Strange Currencies | Carmy X Fem!character

strange currencies | carmy x fem!character

maybe take a peek at this first, a little something of an intro to whatever this is going to turn out to be.

|| summary ; in the middle of a stressful afternoon for carmy, sydney gets a surprise visitor. - this is from carmy's pov to start us off. additional parts will switch between him and the fem!reader pov

|| setting/timeline ; this picks up during the remodel of the beef into the bear, probably a few weeks in give or take. and who knows how far it'll go. Ill be sure to add notes if the timeline skips ahead or goes back. I also don't think there will be many season 2 spoilers, I may mention some things/scenarios that do come up but i don't plan to add anything that would ruin s2 for anyone. || warnings ; swearing, arguing/shouting, carmys pov, general stress, not proof-read or anything special

|| word count ; 1,096

An alarm is going off and it won't stop going off for what seems like forever. 'Is that in my head?' Maybe, probably definitely. Carmy was dreaming, though some would call it a nightmare, about The Bear, the renovations, the absolute clusterfuck it had all turned into.

That fucking alarm did not stop.

'Riche would you cut that fuckin' thing off I can't even hear myself think!' That was Jimmy, fucking Jimmy.

'It's go fast boats mojito, all one word.' Richie's triumphant when he gets off the phone.

Sydney and Sugar sigh in relief, Jimmy seems to relax, too, 'Now, can I tell you a story of a complete and utter failure?'

Carmy doesn't understand why any of them seem chill when he can still hear the alarm blaring, echoing between his ears, and it should drive him crazy but he doesn't mind it.

The alarm. The alarm, the alarm, the alarm. "Shit- oh, fuck-" Blue eyes fly open, arm flinging out to reach the clock on the bedside table, hand slapping the snooze button in the dark. 6 AM. Carmy might've been bright-eyed but he was never bushy-tailed in the mornings. Not when he rarely went to bed before midnight, not when he slept for shit most nights. The dreams never stopped. Some of them even lead to him sleepwalking, which is totally fucked. Who does that?

His morning routine was simple, straightforward. That was one thing Carmy could generally count on despite the shitshow that was everything else lately. Wake up, shower, get dressed, try to eat something, brush his teeth, attempt to tame his hair, then promptly fuck it up before he'd walk out the door by the sheer number of times he ran his fingers through it. Everything else that happened after he left his apartment had become a totally different story. Actually, everything else, since he'd come back to Chicago, since Mikey, had felt like a derailment from the life he had figured out for himself.

It was no surprise that Carmy wasn't alone at The Bear for very long before Sydney showed up, Sugar a short time after, then the rest of the family filtered in as the morning ticked on. He stood next to Syd in front of the three calendar months they'd taped to the wall. Their schedule that's surrounded by permits, checklists, edits in the margins, so many fucking sticky notes, and "motivational" add-ins like 'fuck my fucking life'.

A six-month project that they had to squeeze into three. A timeline that was confident - cocky - actually crazy.

Every second counts.

To everyone except Richie apparently, who doesn't roll in til after noon. "Yo, what's goin' on ya fuckin' replicants?" Still wearing one of his many 'The Beef' shirts, in his track pants and stupid sunglasses. Carmy's jaw tenses, biting back a retort before greeting him with a lackluster "Cousin" as he passes by and into the office to talk to Sugar. Permits, so many fucking permits. And money. How did everything cost so much god damn money? Blue eyes linger on the half-assed 'budget' he'd written in sharpie on the inside of an empty pizza box a couple weeks ago while his sister reminds him of the million and one things they needed to do before they could ever start with the real renovations.

The facelift that Fak keeps insisting is not only a facelift but an actual gut based on all the shit they might have to actually tear out to make this place into what he and Syd envisioned it could be. The project that he'd very stupidly said they could do in six months, which really needed to be done in three because if they weren't up, running, and turning enough profit within eighteen months they were fucked.

"That's a CP," Sugar and Syd had told him in near unison when he'd asked what they could do about the timeline he had given Jimmy. "What's a CP?" - "A Carmy problem." - "Right, fuck - okay, heard."

Sydney appeared in the doorway doing her best to not look pissed off, but it was clear she was flustered by the way she spoke, "Carm- can you, like, I dunno, come fucking do something about Richie? He' won't stop arguing with Fak and just getting in the way." "Yeah, yeah, I'll be-" Before he could finish his sentence Fak's voice echoed through the restaurant, "MOOOMM!" Sugar cringed, letting out an exasperated sigh as she got to her feet and the three of them went to see what they were yelling about.

Some shit about moving lockers and scraping the paint from the walls, and who the fuck knows what else because Richie and Fak were all but shouting over each other. Marcus held his hands up in mock surrender because he didn't know what the hell to do about them. Sugar tried interjecting and Richie's going on about 'Alphas' and pheromones and "Cousin - What the fuck do you even know about pheromones?" Carmy's brows were furrowed, hands gesturing in annoyance as he spoke, "Seriously, can just one of you explain what the problem is here?" His attention slid to Fak in hopes he could get a straight answer out of him but it's not even a beat before he's opening his mouth and Richie is talking over him again, then they're both shouting over one another and "Both of you shut the fuck up!"

And they did. Everyone did, actually. But not because they had been told to, it was because the front door had opened and someone had stepped inside. A few emotions flashed over Sydney's face as she took in the stranger, "Birdie?" - "Syd!" Or maybe not stranger? Carmy turned to see who it was, blue eyes narrowing on the pair, briefly flickering over to the girl Syd was talking to, hugging, even. So they knew each other, might've even been friends.

He didn't know her, couldn't know her, right? But something familiar about the girl tickled some dark, forgotten corner of Carmy's brain. Birdie. Birdie, birdie, birdie... Then their eyes met, seconds ticked on for what felt like an hour, and Oh.

He blinked at her, seemingly checking back into himself, then ran a hand through his hair before he shifted his attention back to Richie and Fak because there was no fucking way that was the same girl. Although, Syd had mentioned New York, and how many girls that went by Birdie could there be?

Carmy didn't know, and he definitely didn't have time to think about it. Not right now. Maybe not ever.

a/n; this was fun, let's do it again sometime soon. hope whoever does take the time to read this enjoys it, and ill see ya on the next one. (which will be done from the fem!readers pov) ps. ive been writing for fun for a long time, but this is my first time posting anything like this for more than my five friends that i enjoy writing with, so hopefully my formatting will get better as i figure out tumblr for this.

Sugar: "Where is Carmy?" Everyone in the kitchen: "Stuck in the walk-in." "In the fridge." "Walk-in." - The Bear s02e10

strange currencies ep.2 | carmy berzatto x fem!reader

|| summary ; you're back in chicago after what feels like eons, you drop in to visit sydney, who you met when you both went to cia, it was apparently not a good time judging by how her partner was acting so you make plans to meet later for dinner. (meanwhile, carmy remembers how he knows you.) || warnings ; swearing, the bear s2 casual references, switch to sydney & carmys pov, not really proofread. || ep.1 here if you missed it, the plot premise here if you missed that || word count ; 1,506

You shoved your phone back into your jacket pocket after checking the address one last time, standing across the street from what looked to be a very closed business. Though, Syd had told you they were doing a remodel or something, so it made sense the windows and all would be papered up. You couldn't help but think maybe you should've checked in with your old friend before dropping by, but you hadn't known you were gonna be nearby until literally right before.

"Fuck it," You murmured under your breath, checking the street both ways before hurrying across, hesitating a moment when you reach the door, you were already here. It didn't make sense to back out now, and if she wasn't here then she wasn't here and then you would call her up.

The door's not locked so you tug it open fully and step inside, greeted almost immediately by the sound of some guys arguing and cussing at each other, though you didn't get a glimpse of the scene right away, or at all really. Because before you can get too far into the half wrecked restaurant you look up to see -

“Birdie?” That's not your real name, but it was the only one you gave to the people you met, at least since you were in High School. It was a nickname given to you by your family, and a much better alternative to some other nicknames you'd been given in your younger years. Confusion and surprise seems to conflict Sydney's expression briefly before shifting into something almost apologetic.

"Syd!" You lift your hand in a vague greeting, "Hi, sorry, I guess this is a bad time?”  You rock back on your heels, half smiling half cringing because now everyone's attention is on you, which you normally don't mind. But this felt a little tense and awkward.

“No, well, yeah, but it’s - it’s fine. Um, what are you doing here? and why aren’t you in New York?” Your friend closes the distance between you, wrapping you in a brief but welcome embrace, then doing her best to turn you away from the shitshow you had walked into.

"I was just, sort of, in the neighborhood?" You wrinkle your nose, chuckling lightly, "Sort of, anyways. It's kind of a long story, but, I'm back in Chicago for the foreseeable future." Your smile grows a little, nodding as you try to casually slide your focus to who you assume to be her coworkers, wondering which one was the asshole partner she'd mentioned to you before.

It doesn't take you long to guess, one of the guys was zeroed in on you both - on Syd - and it was almost unnerving. How can someone be so fucking intense? Maybe it was the way his brows were still furrowed or how the blue in his eyes stood out like a beacon. Either way, you find yourself throwing a knowing look at Sydney. 'Partner? hmph' you'd stick a pin in that thought to ask what was up with him later.

You weren't the only one who'd noticed, and just as quick as your friend had caught on to his gaze he was shifting his focus back to the others. Syd mirrored your expression back at you with a lifted brow, 'Is that him?' You mouthed at her, you could've laughed but before you did she was herding you back towards the door. "Okay, so, it was great seeing you, sorry it's not great right this second, but tonight? Yes, tonight, I'm free if you're free, we should grab dinner. Sound good? Great. I'll text you." You don't get a real word in edgewise aside from agreeing to these plans and once you're back onto the sidewalk you do laugh because what the hell was that about? Another thing you'd both definitely need to talk about, you decided, as you made your way to the L.

---------------------

When the door was closed Sydney turned and pressed her back against it, taking a slow breath as she mentally prepared to walk back into whatever Richie and Fak might be fighting about now. And to take a minute to process the fact it had been years since she'd last seen Birdie and how that had been one of the last people she expected to show up here unannounced. She pulled out her phone then, pulling up her contacts and finding her friends number to shoot her a text 'Hey B just making sure you still had my number, I'll let you know when I'm done here for the day.' The phone buzzed back almost immediately, 'Yep, got it! :) cya tonight.' Syd liked the response before tucking her phone back into her pocket and making her way back to the counter to grab her notebook, the moment she walked through to the other room Carmy was there. "Yo, Syd, um, who was-" He backtracked, running a hand through his curls, "-what was that about?" Keeping pace a half step behind her as he followed her. Carmy seemed off and she couldn't help but wonder, as she cast a glance at him over her shoulder when she swept some stray braids to her back, if it had something to do with the way he had been borderline gawking at her friend. "Oh, nothin', just someone I know from CIA. Sorry, I know nobody's really supposed to be coming around while we're doing the remodel, she's not great about giving heads up." "No, yeah, it's all good. Just got a lot of shit goin' on is all," Carmy half shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "Sorry - um, what - what did you say her name was again?" His fingers smoothed over the his chin, ghosting the edge of his bottom lip, something of a habit of his when he was thinking too much, nervous, or upset. They all did it, really, each of the Berzattos did a lot of communicating with their hands. "Birdie," Syd replied, an attempt was made to not sound so curt, not wanting to rock the boat when it seemed the waters had finally calmed for the time being. "Did we sort out the deal with the lockers?" She pushed through the door to the back, pausing when she saw Richie, Fak and Marcus wrestling with moving said lockers. "That answers that question, great." She marked off an item from the list on the notebook tucked in her arm. Dark eyes found her partners light ones, a brow lifting curiously, "You good, Carm?" "Yeah, we're good. Look, I gotta run an errand real quick, can you hold down the fort til I get back?" He hardly waited for her agreement before he was brushing past her to grab his jacket out of the office and was out the door. Carmy hadn't had a goal in mind for where he was actually going, it had just been an excuse to get some fresh air so he could have a chance to think for a moment without being bothered. He told himself he did not have time to think about where he knew that girl from, but something totally different told him that he might not be able to not think about it now that he remembered.

Birdie was loud, but not in an obnoxious way, more like she was bright. She seemed cool, firendly in the way that Mikey is - was friendly. His brother had still been alive when Carmy had met her in New York, though they hadn't really been talking then.

It hadn't even been anything between them, she just happened to work the counter at the bodega that he stopped at once in a while on his way to or from work. Then she didn't work there anymore and some time later he saw her again working at the farmer's market he started going to. Then she didn't work there anymore.

He racked his brain because he thought there had been another place he'd seen her around but it wasn't coming to him. To be honest, he was sort of surprised at himself that he even remembered any of this at all because that's how unimportant the interactions had been.

And now, out of the blue, she'd turned up at his restaurant in Chicago and knew his partner - his friend, Syd. Then so many things flooded him in that instant.

Family Christmas five years ago, moving to New York following his cousins invitation, working for a Chef that made him throw up nearly every day, getting the call that Michael was gone.

It's kind of insane how such an insignificant memory can trigger a waterfall of painful ones.

Maybe that was why when he'd finally stopped walking and took in his surroundings he'd found himself standing outside the place where he usually went to Al-Anon meetings.

Exactly what he needed and could make time for.

ep. 3 is out now

Hi. Hi. Wh-what are you doing here? Uh… Come on, I'd love to show you. Come in.

...

Um… Okay, sorry, so just, um… You know, for-for next time, what should I have done? Um, th-this just feels like, uh, obviously a really big decision—Sure— and it would have been nice to have been included in it?

[Bonus:]

I love you dude. Let it rip

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