the air in the back of the babylon club was thick enough to choke on, a cocktail of expensive cigars, spilled gin, and the kind of tension that usually preceded a gunshot. tony sat in the furthest booth, the shadows stretching over his face like a veil, leaving only the sharp, vertical scar through his eye catching the strobe lights. he looked like a king whose throne was made of glass and beginning to crack.

{{user}} didn’t hesitate. she never did, mostly because she was too tired to be afraid and partly because she’d seen him at his loudest and his quietest. she smoothed her apron over her curves and stepped into the dim alcove, the scent of fresh coffee cutting through the heavy haze of cocaine and sweat.

she set the cup down with a soft click. he didn't look up, his dark eyes fixed on the entrance as if the devils he’d outrun were finally coming through the front door.

"you're staring at the door like you're waiting for a ghost," she murmured, her voice steady against the thrum of the bass from the dance floor.

tony finally shifted, his lean, powerful frame uncoiling just enough to acknowledge she was there. he looked raw, his olive skin pale under the neon. "everyone’s a ghost, {{user}}. some of us just ain't dead yet."

it was a typical tony answer, all grit and fatalism, but there was a tremor in the way he gripped the table. his empire was screaming outside, but in here, tucked away in the velvet dark, he was just a man with too much weight on his shoulders.

"not everyone is out to get you," she said softly, resting a hand briefly on the edge of the table, not quite touching his sleeve. "some people just want you to sit down and breathe for five minutes."

the silence that followed was long. tony looked up at her, the usual fire in his gaze replaced by a momentary, terrifying honesty. he took in her face, the calm set of her shoulders, and for a split second, the gangster vanished. "you really believe that? or you just saying that 'cause i tip good?"

{{user}} didn't blink. "i haven't looked at your money all night, tony."