Chapter Text
You were still finding your way round New York after only arriving a few weeks ago, the instructions given to you by your manager said to take the A train and get off at 181st. Up till now you’d been trying to avoid the subway as you were worried it would be too easy to get lost and find yourself stuck somewhere unsavoury but this time you had to just suck it up as this job was too important. You had been so very lucky to land yourself this job at the prestigious Jonathan Levine gallery straight out of college so there was no room for errors.
You had been sent to find the creator of a ‘fabulous’, in your managers words, piece of street art that had appeared on a bodega grate in Washington Heights. You were under strict instructions not to leave until you had a name or even better had met the artist in question. As the train pulled into the station you got up to leave and found yourself being jostled along the platform with the crowd of people, luckily they all seemed to be heading for the escalator your manager had told you to use. Once you arrived at street level you looked around trying to get your bearings, not being able to see any street signs you decided you needed to ask someone for directions. Seeing a happy looking man in a cap pushing a Piragua trolley you thought to yourself he would have good local knowledge so made your way over to speak to him. “Excuse me” you asked “I’m sorry to bother you but I’m just wondering if you could point me in the direction of a local bodega?” “There are lots of those round here Mija” he replied “There’s one right there just across the street”. You shook your head “Sorry I should have explained better, I’m looking for a specific bodega that recently had a piece of artwork appear on it’s grate”. The man smiled and said “Ah you’re looking for Senor Usnavi’s place. Follow me I’m heading over there now” and he set off around the corner. He seemed friendly enough but having come from a little place in the country you were still a little nervous so you checked your pocket for your rape alarm just in case.
You followed him along a few blocks making small talk on the way, explaining that you had just started working at the gallery and your manager and sent you to find the creator of the artwork. Word had spread around NYC about it and your manager wanted to get ahead of the game and sign this new artist who was sure to be in high demand. As you turned one final corner the piragua guy pointed over to the bodega which had a blue canopy over the window saying Deli, Groceries, Store. Unfortunately as the store was open at present the artwork wasn’t visible to see. You were glad you had asked for directions now as rather naively your original plan was to just wander around till you saw the piece of work. You thanked the piragua guy for his help and he headed off calling out the cost and flavours of his shaved ice for sale. .
You made your way across the street taking in your surroundings, there was an empty store next to the bodega that looked like it used to be a salon. On the other side across an alleyway there was a car and limousine company with a sign above saying Rosario’s , as you looked up the alleyway towards some steps you could see the GW bridge in the distance. Looking round you got the impression that a lot of places in the area had closed recently, it seemed a shame as you could imagine that it had once been a very vibrant place to be but in so many of these neighbourhood the rents kept going up and up and the small mom and pop stores just couldn’t afford to stay.
As you reached the door of the bodega you nearly got knocked down by a man with short dark hair who looked to be in his 20’s walking out of the store with his back to you whilst still talking to someone inside. At the last second you heard a voice shout “Benny watch out” and the man stopped himself just in time. As he turned towards you he gave you a head to toe look, checking you out before stepping aside to let you enter the store. As you passed him you glanced back and caught him checking out your ass. Not ashamed at all he brought his eyes back to your face and started speaking “Well hello beautiful, not seen you round the Heights before. I’d definitely remember that…” “FACE” shouted a nervous voice from the back of the counter. You looked up and saw a very good looking man with a dark goatee wearing a black cap with two white stripes on it rushing toward you. As he got alongside the first man he turned to him and hissed “Benny - how many times do I have to tell you not to objectify the customers!” He turned to face you again with a smile and whilst bouncing on the balls of his feet said “Welcome to the neighbourhood. what can I get you?” You felt your stomach somersault at his smile and very nearly forgot he was expecting a reply from you. Your nerves got the better of you as you stammered out “Oh y-yes, well I’m here about the street art on your grate” His smile immediately disappeared and his face hardened. You felt yourself shrink back under his steely gaze. “I’ve already told your people, we are not removing it. I don’t care if you think it lowers the tone of the area, Abuela Claudia was muy importante to our community and we will not get rid of it because some outsiders don’t like it. Now if you don’t mind I’ve got a store to run” and turned to walk away. You quickly realised it was a case of mistaken identity and not wanting to lose your chance you drew yourself back up to your full height and grabbed his arm before replying “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else, my name is Y/N and I represent the Jonathan Levine gallery. We are very interested in your artwork and definitely not looking for it’s removal. I’m actually hoping you can point me in the direction of the artist” The man ducked his head as his cheeks reddened realising his mistake. “Sorry for jumping to conclusions, it’s just been that most people have come in to complain not compliment” He held out his hand towards you “I’m Usnavi, could we maybe try this again?”
As the man you now knew as Usnavi showed you to the back of the store he offered you a coffee which you gratefully accepted. “How much do I owe you” you enquired. “It’s on the house” Usnavi replied. You saw Benny who was stood next to Usnavi roll his eyes and whisper “pretty ladies always get the drinks for free, what does a guy have to do to get free coffee” You felt your face heat at the compliment as Usnavi elbowed his friend in the ribs giving him the side eye. Desperate to change the subject he said “So you work for some fancy gallery that’s interested in Pete’s work?” “Yes” you reply “It’s causing quite the stir in the local art world. Everyone wants to get their hands on the artist who did it to see what else he can do” You took a sip of your coffee and groaned, it was the best coffee you’d tasted in a long time. Usnavi looked at you over the counter with an unreadable expression in his eyes and cleared his throat “Umm... why should we choose you to introduce to Pete if there’s so many others going to be after him?” The childish retort of ‘because I got here first’ was on the tip of your tongue but you caught yourself remembering you were here representing the gallery so you needed to make a good impression if you wanted to keep your job. Your manager hadn’t explicitly said your job was riding on this but had strongly hinted that unless you wanted to spend the next few months doing grunt work success in getting the artist was in your best interests.
At least you had a first name now ‘Pete’ if all else failed you could just take up stalking all the local graffiti artists and shouting “Pete” to see if any of them turned round. You chuckled to yourself at the thought and Usnavi and Benny shared a look over the crazy girl who was laughing at seemingly nothing. Realising Usnavi was still awaiting a response you launched into the usual spiel about how great the Jonathan Levine gallery was and how focused they were on new up and coming talent and giving them a showcase for their work. You could tell they weren’t convinced so as a last resort you blurted out how worried you were for your job hoping that maybe they would feel sorry for you. That got the reaction you were hoping for, the boys shared a look and Usnavi said “If you can come back tomorrow I’ll see what I can do, Pete’s a bit of a punk so I can’t promise anything but I’ll do my best” If the counter hadn’t been in the way you might have hugged him. The smile you gave Usnavi made him feel a bit weak at the knees and he was definitely looking forward to seeing you the next day. With a wave and a promise to see them tomorrow at 5 you left the bodega. As soon as the door closed Benny immediately berated Usnavi for not asking you out “Did you learn nothing with Vanessa, you still ain’t got no skills!” “Chill dude, she’s coming back tomorrow I’ll get my chance then” he said rubbing the back of his neck, not convinced he actually would actually be able to pluck up the courage.