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katytheinspiredworkaholic · 4 years ago

Text

Correspondence, Chapter 03

Pairing: HotchReid

Summary: An AU where Reid never joined the FBI, but got roped into consulting for the LA field office while working and teaching at Caltech. Hotch gets his email referred from a fellow agent, and they start to work on cases together -- until they start talking on a regular basis. Regular becomes frequent, frequent becomes constant. They know nothing about each other, but they don't really mind.

Rating: Mature/Explicit (eventually)

Chapter CW/notes: Mentions of alcohol, a very long conversation happens where Hotch is a little buzzed. Big, BIG focus on their age difference, and unintentional misinformation. Spencer has no idea Hotch thinks he’s older, or at least not OLD older, and gets a little panicky/clams up -- and yes I realize Hotch could just background check him and find it out but he respects the man enough to not do that. The chapter is linear, it just encompasses a lot of time passing so hopefully that’s not too confusing. Set in season 6, self beta’d.

Word Count: 5025

Masterpost Link

Ao3 Link

Chapter 03

Early September 2010

And so, it begins.

The dynamic shift, the vast change in how Hotch and Dr. Reid had been corresponding for the past few months. Evolving from something so professional and academic to something… looser. More freeing. More room for error, of course, but the risk turns out to be more than worth it for what they gain.

The texts are sporadic, at first. Short interactions, here and there, all stemming from that first, longer conversation about Jack. Hotch follows up the very next day, after he gets to talk to his son in the morning over pancakes. Jessica hovering nearby the whole time. She had apologized for her harsh words, and commended him after the fact how he’d approached Jack on the subject and led the little boy into a conversation rather than a lecture like his teachers had done. Because, as Spencer had mentioned -- there was no need for one. Jack already had the situation handled.

[]6/4, 12:39[] You were right.

[]6/4, 12:39[] He invited the kid that was bullying him over for a playdate. Trying to win him over by killing him with kindness.

[]6/4, 12:43[] My kind of kid.

[]6/4, 12:44[] You’ve taught him well, Hotch.

And that was it. That was all it took to kick off what turns into a frequent occurrence. Slowly, as time passes, their quick texts turn to conversations that naturally revert to work. It’s where they spend most of their time, after all, and what they had bonded over in the first place. But unlike in their emails, it isn’t just about the cases or profiles or statistics required to crack them. It’s much more opinionated than that, erratic in it’s content and frequency. Commentary on Hotch’s team, ideas on the cases they work, case studies and research projects and sometimes even just office gossip that somehow always makes its way to Hotch’s attention despite everyone trying to keep it from doing so.

Or just Dr. Reid observing their antics. This is the beginning of the tonal shift, and Hotch can’t help but think… it just might be a welcome one.

[]6/12, 10:03[] Your tech analyst always sends me rainbow font emails.

[]6/12, 10:07[] Yes, she’s doing that with everyone on the team. It’s Pride month and she’s being supportive.

[]6/12, 10:11[] She considers me a part of the team? How sweet of her.

[]6/12, 10:12[] You are, and as far as the bureau goes you might as well be.

[]6/12, 10:13[] I doubt I could sneak you into payroll, though.

[]6/12, 10:21[] I bet Ms. Garcia could.

[]6/12, 10:28[] Don’t. Say. Anything.

[]6/12, 10:29[] But yes, she could.

It turns into a small reprieve, for Hotch, in the constant deluge of bureaucracy and violence that fills his work day. The single moment he allows a sliver of himself to appear through the cracks of his armor he has to wear to guard himself from it all. To be the stoic leader the team needs, the unmovable tree in the storm.

Only in his quick, typed under the table conversations he has with Spencer does he allow himself the slips of humor. Barely there traces of a smile. Finding the smallest spots of light in his dark days, in his work that can surround and consume to the point of suffocation. Hotch thrives in it, he always has -- while others have drowned. But he doesn’t mind finding this small self-indulgence. Making the decision for himself that he can joke and poke fun at his work and not feel guilty about it. That, for once, he can allow himself this.

Until one day, Spencer returns the favor -- and starts talking about his own work.

[]7/21, 16:17[] If I leave all of my Ph.D. applicants in a ditch in the desert, is that still murder?

[]7/21, 16:30[] Technically or hypothetically?

[]7/21, 16:34[] Different question, would you be my legal council if I snap and it happens anyway?

[]7/21, 16:37[] Of course.

[]7/21, 16:38[] But as your attorney, I have to advise you that we never had this conversation, and murder is wrong.

[]7/21, 16:40[] Hypothetically.

Spencer takes a little longer to open up, but when he does it is through this window into an academic world Hotch had never planned or thought he would ever be privy to. He begins to reveal pieces of it, bit by bit, until Hotch starts to form a picture in his mind of what shape this professor’s life really takes. Making deductions based on his speech patterns, what goes on throughout his day, his word choices, and profiling the man through text message without even meaning to.

He tries to put a stop to it as soon as he realizes this. Dr. Reid isn’t just a consultant anymore, he is his friend -- and Hotch will always do his utmost to not profile his friends. But it’s a little too late for some aspects that can’t help but stand out as time goes on. Such as the inkling that the other man probably isn’t senile with a cane and a stooped back, like Hotch had first thought. Certain parts of his day allude to someone who is a bit fresher to the academic scene -- instead of spending decades on a college campus.

But Hotch sets that aside, to be scrutinized at a later date, and instead turns his focus into enjoying what Spencer has to offer him. As his friend. The stories he shares freely, now that they’ve spent all this time breaking down the barriers. He regales Hotch with his own daily problems, grievances, as well as the little bright spots that he just wants to share with Hotch so that it can lighten up his own days. Which were much more bleak, and crowded with danger and horrid things.

Hotch lives for those messages.

[]7/28, 20:42[] So I have a godson.

[]7/28, 20:44[] He’s four, and he just came to visit last week with his mother. Have you and Jack ever done science experiments at home?

[]7/28, 20:46[] Because I have some that are definite crowd pleasers. Do them right, you can call them ‘physics magic’. I can send you the instructions, it’s well worth it.

[]7/28, 20:47[] I’m not sure how helpful I would be in a scientific area, but I’m always willing to try.

[]7/28, 20:49[] I’d require video evidence of it, then.

[]7/28, 20:50[] But they are so fun, I’d forgotten how much.

[]7/28, 20:51[] No children of your own?

[]7/28, 20:54[] Never found the right person, but I always spent so much time on my degrees that I hadn’t really thought about being a parent.

[]7/28, 20:55[] My Godson really brought it to light, though. I love having him here.

[]7/28, 20:56[] I bet he loves when you come around, or when they get to visit you, too.

[]7/28, 20:59[] I work in a science lab, with lasers and telescopes bigger than my first apartment. My approval rating is pretty high when it comes to my godson.

Although Hotch finds that he doesn’t always start these interactions, the ones that lead to topics outside of work, he also isn’t against them in the slightest. They begin to start messaging at all hours, because of this; first thing in the morning, during their lunch break, whenever something pops up -- what used to be jokes that would just be kept to themselves, turn to conversation starters. And that development shifts the dynamic even more.

[]8/11, 10:31[] Coffee shops always make me feel old, and like I’m a grad student all over again.

[]8/11, 10:38[] You don’t have a T.A. to run and get you coffee?

[]8/11, 10:41[] Of course you would send out for coffee.

[]8/11, 10:42[] Well my order is two steps, not sixteen.

[]8/11, 10:43[] Tyrant.

[]8/11, 10:43[] Pretentious.

They start to tease, banter, and poke fun at each other. Comradery, friendship, and the more it goes on the more it seems to spiral towards something else. Something new.

But it’s these small moments, messages, conversations that can last a minute or an hour, that make Hotch’s chest feel so much lighter as the weeks go by. Hints of a smile easing onto his face, smoothing out and softening the edges in a way they haven’t in a long time. Garnering some attention from the rest of the team, or whoever is in the vicinity that felt brave enough to mention it.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Who’s the lucky lady?”

“No one,” Hotch would answer, schooling himself and pocketing his phone. “Just a consultant on a case.”

This is how it goes… for months.

They never speak on the phone. Never even hint at video calls. Never send pictures. (Although Spencer does make a mention once or twice about that promised video when Hotch finally gets around to attempting the ‘physics magic’ experiment he’d emailed him. Hotch secretly hopes that maybe, one day, Spencer will just get to show them in person. Instead of Hotch having to record it for anyone to witness.)

But they talk like clockwork. Play chess on the regular, allowing them to talk more fluently with a laptop to aid the flow of conversation. It starts with once a week, then twice a week, standing dates after hours that meld so seamlessly with their messages every workday. They keep it to the weekdays, at first, since Hotch is busy with Jack on the weekends. But that doesn’t last long. Suddenly, without warning -- it becomes every night as well. That shift is such an organic, natural progression, that it slips in without either of them making comment on it. A silent agreement, because mentioning it would mean admitting why they were pushing this in such a new direction.

They just… missed talking to each other. Two days was too long.

Now, it’s every day.

They text for hours; check in on each other at random throughout the day even when Hotch is on cases or Spencer is busy with his duties as the leading doctoral expert of Caltech. Times when they should be swamped, unavailable to anything other than their primary focus and work load, still littered with short messages. Before and after each flight, when Hotch gets back to his hotel at night, when Spencer has to lecture out of town and they just so happen to be passing each other during travel -- mere states away. So close, yet so far. It’s all the time, it’s constant, and it’s wonderful.

Spencer still helps with cases. Often, even more often than he ever helped the L.A. field office. But it’s not always through email, anymore. Sometimes it’s just easier for Hotch to shoot him a quick text. A detailed message in the middle of their everyday banter and dribble but no less out of place, knowing the good Doctor will answer him quickly. Time is of the essence when they are on a case, but they are always on retainer for each other. Waiting in the wings, ready to jump in with quick, snappy wit and bitten-back smiles, and Hotch feels so good. So light. Better than he has in years.

Happy.

Hotch is happy, finding a friend in Dr. Spencer Reid, even if sometimes that friendship seems to transcend layers he didn’t know were there. Developing into something else, something he hadn’t touched in a long, long time.

Months pass. Months. Like a blur. Like they’ve only just started this thing that’s anticipatory and comfortable and flexible in its medium and that is so easy -- everything Hotch needs in his life -- that he can barely imagine what his days and nights were like before this. Before Spencer.

But it’s months into this correspondence, this charged and bright thing, that he’s home late one night with a Scotch in one hand and a losing game of online chess long forgotten on his laptop screen. Lost in messaging Spencer, back to his phone instead of the chat feature of the chess game. Because texting is their comfort zone, now. He never thought it would be, had seen teenagers and adults attached to their phones like a lifeline and used to scoff about it, but he finally has begun to understand.

Because here he is -- not even looking up when he takes a drink -- lost in his conversation with Spencer. Making each other laugh, in a way he hasn’t in so long. Loud and high and afraid he might wake Jack down the hall so he stifles it with another sip of his Scotch.

[]9/8, 21:12[] If Jack wakes up, you know that’s it for us. He’ll never go back to sleep.

[]9/8, 21:13[] Then stop laughing so loud. I honestly can’t imagine you laughing enough to wake him.

[]9/8, 21:14[] Usually I don’t. I never laugh like this, but I used to.

[]9/8, 21:16[] Mr. FBI isn’t allowed to laugh, I thought. Didn’t they beat that out of you at the academy?

[]9/8, 21:19[] I was able to retain a smidgen of humor, it’s well hidden. You just seem to bring it out more than others.

[]9/8, 21:20[] I’m flattered.

[]9/8, 21:20[] You should be.

[]9/8, 21:21[] If my team saw me crack a smile I’d probably be forced to get a CAT scan.

[]9/8, 21:23[] Do you need one? I have an M.A. in Cognitive Sciences, I’ll be your second opinion.

[]9/8, 21:24[] Probably, but I’ll live.

[]9/8, 21:25[] Very stiff upper lip of you. They teach you that at the academy, too?

[]9/8, 21:26[] No, that would be Scotland Yard. I liaised there for a while.

[]9/8, 21:28[] Wow, you get around. Have you been anywhere else on your global exploration?

[]9/8, 21:31[] Hardly that, I just go where the bureau tells me. I’ve already been bounced all over the country before landing at the BAU. All you can do is keep the ‘stiff upper lip’ and adapt.

[]9/8, 21:31[] “Keep Calm & Carry On”?

[]9/8, 21:33[] Garcia gave me that on a mug last Christmas. I still don’t know what it’s from.

[]9/8, 21:34[] Your age is showing. Get with the times, old man.

[]9/8, 21:35[] You’re one to talk.

[]9/8, 21:35[] What?

Hotch bites back a smile, thinking about how for months he had been so sure Spencer was this elderly professor in his 60’s or 70’s that just happened to find their conversations interesting. That was… very apparently wrong, Hotch can see that now, but he hadn’t had any evidence to the contrary for the entire time they corresponded those first few months.

He could have done a background check on the professor at any time, is sure Garcia already has one saved in a file ready to send him at his first request, but it’s more fun this way. The not knowing, the learning about each other piece by careful piece. Even the smallest bits of information, such as age.

He bet Spencer would get a kick out of his first impression of the man, though.

[]9/8, 21:37[] Oh come on, you know.

[]9/8, 21:39[] No, I actually don’t. Congratulations, you’ve stumped the super genius.

[]9/8, 21:39[] But really, what do you mean?

[]9/8, 21:42[] I always just assumed you are at least ten years my senior, maybe even fifteen. How are you more with the times than I am?

[]9/8, 21:43[] I work at a University. I am surrounded by hormones and the dribble of youth.

There’s a slightly lengthy pause after that exchange, enough Hotch starts to pay closer attention through the buzz of liquor settled over his skin pleasantly.

[]9/8, 21:49[] How old do you think I am?

[]9/8, 21:50[] I don’t know, is it rude if I answer?

Hotch is not laughing to himself, he promises.

[]9/8, 21:52[] Why do you think I’m older?

[]9/8, 21:53[] This feels like a trap.

[]9/8, 21:53[] It’s not.

[]9/8, 21:56[] Well, honestly just from your academic achievements. Not everyone has that kind of time. And all your departments you run, you have to have a pretty level head and knack for maturity to keep that all in order. Especially doctorate students.

[]9/8, 21:58[] Thank you, I think.

[]9/8, 22:00[] I bet you’re the coolest old man on campus, though, don’t get me wrong.

Hotch does outright laugh after he sends that, manages to keep it a little bit quieter, and commends himself on having the upperhand in the conversation for once as he stares at his phone for a few minutes, awaiting an answer.

If he had to guess, Hotch supposes he’s held on to that stubborn image of Spencer being a stooped old professor out of habit. But the more the two have talked, after he'd gotten to know the man and his written verbal expressions and just the way his life runs day to day, it’s pretty easy to see that that is not correct. Spencer could be someone around Dave or Jason’s age, but more likely even younger than that -- closer to his own.

And that… is an intriguing thought that sparks something in his chest. He smothers it with another sip of Scotch and realizes that it has been a solid five minutes of silence. With Spencer not even typing out a response.

[]9/8, 22:06[] Was it something I said?

[]9/8, 22:07[] No, I’m just… contemplating my answer.

[]9/8, 22:07[] Answer to what?

Hotch hasn’t drank that much, but he doesn’t believe he asked a question at all. He scrolls back through their conversation and doesn’t see one. Spencer has asked a good handful, though, all about Hotch’s perception of his age.

Interesting.

[]9/8, 22:09[] Respond, not answer.

[]9/8, 22:10[] I’m all turned around now.

[]9/8, 22:12[] Flustered in your old age? Now I’m flattered.

This is almost like flirting. Skirts the edges of it, and Hotch feels more emboldened to try the more Spencer tap-dances around what is obviously Hotch’s incorrect assumption of his age. He had had no idea Hotch thought he was older, that is apparent, and it’s throwing the other man for a loop for some reason Hotch can’t ascertain.

[]9/8, 22:15[] I’m not old.

[]9/8, 22:15[] I’m not even older than you.

[]9/8, 22:16[] And how do you know that?

[]9/8, 22:17[] Just trust me on this.

[]9/8, 22:17[] Well, how old are you?

Another long, lengthy pause that Hotch waits for with baited breath. He knows that Spencer is there, that he’s staring at his phone and trying to decide the best way to answer without really answering anything. It’s only a matter of minutes, but that is a long time for them. When they are deep in a conversation like this.

Hotch isn’t laughing to himself anymore, but he’s more pleasantly confused than worried. He really has no idea what is making Spencer so hesitant.

[]9/8, 22:22[] Spencer?

[]9/8, 22:25[] I’m not going to tell you.

[]9/8, 22:26[] What, you want me to guess?

[]9/8, 22:28[] You’ll never guess.

[]9/8, 22:29[] That sounds like a challenge. How many guesses do I have?

[]9/8, 22:31[] None. Listen, I don’t want you to know. I shouldn’t have said anything.

[]9/8, 22:33[] I’m afraid it’s going to change your perception of me, and we’ll stop talking like this.

[]9/8, 22:34[] Just keep imagining me with wrinkles and a cane, I’m okay with that.

That drops the small smile right off his face.

Hotch is… surprised by this turn of events. What could be so shocking about this that Spencer thinks they would stop talking to each other? They’re corresponding every night. How could he possibly stop on a dime like that?

It doesn’t make any sense. And that’s not the alcohol talking.

[]9/8, 22:37[] I honestly don’t see how that would be possible.

[]9/8, 22:39[] I’m not going to stop talking to you just because you aren’t the senior professor I imagined running Caltech with an Iron Fist.

[]9/8, 22:40[] Now you’re projecting.

[]9/8, 22:40[] You saying I’m too strict?

[]9/8, 22:41[] Tyrant, I think was the term I chose.

[]9/8, 22:42[] Pretentious.

[]9/8, 22:44[] But Spencer, unless you are somehow underage with five Ph.D.’s, there’s no reason for us to stop talking.

[]9/8, 22:47[] You would not believe how many people treat me like I'm underage, to this day. So that doesn’t inspire confidence.

Hotch pauses with his glass halfway back to his lips, only a few sips left in the glass. Staring at his phone and struggling to make sense of what Spencer is saying. Hotch had been trying to joke and tease with him, but now the word ‘underage’ feels like a glaring beacon of a word on his screen.

He’s very suddenly more than a little nervous, even through the haze of alcohol. He is 45 years old, no matter what he keeps telling Spencer -- there is a limit to this being appropriate or not. What that limit is, he’d have to consider when he’s more sober, and it makes him feel like he should be reigning in the flirtatious notes that keep worming their way into the conversation.

But it’s not actually possible for him to be that young, and everything he’s learned about the man indicates he’s closer to his own age. Was he in his 30’s? Even that felt too young for what Hotch had (subconsciously) profiled -- no, it has to be something else.

No matter what, he didn’t want to keep getting Spencer worked up like this about it. His age hadn’t bothered Hotch before that night, so maybe if he drops it they can revert back to how they’d been spending their late evening hours before this turn in the conversation.

[]9/8, 22:50[] But I’m NOT underage.

[]9/8, 22:51[] If that needed to be said.

[]9/8, 22:53[] Can you buy alcohol by yourself?

[]9/8, 22:54[] Yes.

[]9/8, 22:54[] See this is what I was afraid of.

[]9/8, 22:55[] Relax, I was trying to tease you.

[]9/8, 22:57[] You don’t have to tell me, Spencer. I’ll just keep picturing Sean Connery, or John Steinbeck in the later years.

[]9/8, 22:59[] I see you have a type.

[]9/8, 23:00[] Well, who do you picture when you think of me?

[]9/8, 23:01[] Hugo Weaving, Matrix era. Or Richard Feynman.

[]9/8, 23:02[] Well now I feel typecasted. Who’s Feynman?

[]9/8, 23:02[] An American Theoretical Physicist from the 40’s-60’s.

[]9/8, 23:03[] Ouch. How old do you think *I* am?

[]9/8, 23:04[] I’m afraid to answer that.

[]9/8, 23:04[] O.u.c.h.

[]9/8, 23:06[] You’ve been borderline flirting with me, and you just said you thought I was in my 60’s! What was I supposed to think?

[]9/8, 23:07[] If you’re looking in that age bracket, I’m sure I can get you the Biology Department Head’s number.

[]9/8, 23:07[] He’s 72 with rheumatoid arthritis.

[]9/8, 23:08[] You are hysterical. So funny.

Hotch is smiling wide down at his phone again, feeling lighter and glad he got them back on track.

But…

He can’t help but think back to what he just tried to drop entirely. Blame the Scotch, or whatever drive to know that makes him dig down and root out information in cold cases in his spare time, Hotch doesn’t think he can let it go. Not when it was something Spencer hadn’t meant to be a secret in the first place. Not when, knowing that it has created misinformation between them unintentionally, results in Spencer shying away and hesitant to tell Hotch anything more about himself.

Not when he’d said ‘flirting’, because that had been what Hotch was doing, and he can’t even describe how disappointing it would be to quit while he was ahead. When the build up has been so gradual and easy and everything he’d been looking for and could never seem to find.

Now, this slight disruption is sticking in his mind, sharp like a thorn in his side. Always there, making itself known, and he wonders if he is lucid enough to try and draw the information out of Spencer via interview tactics -- or if the brilliant man would see right through any of his attempts.

Probably. Who was he kidding? Spencer had more degrees and college hours under his belt than Hotch could manage in a lifetime. Best to do this the old fashioned way, then.

[]9/8, 23:10[] 38.

[]9/8, 23:11[] Oh. Really? That’s kind of young to be Unit Chief, congratulations.

[]9/8, 23:11[] No, not me. You. I’m guessing 38.

[]9/8, 23:12[] Oh.

[]9/8, 23:12[] Incorrect.

[]9/8, 23:13[] I don’t even get a hint?

[]9/8, 23:13[] Nope.

[]9/8, 23:15[] We’re not playing a game. I’m not telling you.

[]9/8, 23:15[] So you won’t guess my age, either?

[]9/18, 23:17[] Chicken.

[]9/8, 23:17[] 45.

Hotch near throws his phone across the room. Almost makes a quip about how reading his file is cheating -- but he knows Spencer just made a stupidly accurate ‘educated guess’ because he knows fucking everything.

They really should just put him on the payroll. Hotch is being selfish keeping the man all to himself.

But God, is he enjoying it, too.

[]9/8, 23:19[] There’s no way you profiled that with that kind of accuracy.

[]9/8, 23:20[] How do you do that?

[]9/8, 23:21[] Black magic.

[]9/8, 23:22[] I’ll get it out of you one day, I swear.

[]9/8, 23:23[] And as a man of your word, I believe that you truly believe that.

[]9/8, 23:23[] Full of jokes tonight, aren’t you?

[]9/8, 23:25[] I live to amuse.

[]9/8, 23:25[] And make you smile.

[]9/8, 23:27[] You are one of the few that do.

With a careful pause, nothing left in his glass, a thought perched on the edges of his mind that is already watery with cognitive dissonance, Hotch starts typing before he’s even fully made the decision.

[]9/8, 23:30[] You really think my flirting is borderline? I was going for subtlety, but I must be rusty.

[]9/8, 23:32[] Actually, I just thought I was projecting.

[]9/8, 23:23[] You were married, I didn’t want to presume.

Oh.

The consideration is touching, and sobering even in the dimness of his home office, but it draws the softest of smiles back to Hotch’s face when he begins to type out his answer.

[]9/8, 23:35[] Thank you, for thinking of me first.

[]9/8, 23:37[] But Haley and I separated a long time before she died. We were actually divorced before she went into WICSEC. I miss her every day. But I did try to date for a while, before that.

[]9/8, 23:39[] No luck? I would have thought the FBI badge would at least garner some interest.

[]9/8, 23:40[] I’ve been told I’m intimidating.

[]9/8, 23:41[] I don’t think you are.

[]9/8, 23:42[] You will if you ever meet me. I’ve made underlings cry before without speaking a word.

[]9/8, 23:44[] The Hotchner stare. Have you coined that?

[]9/8, 23:45[] I should. It’s got a ring to it.

They banter and causally slip a few more… flirtatious comments in, and Hotch realizes it really isn’t that much different than before. That he had indeed been flirting with the man long before he knew his age. Which was odd, he didn’t typically go for older men and women. But now that he’s aware Spencer is younger than he thought, possibly even his own age (he swears he is, would put money on it if he could), somehow there’s more of a charge in their correspondence, a warmth and buzzing elation that has nothing to do with his Scotch. Especially now that it’s long gone.

It’s all Spencer, and how they compliment each other, and Hotch finds himself near giddy with that information.

He tries, towards the end of the night where it tips over into the early hours of the morning, to imagine an image of Spencer again -- and finds that he doesn’t even care to. He’s enamored with the man and his wit and the way he makes Hotch laugh without trying. How he looks, his age, it doesn’t matter. Not really. Not to Hotch.

But he is still curious why Spencer won’t reveal it. He can’t be that young.

[]9/9, 00:43[] You really won’t tell me?

[]9/9, 00:45[] Maybe one day. When I’m feeling brave.

[]9/9, 00:46[] Well, I’ll be there. Waiting.

[]9/9, 00:46[] 32.

[]9/9, 00:47[] You’ll never guess.

[]9/9, 00:48[] There’s only so many numbers.

[]9/9, 00:50[] Goodnight, Hotch.

[9/9, 00:51] Goodnight, Spencer.

(tbc...)

Tagged List: @spencehotchner @ssa-sarahsunshine @gothamapologist @reidology @marsjareau @dragon-snaps-fandom @emmyraebird @just-an-emo-rat @aaron-hotchner187 @dk18077 @more-heid-pls @fakin-it-til-i-make-it @merpancake

#I've read and rewritten this chapter so many times I'm starting to hate it #but it's super important so I hope it lives up to expectations #we get to all the good stuff after this #but the development here is something I've spent WEEKS trying to make realistic so #I hope you all enjoy it <3 #Chapter updates are Saturdays at 5pm EST #if you want in on the tag list just message me <3 #HotchReid #Heid #katyswriting

55 notes · View notes

cyberbun · 9 months ago

Note

what do you think of different ways that people can lose control of themselves?

my legal team has advised me not to answer this question

#ask #anon

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thisperfectmonsoon · 4 months ago

Note

I’ve advise my client not answer anymore questions at this time

see @just-call-me-jon-snow ? one member of my legal team has responded.

#lmao you two are killing me tysm #asks

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starryknight09 · 3 years ago

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Unforeseen dangers ch 10

Summary: As Peter recovers from his capture by Ross, a photo of him with Tony and the Avengers leaks and is splashed all across the media. Luckily, no one can figure out who he is and everyone thinks the buzz will die down. However, the public’s interest has been ignited. While Tony worries it’s only a matter of time before Peter’s identity is exposed, Peter isn’t as concerned. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen anyway?

Read on AO3.

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“How did they figure it out?” Tony growled as soon as he walked into the conference room. He’d tampered his anger down for Peter’s sake, but now that Peter was safe upstairs, he felt it was fine to finally let it out.

Everyone made faces at each other around the table but no one answered his question. So, it was going to be like that.

“Well?” He asked, this time aiming his question at Pepper. She wouldn’t be afraid to tell him the hard stuff.

Pepper sighed but met his eyes unflinchingly. “You’re not going to like it.”

“I already don’t like it.” He snapped and sat down heavily in the empty chair at the head of the table, Pepper to his immediate right. Just like old times.

“Somehow they got ahold of the name change paperwork.”

“What?”

“I told you you wouldn’t like it.” Pepper pursed her lips. “It gets worse. They dug deeper and found the adoption paperwork as well.”

“So there’s no way we can deny this.” Tony rubbed a hand roughly over his forehead and eyes.

“No.”

“So what do we do now? Besides figuring out who leaked this and suing the hell out of them.”

“Naturally.” Pepper agreed. “That’s already being looked into as we speak.”

“Good.”

“But as to how we deal with this…” She sighed. “I’m open to ideas.”

“You’re kidding.”

Pepper stared him down. She obviously wasn’t kidding.

“We don’t have anything set up for this? No contingency plan? Nothing? It’s not like we haven’t been flirting with this exact disaster for the past two months.” He looked at all his employees lined up on either side of the table. “What do I pay you people for?”

“To be fair, you didn’t want a contingency plan.” Pepper said, tone sharp without raising her voice.

“I never said that.”

“Yes you did. When the first photo leaked I gave you options for how to deal with this and you wanted to deny it, and then later when I wanted to talk to you about putting together a contingency plan just in case, you told me ‘you didn’t want to think about it and you’d figure it out if something happened.’ Is that ringing any bells?”

“You don’t have to air quote me.” He complained as Pepper’s hands fell from doing just that back to their loose clasp on the table. He actually did remember that conversation now. It’d been about a week after the first photo leak. He’d been in a terrible mood and Pepper had wanted to talk about coming up with a plan for what to do if one of his worst case scenarios happened, if Peter’s identity leaked, and he, well, he hadn’t wanted to think about it at the time. He’d wanted to stick his head in the sand and hope for the best instead. Not one of his better decisions, clearly.

Pepper raised an eyebrow at him.

“And you listened to me?” He asked as he threw his hands up and practically jumped out of his chair. “You never listen to me. This is the one time you decide not to go behind my back and come up with something on your own anyway?”

Pepper glared at him.

“What? You know it’s true. You do do that!” He held a finger up in defense.

Melanie, his head of PR, sitting to his left, cleared her throat. “I think maybe we’re getting a little off topic here Mr. Stark.”

“Yes. Yes we are.” He broke away from Pepper’s death glare and rubbed at his eyes again before turning to her, “Melody, tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Melanie.” She corrected automatically without surprise or displeasure, more than used to his antics by now.

“Yeah yeah.” He nodded and waved his hand in a circle as an indication for her to start talking.

“We need to make a statement.”

“Yes, obviously.”

Melanie gave him a look that was such a mirror image of Pepper’s that he felt dizzy for a second.

“What I mean is, what do you suggest we say?” He tried to be civil and looked over to Pepper for her approval, but she still had her stony business face in place.

“We confirm that you adopted Peter this summer. We should give them a little bit about his background, how you got to know each other, the circumstances that led to his adoption—”

“Do they really need to know all that? I don’t really want to splash my kid’s life across the tabloids.”

“That’s what I’m trying to keep from happening Mr. Stark.” Melanie said in a carefully controlled tone. “If we give them nothing then it’ll only be worse. They’ll be relentless digging for more information on him.”

“They’re going to do that anyway.” God, they were. His poor kid’s life was going to get turned inside out.

“Yes, but this way we can control it. We set the context. We give them enough information to satiate their curiosity but not so much that they know everything about Peter.”

He hated the idea of giving the vultures anything.

“Melanie’s right Tony. This is how we need to do this.” Pepper agreed.

“Fine.” He held his palms up in defeat. He knew they were right, but he still didn’t like it.

“I would also suggest that we release a few handpicked photos of the two of you together.” A brunette to the left of Melanie piped in. Tony would’ve admired her courage if her suggestion hadn’t set his temper alight.

“No. Absolutely not.” He wanted to yell, but he grit out the refusal at a low level volume instead.

More hesitant glances amongst his employees around the table ensued.

“You should listen to her.” Natasha spoke up.

“Oh I’m sorry I thought you were here to listen, not offer up advice on how to deal with my kid and my company.” He sniped, annoyed that she was taking their side.

Nat met his anger coolly. “If you don’t, they’ll keep doing what they’ve been doing these past couple months. Photos of the two of you together and photos of just him now that they know he’s your son. If you don’t give them something they’re going to hound both of you until they get it, and you know it.”

He hated that she was right.

“Dammit.” He swore and stood, knocking his desk chair over in the process. Pepper didn’t so much as flinch. Tony grit his teeth as he turned his back on the table and took a couple steps toward the wall, where he stood facing it while he closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths.

He hated this situation with a burning anger he hadn’t felt in a long time, like a smoldering flame deep inside his belly growing white hot as more oxygen was added to it. He’d never wanted this for Peter. He loved him. He was his son but somehow he’d foolishly thought he’d be able to keep him separate from all the evil and burdens that came with that. He had to accept that it was impossible now. And he needed to stay strong and collected for Peter even if on the inside he was having a breakdown.

“I’m sorry.” He said, the words coming out strong even though he felt anything but strong at the moment.

He took another deep breath and turned back around, moving to calmly set his chair upright again before standing at his spot at the head of the table. A few of the newer employees looked a little shellshocked but he ignored it. “Fine.” He leaned forward, his hands splaying out in front of him on the table. “I’ll make a statement and release a few pictures. What else?”

“At the end of your statement, you should be sure to ask for privacy.” Joe, the wizened white-haired head of his legal team, suggested, not cowed at all by his minor outburst. He’d been on staff since pre-Ironman times.

“Of course.”

“It’s too bad you don’t still live in California.” Joe added. “Because of Peter’s status as a minor, it would give him some protections. California passed a law in 2013 that makes it illegal to intentionally harass children of celebrities, such as for the purpose of taking photos.”

“And that’s only a law in California?” He frowned.

“As of now.” Joe nodded. “But if you want, I could write up a proposal for the governor to pass a similar law here. It’s a long shot but it wouldn’t hurt, especially if you don’t want to move.”

“We’re not moving to California.”

Joe shrugged.

“But yes, do that.” A law like that sure would’ve been helpful when he’d been a child.

“Of course, sir.”

“Tony,” Cap spoke up from his seat at the opposite end of the table, “have you given any thought to taking Peter up to the compound instead of staying here? At least until things calm down?”

Tony blinked. He hadn’t.

“I mean,” Steve continued when his suggestion wasn’t met with an immediate refusal, “it’s not like he’s not going to school tomorrow, right?”

He hadn’t thought that far ahead either.

“Right.” He said with uncharacteristic hesitance.

“That’s a good idea.” Natasha agreed. “We can do the press conference here and then go to the compound. It’ll give everyone a little more room to breathe.”

He nodded absently. Sure. So apparently now he was taking his kid out of school and high tailing it to the compound. Peter wasn’t going to like that. He let out another heavy sigh and sat back down in his chair like a puppet with its strings cut.

“How long do you think this media frenzy is going to take to die down?” He asked, aiming his question at Melanie. Maybe they could wait out the worst of it at the compound.

“Hard to say.” She hedged.

“Best guess.”

“Months.” She deadpanned.

“Jesus.” He ran a hand through his hair. Definitely too long to wait it out.

“It may be even longer than that. Peter’s currently trending on every social media platform out there.” A younger guy with blonde hair dressed in a hipster suit added. Tony didn’t recognize him but figured he must be one of their social media guys. “The numbers I’m looking at are almost unprecedented.”

“Wonderful.”

“I recommend not letting him post anything until we have a chance to advise him.” The guy added. “I see he’s currently active on Instagram and Twitter.”

“Sure. I’ll take your word for it.” Tony huffed. He didn’t know what kind of social media presence Peter had. He’d never really needed to worry about it before.

Melanie cleared her throat and piped in, “I’d also like a chance to advise Peter on some things. And give him a short debrief on all of this.”

“I’ll be doing that.” He countered.

“Um,” Melanie glanced over at Pepper for some help, “I really think I should at least have a sit down with him.

“Tony.” Pepper prompted, throwing her support behind Melanie.

“Fine.” He shook his head. “But I talk to him first.”

“Of course Mr. Stark.”

“When Melanie’s done, can I schedule sit down with him as well Mr. Stark?” The blonde guy asked.

He turned to Pepper for help, trying not to feel like his own SI team was competing for his kid’s time like the media vultures out there.

“Of course Alex.” Pepper answered for him. “How about I put together some sort of schedule for Peter so we don’t all completely overwhelm him?”

Heads nodded all around the table.

“And I think we can all agree none of this has to happen today. We can at least give him a little time to let it all sink in first.” Pepper added.

Everyone nodded again.

“I’d like a few minutes with him Ms. Potts.”

“Me too.”

Tony rubbed his eyes again, feeling a splitting headache coming on. Just great. A migraine was exactly what he needed right now.

“I’d also like to reach out to a few of the more reputable media sources and set up some interviews.” Paul spoke up and then clarified, “For you. Not Peter. Obviously.” Paul was one of the longer standing workers on his PR team who dealt with managing relations between himself and various media sources, which was the reason Tony knew him by name. They’d had some good times in the past, particularly behind the scenes on Letterman back in the nineties.

“Is that really something we need to do right now? It can’t wait until tomorrow, or hell, next week?” He snapped, quickly losing his patience with the entire situation.

“No. It can wait.” Paul gave him an easy going shrug as if he hadn’t just gotten his head bitten off in front of everyone.

“Sorry.” His headache was rapidly ratcheting up in intensity. “I know we’re at defcom one right now, but can we just deal with only the things that are of immediate importance today? We have the rest of the week to sort everything else out.” He dug through his suit pockets and found the tinted sunglasses he’d put on Peter earlier. Now he slid them over his own eyes. They weren’t quite dark enough to help with the light sensitivity, but they took the edge off.

“Mr. Stark’s right.” Pepper supported him. Thank god. “We’ll draft a statement for the press and we’ll make sure Peter doesn’t post anything on social media until he talks to Melanie and Alex. Besides that, what else can’t wait and needs to be dealt with right now?”

“Security.” His new head of security, Hans something or other, said.

Tony just stared at him for a couple long seconds, the statement not computing.

“For the kid.” Hans added as if sensing his confusion.

Tony’s brow’s furrowed briefly before he realized it was a completely legitimate concern. Shit. No one knew Peter was Spiderman besides the Avengers and his two nerdy school friends. Of course Peter would need his own security detail, just like Tony had when he was a kid.

“Yeah.” He gave his head a little shake as if clearing the fog. “Of course.”

“I’ll put together a proposal for his personal security.” Hans continued. “And I’ll speak to his school about what security measures we can take there.”

Tony pulled his glasses off and tossed them onto the table before putting his face in his hands, elbows resting on the table in front of him.

“Yep.” He agreed, not sounding happy at all. “Mmhm.”

“We’ll also need to put together different protocols for when he’s ready to go back in public, and I’d like to have some time to discuss certain scenarios with him.” Hans continued.

“Tony.” Pepper prompted when he said nothing.

“I’m listening.” He said into his palms.

“I also think it’d be prudent for me to spend some time with him one on one to teach him some basic hand to hand combat moves.”

“I can do that.” Natasha spoke up.

Hans inclined his head toward her in respect. “Then I’ll leave that to you.”

“Great.” Tony dropped his hands down swiftly and squinted as he looked around the table. “Anything else?”

Everyone glanced around at each other but no one spoke.

“No? Can we be adjourned then?” Tony asked, turning toward Pepper.

“Let’s take a short break everyone. We’ll reconvene in ten minutes.”

It took everything in him not to legitimately whine to her that he wanted to be done.

Everyone gathered up their things and brusquely left at the dismissal.

“You guys can go.” Tony dismissed his Avengers team, who’d stayed behind.

“You sure?” Steve asked.

“Yeah. You need to go let everyone else know about the compound plan, so if any of them want to join they can get busy packing. I know how much luggage Sam travels with.” He tried to joke but it came out sounding flat even to him.

Steve gave him a small smile as he and Natasha both stood and left. Once the door had shut behind them, he turned to Pepper and suggested, “You don’t really need me for the rest of this, do you?”

Pepper raised her eyebrows at him.

“Come on Pep. We both know you can deal with all the nitty gritty details on your own. Draft up a statement. I’ll read it. And then we can talk about everything else tomorrow at the compound.” He rubbed at his temples and saw her eyes soften.

“Fine,” she agreed, “but only because I can tell you’re getting a migraine.”

“You know me so well.” He gave her a weak half smile.

Pepper checked her watch. “The press conference starts in an hour. Why don’t you lie down until then? And take some Excedrin.”

He hummed in agreement. That sounded like a great idea but it warred with his guilt about leaving Peter alone. He should really get back to his kid.

“Peter can wait.” Pepper continued as if she’d read his mind. “He’ll be fine. You need to take care of yourself too. Besides, this way you’ll look better for the cameras.”

“Hey! I always look great for the cameras.”

“I can give you several examples of when you did not.” Pepper smirked and gave a small shake of her head.

“Name one.” He challenged.

“Ibiza 1999.”

“Ooo ouch. Going for blood. To be fair, I was up for almost 72 hours at that point. And I didn’t know that one girl’s ex-fiance was the captain of that yacht.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Fine. I’m going to go lay down for one hour.” He held up a finger.

“Forty five minutes.” Pepper corrected.

“Ok fine. Forty five minutes then. FRI?”

“Alarm set Boss.”

He started walking out of the conference room.

“And take that Excedrin.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“I mean it Tony.”

“I will.” He said as the door shut behind him, and surprisingly, he actually meant it.

*******************************

A constant obnoxious low volume beeping, slowly increasing in volume every few seconds, woke him up.

He groaned. The pounding that’d taken up residence behind his eyes still hadn’t abated, but it wasn’t any worse than when he’d laid down so maybe the Excedrin had actually helped somewhat.

“Boss, you have thirteen minutes to get dressed and downstairs for the press conference.”

He groaned again and buried his face in his pillow.

“Boss.” FRIDAY prompted again.

“I heard you the first time.” He rasped into his pillow. “And they’ll wait. It’s my press conference, isn’t it?”

He didn’t know how FRIDAY’s silence could sound so disapproving.

After a few long breaths he finally managed to push himself up. He just needed to get this over with. Like ripping off a bandaid. He made his way to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. It helped the headache for the brief second it was in contact with his face but then all the relief faded as quickly as the water washed away. Once he toweled off, he examined his reflection. At least he didn’t look half as terrible as he felt. The slight squint between his eyes gave away his discomfort, but that could be cured with a well chosen pair of sunglasses. He fixed his hair so it looked like its classic well manicured bedhead instead of his actual bedhead. That helped. Now all he needed was a good suit and he’d be presentable enough that not even Pepper could complain.

“You have five minutes.” FRIDAY reminded him as he walked to the closet.

“Yeah well tell them I’m going to be a little late.” He grumbled as he rifled through his clothes. “Knowing me it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock.”

“Very well.”

He donned a crisp white shirt and burgundy tie under a dark navy vest and suit and topped the look off with a pair of oversized sunglasses with black frames and blue shaded lenses. They were just borderline too dark for inside wear but they helped his headache so he refused to care.

“Ms. Potts would like to know when to expect you.” FRIDAY said.

“Tell her I’m on my way down right now.” He said, doing one last check in the mirror to make sure he looked put together. Usually he wouldn’t care so much, but he recognized the importance of this moment. This was how he was going to look when he told the world he had a son. This look would probably be memorialized on the internet and across all the newspapers of the world tomorrow. And not only that, but he knew his appearance for this moment would reflect on Peter, so he wanted to be at his best. Migraine be damned. He’d done press conferences in way worse shape than he was in now. Although this one was probably one of his most personally important. He gave his tie one last adjustment before he decided he was good.

Walking past the kitchen, he practically tripped when the smell of fresh coffee emanating from the pot stopped him in his tracks. His Rolex said he was already five minutes late. Whatever. What was another five? Besides, he was fairly certain that Pepper had been the one to brew it for him while he’d slept. That was something thoughtful she used to do when she knew he had a migraine.

“FRIDAY tell Pep thanks for the coffee.” He said as he poured it into a thermos.

“She says you can thank her by getting your ass downstairs. And that’s a direct quote Boss.”

“Obviously.” A corner of his mouth turned up in fond amusement. “Tell her, I’m coming dear.”

He pressed the lid on and took a sip. Perfect. Brewed just how he liked it, and hopefully the caffeine would help with his headache.

The elevator doors closed behind him and it dropped like a stone.

“Whoa FRIDAY. Slow it down a little.”

“Sorry Boss.” FRIDAY responded and the elevator slowed the velocity of its descent. “Ms. Potts requested I expedite your arrival in every way possible.”

“Yeah well I’m guessing she doesn’t want me to lose my lunch all over my suit in the process because that’d definitely defeat the purpose.” He grumbled and took another drink of coffee, hoping it’d help calm the background nausea that had suddenly flared up.

“Would you like me to contact Dr. Banner?” FRIDAY offered.

“No. Just…shhh.” He winced and rubbed at his temples before closing his eyes and resting his head against the wall, letting himself have a vulnerable moment while he was still alone.

“Arriving.” FRIDAY announced a handful of seconds later, although at a much softer volume than before.

He straightened up and put on his public eye mask as the doors opened and he walked out, taking an immediate left down the hallway that would lead to the auditorium they used for almost all their SI press conferences. He ducked into a side door right before the double doors at the end of the hallway.

“Is it actually impossible for you to be on time for something?” Pepper asked as soon as the door closed behind him. Her tone held no bite, so he knew she wasn’t actually mad.

“Maybe.”

She rolled her eyes, arms crossed in front of her chest as she looked him up and down. “You look hungover.” She decided.

“What? No I don’t.”

She peered closer at him. “I can barely even see your eyes. At least take the glasses off.”

“Well since it feels like a miniature miner is going to town with an icepick in my head right now I’m going to have to pass on that.”

Pepper sighed but the lines of her face softened. “Do you need me to reschedule?”

He took another long drag of coffee, half of it gone already. “No. We both know I need to do this today.”

She nodded but still looked unsure.

“Don’t worry. I’ve done these things in way worse shape than this. I think I might’ve even done one or two while I was actually asleep.”

That got a true smile out of her. “Oh, I know.”

“So this’ll be a piece of cake.” He said even though he knew the opposite was true.

“If you say so…”

“I do. So where’s this statement I’m reading?”

“Here.” Pepper handed him a piece of paper with the words typed out on it. Any other day he would’ve made some quip about how they were using paper when they were the most technologically innovative company in the world, but he just didn’t have the energy for it today.

He skimmed it over quickly and set it down on a table nearby. “Can I have a pen?”

“Oh no no. You’re not changing anything.” Pepper shook her head adamantly.

“Just a few things.” He held a hand out while re-reading the paper in front of him.

“No.”

He looked up at her. “Pep I promise it’ll be fine. Just give me a pen. If it makes you feel better you can read it before I go out there.”

She pursed her lips and let out a long sigh but acquiesced and handed him her Mont Blanc pen. “Fine.”

He quickly reworded a few phrases, cut a sentence out here and there and then added another few sentences. Once he finished, he re-read it a couple times before handing it over to Pepper along with her pen. “Here.”

The noise of the auditorium could be heard through the closed door at the other side of the room. It was the door that would lead him directly into a narrow hallway behind the podium from where he’d make his entrance. He took another long drink of coffee as he waited for Pepper to read over his changes.

“Ok.” She said when she’d finished.

“Just ok?” He prompted with a teasing grin.

“It’s good. We should be fine as long as you actually stick to the script for once.”

“You know I’m allergic.” He smirked.

“Believe me, I know.” She smiled in amusement.

“But this time, for you, I promise I will try to stick to the cards.”

“Good.” She gave him a nod and handed the paper back.

He took it, folded it, and tucked it into his suit pocket. She was right. He almost never stuck strictly to the cards, his announcement as Ironman a prime example, but actually only one of many. He had no intention of veering off script this time, though. Not with something this important. Not when it impacted his kid.

They walked toward the door of the auditorium together and paused before it. He turned toward Pepper and she gave him another quick once over, reaching out to fix a few errant hairs and straighten his tie ever so slightly before brushing down his shoulders, a well choreographed dance they’d perfected after so many years together.

“Ready?” She asked.

“As I’ll ever be.” He smiled but he knew she could see through it, that he was nervous and trying to hide it.

“Tony.” She said gently. “It’ll be fine.”

“Of course it will.” He agreed boldly. It had to be. Before either of them could say anything else, he yanked open the door and stepped out.

#unforeseen dangers #ch 10

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snowdice · 4 years ago

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Road Trips and Missing Persons (Part 7)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Patton & Virgil, Virgil & Deceit, Logan & Patton, Emile & Remy, Roman & Remus & Janus

Characters: Patton, Virgil, Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Emile, Remy

Summary: Patton was just getting groceries. The next thing he knew, there was a knife at his throat and he was an unwilling uber driver. Virgil’s on the run after the murder of his dad, and it’s not just his paranoia that’s telling him he’s being chased down. He has to get somewhere safe, somewhere he can trust, and all he has is a couple of stories from his dad and a name: “Green Bellow Foods and Dispensary.”

Notes: Secret Agents AU, knives, carjacking, kidnapping, murder mentioned, guns mentioned, pepper spray, blood mentioned, drugs mentioned (more to be added)

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve affectionately named it the Goblin Brain Fic because it’s helping my brain actually get motivated for studying. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 My Master Post

Logan was a calm man. One would have to be with his chosen career path. Much of it was waiting quietly for the perfect moment or doing rapid calculations in one’s head while in the midst of danger and chaos. He had not made it this far in his career by being prone to emotional outbursts or irrational behavior

Logan was a calm, rational person.

Which is what he told himself even as he threw his phone across the room and it smacked the opposite wall. “God dammit Patton!” he yelled as the other employees in the control room all paused to glance at him before quickly looking away.

He took a deep breath and walked across the room to his phone. It was, of course, unharmed seeing as Roman had specifically worked with a manufacture to produce him an indestructible phone for his last birthday and on top of that had given him a life proof case for it.

Roman, his son, who he had not heard from for over an hour at this point. He clenched his fist around the phone. He could not get emotional about this. That would not be productive at this point. He needed to think. He needed to plan.

He needed someone to answer their phone.

Hearing of Remington’s death was already destressing enough on a personal level as he’d known the man for years. As a father himself, he had understood why Remington had wanted to be on desk duty since his son was born and had respected that. Emile at the time hadn’t even been a legal adult and there was the real risk that if something happened to Remy that his son would end up in the hands of the boy’s mother who at the time had simply been considered a “raging bitch” according to Remy, but had later proved herself that and more. So, Logan had never even thought about having him back in the field until Virgil was at least 18.

Yet, it had still happened. He was still dead, targeted by Virgil’s own mother.

As he imagined Remington would want, Logan’s first thought had been for the man’s son and he’d immediately dispatched Roman as he’d been the closet agent to the man’s house at the time. That is when things started to go even more wrong than just a missing agent.

The last Logan had heard from his own son, he’d been tracking down Virgil Gates and whoever Roman had assumed attempted to kidnap him. He’d found the kidnapper’s car still down the street and texted Logan that he’d checked the nearby bus station and would check the park next.

Thinking he’d had that sorted with Roman on finding the teenager, his mind had wandered to Janus, the boy’s brother. Logan had worried that Janus would have an intense emotional response to the situation and had sent the agent a fake mission in hopes of distracting him until the issue with Virgil was sorted. The text had been marked as ‘read’ only a few moments later, but there had been no response. That was… concerning to say the least. It was possible he had heard of Remington’s death himself and was distracted, but there would be no reason for him to ignore Logan’s text as he shouldn’t be aware Logan himself knew of Remington’s death. In fact, it would be more in character for him to text Logan back and inform him of the issue in that case.

After waiting for a few more minutes, he tried texting Roman again and got no response and then he’d tried again, and again. Soon it had been 20 minutes since he’d last heard from Roman and he’d attempted to call him. He hadn’t gotten an answer. After a few more phone calls he’d tried to call Remus to ask him if he’d heard from his brother, but he hadn’t answered either. He’d continued to rotate between calling and texting the two of them and sometimes Janus hoping one of them would pick up, but none of them did. With no word from either of his sons or his double agent about their whereabouts or the missing child’s, he’d decided to call the boy’s uncle.

When that phone call ended with a car honking and a scream and none of his attempts to call back got any response, Logan really started to panic. Or worry. Not panic. Concerned even.

Logan started to get a healthy amount of concerned.

There were only thousands of reasons he could think up for the radio silence from everyone with a connection to his agency in a certain geographical reason especially directly after the confirmed death of one of his inactive agents who lived in the area. Surely one of those thousands wasn’t that every one of them was dead including his own sons.

Thinking about his family, it occurred to him that considering Patton was an agent (though on vacation at the moment) and also lived in the area, he needed to call his brother as well. The relief from his brother actually answering his phone was quickly burned away by agitation as he was not where he was supposed to be (though a voice in the back of Logan’s head did wonder if perhaps that’s why he was still able to answer his phone) and was instead on an impromptu “road trip.” After providing no other information to Logan, Patton had hung up on him. He’d been sent to voicemail halfway through the second time he’d tried to call back; the bastard had turned off his phone.

So, the question was what to do now. He collapsed back into his seat and glanced at his phone hoping he’d received some form of communication from anyone in the last minute, but alas there was still nothing. He was regretting making his agents cell phones untraceable right about. He wondered if he could hack into Nelson’s network without her realizing; he knew she kept trackers on her agents. Janus at least would have his phone from her, and Remus might. Assuming, of course, she hadn’t ordered a hit on them and taken back the cell phones herself. He wouldn’t put it past her.

It was worth a try at least, he decided, booting up his computer. He had a better chance now since Janus had let him look at his phone a couple of times. However, neither of them had wanted to risk trying any hacking on it. Nelson had no qualms with taking out her own family after all. Logan had been suspicious that she’d killed Logan’s mentor years ago but hadn’t had any proof. Janus had confirmed this as fact almost two decades later when he’d told Logan she talked about the fact that she had killed her own father to him.

Remembering that fact made him more nervous for Janus (and Remus by extension). They had always been very careful, but the risk was still there. Not to mention if Janus was in emotional distress over the death of Remington then he might be less careful. He distracted himself from those churning thoughts by turning his attention back to the computer.

He wasn’t surprised that there were no weaknesses in her security that he could find. After all, they’d had the same teacher and she had doubtlessly learned more from him over the course of her life since she’d been his daughter. He took a break to look at his phone again after 10 minutes.

There were still no messages from anyone. He tried to call everyone’s phones again in quick succession, but no one picked up. He’d just pressed end after the voicemail picked up for Roman once again when a voice interrupted him.

“Sir?” Darlene said tentatively.

“Yes?” he ground out, still looking at his phone. He was trying not to snap at any of his employees, but it was getting difficult.

“We pinged an outgoing call from Virgil Gates cell phone,” she said.

“What?” Logan asked looking up at her. Both he and Roman had tried to call the boy’s cell phone, but it had gone directly to voicemail, and they’d assumed he’d either ditched the phone or turned it off. “Show me.” He got to his feet and she led him over to another computer.

On her computer, a map was pulled up and a little red dot lit up the place the call had come from. “Where is he?” Logan asked.

“Around Livensburg,” she answered.

“That’s almost 80 miles from the city,” Logan said. At least he was moving closer to Logan’s location instead of farther away.

“Well he seems to be on the interstate,” she pointed out. “Pretty easy to do.”

“Yes, the question is how the 15-year-old is getting down the interstate,” Logan said. “Check bus routes and calls to taxis,” he said to the room at large before turning back to Darlene. “Who did he call?”

“He was trying to call Emile Picani.”

“And didn’t get through I’d imagine.”

“No,” she confirmed.

Poor kid, Logan thought. “Well at least we have a starting point. I’ll send another team out to the location, though extreme caution will be advised.”

“I’ll go,” Fredrick volunteered before he could even ask.

“Thank you,” Logan said.

“I can go too,” Darlene suggested.

Logan nodded. “Because of the phone communication issues at the moment, I’m giving you a long-distance listening device and I expect you to have it on and on one of your persons at all times.”

They both nodded and Fredrick turned to go get the proper supplies while Darlene looked back at her computer.

“Another phone call just went out from Virgil’s phone,” Darlene said. “It’s to the phone you provided Janus Nelson. There’s no answer there either.”

Well that answered rather or not Janus was ignoring him in favor of worrying for his brother. Clearly something else was going on and Logan was afraid of what.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 8

#sanders sides #logan sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #janus sanders #creativitwins #emile picani #remy sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #platonic moxiety #knives #kidnapping #carjacking #murder mentioned #guns mentioned #adriana writes #road trips and missing persons

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snarkwrites · 4 years ago

Text

09 | gangsta; sweetpea

Notes:

SO.. I uhh... Got super into writing this recently. I just really liked where it was heading after part 7. Yes. Yes, I realize that literally no one asked for more of this but.. I wrote it. Might as well share it.

I warn in advance. There as a graphic and detailed fight in this chapter. Also. There is a LOT going on in this chapter. A LOT.

This is the second of four parts I have already written and waiting to go. I know, I know.. Literally no one asked for this. But you’re getting it anyway.

Warnings:

loosely canon compliant - this is the biggest warning, so if you’re into things that follow exact canon plot you are… definitely not going to like this. angst & slow burn, heavy sexual tensionstarting now, actually - this is just so everyone who started reading this thinking the smut would transpire in a hurry knows that apparently, it is not. violence / swearing & fighting, possible underage drinking and other shenanigans- look.. it’s high school. shit happens. also apparently, my ofc Alyssa uses the word fuck like all the time?…eventual sexual content / a virgin original character- this one is self explanatory. yes, i plan to write a smutty chapter in this at some point. when? i don’t rightly know. it’s got a while before we get there.

Pairing:

Andrews!Sibling OFC, Alyssa x Sweet Pea

Other Parts:

[ one - two - three - four - five - six - seven - eight - soundtrack ]

Other Stuff:

[ faq - tag list doc ]

Tagging:

@brithedemonspawn is the only person on my Riverdale tag list. If you’d like to be tagged for this story by all means.. Please let me know. Please, I beg. It’d make me super duper happy!!!

NINE.

“What do you mean Hiram asked you to go cut their chains? Archie, this is not your place. They’re trying to fight back against this bullshit. Because that’s what this is, in case you’re wondering.”

“You need to make other friends. Literally anyone but them, Al.” Archie answered calmly. I glared at my brother from across the dining table. My father surprised me when he spoke up.

“You’re still friends with Jughead, right? How is that any different than your sister, being friends with Toni? Or that Fogarty kid? Or the other one, the moody one.. What’s his name?” my dad asked.

“Sweet Pea?” I questioned, taking a few more bites of my cereal. Grumbling about Hiram Lodge as I did so.

“He’s trying to help this town.” Archie muttered.

“What he’s doing is making people homeless. I bet you wouldn’t say that crap if he were trying to run anybody on this side of town out, Archie.” I snapped, pushing my chair away from the table, standing abruptly.

“Okay you two.” my father warned, glancing from me to my brother. Adding quietly, “Your sister has a point. That’s exactly why I’m going to talk to Hermione today about terminating the contract to build the housing.”

“Dad, you needed that contract.” I protested. Going quiet.

“I don’t need it bad enough to watch people gettin run out of their homes, tiny. I can find other jobs.”

“Dad..” I started, but he shook his head. Judging by the way his jaw was set, he’d made his mind up on this. I sighed, going quiet. Assuming that it was probably my fault he even made the decision that might just cost him the construction company in the first place. I think he could tell I was worried, because he caught me on my way out the door for school after Archie had stormed out, bolt cutters in hand to go and do Hiram’s bidding.

“I chose to do this on my own, okay? I just want to make sure you know that, Al.” my dad searched my face, waiting on me to give confirmation that I understood. I wasn’t entirely sure it was true, because for the past twelve hours, the fight had been ongoing between my brother and I.

“Actually, it was your mom who kind of reminded me what getting mixed up with the Lodges might bring on me. Has nothing to do with you and your brother fighting. But I wish you two would sit down and talk.”

I nodded, sighing. “I wish I knew he’d listen. But he’s changed so much since he started taking up with Hiram…” I shook my head. For the first time ever, I was actually kind of disappointed with my big brother.

If he weren’t under Hiram’s thumb right now, I have no doubt in my mind he’d either be helping Jughead with their protest, or he’d be doing everything he could to call attention to the issue.

“I know. Happens sometimes, tiny. All we can do is hope this whole thing is a phase and it doesn’t backfire on him. Be there for him when it does backfire.” my dad advised, pulling me into a hug.

As I went to step out, my dad tossed a brown bag towards me and I caught it. He smiled and shrugged. “Pretty sure when your friends get to school today, they’re gonna be starving. FP said they hadn’t eaten since 8 last night. This was some kinda hunger strike. Tell Fangs to share the bacon. I know he’s a growing guy, but shit.”

I laughed and smiled, doubling back to hug my dad. Really giving him a good squeeze.

“I love you too, kid. Now you need to get going.” my dad laughed when the hug broke, walking to the door and leaning in it, watching me til I got to the end of the street.

I spotted Cheryl waiting at our usual spot as of late and I made my way over. Opening the bag and letting her take out a biscuit. “Dad sent food for the others. That is, if Hiram doesn’t insist that my brother, idiot he is, escort them all straight to the police station.”

“Has your mother gotten back to you at all on the legality of what Ms.McCoy did before she stepped down as mayor?” Cheryl asked. I shook my head. Watching the sidewalk from the direction that Toni, Fangs and Sweet Pea normally came from intently.

“Where are they?”

“Toni texted me a few minutes ago. They’ll be here.”

“So Hiram didn’t make my brother and the other guys on the wrestling team take them to the station? Because if he thinks for a second I won’t dig into my college fund to post bail, my brother’s a bigger idiot than I ever imagined. Because I will.”

Cheryl was smiling at me. Giving a soft laugh as she bit into the biscuit she’d taken from the bag in my hands. “ Take deep breaths, lioness.”

I took a deep breath, deadpanning at Cheryl, “Happy?”

“It will suffice.” Cheryl’s grin broadened when she caught sight of Toni.

I let out a ragged breath when I saw our friends heading our way, fuming in anger. Sweet Pea seemed to be the angriest, arguing loudly with Jughead and Fangs about how they should’ve just let him go and not held him back or tried to stop some fight.

Toni, Fangs and Sweet Pea came to a stop in front of Cheryl and I. I held out the bag to Toni and she grabbed it, not wasting a single second. Grabbing a biscuit and groaning as she practically inhaled it. Then grabbing a few strips of bacon. “Oh my god, I love your dad too.”

“There’s enough in there for everyone. Fangs, he said you had to share the bacon, man.” I laughed at the way this made Fangs pout a little.

I stopped in front of Sweet Pea who was still angry, almost shaking at this point. I grimaced at the bruise forming on his jaw. Stepping a little closer. “Are you going to eat, Hulk, or nah?” I teased, shaking the bag at him.

“I’m too fuckin pissed right now, Cherry.” Sweet Pea answered, a harsh tone. His jaw setting.

“Oh.” I muttered. I realized just how close I was standing to Sweet Pea and suddenly aware of that, I stepped away a little and let Fangs take the bag because I was tired of holding it. As we started to walk to school, I found myself walking right next to Sweet Pea all over again when Kevin Keller caught up to us and chose to walk next to Fangs, putting me in between Sweet Pea and Fangs by the time we’d all sort of formed a line.

“Kevin, don’t you own a car?” I teased gently, giving him a knowing smirk. I’d kind of picked up on the fact that he might or might not have himself a little crush on Fangs.

“It’s broken right now.” Kevin answered my question, nodding towards Sweet Pea covertly as he smirked at me. I bit my lip, glancing over at Sweet Pea as I shook my head. Because I knew what Kevin was about to assume and I knew that at best, Sweet Pea only tolerates me because of Fangs and Toni.

“Dad’s supposed to take me out to let me try getting used to driving his truck this weekend.”

“I’ll be sure to let my dad know so he’s on standby.” Kevin taunted, making me stick out my tongue at him. “I’m not that bad.”

“I’d like to agree, but I have Snapchat, so I know about your driving. I saw the go-kart thing. I had no idea you could make a go kart drift, if we’re being honest. You drive like a lunatic, woman.” Kevin taunted. I pouted at him, folding my arms. “I do not! I just wanted to win.” I pretended to be annoyed, holding my hand up at him.

Sweet Pea’s hand brushed against my other hand and I glanced down. Curling my pinkie around his. Giving it a squeeze. I didn’t dare to look up at him as I did this, of course. When he didn’t pull away, I didn’t either.

He was upset. I considered him a friend. I tried to tell myself that my hopes in doing what I was doing were to calm him down. Nothing more.

But deep down, I was starting to realize that this might not exactly be the case. That maybe I felt things…

Things I knew he’d never feel in return.

Things I knew I needed to get over.

XXX

He bit his lip when he felt her finger curl around his. A glance over at her revealed that she wasn’t even looking at him, instead, she was buried in something Kevin was showing her on his phone. He’d almost swear that she didn’t even realize she’d grabbed hold of his finger again, but then, she gave it a little squeeze a few seconds after she glanced up from Kevin’s phone.

She still hadn’t looked at him. Or let go of his finger.

Every part of him knew he should let go but he didn’t want to. And he kept telling himself that more than likely, it wasn’t anything more than just her, trying to be a friend because he was madder than hell and it was obvious.

Oh but he wanted it to be so much more than that.

Their sides brushed again and his breath caught in his throat a little.

Fangs had a good point the night before when they’d been talking. It was getting harder and harder to hide the way he felt.

The fight he’d gotten into with Alyssa’s brother came back to him and he used Archie’s words as a reminder as to why he needed to forget the way he felt.

Because Archie did have a fair point when he pointed out that Sweet Pea wasn’t good enough for her and sooner or later, Alyssa spending so much time around them was going to get her in serious trouble or worse yet, hurt somehow.

But then what Fangs and Jughead both insisted the night before came back to him too and their advice made him want to fight. To act on the way he felt. To prove her brother wrong. To be with her. Be the guy who made her laugh. The guy she cuddled up with on a rainy Saturday to watch her horror movies. The one she came to when she was hurt or scared or just needed him.

They were making their way across the parking lot and she still hadn’t let go of his finger. To be fair, he hadn’t let go of hers yet, either. The connection was keeping him calm. Giving him other things to think about beyond the way he wanted to lose his entire mind over the fact that he was losing everything and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He felt powerless. He hated the feeling.

But the way she linked her finger through his and left it there gave him something else to focus on for a change.

And now, thanks to it, all he could think about was just how hard it was getting to keep his feelings himself.

“Alyssa?”

“Yeah, Kev?”

“Are you going out for the play? Come on, you have to.” Kevin pleaded.

Alyssa mulled it over, shrugging. About to shake her head before Kevin frowned. “You have to.”

“I’m not good at the whole getting up in front of people crap. We’re lucky I can manage cheering at the games without freaking out, Kev. Or have you forgotten the fairy debacle from Kindergarten?”

“It wasn’t that bad!” Kevin was giving her the pleading face.

“Kevin. I left the stage and ran to my dad. In front of the entire school.” she shook her head, laughing. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. Besides, me singing? The sound of cats dying. I am not going to put people through that.”

“Oh come on.”

“Nope. Not happening, man.” she shook her head, smiling.

“Toni and I are thinking about it.” Cheryl spoke up.

Toni raised a brow, laughing as she nodded. “Thinking is the key word here, babe.”

Sweet Pea took a deep breath. Willing himself to either let go of her finger first or push things a little further. Maybe grab hold of her hand. Or brush his hand against her hand. He grumbled in frustration when he couldn’t make himself do either thing.

After a second or two, he managed to find a way to graze his hand against her hand and make it seem as if it were an accident. To his surprise, before he could pull his hand away, she’d linked her fingers between his.

She glanced up at him for a second or two, licking her lips. Giving his hand a little squeeze. They were almost to the doors of Riverdale High by this point. He figured she’d let go of his hand, but she hadn’t yet.

Everyone else split off, going to their own classrooms. He let go of her hand to push open the door, letting her step into the room as he held it open, letting it close behind him. As they took their assigned seats, she sank down in her chair, digging around in the pocket of her jeans.

Holding out a pack of chewing gum to him. Sweet Pea took a stick of the gum, unwrapping it. Popping it into his mouth.

After opening the text books, their teacher spoke up, addressing the class.

“We’ll be doing a bit of a different assignment. We’ve been studying genetics and I feel that it would be interesting to give this a try. You’ll be given dice.”

Sweet Pea chuckled when one of the other Serpents in class with them muttered an audible, “Finally, somethin I fuckin know about.”

Mr. Keaton glared at the other Serpent, silencing him. And then Mr. Keaton continued. “You will then roll these dice to determine what physical traits that offspring between yourself and your lab partner would inherit. You will chart the results and write a detailed summary. If you choose, for extra credit, you may draw this offspring.”

Sweet Pea coughed, shifting around in his seat awkwardly. Because all this entire project brought to mind for him was a mental replay of a particularly dirty dream he’d had about Alyssa not too long ago. The silent acknowledgement that he felt this magnetic pull to her and the harder he fought it lately, the more it refused to stay buried. The way it felt when her finger curled around his or the way it felt when he’d taken hold of her hand on their walk to school.

Every single touch, accidental or otherwise as of late.

Alyssa fidgeted a little herself, he noticed. He found himself wondering if she was fidgeting because she was suddenly regretting being paired with him for the term, or if she was fidgeting for the same reason he’d been fidgeting.

,, There’s absolutely no way she’s into me.” his mind taunted.

Mr. Keaton passed out dice and once they’d gotten their dice and the list of physical traits that Mr. Keaton compiled they’d be rolling for, Sweet Pea cleared his throat.

“Wishing you’d made a fuss about now, hm? Gotten switched to work with no brains over there?” he said it only half jokingly.

“Why? Are you?” Alyssa asked, gazing over at him, a brow raised. Laughing softly. “It’s just an assignment, Sweet Pea. And you’re not like.. You’re not a leper or something. I mean, I could do a lot worse.”

“If you’re fine with it, what the hell.” Sweet Pea shrugged, chuckling to himself quietly. Trying to fight back the sliver of hope that chose that exact moment to rise to the surface. The fact that she wasn’t switching, while surprising, didn’t necessarily mean anything. He had to keep reminding himself of that.

From the back of the classroom, Reggie spoke up. “Mr. Keaton, I’ve been thinkin… Maybe I should switch partners with Sweet Pea.”

Sweet Pea tensed.

When he knew Alyssa wasn’t looking, he shot Reggie an angry glare.

Reggie smirked at him, daring him to say something.

Mr. Keaton looked from pair to pair, rubbing his chin. “Amanda? Alyssa? Would either of you want to switch?”

Mandy was just about to speak up. He felt Alyssa tense up beside him and heard her mumble to herself, “Not today, Satan..” as she turned in her seat, giving Mandy an angry glare.

Mandy glared right back at Alyssa before giving their teacher the sweetest smile she could muster. “I’d love that, Mr. Keaton. Reggie’s an idiot. I’m sure even that Serpent is so much smarter.”

“The Serpent has a name, bimbo. You wouldn’t like it if I only called you bimbo, right?” Alyssa whirled around in her seat to snap at Mandy before she could stop herself. “Anyway, Reggie’s no stupider than you. Kind of a perfect fit if I do say so myself.”

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes at Mandy, but he cleared his throat, tapping Alyssa’s shoulder so she’d turn around before she got into trouble. He found himself super focused on the way she got heated just now because Mandy hadn’t bothered saying his name.

“If he makes me switch, I swear to god, I’m unleashing my wrath.” Alyssa grumbled to herself. Making Sweet Pea take a shaky breath or two.

Why did this matter so much?

Sweet Pea found himself a little surprised. He honestly thought she’d be jumping at the chance. He assumed she’d be happy to get away from him.

“Alyssa? Your thoughts on the matter?” Mr. Keaton questioned.

“ Nope. I refuse to have that absolute pig be the father of my non-existent children, sir. I’m fine where I am.” Alyssa answered, turning to shrug at Reggie as she said it.

Reggie pouted a little.

Sweet Pea smirked, shrugging at Reggie when their eyes met. Reggie glared at him, finally turning around when Mandy cleared her throat.

“You could’ve switched, Cherry.”

“ I realize this. But I didn’t want to.” Alyssa answered, finally meeting his gaze. Biting her lip. “Unless you wanted me to switch?”

“No, no. Fuck no.” Sweet Pea’s answer tumbled out in a rush. Alyssa laughed softly, managing a little smile. “In that case, we should probably get started. This is a pretty long list. Oh, while I’m thinking about it.. We’re trying to avoid my shitty eyesight, red hair and skin that burns at even a hint of sunlight.” she muttered, glancing over at him.

Sweet Pea caught himself doing it again, getting caught up in her eyes. Staring like an idiot. He nodded. “Okay, since we’re going there, Cherry. We’re trying to roll with the hopes that this kid doesn’t knock their fucking heads off every time they walk through a door.”

“I mean, it’s better than climbing shelves and counters to reach things your idiot brother puts out of your reach deliberately, but hey.. Go off I guess.” she teased gently, smiling at him. Holding out the dice.

“You roll first. I am.. Not good at dice.” Alyssa pleaded. Sweet Pea chuckled and shook his head. “Oh no. No, you first.” he smirked at her, he couldn’t resist it.

Alyssa pouted but took the dice and rolled.

“Okay, so.. Doubles..” Alyssa announced when both the dice settled on the side with one dot.

“Twins.” Sweet Pea consulted the list. “We were rolling for a number of offspring just then, right?” he asked.

“They better have given me good drugs.” Alyssa joked, filling in the chart. “I’ll roll for one, you can roll for the other?” she asked. Sweet Pea nodded. Silently hoping to god she hadn’t noticed him staring yet again. He answered in a daze, “Yeah.” as he took the dice to roll again. This time they were rolling for hair color.

“You better roll again, sir. Remember? We’re trying to avoid red hair.” Alyssa nodded to the dice settled on the top of the desk between them.

“Actually, no. I’m not. You are, but I’m not.” Sweet Pea smirked, the smirk growing when he saw her pout a little about it. “Deal with it, Cherry.”

“Well, we’re off to a great start. Can’t even agree on hair color.” Alyssa teased, noting that they’d gotten the red hair trait from her.

She took the dice back. “Come on dark brown and functional brown eyes..” she muttered, smiling when she rolled for Sweet Pea’s eye color, but scowling a little when she managed to roll that yes, they’d have vision trouble. “Poor kids.” she shook her head, laughing. Holding out the dice to him.

Sweet Pea had been in a daze yet again. Luckily, he managed to pull himself out of said daze when she placed the dice in his hand. He rolled. Grumbling when he got himself for the height gene.

The bell rang a few seconds later. Alyssa gathered her books and started for the door. Sweet Pea caught up to her. “Wasn’t so bad.” he mused. Carefully.

Alyssa smiled, shaking her head. “No, it wasn’t.” hiding a laugh as Reggie and Mandy made their way past in a very heated and angry argument. She nudged Sweet Pea, nodding towards them. “Some people should never be allowed to procreate.”

“They really shouldn’t.” Sweet Pea answered, swallowing down a lump as it formed in his throat. Letting his gaze linger for a few seconds. “Hey, if you want.. We can finish this tonight at the Wyrm.”

“You’d be okay with me showing up at the Wyrm.” Alyssa eyed him carefully.

He shrugged. “It’s not any different than all the times you came with Toni.”

“I’ll be there, then. Oh and Pea?” Alyssa turned back to look at him. He chuckled. “What?”

“Your name is coming off the top of the Mortal Kombat leaderboard. Tonight. Better bring your A game, sir.”

He bit back a groan at what she said. There was just something about the look in her eyes just now.. Teasing and playful… that combined with her calling him Sir definitely gave him a reason to need the walk to his next class.

Because he needed to pull himself together. He needed to get his head around everything and more importantly, he needed to really stop and think if he wanted to keep fighting whatever was starting to happen between them.

Because he’d been fighting it since he’d seen her around town for the first time. And he just couldn’t anymore.

Fangs caught up to him. “Didn’t you hear me yellin at you, man?”

“I was thinkin.”

“About?”

“Maybe you were right. About what we were talking about last night?”

Fangs smirked. “You’re gonna go for it?”

“I want to. Doesn’t mean I will. But I can’t keep saying I don’t.. Ya know.. When I do. Because it’s driving me fucking insane, man.”

“Want her?” Fangs filled in the blank, snickering when Sweet Pea gave him a dirty look but nodded. As they made their way into class and took their usual seats in the back, Fangs leaned across the aisle. “For what it’s worth… I think she’s into you, man.”

“Yeah. I doubt that.” Sweet Pea looked at his best friend as if Fangs were losing his mind. He wished that were true. He wanted it to be true. But he doubted that it was.

“You’re blind.” Fangs chuckled, turning his attention to the note Kevin had slipped into his locker. Chuckling and rubbing his chin in thought as he debated on what his response was going to be.

XXX

Practice had just ended. I made my way over to my locker in the girls locker room and I opened the door, thinking I’d grab the clothes I bought to change into after practice. Clothes that were nowhere to be found.

I grumbled to myself, annoyed. A quick glance around the locker room put me onto the fact that Mandy and her little army of skanks were circled up, looking at me. Whispering and laughing. Mandy was bold enough to call out, “Missing something, are we?” as she held up my clothes, laughing… Slinking over to the door that lead into the hallway.

Tossing my clothes right out in the middle.

I turned and glared at her. “You bitch.”

“Aw, are you upset right now? What are you gonna do, Alyssa? Go cry to big brother? Go sic your Serpent trash loverboy on me? I’m so so so scared.” she nudged her friend Kaylie. “I bet she doesn’t do anything. I bet she just sits there and fumes like usual. I’m surprised she had the nerve to call me a bimbo earlier in class if we’re being honest.” Mandy smirked as she said it, glancing at me. Nodding towards the door.

“If you want your clothes, sweetie, they’re right there! All you have to do is go get them…. Unless you’re afraid? Don’t flatter yourself, Alyssa. Nobody wants to see you in your underwear. Absolutely no one.”

I clenched my fists and took a deep breath or two. Mandy and her friends were all staring at me, waiting. Gazing from the hallway, where my clothes were piled up, back to me. Smirking and laughing because they were starting to think Mandy was right. That I wasn’t going to do anything. That I’d just turn and ignore Mandy’s attempts to goad me into a confrontation and shove down all my anger like I usually did.

,, she wants you to turn the other cheek like you’ve been doing until lately. If you do that, you’re basically telling her she can get away with this crap.” the thought came and rather than shove it out in favor of being the bigger person, I leaned into it.

Because today was not the day and I was not the one.

I stood and walked out into the hallway. Right as the bell to dismiss final class for the day rang and the hallway was starting to flood with students. One of them being Sweet Pea. We locked eyes as I walked past, calmly going to the Riverdale crest on the floor that she’d tossed my jeans in the center of. Bending to pick up my jeans. Sweet Pea’s arm shot out.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, out here like that, Cherry? Have you lost your mind entirely?”

“Nope. I’m getting my fucking clothes. Since Mandy the thundercunt scattered them all over the hallway.”

Sweet Pea growled quietly, his fists clenching and unclenching. He took off his Riverdale polo, holding it out to me, but I shook my head, biting my lip and smirking as I did so. “Oh no. No.. see, if I don’t do something major now, she’s never going to fuck off. So thanks but no. Now put your shirt back on before you get in trouble.”

Sweet Pea eyed me. Shaking his head. I tapped my foot impatiently, holding his gaze. “Sweet Pea… Put the goddamn shirt back on. I know what I’m doing, okay? This is to prove a point.”

“What good is that gonna do when you’re caught by a teacher and you wind up in detention, huh? Take the fucking shirt, Cherry. Take it now.” Sweet Pea used his firmest tone, but I was too angry. It didn’t do anything to me.

“Put the shirt back on, Sweet Pea. Now.” I muttered firmly. A hand on my hip. “Do it. I’m willing to stand here until a teacher spots me if that’s what it’ll take to keep you from doing something that we know might get you expelled.”

“Goddamn it.” Sweet Pea gave up arguing, finally realizing I wasn’t going to budge one way or the other. Not until I’d done what I came out to do. And the less he argued with me, the quicker I could get it done and get back in the locker room.

I spotted my favorite Motley Crue crop tee near the girls bathroom. And totally zoned out, so angry that I was actually shaking a little, I paid not one single bit of attention to the fact that a few people were staring.

I was too pissed to be embarrassed and that is probably a good thing. Because if I wasn’t so pissed, I’d have wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole.

I spotted the red and black plaid shirt I’d been wearing over my tee shirt hanging over the rim of a garbage can and I calmly walked over, plucking it out. With my clothing gathered, I went to step back in the locker room, ignoring the one or two whistles and the Ghoulie who felt the need to comment something so gross that I debated heavily on walking over and twisting his dick in my hand until it twisted off.

I flung the door of the locker room open wide and when I did, it connected with Mandy’s face because she’d been standing there. Probably recording the whole thing to post on her socials later.

Because that’s totally something girls like her do for funsies.

She stumbled back, holding her nose as blood began to slowly pool between her fingers. And before she had a chance to react, I was slamming her against the lockers immediately to the right of the door. My forearm against her throat to hold her there.

“You’re going to erase whatever video you just recorded. Don’t fucking test me, you diseased thundercunt. Erase the video. I know you recorded the whole thing.”

“You little bitch, you broke my nose!” Mandy slammed her head into mine, causing me to drop my forearm from her throat and grab for my own nose. Once she was free, she threw a punch. I ducked it and came up swinging. Connecting with her jaw. And before she could even recover from the punch, I was grabbing her by the hair and shoving her head at the locker door.

She charged at me, knocking me on the ground. I grabbed hold of her face, trying to go for her eyes and once she was trying to block that, I flipped it and reversed it so that I was straddling her hips now. The first thing I did was grab hold of her phone and throw it on the floor a few feet away as hard as I could. When she tried to reach up and choke me, I choked her back and she rolled us so that she was on top this time. Fists were flying again. The benches that ran the middle of the locker room were being moved out of place. Lockers were being hit as we made full use of the floor in the girls locker room.

Her friends tried to rush over to help but Veronica and Cheryl stopped them from getting close as Cheryl called out to me, “Get her! It’s about time!” and she told Veronica firmly, “Lock the doors. Nobody gets in or out. Amanda has had this coming for a while now.”

Veronica nodded, locking the door to the locker room. Betty held off Mandy’s friends with Veronica and Cheryl’s help. Determined to let the fight keep going. At least until one of us or the other calmed down.

I stood up, pulling Mandy off the floor. Pulling her towards the showers.

Turning on the water full blast and as cold as I could get it. Shoving her into it and as soon as I had her cornered, I leaned down to her level. Grabbing hold of her white and yellow Riverdale Vixens ringer that now had blood spattered on the front of it.

“You better hope that video got erased, Mandy, or this is just a preview of what your life’s gonna be like, honey.” I said it quietly and calmly. “And if you think for even a second about messing with me again… Remember this.”

“You’re actually insane.. You crazy little bitch. Just wait. I’ll get back at you. This isn’t over, Alyssa.”

“Oh, I’m counting on that, you diseased mega skank.” I shrugged as I walked away from her, facing her. My middle finger up in the air. “You might want to clean yourself up, Amanda. We can’t have anybody thinking we were up to no good in here, now can we?” I challenged.

A teacher was pounding on the door and it started to click into place what I’d just done. I sank down on the nearest bench, panting to catch my breath. Trying to calm down. Letting the anger and everything subside.

Cheryl made her way over, Veronica and Betty in tow. Stopping to unlock the door as they went. Whatever Cheryl told the teacher had the teacher satisfied that nobody was up to anything bad in the locker room and leaving and once they had, Cheryl shut the door quickly. Leaning against it with her hand over her heart. “Whew. That was so close.”

Veronica sank down on the bench in front of me, the first aid kit we kept in the locker room open and across her lap.

“This is going to hurt, Al. I’m sorry in advance.” Veronica winced as she started to apply hydrogen peroxide to the few scratches on the side of my face and cheek.

All I could do was nod. Because I was still coming down from the adrenaline.

“If she messes with you again after this, she’s clearly an idiot.” Veronica spoke up after a few seconds. I shrugged. “Oh, she’s not done with me yet. But it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t stop it before all hell broke loose.” Cheryl spoke up, wincing as I looked up at her and laughed it off, shaking my head. Trying to flinch away from Veronica as she came at my face with a cold and damp washcloth to clean the blood away from underneath my nose.

“Cheryl, trust me. I’m fine. I can handle myself. You guys were trying to count the votes, it’s not a big deal. Besides. I needed to stand up for myself.”

“I know, but if I’d been in here, I could’ve stopped her.” Cheryl butted in, gently but firmly.

“I should’ve stood up to her way before now, if I’m being honest. Take the high road, they said. It’s better in the long run, they said. That’s a load.” I grumbled.

“Ouch fuck ouch hey.. Can you wipe less painfully?” I pleaded with Veronica.

She grimaced and muttered an apology.

“I can’t wait to hear about this crap later. Or try explaining it to my dad and Archie. Archie’s going to take the chance to spin this so that somehow, it’s anybody’s fault but mine.” I grumbled, shaking my head, disgusted at the thought.

“He’s just being a protective brother.”

“I wish sometimes he’d not do that.. So much. Did you know that he just stood back and let Reggie and Sweet Pea fight earlier when the team went to cut everyone loose?”

“I’m still angry with my father about that.” Veronica muttered, adding a second later, “But, that’s typical of him, though. He’s not happy until he owns everything and everyone.” Veronica fumed, shaking her head with a disgusted look on her face.

I bit my lip, nodding. Keeping my own opinions on the subject to myself. Because it’s not like she can control what her parents choose to do. And she tries to be better, she tries to make it so that there’s a very clear and obvious difference between herself and her parents, but with parents like hers, you wind up having to get your hands dirty sooner or later.

I’d just finished getting dressed and stepped into the hallway, finding Sweet Pea leaning against the wall.

“What the fuck was going on in there?”

I shrugged.

Mandy walked past with her friends and Sweet Pea looked from Mandy back at me. Grimacing as he caught sight of my face. Stepping closer.

“Did she do that?” he eyed me in concern. Tensing up a little. The soft edge to his voice had my heart fluttering a little, but as fast as that started, I was quick to shove it down. Reminding myself that Sweet Pea only tolerated me because we happened to share two friends in common. His hand raised, gingerly touching at a bruise forming along my jaw. Hissing as he shook his head. I tensed a little because now that the adrenaline was completely gone and the shock I’d been in or whatever for the duration of my fight was wearing off too and now everything just plain hurt.

“Mhm.” I answered quietly, swallowing down a lump as it formed in my throat. Gazing up at him. I blinked when my body brushed up against his, not aware that I’d stepped closer to him.

“Did you do.. All that?” he nodded to where she stood at her locker in the hallway, glaring daggers in my direction, her friends flocking her.

“I hope you’re prepared to pay for Amanda’s broken nose, you crazy witch.” Kaylie called out calmly. “Her mother is going to make sure you pay for the fight.”

Mandy smirked at me. “I can’t wait to tell my mother everything. I’m almost as excited to talk to her about the way you’ve been bullying me as I am to post the video of you wandering the hallway of our high school in underwear.”

I tensed, taking a step away from Sweet Pea and forward in the hallway. Sweet Pea reached out quickly, grabbing me up and away by my hips. Putting me behind him as he eyed Mandy calmly. “You really don’t value your life at all, do ya?”

Mandy eyed him, gulping.

“It’s a simple question, Mandy.” Sweet Pea shrugged, smirking a little.

“What are you gonna do, Serpent? I can make one call and have you arrested.”

I growled from behind Sweet Pea. “Try it you fucking gremlin. Try it.” I threatened.

“Enough.” Sweet Pea’s tone was calm and firm as he looked from Mandy to me, folding his arms over his chest. I went quiet and Mandy’s lip quivered a little as she gazed up at him.

“What you’re gonna do, Mandy… Erase whatever you recorded. If you don’t, you’re really not going to like what happens.” Sweet Pea stepped closer to her, giving a menacing scowl as he towered over her.

Just the way he said it had a slow and lazy heat settling in the pit of my stomach. Had my breath catching in my throat because of just the tone he took… You’d think he was my actual boyfriend. He was acting more like one than any of my past boyfriends, Reggie included.

If I were more hopeful, I’d almost want to say he meant every word of the threat he made to Mandy.

Mandy hurried off and Sweet Pea turned, settling his gaze on me. Eyeing my nose critically and grimacing. “It’s not broken. What the hell happened?”

“She was practically leaning against the damn door so when I threw it open, it hit her in the nose. She went to swing at me, I threw her against a locker… Then it kind of spiralled out of control from there?” I shuffled my feet, going fidgety under his intent and concerned gaze.

“Who locked the door?” Sweet Pea asked, admitting a few seconds later, “I tried the handle when I saw Mrs. Ellis heading for the locker room. I heard all the yelling and every time somebody hit a locker or the wall, so I figured something was going on in there… I was gonna warn you...”

“Oh, that was Cheryl. She wasn’t going to risk anybody going to get a teacher to come in and break it up.” I gave a soft laugh, shaking my head. I nodded towards the doors at the end of the empty hallway.

“We should probably get going. The last place I want to be locked in overnight is here.”

“Yeah, I was waiting on Fangs, but apparently, he ditched me.” Sweet Pea shrugged. I raised a brow, because that wasn’t like Fangs. Usually if he said he’d be somewhere, he was there.

“I haven’t seen him since lunch, come to think of it.” I spoke up after a few seconds.

“He probably bailed. He’s probably already at the Wyrm.” Sweet Pea shrugged. I nodded, agreeing.

“So.. ready?” I asked. Trying my best not to get my hopes up. Preparing myself for Sweet Pea to suggest going to my dad’s or to Pops instead of going to the Wyrm. Shocked more than a little bit when Sweet Pea smirked and nodded.

“Yeah. Just so you know, Cherry… If you think for one second you’re wiping me off the leaderboard, not gonna happen.” he chuckled as we walked down the hall and he paused to push the door open for me.

About halfway to the Wyrm, my hand brushed against his. I glanced down, biting my lip. Debating heavily on just grabbing hold of his hand.

Because friends held hands, right?

I mean.. I held hands with Cheryl and Toni all the time.

Except deep down, I knew that was not even remotely the real motive behind holding Sweet Pea’s hand. The simplest truth was that I just… Couldn’t stop myself from doing something. Anything.

I took a deep breath and carefully, I slipped my hand into his. Gazing down for a second or two after I’d done it. Shocked I’d actually had the damn nerve to go through with it. Even more shocked when Sweet Pea didn’t immediately scowl, tense up or let go.

Instead, his fingers laced with mine.

And like this morning, neither of us really mentioned it. But that tension that seemed to hang around us like a heavy cloud recently?

It got so very much thicker.

He pushed open the door to the Wyrm and I stepped under his arm, into the building. He stepped in behind me, nodding to a table with two chairs towards the back. Where it was a little quieter.

“We should be able to get everything finished back there, Cherry.”

I nodded. My eyes darted around. Finding it odd that the same people staring at me currently never even gave me a second look when I wandered in with Toni and Fangs.

I shoved the thought out of my head.

We were just two classmates.. Two friends.. Meeting to finish an assignment for school.

We made our way to the back of the bar, taking a seat at the table. At one point, while we were deep in rolling and making notes for the chart we’d been given and for our report we’d have to write later, FP wandered past.

“That’s good kid. Nice to see you actually takin school seriously. Don’t give Alyssa a hard time, buddy.” he flashed Sweet Pea a smirk and Sweet Pea nodded. Smirking right back at FP.

“People are looking at us like you’re doing something wrong.” I leaned in and whispered when I just couldn’t take the way people were watching like a hawk anymore and it had me curious.

Sweet Pea glanced up and around, shrugging. “ Most of the older guys think it’s impossible to be friends with a girl and won’t bring one around unless they’re involved with her. Is it bothering you?” he gazed at me, that concerned look in his eyes again.

I shook my head profusely. Taking a sip of the wild cherry pepsi that FP had brought over to us to drink earlier and wanting to kick myself for even mentioning it, because I had a feeling I’d probably just made things awkward.

And that was the very thing I was trying to avoid.

We finally finished rolling for genetic traits and I finished up the sketch I’d been doing.

“Okay. If you laugh I swear to God.” I gazed at Sweet Pea nervously as I shoved the sketch pad across the table to him.

“Did you just do this?” he asked, staring at the sketch.

“Yeah. I’m not the best.”

I reached for the sketch pad. But not before it flipped a few pages and settled on a drawing I’d done of Sweet Pea when he hadn’t been paying attention one day while we were all hanging out in here, playing the Mortal Kombat arcade game.

Lucky for me, he saw that I’d done sketches of Toni and Cheryl sharing a Twizzler at lunch one day and Fangs working on his motorcycle in the parking lot before school one morning. When he got to the sketch I’d done of Reggie, he scowled a little.

“I wanted to burn that too but Cheryl convinced me if I ever decided to actually get off my ass and apply to art school after I’m done with Riverdale High, it’d be good for my portfolio. She literally tried to throw herself on the fire to stop me from burning all the sketches I did of Reggie.” I laughed quietly, wincing as I shook my head.

Every time I caught myself thinking about the fact that I’d been taken in by a charming smirk and flirtatious mannerisms and the charisma of one Reggie Mantle, it only reminded me how gullible I was. How soft-hearted.

You’d think that getting involved with a guy who all but stalked me and tried to spread nasty rumors and suggestive pictures of me that I never should’ve sent in the first place when I finally got smart enough to break it off with him before leaving Chicago would be enough to teach me.

Apparently, it wasn’t. Because I came here and what’d I do? I got involved with Reggie Mantle. And now, that was over and I was starting to feel things for Sweet Pea, a guy who probably only tolerated me because we shared friends in common.

That was another huge reason I was not keen on opening myself up too quickly all over again. I might not always make the best choices, but even I had the common sense to know that I needed time… I needed to bounce back. Figure things out on my own.

And all of that was another huge reason I was determined to keep whatever I was starting to feel for Sweet Pea close to the vest. The more I could keep whatever I felt at bay, the better off I’d be. Because realistically, I just didn’t dare hope.

I was starting to realize I just couldn’t trust my own judgement when it came to emotional things. Until I got to a place where I could, I was doing the best thing I could for me.

Something tells me this is going to be so much harder than I could ever imagine though.

The door to the bar flew open and Toni barged in. Over to the table Sweet Pea and I were sitting at.

“Have you talked to Cheryl at all this afternoon?” Toni asked in a rush.

“I tried to call her earlier but it kept going to voicemail. And we were just saying earlier that Fangs is MIA too…” I rubbed my temples. I had the sneaking suspicion that I knew exactly what might have happened to Cheryl, because not so long ago, her mother had kind of caught wind of her relationship with Toni. And her mother was not thrilled.

I grumbled, digging in my jeans pocket for my phone.

It clicked for Toni that Sweet Pea and I had come to the Wyrm. Alone. Without her or Fangs present to act as a buffer.

“You’re here together, fuck. I’m sorry. I’m just.. I’m freaking out right now.” Toni glanced from me to Sweet Pea and then back again. “Are you two finally going to stop being snipey assholes and get along though?”

Sweet Pea shrugged, giving me a teasing smirk. “Maybe she’s not so bad… For a princess.”

“Maybe you’re not so bad either. For a giant grumpy asshole.” I teased right back. Feeling my cheeks burn hot just a little at the look in his eyes and the way he put emphasis on the word princess.

Because no, that did not help my current ongoing mental dilemma at all.

“You’re staying with me until we figure out this situation with Cheryl, right?” I asked Toni. Toni nodded, stealing a sip of my Pepsi. “I swear to God, if her mother’s hurt her…”

“If her mother’s done anything to her, she’s going to answer to both of us. I’ve got your back, Topaz.” I spoke up, giving Toni a reassuring look. I tried to call Cheryl again on my phone, but it went straight to voicemail too. I frowned at it, putting my phone away.

Toni eyed me and then glanced in Sweet Pea’s direction as if she were indicating that she wanted details later tonight when we were back at my dad’s place. Mouthing to me, “Well?”

I shook my head, shrugging. “We were just finishing that thing for Biology.” I mouthed. Glancing at my cell phone. I was not getting a good feeling at all. And the more Cheryl’s phone rang and went to voicemail, the more that bad feeling grew.

“It’s going to voice. He’s normally here already if he ditches.” Sweet Pea swore to himself and shook his head.

“Wait.. he got called to the office right after lunch.” Toni spoke up. Swearing when she tried to call Cheryl yet again and the call went to Cheryl’s voicemail as it had just done for me. She shoved her phone into her pocket and took a few deep breaths. “Maybe she just went to sit with her Nana. They haven’t let her out of the hospital yet, I don’t think.. That has to be it.”

The door flew open again and this time, my brother and Jughead were rushing in. Stopping to talk to a few of the other Serpents we went to school with who were present. Whatever Jughead told them had them rushing out the door in a hurry. I eyed them but quickly turned my attention back to the situation at hand involving our two missing friends. Trying to retrack the events of the day. I remembered it then, Fangs had been called to the office during lunch and after that, I hadn’t seen him again.

We had the second to last class of the day together. He hadn’t been there.

“You guys have to get out of here. Get everyone out of here and out of this side of town now. They’re about to raid the Wyrm.” Jughead and my brother rushed over to us. My brother let out a ragged breath when he caught sight of me. “Thank god. There you are. I was worried when I couldn’t find you. What the hell happened to your face, pixie?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later.. You guys. Explain. What the fuck do you mean we have to get out of here? Archie, what’s going on? What have you let that jackass talk you into this time?”

“Nothing! It’s something I overheard, okay, look. I know you’re still pissed at me. But you guys need to get everyone together and get the hell off of this side of town, okay? Just trust me. Do it. I told Dad what was going on and he said that we could put people up until FP figured something out.”

Sweet Pea eyed my brother with a wary look. I eyed him too, wondering briefly if this were some kind of a trick that Hiram put him up to. Wondering how the hell he managed to get Jughead in on it if it were.

“What the hell is going on tonight?” I wondered aloud after a few seconds.Not even ten seconds later, one of the older bikers wandered in, getting a hold of FP, taking him to the back to talk.

“Are you makin this up, Andrews? Is this a trap? Because to me, that’s what it feels like.” Sweet Pea tensed. His fists clenched at his side and my brother shook his head. “No. This is me. Trying to make up for all of the other stuff, okay? Look. Hiram set the whole thing up this afternoon after he got done arranging to have Fangs arrested earlier.”

“He’s not lying. I just went down the the station, man. Fangs is there. They’re holding him for questioning and they won’t say a fucking word about why he’s even there. And while I was there, I heard some of the guys in the break room joking about how fun it was going to be, cracking some Serpent skulls tonight. If we leave now, they have nothing. They don’t get any evidence, they can’t make any arrests.” Jughead explained impatiently. “We have to go. We needed to be gone ten minutes ago, if you want the honest fucking truth, Pea.”

“Dad really said he’d let them hide in our house. You’re not lying.” I questioned my brother, gazing up at him. Standing taller. “Because I swear to God, Archie, if this is a trap.. If any more of my friends get arrested because you have a burning desire to be Hiram Lodge’s long lost son or whatever the fuck it is you want to accomplish.”

My brother cut me off. “I’ve been working undercover. I wasn’t supposed to tell you anything. I wasn’t supposed to say anything to anyone, actually. Getting close to Hiram is… for the greater good.”

“Uh huh.You mean like the actual greater good or the oh look, pops bought me a ferrari for christmas because I’m a good little fucking stooge greater good?” I questioned, a brow raised and my hand on my hip.

“Al, we can finish this argument once your friends have their shit and they’re heading back to our side of town. I’ll gladly finish this discussion then. Dad sent me and Jugs to get everyone away from here.”

“I don’t know..”

Sweet Pea cleared his throat. “I’m not saying I trust you, Andrews. But I’m willing to take what Jugs says with a grain of salt. He is one of us now.”

Toni and I exchanged a surprised look, but then everyone started to rush around and gather their things as quick as they could. And as soon as we were all out in the alley behind the Wyrm, the first of at least six police cars came flying by, blue lights flashing and sirens blazing.

I let out a ragged breath and glanced up at Sweet Pea. When I caught on to the fact that he was both angry and silently freaking out, I reached down, gently grabbing hold of his pinkie finger with mine. Giving him a weak smile when I glanced up at him.

He didn’t smile back, but as we rounded the corner and promptly had to find another alley to go down to hide because another cop car rushed past, I felt him squeeze my pinkie finger with his more than a time or two.

Almost the second we crossed over into the North Side, I realized just how eerie and quiet it was.

Too quiet.

Nobody was saying anything. We were all too tired from running. Hiding.

At one point, Toni reached down and grabbed the hand of mine closest to her, giving it a squeeze as she muttered into my ear quietly, “I hope Cheryl is okay.”

“We’ll get up to my room and figure something out, okay?” I promised in a whisper.

And on the other side of me, I felt Sweet Pea’s hand lazily close on mine. A squeeze so light that I honestly didn’t think he even realized he’d done it.

It took a few seconds, but I dared to glance down. Eyes fixing on the way his hand engulfed mine. His fingers laced between my fingers. Before I could stop myself, I dragged my thumb knuckle lazily over his palm. Gave his hand a similar light squeeze as I glanced up at Toni to pretend I wasn’t aware I’d done it.

Once we were all in my dad’s house, FP showed up. Explaining that he was currently trying to figure out somewhere everyone could go. Letting people who’d gotten separated from family during the whole scramble to leave whether their people made it and were incoming or at another place that FP had taken the other half of South Side to keep the cops from finding everyone at once or whether they’d been caught and were going to need bail.

My dad and Archie took over the kitchen with the help of FP and Jughead, making food for everyone. Once everyone else was set up and occupied and there wasn’t anything else I could do to help my dad and my brother, I went to go find Toni and we slipped out of the chaos downstairs, retreating up to my room.

The second the door was closed behind me, Toni spoke up.

“You don’t think Penelope killed her.”

“Toni, no. But I do think that she’s keeping her somewhere. Remember Cheryl telling us that she needed to tell us something important? I think that whatever she was going to tell us is the reason we can’t find her right now. Her mother makes Joan Crawford look like a fucking saint.” I fell back across my bed and stared at the ceiling. Sitting up a few minutes later.

“Hey, that girl in my English class… her mom’s a nurse. I can ask if Cheryl’s been there to sit with her nana.”

I dug my phone out and texted the girl in question. Frowning when the girl answered that she’d been there earlier, but she’d left to go home.

“She’s not there. Okay, I do not like the way this feels.”

“Me either.”

We sat in silence on my bed for a few minutes, trying to figure out a way to find out what happened to Cheryl. As I tried to think of places she might have gone or hidden at, I texted my mom about Fangs being kept at the station.

She texted me back, asking if I knew why they were holding him and I texted her back that we were trying to figure out why and we were hoping she’d call and scare someone into giving some form of an answer.

I frowned when she called a few minutes later and explained that she hadn’t been able to get anything. She asked what the hell was going on in town tonight, telling me that while she’d been talking to the secretary at the station, she’d heard a lot of yelling and angry chanting from outside. And a lot of whispering and hushed laughing.

I told her about the raid and I told her about Midge’s body being found during the school play. I told her that people had been starting rumors for whatever reason that Fangs might have done it, because Midge and Fangs had something going on.

“You’re staying out of trouble though, right? With your brother going through whatever it is he’s going through, sweetie…”

“About that.. I kind of got into a fight. But none of the teachers know. Nobody saw it.”

My mom sighed and I frowned, tensing up a little at a possible lecture incoming. When it started, I sat there with the phone away from my ear, letting her go on for a few minutes before I explained calmly, “I’m not going to stand back and be a doormat either, mom. And since Archie is doing all this and showing his entire ass, I need to take care of my own problems. Mandy was a problem, I solved it. End of discussion.”

“First of all, don’t take that tone with me. Second of all.. Does your father know? Did you tell him any of what you just told me?”

“No. I only told you what I just did to get you off my back. Mom.. I’m.. I love you and I’m sorry. I can’t be perfect and I can’t be something I’m not.”

“I’m not asking you to be perfect. I’m asking you to stay out of trouble.”

“It doesn’t feel like that though.”

We exchanged tense goodnights and goodbyes and I ended the call, tossing my phone at the top of my vanity as I flopped back against my bed.

“Ever feel like the black sheep?” I wondered aloud. Feeling bad about it after I said it, because I realized that Toni literally only had the Serpents, Cheryl and her grandfather and me. I palmed my face and shook my head, ashamed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I get it. My grandpa and I argue a lot.” Toni gave me a sympathetic nod.

I shook my head at myself. “I swear, my mom and I are constantly butting heads. It’s part of the reason I never understood why she insisted I was the one to go to Chicago with her and that Archie stay here in Riverdale with Dad.”

“Probably because trust me. There are some things that men are not equipped to deal with.”

“I mean, true, but…”

Toni laughed quietly. Stretching a little. “Maybe Cheryl just wanted some space. I haven’t found anything out from anyone else.”

“All I know is what she told me before she left practice. She was going to see her Nana Rose again.”

“Yeah, she told me that too. But she’s been jumpy all day. Like she’s scared.”

“I noticed too.” I agreed, nodding. “Maybe she’ll be at school tomorrow. If she’s not, we’ll ditch and try to find answers or something.”

“Yeah. I’m too wiped to think anymore right now and if I do, I’m going to drive myself insane. And if I do that, we both know I’m going to go off and do something fucking dumb.” Toni admitted as she pulled back the cover on the other side of my bed.

“You’re cool with sharing a bed? I mean, all things considered.”

“Please,I know you have a very specific type of red-head and it ain’t me... Besides. You’re my friend. I’m not making you sleep on the floor.” I answered, gathering my things because I figured that everyone who was planning to shower tonight had probably done so already.

I made my way down the hall, reaching for the handle to the bathroom door right as Sweet Pea pulled it open from the other side. With a towel wrapped around his waist. I spun around, immediately going red in the face. “Shit, fuck. I’m sorry, I.. I thought everyone had already gotten a shower and gone to sleep?” I called out without daring to turn around and face him.

He cleared his throat. “Nah. I told Archie to go before me. I’m the one staying in your house. Didn’t want to intrude.” he tapped my shoulder when he’d pulled on his jeans and I turned around. He took a step forward to come out the door at the same time that I took a step forward to go in the door. We wound up body to body in the hallway. I gazed up at him, licking my lips.

He grimaced as his eyes settled on the bruise on my jaw from the fight earlier in the afternoon. “Did you show your dad? That looks a lot worse now.” His voice took on a concerned tone.

I shook my head. “Nope. I already had more than enough lecturing about it from my mom earlier when I called to get her to see if she could find out anything about why Fangs was arrested and being held.”

Sweet Pea raised a hand, dragging it through damp hair. A droplet of water trickled down his forehead. Then dropped onto his nose, rolling down it’s slope. When it dripped down and rolled down his lips, my eyes were glued to it’s movement. He cleared his throat, repeating the question that he’d asked me I apparently hadn’t heard. “Did she find out anything?”

“Just that they’re holding him until they have to let him go. If I had to guess though, it’s because people were saying crap about him and Midge having a thing going..” I muttered quietly. Shuffling my feet against worn wooden floorboards.

“At least you tried.” he muttered quietly, gazing down at me. His eyes darted to my bruises and scrapes from my fight with Mandy earlier and he cleared his throat. “You should go tell your dad what happened. Just in case she is dumb enough to upload anything she might have recorded and we can’t coerce her into taking it down on our own.”

“If she does, she does. Won’t be the first time something like that happened.” I blurted it out, going quiet as soon as I realized I had. Tensing a little because I really hoped that he didn’t pay it any attention. Or that he didn’t push to know what I meant.I wasn’t even sure why it slipped out. I fidgeted a little, nervous. He eyed me, but luckily, he didn’t ask for further details.

The last thing I wanted right now was for him to know exactly how stupid and pathetic I was and still am. If he knew I’d been dumb enough to sext Dave and Dave had turned and used the photos against me or any of the other shit that I got into in Chicago… I pushed the intrusive thought out of my head.

“Cherry?” Sweet Pea muttered quietly. His eyes fixing on mine. Hints of a smirk playing at his lips. As quickly as the thought came ,, he has literally no idea just how devastatingly handsome he really is, I swear to God.” I hurried to shove it out. Bury it way down deep. Try to ignore the way I felt the slightest flutter of my heart. Or the way my throat seemed to close up when I realized that we were migrating closer to each other and that his hand was brushing against my hip just barely.

“Yeah, Pea?” I finally managed to pull myself together enough to get out the words. Gazing right back up at him, falling in right over my head and virtually powerless to stop it from happening.

“Night.” he yawned as he stepped out of the doorway, making his way back downstairs. From the sound of it, my brother had dragged out one of his old gaming systems. And apparently, he and a few other Serpents were sitting up, playing some long forgotten game. I made my way away from where I’d been peering down the stairs just to make sure that things weren’t tense between everyone and I turned, slipping into the bathroom.

Turning on the hot water and leaning against the wall, letting it cascade down onto my body from above. Just… trying to process the entire craziness of the day so far.

By the time I slipped into my side of the bed, Toni was already asleep, wearing my black velvet eye mask over her eyes. I found one of my other ones and slipped it down over my eyes.

And it seemed like in literally no time, I was out like a light. Exhausted from everything that had gone down in one day.

#sweetpea fanfiction #sweetpea imagine #sweetpea fanfic #sweetpea imagines #sweetpea fic #my writing ; sweetpea #my fanfiction ; sweetpea #my fics ; sweetpea

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lunarr-rrose · 4 years ago

Video

Property Management with Jason Marcordes - Fernando Angelucci

https://u109893.h.reiblackbook.com/generic11/the-storage-stud/property-management-with-jason-marcordes-fernando-angelucci/

On this episode of What is the Deal, the real estate podcast that gives answers, we’ll be covering what is the deal with property managers. The job title is self-explanatory, but there is more to know. Joining me to open the doors on property management is our good friend and colleague, Jason Marcordes.

Jason Marcordes, Founder, Managing Broker, Property Manager of Landmark Property Management of Chicago is a full service real estate brokerage dedicated to going above and beyond for our clients.

We handle everything real estate related – including buying/selling, leasing, property management, rehabbing, construction, development, real estate investments, and receivership.

We offer services such as finding and placing a resident, coordinating maintenance, rent collection, resident renewals, managing vendor relationships, ensuring compliance with local regulations, and more…

In this episode:

Who are you and what do you do?

What does a day in the life of a property manager look like?

What are the requirements in Illinois to become a property manager?

Why should a real estate investor use a property manager?

What are the decisions someone will be faced when choosing a property manager?

How would you advise someone to choose the right property manager?

What is the most common mistake you see real estate investors make when it comes to property managers?

On the flip side, what is the most common mistake you see property managers make?

What advice would you give a real estate investor looking to buy their first rental property?

What advice would you give someone considering starting a property management company?

Fernando O. Angelucci is Founder and President of Titan Wealth Group. He also leads the firm’s finance and acquisitions departments. Fernando Angelucci and Steven Wear founded Titan Wealth Group in 2015, and under his leadership, the firm’s revenue has grown over 100% year over year. Today,

Find out more at

https://www.TheStorageStud.com

https://titanwealthgroup.com/

Listen to our Podcast:

https://thestoragestud.podbean.com/e/property-management-with-jason-marcordes-fernando-angelucci/

----------------------------------------------------------

Fernando Angelucci (00:02): Hello everybody. Welcome to this episode of What's The Deal, real estate podcast that gives answers. Today we'll be covering what's the deal with property managers. The job title is somewhat self-explanatory, but there is more to know. So joining me today to open the doors on Property Management is my good friend and colleague Jason, Marcordes, hey Jason.

Jason Marcordes (00:37): Fernando. Doing great, thanks for having me.

Fernando Angelucci (00:42): Yeah. So thanks for coming up. Let's jump right into it. So who are you? And what do you do? Give us a little history on yourself.

Jason Marcordes (00:50): Absolutely. Like you said, Jason Marcordes I'm with Landmark Property Management. We are a company that specializes in residential property management in the Chicago land area.

Fernando Angelucci (01:03): Okay. how did you get into that? How'd you get into real estate?

Jason Marcordes (01:07): Yeah, absolutely. I actually got into it by accident, went to school to be a teacher. While I was in school, I went to work for my uncle's Property Management company and I fell in love with real estate. So, that's how I got my start. I've been in Property Management for about 12 years now, worked for a couple of different companies and then just decided that you know, wanted to start my own company

Fernando Angelucci (01:32): Now, Property Management, isn't the only real estate activity you do. What else do you do in the real estate world?

Jason Marcordes (01:39): What else do we do? In addition to Property Management, I've done some flips, some buying holds wholesaling as well as, you know.

Fernando Angelucci (01:50): You had some Airbnb's as well, didn't you?

Jason Marcordes (01:52): I did, Yeah. That's tunny, had a handful of Airbnb's, so short-term rentals, that was interesting.

Fernando Angelucci (02:00): And then you also, didn't you do some management for self storage at one point too?

Jason Marcordes (02:04): Yeah. So that's how I got my start as commercial Property Management. So did some distressed real commercial real estate, did some self storage, did some receivership, I've done just about everything in property management, So.

Fernando Angelucci (02:21): What is a receivership?

Jason Marcordes (02:23): Receivership is typically when the bank is going to foreclose on a particular property, that process takes a long time. So the bank it asks the court to appoint a receiver and basically that receiver steps in and appoints a property manager to take care of that asset. So when the bank actually takes it back, whether it be a year or two later, it still has value.

Fernando Angelucci (02:55): Okay, It's interesting what exact

Jason Marcordes (02:57): Yeah. they do you know, they oversee the property management, the maintenance, all that stuff. And then they report back to the court throughout the proceedings, just to make sure that, that particular borrower isn't kind of running that property into the ground.

Fernando Angelucci (03:15): Right. Great, So I know when you first started the Property Management Company, it was all you. But just like our companies, you have started implementing traction and building up your company, delegating and then elevating. So I have a, kind of a two-part question for you here when you first started off, what did a day in the life of a property manager look like originally? And then once you implemented traction started hiring and delegating, what does your days look like now?

Jason Marcordes (03:47): That's a fantastic question. Two totally different answers, a day in a life of a property manager as like a solo property manager. It's usually number one your weeks or seven days a week. and you work way too much. You're doing pretty much everything or Jack of all trades. You're doing the accounting, the advertising, the rent collection, tenant communication, any type of legal work as far as evictions. You're doing a little bit of everything and it obviously depends on the time of the month and the season. Most of our rentals happen in the summer. Obviously the rent collection happens toward the beginning of the month, but as like you said, we did implement EOS. It has been a complete game changer. So as you start to grow, as you start to delegate, you can kind of divvy up those responsibilities and delegate. So right now for my company, I'm primarily the sales guy. So I talked to all the potential clients and then I also am the COO. So I basically make sure that everything's kind of running in the, running smooth and headed in the right direction.

Fernando Angelucci (05:00): So you look over the departmental heads make sure they're getting their stuff done, and the reporting back to you.

Jason Marcordes (05:04): Yep, absolutely.

Fernando Angelucci (05:04): You're kind of in charge of big relationships, bringing new clients in big vendors things like that nature, right?

Jason Marcordes (05:14): Yeah, that's right. And it's a small company, so we, I basically, I hold a couple of seats the two biggest is like the visionary and the integrator. And I'm kind of, I got a foot in each. so as we grow, I will step out of that integrator role and just be the visionary for the company.

Fernando Angelucci (05:36): So speaking of your trajectory through Property Management, I know it certain times in your life, you had a lot of doors under management on a more of a commercial scale. And then now you kind of, when you went back and started your own company, you started with a few doors and then started leveling up again. So tell me, where were you at your peak as far as the amount of doors you were managing and then where are you now and where do you see yourself going over the next 12 to 24 months?

Jason Marcordes (06:05): Yeah when I was working for other companies, I was kinda in the corporate world and I had about 2000 doors underneath me. I had a full team of course different departments, all that good stuff. With my own company, we've been, I want to say three 25ish, maybe 350 at one point, we had a big fund out of California, that we ended up parting ways with. So we're actually smaller now, but again, just part of the journey realizing that, quantity or top-line thinking is not always the best.

Fernando Angelucci (06:42): Right. I know we've had some conversations offline about firing clients, the ones that the 20% that take up 80% of your time and how keeping those types of people around is a counter-intuitive when you're trying to grow a large company. So that kind of brings me to my next question, which is you know, in Illinois, which, where we're located right now, no Joe Blow off the street can just become a property manager. Right? So what are the requirements? What are the training required to get that designation to become a property manager in Illinois?

Jason Marcordes (07:18): That's correct, Yeah. So in other States it may not be necessarily the same, but in Illinois, if you're going to manage other people's property, you do need to go and get your broker's license. There are some activities in Property Management that you don't actually needed to do, but should be very limited. So as a rule of thumb, if anybody's looking for a property manager, they're gonna want to make sure that they are licensed they're a licensed broker in Illinois.

Fernando Angelucci (07:46): Okay. That makes sense. When, so the way that we met was because I had a couple of properties that were in rougher parts of town, or I need somebody with expertise. Even though I am a broker myself, I know you had the expertise, so you took over those properties and did really well with those. We actually just sold off the, I think the last couple that we had at a pretty significant profit. So that was great. And thank you very much for helping me out with that. I always, I really loved working with you because, I was able to trust you. I just gave you a spending limit. And then I said, I don't want to hear from you, Jason, just get it done, which worked out really well for me. I think it worked out well for you too. I don't think I was too much of an overbearing client, right?

Jason Marcordes (08:30): No, it was perfect. And honestly, that's how we prefer it to be. And about 90% of our clients are out of state or out of country. So we try to do that. We have a spending threshold, and we just, you know, we don't call you every time the sink starts to leak or, you know, some small repair like that.

Fernando Angelucci (08:51): Yeah. So that brings me to my next question, which is, you know, why should a real estate investor consider getting a property manager or maybe look at that question a different way who should consider being, getting a property manager and who should not?

Jason Marcordes (09:07): That is a great question. I guess it depends on your investing philosophy, kind of where you're at in life. If you have the time and you have the temperament, then by all means, you know, you can manage the property yourself, if you are, let's just say you're a working professional, accountant, attorney, whatever, software engineer and you are picking up your first property. But you have a full-time job, then I highly suggest getting a property manager. So it just depends on you and your availability and kind of, I guess your experience as well, dealing with tenants or rentals,

Fernando Angelucci (09:48): Let's touch on some of those. So the first one you mentioned is time requirements. Let's just use, let's say not your super beginner investor, but let's say somebody like me when I originally came to you a couple of years ago, and I had something like, I think nine doors in Illinois, total, let's actually, let's reduce it down. Let's say somebody with three doors, three single family homes, what type of time is required for managing, let's say three single family homes in a let's call it a C maybe C plus area.

Jason Marcordes (10:25): That's gonna, that's a tough question to answer. And it's going to depend on a lot of different variables. I mean, that's one of the reasons you hire a property manager is just because, you know, from an ROI standpoint, it makes sense. So although it's more expensive than doing it yourself, when you factor in your time, it's going to be a lot more expensive. So us as property managers, you know, we can leverage our team, we can leverage our experience, our software, so we can do what you're going to have to do in a fraction of that time.

Fernando Angelucci (10:58): And then you also touched on temperament. So what do you mean by that? Can you expand upon it?

Jason Marcordes (11:04): Yeah, I mean, you know, at the end of the day it's a people business, you know, we, as property managers have to talk to our clients, which are the owners. We also have to talk to the tenants you know, and the tenants you know, sometimes they run into issues and you have to be ready to deal with that. You have to have empathy. You need to, you know, understand where they're coming from and what's happening. And at the end of the day, you need to take care of business and, and take care of your tenants.

Fernando Angelucci (11:38): Yeah. What, how does that time or temperament requirement change based off of the asset grade or class? Like, for example, I know you manage a lot of properties on the Northside of Chicago and really nice neighborhoods, very high rents. But then you also manage some properties and more working class neighborhoods, lower rents, lower purchase prices. Give me kind of the dichotomy here between the two types of assets.

Jason Marcordes (12:03): Yeah, it's tough to make, it's not a hundred percent, but we definitely do see the lower the rent. It's usually the higher, the I guess higher the amount of hours that you have to put into the property on a monthly basis. So you know, that may be for a couple reasons, if the property is not renting for a lot, it may not be the nicest property. So you're going to have a lot more repairs, a lot more things to take care of. And then, you know, we also see, you know, correlation between credit scores. If you're not paying your bills, if in your credit is not great. Then there's a higher likelihood of us having to chase that rent, work out payment plans, do stuff like that.

Fernando Angelucci (12:57): So with the credit score, and I guess this is kind of a broader question, what type of screening requirements do you prefer to have for tenants? And I know that some investors will actually overlay their own requirements, either stricter or less strict on top of what you require, but let's say it's your own property that you're managing? What are you usually looking for from a tenant?

Jason Marcordes (13:22): It depends on the property. Every property is going to be different because every property is in a particular area. It's going to demand a different tenant and different criteria. So kind of like you were saying Northside versus Southside, you know, we see different credit scores. You know, it's tough in some of these neighborhoods to get a 700 credit score, but on in other neighborhoods, that's actually fairly common. So that's on a, on a per property basis. I mean, if you're talking real estate that I own, I want to see 650 plus three times the rent amount in income. No evictions, no collections.

Fernando Angelucci (14:06): Okay. And when you say three times income versus rent, is that gross income?

Jason Marcordes (14:13): Ideally it's a net.Yeah

Fernando Angelucci (14:14): Net.

Jason Marcordes (14:14): Yeah.

Fernando Angelucci (14:16): Okay. So I remember when I was going through the process of finding property managers, I actually called and interviewed close to 25 property managers. I remember when I first called you.

Jason Marcordes (14:30): Not surprised me.

Fernando Angelucci (14:31): Yeah. When I first called you. I think I asked you, I told you upfront. I was like, Hey, Jason, I think I'm going to need an hour of your time today. I'm surprised he didn't hang up the phone on me. There was a lot of people that did hang up the phone on me when I told them that. So I appreciate you sticking with me. With that being said, what are some of the decisions an investor would be faced when choosing a Property Manager? What are the types of questions they should be asking?

Jason Marcordes (14:57): So there's a, there's a ton. I mean, we can dive into this. Do you, you know, do you want a big company or a small company? you know, what are the pros and cons of each that's something that you have to decide? I mean, I we are a smaller company. I prefer smaller companies, but you know, at some point it seems like it's really tough for property managers to scale and to, to keep the same level of customer service. So I see that in some Property Management companies around a thousand units some less or some more that are really good understand, you know, how to scale and how to still provide a quality service. So do you want the big or small company? Do you want to be hands-off or hands-on as a landlord?

Jason Marcordes (15:46): And then the biggest one, in my opinion, is are you shopping on quality or are you shopping on price? Are you just looking for the cheapest company out there, or you looking for the highest quality company may not be the cheapest, but in the long run, if they give you the highest quality, they may be able to save you some substantial money over the long-term. If they can just prevent, you know, one busted pipe, over the long haul, or just rent your unit one month quicker than the cheaper property management company, it really could save you thousands over, you know, over the term of the agreement.

Fernando Angelucci (16:27): Yeah. And that's one of the things that I always tell new buy and hold investors is, you know, what really kills your profit is vacancy and turnover. So let's use an example of a $2,000 a month rental, if all of a sudden that rental goes vacant and it takes three months for you to re-rent it, let's say it's in the middle of winter and a harsh like polar vortex, you know, and you have to do say $4,000 in turnover, costs, paint and carpet, and maybe a couple of repairs. And that's 10 grand potential that you just lost on an investment that you're, you know, you're bringing in 2000 bucks a month that could meet close to two to three years worth of profit that you've lost because of those vacancies and those turnover costs. So I definitely hear what you're saying. I know I've, I've gone through the gambit before we found you. I had a, one of those low fee property managers, and it ended up costing me probably close to $25,000 over the long run until we finally switched over to you so that I completely understand and agree with what you're saying, as far as you get what you pay for. Do you want high quality, or do you want just to nickel and dime on fees and end up losing money in the long run? Right. Penny wise, pound foolish, I believe. Is that the phrase? So I, man, you're hitting home with that.

Jason Marcordes (17:53): Yeah. And I mean, it's the same, like with any other important profession, like, are you going to choose the cheapest doctor? You know, if you have to have surgery or dentist or attorney, like you want the best representation, this is a rental property. I mean, for most people, it's a huge chunk of their investment portfolio. You know, a lot of people, this is their retirement.

Fernando Angelucci (18:16): Right.

Jason Marcordes (18:16): So do you want to trust that with anybody the guy who's willing to do it for next to nothing? Or do you want a reputable company to, you know, to look after that for you?

Fernando Angelucci (18:27): Yeah. Speaking of, you know, reputable companies and what you're looking for, I know you've dealt with tons of investors. You've also dealt with tons of property managers. I see all the time when we talk, you know, offline, how you're getting clients from other property managers that were not doing their job well. So this is kind of a two-part question. Number one, what is the most common mistakes that you see real estate investors make when they choose property managers? And then the second part is what are the most common mistakes you see when someone is finally actually chose a property manager and starts that relationship that day to day or that month to month communication?

Jason Marcordes (19:07): Okay. So the first part what are the mistakes you see when selecting a property manager, that is going to be a lack of due diligence. So they're not doing the due diligence they need to, they're not Googling it. They're not reading the reviews. They're not looking at BiggerPockets, they're not asking the right questions. So I'm huge on that, I even tell the people that are calling us, I say, Hey, you know, go look at our reviews, read them go on BiggerPockets, ask around you know, that's important. Don't just go with the first person you come across. On the the second question once you start that relationship, the, one of the, you know, the biggest mistakes that Property Management companies make. I see a couple, you know, number one, lack of communication and transparency.

Jason Marcordes (20:10): So, you know, we hear all the time from potential clients. You know, the reason they're coming to us is they, you know, they emailed their property manager, you know, three times over the last two weeks and they still haven't heard back, lack of transparency that they don't know what's going on at the property. They can't get answers. The second thing is just the inability to take care of maintenance items. A lot of times when we take over the property, tenants will say, Hey, I've been trying to get this done for two, three, four weeks, and you know, they, the Property Management company just never responded to it never took care of business. And then the last thing see quite often is, just the inability to rent units and bring down that vacancy. You know, we've talked to, clients, that are coming from Property Management companies that tried to rent their unit for two, three, four, five, sometimes six months, and no activity. And then you pull up, you know, you pull up the listing and there's like one picture or no pictures, you know, it looks like crap, you know, there's no description, stuff like that.

Fernando Angelucci (21:20): Uh-huh. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. When, you know, half of the work is finding the property manager, but then the other half is actually buying the right property. So what advice would you give to a real estate investor looking to buy their first rental property?

Jason Marcordes (21:38): So my, you know, I got a ton of advice, I love to advise new investors. First thing is get your finances right. So pay off your debt, credit card debt, automobile debt, whatever it is, pay it off, start saving some money. Once you get your finances right, you know, develop your game plan. What do you want to do? Do you want to do flips? Do you want to do buy and hold? Do you want to do short-term rentals? So figure out the game plan. Doesn't have to be anything extravagant. Write little one-page business plan, write out your goals. And then the next thing is build the team. You're going to need a good broker, good property manager, good contractor, good attorney you know, people like that.

Fernando Angelucci (22:23): A good wholesaler.

Jason Marcordes (22:24): A great wholesaler, absolutely, that's one of the most important. So build that team, and then the last thing is really execute like you, I mean, we've all been on BP. We've all, you know, we've all listened to podcasts like everybody and their brother wants to be a real estate investor and you could research it for years. I mean, you can never run out of stuff, content to take in, but at the end of the day, you gotta pull the trigger sometime. And for me, you know, I am on the Jesus, I'm drawing a blank. I'm on the.

Fernando Angelucci (22:57): Analysis paralysis side?

Jason Marcordes (23:00): The House Hacker Bandwagon.

Fernando Angelucci (23:02): Okay.

Jason Marcordes (23:02): I love it. I mean, it just makes sense. If you can buy a property for three and a half percent down, a fixed rate, 30 year mortgage like that is that's money. So for your first deal to minimize your risk, you might as well do you know, do the house hack.

Fernando Angelucci (23:20): And you've done a few house hacks now. Right? Tell us about those.

Jason Marcordes (23:24): Yeah. I mean, like I said, it's a no brainer. I mean, especially if you're a broker. That's like another hack in itself. So if you hear if you're a broker, you get a two and a half percent commission for buying that property. So you go FHA, you have to put three and a half percent down, you get your two and a half a percent commission. You're down 1%. You know, from there you can, you know, you could do different things. You can ask for a closing credit, you can ask for a higher, tax probation. You can actually get paid to purchase that property.

Fernando Angelucci (24:03): And you've done this now, I think what two or three times, right? I mean, you're on your, the multi-family that you own now is this your third house hack?

Jason Marcordes (24:12): So as far as house hack, this is my second.

Fernando Angelucci (24:15): Second. Okay.

Jason Marcordes (24:16): Yeah.

Fernando Angelucci (24:17): Yeah. Tell us a little bit about the deal that you're in right now. I believe it's what a four or five flat something like. that?

Jason Marcordes (24:23): Yeah, it's a four flat. So with the house hack it's gotta be one to four, you know, anything five pluses is a commercial, so different loan product. But yeah, I mean, I did this one exactly like you're talking about, or we're talking about, I guess, you know, three and a half percent down, I got a two and a half percent commission. I got a 3% closing credit and I jacked up the tax probations, my lender, actually, he, you know, we had issues with the loan because we couldn't, we were actually getting paid to buy the property. And with FHA, they don't really appreciate that. So we actually had to take some of that extra money and pay down our mortgage, rate or interest rates. So, you know, I locked in a 2.99 when it was, you know, that was a hell of a deal. Now, you know, when you didn't think rates could go much lower, they did lower them. So you're seeing that pretty regularly, but man, 30 year fixed rate at 2.99, like it's incredible.

Fernando Angelucci (25:25): Right. Well, that's good. So kind of switching gears here now this is teacher competition, but what advice would you give someone considering maybe starting their own Property Management Company?

Jason Marcordes (25:46): Don't do it? No. what advice would I give people that are starting their own company? Number one, be very selective of your clients, or the properties you're taking on. You know.

Fernando Angelucci (26:01): What do you mean by that?

Jason Marcordes (26:02): Well, what I did, which is very common in any industry, you know, when you first start your business, any business is good business. Property Management is not like a singular transaction. It's really a relationship. So, you are going to be married to that person, whether it be, you know, six months, a year, 10 years, whatever. So you want to make sure that you vet that person and that is somebody you feel comfortable with, you know, working with over the long haul for the next couple of years, same thing with properties. You want to make sure that you feel comfortable going in that neighborhood, dealing with that property. It's not like a problem property, always going to be you're always going to get maintenance calls or you can't rent it to, you know, a qualified tenant. So.

Fernando Angelucci (26:49): Uh-huh.

Jason Marcordes (26:49): That's my number one thing is like, be selective. It's your company, you have to design it the way you see, you know, your goals, kind of fitting that issue. So the other thing is, you know, charge what you're worth again. Ua common thing for new businesses is to give discounts, with Property Management, it's not a single transaction. So you make that discount on the front end, you're going to be dealing with that for a long time, going forward. And Property Management is not high margin business, although every one of our clients apparently thinks that way, but it's, it's not, it's not a high margin business, so it's easy to break even, or even lose money if you start giving out discounts. So.

Fernando Angelucci (27:38): Yeah.

Jason Marcordes (27:38): You know, if you're a high quality property manager, you should charge like it.

Fernando Angelucci (27:45): I like that, charge what you're worth, I mean.

Jason Marcordes (27:47): Yeah.

Fernando Angelucci (27:47): In the last few companies that we started in the very beginning, we were kind of hit with that as well, charging them a little bit less, just trying to gain the business. And just like you said, what you find out is not all business is good business.

Jason Marcordes (28:00): Yep.

Fernando Angelucci (28:00): Especially once it becomes a longer-term relationship. You want somebody to, you know, really appreciate what you do and see the value. You know, we always talk about leading with value and coming from an abundance mindset perspective. And it, once you start doing those things, it takes a while to kind of unwind the damage that you did from, you know, giving out discounts and taking losses on certain things, just because you thought that the top line growth was worth it at the sacrifice of the bottom line. So totally makes a lot of sense.

Jason Marcordes (28:39): Absolutely. I had a major shift last year from top line and bottom line thinking. And man, it has had an incredible change in our business at really in my life, my level of stress. I mean I highly suggest you know, getting into that mindset.

Fernando Angelucci (28:58): Well, so how can people reach you? And is there anything that they should know before they try and contact you?

Jason Marcordes (29:06): Not really. I'm an open book, so I love to help people. You know, if you have any questions, need help with anything, need a referral. I have tons of referrals, lenders, contractors, whatever you need. You know, feel free to shoot me a text and we can set up a time to talk.

Fernando Angelucci (29:23): What's your what's your website address?

Jason Marcordes (29:27): You can go to www.ChicagosPropertyManagement.com, that's Chicago with an S. www.ChicagosPropertyManagement.com. You could also reach out there, there's a contact us form.

Fernando Angelucci (29:37): Cool. Well, Jason, I really appreciate you coming on. It's always good to see you, my friend.

Jason Marcordes (29:42): Yeah, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Fernando Angelucci (29:44): Talk to you soon.

Jason Marcordes (29:46): All right. Take care.

#real estate #real estate investing #the storage stud #storage stud #fernando angelucci #self storage #alternative funds

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healthtech102 · 4 years ago

Text

After Hours Medical Advice

As you know, and certain have in mind every day, nursing is a career that carries a huge amount of duty. Be sure to guard your self, especially when asked for advice in an informal setting.

No, Uncle Bob has cornered you within the hallway after Christmas dinner. In trying back, I realize that not as soon as during this experience did anyone INVITE me into a discussion of what could be best for my mother.

She spent two nights in the hospital beneath remark, with IV hydration. Now, admittedly, she has varying levels of dementia even on a good day, but she reached the point of getting severe hallucinations and paranoia.

Having a whole remedy group looking out for you and preparing a discharge plan that is going to set you up for achievement. 90 days of therapy allows for the affected person to work via many of the above mentioned considerations and we treat it using an American Society of Addiction Medicine dimensional assessment.

The general size of keep in remedy that is really helpful is often ninety days. Health safety and prevention is the key to staying healthy for the long haul. From easy blood checks and vaccines now to mammograms and colonoscopies later, your doctor might help you turn into the healthiest model of you.

Although it might appear to be a problem now, one hour in a physician’s workplace now can add years of health to your life. When we have well being questions and considerations, it’s easy to show to good ol’ WebMD for answers. And even though the Internet can be a great well being useful resource, reading about your health points online can usually lead to pointless fear and fear. Remember, you might be unique and deserve a customized evaluation.

So instead of browsing the web for a generic, or even worse, incorrect answer, talk to a doctor in particular person to get the total image—and to cease dropping sleep over your questions (see reason number 5!). While I’ll be the primary to confess that a trip to the gynecologist’s workplace isn’t my favourite way to spend a day, annual pelvic exams are a important a part of any girl’s preventative health care.

Will we have to battle the battle of keyword voids at a grassroots degree, wrangling with the asymmetry of passion by tapping folks to search out these voids and create counter-content material? Do we need to arrange counter-GoFundMe campaigns to pay for ad campaigns that promote real science?

Do not rely on a form’s basic remark that “risks of leaving were discussed with the patient,” he says. That doesn't negate the value of those documents, however they should not be the sum complete of the hospital’s evidence displaying efforts to provide care.

First, the hospital must reconcile any excellent diagnostics, as a result of if any checks had been ordered, the hospital is still liable for checking the results to make certain nothing critical was identified, he says.

Despite our protests, she saved making an attempt to pull out the IV fluid line from her arm and the gizmo , and tugged at her gown. The paper-thin pores and skin on her arms was black and blue from a number of blood attracts. Successful treatment begins with an correct diagnosis, and our experts take the time to get it right.

A team of specialists will listen to your needs and evaluate your condition from each angle to make the very best plan for you. Every year, more than one million individuals come to Mayo Clinic for care.

If witnessed by RN, have them doc the time the patient left in addition to the standing of their IV. If an IV is still in place, first try to contact the affected person after which their emergency contact.

From all the information you've gathered from the Internet and your research, it's time for you to go to your physician with this data and get to know the details. It is important to decide on doctors with whom you're feeling snug.

The level of questioning I got in response to my advice was almost insulting at times. In my head, I advised these callers, “If you trusted me sufficient to name me together with your ailment, why aren’t you trusting my opinion?

Our highly specialized experts are deeply skilled in treating rare and complex circumstances. I actually have been put in this identical position so many times, that I lastly, like you, needed to tell them to contact their supplier or go to the ER/Urgent Care.

I owned a small household follow clinic and some would actually present up there quite than going to their PCP or ER. I do perceive how onerous it is to tell them to go to their PCP’s, but I believe that is the proper motion. We love our family and pals and do not need to see them ill or in ache, however we additionally want them to obtain goal care.

I actually have been practicing as a Nurse and APP for over 15 years now and have found, for me, robust boundaries come with time. You don’t have a look at them as patients, but as whomever they are to you.

YOUR ability to want them to be OK and not be as goal as you'd be with a affected person. Another disagreeable facet effect of trying to assist was the pushback I received.

doctor certification, from the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and checked performance towards historic outcomes from an independent 2015 examine that evaluated several symptom checkers. symptom checker seems as a chatbot that users can work together with by way of an app or web site. When the consumer varieties out their primary symptoms as a quick sentence or phrase, the symptom checker asks questions about possible related signs.

According to the NIH, 30-40% of Americans report having occasional symptoms of insomnia and 10-15% report persistent issue sleeping—with ladies representing nearly all of those affected.

While you could assume that a poor night’s sleep simply means you’ll need an extra cup of espresso in the morning, chronic sleep problems can actually improve the lengthy-time period threat of hypertension, melancholy, and diabetes. treatment medical disclaimer A physician’s visit can help identify attainable underlying causes for your restless nights—and get you the help you should truly get some zzzs.

Does your family have a history of diabetes, excessive cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, or another significant illness? If so, you could be at risk for these conditions, too—and there are likely issues you can do to decrease that danger. A doctor may help you find out and work with you to determine which screening exams you want.

"Casual" could exit the window, if the individual you advise feels you have triggered them harm; together with your recommendation or deeds. State legal guidelines differ greatly and litigation can truly change the legal guidelines as time passes. So as a nursing skilled, even if your action or advice was justifiable, there isn't a safety from being sued . You might prevail and be discovered "not liable" if sued, but by then you'll have gone by way of plenty of wasted time and pointless stress.

They might help detect vaginal infections, together with sexually transmitted ailments , and should often embody a PAP smear for cervical cancer screening. Although you might have heard about some current adjustments to screening recommendations, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force nonetheless wants women between the ages of 21 to 65 to get a Papanicolaou test (a.k.a. PAP smear) a minimum of each three years (or more incessantly when you’ve ever had abnormal results).

The lawsuit claimed that Dr M had failed to recognize the patient’s skull fracture and improperly released him when he was intoxicated, and that the delay in treating the fracture was attributable for approximately half of the affected person’s neurological deficits. Later that day, a hospital radiologist learn the affected person’s x-ray and famous a markedly depressed left parietal cranium fracture.

Or will the tech platforms where that is occuring start to grasp that giving legitimacy to health misinformation by way of high search and social rankings is profoundly dangerous? Getting excessive-quality, fact-based well being information shouldn’t be dependent on the result of SEO video games, or on who has extra assets for pay-to-play content promotion. few hours of a newborn’s life, medical doctors administer a vitamin K shot.

This is as a result of infants are born with out sufficient of the vitamin, and the child wants a boost to prevent any potential bleeding. The documentation also should detail the discussion with the affected person regarding potential risks from leaving AMA, Merkrebs says.

The reasons for refusing additionally may be wide-ranging, every little thing from worries about the price to concern about ache or dying, or dislike of being touched, photographs, surgical procedure, or drugs. Once a affected person is examined beyond triage and exams are ordered, a departure at that time could be classified as left without completing remedy , Klauer notes.

Patients leaving the emergency room too soon “are intentionally putting themselves at extra danger for morbidity and even mortality,” Polevoi stated — a degree echoed by other physicians. Ko stated the column will proceed as long as individuals want to study totally different health subjects. Connect with a medical skilled everytime you need one, 24/7, for customized recommendation and prescription, if deemed necessary.

At the end, the symptom checker identifies possible causes and recommends a course of action, similar to reserving a video consultation with a human physician or going to a hospital. The patient and his family consulted with a plaintiff’s attorney who agreed to take the case. Dr M was shocked to find out that he was being sued for medical malpractice.

Within each of these kinds of AMA, there may be further breakdowns when it comes to why the person is leaving, he notes. The affected person might not want any care of any type, or the refusal could also be extra limited — refusing the particular kind of care being provided, as an example, but still willing to be handled.

That's to not say all of the internet is unhealthy, it is okay to make use of Google for health questions when you use a credible supply and if it prompts you to go to your doctor should you could have considerations. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Author makes no representations or warranties with respect to any Information offered or offered within or via the Site relating to treatment of medical circumstances, motion, or software of treatment.

“When sufferers convey themselves into the ED, they are seen in about 5 minutes by a qualified registered nurse and, on common, are seen by a supplier within 30 minutes of arrival,” Thomas mentioned in a press release.

From 2012 to 2017, the variety of emergency room encounters in Fresno County elevated by nearly ninety five,000, or 37%. At Fresno’s Community Regional Medical Center, about 9% of ER encounters ended with a patient leaving too quickly, greater than 3 times the statewide fee.

If no success, contact the police non-emergently to aid in finding the affected person. In this situation, the patient has not but interacted with a doctor. There isn't much to do here as long as the provider by no means met the patient, if so, they might be in a different category.

There are no known instances the place the ED, or ED Providers, have been sued and located to be at fault or responsible for an end result. We recognized people ages with International Classification of Diseases, 9thRevision prognosis codes for infective endocarditis within the National Inpatient Sample, a representative pattern of United States hospitalizations from January 2010 to September 2015.

We plotted unadjusted quarter-year developments for AMA discharges and used multivariable logistic regression to establish elements associated with AMA discharge among IE hospitalizations, evaluating IDU-IE to non-IDU-IE.

The police were notified, and the patient was taken from jail back to the hospital. At the hospital, he was monitored for a number of hours and then taken to surgical procedure where the depressed fracture fragments have been elevated. However, Mr G ended up suffering a brain injury from the fracture which affected his cognitive talents, and which prevented him from with the ability to hold down a job. The police knowledgeable Dr M that the patient, a 24-yr old named Mr G, had been the perpetrator of an assault and in the process was hit within the head with a blunt object by a bystander.

The police had been called, and found him mendacity on the street, clearly intoxicated and with a bloodied head. They took him to the ED, however Mr G was uncooperative and initially refused any treatment. When most individuals hear these words, they're whispered by an overcoated stranger on the bus or a counterfeit Prada peddler gesturing towards the trunk of a car.

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