take it back.

she sat on the porch bench in her sweats, dark and damp her waving around past her shoulders, drying from her shower in stark contrast to her normal slicked back ponytail. one foot is crossed under her and one is propped on the seat so her chin can rest on her knee as she gazes upwards at the stars. it was a simple pleasure, to be outside and able to enjoy it. the marines made it all so clinical… but now, she allowed herself to relax. she studied the stars silently, registering the soft noises of rudy and louder noises of the dogs inside, and ran her fingers through her hair as it dried, though called inside to her host, “hey, do you know constellations?” she knew the obvious ones, thinks she can maybe name them, but certainly figured she’d ask. [ @likecaskets ]

she hates this , feeling like she’s disappointed barba. when it comes to her and ava’s partnership , bea’s the one who always does business with rafael , almost acting as a buffer between the other two. she values his trust , and he has hers. implicitly. so she hates feeling like — , no , knowing , she’s betrayed it. “ sure , we could say that. ” her voice is barely above a whisper , eyes cast downwards as she fidgets with the little cereal box ( which she refrained from defending , because who said it’s only for children ? ) “ clarísimo. ” there’s more she wants to say , but for once , knows keeping quiet is in her best interest. “ gracias , ” she adds , before holding up the box once more. “ do you want it , though ? ”

she knows this silly , inane banter about the flimsy props they were supplied with is all in jest , but when he compliments her ( not even her , but her dress ) , she feels the faintest of blushes rise to her cheeks. thankfully it’s dark , and she can keep her gaze downwards until his question makes her look up. “ charming , absolutely. you should consider integrating those glasses into your everyday look , counselor. ”

“so, in closing, sorry i’m an asshat,” ava had looked ahead through the apology as she walked next to barba. truly, it wasn’t that ava had any problem admitting she was wrong. she was proud, but she wasn’t an idiot. she didn’t know law, she knew action, but she knew enough to know that her evidence had been…. hasty. she also knew she wasn’t about to burn a bridge. she’d asked him straight once: do you even give a shit? and sure, a lot had been implied with her blunt yet vague question, but he’d answered affirmative ( in his own way, but ava understood. ) ava wasn’t one that needed to be told things twice. she was however, one that tended to need to apologize after speaking without thinking, “and I’ll lay off the hacking,” or at least, lay off asking jules to hack without a plan to get the evidence admissable. technicalities, right? [ @likecaskets ]

she was about to continue, launching into some forgotten rant about a case when they were both stopped short by a rather shady figure. it’s instinct that puts her arm in front of barba beside her, as the ex-soldier would do with literally anyone she was walking with at night faced with a threat. the figure in front of them only took it as an opportunity to push them both back. it only occurred to the woman they were at the mouth of an alley as they were backed into it. she sighed, cursing her own carelessness inside, resisting the urge to verbally groan as she saw the glint of the gun. she felt her heartbeat quicken, and out of habit raised her hands, but her tone was steady, “you don’t want to do this, man. just turn around–” she was just being honest, but he wasn’t having it.

“shut the fuck up bitch, and get your money out, both of you,” she notes the deep voice, the height, physical details under the hood. her eyes narrowed, realizing now was not the moment to take his gun, or the moment to draw hers, she relents. she wasn’t about to let an ada get shot by being hasty, so she slowly reaches one hand down to her pocket, careful to keep her own gun covered with her jacket and her raised arm. 

he’s prepared to let her off with a warning. rafael knows that ava is a good cop, a great detective --- but he also understands how she got caught up in the pursuit of what she perceived as justice. he understands --- doesn’t condone it in the slightest --- but he understands. the ghost of a smile on his face is in response to her version of an apology, one he will surely accept....

it drops the second the man appears. rafael has lived in new york his entire life, he knows what being mugged is like. that doesn’t make this any less awful. he squares his jaw, looking defiantly at the mugger in response to his crude insult he hurls at ava. he’s survived more than this. he simply refuses to be a victim of this man.

“my friend,” he starts in the steadiest voice he can muster. “i’m a new york city a.d.a. you might not want to do this.”

everything ached– her back, her shoulders, her feet… everything. and yet, suri couldn’t quite force herself to stop, even if she was aware that she was pushing herself past her limit. thing was, this, hitting something and running in place and lifting weights, was one of the only things she had left that kept her sane. it was the thing that prevented her from falling off the edge of the metaphorical cliff she had been standing on for months. however, as she went to throw another punch, her body gave in to the exhaustion and she barely had time to react as she felt her back hit the floor. a groan escaped her as she shook it off, attempting to sit up but failing miserably. with a sigh of defeat, she settled against the floor, another groan escaping her as she felt a body looming over her. “can i help you?” she mumbled, craning her neck to get a look at whoever it was. “actually, what i meant to say was… would you mind giving me a hand? you know, after you have your laugh or whatever.” 

in that moment , as julián seems to be considering sonny’s invitation ( it wasn’t really phrased like an invitation , but that was implied ) , the detective realizes just how much he wants him to say yes. it was a small gesture , a minuscule act — traveling from the piers to a nearby bar. sonny knew he’d end up going regardless , he wasn’t one to pass up a social event like that , but it’s in that moment of uncertainty that he confirms , to himself , that he wants jules to come with him. he pushes that thought away with a chuckle. “ that’s one thing you can always count on us to do. i asked for the day off tomorrow , so don’t even worry about that , ” he says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “ so , you comin’ ? ”

katrina glances over at rudy, an amused grin on her face. she can’t help but agree, stuffy events are not her thing, “should’ve ditched for this hours ago.” she nods, laughing at his dancing as she takes a long swig of her drink. she cocks her head as he continues, an eyebrow arching in challenge, “oh are you sure you can handle these moves? you’re about to get schooled, my friend!” 

“claimed he could loose his job,” and, in reality, ava knew he just might. still, she was bitter and this was just the two of them, so she huffs, “meanwhile didn’t give a damn about being on the same side as a bunch of liars,” she she shakes her head and takes a rather firm bite of her sandwich. if there was anyone she could be bitter with, it was julián, “man, I don’t get why everyone likes the guy. he’s a boring stick in the mud, but my team fuckin’ fawns over him.”

“ this is an emergency alright , ” she announced , leaning against his doorframe , arms crossed. “ i forgot to pack my lunch this morning. ” that alone constitutes a disaster in and of itself , but the brunette continues. “ no one brought meatless options , ” she cocked her head backwards , as if her entire squad were right behind her , “ and i’m starving. so you can either share that ‘fredo with me , or walk me over to the deli so i can finally eat something. ”

with a light and quick touch, ava reaches out to poke his arm with a laugh, “come to the gym with me, huh? we’ll get nice n’ healthy,” she teases lightly, “the drinks are for after,” she proclaims, flipping her hair behind her shoulder. she looks around a moment, looking for the familiar place– but they’re at a bad angle and she shrugs when she’s unable to find him, “i dunno, probably found some buddies to play cards with. he said he was feeling lucky, so y’know, all our bosses are probably gambling somewhere together in a closet.” she brings her flute to her lips again, finishing it with a cocky grin, “it’s fine. you can’t keep up dancing with me. I get it.”

bea lets go of the mustache , and instead picks up the stick with a ( slightly lopsided ) yellow bowtie stapled onto it. she holds it up , places it on her neck and looks up at rafael. “ now i can look even classier some pictures that’ll probably get lost within the week. ” she flashes a quick smile , before setting it down again and looking through the wide variety of paper accessories. “ these … seriously look like someone’s toddler made them. pero están cute. kinda. ”

→ ❛ being cute with cap’n crunch isn’t going to make a difference. ❜ // @likecaskets

“ okay , mira , i’m sorry , ” bea pleads , the sound of cereal being shaken in its tiny box punctuating her apology as her hands drop to her sides. “ we didn’t know the prick was just gonna blurt it all out like that , the recording was supposed to give us a lead so we could investigate further , not a whole confession. ” it had been a rookie move to try to use it anyway , but it also felt wrong not to. “ so please accept this cap’n crunch as a peace offering , it’s the only thing i had in my apartment and i don’t like this whole vibe of you being upset with me. ”

—— 𝙰𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙰 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳𝙽'𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙿 𝙱𝚄𝚃 smirk to herself after being taken aback by barba’s sudden comment. she had to take jesse to a doctor’s appointment that morning so she wasn’t able to be there for most of what happened at trial. liv had gotten her up to speed over the phone, but it sure was a doozy. ❝ jeez barba.. did a bug crawl in your coffee this morning or something ?? i’m here cause you’re putting me on the stand tomorrow. liv gave me the rundown of what happened.  ❞

❛   oh, i’m sorry,   ❜   he starts, taking the facetious, indignant tone of someone who is definitely not at all sorry, and, if he has ever felt apologetic in this lifetime, it’s certainly not an emotion he can recall at present or get any solid grasp on,   ❛   did you think i was coming to apologize to you?   ❜   a scoff and a juvenile roll of the eyes.   ❛   i’ll tell you again today the same thing i said yesterday, though, since you asked: i did up there what i thought was right, and if you have a problem with it, maybe next time you should spend a little more time preparing for the trial and a little less time matching your tie to your socks.   ❜   the unspoken this is who i am, get used to it or fuck off hangs in the air around them. he’s never been good at trial; in his mind, this is what they get for continuing to put him on the stand. somehow, the complexities of the legal system still seem to escape him after all these years. 

his reason for stopping barba in the first place is somehow forgotten now, in all of this.

→ @likecaskets liked for a gala starter !

“ jules ! ” the tall blonde calls out triumphantly , stepping out of the gala venue and finally spotting julián. “ jules ! ” he repeats , just to get his attention as he waves a single arm up in the air , which tugs his dress shirt a little bit further up. once the gala drew to a close and everyone held onto their significant others to walk outside and head home , something in sonny’s head compelled him to look for jules. and at last , there he is. a little tipsy , the detective jogs the distance between them , stopping right in front of the other , hands on his hips. “ you goin’ to this after party thing ? ” his eyes squint a little when he asks the question , and a single lock of hair frees itself from the position it had been so carefully gelled into earlier in the evening. “ heard some other cops talkin’ ‘bout some bar or somethin’ ? ”