insisted. Little did she know that the only part of him that he ever guarded himself with was the prospects of relationships. Even with her whereabouts unknown and the fact that he had accepted long ago that he may never see her again in his lifetime, he had been as much of a part of her as she had been to him. And that part that she took from him was the part of him he wouldn’t trust with anyone else. It seemed that no matter how he would try to let himself get out there in that way, he found it to be harder than he could have ever thought it was going to be. She held that part of him so tight that there was just no room for anyone else. And in truth, there was no other way that DJ wanted it to be. If he could compile a list of every single person he had met and connected with in this lifetime and a list of all of the people he had loved so effortlessly, the only similarities that it would bare would be Ana’s name scribbled at the top of both of them.

DJ couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his mouth. “Are you saying I have a big mouth? Because I can’t say that’s the first time I’ve heard that one. Apparently speaking your mind is looked down upon in some cultures,” he chuckled to himself at how easy it had always been with her. Even if they spent all that time apart they were still DJ and AK and that was probably the part that surprised him the most. He had almost forgotten what it was like with her. But he couldn’t have been more glad at the outcome that there was nothing different, they hadn’t missed a beat in all of that time. The puppy dog look stayed on his face as she started to dish him some excuse about how she didn’t go out on Tuesdays. Which was just odd to him if he was being completely honest. But then she turned it around, brought it back to giving her response. It was quite the change of pace from her always having to beg him to do something to standing in her shoes now begging her to do something with him.

“Dementors? Really? I thought that scar face already saved the world?” Charles replied. Harry Potter was one of the books Charles read as a child, although he wasn’t so much of a fan of it. He knew quite a lot about it, especially when the movies was released.  “You’ve got to do something better in life, Peter.  Before someone ‘Avada Kedavra’s your shit.” He added before taking a sip on his coffee. Charles took a regular newspaper and started unfolding it when the other man interrupted him. “You should be the one minding your own ‘little Peter’.” Charles retorted folding the newspaper once more to join in the insult for fun. “Oh wait, when was the last time your little Peter even stood up? Man, I feel so sorry for the young bloke. He must be so young to retire. You should give him a break, y’know. Probably take your chances on the girl two tables to your left.” Charles gestured with his head before he swatted the other man’s arm. “Maybe you can try to Flipendo her to your bed instead of staring at your little screen. Focus on your own wand.” He exclaimed, taking his phone out to check some early messages. “Hey, geek. Do you have any idea how to un-sync your reminders to Google? This tech thing right here is Year 5 Hogwarts, and I barely haven’t gotten my acceptance letter just yet.” Charles scratched his head and showed him his phone. 

“Scarface? No no, that’s the wrong movie. Scarface was that Al Pacino film from the eighties, you know ‘say hello to me little friend,’” Peter mimicked the accent as best as he could pretending to hold a gun before making a loud bang sound with his mouth then directly following it with the sounds of faint screaming in the distance before letting a smile play across his features. “Something better? I mean, I guess you have a point, Pokemon Go does have a better interface as far as games like these go. It’s far more exciting trying to catch them all rather than casting spells,” he shrugged stitching his brows together in thought for a moment, still avoiding the obvious of what the guy had been really talking about. 

“You know, I’ll have you now that little Peter stands up as often as he needs to. He’s trying to save himself, you know. Poor guys got bad knees so anytime it rains he just aches,” he took a jab at himself before giggling at how ridiculous he was sure he sounded. Peter couldn’t help himself looking at the girl sitting alone at the table. If he hadn’t been so caught up with the only girl he had ever had a crush on, he would have pursued that avenue. But with Ana back in his life, he was dead set on making their one time kiss a forever kind of thing. She was cute, he had to admit. There was a sort of softness to her that he could see, but she was no Ana. No, she wouldn’t have been able to give him what he wanted so he would rather not waste any time. “My wand will be just fine thank you very much. I’m not like Ron Weasley out here breaking it and shit,” he snickered to himself.

Lucy had a careful routine to stay in shape. 2 hours at the gym 5 days a well, kickboxing when she could, and accompanied with daily jogging… Well, the jogging was more because she liked it. It didn’t particularly provide her any substantial benefits other than a chance to escape. She set her course through the park, absentmindedly sinking into the rhythm. People were so funny about joggers - some would stare at her like she had three heads because why would she want to run for exercise, some would ogle or catcall her… 

But today, she wasn’t paying attention. Lucy was thinking about a job, carefully going over the plan in her head again and again and again. There would be no room for error with this one and -

incoming. 

As in incoming person. 

“Watch it!” Lucy had barely, barely managed to throw herself out of the way of someone who had gotten in her way. “Do you make it a habit training to be a hurdle for unsuspecting joggers in the park?!”

If there was anything that Peter Park did better than hacking, it was being caught up in his own head. He had somehow managed to perfect the skill of absentmindedness even after all of this time living in the city. There wasn’t much for him to think about other than work, but his mind tended to wander to the craziest places sometimes. Especially when he was in the park. There was something about the nature of it all and how the leaves blew with the song of the winds that carried that dirty smell of pollution along with it. Always fascinated by all of the people around the area. Hell, Peter was even amazed by the shiny penny that he had found on the ground in front of him. He stopped dead in his tracks and bent down, all wide eyed at the lucky penny before he was about to pick it up.

//closed @djpeterpark

Charles entered the cafe shop early in the morning to get his usual coffee. It has been his ritual to start his day with a coffee before heading off to work — which probably just means checking his firm and annoying the hell out of his Irish folks at the Little Dublin Residences. If he wasn’t staying at his property there, he probably had slept with another woman last night. Owning another apartment meant the he was untraceable after a one night stand, he would prefer hotels sometimes but that isn’t usually secured by his watchmen. Nonetheless, he went to the nearby cafe shop in his place to buy an espresso and a bagel. Charles decided to always do this despite his busy schedule to clear his mind off things. As he looked for a seat, he noticed a dark haired boy sitting at the edge of the room fixated on his phone. He went over and smacked his back. “Whatcha doin’ geek boy? Don’t tell me you’re already obsessed in a game.” Charles interrupted, sitting on the chair across the other boy. “It’s too early for that y’know.” He said, before rolling his white sleeves and checking his phone. 

Peter had been on a different time schedule than the rest of the city. While the regular nine to five workers had zombie like qualities, Peter had already been awake since two this morning. It was a cruel necessity of his job, knowing that secure sites would go down for maintenance anywhere from one to four in the morning, making them the easiest point of access skipping all of the firewalls and blockages companies had so proudly claimed they had running at all times. Of course, this wasn’t the life he had imagined, but by no means had he been upset by it. He had always been more of a night owl anyways, times like this were just playing to his strengths. 

He found himself safely nestled into the corner of the cafe where he had made himself a regular, sipping on a hot chocolate with his eyes glued to his phone. It was practically a routine at this point, one that Peter was glad to have. He had been so consumed in his game, he practically jumped out of his body when he felt a hand hit his back hard. Thankfully he knew the voice behind it and he didn’t even glance up from his game knowing that Charles would sit with him even if he was paying no attention to him. “It’s never too early to be saving the world from dementors and other magical mishaps. Heroes never sleep, you know. It’s quite tiring,” he joked as he casted another spell on the game finishing up his quest and locking his phone to give his full attention to Charles. 

Ana knew she was just staring, her feet stuck in their place by the door even as the door closed behind her. She was just looking at him move about her apartment, to have him walk about her mess, to have him standing in her kitchen. Her brain had decidedly slowed down, not that there was usually much going on in there to begin with, but there was a perpetual rainbow wheel spinning. It was a scene that never was supposed to happen, but it was happening and Ana could not compute. The only thing that Ana could compare it to was that she was seeing a ghost. A ghost that was eating the last of her garlic bread.

“My roommate made it.” Another automatic response as Ana fixed the last of her hair, letting the strawberry blonde locks settled back into the beanie. Then DJ smiled at her and the familiar skip of her heart happened, the same one that she used to have almost daily when they were still seeing each other almost twenty-four seven. It was like she finally woke up, not just from this stall that happened because he appeared, but the dust was being brushed away from that part of her heart that has been out of commission for a long time. For eight years, nine days, and two hours.

She couldn’t wait any longer and with surprising speed and grace of her long legs, Ana followed the steps that DJ took. She ended up right in front of him, looking up at him with only a few inches between them. It was his presence that was for sure, but he was taller, Ana had to look up at him as her eyes only reached the lips that were covered in garlic butter. Her first instinct was to poke him, but Ana didn’t. No, the girl just went straight in for a hug, nestling her head in the crook of his neck as he was eating her garlic bread. Her nose was filled with the familiar scent of him, the fresh musk that she could never really place. Ana was practically burying her head into his chest, not wanting to let go. “You’re not eating all of my lasagna.”

DJ knew that this was shocking. Never mind the fact that he had traced her location from her gamertag and ip address, something he probably wouldn’t tell her at any point. He was sure she would ask how he found her, but with that dumbfounded look on her face due to the gears probably spinning out of control in her brain, he knew it wouldn’t be anytime soon. He had his doubts before, but after seeing her he knew that he made the right choice. That he did exactly what he was meant to do to find her and see her again. And seeing her, well that was something he wouldn’t have imagined. She had lost her baby fat, but kept some of it in her cheeks (better for him considering he would still be able to pinch them as much as he wanted to once they were fully back into the swing of things).

“Is she hot?” he asked, joking mostly just to see the look on her face once she had fully processed what he had asked her. He hoped it was a girl who was her roommate and not a guy she had been living with. In fact, he prayed with everything that she hadn’t found someone else. That even if she ran away that she was waiting for DJ to come back. That the kiss they had shared all of those years ago still meant something to her like it did to him. Not that he expected her to wait around for him or to ever see her again, but that small part of him was still a hopeless romantic, still wishing that they could’ve done more with the time that they had together.

( &&. @djpeterpark )

It was his thoughts that had brought him to Central Park today. James Beircheart sat underneath a large oak tree, the crooked branches and leaves shading him from New York’s blinding summer sun as he rested on a bench, his hands idly twirling his phone in his lap. He sighed, watching the families stroll about the park; joggers weaving in and out of young mothers with strollers, grandmothers and grandfathers hobbling along the cobblestone paths with walkers.

It was his day off, and yet he had nowhere to go. Nobody to do much of anything with. His days off were traditionally spent with Bunny, as well, but Howard had insisted James take the day for himself.The only problem was, of course, that he had no idea what to do with it. He took out his phone and shot a quick message to Howard, hoping that the text didn’t come across as insensitive or ungrateful.

3:43 P.M. [ to “Howard Golightly” ] What have you and Bunny got planned for tonight? Think I might wrap things up and come home early; feeling a bit under the weather.

Central Park. It had always been quite bustling. Despite living in New York practically his whole life, he had yet to walk the entirety of the park. Perhaps it was because it was something he and Ana vowed to do— it just felt wrong to try it without her. But he did still walk it, the same path on his way home from a day of work. And everyday he would be fascinated by the people in the park, playing a dumb game he and Ana used to play by creating stories from the people they would see. They would start of on this bench under an old oak tree and pick anyone that they could see. They would guess if they were a local or a tourist before delving into this rich fantasy of what their lives were like or what had brought them out to this park on this day. It was especially fun for families that were quite clearly tourists, making up a whole family history and dynamic between them. He brought himself to that oak tree today, but found a person sitting on the bench beneath it.

Now he wasn’t the kind of person that would sacrifice his routine just because someone was sitting on the bench, no. Peter was the person who would find himself seated on the bench and striking up a conversation with the man sitting there. And that was exactly what he had done, planting himself a few feet away from the man so clearly distracted by his thoughts. He let his eyes follow where the stranger had his eyes settled upon before leaning over to him. “This looks like their first time in the city,” he firmly said, hoping it would draw the strangers attention to him.

( &&. @djpeterpark )

“Nyet, nothing to eat; just a vodka tonic and tell me the moment Peter arrives,” Ronan said to the waitress who had approached him, steepling his hands together as he sat back in one of the plush leather armchairs scattered around the communal area of the Oceana Residences. The space was rather vacant today, all things considered; he supposed most of the residents of Oceana were out and about in Little Odessa and the greater Brooklyn area–which made it the perfect meeting spot for today’s little rendezvous. 

Ronan was parked at the bar attached to the luxury Russian-operated residences, tapping his foot against the ground rather impatiently as he waited for the Bratva’s hacker to arrive. Seeing Peter was one item on a long list of things Ronan wished to accomplish; he needed to find the root of evil that had threatened his Emmaline, and he would do whatever it took to make sure any threat to her life was swiftly eradicated before the birth of their child.

He was late, unsurprisingly. If there was one thing he had always been really bad at, it was about being on time to places. This wasn’t a particular meeting he should have been late to, all things considering. But if it was going to happen to anyone, it was going to be Peter. He didn’t even get a chance to grab the frozen hot chocolate he had desperately wanted, even with that allotted time built into his morning routine. He wasn’t exactly sure what had happened that morning, just that he had been so late waking up he only managed to put on one sock before he set out for the day.

There was no part of him that wanted to be late for a meeting with Ronan, especially considering the time sensitive material he was sure he needed to rid of the moment he sat down for the meeting. It probably didn’t help that he had left his laptop at home in his hurry and only grabbed the charger. Halfway through him weaving in and out of throngs of people to get to the Oceana Residences, he only realized he had even forgotten it because he fell to the ground from tripping over his own dumb shoelaces. That set him back another twenty minutes, and at the rate that he was going this morning, he wasn’t entirely sure he was going to make it to the meeting at all.