just once.

solomon fagin // twenty-seven // freelance actor, showman, performance artist, specialist in pawn valuation, creative workshopping, critical thinking, and substance identification.

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Bowing her head she held her breath. The simple feeling of his hand brushing against her neck causing goosebumps to rise on her skin. No matter the time she spend apart from Fagin, she’d always come back to this. A mess at his feet, and a heart full of so much hope that he’d turn everything around. This was her first everything, and she couldn’t let that go to save her life. As he laughed, she let her own echo his. It almost brought her to tears to share such a soft moment with him. Memories came flooding close behind it, and Crystal just felt warmth. “Take your time..you’ll drop it if you keep fiddling! ” She said softly, with a hint of protection. Crystal would take this to the grave, it meant that much to her already.  Each second was one she more added to her little memories of them. Once she got the green light, Crystal reached down to hold the necklace in her fingers tips. Grinning from ear to ear - he practically placed a million bucks around her neck. “How’s it look? I love it..” She admitted softly, her eyes not leaving the small charm. His words caught her attention, a little grin pulling on her lips. “Why would you be jealous?” She asked teasingly. Before she could stop herself she was flinging herself at him, arms wrapped tightly around him. “Thank you, Fagin.” She wasn’t sure if she was thanking him for the necklace, him being sober, his work to being that, or inviting her out, but she shut her eyes and hung on for deal life so he knew just how thankful she was. 

Fagin came back around to look at the necklace first, to make sure he hadn’t fucked it up too horribly, because god knew it was well within his abilities to screw something up this small. When he did, though, come around to her front again to check his work, he couldn’t. Couldn’t for a long, long moment, because he’d made her angry so many times that her rage was burned into his skull, had made her cry so many times in their run that he could hear her thick voice in his nightmares most nights when he went to sleep, but her smile now was so bright and so soft that those wounds were healed, if only for the moment. He snapped back only when she asked her question, and he answered without a second thought, “You look perfect.” He paused, glancing down at the necklace and then back to her bright eyes, blinking and shaking his head minutely, “I-It looks great. The necklace,” he amended, “it suits you.” Solomon knew of course that he was caught, but he wasn’t in the business of lying these days, and she deserved to know how stunning she was, deserved to hear it every second of every day. He didn’t bother answering to his already admitted jealousy, but was shocked when she came towards him with open arms, wrapping over his shoulders in a hug that reminded Fagin in less than a second just what love could be. His arms snaked around her waist, and with whatever strength he could summon, he leaned back to pick her up and spin them around, just barely stumbling on the tail end of it and laughing, open and bright as the sunny skies. “We’ve got all kindsa time for that kinda stuff,” he pointed out, determined to spend the evening with her.

[conmansolomon]

i-olicat‌:

“No problem.” Oliver spoke quietly not only because not everyone was up yet, but because he was only around Fagin, which…didn’t always end well. From the little gesture of Fagin pulling out the sweet stuff for him, instead of letting Oliver get it, it might not be bad today, but…Oliver could never tell. The downsides of being scared that anyone and everyone could turn on a dime. Oh, well, it was going fine so far…

“Uh…I slept, I guess,” was his answer, and he felt his nose wrinkle up a bit, a slip of the face that was hard to get rid of. He hadn’t slept well, and he had gotten tired enough to sleep because he’d been panic-stricken because of his own thoughts, but he’d slept. Adding what was probably too much sugar to his coffee and not really caring, Oliver glanced at the man. “You were having fun, I guess?”

Solomon warmed his hands around the mug, perhaps letting them get a bit too warm and most definitely burning his tongue with his first sip, but it smelled too damn good and the sheer idea of caffeine in his veins sounded like heaven. He took another long gulp, searing his esophagus no doubt, before setting it down on the table and pulling his knees up to his chest, thumb playing with the fuzzy patches on his threadbare pajamas.

“Dreams being shitty to ya, or...?” Fagin probed, taking a moment to see if Oli was going to sit down before rubbing the sleep from his eyes again. God, when he slept anymore he slept hard, but the beginning was the worst part, wasn’t it? He watched the mountain of sugar Oliver added to his coffee, and gave a bit of a smile. It was the little things in life. “I don’t know about fun,” he admitted, pulling his knees an inch closer. He didn’t like getting people’s hopes up, but he was proud of himself so far. It had been a couple of weeks without any fun to speak of, and that wasn’t an easy feat for people like Fagin. “I’ve been a little tired lately is all, used to be able to stay up until noon two days later but I had to conk out before one last night, honest. Don’t ever get old.”

[conmansolomon]

i-olicat‌:

First day of the new year, and Oliver woke up at the gang’s place. He was the first one up, unsurprisingly, which meant he was putting himself in charge of coffee and not looking miserable. It wasn’t like he had a hangover, since he’d only had two drinks the night before, he just…still did so badly with holidays. It felt like everything was just a final show before he was never invited back.

Sighing to himself, Oliver was just finished pouring a cup of coffee before someone joined him in the kitchen, and he found himself setting it aside for them before he even realized it was Fagin. “Hi.” He would’ve said good morning or afternoon, but he wasn’t sure which it was. “You can have that one.” Fagin probably needed a coffee more, to be honest.

@conmansolomon​

Solomon was groggier than usual on the morning of New Year’s Day, which was stupid considering the fact that he was always up past midnight anyway. There was something about trying to make the first hours, first days, first weeks of the new year memorable and better than the previous one that was knocking him out, though. The pressure felt endless and the want was obscene - coffee would do for now, he decided as he smelled it on the air. 

“Mmm,” he hummed softly, warming his frigid hands around the chipped ceramic and blowing on the contents. “Thanks, Oli,” came the next little grumble, but he didn’t want his gratitude to go unnoticed. Fagin opened the fridge up and took out the massive container of sweet creamer, setting it on the table and eyeing the expiration to make sure it was alright. For good measure, he pulled the sugar from the top of the refrigerator as well, and got a spoon from the dish rack to place on top of it before sitting down huddled around his own mug. “How’d you sleep into the new year, cool cat?”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Crystal blinked a few times at how quick he was to pull out the case in front of her. It was the last thing she expected, the girl was just excited to see him. Any moment really to have with Fagin she’d jump over any hoops she had to. A large smile came over her face looking up at him. “Fagin…. you didn’t have to.” Leaning up she tossed cares away and pressed a small kiss to his cheek. Lingering for a small second before falling back on her feet. “You could have at least let me know and I would have brought over your gift! But I figured you wouldn’t do anything for Christmas and I didn’t want to make you feel like you had to with mine and -” She laughed nervously looking down at the gift from him. Opening it slowly, with nothing but admiration in her eyes. “Fagin… it’s perfect.” 

Solomon shrugged, a little self serving with his smile, but he was proud of himself. He normally fucked things up way beyond the point of doing right by the people he cared about, and if he could dodge that just this once and actually make Crystal happy, that was just icing on the cake. "I didn't have to, but I'm in an okay place right now. Working on things." He'd said it a million times before, but this time he was sure of it. He'd been clean since before Christmas, well enough before Christmas, and no he wasn't out of the woods just yet but the shakes weren't so bad and he'd gotten out of bed today. A new year was coming up - last year he'd been a head case, so he was already bringing this one in right. Things were going to change. The kiss on the cheek sealed the deal, and though he didn't blush he felt his chest swell with it. "It's not the nicest one they had or anything," he was quick to point out, but only because he was going to do better next year, or for her birthday, maybe for Valentine's Day if she wasn't seeing someone else. That made him pause. "I don't mean to keep you from anything, I know people are pretty busy with people right about now in the year."

[conmansolomon]

Solomon didn’t waste any time once he and Crystal had exchanged a greeting in pulling a case from the inside of his jacket. Really it was just under the pressure of his arm, but having a jacket nice enough to have one of those pockets inside would have been nice too. Christmas had been pretty shit; he’d been too exhausted to stay awake but his nightmares had been too vivid to feel rested, but Christmas was over now. And his hadn’t been exactly the necklace he wanted to get for her, but it was a little less expensive since the holiday had passed, and he was more than happy to spend the money he had on anything else for the time being. Temptation was a persistent demon. “Tah-dah!” he joked breathily with a little flourish. “Santa’s a little late on this one, but he didn’t forget about you.” @crystalduboiss​

[conmansolomon]

goofproof‌:

❛ ‘Scuse me, pardon me. Out of the way. ❜ Max said as he shoved himself between people trying to escape the angry man chasing after him. Running around a corner he looked to the person in the car beside him. ❛ Hey, how much money can I pay you to let me get a lift? Like a lowkey Uber situation. I accidentally pissed off a guy and he looked pretty jacked. ❜ 

This wasn’t his car. That was the first thing Solomon had to consider when the kid started asking questions, but it wasn’t like he’d get him into any more trouble than he already seemed to be in, he didn’t think. His buddy said he’d changed the plates, and he was just getting paid to get the car where it needed to go; nobody said he couldn’t get a little extra money on the side while he did it. “Yeah, yeah man,” Fagin nodded towards the passenger seat while he did the math. “Depends on what you’ve got in cash. Gonna need that upfront.”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Just hearing a laugh leave him and a small smile creep on his face helped her relax a little more. That and gave her some sort of false hope he was okay , maybe even getting better. “Anything I want? That’s a whole lot of power to be handing me , Fagin. Brave man.” She teased with a little grin across her face. Chewing on her cheek as she thought about it she made a face. “I … honestly can’t remember ? Maybe spring break. Must not have been that great of a time if I can’t even remember when exactly I went.” She stated with a small laugh. “what about you?” She asked lightly tapping his foot with hers. “Stick your toes in the sand recently?”

Fagin nodded, laughing again, this time more so to himself. She talked a big game, sometimes the bite was just as hard as the bark, but she could be such a puppy sometimes. It was as sweet as it was ridiculous, and he pointed out as much with a raised eyebrow, insisting, “If you had an evil bone in your body I might be very concerned right now.” That ended with a kind of challenging smirk, a look up and down. His nose twitched. “As it is, I’m not too worried about what you’re gonna do with that kinda power.” He thought about college, a weird foreign thing that had never sounded appealing or made much sense to him, but something that sounded fun enough when it came to the breaks and the parties. That couldn’t all be bullshit, could it? “I barely know what beaches look like,” he joked, looking up to the sky and the space where god would be, sighing deeply. “It’s all a blur for me but I hear the sand is as coarse as gravel and the litter is monumental.”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

The moment he spoke , and his eyes found hers she felt like the foolish mess she’d always been for him - all over again. Her lips twitched up into a smile without much thinking as she nodded softly , agreeing with him. Looking around she nodded. “That’s true. It’d probably be more enjoyable in a small town with cute ice cream shops , and a beach near by. Like walking distance nearby that wasn’t so crowded with tourist.” Stopping her rambling she shook her head. “It’s not bad, I enjoy it more than the cooler months but .. a girls allowed to complain right?” She asked with a tiny grin his direction.

Solomon allowed himself a moment or two to think about the scene she was setting, the almost fairytale place with the beaches and the ice cream shops. He imagined that everyone knew everyone there, and everyone stopped to say hello, and she fit so well in that funny little world. Fairytales were for magical creatures and princesses and people too good for their world, and Solomon couldn’t for a second convince himself that Crystal didn’t deserve more than Earth. For a briefer second, he imagined the better him, the clean him, that could go with her, that could go to the ice cream shop and walk to the beach and laugh as it melted through the bottoms of the cones without caring about another damn thing in the world, but that one couldn’t last. His smile flickered, then grew again; it always did around her. “This girl’s allowed to do whatever she wants,” he allowed, laughing to the ground. “When was the last time you made it to the beach?”

[conmansolomon]

bethieboooo‌:

Boo glared at him before her eyes eventually softened. She knew games like his, but maybe she was being too…moody. “Thank you..but I disagree. This is sloppy and chaotic. I mean a lot of my art is but this is so unpolished it makes me want to set a room on fire….” She probably shouldn’t have said that out loud. This guy didn’t know her, probably thought she was capable setting a room on fire based on her drawings alone. And she was….she just tried not to be. “My hands don’t feel like they work.”

Solomon could, for what it was worth, think of plenty of things that made him want to set a room on fire at various points of his life, and if he had a creative bone in his body he was sure his paintings not turning out just the way he wanted them to would be ample reason to want to bring home the lighter fluid and say goodbye to his work. “Nothing wrong with a little chaos,” he mused, trying to shrug as easily as he could, the motion turning out jerky and pointed. “Maybe they’re just working in a different way. No reason not to ride it out, seriously.” He glanced again at the paper, at her hands still covering it. “Come on, let’s take a peek.”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Crystal felt odd just standing and staring. She was certain someone had to have taken notice to her eyes completely fixed on Fagin. The girl was small, but certainly not smell enough to make it by him without being noticed. Then again, she sorta wanted to be noticed by him. With a deep breath she finally made her way over. “hey!” Crystal knew she’d have to say more than that. “It’s … warm out.” She let out before quickly pulling the straw to her tea between her lips before she said something more stupid and awkward. || @conmansolomon

Solomon wasn't superb. He would love to see a world where he was, but that seemed way too far off from his tiny universe and his tiny malfunctioning brain. He wasn't awful either, though, and that was saying something. In the circle and the cycle that was his life, he was now sitting comfortably at the calm before the storm, and during those times he tried to stay up and out, tried to stay active and busy and tried not to let his shit get the best of him, and this time his whole brain and every ounce of his energy was occupied by Crystal and trying hard to look like he was not wholly consumed and occupied by Crystal. Then, though, she spoke first, a bit of a surprise, if he was honest, and he was left to watch her sip her tea with an off-center smile. “It’s summer,” he shrugged, eyes flitting from her eyes to her straw to her hands and back, to the ground and back, to her hands and his own hands twitching to mirror them and back, and he rolled his shoulders with the motion. “Summer’s always kinda sucked in the city, hasn’t it? At least as far as I can remember it has. You... is it bad that it’s warm?”

[bethieboooo]

Boo would be lying if she said she was doing good. Her art wasn’t selling as well as it needed to be, the monsters in her head were getting louder and louder, and she had no one to blame but herself. She missed a day or two of medication because she was trying to stay up all night and paint. The monsters were horrible but they were muse…and her normal muse was busy with boys and other life issues. Boo wasn’t the type to demand attention flat-out, it just was given to her once she slipped off the rails a little. And today was no exception. She knew she looked a little insane the way she snatched the sketches she was working on away from prying eyes. And she knew she looked like she was about to cry when she said “Leave me alone….We don’t want you to see these…” but it was too late. Someone was staring and they didn’t look pleased. “I said….go away….”

[conmansolomon]

Solomon knew he had a knack for sticking his nose where it didn't belong, and it had gotten him into trouble more times than he could count, but that didn't seem to deter him any more now than it ever had. He liked a bit of trouble and loved the silver linings that sometimes came in its place. For a moment these sketches, weird and wondeful, had seemed like a silver lining. Then, the trouble came, and Solomon leaned straight into it as he always had, giving the dark-haired girl a frown and glancing at the now obscured pages. "Well excuse me for looking for a little bit of beauty in my life," he joked bitterly, though maybe that was just aiming for guilt. When he wanted something he needed it soon after, and now, he needed to see these drawings, whatever they might have been. "I can hardly draw stick men, honest. I'd love to see what someone with working hands can crank out, you know what I mean? No reason to get upset or nothin' either."

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Crystal didn’t have to look up to know who was hanging over her. She’d spent most of her night acting like she didn’t even know he was in the same room as her. Mostly because she was afraid of what he would say or think if he saw her like this. A deeper fear he’d blame himself some how. Looking at his hand she slowly her eyes follow up to meet his. Nodding softly she reached up to take his hand. Pulling herself into him rather he wanted her there or now. Crystal was tucking herself in the safest place she knew - his side. “Can we just go home instead, please? It’s so loud..” 

Solomon really didn’t ever expect to be in this situation, and because of that, he was blindsided by how unprepared he would be to deal with an ex of his, high and hanging onto him and sensitive. She wasn’t without her corners and rough edges, but there was a softness to Crystal, especially in moments like these, that could cut through the thickest armor and most guarded hearts without so much as a strain. His hand found the center of her back, clamping them together as he nodded silently, stepping steadily towards the nearest exit all while practically shielding the woman with his own body. It was only once they were outside and the music was muffled that Solomon spoke. “What home are we headed to, I guess?”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Crystal shook her head, stumbling hard into the small couch the bar offered. “No.. I’m.. it’s okay. I just wanted to know what it was like. Why it’s so important? What makes it so special.. I just.. need to sit..” She said softly. “He said.. a few hours and I would just.. fall off the ever so seeked out high. But I think I just need to sleep..” She slurred out leaning over to cuddle up against the side of the couch. 

At first, Solomon wasn't sure if he should stick around or bolt when he saw Crystal at the bar. She was probably here to have a good time, and he was definitely here to have a good time, and sometimes he wasn't sure if they could do that together, so he'd made it towards the door, but... She seemed to be in her own world, and god knew he was too. It wasn't clear how much of the same boat they were in until he heard her mumbling from the armchairs opposite the couch that she'd practically fallen against, and despite his pulse racing his heart sunk for a moment. Curiosity, care, and the need to be involved got the better of him, and he stood fluidly, made his way over to her with puppy dog eyes and an offered hand. "What do you say we have a seat?"

[conmansolomon]

fallsxplorer‌:

“Good save,” Charles replied with the smallest of chuckles, and he watched the kid closely. Yeah, there was something definitely up there, probably in the vein of drugs, if Charles knew the signs well enough, and he did. Still, despite all that, the kid got to where he was going eventually, and it seemed like a pretty genuine realization. Nature badass, that was sort of new. “Yeah, that one’s it.” One of them, at least, since he’d had more than one out either with him in it or about him, but that wasn’t the point. Kid had gotten there. “Good job, though, you saved me the trouble of feeling like I should be telling you off. Even if I still think you’re lying about loving docs and really just had it on while you were smoking something.”

Solomon had to scoff at that, shaking his head on an easy smile at the accusation. Well clearly he’d been right about the guy being smart, or maybe that was just the vibe he gave off either way. Regardless, hilarious. And hilariously perceptive of the man, at that. Either that or it was painfully clear that Solomon used, and he didn’t quite want to deal with all that right now, right yet. “Had a brother put it on, most likely,” he smiled. “Or a sister, or one of their friends, not always sure which of ‘em it is, you know,” and the smile fell to a half of one, the other half a bitter grimace. “Still, if I left it on it had to be a good one. What’s your, uh... best work, I guess? I don’t know what it is you do, but damn it’s gotta be fascinating if someone’s gonna try and make a movie about it, right?”

[conmansolomon]

crystalduboiss‌:

Without much of an invitation Crystal sat herself down in front of Fagin. Her own hands holding her cup close to her, finger slightly tapping against the outside of the cup. “Mm.. I’m sure you have.” She stated with a raised brow towards him. Sober or not, a Fagin that was clear of trouble just didn’t sound right to her. Laughing she shook her head. “I get the whole cleansing part, but you don’t have to make yourself completely miserable either trying to force that thing down.” pushing the small little holder of sugars and creamers towards him she eyed it, then back up at him. “You can thank me later after you sweeten it up a bit.” At the question of if she had fun she tilted her head a bit side to side trying to collect everything. “Yeah. I would say I enjoyed myself. Did you?” 

Solomon took another big swig of the bitter liquid, trying to muscle through it without showing an ounce or an inch of discontent on his face and failing quite miserably, wincing and frowning and screwing his eyes shut tightly in response to the bitter liquid again, clearing his throat only when he was through his hysterics and begrudgingly watching as Crystal pushed the sugar forward across the table towards him. He was a bit surprised that she was at his table to begin with, let alone being so kind to him, but she was a good person, a kind heart. He pulled out a sugar packet or four, ripping them all open at once and making a mess of the table as he tried to get the tops and bottoms over his speckled mug. As Solomon stirred the coffee, he snorted, laughed, smiled as she moved so cleanly on. She was unsinkable. “Walked out of there with maybe a fiver,” he joked, though it was hardly inaccurate. “Got to see some people, y’know? A good party and good company,” he lauded, leaving out the part about the friend with the wallet and the Jameson that was flowing. “Now what, we’ve got Easter to look forward to? Guess that’s that on the fun holidays.”

[conmansolomon]

i-olicat‌:

The smile, however haphazard, clued Oliver into the fact that today was an okay day, at least for now, and he didn’t have much to worry about. For the time being. It could change. He was still a bit tense when Fagin messed up his hair, mostly in the shoulders, but he managed to keep from flinching this time as he helped his hair back to where it should be. At least Fagin had the drink, and hopefully Oliver’s personal choice in caffeine would help out some.

“Thanks,” Oliver said softly, glad that it was ‘good kid’ instead of something about how privileged he was, or how he ‘shouldn’t be showing off his money’. It probably helped that he was wearing clothes from before the adoption. “Uh, yeah, a bit, but I don’t have to do it right now.”

Solomon nodded, base of the movement all in the neck, but his whole body moved with it. He thought about throwing something into the coffee to spike it, but that was mostly an absentminded idea; right now he needed to pull himself out of whatever had him under, and Oliver was proving to be instrumental in that. “Hey, hey,” he grinned, a jerk of his shoulders managing to be something of a shrug. “Only telling the truth, honest.”

He sat up a little straighter, a lot straighter, leaning in in rapt fascination for once and just trying for a bit of understanding, trying to find real common ground for once perhaps, or at least show an interest in Oliver’s life. He’d always been such a source of stress, such a pain point, that Solomon didn’t find it in himself to inquire too often, but here he was now, eyes blinking wide. “Oh, alright, alright. Which, uh. Which classes did you have today? What’s the work in? If you have a minute, it seems like you do.”

[conmansolomon]

💡 a scared text - Rita

@ritaxdexsilva

solomon: id ont know if im gonna make it to the er