Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The rough croaking from my alarm clock awoke me but for once, I wasn’t bothered. Instead of pressing snooze like every other morning, I turned the alarm off and got out of bed; today’s the day. I’ve been spending the past year gathering evidence against one of New York’s biggest businessmen, John Lydon. There’s been many things in my way, ranging from another dickhead officer who still doesn’t believe me, to another one of my biggest cases, the Pontiac Bandit slightly distracting me from this case. Now however, none of that matters. Yesterday one of my sources finally cracked and said there was supposed to a transaction happening during the Lydon Corporation meeting this afternoon. Catching him red-handed would finally close this case for good and it would be a huge win for my precinct.

I got out of bed, maybe a bit too excited, and tripped over the laundry basket by my bedside table. Man, I really have to clean this place, I thought to myself. It’s not like I’d have much to clean anyways, I had a small apartment in one of the less-sketchy parts of Brooklyn luckily, but my bed, “kitchen”, and TV were all in the same closed space.

I walked into the bathroom, feeling the cool tiles under my bare feet. I flicked on the light switch and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked more alert than usual, being able to actually adjust to the light for once. I stepped toward my shower, turning it on and waited for the water to get warmer. I jumped in, letting the warmth spread across my slender yet toned body. I lathered the soap across my body, and new arm tattoo. It was four blocks that formed an abstract cross that I got a week ago after a night out with my brother Zack when we both got a bit tipsy. I smiled remembering what I could of the foggy night.

A few minutes later, I jumped out the shower and brushed my teeth. I rushed to get dressed and grabbed my house keys by the windowsill. As I was about to walk out, my stomach growled. Fuck, I’m hungry. Sighing deeply I walked to my refrigerator grabbing the first thing I saw. My fridge was empty enough, filled only with leftovers and junk food. I grabbed a slightly stale bagel from what seems like days ago. This’ll have to do for now I guess. Putting the cold bagel in my mouth, I walked out and walked down to the subway.

I don’t like being around many people, pretty ironic coming from a New Yorker. The Subway wasn’t so bad, no matter how weird the situation was, no one usually said anything. That’s the beauty of New York, you could be in full drag with glitter balloons and no one would bat an eye. Once my bus came, I entered it, choosing my usual seat as far away from the door as possible. Time passed swiftly after I put my earbuds in listening to a random podcast. Before I knew it, I was at my stop and I tried to rush out the door as fast as possible without looking weird. I probably still looked weird. Bursting through the doors of NYPDs 99th Brooklyn Precinct, I was greeted with an energetic hello in the office.

“Ty guy! My man! What’s up?”

“Hey Brendon” I said with a smile

Brendon was one of the more enthusiastic officers in the office, it was kind of annoying at first but you get used to him after a while. Sometimes I really appreciated and needed his bursts of energy to keep me going in the day.

“Guess who got donutsss” Brendon said in a sing-song voice.

He walked towards the work kitchen while a few of our co-workers (including me) excitedly followed behind. The sweet scent of pastries filled the room and it soon became a bit crowded. I grabbed a donut as quickly as I could and rushed out the chaotic room. Soon, everyone was back at their desk enjoying their donuts. Captain Okonma then entered the room, with a face as stoic as ever.

“Good morning officers, how are your packaged cavities?”

“Hey, Cap, we get you’re allergic to fun and all but you could loosen up a bit.” Brendon snapped jokingly.

“Oh, Officer Urie, I see what you did there. You implied my serious nature as a fun allergy. That’s funny. However it’s untrue, I’ll let you know in the 70s I had many wild nights reading about botany in my apartment; some nights as late as midnight.”

“You seriously need to learn what fun is Captain.”

“I missed out the best part- they’d call me Flower Boy because of my wild nature. Although now that I think about it that might have pertained to my homosexuality.” Captain Okonma continued, deep in thought.

Brendon cleared his throat awkwardly and turned back to his monitor. Captain then walked towards my desk, and I turned to face him.

“So, Joseph, how’s the case going?”

“All good sir, we should be done with most of it by today.”

“Good, good. I assume Urie is accompanying you?”

“As always!” Brendon shouted from his desk.

Captain Okonma hummed in acknowledgement and walked back to his office.

There was later a briefing pertaining the case, telling everyone to be ready for backup of necessary and the high stakes of this case. Admittedly, I wasn’t listening much because the excitement clouded my mind. It wasn’t until I was called to the front to restate the plan that I was brought back to reality.

The time is finally here. My Die Hard moment as Brendon would call it. With bulletproof vests under our suits we entered the police car. We parked outside of Town Hall, where the meeting took place. Brendon kept lookout waiting for John Lydon to arrive. I sat back in the leather chair, feet on dashboard. Then, Brendon hit against the window multiple times, jumping up in a child-like nature as he did so.

“That’s it! That’s our man Joseph!” He slapped my knee which caused me to jump up.

“Ow Brendon.”

“Whatever drama queen your knee doesn’t matter right now.”

I rolled my eyes and exited the car with my head down. Brendon lead the way, getting us seats outside the meeting room. Supposedly, Lydon was supposed to get the drugs after the meeting in the place behind the conference room. We waited roughly an hour, and then the first people started trickling out. A man holding a large briefcase nervously looking around walked towards behind the room.

“That’s our guy.” I whispered to Brendon.

He nodded in understanding,
“I’ll follow him, keep tabs on John.”

He walked behind the suspicious man, keeping enough space between them so he wouldn’t seem suspicious. Then, John Lydon himself walked out the large oak doors. Getting up swiftly, I followed him as well. Brendon was several meters away from the two, pretending to be getting a drink of water. His eyes met mine as he saw Lydon enter as well. I reached my belt, getting prepared to get out my gun while Brendon mirrored my movements.

“I thought you said this place was empty Lydon” The man with a briefcase said tightly.

“Usually is, who cares about those two, the blokes are oblivious.” John whispered back.

The other man huffed under his breath.

“Hey, who cares about them, let’s just hurry this up, we’ll look suspicious if we take too long.” Lydon said.

The man opened the briefcase, and sure enough, loads of packages containing cocaine filled the case.

Brendon lunged first, getting the dealer by his arms and twisting it behind his back. The man winced in pain as he dropped his case. Lydon tried to make a run for it yet I kicked behind his kneecap and got him on the ground.

“NYPD! Hands where I can see them!” Brendon shouted.

“Gosh, I never get tire of saying that.” Brendon said smiling.

I smiled back, handcuffing Lydon as Brenson did the same with briefcase man. We brought them to the car along with all the evidence. People had shocked faces as they looked in our direction which only fueled Brendon more.

“Yeah! You see this piece of shit? We caught him!” He shouted at a bystander.

“Urie, tune it down.”

Brendon shrugged slightly and smiled sheepishly.

Back at the office, they were immediately put into interrogation. I anxiously waited outside the interrogation room waiting to finally receive a confession. Instead, Captain Okonma walked out with a face that actually showed an emotion- disappointment.

“Joseph, we can’t arrest Lydon.”

The room around me melted into one. My knees felt shakey as I understood what he said. A year's worth of work, all down the drain.

“What?!” I screamed.

Captain Okonma sighed,
“I understand your disappointment, but Lydon has some serious intel.”

“What’s more important than cocaine dealing!?”

“We have it’s source, and I feel you’ll be intrigued.”

Tyler listened intently, waiting for an excuse good enough to interrupt all his hard work.

“The Dunelli's seem to be involved with this case.”

The Dunelli’s were like the Sopranos of real life Brooklyn, being associated with crimes like drug trade, mass robberies, and murder. It is believed that they immigrated from Italy in the 20th Century. Their family mafia has been around for more than 70 years, surfacing the NYPD case files in the late 1940s. Many people have claimed to be a part of the infamous clan however there’s never conclusive evidence. Some juveniles do arrive sharing the surname but their crimes are never large enough to interrogate or persecute them. Many detectives make it a career-long dream to catch one of the Dunelli’s for good, yet none have been successful.

Tyler’s eyes widened slightly, “The Dunelli's!?”

“Yes, John claims to have gotten the drugs from someone in the Dunelli family.”

“Well, did you investigate the man we caught? I highly doubt the Dunelli’s would do something this sloppy, especially with John Lydon, a man of so much power.”

“Well you’re not wrong, and we tried, but he refuses to speak. His fingerprints are going through the system as we speak though. If John’s claims prove to be true, we’ll begin to bring Federal Agents into this case.”

“What? So first you take away my criminal, and now you’re giving away the entire case?”

“Let me finish Detective Joseph, you’d be able to be the primary for the case.”

“I’d be working with the feds?”

“More than that- undercover.”

“I’d be undercover?!” Tyler was ecstatic now, one of his goals as a detective was to go undercover, even before he was hired into the force.

“Yes, but don’t get too excited, as I said there’s still a possibility the FBI doesn’t need to interfere.”

Right after Captain Okonma spoke, John began slamming his handcuffed hands against the table, “Can a man get a smoke in here?”

Captain’s face showed how annoyed he was by Lydon’s interruption. Pressing the mic button, he said, “We have a strict no-smoking policy for the interrogation room Mr. Lydon.”

“Of course you do.” He leaned back into his chair in defeat, whistling a quiet tune.

“Sooo, what are we going to do about him?” I asked Captain Okonma

“If he holds up his end of the deal, leading us to the Dunelli's, we have no other choice than to let him go.”

I sighed, in almost any other circumstance, I’d be extremely upset, but getting to be the primary for a mafia case- the Dunelli’s out of all of them, was an even greater opportunity

“But, Officer Joseph, you must know, part of your undercover identity would require you to be temporarily ‘fired’. I suspect that the Dunelli’s would greatly appreciate a man who used to be on the force to be on their side, to give them some intel.”

“I’d still be getting paid right?” I said in all seriousness, it’s pretty expensive to live in New York after all.

Captain Okonma chuckled softly, “If you’re lucky, you may receive a raise for the duration of this case.”

Our small talk continued for about ten more minutes, until Patrick, our forensics detective came into the room. Patrick’s white coat was ruffled at the bottom and his strawberry-red hair was blown all over his face- messy as always, with bulky black glasses falling to the tip of his nose.

“Guys- he’s the real deal. His fingerprints came back as Michael Dunelli. He was only in our system for shoplifting back in ‘08 and the rest of his record is clean. According to our files his aunt Laura Dunelli was the one who picked him up from the station.”

“Good working Detective Stump, you’re excused now.” Captain Okonma said.

Patrick rushed a breathy, “Thank you sir.” and left the room swiftly.

“So is this a lead?” I questioned.

“Basically, this means that John is right and we have our green-light to assign you to the undercover mission.” He replied.

“What do we do now Captain?”

“You- Detective Joseph, will do nothing. I’ll lock Michael up, get as much information out of John as possible, and alert most of the nine-nine of your departure. All I ask of you is to get a good night’s rest Tyler, you have a big day ahead of you. Report at the Major Crimes unit downstairs tomorrow and we’ll discuss this in further detail.”

“Okay, thank you sir, good night.” I said exiting the interrogation room and heard a faint, “Good night.” Behind me as I closed the door shut.

Chapter Text

The familiar yet uncomfortable croaking sound awoke me once again. Why do I wake up so early? I thought to myself. Turning my alarm off and lazily getting out of bed, I went to the bathroom to get ready.

I’d be as excited as last morning, maybe (definitely) even more if I hadn’t let my anxiety get the best of me last night. I stayed up until 3am worrying about the pressures of being undercover, especially around such an intimidating group. What if I blew my cover? What if they don’t like me and I can’t even get close to them? What if they do like me? I’m not ready to lie for a long time, it could take years . Can I even make that much of a commitment? Would it be worth the pay? Those ruthless people could kill me in a heartbeat, and no one would know. Thoughts like that overwhelmed my mind and I couldn’t focus until I forced myself to sleep. I’m not ready.

I tried to focus solely on preparing for the day but I kept getting distracted. My thoughts continued clouding me from performing basic tasks. I attempted to take a cold shower to wake me out of the dazed state I was in but all it did was make me uncomfortable.

The nervousness continued to boil inside when I walked out to go to work and on the subway ride there. I kept my head down, blasting music in my ears to distract me and avoid human interaction. The earbuds seemed successful for avoiding conversation but not as a self-distraction. My mind continued to race the entire ride and my way off, I tripped over the exit door onto the cold pavement outside.

“Bro- you alright?” A man said over me

I looked up to the source of the voice. A man with greasy black hair and a five o’clock shadow stood above me. He was smirking slightly, and I noticed he had very sharp teeth and a mischievous smile.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” I finally replied.

He held his hand out to help me up. I realized he was at the same stop as mine in front of the police station.

“Good, my name’s Pete.” The man-- Pete said, holding his hand out for me to shake.

I shook his outstretched hand, “Tyler.” I replied.

“So, you’re a detective?” He questioned.

“Uh-- yeah, I’ve been working with the Nine-Nine since I got of police camp five years ago.”

Luckily, Pete didn’t make me do anymore talking and began rambling on about his life before he transferred to this precinct. He was apparently a cop from Indiana who transferred here because he got promoted recently and wanted to experience something new.

“Well Brooklyn is something alright, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”  I said as we entered the elevator to the office.

Pete smiled a bit and laughed softly like he was thinking of something else, “Yeah, I think so too.”

I didn’t question his odd response and the elevator door opened to the Detective’s Office. Captain Okonma was by Brendon’s desk, probably having another random banter about something stupid and off-topic. When I walked to my desk, I could hear I was right.

“Look Captain, I’m not saying your taste in music is shit, but your taste in music is shit.” I could hear Brendon stating matter-of-factly.

“What do you know about music Detective Urie?” Captain retorted.

“I know enough to know that your music sucks.” Brendon said pouting slightly.

“Why should I care about the opinion from a man who has children’s toys on his desk?”  Captain questioned, gesturing towards all of Brendon’s “Collectables”.

“Listen, you can insult my messiness, work ethic, tendency to be late for work--”

“Brendon, there’s literally no way that statement can end with you sounding good.” Ryan interrupted.

“ Babeeee , you’re supposed to have my back.” Brendon whined.

Ryan rolled his eyes, but he still smiled at Brendon’s immaturity.

“Are the mornings here always like that?” Pete whispered to me.

“Oh yeah, it’s not a Nine-Nine morning without Brendon arguing with Captain.” I answered.

Pete laughed and Captain finally noticed our entrance.

“Ah, Joseph I see you’ve befriended Detective Wentz.”

“Yeah, met him on the subway this morning.” I said, purposely leaving out the part of me falling.

“Well, welcome to our precinct, your desk is over by Detective Stump’s.” Captain said pointing at Patrick, who was now looking up at the sound of his name. His brown eyes were open wide like a deer caught in headlights, with a blush creeping up his neck, which also had a hickey on it. Pete seemed to have a similar face of shock, but he was better at hiding it. Man, today is weird , but I’m not going to question anything, I thought to myself.

“As for you Joseph, I want you in my office.” Captain said.

I shook my head and followed him in, sitting down in front of his desk. He explained that two FBI agents would be coming in later on today to help me with the case for things like rules and the overall plan. The entire time he talked I only shook my head, not in the mood to talk. As I was about to leave, Captain Okonma stopped me on my way out.

“Tyler, you know you don’t have to take the case if you don’t want to right?” He said sincerely.

“Yeah I know Cap’ , I can handle it, just a bit anxious I suppose.”

“There’s always professional help in the behavioral health department if you need someone to talk to.”

“I know, I know, I’m fine I promise, thanks though.”

“You’ll do great Joseph, I’m sure of it.” Captain said.

I smiled at him as a thank you and exited the office.

A few hours later, two guys came in. I assumed they were civilians until I noticed their FBI jackets. These two are my help? One guy had his long brunette hair parted in the middle, with his neck and both of his forearms covered in tattoos that probably continued upwards under his jacket. He looked like some grunge greaser that recently discovered hip-hop. His partner was a few inches shorter and had more of a grunge vampire appeal to him. His dark hair curled on top of his head with shaved sides. He had very sharp jaw features and a serious look on his face. Another thing to note was that they were holding hands.

“Is there a uh, Detective Joseph around here?” One of them called out.

“Over here.” I rose my hand and the couple came over to my desk.

“Hey, I’m Agent Rutherford, and this is my partner-- in more ways than one, Agent Way.” He smiled to the man to his left, “We’re the heads of the Bureau’s Mafia Task Force.”

Then, the other guy-- Agent Way spoke up, “Yeah man we’re here to help you, we won’t get in your way .” He laughed at his own pun while Agent Rutherford rolled his eyes and playfully slapped Agent Way.

“We’re gonna prepare you for being undercover, what to do, what you shouldn’t do, things like that.”

The two of them happened to be pretty funny surprisingly, and we all got along amazingly. After they briefed me on the plan, I felt way less anxious. It was fairly simple, I’d go to the bar by their alleged meeting restaurant tonight, pretending to be drinking away the stress of being fired. Hopefully, one of the Dunelli’s would be there and I could charm my way into the mob. Now all I had to do was actually do it.

-

-

-

I sat in the uncomfortable leather stool, listening to the classic rock they had on in the background. There was also a football game on the small flat screen above the bartending table but I didn’t really pay attention to it. The bar felt almost completely isolated, with only a few men in the booths behind me chattering quietly and the bartender in front of me. The smell of beer and old sweat filled my nose but I tried my best to ignore it. I ordered a shot of whisky and took it down almost immediately, this was going to be a long night, what if they never show? What if they already know about m--

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the entrance bell. I looked towards the front door and two guys that looked around my age entered the bar.

“ Ehi, Giovanni, your favorite troublemaker is here.” One of the guys said the bartender in a sing-song tone of voice.

“Jordan, what a surprise.” The bartender-- Giovanni said sarcastically without even turning around to look at the boy-- Jordan.

Jordan had dark curly hair as well as bold, dark eyebrows and a very athletic build. He was wearing a plain dark green T-Shirt with a light jacket and khaki shorts. He seemed to be shorter than the other man behind him who was wearing a red flannel with black skinny jeans and a black hat twisted backwards on his head. I couldn’t clearly see him because he was hiding away behind Jordan. This guy was obviously not as extroverted as him but still seemed familiar with the place.

The two boys were chatting with Giovanni and making comments about the game while he served them both a bottle of beer. I tried to listen in on the conversation but some of it seemed to be in a foreign language, Italian perhaps? I thought to myself. The other man had a softer voice than Jordan and it was pleasant to listen to. He interjected the conversation only a few times but seemed to loosen up more after his second beer.

“Hey, Gio, who’s the guy in black?” Jordan asked.

“Hell if I know, heard him complaining’ ‘bout losin’ his job though, dude was a cop or somethin’.” Giovanni answered.

Now or never Joseph. I turned around to face the three,

“Uh, yeah I was a part of NYPD, name’s Tyler.” I said, holding my hand out to Jordan.

Jordan stared at it for a while, and I began worrying, was I too bold? I should have given this case to the FBI oh g —

And then he shook my hand.

“Nice to meet you, my name’s Jordan Dunelli, and this is my older brother, Joshua.”

I looked at the other man, being able to see him better now. He had almond shaped brown eyes that sparkled like the night sky. His ears had black gauges and he had small brown freckles scattered around his face. His face was kind, innocent and for some reason, he made me smile.

He locked eyes with mine, and returned the smile. His freckled cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he did so— which I found adorable.

“You can call me Josh.” He said, sounding more nervous than he did a few minutes earlier with an awkward wave.

“Well, hello Josh.” His name was my new favorite word as soon as the sounds left my tongue, I just loved the way it filled the room.

“Hi Tyler.” He said, and that’s when I found out my second favorite sound.

Chapter Text

“So, how’d you find this dump?” Josh quipped, but before I could answer, he was then startled by Giovanni’s hand swatting him playfully in the arm.

He was laughing now, hitting Giovanni back, and then Jordan joined in, play wrestling Josh as he tried to attack Giovanni. I sat there, watching a scene that would otherwise make me feel awkward and left out if I weren’t distracted by how Josh looked in this moment, smiling and joking around, too innocent and pure for the world. I watched the way his oak brown eyes crinkled as he laughed, the way his cheeks slowly gained a rosy undertone the more worked up he got, and the way his body awkwardly wiggled in his brother’s grasp. The trio calmed down, and after a few final soft punches in the arm, Josh awkwardly cleared his throat and blushed even more, with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face while he looked at me. Wow, this boy blushes a lot, I smiled to myself. I don’t mind though, it’s adorable.

That thought took me out of my previously dazed state. This boy, this gorgeous boy, was a part of the most cutthroat families in all of the East Coast, he could be a completely different person behind closed doors. But no one that cute can be bad. I continued the internal argument of the brown-haired boy until he finally interrupted my thoughts.

“But uh, seriously— how’d you find this place? I’ve never seen you around here, I think I’d remember a guy like you like you.” Josh said softly.

“A guy like me?” I asked, worried if that were a compliment or the complete opposite.

“Yeah, um, it’s just that you’re— you know, uh, interesting.” Josh replied.

Then, his brother said something I couldn’t make out under his breath that made Giovanni laugh yet Josh glared annoyingly at his brother but then turned back at me with his beautiful, captivating, brown eyes that were waiting for me to speak again.

“Oh, um thanks,” I said with a slight smile, “But to answer your question, I guess I didn’t want to go to my usual bar, y’know seeing my old co-workers and stuff.”  

“Oh yeah, that’s right, you got fired today, sorry about that man, must really suck.” Josh said with sincere intent.

“How’d that happen?” Jordan chimed in with sudden curiosity.

I had to think back to what Agent Way and Rutherford said to me while they were briefing me the plan, that I have to get them to trust that I wasn’t exactly a clean cop.

“Just got caught up with the wrong people y’know?” I said casually.

Jordan laughed abruptly, “Oh I definitely know what you mean man.”

I saw Josh glancing at me with an odd expression written on his face, and suddenly it was harder to breathe. He held the fixation for a few more seconds as I looked back at him, unsure what to do. He then turned back to Giovanni, ordering another beer. This had to be his fourth one tonight, and he’d only been here for nearly an hour. I was slightly relieved that his attention diverted from me, making the evening less uncomfortable however now I felt bored, kind of missing the short conversation I had with Josh.

Then, a green glass bottle appeared in front of me.

“Courtesy of Josh.” Giovanni said, answering my confused expression.

“I noticed your bottle was getting pretty low.” Josh said shakily, carefully watching my mouth as I took the final swig of my previous bottle of beer.

There’s no way this boy’s straight , I thought with a grin. You’re here to work though Tyler, stop trying to get into his pants. I opened the new bottle of beer and drank slowly, maintaining eye contact with Josh as I did so. A little teasing never hurt anyone though.

Josh gawked at me with a sort of strained expression that I enjoyed internally but I acted as if I couldn’t notice. He became an even more prominent shade of red while watching me, before clearing his throat and rushing to excuse himself to the bathroom. I finally put my drink down, and smiled a bit watching the shorter man rush to the restroom.

Then, a vibration in my pocket disturbed my short moment of amusement. I reached for my phone and noticed there was a text from Patrick.

Patrick: Going out for drinks w/ the precinct, u down?

I looked down at the message, debating if I should even answer him right now. I could just ignore it until next morning. I’m way too tipsy to go out for even more drinks, and I’m not really in the mood to just stay at a random bar watching Brendon losing bets that he’ll never remember the next day, even though it was funny having Ryan explain to a hungover Brendon why he was in high heels. But I can’t just ignore him, I’ll just tell Patrick I’m tired, that’s not lying right?

Me: Nah sorry man not in the mood rn, tired :/

I stared at the small screen in my hand as the three blinking dots showed Patrick was replying. He texted back in almost an instant;

Patrick: Aw, party pooper :(

Patrick: Kidding, gn man

Me: Have fun with Pete ;)

Patrick: What?!? How did you know??

Me: I’ve never seen you look at a guy like that, you totally wanna bang haha

Patrick: Whatever, not important, go to sleep loser

Me: Night man :)

By the time I stopped talking to Patrick, Josh came back from the bathroom. I noticed that the collar of his flannel was sort of damp, aw he must’ve gotten so flustered he had to splash cold water on himself.

“Hey uh, Tyler? I was wondering if I could get your number? If you ever wanna get a beer sometime or something. Y’know, it’s fine if you don’t though, like it’s not super serious or whatever, I’m just curious ‘cause you seem like a cool guy and all and I’d love— well not love I’d like to get to know y-”

“Yeah, you can get my number Josh.” I said, interrupting his cute rambling.

This is purely for work purposes, just to get information, nothing more Tyler.

He exhaled deeply, like that was one of the most stressful questions he’s ever asked, but now he was noticeably relieved.

After trading numbers with Josh, I realized the atmosphere of the bar became much more calm as the day began to come to an end.

“I think I should be heading home now, it was nice meeting you Josh.” I said.

Jordan cleared his throat obnoxiously.

I laughed at the gesture, “And you too Jordan— and Giovanni.”

Jordan and Giovanni simply waved while I walked towards the exit yet as I was about to push the door out, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I turned back to look at Josh.

“Um, let me walk you out, it’s not that safe out here.” He said, grinning.

I laughed softly, “Okay.”