The pitch feels different now that everyone’s drifting in. Frankie hangs back at my side, arms folded, taking it all in like she’s assessing a level before she plays it.
“Alright,” I call out, clapping once. “Everyone, this is Frankie.”
A couple of heads turn properly now. They know exactly who she is from clips, posts, and me never shutting up about her work.
“Hi,” she says, lifting a hand.
“You his girl?” someone shouts.
“His sister’s?—”
“Yes,” I cut her off. “Don’t even fucking look at her Wick.”
And the team laughs. She doesn’t correct me like she would with anyone else. She could tell there is a lowkey rapport with me and the team.
Sol’s the first one over and Amin follows behind.
He grins, wide and bright. “Nah, nah. This is mad. Titan never stops chatting ‘bout you.”
Frankie nudges me. “Really?”
“True statement,” Sol answers for me. “I’m Light, by the way.”
She tilts her head looking over the tattoos on his arm. “Light?”
“Yeah.”
She squints at him, then her face changes as she points to the tattoos. “Light… likeLight Yagami? FromDeath Note?”
His jaw drops and he gasps. “Exactly like Light from Death Note.”
I rub my face. “Here we go.”
“Is it… safe to be around you?”
“Depends… are you safe to be around?”
They do this weird, inside joke thing I already don’t like.
Sol turns to me immediately. “Where have you been hiding this woman?”
“I wasn’t?—”
“You’ve been gatekeeping,” he cuts in.
Frankie points at me. “I’ve been meaning to ease him in Death Note next. We’re taking it slow. One manga at a time.”
Sol snorts. “I knew it. Yo, tell her about the Captain Levi thing.”
I groan. “No.”
Sol laughs harder. “I called him Captain Levi the first time we met and he almost flipped.”
Frankie’s eyes light up. “You called him Captain Levi?”
“And he hated it.”
“I didn’t hate it,” I argue. “I just don’t like random men yelling random names at me.”
