#Enclosed Rooftop Bars New York | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fortheloveoffanfic · 4 years

Text

At Twelve

John Wick x Reader (A/n- Felt like I’ve been neglecting our favorite assassin, so here’s this! And happy New Year! Here’s to hoping the 2020 brings everyone health, prosperity and great opportunities)

New York and the holiday season always seemed to have an unspoken connection. Between the parades, several tree-lighting events, the snow and the all round atmosphere, it was the perfect place to spend Christmas. Similarly, it was also a great place to spend New Year’s Eve; some would dare to take boats out for parties, clubs and restaurants came to life with savvy events and of course, there was the most anticipated one of all; the dropping of the ball in Times Square. Needless to say, if one wanted to spend the last month of the year having a wintery good time, New York was the place to be.

Coincidently, New York also happened to be home to two people who often wanted nothing to do with all the holiday cheer. None other than John Wick and Y/n. While it may have been John’s hardened demeanor that had long ago made it him disinterested in the holidays, for Y/n it was something a little closer to home; she had spent much of her short adult life alone, bitter with a family that had turned her into something that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be and thus, seeing everyone else excited about spending the season with their own families always struck a nerve.

“Where’s your bourbon?” John asked, from the kitchen, breaking Y/n out of her thoughts.

“Liquor cabinet, top shelf, bring the tequila while you’re at it,” she yelled back from her spot of the large white sofa, her hands gently stroking the head of John’s dog. It was so rare for them to both to have time off, far less to have it simultaneously, which was why spending the night together seemed fitting. That in addition to the fact that they were both otherwise alone, Y/n had not spoken to her parents; two of the most lethal criminals in the world since she was sixteen, nor did she ever have time date around and John hadn’t found someone since his wife had passed years before. So, when John asked Y/n if she’d be willing to ditch the Continental’s New Years Eve party for the third year in a row to hang out, just two close friends getting drunk and probably watching old movies together, pretending that it was just a regular night, Y/n readily obliged.

Y/n’s desolate abode sat near a lake in a quite, posh community just outside the city. The view from her backyard was spectacular, and normally, when it was her turn to host their dinners for two, they’d keep each other company out there, but considering the chill of the season, that night they were confined to her elegantly dressed living room. “We should do something,” John declared, resigning to the spot next to Y/n, slouching down into the cushions as he handed over a glass along with the tequila. Y/n would never admit it out loud, preferring that most of her feelings were kept under warps, but she liked seeing John like that. Relaxed, and at ease, when he wasn’t dressed in an intimidating suit but worn jeans and a casual sweater, when he’d offer her a rare, subtle smile and let his guard down. They were two things he only did around her and the same could easily be said about Y/n.

“How much of that did you drink in the kitchen?” Y/n cocked an eyebrow, pouring herself a drink, barely wincing when she did a shot without chaser or lime.

“None,” John reared back, scoffing and when Y/n gave him a knowing stare, he corrected, “One, finding the tequila took a while,” he explained and Y/n rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’m serious.”

“About?” She feigned confusion.

“Doing something, tonight. For the past three years, all we do is sit inside, watch T.V and get drunk,” John sipped his drink coolly, observing Y/n’s disinterest in the whole idea of leaving the comfort of her home. “We should change things up this year,” John continued.

“Why would we do that?” Y/n shook her head, “We can do the same things they do out there,” she gestured to the window in making her point, “In here; drink, listen to music and whatever else.”

“It might be nice,” John defended. Growing up an orphan at the Ruska Roma had never really offered much on holidays conventionally spent with family, no cozy dinners shared around a family table or vacations taken with loved ones, nothing. John had heard snippets of Y/n’s childhood though, growing up in a family of criminals might not have been ideal, but he had heard one or two stories about how she used to be close to her father and the things her mother had taught her before they had sent her to the Ruska Roma at the tender age of fifteen. “Didn’t you celebrate with your family?”

Y/n sighed loudly, leaning her head on the back of the couch. John was right, before everything changed, when she was a kid, they did celebrate. It was the one month of the year where they’d be a normal family; her mother taught her things in the kitchen and on New Years Eve, they’d travel to their vacation home in Aspen, spending the week together before getting back to business. Even if it was long gone, and the memories usually only served to be more bitter than sweet, looking at John, knowing that he had been deprived of so much was paining. His one shot at the life he craved had been buried six feet under and now he, as he’d often remind her, Y/n and Dog was all he had left. Finishing of her third or fourth drink, Y/n stood abruptly, stalking off without a word, “ Where are you going?”

“To get ready. There’s gonna be traffic everywhere, and people are usually disgusting, but there’s a nice restaurant near the edge of Manhattan. Its hard to get a reservation,” Y/n sighed heavily, pretending that the act of doing something nice for John wasn’t something she wanted, “But I know the owner so I’ll give him a call and see what I can do.”

In return, just before she left the room, Y/n was privy to one of his rare smiles as a silent thanks, and walking up the stairs, she had to pretend that it didn’t do much to warm her icy heart.

About two hours later, John and Y/n had finally broken from the thick traffic, parking on the curb. Arm in arm, looking more like a couple than close friends, they walked to rest of the way to the restaurant. Over her simple back mini dress, which had been paired with a velvety pair of heeled boots, Y/n used a stylish leather jacket with a woolen inside to break the chill while John had only been given the opportunity to throw his own thick leather jacket over his sweater, though Y/n still thought he looked better than most of the men she had ever met.

“The place is just up here,” Y/n pointed to the end of the block as they weaved through the mass of pedestrians.

“What did you friend say?” John inquired for the sake of making more conversation. The times he spent with Y/n was usually the only time he actually wanted to trade brooding for talking.

Y/n shook her head as they neared a set of glass double doors, “He’s not my friend. I said that I know him. He owes me a favor, or a few, unless he wants to go to jail.” John pushed the door open, letting her in first and then they joined the line to the hostess.

“Blackmail?” He probed, intrigued, it was dirty play for something as frivolous as a reservation, but John didn’t think that Y/n was above it.

“I prefer bartering,” she emphasized with a proud smirk, “His freedom for whatever the hell I want.”

John chuckled quietly, shaking his head, she really was something. As they moved up in the line, neither of them noticed that their hands had remained joined at the elbows, but the closeness was comforting, they always felt safest together. When they finally reached the hostess, a young girl dressed in black, Y/n gave her name and the woman scanned her tablet, her eyes lighting up when she found their last minute reservation, “Miss Y/l/n, right this way,” quickly, another young girl stepped into her place as the hostess started leading them through the restaurant, “I think you and your husband will love what they managed to string together.”

Y/n chortled in disbelief, ignoring the disappointment that settled in her chest as she debunked her assumption, “Oh he’s not my husband. We’re just friends.”

“Yupp,” John sighed awkwardly, combating his own despondence with their plutonic status, “Just friends.”

Anyone form a mile away could see what buzzed between the two, the stares that were a little to long to not mean something and the touches that sometimes crossed the line of intimacy. They way John looked at her when her face was turned away or the way Y/n would cling to his arm when they were in a crowd as her way of making sure they stayed together.

“Oh,” the hostess faltered, “Sorry I just assumed that.....” she shook her head trailing off, leading them up a set of stairs hidden in a room tucked away at the corner of the establishment, just behind a plain wooden door. The staircase ran up a wide corridor and led to another door, that one cool grey metal, which subsequently led to the rooftop. Half of it had been enclosed to facilitate an indoor longue while the other half was left open, presumably a fun spot during warmer months. “Here is it,” she led them through a set of French doors that had fogged up a result of the internal heat and coldness outside.

The lights of the small lounge had been turned down to the lowest setting with twinkling fairy lights hanging over curtained windows adding to the mood. Save for the one central to the red carpeted room, all the other tables were free of settings and patrons. The small bar at the furthest corner of the room looked open but there was no one manning it and the same went for the mini buffet, equipped with options for a main course along with several others for appetizers and deserts, “We’re packed tonight,” the woman explained shortly, “I mean, you’re lucky you managed to swing this place. But we don’t have enough to staff up here, so it’s gonna have to be self-service.”

“That’s fine,” John and Y/n agreed. Arguably, it was better that having waiters buzzing in and out; just John and Y/n alone in each others company. When she left, Y/n turned to John, “I know you said you wanted to do something, and I know this isn’t exactly a concert in Times Square, but-”

“It’s perfect,” John smiled, a little wider than he usually did and Y/n felt her insides warm up a bit.

“Are you sure, cause I’m not sure it counts as ‘going out’ if its just the two of us,” slowly the strolled to the bar, collecting a chilled bottle of wine. With a resounding pop, John had the bottle open and poured them a couple glasses.

“You know,” he began as they surveyed the food, Y/n trying one of the bite-sized appetizers, “Since we’re getting technical, I said that we should ‘do something’ not ‘go out’. This is doing something,” he shook his head absently, “And I know you didn’t have to, or want to, so thank you.”

“It’s whatever,” Y/n waved John off as they prepared their plates, going over to a candle lit table.

It wasn’t ‘whatever’, but John chose not to argue with her, opting to join Y/n at their table, sitting across from her. Over quiet conversation, they ate their dinner, not counting the minutes as it grew closer to midnight.

After dinner, John and Y/n had lingered inside, drinking and talking, enjoying the fact that they had the place to themselves, though, when he checked his watch and noticed that there was just twenty minutes left in the year, he suggested that they go outside. Bundling up once again, they made their way to the outdoor area, going to stand at fenced edge off of the roof. For a while, they stood there, looking down at the busy streets below, sometimes glancing at the festivities going on no too far off, in comfortable silence. But eventually Y/n spoke up, not turning to John, “You were right, you know. Before I left home, we’d do all kinds of things during the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, we’d go to Aspen; I’d help my mom cook dinner and afterwards we’d watch the fireworks show put on by the resort nearby. It was fun,” she smiled softly.

John swallowed tightly; it was so rare for Y/n to open up about her family, so much so that when she did, he’d always feel like he’d been privy to a part of her that no one else was. Though even when she spoke of them, it was usually hard to tell how the whole thing made her feel, except for that night, John thought, she looked wistful, as if the memory were too far gone, “That sounds like a nice tradition. Do you miss it?”

It took a minute before she could offer any sort of reply, but when she did, Y/n shook her head, staring out into the excitable distance, the near darkness shrouding her confusion, “I’m not sure, I haven’t thought about it in a long time,” she sighed, and found that, by some miracle, she actually wanted to open up about it. Figures it’d be to John, he was the only person who she trusted with her memories, with her life, “But I do know that I’ve spent a long time running away from making new ones, from anything like this really,” she took his hand, her leather glove resting coolly over John’s ungloved hand.

John looked at their hands together, thinking that it would be easy to hold onto her forever. When he glanced up at her, John found that Y/n eyes were trained on him, “And what about now?” He probed tentatively.

“Now?” She smiled, so faintly that it was hard to notice, “Now, I don’t have lot, but I’m glad I have you. Maybe we can make new traditions.”

“I’m glad I have you too,” John locked eyes with Y/n, squeezing the tips of her fingers. Not too far off in the distances, and even the floor below, a loud countdown began.

Five.

“You know, I never thought I’d meet someone like you.”

Four.

“Someone like me?”

Three.

“Yeah,” Y/n’s smile was shy and John’s lips were just a breath away. She was ready to do something she’d only thought of for so long.

Two

“I don’t understand,” John smiled softly.

Y/n smiled too, leaning in a little, “Then let me show you.”

One.

As the clock struck twelve, people cheered loudly and fireworks went off, lighting up the sky, making the city seem even more alive than it did before. And right as it all happened, Y/n pressed her lips to John’s, her free hand cupping his neck as his moved to the small of her back, deepening their kiss. Neither of them register how long it went on for, but when they broke for air, their foreheads were pressed together and Y/n explained, “I never thought I’d meet someone I wanted to kiss at twelve.”

At her confession, John smiled, going in for another kiss, holding her close and what flowed between them told them both at twelve, everything had changed.

99 notes · View notes

interiors-stuff · 5 years

Text

MOXY NYC CHELSEA

105 W 28th St, New York, NY 10001, USA

"Moxy Chelsea reimagines the urban jungle, blending botanically-inspired design with Italian romance."

"Standing 35 stories tall, the hotel features four new dining and drinking concepts by TAO Group and Francesco Panella. Topped off with a spectacular glass-enclosed rooftop lounge that transforms into an alfresco veranda, at the touch of a button, Moxy Chelsea also offers a caffè, ristorante, and a cocktail bar and co-working lounge offering a gourmet take on Italian street food."

At the heart of the Flower District in midtown Manhattan, "Moxy Chelsea is just steps from landmarks such as The High Line, Madison Square Park, Flatiron Building, Hudson Yards and more".

Visit http://moxy-hotels.marriott.com/en/hotels/nyc-chelsea for more information and for bookings.

29 notes · View notes

writing-parker · 6 years

Text

Happy Birthday, Steve Rogers

Summary/Pairing: You and Steve celebrate his 100th Birthday in Brooklyn. Steve Rogers x Reader

Word Count: 5K

Warning: Mentions of war, PTSD, drugs, and alcohol. This is rated M for langauge and smut.

A/N: Hi everyone! I know this is a day late, but i was too busy running around yesterday to post! I hope you all enjoy. I really wanted to try to write Steve in a way that’s not really explored often, so i hope I managed to do that well. Angst, smut, and fluff. My favorite things.

Masterlist

“Y/N,” Steve sighs, “Please just drop it.”

You huff. For nearly a week now, you’ve been trying to figure out what on earth you could do to for Steve’s 100th birthday. He’d been ignoring your questions and pretending he didn’t see texts and generally avoiding talking about it at all.

“I just want to do something nice for you on your birthday.” Even over the phone, Steve hears the dejectedness in your voice.

It had been a week since you had seen each other, both caught up in work and obligations and life that it was just too hard to find time. Steve scratched the back of his head, “I know, baby. But I just want to see you.”

“Are you sure?” You sound uncertain, “I feel like your hundredth birthday should be a big deal.”

“I really don’t want it to be. Even before all of this,” he says, referring to life after being pulled from the ice, “I didn’t like my birthday.”

“Okay.” You concede. “How about dinner at my place? We have a grill in the backyard. Then we can watch fireworks on the roof. ”

Although you had no idea why, Steve loved your small Bushwick apartment and the backyard you shared with your across-the-hall neighbors. He said it made him feel a little more normal.

“It’s a date. I gotta go, enjoy the rest of your lunch.” Steve tells you.

“7pm at my place tomorrow!” You say before hanging up.

With a small smile, you turn to Sarah-your colleague at the non-profit you work at- who you were having lunch in Central Park with. Sarah was technically your boss, the director of the department you worked for, but she had also taken on an older sister role in the short time you had been living and working in New York City.

“Was that Captain America?” She wags her eyebrows at you.

“That was Steve, yes.” You give her a pointed look. You and Steve had been seeing each other since January, nearly 7 months now, but he had only convinced you to tell other people a few months ago.

You were new to the City and Steve was new to the century. So when you first met, the two of you agreed to keep things lowkey. You were dating around and he was an Avenger so you figured that it would a fun, quick fling. Of course you were wrong. You fell for him hard and fast, your feelings for him honestly scaring the shit out of you. He wanted to tell people, to show people that you were his and he was yours, but it took you a long time to warm up to the idea.

And to you, telling people meant becoming a part of Steve’s world. And that was something that intimidated you and, when you told him as much, he kissed you on the forehead and told you that you guys would tell people when you were ready. But your heart had never been broken, and you weren’t sure if you could handle it if Steve Rogers was the one doing the breaking.

You think back to the night that you two decided that this was something serious, something worth risking your hearts over.

You had to breakup with Steve Rogers.

Well, technically, you couldn’t breakup with someone who wasn’t your boyfriend, but you had to end whatever this was. You knocked on the door of his Midtown Manhattan apartment timidly and took a step back, waiting for the super soldier to answer the door.

He was surprised when he saw you. “Y/n, hey!” He pulled you in for a kiss, but you tilted your head so his lips landed on your cheek. “Why are you here? Not, uh, that I mind. I mean- come in.” He finally got out.

You stepped into his apartment and stopped in the foyer. His apartment at Stark Tower his huge. It made yours seem like a shoebox. When Steve realized you weren’t following him he turned to look at you questioningly.

“What’s up, Y/n?” He asked you.

“I think we should stop seeing each other.” You blurt out.

Steve raised his eyebrows, studying you for a second. “This about the other night?” He asks, eyes searching yours.

You look away. The other night.

It was really just like any other night. You went to the only dive bar the two of you could find in Midtown, got drunk in the dark, and stumbled back to Steve’s. He pulled you into his room, just like always, hips grinding into yours, breath heavy in your ears.

The electricity in the air sparked and shattered. In those moments, you were the only two in the world. He whispered in your ear about how beautiful you were and how much he loved the sounds you made and ‘c’mon baby, come with me’ so intense that you got choked up.

When the raging hormones and the buzz of the alcohol wore off you and Steve slumped into the bed, a pile of sweaty limbs. “Wow.” Steve chuckled, “That was, uh… different.”

“Yeah.” You agreed, mind already a million miles away.

“Good different?” He asked, hand running over the skin on your waist.

You nodded vaguely, not meeting his eyes. You wanted to leave, run as far from his bed as you could. Whatever that just was, you definitely weren’t ready for it.

When Steve woke up the next morning, you were gone.

You avoided him for nearly a week, until you finally worked up the nerve to go to his apartment and end things.

“The other night?” You asked, “What? No. Just… I don’t think this is working anymore.”

“This is totally about the other night.” Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. “Y/n, it was really intense and kind of scary for me too. But you can’t run from this.”

“From what?” You practically spit in his face, “We’re dating, whatever. But you’re not my boyfriend, I don’t need to explain to you why I don’t want to see you anymore.” You suddenly sound your age. Bratty and petulant.

“That’s not true and you know it!” Steve yells back, turning on you. When he saw the hurt, vulnerable look in your eyes he took a deep breath. “This isn’t… this is more than the two of us messing around. I know you feel the same way.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, looking anywhere but at him, “I just think it would be easier for both of us-”

“Now, you know I’m not a big fan of taking the easy road.” He smiled softly at you. “Tell me, Y/n, have you ever felt this way about anyone before?”

Truthfully, what happened the other night terrified you. No one had ever made you fell the way Steve Rogers had and it scared the shit out of you. You had wanted to put your tail between your legs and run, but it seemed like Steve wasn’t going to let you do that so easily.

“I’m barely 23 Steve, there’s lots of things I haven’t felt yet.” You told him with a false bravado, hoping he’ll just let you leave and be miserable on your own.

“Are you still seeing those other guys?” He continues.

You sigh and shake your head, ‘no’. When you and Steve had first started seeing each other, you were new to New York City- fresh out of college. You had been dating other people, some you even liked a lot, but when Steve came into your life, they had just seemed a lot more boring.

“Then why are you running from this?” Steve asked, eyes boring into yours. He took a step closer and you stepped back.

The two of you stood across his foyer, his eyes searching yours. Eventually you say, so low that if it wasn’t for his enhanced hearing he would have missed it, “I’m so scared.”

And then he was in front of you, big hands on your shoulders. “I’m not going to hurt you.” He whispers. “I… I need you, y/n.”

It only took one look at his face for you to believe him. The man wore all his emotions on his sleeve. “C’mon.” He said, grabbing one of your hands and pulling you into the living room, down onto one of the couches. There, you hashed it out. You told him that you were young and scared and he told you that as long as he’d been alive he’d never felt the same way about anyone.

That was the night he convinced you he was staying. The next day he introduced you to Bucky and Sam. “This is, Y/n.” He said, slipping an arm around your waist in a way that showed the other two men that you were his, and he wanted them to know it.

So, just like that, you and Steve Rogers were going steady.

“Anything planned for his birthday?” Sarah asks you, pulling you from your thoughts.

“I wanted to, but he just wants to hang, I guess.” You shrug. “I think we’ll just cookout, maybe watch fireworks on my roof? I don’t know. He literally took me to Montauk for my birthday.” You sigh, thinking back to the perfect weekend in May.

Sarah looks at you, “He’s obsessed with you, Y/n. I think as long as you guys are together, he’ll be happy.”

“Yeah. I guess.” You sigh, biting your lip. The two of you return to your lunches.

The next few hours of work drag on. Not only was it the day before a holiday, but you hadn’t seen your boyfriend in nearly a week, and on top of all of that you were terribly stressed about Steve’s birthday. You all but ran out of the office when five o’clock rolled around.

You spent most of the next morning at the store, picking up beer and charcoal for the grill. Your plans for a backyard barbeque are slightly derailed when you see your neighbors in your shared backyard, party in full swing already.

With a shrug, you decide the rooftop of your apartment will be just fine for the evening. You drag everything you can carry up the few flights of stairs and short ladder it takes to get to the rooftop. Once you’re up there, you begin to set up a blanket against the low wall that encloses the roof of your building.

Steve arrives 15 minutes early, like he always does, and calls you when he realizes the door to your apartment is locked.

“Hey!” You answer your phone on the first ring, “Small change of plans, I’m up on the roof. Can you grab the grill that I left at the bottom of the ladder and bring it up?”

Steve agrees and in just a few moments he’s pulling himself onto the roof, small, foldup grill in hand. He sets it down and gives you a smile. “No backyard?” He asks.

You push a beer into his hands and press a kiss to his mouth. “Happy birthday,” you say around his lips. You feel him smile through your kiss.

When you pull away you explain, “My neighbors are having a party. And I kinda wanted to hang, just the two of us tonight. Is this okay?” You gesture to your setup on the roof. In the almost-year that you have lived in the city, you’ve slowly set up the roof of your apartment with a small table, a few chairs, and some plants.

“Of course it’s okay.” He tells you. He sips his beer and pulls you close, your back to Steve’s chest, his arms around your middle. “Missed you.” He says.

You smile, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms after a week without him. Spending time apart was getting harder and harder, something you were both coming to realize. With a contented sigh, you turn to face him. “Hot dogs?”

Steve grins, “Of course.”

You watch him as he goes through the motions of setting up the grill, lighting the charcoal and removing the hotdogs from the cooler and grabbing the buns. He wears a navy blue t-shirt, that’s just a little tight across his muscled arms and chest, and light wash jeans, and his face is adorned with a pair of dark aviators. He’s fucking gorgeous, and you suddenly feel inadequate in your old white Wrangler top and cutoff shorts. Steve notices you ogle him.

“Like what you see, Y/L/N?” He asks with a smirk.

You stride over to him, sipping your beer. “Don’t blame at me for enjoying the view, Rogers.” You reach up to flirtatiously pull off his sunglasses and put them over your eyes, but you’re immediately distracted by the dark circles under Steve’s eyes.

You place his sunglasses on the table behind you and turn to look at him, face etched with concern. “Shit, when’s the last time you slept, baby?” You weren’t usually one for pet names, but the moniker slipped off your tongue easily when you were worried about him.

The corners of Steve’s lips turn up in a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes, “’S nothin.” He says, suddenly very focused on the hotdogs in front of him.

“Steve…” You warn. There was a time at the beginning of your relationship that Steve would try to hide his pain away from you. He told you it’s because he didn’t want to burden you. You told him that that wasn’t how this was going to work. So he opened up to you more about the weight he felt on his shoulders. Sometimes it could be too much, but you would do anything for him.

“Y/n,” He looks up at you, one hand moving to grip the spot between your shirt and shorts where your skin was exposed, “Just been working with Tony a lot, okay? Please don’t worry.”

“Okay.” You say reluctantly.

Down on the street below you, there’s a loud crack of a bottle rocket going off, followed by the shrieking laughter of children. You feel Steve’s hand on your hip tighten harshly, just for a second, before he releases you completely.

All around you, fireworks explode in reds, blues, and purples. It seems like there’s an apartment on every block lighting off huge fireworks. You put on some music, whatever 4th of July playlist Spotify is advertising and grab another beer and the small joint you rolled from your bag.

Steve watches you dance around the roof, all messy, curly hair and thin limbs. You wore your black Dr. Martins and a cropped white t-shirt and short shorts that he could tell were cut from an old pair of jeans. His discarded sunglasses were perched on your nose. You put the small white joint between your lips and inhaled, the sickly sweet smoke curling around you.

You were just so opposite of the girl that Captain America should be dating, and Steve loved it. You turn to him, and watch him drink you in. He’s lying on the blanket you set up, hand behind his head. “What?” You ask.

“What?” He says back with a grin, “I’m not allowed to enjoy the view too?” You smile and all but skip over to him, feeling the effects of the beer and weed, and straddle his waist. He sits up, leaning back on one arm. You press the joint between his lips and he takes a big hit, coughing a little.

There was something about smoking with him that always sent a thrill through you. Captian America indulging in something illegal, not matter how innocent, would always turn you on a little. He takes another pull of the joint, and you lean down, pausing only when your lips are centimeters from his. One of his hands slips under your shirt and slides up your back as he exhales the smoke into your mouth.

So fucking hot. Steve thinks as you breathe out the smoke and then press your lips to his.

You two eat and drink and enjoy the mild July weather in New York City as the sky darkens. Steve is unusually quiet all evening. Normally, he would be talking your ear off about what he and Bucky used to on the 4th or his week, or anything, but you can barely get a word out of him.

When you have to repeat a question you asked him for the second time and he still doesn’t answer, distracted by the other rooftops around you and the happenings in the street below, you sigh heavily.

“You really don’t want to be up here, do you?” You ask, looking anywhere but Steve, “We could go-”

“What?” He asks, voice sounding a million miles away. “No. This is great. Perfect.”

He gives you a kiss on the temple and pulls you close to him, so you’re leaning against his chest, your body between his legs. You sigh. Clearly, he wasn’t enjoying himself.

You’re busy feeling like a bad girlfriend when the Macy’s fireworks start over the East River. You scoot back a little, so your head leans on Steve’s shoulder, and tilt your head back, lips grazing his chin. “Look.” You say, gesturing to the huge, in-sync fireworks over the Manhattan skyline. Steve simply smiles and pulls your earlobe between his teeth before giving you a quick but passionate kiss on the lips.

You lean back against him again and one of his hands absentmindedly runs up and down your thigh. Just as you’re about to comment about how cool the fireworks look over the city, there’s the cracking sound of your next door neighbors lighting off their own fireworks followed by two or three incredibly loud bangs, directly above your heads.

Before you even have time to flinch, you’re being shoved to the ground, head cracking off the cement building, and Steve’s body is covering your own, pinning you down. “Steve!” Your voice is muffled by his shirt and all you can hear is his ragged breathing in your ear. You try to push him off you but he doesn’t budge. You cry out in pain as his body pushes you further into the hard surface.

“Steve,” You repeat, more frantically, “That hurts.”

Steve hears you this time, because within seconds he is pushing himself off the ground up to his knees. He whips his head around, looking for potential danger before the sight of you on the ground in front of him brings him back to reality. He’s at your apartment in Bushwick. It was just a firework. We’re okay. Y/n is okay. He repeats the mantra in his head.

“Oh, god, Y/n…” Steve looks at you desperately. “Oh my god, I’m-”

He’s cut off by your next door neighbors lighting off more fireworks, so loud you can’t even hear yourself think. Steve falls forward, head between his hands, tugging at his hair.

A feeling of absolute dread washes over you when you realize what’s going on. The fireworks. The way his body covered yours, like he was shielding you from gunfire.

The banging stops and you and Steve look at each other, matching expressions of horror creeping across your faces. You feel like you could cry. Of course he hates his birthday. The sounds of the fireworks must bring him back to the battleground. Italy. Sokovia. Midtown Manhattan. It didn’t matter.

“Steve…” Your voice sounds watery, even to your own ears. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He ignores your question, reaching up with one hand to caress the back of your head, feeling for blood or a bump and looking in your eyes for any sign of a concussion, “Did I hurt you?” He asks, hands trailing down your body, checking for any signs of harm.

“No.” You lie. You were going to have a gnarly bump on your head, “Steve.” You repeat your question, “Why?”

Steve drops his hands from your body and leans away from you. “It’s nothing.”

You raise your eyebrows at him, “That’s not how we do things.” You remind him, moving so you’re directly in front of him.

He leans forward, dropping his forehead so it rests on your shoulder. “I can’t tell people.” He explains. “I don’t want them to think that I’m…” He searches for the right word, “Broken.”

“I didn’t ask why you didn’t tell people,” You say, “I asked why you didn’t tell me.”

One of Steve’s hands slides under your shirt and up your back again, anchoring you to him. A shiver runs down your spine at the feel of his hand on you. Despite himself, Steve smiles a little.

“I don’t know.” He whispers, “I guess I didn’t want you to think anything of it either.”

“PTSD is nothing to be embarrassed about.” You put a finger under his chin, forcing him to look at you.

“Y/n, PTSD wasn’t even a thing when I was a soldier, okay? It’s all kinda hard to wrap my head around.” His eyes bore into yours, “It’s just… loud noises like fireworks are the worst. Or a car backfiring. It’s like I’m back there and there’s nothing I can do to make it stop. Only when something happens that shouldntt. Does that make sense? But it doesn’t happen when I’m like out there yanno? I’m not putting people in danger or anything.Sometimes I have nightmares…” He trails off, cheeks red.

“Baby…You don’t have to explain anything to me. I understand.” You start, your fingers tracing the dark circles under his eyes. He must be exhausted, there have been fireworks from every corner of the city, every night this week. Steve leans into your touch. “What can I do?” You ask desperately.

He looks at you, eyes softening, “Just be here.” He tells you truthfully.

You nod frantically and strain your neck upward to kiss him. Steve opens his mouth immediately to capture your lips with his. You try to put all of your emotions into the kiss, to tell him you won’t ever leave him alone. A whimper claws at the back of your throat and you slip your arm around his neck as Steve crushes you against his chest. You try to pull yourself as close as possible to him tugging against him frantically.

“Y/n,” He murmurs before his tongue dips into your mouth. It sends a rush of moisture between your thighs, and you’re suddenly achingly aware of how wet her panties are already.

You break away suddenly, but only to yank your ratty t-shirt over your head. Steve watches you, breathing hard. “Y/n,” He breathes, “What if someone sees.”

“No one will see us up here,” You say, trying to tug Steve’s shirt off as well. Once you have it off him, your hands splay across his chest.

So perfect.

Steve chuckles a bit, “Thanks.”

Your cheeks turn red, you hadn’t realized you’d said that out loud. Of course, you had voiced to Steve just how attractive you found him before. But, if you were being honest, the super soldier’s physique made you feel more than self-conscious. You were all sharp edges, bony knees and elbows. You knew men liked curves, and you were lacking in that department.

Steve busies himself by latching his mouth to your neck, sucking on the delicate flesh on the hollow of your throat, and just like that you forget any self-consciousness you have around him. You tip your head back with a moan that goes directly to his groin. One of your legs swings over his him and you use your momentum to push him back on the blanket, your knees on either side of his hips. You think of the way his body covered yours when he thought you were in danger and weave your hands through his hair.

You kiss over his jaw, down his throat and chest, enjoying the feel of him under you. When your teeth catch one of his nipples, it’s his turn to moan, thrusting his hips up to into yours. You reach down to unbutton his jeans, the two of you clumsily working your way out of your clothes. Steve watches you dumbly as you pull off his tight, black boxer briefs, his cock springing free from the constricting fabric. You can’t resist running your hand over it, and he inhales sharply when you fist the shaft in your hand.

Normally, the two of you take your time. He’ll make you fall apart one, two times with his fingers or his tongue before he pushes into you- but tonight is different. Steve pulls you up his body desperately, molding his lips to yours. You reach down between your bodies and guide him inside of you.

The head of his cock parts your folds and you undulate your hips a little to accommodate his girth, you and Steve both groan at the sensation. When he’s fully seated inside you, you close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, adjusting to his size. Steve was big and this position always hurt a little at first.

“Good?” Steve asks after a few moments, voice strained. You can tell it’s taking everything in him to keep still right now. He stares up at you adoringly, hands flexing around your thighs.

You nod, bracing your hands against his chest and begin to move on top of him, rocking your hips forward. On any side of you, fireworks light up the sky in pinks, purples, blues, and golds. Steve watches the light from them color your skin. “You’re so beautiful.” He says reverently.

Steve inhales through his teeth, eyes flitting between your face and the place where your bodies are connected. Using your shins for leverage, you ride him, rising up and down above him as your pussy clenches vice-like around his cock. His fingers tighten on your thighs and he moans gravelly.

“My god, Y/n. You feel so…. Fuck.”

“Mmm,” You moan in agreement, clenching around him. You smiles when he moans louder.

Steve props himself up on one elbow, sliding his other hand up your thigh and abdomen so he can cup your breast. When he squeezes firmly you close your eyes and sigh; he teases your nipple, pinching it and pulling it between his thumb and forefinger, and you thrust down on him harder, pussy fluttering around him from the pleasure resonating from his attention to your nipple.

“Steve,” You gasp when he sits up to clamp his teeth around the bud. Your clit is throbbing, and you buck your hips forward to relieve the building tension. Your clit comes in contact with his pubic bone. “Steve,” His name falls from your mouth on a moan.

He stills your hips with his hands so he can thrust into you repeatedly. One hand remains on your hip when the other travels down to where you’re connected, thumb ghosting over your clit. You spasm in his arms and fall forward into his chest. “Like that?” He pants in your ear, adding more pressure to the sensitive bud.

“Oh, god. Yes, Steve,” You say his name like a prayer when his hips start to move with more urgency.

“You gonna cum?” He grunts in a strained voice.

“Yes, fuck. Just don’t stop.” You suck on his earlobe, “Please don’t stop.” It doesn’t take long, with his manipulation of your clit enhanced by his cock filling you over and over, stretching your walls. You come a moment later with an unrestrained cry, falling into Steve.

Your walls pulse around his cock, and his grunts become raspier and more erratic, thrusts slamming into your hips, threatening to split you open. You’re so caught up in your own orgasm that you barely register when Steve comes a moment later.

“Shit, Y/n.” He swears with a groan, stilling below you before resumes rocking, just barely. His hands slide down your sides and he slips out of you and falls back onto the blanket, pulling you with him. You’re both sticky with sweat and your arousal, breathing heavily into each other.

Steve runs his hand up and down your back at your heartbeats slow down. Not looking at you, he says quietly, “Sometimes I feel like I have to be strong for them all the time.”

You prop yourself up on his chest a little. You don’t say anything or force him to go on. You’re not sure if he’s talking about the other avengers or the rest of the world. Probably both.

“So, when something like tonight happens, or when I have a nightmare I guess, it makes me feel so weak.” His eyes finally meet yours.

You touch his face with your fingertips, “You don’t have to be Captain America all the time, Steve.” You say, “Especially not with me. The reaction you had to the fireworks was so normal.” You stress to him.

The hand on your back moves up to the back of your head. He feels around under your hair and stops when he feels the bump from when your head hit the ground. You wince when he applies a little pressure.

Steve drops his hand. “I hurt you.” His eyes don’t meet yours.

“I’m sure it will be the last time.” You tell him matter-of-factly.

He glances up at you and sees the complete trust in your eyes. He sighs your name and weaves his hand into your hair gently, tilting your head up for a kiss. Fireworks erupt around the two of you, loud and incessant, but Steve tries not to pay them any mind.

He just focuses on the steady rise and fall of your chest on his, the low vibration of your voice running through his body. You look at him, light from the fireworks dancing in his eyes.

Pressing your lips to his, you whisper, “Happy birthday, Steve.”

#Steve Rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rodgers imagine #steve rogers smut #chris evans #chris evans smut #chris evans x reader #marvel imagine #happy birthday cap #captain america #captain america x you #steve rogers x you #steve rogers fluff #chris evans imagine #avenger!steve

412 notes · View notes

jetsetvenue123 · 3 months

Text

Chill & Thrill: NYC in January

New York City, in the heart of January, transforms into a magical winter wonderland, offering a unique blend of vibrant energy and cozy experiences. Despite being the coldest month, NYC never loses its charm, bustling with life and a plethora of activities. From the culinary delights of Restaurant Week to the theatrical allure of Broadway Week (for more, see last week’s blog here), the city is a hub of excitement. Ready to dive into the winter spirit? Here’s your ultimate guide to enjoying January in NYC: Sky-High Winter Views: Enclosed Rooftops Craving breathtaking views with a side of comfort? NYC’s enclosed rooftops are your answer. A prime example is Glass Ceiling, where you can sip a drink, stay cozy, and still feel connected to the city’s vibrant outdoor energy. Glide into Fun: Ice Skating Adventures Embrace the season with ice skating, a quintessential NYC winter activity. Glide across the ice at the Winter Village in Bryant Park for free with your skates and a reservation. Don’t miss other popular rinks like Wollman Rink and The Rink at Brookfield Place, each offering a unique skating experience.

Cultural Escapes: Museums Take a break from the cold and immerse yourself in culture and history. Many of NYC’s esteemed museums, including the American Museum of Natural History and MoMA PS1, offer free or suggested admission for NY residents. It’s the perfect opportunity to explore the city’s rich artistic and historical tapestry.

Culinary Delights: Seasonal Menus NYC’s culinary scene is ever-evolving, with restaurants like Riverpark introducing new seasonal delights. Don’t miss their latest creation, the “No End in Sight” cocktail, promising to warm you from the inside out. Discover more at Riverpark.

Winter Thrills: Bumper Cars at Bryant Park The much-anticipated Bumper Cars are back at Bryant Park’s Winter Village! Book your ticket for a whirl of laughter and fun in this unique winter setting.

New York City in January is not just about enduring the cold; it’s about embracing and enjoying it. Wrap up warm, hit the streets, and discover the countless joys the NYC winter has in store. Whether it’s indulging in seasonal flavors, exploring cultural hotspots, or engaging in outdoor activities, there’s something magical waiting for you in every corner of this vibrant city. Visit Our Website :- www.JetSetVenue.com

#NYC Winter Activities #Enclosed Rooftop Bars New York #Ice Skating NYC #New York City Museums #Winter Dining NYC

0 notes

artlook-inc · 2 years

Text

Tribeca Rooftop wedding. Best Places For Wedding in NYC

[embed]https://youtu.be/am9w0kOV_M0[/embed] Located in New York City, Tribeca Rooftop is a chic, industrial wedding venue. Situated on cobblestone streets in a 1920s printing press building, the property has an expansive glass atrium and large windowed walls. Providing unparalleled views of downtown and uptown Manhattan as well as the Hudson River, the facility is ideally situated to create dream weddings for every couple. Facilities and Capacity This property offers a 15,000-square-foot interior that can be customized to fit any event’s needs, along with a 25-foot glass-enclosed atrium. The rooftop is a dedicated terrace of 14,000 square feet, where couples can host their ceremony or reception. Inside the structure is a 1,100-square-foot cherrywood dance floor featuring a 12-foot high ceiling with an in-house pinspot lighting system. On-site get-ready rooms enable the couple to prepare and relax before their celebration. Couples receive a private entrance with dedicated elevator attendants, available valet service, wheelchair access, and the ability to customize branded exterior and interior signage. Services Offered Tribeca Rooftop and its sister venue, Tribeca 360°, are managed by Apogee Events, who will coordinate your special day. Before booking, you are welcome to schedule a private tour to ensure that everything meets your needs and expectations. On the wedding day, an on-site events manager will be present to arrange the vendors and provide any additional assistance. Their personable team can set up ahead of your event and clean up afterwards. To amplify the dance floor, audio equipment and lighting are available for rental. You can also request decor items including tables, chairs, drapery, linens, and china for the occasion. Cuisine In addition to their coordinating services, Tribeca Rooftop can also provide food and beverage options. Their catering team is able to create delectable hors d’oeuvres, two-course menus, desserts, and a wedding cake. Impressive stations including a Sushi and Sashimi Bar, Martini Bar, or Mediterranean Table can be prepared for the reception. Beverage service includes an open bar serving house wine and liquor, premium liquor, and signature drinks. ❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTENpEG_h-P4QhxErTlBHMQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WeddingPhotographyNewYork/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artlook_us/

0 notes

hollywoodfamerp · 2 years

Photo

DRESS TO IMPRESS!

There are a few nights which are more magical than New Year’s Eve in New York City. With festive parties, dinners, and the opportunity to attend one of the biggest New Year’s Eve events to end all events: THE BALL DROP LIVE IN TIMES SQUARE.

To mark the end of 2021 and celebrate the year that is approaching, Hollywood Fame is throwing our annual New Years Eve party! Join us as we toast off the new year and celebrate the start of 2022. With champagne waterfalls, confetti, fireworks, dancing on tables, and all the glitz and glam you can possibly imagine!

Hosted in an enclosed private rooftop of one of New York’s most magnificent buildings right over Time Square: The St. Cloud Rooftop Bar inside of the world famous Knickerbocker Hotel. You will get the best view to watch the ball drop, followed by a lot of dancing, drinking, and some mingling. You can’t beat the view of fireworks bursting above the Manhattan skyline, boogie to tunes spun by the DJ as you sip drinks from the premium open bar, and who knows - you may even find your new years kiss! All guests will also be given luxury hotel suites with full accommodations should you need to spend the night ;)

The party will take place on December 31st and carry through until the new year January 1st, 2022! Feel free to start your threads whenever you want on the 31st and/or 1st (or even before if you like to preplan), there are no time constraints so all timezones can participate. However, the ball will drop on midnight EST. This event is NOT MANDATORY.

If you wish for your characters to attend, feel free to post your celebrities’ attires using the tag:

#HFRPNYEPARTY22

Please like this notice so we know you’re all aware :)

#hollywoodfameevent #hfrpnyeparty22

30 notes · View notes

pulsdmedia · 1 year

Text

The Week Ahead 2/19-2/25

Whatever is happening in the real world, we’re here to inject some much needed revelry (and savings) into your NYC life. Be it the hottest sample sales, the most unique experiences, open bar shindigs, or delicious delights, pulsd is the place to be...

50% Off Tickets To A New York Times Critic's Pick Interactive Comedy Show

Grab the Juliet to your Romeo or LOL during a A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New York Times Critics' Pick live theatre performance of Drunk Shakespeare. For 90 minutes, a cast of 5 actors present scenes from Shakespeare’s plays with an improv flair. The catch: one of the actors will do five shots before they perform! Debauchery, merriment, and endless laughter will take place as Hamlet stumbles, giggles, and maybe even dances through his famed monologue - you will never know what to expect! To go, or not to go - there's no question! Drunk Shakespeare is guaranteed to be a live theater experience like none other...

Knickerbocker Sample Sale

Grounded in classic American style, Knickerbocker offers elevated basics that lay the perfect foundation for your wardrobe. Enhance your personal style by shopping at their New York sample sale event hosted by 260 Sample Sale's SoHo store. Shop knitwear, outerwear, and more at a fraction of the price!

Elsie Rooftop Great Elsie Prohibition Open Bar And Food Party NYC

Up, up, and away! Soar above the rest and step back in time to experience Great Gatsby vibes at Elsie Rooftop. Delight in this dazzling encounter no matter the weather (as the scene is enclosed & heated in the colder months), adoring the setting boasting velvet touches, a dramatic marble bar, lush greenery, glimmering candles and cozy banquettes.While you sip on endless Mint Juleps, Old Fashioned's, Gin Rickeys and the like, devour Thai Chicken Kabobs, Forest Mushroom Flatbread with Truffle Oil, Red Pepper Hummus & Phyllo Cups, and more, equally savoring sensational performances by Burlesque dancers, Acrobats, & flirty Flappers. Take in the stunning views of the city and the sparkling vibes - this is a Friday you won't soon forget...

The Origins of You by Vienna Pharaon

Pharaon’s approachable, mindful, holistic approach to therapy has earned her hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram — and in The Origins of You she deepens her inquiry into how we emerge from the (inevitable) wounds of childhood into stronger, happier, more meaningful relationships in adulthood. Hear her discuss this fascinating, introspective new book through personal experiences, client stories, and tangible guidance for how to have difficult conversations and find a form of healing that endures.

$39: My Big Fat Italian Party; 2 Hour Premium Open Bar, Food & More

At Spritz New York, experience over-the-top revelry with a side of endless drinks, delicious Italian eats, and more at the spot's upcoming bash, My Big Fat Italian Party. Enjoy access to a 2 Hour Premium Open Bar, including Spritz's famous Aperol Spritzes, as well as a Selection of Delicious Italian Hors d’Oeuvres. Experience how summer is eternal at Spritz New York via vibrant, colorful interiors, all while you drink cocktails endlessly, balancing each libation with eats such as Fig & Fontina Triangles in decadent phyllo, Crab Cakes, Kobe-Beef Sliders and more. Sway to the sounds of a live DJ playing all the dance-worthy hits as you drink and dine at this effervescent NoMad, gem - andiamo!

Join TALEA for Against Your Better Judgement: A Singles Comedy Night

What’s better than meeting someone in a judgment-free environment? Meeting them in an environment dedicated to judgment. Join comedians Hanna Dicksinson and Kat Belinfante as they invite singles for an honest jurisdiction on what they’re putting out there: your dating app profile pictures, opening lines, prompts, and worst excuses for canceling. Plus, submit your dating profile for judgement and you’ll be entered to win prizes and giveaways!

0 notes

agentmarymargaretskitz · 6 years

Text

Freefall

Another installment in the Legends of SHIELD AU created by @incendiaglacies and myself. Based on AoS 1x06 FZZT

AO3

“Okay, time’s up, ma’am,” Lily said as the timer on her tablet hit zero. “You can slow back down now.”

Gideon nodded and reached out a hand to slow the treadmill. As she came to a stop, Lily passed her a towel to wipe down with.

“Vitals are all normal,” Lily reported, showing her the results on the table. “And you’ve worked up quite a good sweat.”

“I don’t sweat,” Gideon replied. “I glisten.”

The scientist smiled a little at the crack. “All that’s left is to take some blood.”

“Let’s do it then,” her superior nodded. “Get this all over with.”

“You do realize your records show you aren’t due for a physical anytime soon, right?” Lily told her. “Why the need for all of this now?”

“Physical therapist’s orders,” Gideon grumbled. “Got a call for a check in and said I felt a little off. Next thing I know, I’m ordered to get all this done.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Lily nodded. “I heard what happened in New York. We’d hate to lose you now after you came back from the great beyond.”

“Thank you. Now, shall we get that blood sample?”

“If we have to,” Gideon grumbled. “But you should know that I’m not a fan of getting poked.”

“An ounce?”

“Yes,” Nate nodded as he set the Icer down. “One ounce too much. It’s the difference between success and failure. When you have to make a shot on a rooftop with a 15 mile per hour wind with your target at 500 yards away, that difference determines whether you make it or not.”

Ray sighed and picked up the gun. “I’ll do what I can, okay?”

“Great,” Nate clapped him on the back before walking out of the lab. “Thanks, man.”

Zee was directly to his right as he walked out, but he didn’t say anything to her as left. A while ago, she wouldn’t have blamed him for it. But Nate had been giving her a cold treatment for weeks now, ever since the Cooper incident. She knew she had messed up bad, but she was trying to rectify her mistakes. However, he was still only speaking to her when it was necessary.

“You okay?” Ray asked, looking over at her.

“Yeah,” Zee nodded, glancing away from the computers she was running simulations on that Nate had assigned her to do. “Just wish I could go back in time and not help Cooper so half the team isn’t mad at me.”

“We all screw up,” the scientist replied. “You made the rounds and apologized. Besides, you’re back on our side one hundred percent.”

“Absolutely,” she said. “And I’ve been working hard. I don’t complain during training, I read all the things he gives me on SHIELD protocols, complete the simulations, everything. I even let Gideon put this internet nanny on me. What do I have to do to prove to Nate, and Rip too, that I’m not going to double cross him?”

Ray shrugged. “Give them a little more time?”

“Yeah, because that’s working,” Zee snorted. “They think like specialists. I wish I could just speak that same language as them.”

“Kinda like we do a bit?”

Zee grinned. “Well, you and Lily are practically psychically linked. You have this bond that’s so unbreakable. It’s hard to imagine one of you without the other.”

“Well, we have been working together practically since we started at SHIELD,” Ray admitted.

Zee noticed he was blushing a little and smiling as he said this. Did he really not see how into Lily he was?

The doors opened, and Lily walked into the lab. “I’m back with blood.”

“Gross,” Zee wrinkled her nose.

“It’s for Gideon’s doctors,” Lily explained, her eyes falling to the Icer pistol. “Still problems with it?”

“According to Nate, it’s an ounce too heavy,” Zee piped up.

“Ugh,” Lily groaned. “He always has a problem with something.”

She then stood on her tiptoes to look taller and planted her hands on her hips. “I’m Agent Nate Heywood, and I can take out six men with a plastic spoon. As long as my hair looks good.”

Zee threw back her head and laughed. “That’s just what he’d say!”

“With the amount of product he seems to put in his hair, it wouldn’t shock me if he has said that,” Lily giggled as she got off of her tiptoes. “But some agents are really picky about their weapons. Yesterday, Rip asked us to modify the handle of his Icer because it didn’t fit right against his ring and pinky fingers.”

“Okay, I can kinda understand that one.”

“Yeah,” Ray agreed. “Hey, I can actually do an impersonation of him.”

“Oh yeah?” Zee folded her arms. “Let’s see it.”

Ray straightened up. The smile disappeared off of his face and he narrowed his eyes. He actually looked a little scary.

It took a few seconds before Zee got it. A wide grin stretched across Lily’s face as it clicked with her too. The two of them began to laugh, and soon Ray broke his impression to join in.

“Can either of you do Gideon?” Zee wheezed as she held onto the table for support.

“Never tried,” Lily said at the same moment Ray answered with a ‘nope’.

“Hold on,” she instructed, slowly letting her laughter die before crouching down and opened her mouth.

Before she could get a word out, Gideon herself entered the lab. Zee straightened up, banging her elbow on the table.

“We’re landing soon,” she told them. “Be ready to be on the road.”

A few hours later, the team had returned from the investigation site with a body bag holding their victim. His body had been levitating in the air until Lily got close to him, and a jolt of static electricity between the two of them had sent the body falling down onto the ground. Zee had done her research on him once they were back on the Waverider, finding no motive for any foul play. Nate had ordered her to research again after telling her no one was clean the first time around. On her way down to the lab, Gideon had lectured him about letting himself forgive Zee for what she’d done. It was in the past, Zee was committed now, and the last thing she needed was a divided team.

“Any news on the body?” she asked as she entered the lab.

Lily had the victim’s body laid out on the Holotable, where she had been performing an examination. “Some.”

Gideon noticed Ray was missing and turned around to see him outside of the lab. “How come Raymond’s not with you?”

“Ah,” Lily pressed her lips together for a moment. “He, well, you see…”

“He’s afraid of it, isn’t he?”

“It’s the smell really,” Ray called out, his voice somewhat muffled since he was outside the enclosed lab space.

Lily shook his head. “Ray, being afraid of death is perfectly natural. It happens to all of us at some point.”

“Yeah, but we had a rule about bringing dead things into the shared lab space,” he argued. “Remember the cat?”

Gideon frowned as Lily rolled her eyes. “Not the stupid cat again.”

“Yes, tell Gideon about that cat!”

“Ma’am, it’s nothing, it was a misunderstanding-”

“Lily, you left the liver next to my lunch!”

“Timeout, children!” Gideon shouted, holding up her hands in a timeout signal. “Lily, what have you found out about the body.”

“Well, this death was not caused by anything manmade,” Lily explained, pulling up an image of the man’s brain. “His brain has been fried to a crisp. Judging by the severity of it, he must have been hit by two thousand megajoules of electrostatic electricity.”

“What?” Gideon murmured, shaking her head. “That’s twice the power of a lightning bolt. I don’t even know of anything on the Index capable of this.”

“I don’t know either,” Lily agreed. “But there’s got to be something else in the body that can indicate what lead up to his death. I might have to dig a little deeper.”

“Do what you have to,” Gideon instructed.

“It’s happening again!”

“It’s science, Ray! I have to dissect something!”

“Okay, yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about,” Ray held up his tablet against the glass of the lab door so Gideon could see the map onscreen. “It’s another electrostatic event.”

Gideon hurried over to the doors and exited the lab so she could speak to Ray face to face. “Where?”

“About twenty miles away. The signature keeps increasing.”

“Run and get Rip and Nathaniel down here,” Gideon instructed, then turned back to Lily. “See if you can figure out anything else with the body.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Gideon, Rip, and Nate arrived at the location of the signal, an old barn next to a farmhouse, only to have Ray report that it had vanished. When they opened up the bar doors, another body was found floating in midair. Once they had an identification on the victim, Zee drew the connection that both victims worked at the same volunteer fire station, which had sent a truck to New York after the Dominator invasion. The trio then went to the fire station to investigate, suspicious that whatever killed those firemen could have extraterrestrial origins. It was practically confirmed that the firemen were in trouble when another electrostatic reading starting to pick up at the station.

Nate and Gideon had talked to the firefighters while Rip explored their station, eventually finding a Dominator arm blaster from New York in a case in the break room. Gideon interrogated one of the firefighters who had been cleaning the arm blaster with the two other victims a few nights before. Lily determined that an alien virus from the Dominators had been on the blaster, but then transmitted to the firemen while they’d cleaned it. The third fireman had died after those at the station were evacuated to a safe distance so the electrostatic wave wouldn’t harm them. SHIELD came in then for clean-up, Lily was tasked to find a cure for the remaining firefighters if their blood tests came back positive for the alien virus, and the arm blaster was put on the Bus for transport to the Sandbox.

“Are we really taking this with us?” Zee asked as she watched the crate containing it brought towards the Waverider. “It killed three firemen.”

“We’ll be fine,” Gideon assured her. “None of us have tried to clean it or even touched it like they did. We’ll get it there, and then we’ll move onto our next assignment.”

Zee pressed her lips together and followed after Ray and Lily.

Gideon entered the lab to see Lily staring at blood cells on the big screen behind the Holotable. “You said you had a breakthrough?”

“Uh-huh,” Lily nodded eagerly. “Look at this.”

Gideon stepped closer and noticed something else amongst the red blood cells. “Is that-”

“The virus,” Lily nodded. “These are the samples from the firefighters who died. The Dominator virus is still active inside them. It’s just waiting to be passed onto its next host. It’s propagative.”

“It moves from person to person,” Gideon murmured as Lily walked around the table to retrieve something. “Do you know what kind of contact is responsible for the transfer of the virus.”

“Not yet,” she shook her head. “I’m working in uncharted territory since the virus has alien origins. But the things we could learn from this could possibly lead to new developments in human medical endeavors. It’s completely fascinating!”

As she said this, a pair of tongs used for grabbing test tubes began to levitate in the air behind Lily. Gideon sucked in a soft breath as she remembered how a frying pan and other metal objects had begun to rise in the air with the last fireman as the virus started to take his life in the end. Then she recollected how there had been a shock of static electricity between Lily and the levitating body of the first fireman at the campsite. The pieces of the puzzle quickly assembled as Lily continued to ramble on, oblivious to the floating tongs.

Gideon began to back out of the lab. “Lily.”

“Ma’am?” Lily raised an eyebrow. “Is everything okay?”

“The virus…it’s transmitted through static electricity,” Gideon told her, activating quarantine mode and sealing the doors of the lab per SHIELD protocol. “I’m so sorry.”

Lily stared at her before her eyes widened. She whirled around and gasped loudly as she saw the tongs hovering. Gideon watched as she extended a hand towards them, only to drawn them away as static jumped from her hand to them and sent them plummeting to the floor. The scientist looked utterly terrified as she took a step back.

“Oh no.”

For the first twenty minutes after finding out that she was infected with a Dominator virus, Lily had sat against the doors of the lab with Ray on the other side. Gideon, Rip, Zee, and Nate were all discussing what they needed to do next. The path to the Sandbox had them right in the middle of the ocean, so there was no way to land and get her out of the plane to a safe distance. It would be four hours to get there, and she had two left at best based on the knowledge she had of how quickly the firemen died after contact with the blaster. No matter what they said outside the doors, the rest of the team was trapped in a death sentence with her.

Ray wasn’t saying anything as if he could sense she didn’t want to talk, so Lily was left with her own thoughts. She thought about her life so far and all the things she wanted to do, but now never could be able to do because she hadn’t been careful. If only she hadn’t gotten so close to the first body and treated the victim with more caution, then she wouldn’t have received the static discharge and never would have contracted the virus. Now she was going to die and bring the whole plane down with a static discharge that would kill also Ray and Gideon and Zee and Rip and Nate.

After twenty minutes, Gideon approached the doors and told Lily that she couldn’t give up so easily. She had a drive to find a cure for this virus more than ever. Gideon said that she had faith in Lily that she could find a way to save herself. Ray had told her that he would help in anyway that he possibly could for her. Given she had around two hours to live, Lily figured it would be better to find ways that didn’t work rather than not trying at all.

Soon, Ray was giving her a delivery mechanism through some modifications to the lab doors so he could get her what she needed. “I think I have what you need.”

Lily didn’t say anything as he pushed the box over to her side and she took the taser-like device out.

“You know, it was a bit of a challenge to get that,” her best friend added. “It’s not exactly easy to find a mineralized solution that can suspend the vaccine and conduct electricity.”

“Could you not say vaccine?” she asked. “This is more of an anti-serum.”

She prepared her first attempt at the anti-serum as Ray watched through the glass. Her heart thudded against her chest, but Lily was able to keep her hands steady as she prepared the cure. Once she had the first trial loaded, she made her way over to the three rats that she and Ray had been allowed to bring on the Waverider. The one they’d named Manchego was the first one up.

“With the antibodies from the fireman’s brain cells,” she explained to Ray as though he was beside her and not on the other side of the doors. “The antigens of the virus can be targeted and neutralized, and that’s if alien viruses have antigens, but if they don’t-”

“Lily,” Ray said. “It’s okay. You’ll figure it out.”

She nodded and used the delivery device on Manchego. For a few tense seconds, she waited to see what would happen. Then there was a pulse of electricity, followed by the dead Manchego rising to hover in the air. Lily bit her lip and turned back towards the samples she’d gotten from the firefighters.

“At least we know one formula that doesn’t work?” Ray offered.

Zee approached the door of the briefing room quietly. Inside, Nate was leaning against the Holocom to watch the surveillance of Lily working in the lab. A concerned expression had taken over his facial features. He probably knew she was watching him, being the super spy and all, but was still holding her at an arm’s length.

“How come you aren’t down there?” Zee asked finally.

“They don’t need an audience or any more pressure,” Nate replied.

Zee nodded and prepared to leave.

“Zee, if you want, you can stay.”

She turned back around and entered the briefing room. “I hate seeing this. Lily’s my friend, and seeing her like this makes me feel-”

“Helpless?” Nate supplied, and she nodded. “I feel it too. I was hoping it would be a person all juiced up with superpowers. I wanted it to be someone I could fight head-on, someone that could be hurt or punished. At least then I could do something then.

Zee noticed his tone got darker as he kept talking, but then Nate sighed and shook his head. “Instead it’s a virus. It’s tiny and I can’t do anything to protect the team from it. I can’t see it or understand it. It makes me feel so useless.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it though,” Zee reminded him, crossing her arms.

“I know,” her SO nodded. “We just have to wait and get ready.”

A small chill ran down Zee’s spine. “What could we possibly get ready for?”

“For whatever it is that we are called upon to do,” Nate explained. “No matter what it is.”

She nodded her head and went back to watching Lily work on her cure. There was already one rat floating, so she had two more shots left at least at a cure. She approached a second rat and shocked it with something that looked like a taser. A few minutes passed and a smile started to creep across her face. Then there was a pulse of blue light, and Zee raised her hand to cover her mouth as the rat began to float up.

“I’ve been too hard on you,” Nate broke the silence between them. “Ever since Hewitt died.”

“Was wondering when you’d say something about that,” Zee muttered.

“I didn’t know how to handle being betrayed,” he told her. “I had no idea how everyone else would be reacting. I trusted you, then I didn’t want to trust you after you betrayed us. I didn’t want to see it as a mistake. I should have forgiven you sooner for it.”

“Got it,” Zee nodded. “So, you’re saying you see what I did now to be a mistake? What made you change your mind?”

“Because you showed you were truly loyal to SHIELD above Helix. If you were really loyal to Helix, you’d never have put that bracelet on, found a way to jam it, or run away from the team.”

“Is that what you would have done if you were a traitor?” Zee asked jokingly.

Nate chuckled lightly. “Something like that.”

Lily squeaked as she turned and saw one of Ray’s screwdrivers levitating in the air behind her before dropping to the ground.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Ray said from outside the doors. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Don’t,” Lily shook her head. “Just don’t, Ray. I see you checking your watch.”

“If you want, I could come in and help you out, make sure that this trial works and all.”

“I’m fine,” she snapped harsher than she intended to before grabbing the delivery mechanism. “Have you even made sure this thing works?”

Ray looked somewhat offended. “Of course it does, you’ve seen it! Besides, why would I give you something broken when your life in on the line. If anything, it’s your vaccine that’s not functioning…yet.”

“First off, it’s an anti-serum! And secondly, I’m wondering if you even calibrated this correctly.”

“It’s not the device.”

“How sure are you about that?”

“I know you’re upset, but you don’t have to take it out on me,” Ray retorted. “You were the one who wanted to see the world so much. You were safe in a non-mobile lab that was at a grounded SHIELD facility. Then Gideon came along and recruited us. You wanted to travel and have adventure, I said this was the perfect opportunity, and then we both decided to do it.”

“We should have listened to Smith,” Lily huffed. “He warned us it was a bad idea to take the offer when we told him we planned to.”

“I thought if it came to it, we could protect each other!”

“Protect each other?” Lily scoffed and shook her head. “How could we do that? We didn’t even pass our field assessments!”

Ray’s eyebrows knitted and he hesitated for a few seconds. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Well, it’s too late for that now!”

“No, I won’t believe that,” Ray shook his head again. “It’s been the two of us always. At the academy, at sci-ops, on this plane. You’ve been beside me the whole damn time, Lily. You’re one of the smartest people I know, you can fix this!”

Lily bit her lip and shook her head. “I-I don’t know.”

“No, you do! You just haven’t found-“

“I don’t know how!” she cried out, sniffling as she felt herself start to break. “The antibodies from the firefighters aren’t able to fight this virus. They aren’t strong enough because they didn’t have the time to develop enough immunity to an alien virus. I have nothing to create an antiserum from because there are no survivors from this aside from-”

“The Dominators,” Ray finished.

It was like the puzzle pieces arranged themselves into the big picture. Lily wiped her eyes and nodded. “The Dominator who wore the blaster had the virus and managed to be survive until the mass death-”

“-yet never emitted an electrostatic pulse because they were immune!” Ray started to smile.

“The alien who had it was immune,” Lily nodded. “They were just the carrier- the Typhoid Mary! Or Typhoid Dominator. That’s the key to this!”

“Maybe there’s some cells that can be scraped from the blaster since it was on its skin,” Ray said. “You can use those to generate a vaccine!”

“Anti-serum, but exactly,” she laughed. “Yeah, but I can’t get to them, I’m in quarantine!”

“I’ve got this,” Ray promised before he darted towards the staircase and ran up it. “Just hang on.”

Lily nodded to herself and exhaled slowly. She could do this. There was hope now. And even if it failed, she had a plan of what to do.

“Where is he- Ray, no!”

“Come back here with that!”

Ray ignored Nate and Gideon and kept running with the containment box that held the arm blaster. He had been apprehensive about having to transport the weapon after finding out that it had been responsible for the deaths of three people who had come into contact with it. However, he was all too grateful it was with them right now. This was what they needed to save Lily’s life.

As soon as he was down in the cargo bay, he pushed the code to open the lab doors up. Technically, the quarantine wasn’t supposed to be broken, but he didn’t care about that at the moment. Besides, the box was too big to put through the slot in the doors. As soon as he set it down, Lily whirled back around from where she was getting set up for the third trial.

“Ray, what are you doing?” she scolded. “You can’t be in here!”

“Too late now,” he replied, pulling on a pair of gloves. “Just…try to keep your hands off me.”

She cracked a smile. “Ray, are you sure about this?”

Ray nodded. “Of course I am. We’re going to do what we always do. We’re going to fix this- together.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Together they worked side by side, with Lily being careful to not make contact with him in any way. At some point, the rest of the team came down to observe their process. Ray barely paid attention to him. All he could think about was making sure that this attempt would be the one that saved her. Time was running out for Lily, so there was no room for error.

Finally, they had their cure. Ray loaded the cure into the delivery unit and passed it over to her. Through the window, he could see Zee chewing her thumbnail as she watched them. Lily reached into the cage and picked up the last rat, Cheddar.

“Third time’s the charm, right?” he murmured before she delivered the cure to the rat and set it back down in the wood shavings.

The two of them stepped back. Cheddar continued to wander about his little space, his nose sniffing the air. It looked like he was going to be okay. On the other side of the glass, Zee started to smile and Nate looked relieved. Ray looked over at Lily, who looked like she was about to start crying of happiness. They had actually managed to do it.

Then there was a flash of blue, and Cheddar joined Manchego and Gorgonzola in the air.

Everyone’s faces fell instantly.

“No,” Ray whispered.

Lily stepped away from him to walk toward the glass. Ray turned back to what they had done so far, his head down. Sound suddenly became muted to him. The normal hum of the electronics in the lab was dulled to his ears now. He faintly heard Lily requesting to Gideon to tell her father first so he could break the news to her mother.

This wasn’t something he could wrap his head around. He knew the facts that Lily was dying from an alien virus, but it didn’t make sense to him. She had been by his side for long now. They were brilliant on their own, but unstoppable together. It wasn’t fair that this was how it was ending. There was still so much more that she had wanted to do, that they had both wanted to do.

“Can I have a moment alone with Ray please?” Lily’s voice rang out, clear as a bell.

Ray felt himself snap from the haze. They could still pull this off perhaps. Maybe they could get this one right immediately.

“I think we can figure it out with one more try,” he said, taking what they had left of the third trial back to work with it. “Did you think the electrostatic pulse seemed lesser than with the other two? It looked that way to me. Maybe we just need to calibrate the antiserum a touch and we’ll have it.”

“You said antiserum,” Lily sniffled behind him. “You finally got it right.”

“Heh,” he chuckled. “Yeah, I did.”

“I’m sorry, Ray.”

Something struck him in the back of the head hard. He felt pain explode in the back of his head. Ray sunk down to the floor, feeling woozy. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was Lily standing over him, a fire extinguisher in her hands.

She had never wanted Ray to be around for this, but then he had forced his way into the lab to help her. Lily hadn’t wanted to do this to him. He was her best friend after all. Yet it was because he was her best friend that she had to do this. She would not let him be burdened with watching her die.

Letting the fire extinguisher drop to the floor, she walked to the lab doors and opened them. The rest of the team was still upstairs, probably waiting for Ray to call them back down. It hurt that she wouldn’t get to say goodbye to Zee or Gideon or Rip or Nate. At least they’d be safe though. None of them would have to put a bullet in her.

Lily walked past Lola as hot tears began to trace their way down her cheeks. Her hand reached out, tempted to touch the car Gideon loved in a small act of rebellion, but she pulled back at the last second. Instead, she just kept walking toward the control panel. She pressed the switch that would open the cargo door.

As it began to open, Lily knew she only had a minute or so before the team figured out what was going on and came running. She needed to be gone by then for their safety. Staring out at the blue sky and the puffy white clouds, the scientist gazed out at it as the buzzing in her ears grew louder. Even though the sky was beautiful, she wished it was nighttime. She would have liked to have died seeing the stars.

She walked to the edge of the ramp once it was down. Her legs shook as she neared the edge. By some force, Lily found herself looking behind her at the lab. Ray was awake now, trying to open the doors. He was screaming something at her as he tried to open them, but she couldn’t hear it. Seeing his distress and knowing he was about to see her die despite her best efforts made her cry more.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

Then the wind pulled her from the edge she stood upon.

So began the fall of Dr. Lily Stein.

Nate had been with Gideon and Rip in the briefing room when the alarms began to go off. Zee had taken refuge in her bunk after they’d gone upstairs to give the sunshine twins time to say goodbye. Gideon was refusing to speak to the head agent at the Sandbox and in the middle of giving Rip an excuse for why she couldn’t give an update when they all realized that the cargo bay doors were lowering. Nate had a feeling what was happening immediately and broke into a run towards the back of the plane. Any other mission would have seen him just leaving the poor soul to die, but he needed to look out for the team on this one.

He practically leapt down the stairs to the cargo bay. The doors were open and Ray was fumbling to get a parachute on while holding the taser-like device he and Lily had been using on the rats. The other half of the sunshine twins was nowhere in sight, confirming his thoughts on what Lily had done. At this point, Ray, a scientist with no experience in jumping with a parachute, wouldn’t be able to reach Lily in time.

“Ray!” Nate shouted as he ran over to him.

Ray looked back at him frantically. “She jumped! The cure worked but she jumped!”

Nate grabbed the parachute and the delivery mechanism from him. Quickly, he strapped it on before leaping out over the edge of the Waverider. Wind rushed past his face as he realized there was going to be no ground to land on. Not only was he going to have to save Lily, but also keep her alive until they got a rescue.

It took Lily ten seconds to realize she didn’t like falling.

As she hurtled towards the ocean beneath her, the buzzing kept growing louder. The Waverider was completely out of sight now. She wondered how much longer it would be before she finally succumbed to the virus. Would she be hovering in the air at spot where the pulse would leave her, or would she just hit the water? With a whimper at the thought of her impending death, Lily closed her eyes for a moment.

When she reopened them, Lily saw Nate shooting towards her. Once he finally reached her, she could see the delivery mechanism in his hand. He zapped her leg with it before grabbing onto her. Lily tried to scream for him to let her go, but then she noticed the buzzing was fading away. The cure had actually worked, although she felt a little sleepy now.

Nate pulled the parachute, and the two of them had their fall slowed. Lily wrapped her arms around him so she wouldn’t fall. He also adjusted his grip on her to ensure the same thing as a pulse left her body. Try as she might to stay awake, she passed out.

The water of the ocean hitting her face was what it took to wake her up.

Zee paced back and forth in her room. They had landed at the Sandbox about an hour ago. Lily and Nate had been fished out of the ocean by SHIELD agents and taken to the base for a medical evaluation, which both passed with flying colors. The two had been released back to the Waverider half an hour ago, but Gideon had taken them straight to her office first. Zee had heard her shouting briefly earlier.

She’d been staying with Ray ever since Lily had thrown herself out of the plane. The scientist had been an inconsolable mess until they received word from Nate that Lily had been given the cure and both of them were alive. After that, he’d been anxious to see her again. Zee couldn’t really fault him there. Even though she hadn’t known Lily for as long as Ray had, she still had a friendship with the other woman.

Finally, she heard something in the distance.

“Because I’m Agent Nate Heywood, and I jumped out of a plane without checking if my parachute was on properly,” Nate’s voice said in a mocking imitation of himself. “And my hair still looks good.”

Lily’s laughter drew Zee to leave her bunk and start down toward Gideon’s office. She walked toward Nate and Lily as the latter asked him how much product he was even putting in his hair. A smile cracked at Zee’s lips as she listened to their banter. As she came closer, Nate looked over Lily at her. The scientist turned around, noticing that they were no longer alone.

“Hey, Zee,” Lily greeted quietly.

Zee walked quickly towards her and embraced her. There was a slight noise of surprise from Lily before she hugged her back. Tears were pooling in the hacktivist’s eyes as she gripped her friend. She hadn’t spent very long on the plane or even in SHIELD, but she’d never felt a connection to so many people before. Lily, Ray, Gideon, Nate, and even Rip all had come to mean something to her and for the first time in years, she wasn’t afraid of caring for them.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Zee whispered. “Don’t do that to us again.”

Lily nodded against her. “I’ll try not to.”

“I was close to doing it-”

“I know you were.”

“I really was,” Ray nodded quickly as he gripped the pillow in his lap. “I mean- I had it all. The antiserum worked and there was a parachute. I just couldn’t get the straps on. I knew I should have taken that refresher session before we got on the plane.”

“Ray,” Lily put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

“Although Nate does know what he’s doing, since he’s a specialist and all that,” he sighed. “He has more experience. He went all James Bond to get to you. I’m sure if I could have done that whole show for you.”

“Ray, stop talking.”

“Sorry,” he winced. “I was worried about you so much early and it’s still kind of in my system.”

“It’s okay,” Lily assured him. “Yes, Nate did something amazing while also incredibly risky. But the person who was by my side in the lab searching for a cure and running to get the Dominator blaster to me wasn’t him. Nate wasn’t the one who stayed and gave me hope when I was ready to give up. That was all you, Ray.”

He turned towards her. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “You’re the hero, Ray.”

“Thanks, Lily.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m going to head to bed. Good night.”

“Night,” he said as she left his bunk.

Once she was gone, Ray touched his cheek where Lily had kissed him and smiled.

#legends of tomorrow #agents of shield #legends of shield #aos au #gideon #rip hunter #lily stein #ray palmer #zari tomaz #nate heywood #fanfiction #au #raily

7 notes · View notes

interiors-stuff · 5 years

Text

MOXY NYC CHELSEA

105 W 28th St, New York, NY 10001, USA

"Moxy Chelsea reimagines the urban jungle, blending botanically-inspired design with Italian romance."

At the heart of the Flower District in midtown Manhattan, "Moxy Chelsea is just steps from landmarks such as The High Line, Madison Square Park, Flatiron Building, Hudson Yards and more".

Visit http://moxy-hotels.marriott.com/en/hotels/nyc-chelsea for more information and for bookings.

21 notes · View notes

easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

Text

Can Restaurants Survive Shutting Down Again?

Restaurants may close again | Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Closing dining rooms once cost a lot of money, but closing twice could be even worse

At Twisted Soul Cookhouse and Pours in Atlanta, masked servers whisk plates draped in plastic to socially distanced tables separated by plastic screens, all beneath the hum of a ventilation system upgraded with UV filtration. Excess tables and chairs, including all bar seating, have been removed. An employee at the door provides complimentary masks to customers who arrive without them.

Twisted Soul chef and owner Deborah VanTrece has gone above and beyond recommended safety measures, a stark contrast to leadership in Georgia. Gov. Brian Kemp allowed restaurants to return to full indoor capacity on June 16, and the state has since seen surges in COVID-19 cases. VanTrece has provided a safer space at Twisted Soul, but it’s come at a cost: $5,000 to sanitize the building and install filtration systems, over $3,000 on partitions, daily costs for masks and hand sanitizer, and the emotional burden of dealing with combative customers who refuse to wear masks.

Those costs have forced VanTrece to consider closing the dining room and returning entirely to carryout, but sacrificing dine-in business doesn’t seem financially feasible either. The longer she and the team can hold out, the better the restaurant’s chances of surviving in the coming months, no matter how the health crisis unfolds.

“We’re praying we can keep going with the dining room open, but we’re also trying to prepare ourselves for the possibility that that might not be the reality,” VanTrece says. While daily costs of operating a COVID-era restaurant are significant, she describes dining room service as a financial Band-Aid. “It doesn’t cover the whole wound, but we’re not bleeding as quickly.”

VanTrece is just one of many chefs and restaurant owners across the country facing a second closure, either by choice or government mandate, amid rebounding cases of COVID-19. Officials in some areas have rolled back reopening plans and closed dining rooms. Other cities and states could follow if the pandemic continues unchecked.

View this post on Instagram

Here’s a look at some of the precautions we are taking to keep you safe while dining with us! Each table has been carefully placed six feet apart and is enclosed with partitioning screens. We have also installed a UV filtration system in our air conditioning unit that will be continuously cleaning all air that circulates throughout the dining room. We look forward to seeing you soon! ❤️

A post shared by Twisted Soul (@twistedsoulcookhouse) on Jun 17, 2020 at 8:19am PDT

In New York, where Mayor Bill de Blasio nixed plans to allow indoor dining in June, Popina co-owner James O’Brien fears a second closure could be a death knell. After closing the restaurant’s dining room on March 25, he says the team tried focusing on takeout for about a week. But delivery didn’t provide enough business for the pasta-heavy outfit, especially since the restaurant operates delivery through its own website rather than a third-party platform. Like other restaurateurs turned grocers, the Popina team shifted toward offering pantry goods (including a cook-at-home pasta kit) and wine from their closed dining room.

Since the restaurant’s backyard reopened on June 24, 90 percent of business has come from outdoor dining, providing a glimmer of hope that the business can survive. If the restaurant can make enough money during the summer, before shutting down the patio sometime in the fall or winter, O’Brien says he might take a pay cut, reduce staff, and offer takeout through third parties to keep the restaurant going. But if an order to shut down comes sooner, he says Popina might close completely.

“The reality is, if we could bank enough money in the summer, when October and November come around, one of our options is close again until March of next year,” O’Brien says, though he admits that’s an emergency scenario since it would be incredibly difficult for staff laid off in the middle of winter. He considered asking his landlord to defer rent, but ultimately decided against it, since the deferred payments could land on the restaurant during an even worse period later in the year. For now, he’s maximizing profits while the sun is shining.

The situation is even bleaker for bars that drive business through drinks, like Cuban-inspired cocktail bar Palomar in Portland, Oregon. Owner Ricky Gomez began seating guests on the building’s rooftop on June 2, but for him, the economics don’t make sense for takeout. Unlike Oregon’s neighboring states, a state statute prohibits bars from selling to-go cocktails, and the Oregon Liquor Commission can’t override the law with a temporary measure. A solution would have to come from the state legislature in a special session, followed by Gov. Kate Brown’s signature.

“We do only 35 percent food revenue compared to alcohol revenue,” Gomez says. “With third-party vendors taking a large portion, we didn’t think it was financially viable for us to open up for to-go food solely.”

He’s currently relying on a PPP loan, which will see the business through until August. “If we’re shut down after that time, we would have to go back to our landlords to see about having them waive rent. If they did not, we would close for good,” he says. He points out that if he had spent his loan money immediately, the bar would already be closed. Like O’Brien, Gomez fears winter will be especially devastating without further assistance. “You’re going to see a second wave of closures in January and February. There’s a lot right now, but I think the second wave is actually going to be much worse because there isn’t the buffer of the PPP as well.”

Courtesy of Palmoar

Palomar rooftop seating

That fear is already guiding Gomez’s decisions, including about how many staff members to employ. With limited capacity on the rooftop, he could only bring back a fraction of his workers in order to remain profitable and build a financial buffer against closing outdoor seating in the future.

“I basically had to call staff members a second time and tell them we did not have a position for them. It felt like we had to lay them off twice,” he says. “Personally that’s the biggest gut-wrencher: laying people off twice that have done nothing wrong.” That experience could foreshadow what’s to come for many managers and owners if they have to shut dining rooms or outdoor dining.

Across town, the situation looks significantly different for Deepak Kaul, chef-owner at Bhuna. Pre-COVID, much of the Indian restaurant’s business came from downtown office workers during lunch. That business has dried up completely, Kaul says, and the restaurant hasn’t seen much interest since opening an outdoor dining area in late June.

“We’re not seeing any massive change here on our revenue. Maybe it’s too soon to tell, but there’s no ‘Holy smoke, we’re back in the game.’ We’re still down 50 percent if not more,” Kaul says. His customers remain wary about dining out, and he blames a few cavalier people who refuse to wear masks for scaring off would-be diners.

“I’m kind of hoping they do shut us down again, honestly. It’s a waste of my money and my time [to offer outdoor dining],” Kaul says. He would rather focus on delivery, where the restaurant has always had a strong presence.

Takeout is murkier for a restaurant like Riel in Houston, where Gov. Greg Abbott recently scaled back reopening following a virus surge. Following COVID-19 outbreaks at nearby restaurants, Riel recently closed temporarily to test the entire staff. (All the tests came back negative.) Yet even for a team willing to close to ensure customer and staff safety, shuttering the dining room for months isn’t an option as long as other businesses remain open to seat guests.

Ryan LaChaine, executive chef and partner, says Riel saw booming takeout business right after the state shut dining rooms in March. But as more restaurants pivoted to delivery, competition increased and sales dropped. When Gov. Abbott allowed restaurants to reopen at 25 percent indoor capacity, the Riel team held off, waiting until they could seat 50 percent inside. Others leapt to open as soon as they could.

“A lot of restaurants did open at 25 percent and then that hurt the to-go business even more because people could go out,” LaChaine says. “We don’t have the luxury of shutting down and waiting this out. We have rent. We have taxes. I have a staff that depends on a paycheck.”

The recent temporary closure at least proved the Riel team could shut down safely and quickly without too much waste, since the restaurant has operated with tighter inventory since reopening. Other owners also feel better positioned to close should they need to do so. O’Brien admits that when the team was cleaning out the Popina dining room during the first shutdown, he threw away a lot of inventory that could have been sanitized, a mistake he won’t make again.

Courtesy of Popina

Popina take-home pasta kits

Still, shutting down again could be just as frenetic as the first time if the order comes suddenly, as it did in California, or is complicated by conflicting statements, as happened in Miami-Dade County. Owners can monitor news to stay ready, but it’s ultimately impossible to fully prepare.

“We’re trying to be proactive, but it’s tough when there’s not a lot of leadership and a lot of guidance,” LaChaine says. “You want to know how to cook something? I can tell you that. You want to know what to do in a pandemic? I really have no idea.”

That unpredictability is causing a lot of anxiety for restaurant owners, even those like Mashelle Sykes, who foresaw the possibility of closing down again after reopening for indoor dining. Sykes runs Fusion Flare Kitchen and Cocktails in Detroit, where rising numbers of COVID-19 cases make it tough to plan for the future.

“People are a little afraid now because the numbers have gone back up,” she says. “They are confused. A lot of them are choosing not to eat in because of the risks.” Businesses may lose even more customers to confusion as cities and states rapidly announce new changes to public health policy.

That foreboding atmosphere only adds pressure to make the most of indoor and outdoor dining while they’re still available. As O’Brien puts it, “With all this uncertainty, how do we make the most money right now in the most responsible way?”

Rather than wait for the situation to change further, Kaul is considering getting ahead of the devastation. He doubts many downtown Portland offices will ever return, with employees working remotely for years to come, so he may drop lunch service altogether and stick to takeout in the evenings. “If you run lean, you survive. If you can’t run lean, you’re done,” he says. Gomez also foresees long-term problems for restaurant business. While the PPP program provides a short-term fix, he’s hoping government officials can get together on long-term tax breaks and other financial aid, as well as loosening regulations like those on to-go alcohol that prevent the industry from evolving.

As restaurants stare down a winter season that could foster another wave of COVID-19 cases, which may force even the most unwilling states to close dining rooms, most owners and chefs focus on the day-to-day. They need to squeeze the summer season for all the revenue they can.

“Right now, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel if I can keep the dining room open,” VanTrece says. “With each day, with each month we’re still here, we consider ourselves blessed we’ve done the right thing.”

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/32J85Bd https://ift.tt/3hqW07T

Restaurants may close again | Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Closing dining rooms once cost a lot of money, but closing twice could be even worse

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Twisted Soul (@twistedsoulcookhouse) on Jun 17, 2020 at 8:19am PDT

Courtesy of Palmoar

Palomar rooftop seating

Courtesy of Popina

Popina take-home pasta kits

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/32J85Bd via Blogger https://ift.tt/2OIJ94G

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

0 notes