MY TASTE IN MUSIC IS YOUR FACE

honey snickered at his joke, eyes gleaming in the dim glow of the porch light. “fuck, boss. i dunno how i ever thought you were a hard ass. you’re like a puppy dog or something.” she flashed him another grin before staring out into the darkness in front of her. adrian had laid out a different side of himself here- not the shotcaller, the one holding everything and everyone together by sheer power of will. silence closed around the two of them like a blanket, drowning out everything but two pairs of lungs drawing in oxygen. ( or in honey’s case- inhaling smoke as she took another drag. )

“hey.” she turned to him, eyes blinking back the sleepiness that was once again setting in. “i never properly thanked you. for, y’ know…” the girl trailed off. her mind raced in search for the right words. 

honey wrapped her lips around the cigarette once again. the smoke seeped from her lips and disappeared into the night. “for being there. like, you didn’t have to do that. any of it.” the agreement on which the group was built was crystal clear- they were partners, brought together by a shared goal. nothing had obliged adrian to do what he had done, although she was immensely grateful that he had. 

the smile that is glossed on adrian’s lips only deepens at honey’s words. never in a million years did he imagine himself forging this kind of relationship with the woman who had the power to draw out any kind of emotion from a person but as the impending end of this journey comes closer- he knows this is a high he’d have to let go. the moments he’d spend with her had an expiration date and the only recollection he’d have of these exchanges would be the plaguing dreams that would cause him to yearn for more time with honey. “a puppy?” he attempts to counter, though adrian realizes that his words said otherwise. “you’re not even going to give me the decency of something more badass?”

his shoulders pushes left, opening his body to her attention as honey speaks again. the artificial darkness of the movie set still frames the female exquisitely. he just nods, not wanting to overstep and force the words out of honey’s mouth a part of him has an idea of just how hard this must be for her to say. 

“you’re right. i really didn’t have to-” adrian confesses, eyes holding her gaze for just a moment as he pauses. nothing had forced him to spend the night with her but yet, adrian still saw no other way of spending that night. it just made sense to him. so instead, he moves his hand from the wooden platform of the patio to find the softness of her flesh. this is probably the only way he knows how to show how he feels. “but i wanted to. so you don’t have to thank me.”

– THERE’S A SMILE ON HER LIPS THAT CAN’T BE BROKEN WHEN ADRIAN TAKES her hand and brings up buying dinner – for the second time that week. normally, it’d be right to be averse to MORE bonding, not when she needed to plan out where they were going next and how they were going to fund the next leg of the expedition with the bill they were all wracking up, but adrian looks so effortlessly light for a moment that she can’t resist agreeing with him, and his good mood is infectious. 

leah knows what’s happened before they even make it down the hall. her brain is putting pieces together the second she spots the open door, remembering how she hasn’t seen trip in a while, calculating exactly how many hours they’ve been out today…fuck, fuck, fuck. she follows adrian more slowly, in no hurry to stumble upon the scene. 

immediately, she’s ANGRY, she wants to SCREAM, but she can already feel that energy radiating off of adrian, and she reaches for his hand as she processes the scene before him – simply trying to tether herself to reality ( how much have they lost ? exactly how much did piper’s jacket cost ? how many places did she hide money ? was there a way to track her laptop ? ) 

“don’t think we’d be so lucky,” she laughs humorlessly, incredulously surveying the scene in front of him. leah recognizes his tone of voice and she sidesteps the mess to meet his eyes, looking at him seriously, “adrian – we can’t freak out right now, okay ? i know it’s scary, but we can’t. we have to take care of everyone. we can solve this.” her voice is even, but her heart pounds in her chest, blood pumping up to her ears. she counts her breaths, one, two. one, two. “please, say something.”

leah’s voice (for the first time) fails to capture his attention. and though he’d been stilled by the weight of her hand finding his in the room, it takes him an incredibly long and painful moment before he’s moving again. he’s pushed her grip on him away, desperately seeking some sort of way to calm the nerves that are budding in his veins as his hands move to palpate the cloth on his skin for any sign of the only item he’d collected from home before he departed the life he hated. 

the silver wedding band is the only reminder that adrian has of his mother - something he’d stolen from his father’s room in haste instead of the multiple pictures that had been hidden in the living room furniture or his cellphone that stored several videos of the pair. it was the only item in his new reality that held sentimental value and he realizes that it is not in the crevice of his jacket like it usually is. adrian remembers that he had placed it between the pages of the book he had read just days ago. it had to be there. 

it is with a new kind of haste that adrian moves to the side of the bed he had claimed, and maybe it was the denial that was already hitting him hard but the torn pages of the book were not enough to make him realize that there is no point in further prodding the open wound in the absence of the ring. instead, he stays sitting on the edge of the bed, both hands caught against the edge as leah continues to beg for his attention when he is done searching the floor and duffel for any sight of it having fallen from its hiding spot. the only thing he is capable at that moment is cursing himself for his personal ability to be so hard on himself as he’d left the ring back in the motel because of the shame that had been bred since birth that he didn’t want to disappoint his mother. “it’s gone-” 

there’s a clear smile glossed on his lips as the car comes to a stop. it’s this very bliss that adrian has forgotten how it feels, the crushing anxiety that there could be another failed heist now evaporated in the air as his fingers continue to fumble over the keychain he’d managed to take for his own liking as a reminder that there were good times coming. but as adrian continues to ponder, his gaze now settled on the bandit he already considers his friend, he’s unsure why he even doubted it would going wrong. leah has never let him down. (though the time leah had decided to open a seat for willow is still up for debate.) 

“dinner is on me tonight-” adrian lends leah a hand to help her out of the van before the pair move towards the exterior stairs of the cheap motel building. nothing can destroy his good mood now- that is, until his eyes eventually find the door to their room is slightly ajar. “didn’t they say that the cleaning service don’t come on the weekend?”

his curiosity lingers when he approaches the door. out of natural instinct, he’s the first one to move the door as a shield in case there is still someone inside. regret is the first emotion to strike him as the scene before him unfolds- the light from the outside reflecting into the dark motel room and its enough to make his bowels twist. “this has to be some sick joke, right?”

( PRE EVENT THREAD ) 

willow had always wanted to visit new york. she grew up watching gossip girl, and what pre-teen didn’t want to grow up to be serena? her mother had always said she would take her one day - when she was older and could appreciate the big city. she had never expected to be here under these circumstances - stuck inside a hotel room, the empire state building visible in the distance. she wondered what her mom would say, had she known she finally got to visit the big apple.

the gang couldn’t risk willow being recognized here. sure, alabama was a long ways away from new york but word on missing people travelled far and fast. if someone happened to recognize her, they would be screwed. so, she had to settle for watching the traffic pass through the window, staring down on a world she had always wanted to experience. 

they had been leaving her alone more often as of late, and it felt nice to know that their trust for her was growing. of course, she would appreciate it more if she were allowed to leave the room but she was taking what she could get. her back faced the door, not bothering to turn around as she heard someone come through. “ how was it? ” she asked, a sigh following her words. “ did you try a hot dog? i heard that they have the best hot dogs ‘round here. ” 

@itxadrian​

as adrian walks through the door to the hotel room, there’s a small tinge of guilt as he catches the scene of willow’s silhouette contrasted against the new york view. the color of the window sill is enough to make it look like a prison cell and he’s almost convinced to let her have the afternoon outside of his view but it soon passes as adrian realizes that he couldn’t risk it. leah would definitely give him a lecture if he had let a few seconds of pity be the reason why the group was forced out of the city with budding anxiety. - but maybe adrian didn’t have to tell anyone if he was careful. 

“i actually just woke up,” the door closes behind the male and he’s just standing there awkwardly in her room. all he can do to pass the silence is by housing his hands in the pockets of his jean jacket before he clears his throat. “my neighbors were being loud so i couldn’t exactly sleep-” it’s a sheepish lie, but it’s enough to continue their conversation. 

his eyes find the hotel’s brochure on the coffee table, the big white text that is highlighting the various attractions that the city offers causing him to ask the next question. “you don’t happen to like broadway, do you? there’s a show here that i saw on the television last night - and you know. i don’t exactly imagine the rest really want to sit down in a theater.” 

( PRE EVENT THREAD )

honey laughed at his words. or rather, she exhaled through her nose rather hard at his words. she didn’t answer, instead bringing the cigarette to her lips for a deep drag as she mulled over what he’d just said. the girl liked to think she wore her heart of her sleeve, but if she sat down and thought about it, really thought about it, honey had to admit most of her interactions with other were laced with the flirtatious undertone that had become her shield over the years.

she sighed, letting smoke curl from her nostrils. “me neither, to be honest.” honey turned to him. her eyes, heavy with sleep, locked onto his familiar features. she trusted him, she realized, in a way that she trusted only a few select others in her lifetime. adrian had saved her- when the bullet had ripped her apart, at first. but after that, too, when the girl had been so afraid her sense had gone numb and she’d passed out from pain & exhaustion & terror terror terror- adrian had been there, had held her until she finally passed out. honey had never felt quite as safe as she had in that moment.

“there’s not much use in acting tough around you anymore, is there ?” she gave a slight smile, bumping her good shoulder into his. “y’know, after…” her hand waved around vaguely, indicating that night a while ago. “after all that.”

it is the way the smoke seems to pool from her lips and dissipates into the darkness that instantly attracts adrian’s attention back on her. honey was among the first individuals in the group of bandits - and for some odd reason, it isn’t until now that the male realizes the way her influence draws for his attention. all he is really forced to wander in that moment is what nightmares continued to plague her consciousness and if her question to have a smoke was her way of dealing with its demons. 

when her eyes find him, the only immediate response is the curve of his lips. when the group breaks apart in california, adrian would remember this moment. the way the female can influence his emotions with her gaze and how he’d replay every word in his head when adrian could not sleep at night in search of an answer to the fucked up reality that the group was not meant to stay together forever. 

with a slight recoil from her touch, there’s a small snicker at her words. “honey,” he address the female by her name.  “you’re still tough to me. no matter what.” his words held truth, especially as his tongue moves to wet his lips before adrian is forced to look away at his declaration. “but i’d still do that again, if i have to.” 

now the grin is back on his lips. “especially if i have to be the one that’s the cockblock.”

( PRE EVENT THREAD ) 

– “I HAVE A FEW MEAN BONES, my left patella popped in the third grade, and that was definitely a mean one,” she points out, but he’s already in her hotel room and there’s no use arguing about that. “that was a joke,” she adds, “although i never played on the little league t-ball team again, so it was rather traumatizing.” she sits on the edge of the bed, and there’s a comfort she has with adrian that she doesn’t have with the rest of the bandits – she likes everyone well enough ( well, except for her distrust in a certain newcomer ) but adrian is different. he’s the one she really TRUSTS. 

“you could’ve asked logan,” she notes, “but if you’re going to insist on going for brooding walks around new york, you should probably get a better jacket.” leah can remember her first year at MIT – when winter came, her roommates literally had to teach her how to dress for the weather, because growing up in the south she’d never learned. 

“you think the tortilla is the best part? you fucking sadist,” she shakes her head, folding her legs. there’s a bit of a smile on her lips though, secretly touched that he’s remembered not just what she CAN eat, but exactly what she’d want to order. “how are you feeling? –– about everything. still good?”

there it is - adrian thinks to himself as he settles into the wooden chair. leah reveals another tidbit about her childhood and the small story is enough to make him fondly smile to himself. he’d like to think the pair would have been friends in their past lives, but it’s soon after that adrian realizes that it’s because of their new life they got to met. every bit of tragedy was what made the two mesh and the brunette would have not changed a damn thing. “oh?” his brows are casually rising with a passing humorous glint in his gaze as he works to unwrap the metal foil around his meal. “so you’re implying that the only reason why you’re smarter than me is because i hit my head when i fell off my bike as a kid?” it’s a pretty far reach but it’s enough to entertain their conversation for now.

instead of fighting leah on her argument, adrian just shrugs as he takes a bite. when he had left home, he’d only grabbed a few things and a jacket definitely didn’t make the list. “i can handle some coldness-” in light of recent events, adrian can definitely fight through some freezing temperatures. “though, i wouldn’t be opposed to finding some kind of place here that has some decent and cheap jackets if it means you’ll get one too.”

( PRE EVENT THREAD) 

there’s always an element of restlessness that accompanies a new place. ever since he’d left behind his lumpy, piece-of-shit mattress in his childhood home, nothing had ever quite felt the same. there was always an adjustment period to a new place; learning the noises a new place makes as the building settles, feeling the way your head sinks into a particular pillow. it’s something he knows he’ll have to get over with this new endeavor. there’s no time to learn the intricacies of each new place, after all, when the group stays there no longer than a week, or sometimes only for a night.

all this to say: he can’t sleep. 

their motel isn’t exactly top-notch, which isn’t a shock. every minute shift in his bed brings on what feels like a cacophony of creaking springs, and it isn’t long before trip pushes himself up and out of bed. he’s determined to distract himself with a walk, but it’s only after a few minutes that he finds himself drawn by the soft glow of the pool.

as he pushes open the gate, he realizes he’s not alone: reclining languidly in one of the poolside chairs is adrian, his face cast into flickering shadows by the lit end of his cigarette. “ no, i can’t. i’ve never been great at sleeping on the road, ” he says with a sigh, coming to a stop by the edge of the pool. he stares at it for a long moment, as if mesmerized, before turning his head toward adrian. “ what’s that? ” he says, gesturing to the book in his lap. “ research? or just for fun? ”

adrian is half surprised once he catches a glimpse of his new company. though, the weariness is quickly replaced with a newfound realization that he’s still got to learn about trip. the male is, even more a stranger than the rest of the bandits - and maybe, he’s finally found someone who finds it difficult to sleep at night. but for now, adrian will just continue to assume that trip has a certain intention that he’s trying to hide. 

with the flick of his wrist, adrian checks the time. it’s nearing two in the morning and there is still no muscle in the male’s body that is aching to rest. the coldness of the gust that breezed between the pair was enough to make him want to move back into his motel room- but he’d entertain a conversation with trip especially away from the peering glances from the rest of the group. 

“feel free to join me-” his head cranes to the side, lamily gesturing to the empty chair beside him as his legs were already propped on the table separating the two. it’s simply an invitation for the two to talk, simply because it seemed the rest of the group were already captivated by its new member. “me neither-” he states then, taking another drag of the paper carton before deciding to extinguish the flame on the dish that’s laying on the table. the nictone finds its home in his lungs, burning away any sense of nerves that tries to creep during his waking hours. “and it certainly doesn’t help that this is the type of motel you’d find bed bugs.” 

itxadrian‌

– LEAH KNOWS WHO IT IS BEFORE HE EVEN KNOCKS. she’s memorized the sound of his footsteps down the hallway, and really, he’s the only one that dares to bother her at this hour. a smile plays on her lips at his signature knock, and she’s sure he’s already ruminating on some crazy plan that she’s going to have to dial back three steps and turn into something doable. and it’ll be three a.m. before they finally stop talking – it was habit, and they’d been doing this virtually long before they ever met up in person.

she cracks open the door slightly. her hair’s tied back with a scarf, glasses off so she can’t see him all too well, but that’s not an issue. “here i was, about to let you freeze to death, but you brought dinner, so…i’ve reconsidered,” she jokes, opening the door wider to let him in. 

she heads back toward her bed, grabbing her glasses off the nightstand and sitting perched at the end. “what’d you bring? something i can actually eat this time, i hope,” she jabs, remembering the days before her gluten intolerance was common knowledge to the group.

at the slightest creak of the girl’s door, his free hand moves to balance itself on the wooden door so that he can catch a glimpse of his friend. “- you don’t have a mean bone in your body.” his words serve as a reminder in case leah even thinks twice about locking himself in weather that harshly contrasted against the sunny beaches of florida. so the second that the door opens, adrian moves to welcome the warmth. 

it does not take long for the male crosses across the small motel room, using the small office desk to hold the food before he’s reaching for the girl’s food. “i can’t even remember how long i was walking for, but there really aren’t that many options around the motel. especially without a car-” adrian didn’t even bother asking logan for a ride and why use money to get a taxi when he needed the time to think? “but i found some basic tex mex grill.” 

piper’s brows arch in slight surprise at adrian’s admission, because honestly it’s the exact opposite of what she would’ve guessed. she would have expected a guy like adrian to have a long list of girls he’s done this stuff with, but somehow knowing that’s not the case almost makes piper feel a bit different about the whole thing. special. she suggested it on a whim, mostly for a bit of fun, but her eyes are twinkling with something close to fondness now as she looks up at adrian. she arches a single brow as she teasingly asks, “so you’re sayin’ i’m your first?” piper’s smile widens, eyes scanning his face thoughtfully before she’s cheekily adding, “don’t worry, baby. i’ll be gentle with you.” 

piper’s done plenty a body shot in her time. after all, she’s attended, hosted, and crashed a lot of parties in her day. but she will admit it’s been awhile. i mean, she was an engaged woman not too long ago. s’not like sal was doing shots off of her. 

but even if he was, she’s pretty sure it wouldn’t’ve felt like this. 

piper’s skin is practically buzzing with anticipation before adrian’s even got a finger on her, and in piper’s experience, the suspense is usually almost as good as the real thing, so she savors it. but that’s understandably before adrian’s tongue is trailing down her chest. i mean, if piper knew that was coming she would’ve rushed him along. as it is, piper gasps a bit in surprise at the whole thing (after all, for someone who claims he’s never done this thing before adrian sure went into it with confidence), her toes curling in her shoes at the unexpected nip. her breathless huff of laughter is muffled and almost lost around the slice of lime, but by the time adrian’s face is level with hers as he moves to retrieve it, her eyes are smiling back at him as she gives it up willingly. her fingers find their way to the back of adrian’s neck as he dips in, keeping him close even as she licks the sour remnants of lime juice from her plump lips. 

“mmhm, you’re a natural.” piper purrs in reply, eyes crinkling with her grin as she moves to take the slice of lime back from him. she brings it back to her lips to finish it off, humming thoughtfully as her dark eyes look back into adrian’s  before she’s arching a brow and teasingly offering, “but if you wanna practice some more, i won’t say no. that was fun.”

the fingers piper has on the back of adrian’s neck are slipping into the hair at the nape of his neck, fingertips almost drawing circles on his scalp as her lips curl mischievously. they’re an away from being nose to nose but piper isn’t bothered in the slightest, in fact she only leans in closer. close enough that she can almost feel the heat of adrian’s skin as she lets her eyes flick suggestively over his face and whispers, “but you know what else would be fun?” 

a finger moves to press itself along piper’s chin, forcing her to look at him because for once, all the male wants is her attention on him. it’s intoxicating how eyes her held his with little to no effort. with the philosophy that beauty came power, piper easily had a face that could launch a thousand ships. when adrian had first laid eyes on her during their first encounter, he could decipher that she was the type of girl who knew how to abuse her exquisite charm to retrieve whatever she wanted. “don’t get me wrong,” he’s already moving to tease the girl. “i’ve watched people before, but i don’t think i’ve ever had the opportunity nor the want to do it until now.” 

the little space between the pair is now dense with a new emotion. it’s something adrian has not felt in a while - and hell, it’s enough to drive him insane. because his body is half towered over hers, the guard that was usually up now thinning as the male forgets that they are still in public. so instead, he’s stuck with only imagining what he would have done if there wasn’t a crowd watching. even as her fingers find the crevice of his neck, adrian does not flinch in the slightest. “i wouldn’t want to jinx my luck -” the dew of the lime’s natural juice is slick against piper’s lips still and it’s all he can think about it. what can she not do?

It wasn’t the way she was watching him that was causing his chest to tighten in anticipation. it wasn’t her hands heated against his flesh as they firmly held him against her lean figure that was causing adrian to practically ache with desire. it was absolutely everything. he relished the way her words could be tasted on his own tongue, her breath blowing across his lips so that his head spun. 

piper spoke and he snickered as she paused, her tongue and plump lips caressing the skin of his neck- Piper was voicing what she was thinking, feeling, and it only amused Adrian, fueled his fire. It was ironic that the girl who housed the ability to persuade even the coldest person to turn their eye away was the one who housed the ability to arouse such a reaction from adrian, but he still hadn’t learned how to set boundaries which sends a slight reverberation against her body as she continued to mouth at the curve of his jaw. He spoke a final time, voice hoarse with the effort it was taking him to focus, “Quit being such a fucking tease- Just tell me what you want-”

there is a plastic bag wrapped the fingers of adrian’s hand as he climbs the stairs of the motel building, having already memorized the girl’s room number out of habit. he’s gotten used to their exclusive conversations - where they’d bounce ideas off the other and come to a conclusion that was both reasonable and practical. her calculating manner and his driven tendency meshed together ; and he’s yet got to admit that adrian has found himself looking forward getting to spend time with leah. after all, she was part of the orginal group and one of the biggest reasons he’d even decide to leave the florida hell hole. 

though he’s knicked the paper map from the car, adrian is not in the mood to talk about the future especially when a good sum of money had been spent on the dinner adrian has bought for the pair. this was their ( and the rest of the group’s) time to rest and that also extended to any planning. maybe adrian would even entertain the idea of visiting manhattan during the weekend since it was a short bus ride away. 

“leah-” the male is already knocking on the wooden door, calling her name in hopes that she will be quick to open the door so he’s out of the cold weather. “open up. i got us some food while i was out.” 

the pool to the motel is not exactly the worst he’s ever seen, but it’s teetering on being a war ground of mold and other bacteria adrian wants to avoid. so instead, he just sits on the edge of one of the plastic pool chairs, eyes fixated on the chlorinated water before him as his tendency to get lost in his own thoughts finds him company. it’s not long until one hand feels against the cloth of his sweatpants, searching for the newly purchased carton of marlboro and a folded copy of a book he had found discarded in the saloon days ago.

there’s evidence of past use due to the aged spine of the book, causing adrian to wonder who had been the previous owner of the literature. ever since his impulsive departure from florida, he hasn’t had time to read something out of pure entertainment but it’s not even the words of the author that is drawing his attention. it’s the penmarks etched on the edges of the pages, small anotations that were left as if they were planning something big before they had departed with the book. it’s a puzzle he wants to unmask, and who knows - if it reaps something good, he’ll might event take credit for it. 

only illuminated the faint glow of light from the pool, adrian is flipping through the pages in the cool winter night. he’s half expected the rest of the group are asleep in their own beds, but the assumption quickly falls flat when the gate to the pool closes behind him. dry hands move to close the book, adjusting himself and the newly lit cigarette wedged between his lips to welcome the new guest. “- can’t sleep either?”