dom martinez.

now that was a tempting offer ! and yujin had to practically restrain themself from nodding immediately. they opened their mouth to reply but then closed it, lips twisting into a little knowing smirk. “ no ! no can do. that cat picked you. and you must really like it, you already got pictures of it on your phone. that's how it starts. ”

blinking in confusion, dom clicked his phone off and tucked it back into his pocket. "i took the picture for evidence," he said with a firm nod. "because he was shredding the toilet paper. didn't you see?" if he was trying to get somebody else to take the cat in, this probably wasn't the best strategy. "how what starts?" he reached for one of the selections of litter, checked the price, and put it back in favor of a cheaper brand. "i don't like it. what's there to like? it keeps sleeping on me. i'm allergic." he just remembered: he needed to get some benadryl while he was here, too.

#yujin001

hack3rs

“ jeez, no wonder your booth is a flop. ” spoken in jest, hand extending to soften the blow of her teasing words with an apple cider offering she’d snagged from the beans booth. “ i mean, c’mon, where’s the hospitality ? y’gotta get a little enthusiastic with it if you want anyone to bite. really channel your inner ringleader. hell, slide me some cash and i’ll have people flocking. ” would she ? eh. debatable. even so her initial venture over to her roommate’s booth was an effort to get a few heads turning. she couldn’t stand around and play witness to the lack of attention, watched as others bypassed the set up in favor of what ? a booth that offered temporary bliss in the form of a donut ? granted, it was a damn good one, iris will give black forest that. regardless, she often found that intrigue attracted intrigue – figured if she went up, perhaps others would follow. herd mentality at its finest. one swing of her leg and she was straddling the empty chair, chin resting where one's head would. “ listen, i gotta proposition. m’dealing with some primo real estate … ” sleeve rolled up, she slapped the bare skin just below where her elbow bent. “ and i've been thinking about some new ink. maybe y'could brand me with one of those ghosts, ” a nod at the designs on display. “ preferably with a pair of sunglasses. maybe a cowboy hat. i don’t know something cute. ”

#iris001 #//just how i LIKE IT actually tysm for bugging him <#33

he didn't even have to glance up from his drawing to clock who'd insulted him. he'd know that voice anywhere. with a sigh, dom reached out to accept the offered beverage, pausing to blow on the drink before taking a sip. damn, that was good. there was definitely some kind of secret ingredient in this stuff. cinnamon? something like that. he took a smaller sip to keep from burning his taste buds off and finished shading before turning to look at her properly. "what do you suggest?" he tapped the end of his pen against the tabletop. "a dance routine?" his mouth twitched slightly at the offer and he tipped his head slightly, turning to get his supplies ready. fresh ink, tattoo gun with a new tip. before getting to work, he tapped the sheet with a fingertip. "surprised you're not going with the spitting image of our new houseguest," indicating a black cat. he gestured her over to the other side of the table where they had a small setup with a portable chair. he pulled a table up to it and laid his supplies down before applying some hand sanitizer and then pulling on a pair of gloves. "we have this new glow-in-the-dark ink," he said as he cleaned the area with an alcohol wipe. "if you're into that sorta thing."

adam chuckled, the other's words somehow made the bag on his shoulder feel even heavier with ungraded papers and quizzes. he knew he should make it easier on himself but he would never be able to read papers on a computer screen, he needed to be able to mark on them and have them in front of him. he had been told many, many times that he needed to at least allow the computer to grade quizzes. that had just been this week. "everyone who has something to hide," adam replied.

dom's eyebrows pulled together. he paused with his coffee cup halfway to his mouth. maybe he and iris had been watching too much true crime lately, but the words made him pause, if only briefly, before rearranging his expression into a more neutral one. "i mean, doesn't everybody have some things they keep to themselves?" his reality tv habit, for one. the fact that he didn't hate the cat for another. he gestured to a table nearby. "that bag looks like it's making you off balance. did you wanna sit?" he was planning on grabbing a pastry from the counter and he thumbed over his shoulder to indicate so, in case the other wanted him to grab something.

#adam001

softasin

''perhaps,'' verona says in lieu of a more formal retort, moving closer just to get a better look at the drawing beneath his hand. ''that looks very interesting,'' in an instant, she takes off the sunglasses that had been perched on her nose, offering a genuine smile instead of an apology for interrupting his work, which has almost always effortlessly worked in her favor. ''i don't think that sleeve tattoos are my thing nor pumpkins, but i do want some professional consulting.''

elliot-mason-deactivated2025010

"well," dom said, holding his arms out wide to indicate his mostly empty booth. "i'm all yours for now. what were you thinking of?" he flipped the page of his notebook to a fresh sheet and peered up at her expectantly, trying to spot any visible ink she might already have. "and where?" it helped him envision the finished piece if he knew where a client was planning on having a tattoo. he rolled up his sleeves and braced an elbow on the table in front of him.

#verona001

After a long day of work, Elliot decided to make a pit stop before he went to pick Sawyer up and head home. In the need of some snacks so when he finally got the chance, he could simply lay on the couch and watch something while eating a bag of chips. That sounded like heaven. Though he full well knew it wouldn't happen later into the night, that he would need to take care of Sawyer once he got home. Something he was still getting used to- being a dad. A bit zoned out from work, Elliot wasn't paying all that much attention in line, not until the person in front of him turned around and he instantly grinned at the sight of Dom. Forever thankful for a friend who had learned signed all those years ago.

His eyebrows quirked with amusement as he watched his friend's hands, looking down at the basket at his feet. Letting out what he hoped was an overly dramatic sigh before he brought his hands up as well, a smile already quirking at the corner of his lips. "Yeah of course, I'll just add your stuff with mine. Then you can, I don't know, buy me a coffee or something next time we're out." Because that was simply the kind of guy Elliot was, the one that would do anything for his friends, or hell, even strangers at time. "Looks like we have to same idea food wise." He added after a second with a laugh, gesturing to his own basket that was piled with, well, junk food.

a relieved smile turned his mouth as he unceremoniously dumped his things in with elliot's. "you can get the most expensive thing on the menu," dom signed back a little clumsily. it was kind of like riding a bike. you didn't forget how to use asl, but it could be a bit awkward until you got back into the rhythm. "the four food groups," he added, peering into elliot's basket and quirking an eyebrow slightly. "what about the kid?" he didn't mean to be insensitive; he just was quicker with single words than signing out full names. of course he knew his friend's daughter was named sawyer.

#elliot001

castlcscrumbling

despite herself, she smiled in response to his comment. growing up, she had always wished that she'd been able to do that. lighten the mood in a way that didn't come across as an anxious coverup. instead, she'd been the quieter kid on the side. making sure the group had a good time as things went on around her. "i'd end up exiled. how dare anyone risk christmas pushing halloween to the side by starting too soon?" even though so much of the history crowds came to see every year didn't really happen where they were, the town had always rallied together for the fall season. while christmas wasn't really their hometown's thing, it seemed to somehow become theirs. every year had been two old friends falling back into friendly patterns until the most recent holiday visit when she'd let herself get a little too comfortable. something she'd only allowed herself to give into knowing she wouldn't be running into him on random monday afternoons at the library. thanks, universe.

amelia nodded along as he spoke, knowing that despite the sirens going off in her head, she did care about how he was. he'd been one out of a handful of their group that she'd felt had actually been a friend. "just don't mess with my algorithm and we'll be fine," she attempted as a joke. her eyes fell from his face to the children's books in her arms. Here we go. "i actually, uh, got a job here. well, not here here as in the library, but here as in in town." sharing the update with random neighbors had been easy. they all assumed she'd come back home for a job on purpose. it had been her family, and the few friends she had kept in closer contact with, that she had a hard time admitting it to since they'd understand that it wasn't her decision. "was a few weeks late for the start of the school year, but we're on a good path now. just wasn't as prepared as i could've been, so the library's keeping my classroom library stocked while i figure out my plan to rob the bank in order to get all of the books we need." hopefully he wouldn't think twice about her being here for a month without reaching out.

#salem:start #salem:event01

"i loved bridgerton just for you," he replied, even though he'd never watched more than two minutes of the show. the historical romance angle wasn't really his thing. a good thriller, though? sign him up. his eyebrows shot up towards his hairline when she admitted to finding a job in salem. it didn't seem like her. there had to be some other reason why she'd returned home, but he didn't think talking about it in the middle of the public library was the best idea, so dom just cleared his throat and said "my condolences." he loved salem, but he knew she wasn't as fond of it. hopefully she'd be able to get out sooner than later...if that was what she wanted to do, anyway. he couldn't say he was upset at running into her. mia was one of the few people he naturally got along with.

he tipped his head slightly, doing the math in his head. she'd been here for weeks? maybe a month? it was strange they hadn't crossed paths before now. was she avoiding him? why? their...thing last winter had been casual. maybe dom hadn't thought so in the moment, but as soon as she'd been gone when he woke up, he'd put it in the amelia box in his head and just tried not to think about it. high school crushes turned holiday hookups weren't at the top of his list to relive. "you could try the nook. emma's prices are usually better than amazon." the woman in front of him finally got what she needed and the harried librarian waved the next person forward. dom held his arm out, playing the gentleman. before she could step up to check out, though, he rocked forward on his toes and said "what are you doing after this?" he hadn't thought that through, but he did want to know.

#mia001

where: fall festival what: flash tattoo booth who: dom + open

dom was bored. he'd spent the last half an hour scrolling through his phone because most of the people at the festival this early seemed to be parents with kids. a few moms and dads had promised to come back without the kids, but he hadn't had any takers. yet. dom's fingers were practically itching to draw, though, so he set his phone aside to sketch out a few fall-themed designs on a spare piece of notebook paper: black cats, ghosts, and pumpkins dominated the page, but he was in the middle of drawing a more complicated sleeve design involving a lot of colored leaves when a shadow fell over the page, immediately fucking up his shading. dom bit back a sigh and turned to look up.

"can i help you?"

mai kept her distaste for that sentence to herself. she had grown up with men who replied like that and they were usually not very nice men. but she would play nice. she had, afterall, almost robbed the man of his coffee maybe he needed it to be in a better mood. god knew she did in this moment. she nodded, looking over the danishes. "in truth, i've never had a danish before," she replied, her body usually running on caffeine and sheer spit.

"how?" dom couldn't bite back the disbelief. he walked back over to the counter, ordered two of the freshest danishes, and made his way back to mai. he held out one of the danishes (the lemon curd, he kept the strawberry jam one for himself) like some kind of peace offering. "truce?" he said as he passed off the pastry -and took a bite of his own. who could be pissed off with a danish in hand? no one. and mai didn't need to know he'd used a buy one, get one free coupon on these. what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

#mai001

emma chuckled, and she often wondered how dom was an artist. she had to give it to the other they were talented but they did not have the personality for it, or maybe he did and emma was just too overly friendly for the black cat personality in front of her. "hm . . . is she now? what is one thing she's done that makes you think that?" emma teased back. "oh what a good son, your mom must love you for bringing her her favorite books. and $6 even."

"well," dom said, combing a hand through his hair out of habit and trying not to be too obvious about glancing at the dust jacket of the book in front of him. "she was amazing in dirty dancing. and who could forget gilmore girls?" which was about the extent of dom's knowledge on the illustrious career of kelly bishop. he made eye contact with emma as he handed her a wrinkled ten dollar bill, prepared to shove the change into the change jar on the counter. "i'm making up for missing friday night dinner, actually. but hopefully she agrees with you."

#emma001

julian let his breath in through his nose, well damn, he thought. who pissed in dom's cheerios? but in all honesty julian couldn't fully blame the other, it would be annoying for someone to just reach for their bottle. not that julian was a germaphobe ( he was, he was a virgo after all ), he needed to be taken out for dinner first before he swapped spit with someone like that. he just nodded and bent down to get the bottle and offered it out to them. "sorry, you can add it to my bill next time i get a tattoo."

popping the top off of the bottle, dom paused to wipe the nozzle with his t-shirt before taking a long swig. the annoyance seemed to ebb as soon as julian mentioned his work. the tension in his muscles eased, his shoulders dropping from near his ears. "did you have something in mind?" he capped his bottle and hopped back on the treadmill, easing into his pace again. "or did you see something in the book you liked?" dom and his coworkers had a book of lineart they'd all collaborated on over the years, but he really liked helping clients come up with their own, personal design. either way, he could add his own touches...with permission, of course. it was his favorite part of his job, other than seeing people's faces light up when the tattoo came out as good as (or better than) they imagined. his clients were like walking billboards, too, so any time he made them happy, it benefited him in the long run.

#julian001

noa made quick work of getting the cables set up and shook his head fondly over his shoulder as he connected the last one to the other's vehicle. “ doesn't work that way ! ” he answered over his shoulder. “ i swear i come home and find ‘em jumping out of my bag. i have no idea how they got in there and that's how come i got three living with me now. plus all these little ones that follow me around for fish. ” they made their way back to their truck and started the engine, groaning as it made a sound that surely sounded like it very might be the end. “ well … that's not good. ”

dom didn't have pets growing up. they had too many kids. and if they had had pets, it would have been dogs. dogs were loyal. they had jobs. they were man's best friend. cats? cats were too independent. they did things their way. they made they rules. they were too dom-like for him to want to spare his space with one. the black cat seemed to disagree and had burrowed its way into his hoodie pocket, only its head poking through. with a sigh, dom turned his attention back to noa. "probably not the battery," he said unnecessarily, walking over to peer under the hood. he didn't know much about cars. his dad had always just taken theirs to the mechanic. he could change the oil and jumpstart his vehicle now, probably even change a tire, but everything under the hood looked greek to him. "...did you want a lift back into town?" that was about all dom could offer outside of the jumper cables. "i'm leaving now, if you wanted to go."

#noa001

eun-woo was so lost in his own thoughts that he had in fact reached for the wrong cup without realizing it. he heard the other speak and then pulled back to look down at the cup he was holding. “ dvm ? ” he questioned, they squinted as he turned the cup to get a better look. “ oh - thats a heart not a v .. ” a tiny smile pulled at the corners of his lips as he handed the cup over. “ how creative. ” and of course he couldn't help but raise his brows. “ i think she likes you. ”

"that's me," he replied with a straight face, taking the cup from the other and taking a sip. dom looked over sun-woo's shoulder at the barista who'd made the drink and lifted his cup in a salute before turning his attention back to sun-woo instead. "i don't know. she puts hearts on everyone's names." he gestured to the next cup the worker set down, with a couple of hearts in place of the o's. "it's her thing. i think she's in it for the tips, which i can respect." he worked in customer service, too, technically. he couldn't judge. normally, he wouldn't have lingered. smalltalk wasn't really his thing, but dom spotted the barista cleaning up some tables near the door and honestly? he didn't think sun-woo was that far off. dom just wasn't interested. so he needed to stall until she was occupied by something else and he could sneak away. he gestured to sun-woo's cup. "what'd you get?"

#sun-woo001

hack3rs

with the moviegoers settled … mostly couples swapping spit and teens tucked behind their popcorns, it was clear iris’ boredom had taken its toll. so much so that she resorted to a one woman show for her own audience. typically she’d subject noi to such antics; however, it was a welcomed surprise to draw them out for a fresh set of eyes that decided to keep her company instead. “ hold that thought, ” an index finger lifted to emphasize her statement before the back of her hand pressed to her forehead. “ no. please don't kill me, mr. ghostface, ” her other hand splayed across her chest as if she were a damsel in distress. even went as far as twisting her body to recline over the counter, head dangling like deadweight over the edge. eyes found her roommate, a warped upside-down view giving her a straight shot up his nose. no bats in the cave, from what she could tell. “ i wanna be in the sequel. ” recited words fell in sync with the nineties horror classic projected on the screen. could even hear the echoes of the iconic line in unison coming from the rows upon rows of cars too. scream's impact. but of course, iris' campaign for a rocky horror style showing continued to get shot down by her boss time and time again. she should've recorded the moment, proof that it'd draw in a hefty crowd. it wasn’t until she rolled back over, chin finding comfort in her palm, had she considered dom’s initial question. “ wait – ” narrowed gaze studied him for a moment. and then ... realization struck, a gleam in her eye one would equate to the spark of a match igniting, quick and blooming by the second. “ holy shit. holy shit. did you get us a cat ? ” she shot up from her slouch. “ are we parents now ? actually y’know what, i’d prefer it if i were the cool aunt in this scenario. feel like i’m waaaaaay too young to be a mom right now. ” ah yes, the oh-so adolescent age of twenty-seven. “ m'sorry, why the hell would you want to get rid of it ? ”

#iris001 #//erkfhhger love it tysm

he watched for a few moments, head tilted slightly, lips pressed together and then dom pointed at his own chest. "...does that make me the ghostface killer?" he waited a beat, shoulders lifting and falling. "usually the most complex character in those movies, besides the final girl. i'll take it." he chose to ignore the dramatic, reaching over iris for some popcorn and crunching on it, giving iris a golf clap before sliding his hands into his sweatshirt pocket, head shaking automatically. "i didn't get us anything. it followed me home from work." and it wouldn't leave, which was kind of a problem. dom had even tried leaving their front door open for twenty minutes. all the cat had done was sprawl out in the sunny patch on the floor and fall asleep. he gave her a blank look. "because i don't want to be responsible for another living thing?" obviously.

castlcscrumbling

building up her classroom's library was going to take time. that was what she told herself every time she ended up wandering the local library in order to check out a few new books and swap out the old ones. while it was a lot more work for her, it also gave her the excuse to spend more time secluded in her corner of the library. from her favorite spot, she was able to people watch, but stay out of everyone else's line of vision so as not to bring on random small talk. yes, i'm back. it's great to see you too. oh, just down at the elementary school. they were comments she'd quickly grown tired of. while everyone else around her seemed thrilled to return home, or adamant that they'd never leave, amelia wilson hated that she was stuck in her hometown. all it did was make her feel as if she hadn't changed one bit. as if all of the growth and work she'd done to truly figure out who she was as her own person had been left behind.

when it was safe for her to check out her armful of books and head back home, she snuck onto the back of the line. instead of focusing on what was going on around her, she kept her head down, eyes scanning the list of titles she had in her phone to double check that they were all in her arms. she hadn't realized how close she'd gotten to the person in front of her until they'd turned around and caused everything to go tumbling down. the voice was what she'd recognized first, causing her to freeze where she was. her first instinct had been to turn around and book it in the opposite direction. maybe she had thirty seconds to a minute before he put two and two together and caught on to who exactly he'd bumped into. she hadn't told a lot of people she'd moved back, but he was one of the select few that she went the extra mile to dodge. keeping in touch with him had been much easier when she knew she'd only be in town for a few days. "i guess it's a little too early to say merry christmas, huh?" silently cursing herself for the world's dumbest comment, she reached out to take the books again. "thanks." what was she even supposed to say? sorry i didn't give you a heads up? it's not like she was obligated to fill anyone in on her plans except her family. instead of allowing the spotlight to steady on herself, she put a focus on him. "how are you? did you finally get super pissed at everything being on different streaming services and angry-cancel them all?"

"if you say it three times every store in town will start playing their christmas playlists," he warned with a shake of his head. normally, dom only saw mia during the holidays. it had become a bit of a running joke, actually, that as soon as the kids went on winter break, he'd run into her at the grocery store or the coffee shop or the library and they'd fall into their old routine of hanging out, watching whatever movie was playing at the drive-in or grabbing dinner at rory's restaurant up until last christmas. it wasn't quite like the song. he'd outgrown his high school crush on her. but that didn't mean he didn't still think about it every now and then.

dom stood up and tucked the horror movies he'd picked up under one arm, crossing them loosely over his chest and raising his eyebrows. "i'm okay." he was, mostly. dom was doing what he'd been doing the last time they'd spoken: working at the shop and watching bad reality tv with his roommate. the most exciting thing that'd happened to him recently was that he'd been adopted by a cat. "i'm still bumming your netflix account," he said with a shrug, eyes drifting from her face to the books in her arms. "just some light reading, huh?" he kept his tone neutral. this was fine. this didn't have to be awkward. though if miss newbury took any longer it might get that way. "what brings you home?" because that's what salem was whether mia liked it or not. their hometown. always would be.

#mia001 #//👀

“ sorry .. didn't mean to interrupt your fight with the … ” he paused and made an over dramatic move to look out the window once more. “ the cat. ” noa of course was finding the whole thing quite amusing knowing damn well how he had his own little entourage of felines every single time he placed his feet down on the dock.

“ you know, you don't have much choice in the matter, ” he noted as he slipped out from his driver seat and around back to the bed of the truck in search of the cables. “ he's adopted you. it's just how it works. ”

dom had his dad's truck, which had a rattling transmission and windows that didn't roll down. but he could probably get noa's car jumped with it, if nothing else. with the cat still perched upon his shoulder, he made his way around to the front of the vehicle to pop the hood and stood back, holding his hands palm-up in the universal gesture for go for it. a scoff followed. "well i wasn't up for adoption," he said, more to the cat than to noa. "so he's just gonna have to figure something else out."

#noa001

“ you got a pet. a cat. ” yujin stated, not replying to dom's question in the slightest. “ what's it's name !? what does it look like ? c'mon you didn't tell me ? i love cats. wait - maybe our cats could hang out sometime ? i think it would be good for poe to get out and meet some new friends. we could hang out all four of us - ” they paused out of pure need to stop chattering away to take a breath of air. now normally this was far too many words for someone to hear coming out of the author, this level of comfortability reserved only for his friends, which they had clearly adopted dom into.