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The Judgement Day Tattoo and Piercing Parlour had only been in business for 4 or 5 years when they got some new neighbours in the form of Mysterio & Sons Bakery.
Damian was ecstatic about it. He had been whining for months that there were no good bakeries near their shop. At least not since The OC Bakery moved 10 blocks over. But Mysterio & Sons looked respectable, with pristine floors and walls, decoration was light but colourful and it had an overall decent vibe according to Damian (who was in charge of lunch runs).
Also according to Damian, it was actually the '& Sons' that ran the bakery across the street. Rey Mysterio had inherited the business from his father and when his own son turned 13, Dominik started working there in preparation to take over one day. When the opportunity to expand the business into 2 locations came about, Rey jumped on it. He named Dominik the manager of the new location and practically gave him free reign over everything.
Rhea didn't miss the way that Finn, Damien and the owner, Edge, all seemed just slightly too interested in Rhea's opinion on the mystery bakery owner but she tried to ignore them. She loved her boys but they couldn't understand why she was fine with staying single. Edge had been happily married to Rhea's literal favourite person, Beth was a sweetheart to everyone but especially Rhea, for about 7 years and Damian had been happily with Finn before Finn even started working at the parlour 2 years ago.
It didn't help that she was a good 15 - 20 years younger than all of the other staff members or that this meant she was a similar age to the mystery bakery owner, which urged them on even more after they realised that information. She wasn't blind to their schemes but she did try to forget about them.
She knew nothing about this guy except for the fact his name is Dominik and he works for his Dad. She didn't even know what he looked like for God's sake. It was not fair on her to but lumped together with a guy she didn't know just because her colleagues thought she needed to "get some" (Finn's words, not hers.)
That all changed though on a random Monday morning when Finn walked into their shop without his friendly giant of a husband by his side.
"Morning Finn, where is Dammo?" Rhea asked.
"Rhea, it is a war zone in our house right now. Damian is like one bad coughing fit away from dying I swear to God, and there are tissues everywhere. Tissues and empty medicine bottles and so many uneaten bowls of soup I might as well live in a soup kitchen," Finn breathed out, somewhat exasperated.
"Poor Damian. Are you okay? Are you sure you don't need the day off to look after him?" Edge asked, coming from his office in the back of the building.
"God no. I know 'in sickness and health' and all that crap but the person who came up with that didn't have Damian in mind when they made it up. I might go crazy if I have to spend another day stuck inside with him."
"He is that bad, is he?" Edge asked, this time with an amused lilt to his voice.
"Oh you have no idea mate," Rhea answered, she had had her fair share of ill Damian experiences, "the man doesn't stop. He somehow does nothing while ill and also insists on still doing his normal routine. He lacks any and all logical sense while ill."
"I had to physically stop him from coming to work today but he hasn't moved from the bed more than 10 times the entire weekend. Suddenly he is feeling fine," as he finished, Finn rolled his eyes but there was an underlying hint of adoration in his words.
"Well, you know what this means? Someone else has to do the lunch run today…" Edge teased, seeing as it was very much pointed at Rhea.
"And probably for the rest of the week as well," Finn added, catching on to what Edge was hinting at.
"And oh, would you look at that? Rhea… you're the only one of us that doesn't have an appointment before lunch today," Edge finished.
"You haven't even looked at the schedule for today yet, you don't know that," Rhea tried to argue but she had already accepted her fate.
"Well that settles it then, Rhea you're on lunch duty until Damian gets back," Finn said, decisively.
Which is how Rhea found herself walking into Mysterios & Sons Bakery at 1PM on that fateful Monday afternoon, list of orders clutched in hand (Damian had been doing it so long that he had the orders memorised by that point but Rhea couldn't do that quite yet).
As Rhea stepped in, she couldn't help but agree with Damian's assessment of the place. It was clean, seemed welcoming and just had an overall good vibe to it.
"Welcome, what can I get for you today?" A voice cut through air, disrupting Rhea's thoughts.
She turned her head to the counter and was met by a young man. He looked about her age and was dressed in an apron with his hair slicked back. What caught Rhea's eyes was his smile. His smile seemed genuine, which is not the reaction Rhea expected. Partially because he works in customer service and partially because that is not the usual reaction Rhea gets when people see her for the first time.
Dominik.
It had to be him. Rhea didn't see any other workers, though there were a few weary looking customers staring at her.
"Hi. Can I please get 2 cheese and tuna paninis, a BLT, three cans of diet coke and three coffee and walnut cake slices. To go, please," Rhea replied, dutifully reading off the list that Finn had provided her.
"You must be Rhea," the man joked, moving about to collect everything she had requested. It made Rhea do a double take and the man laughed when he saw it, "don't worry, I'm not a stalker or anything. Damian comes in everyday and orders the exact same thing you just did plus his own food, and since Rhea is the only girl that works at the tattoo parlour with him, I put two and two together. Was I right?"
She just nodded.
"Awesome, well I'm Dominik. It's nice to finally meet you Rhea. I have heard nothing but nice things about you from Damian. Speaking of, not that I'm unhappy to have finally met you, but where is the big guy?" Dominik spoke, talking about a mile a minute and Rhea's brain could only just process everything he said.
"According to Finn, he is currently at their house, on the brink of death," Rhea answered. Dom was definitely energetic but he seemed harmless enough, and he was kind of cute in a dorky way.
And oh, Rhea was in trouble.
"Poor dude, tell him that the next time he comes in, I will give him a strawberry cupcake," Dominik said, finally finished packaging everything away to give to Rhea.
Rhea went to give Dominik the card but he refused it.
"Oh the house. After all it's not everyday that I get to meet the elusive Rhea Ripley that Damian brags about almost daily," Dominik said with a subtle smirk on his face, it made Rhea's face heat up a little not that she’d ever admit it.
"Oh so he does that to you too, huh? Everytime he comes back from the lunch run he talks about your baking skills and the salted caramel cookies for at least an hour before being able to move on," Rhea shot back.
"Well I'm glad I made an impact," he said and just before Rhea turned around she swore he winked at her.
When she got back to her shop, the other 2 were already waiting around for lunch, Rhea not having noticed that she had been gone for well over 20 minutes.
"So… what do you think of him?" Edge tried to ask nonchalantly (he failed miserably).
"He's… sweet," Rhea replied, before hastily adding, "and totally not my type."
Finn and Edge smiled at each other and it was obvious they didn't believe her. Though she isn’t sure she believed herself either.
— — —
"Honey, I'm home," Finn called out as he walked through the door later that night.
A gruff voice called back, "how was it?"
"Well… Rhea finally met Dominik," Finn replied, knowing that was what Damian would be most excited about, he seriously viewed Rhea as a little sister and so anything that concerned her, also concerned him.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I give it to the end of the week before she is totally gone for him. I mean she was practically googly eyed today and she only spent 20 minutes with him."
The laugh that emanated from Finn and Damian's bedroom was nothing short of melodic to Finn.
— — —
The following day, Rhea found herself wandering down to the bakery slightly earlier than she had yesterday. When she got there, she saw Dominik through the window and thought she saw him smile when he noticed her.
However his attention was grabbed by the woman in front of him who had leaned across the bakery counter to give him a hug.
Rhea’s first thought was ‘oh’ which was followed immediately by ‘damn, well Damian got this all wrong didn’t he’. But that’s fine because Rhea wasn’t looking for anything and she definitely wasn’t looking for it with Dominik.
She stepped into the shop and when the little bell signalled her entry Dom looked up, whispered something in the girl’s ear and let go. Rhea hovered near the door until the girl backed away and left with a final wave.
“Hi, sorry about that. My sister wanted to know if I was coming to dinner tonight. I think it’s been weird living at home without me there,” Dominik laughed.
“Your sister?” Rhea asked, electing to ignore the little part of her brain that rejoiced at that information.
“Yup. I moved out in order to run this place. Our family home is like 45 minutes away and that commute was not worth it everyday. So instead I got an apartment that is somewhat in the middle of the two. I don’t think Aalyah realised just how little she’d see of me after I moved out. Anyway, I don’t think you want to hear about all my family drama, do you want the same as yesterday?” Dom asked, effectively changing the subject.
“Yes please. It’s nice that your sister came to visit you though. Family is the most important thing in the world to me,” Rhea said, her tone turning said at the end of her sentence which didn’t go unnoticed by Dominik.
“Are you family over here or still in Australia?” Dom asked, though he knew the answer. Damian talked about her a lot. Though Dominik had a slight suspicion that hearing Rhea say it herself is going to make his crush on her grow even more.
It may seem stupid to have a crush on a person he has only met twice but the way Damian talked about Rhea before Dominik had even met her made her seem almost perfect, and when he met her the day before it was solidified. Not to mention she is quite possibly the most gorgeous woman he had ever laid eyes on.
Dominik was so caught up in his thoughts he almost missed Rhea’s answer.
“Back in Australia. I miss them so much. Honestly I would give anything to hug my little sister right now. It’s why I treasure me and Damian’s friendship so much, having that sibling relationship over here really helped me find my feet. And the rest of the Judgement Day crew are practically my second family. Edge and Beth truthfully act more like my parents than my parents do sometimes,” Rhea answered, clear adoration for her found family and a slight yearning for her family at home could both be heard in her voice.
“If you don’t mind me asking, why leave?”
“I got a scholarship over here. I was massively into soccer when I was younger and I was apparently good enough for multiple US colleges to offer me a scholarship because of soccer skills,” Rhea said, adding an American twang on the word soccer, “while I was over here for college, I fell in love with tattoos and piercings and they became my passion instead of soccer. Started at Judgement Day the day after I graduated and here I am, telling a guy I’ve known for less than two whole days my entire life story. Sorry about that,” Rhea turned embarrassed at the end of her speech, she wasn’t usually one to tell strangers anything about her let alone everything.
Dominik just smiled, “don’t apologise. If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked. Is that how you met Damian? Through work?”
Rhea hesitated to answer, already having revealed enough about herself but in the end she decided that one more question won’t make much of a difference anymore.
“Nah. Damian and I have known each other for about 8 years. I met him, I want to say, 6 months after I moved here. He was working as a personal trainer at the gym I used to go to every day and I think he noticed how out of my depth I was. He offered to help me even though I said I couldn’t pay for a PT, he was the one who got me into weights and was there when I got my first tattoo. Actually the first tattoo he ever did on another human was on me, and then a few years later he did the cover up on it because it was… not great. He got me my job at Judgement Day, which was 4 years ago now.”
“Well thank God for Damian then right? Otherwise we might not have met,” Dominik said with a cheeky grin. He, again, refused to let Rhea pay for the meal and before she could thank him they heard an unamused cough from behind her.
“Oh. I am so sorry for taking up your time Dom, just because I’m on lunch break doesn’t mean you are,” Rhea apologised and then turned to the lady behind her, “so sorry for taking up too much time.”
Rhea walked out feeling Dominik’s eyes still on her but before she left she heard a couple near the door speak.
“It’s kind of unprofessional of his girlfriend to visit him while he’s working,” the old lady said.
“Oh give them a break. It’s young love,” her husband responded, and in that moment Rhea knew it was time to leave.
When she got back to the parlour it was over half way through their lunch break and Finn was complaining of starvation.
“Seriously Rhea, you will be the one that has to explain to my ill husband that I died of starvation because you were too busy flirting to feed me.”
“Okay first off we were not flirting, we simply had a conversation. And secondly, Damian would forgive me,” Rhea said as she unpacked the sandwiches and cakes before getting to an extra bag labelled ‘RHEA’, ”what’s this?”
“What’s what?” Finn asked, pacified with his panini and cake.
Rhea held up the bag and Finn just smirked.
“Oh wait till I tell Damian about this. He is going to lose his mind. Dominik has never given Damian freebies before.”
“What… like ever?” Rhea asked, mind pinpointing the fact Rhea hasn’t paid at all for the last two days.
“Not that I know of, and you know how much Damian loves free stuff. He would have mentioned it. Why do you ask?” Finn replied.
Before she could respond Edge wandered out of his office.
“Ah Rhea, you’re back. I didn’t bring it up yesterday because I thought it my have been a false alarm but the account is saying that the lunch money hasn’t been going out this week. I just want to make sure you did pay for it,” Edge asked, always the accidental pot stirrer. Finn’s eyes practically lit up while Rhea sat there with a dark blush on her face.
“OH THIS IS FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC! HOLY SHIT DAMIAN IS GOING TO LOSE HIS MIND!” Finn exclaimed while Edge stood there looking confused but amused.
“Oh kill me now,” Rhea muttered under her breath before answering Edge’s question, “no I haven’t been paying for lunch. Dominik refuses to let me, though I do offer.”
Edge’s smile turned from confused to elated much like Finn’s did.
“Not only that Edge, but he is giving her extra treats on top of that. Come on Rhea, what’s in the bag?” Finn smirked, moving to grab the bag out of her grasp. Luckily she was fast enough to avoid Finn but not Edge who snatched it.
“Let’s see shall we,” Edge said. When he opened the bag, a note fell out, “well that wasn’t what I expected to be in there. That and cookies?”
“Rhea, when I’m upset sugar is always my go to solution. You said Damian liked my salted caramel cookies but you seem more of a snickers person. Try them both and let me know, Dominik,” Finn read off the slip of paper that fell out.
Rhea refused to speak to either of them for the rest of the day but she has to agree with Dominik, she is more of a snickers person.
— — —
Wednesday morning was full of jokes shared between the 3 currently working members of the Judgement Day, usually at the expense of Damian or Rhea. According to Finn, Damian fully lost his shit when he filled him in on the previous day's activities.
“Oh, I wish I was a fly on your wall at that moment,” Edge joked while Rhea rolled her eyes.
“Nothing noteworthy happened yesterday, you guys are just dramatic,” would be Rhea’s response to every joke thrown her way.
“Uh, actually I think you’ll find that Dominik noticed you were upset about something, not that you’ll tell us what it was, and tried to comfort you. And that it made you blush like a teenager with a crush. Just admit that we were right and that you and Dominik would make the perfect pair,” Finn teased, which got no response from Rhea.
Rhea purposely left later than normal that day so that she wouldn’t have as much time with Dominik. But she may have left to late because when she got the bakery the sign read ‘closed for lunch, come back at 2:30’.
“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath and turned around, already dreading telling the boys that she had messed up and they wouldn’t be getting any lunch that day. She didn’t get far when she heard the door behind her opening.
“I hope you weren’t planning on leaving before I said hi,” a voice called from the doorway.
“Well, it says you’re closed so I don’t know what else you expected me to do,” Rhea replied.
“Ah but for you? I’m always going to be open for you,” Dominik flirted, “come on in, I bagged up all your stuff already. You guys need to switch it up, you’re too predictable.”
“I like to say we are consistent, not predictable. And… Thank you. For the cookies, I mean. You are absolutely right, that snickers cookie was maybe the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth,” Rhea thanked, walking into the bakery. Dominik just flashed her a blinding smile.
“Did you have fun last night?” Rhea asked.
“Pardon?” Dominik replied.
“Sorry it’s none of my business, I just… you mentioned you were having family dinner last night.”
“Oh. That. Yeah, let’s just say it’s not going to happen again any time soon,” Dominik answered with a humourless laugh.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Me and my dad don’t exactly have the best relationship and I think maybe he thought that by giving me the responsibility of managing this bakery I would magically own a picket fence house and have 2 children the next time he saw me. He keeps bugging me about the fact that he already had me by my age but I live in a crappy rundown apartment and don’t even know if I want kids,” Dominik ranted. At some point the two had sat down at one of the tables.
“Hey, look at me Dom,” Rhea commanded, even if Dom wanted to resist, he couldn’t, “good. Now listen to me. I don’t know much about your background but from what Damian has told me, it sounds like you were never really given the opportunity to figure out what you wanted. I mean, you started working for your Dad when you were 13, no one knows what they want to do at 13. I wanted to be a WWE wrestler at that age. So from the age of 13 you have grown up thinking that this bakery and this job has been your only choice. That isn’t your fault. And honestly your Dad nagging you about it makes me already dislike him a little.”
Dom huffed out a laugh but had a contemplative look on his face.
“I mean.. I’m pretty sure I do want to be a baker but I don’t really want to work for my Dad, especially if it is straining our relationship,” Dominik said, obviously just thinking out loud, he was broken out of it when Rhea stood up and watched as she went behind the counter.
She came back holding 2 croissants and a pretzel.
“Sugar helps when you’re sad? Well carbs help when I have a lot of thinking to do,” Rhea said before she grabbed the bag of food next to her, “think about what you want Dom. Follow your heart.”
Dom watched as Rhea walked out of the door before picking up a croissant and ripping it in half.
‘Well, I know one thing my heart wants,’ he thought.
— — —
On Thursday Rhea had a client that ran long forcing Finn to do the lunch run, much to Dominik’s chagrin (though he tried and almost succeeded in hiding it).
“Well, can you give this to Rhea for me?” He asked, and hastily wrote a note on the back of a bag and handed it to Finn.
When Finn got back to the shop, Rhea’s client was just leaving and he quickly got out her panini and cake.
“Lover boy gave me this.” he said and tossed the bag to Rhea, “and before you ask, no I haven’t read it. I didn’t have time to.”
Rhea looked at the bag as she ate her lunch.
Rhea,
Thank you for yesterday. I’m still not entirely sure what I am going to do but I don’t think I can continue like this with my Dad. Thank you for talking me down yesterday, it is good to talk to someone about this kind of stuff. I wish you had been here for me to thank you in person but this will have to do. Normally I would offer you free treats as a thank you but… I will figure something out
-Dominik
Finn saw the blush on her face but decided not to question it for once, make no mistake though… he would be relaying everything he saw back to Damian later that night. Damian maintained that Finn’s daily recap on Rhea and Dom’s blossoming relationship was the only thing that helped him recover.
— — —
Rhea felt an odd sense of sadness on Friday. She knew that it was probably going to be the last day she did the lunch run. Although she hadn’t wanted the job at first, lunch run had become the highlight of her day, mostly due to a certain mullet-bearing baker. She hated to admit that her boys were right but there was something addictive about Dominik Mysterio that just kept drawing Rhea back in and to think that on Monday Damian was going to come back and resume his normal routine of lunch runs, it made her sad. Sue her.
When it was time for her to go down to the bakery, Finn and Edge were both able to feel her foul emotion. She had been able to hide it from the clients that day but when people know you as well as her boys did, you couldn’t conceal it.
“Do you want me to go instea-” Finn tried to offer before getting cut off.
“NO! I mean… no it’s fine,” Rhea rejected him. “I got this. Thank you though.”
The bell jingled when Rhea entered the bakery and just like on Tuesday, there was a woman talking to Dominik over the counter. She looked like an older version of the woman that was there on Friday so Rhea assumed she must be Dominik’s Mum. Her theory was confirmed when she moved just slightly closer.
“Dominik Mysterio, you listen to me right now. You’re Father meant nothing by what he sai-”
“Mum. We can talk about this when I go on lunch but I am still working right now. I have customers,” Dominik interrupted and pointed at Rhea who was hovering behind the two. The woman looked behind her and rolled her eyes before sitting down at a table near by.
“Hey, are you oka…” Rhea trailed off when she saw Dominik shake his head. He silently rang up Rhea’s order and didn’t stop her when she tried to pay for the food like he had done every single other time.
She nodded a thank you and then left with a last look back. She didn’t get very far before she heard a familiar voice call out. Though the familiarity was lacking in his voice.
“Excuse me! Miss! You forgot something!” Dominik called out.
Rhea stopped and turned to look at him. He took a few strides away from the bakery doorway which also put him just out of earshot of Mum.
“You forgot your cookies,” Dominik said, just in case she could still hear.
“I didn’t-” Rhea cut herself off again when she saw the look on his face, “thank you. I’ll be more careful to remember next time.” She took the bag from Dominik and he wasted little time in going back into the bakery. When she looked down at the bag there was a scribble that was slowly becoming as familiar to her as his voice was.
Rhea,
I’m sorry about that. I did not expect my Mum to come visit me today. I think you could maybe tell it wasn't a happy visit. A lot has happened since I saw you Wednesday and I’d love to tell you about it.
Message me :)
-Dominik
And underneath it was a number. Rhea couldn’t get the smile off of her face for the rest of that day.
— — —
The following Monday, Rhea walked into the shop and saw Damian sat at the receptionist desk, clearly waiting for her.
She sighed before she conceded, “I will tell you about it after work okay? We can go get drinks or something.”
The smile he flashed her was almost worth the embarrassment she knew she would feel when she admitted he was right. Almost.
She and Dominik had basically spent the entire weekend messaging each other and the attraction she had felt for him had turned into a full blown crush in the span of those two days. He told her about his parents and the argument they had gotten into on Thursday. How Dominik’s Father had some…less than savoury things about him and his work ethic. Rhea in turn had told him about how when she was in college she had some unhealthy coping methods to deal with stress or criticism.
It wasn’t always bad though, they told each other about the fun stuff too. Dom told Rhea about the pranks he and his sister used to pull on his parents and about his good memories of being in the kitchen with his Dad, learning how to bake. The two spent the entire weekend that way, exchanging life stories, fears, dreams and goals until it felt like they had known each other their entire lives.
The last message they had sent was Dom saying he was talking to his Dad in the morning and Rhea wished him luck. She had less than positive opinions when it came to Rey but Dominik still valued his opinions so Rhea wouldn’t vocalise her view that Dom might be better off without him.
Damian watched Rhea throughout the day and as the clock ticked closer to lunch both were thinking the same thing.
“Aren’t you going to get lunch Rhea?” Damian asked once it was about a quarter of the way through their lunch break.
“I was just about to ask you the same thing Dammo. Thought you’d want your old job back now that you’re here,” Rhea replied, secretly hoping Damian would let her go.
Damian seemed to think about it for a second before shaking his head, “nah that’s your job now. Wouldn’t want to get in between the lovebirds. Finn told me what happened when he had to get lunch on Thursday.”
Rhea glared at her older brother figure but said nothing as she went about getting ready to leave. It turned out that that wasn’t needed though as just as she grabbed her purse, there was a knock at the parlour door.
“Sorry but we are closed for lunch! Come back at 2” She yelled at the door.
“I’d hope so or all this food I bought is about to go to waste,” the voice called back. A very familiar voice.
The two employees look at each other before Rhea scrambled for the door and Damian leaped into the backrooms, probably to get Finn, Edge and Beth (who had been spending the day at the parlour to help Edge with “admin nonsense” according to Finn).
“Well look what we have here,” Rhea teased as she opened the door, “fancy seeing you here.”
“Yeah well… maybe I wanted to see you and I knew Damian was probably going to start doing the lunch run again now he was back.”
“Well you are in luck because me and him just decided you are stuck with me from now on. Speaking of him, I need you to know straight up that him, Finn, Edge and Beth are 100% listening to this conversation right now,” Rhea warned and was quickly proven right when there was a slight thud and string of profanities from behind the wall.
“Wow, that wall sounds a lot like Damian,” Dominik joked, “Dammo buddy, you’re a little to tall to be good at sneaking around.”
“Aren't you supposed to be working right now? Your break doesn’t start for another few minutes Dom,” Rhea asked.
“I took an early lunch, I wanted to see you,” Dominik replied and Rhea was shocked by his honesty. They both tried their hardest to ignore the cooing that erupted from behind the wall, sounding suspiciously like Edge.
“That’s sweet but you know your Dad will murder you when he finds out,” Rhea warned, not wanting to be the reason he got in trouble.
“Yeah about that… I quit this morning. I have to work for the next two weeks and then I’m officially unemployed I guess. No idea what I’m going to do afterwards, I just know I plan on saving as much money as possible so that I can open my own bakery one day,” Dominik confessed, rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous tic.
“Psst,” the wall spoke, this time sounding like Beth, “tell him about the receptionist position.”
Rhea laughed before doing exactly that, “we are hiring a receptionist soon to help with scheduling appointments etc. cause none of us really have enough time in between appointments.”
“Really?” Dom asked in disbelief that these people are practically just handing a job to him.
“Psst, tell him that he is hired,” the wall replied.
“Well, the sentient wall has spoken… you work here now Dom Dom. Or at least you will in 2 weeks,” Rhea confirmed, grinning at her family's dramatics.
“Thank you guys. Um… you guys might all want to come and get your food and I should probably get back to the bakery. Can’t be slacking in my last 2 weeks,” Dom said, setting the bag of food on the counter and waving at Rhea before leaving. Once he had left the others came out of the tattoo station they were hiding in.
Just as Finn was going to open the bag the door flew open again.
“Okay so I walked in with a game plan in my mind and I totally lost all the nerve I had so I didn’t do it but if I don’t do it now, I don’t know if I will. Rhea Ripley, will you go on a date with me? Tonight?” Dom asked, slightly out of breath but determined.
A squeal broke Dominik’s focus on Rhea and he noticed the others crowded around them.
“Oh this is so much worse than knowing they were just listening. Kill me now,” Dom cursed.
“Don’t say that, or we can’t go on our date,” Rhea teased and when Dom’s eyes snapped to her, she couldn’t help but laugh a little, she would maintain that it absolutely wasn’t a giggle no matter what Damian said.
“Yeah?” Dom asked, to make sure he had heard right.
“Yeah. Were you actually nervous that I’d say no?” Rhea teased, gaze the softest any of the Judgement Day crew had ever seen it.
“Maybe a little,” Dom confessed. Rhea just laughed and shook her head in disbelief.
— — —
A few years later, during his reception speech, Damian would claim responsibility for the entire relationship (not for the first time in the years that followed that Monday) but instead of fighting him for once, the bride and groom just looked at their best friend with tears in their eyes and both silently thanked him.