#i am very curious about sound rio will have lmao and like what is the ‘with homies/hoods’

[akkivee]

ooooohhh hey jakurai can play the piano!!!!!! do you think his and hitoya’s duet will be like classic rock with an accompanying piano arrangement???? 🤔🤔🤔

[pettygangfriend]

Earn me 2/2

Pairing: Rio x reader. Part one here

Requested by: @appropriate-writers-name sorry it took so long to post the second part, but as you can see it’s pretty long, lol. I hope this was somewhat like what you had in mind💞

Warnings: none, may find some curse words.

Word count: 1509 (Im so sorry, lmao.)

“Either way, my world doesn’t revolve around no man. Remember that.”

The last thing you said to Rio before parting. It was also the last time you had spoken to him, or even heard from him. If you were being honest with yourself, it really did sting. But after a week of sitting around, hoping for a text or a phone call, you decided it was time. It was time to try something new, or, someone new.

Which is exactly how you ended up in your position, right now. Sitting at a tiny table at a bar/restaurant thingy you’ve never been to, with a man you’ve never seen before.

“So what do you do for a living, anyway?” You ask the guy in front of you, trying to make some small talk.

He wasn’t really the smoothest talker- scratch that, he wasn’t much of a talker at all. But as you were only 15 minutes in, you’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“I make and sell t-shirts.” He didn’t even bother to look at you, being too busy slurping away at his spaghetti.

“Oh thats nice!” You answer, trying to sound somewhat interested. “Isn’t it?”

“It’s not, but it pays the bills. Actually, it doesn’t really, but at least it kills some time”.

You just stare at him with the most confused look. What the fuck does that even mean?

You’re so busy being weirded out, and making a mental note of asking god what you did to deserve this, that you almost didn’t notice a familiar face entering the place, taking a seat at the bar. Rio. His eyes fall on the guy in front of you, looking him up and down, smirking.

A million different emotions and thoughts you had managed to push away, came flooding back, immediately. You do your best to ignore his presence, but his burning eyes on you making it hard to. So after a good 3 minutes of pretending to listen to the pasta eating weirdo in front of you, you decide to find out what the hell Rio’s doing here.

“Please excuse me for a second while I go use the bathroom” is all you say, before getting up from your seat, your eyes catching Rio’s curious ones.

Once you enter the bathroom, it doesn’t take long before he enters shortly after. He locks the door behind him, and turns around to face you. You just stand there, crossing your arms. You sure as hell wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of saying the first word. I guess that’s one thing you guys had in common. Pettiness.

“So first you’re giving me your little speech about needing more, and what not, and now you’re getting it on with some stranger?” He asks you, taking a step closer towards you. “Doesn’t really make sense, does it?”

Letting out a scoff, you bring yourself even closer to him. “When someone ghosts you for a week long, you it does make sense.”

“I had thing’s to do. I’m a busy guy, you know”

“Not busy enough, if you’re out here lurking around on my date”

Apparently you had said something funny, as Rio throws his head back laughing.

“Date? Come on, ma. You know you deserve better than-“ he points around him, the bathroom looking like a scene from a bad movie. “Better than this.”

“What I deserve is someone who’s willing to make an effort, even if it’s this” you copy his movements, pointing at your surroundings.

Alright, that was probably a lie, you did deserve more than this shithole. But you weren’t lying about someone making the effort to go out.

“And that someone is that guy? The one with the spaghetti stain on his shirt?” He says, sticking his hands inside his pockets.

“Well, I don’t see it being you, either. So why don’t you just leave this place, sure you got some more important things to do”

He holds your angry stare for a moment, nodding his head slowly.

“Grab your stuff, we’re leaving this dump” is all he says before wanting to turn around, but you’re quick to pull him back by his arm.

“What do you mean ‘we’re leaving’?!” You whisper yell at him, absolutely dumbfounded.

“What part don’t you get? You wanted someone to take you out, so I’m going to take you out.” He tells you, like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

A part of you wants to grab your coat and bolt out of there with Rio, but the other part needed a little more convincing. You couldn’t just leave the other guy behind, right?

“Are you crazy? I can’t just leave him!”

"You really thought that was going somewhere?"

"Yes! He was cute.. in a way" making Rio raise an eyebrow. "Okay maybe not cute, but he was nice!"

“Well either you’re gonna tell him, or I will. Or both of us, that’s cool with me too” he says, already smirking at the look on your face. You hate giving in right now, but at this point you would do anything to get out of this ‘date’.

“Fine. Let’s go”.

After a -not very sincere- apology, you feel like you have moved from one awkward date in a dump, to another awkward one in a fancier place. Honestly, you couldn’t even call this a date. It was more like you shooting Rio angry glares, while he gave short answers to your hundreds of questions.

“So why did you take a whole week to decide on wanting to take me out?”

“Something came up, so I had to go take care of some business out of town.”

“What business?” “Nothing that concerns you”

“Why did you decide you wanted to go out with me, all of a sudden?” “I had time to think.”

“Think about what?” “You and me. Us.”

You let out a deep sigh, his short answers starting to make you wish you hadn’t come with him at all.

“You know what, maybe this was a bad idea. I should just go-” you say, starting to get up from the chair, but Rio takes a hold or your wrist, before moving his hand down to hold yours.

“Don’t.” You look at his face, only to find his usual cold stare, now replaced by a more insecure one. You sit back down, waiting for him to continue, as he’s still holding your hand.

“Look, I don’t really know how to do all this” he starts, referring to the whole ordeal of two people sitting together romantically. Something that was the most normal thing in your mind, yet not in his.

“I’m know how to boss people around, I know how to make money, stay on my game. It’s what I’m used to, it’s what im good at. I’m not used to a ‘normal relationship’, and all the things that come with it. It’s not something that fits into my kind of life”

“If it doesn’t fit into your kind of life, then what am I doing here?” You ask him, already preparing yourself for the disappointment.

Rio looks down at your intertwined hands for a second, giving it a soft squeeze, before pulling your hand more towards him.

“Because when you’re with me, I feel like I can be myself, you know? Like I can finally breath, after the crazy ass day I had. But when you’re not, I feel like there’s something missing, like I need-” Rio thinks for a second, trying to find the right word. And he did. “More.”

All you can do is stare at him, taking in all the words pouring out of his mouth. A warm feeling forms in your stomach, knowing that all this time, he felt the same way. He just didn’t know how to express himself.

“And after I realized that, I tried to figure out how to tell you. You were right about me taking too long, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want-“

“I do.” You’re quick to cut him off. “I’m just happy you came to me. And we don’t have to jump in the deep end, let’s just take it slow. That way, we can both get used to new things” you tell him, sending him a smile, which he happily returns.

“I’d like that, mama.”

The both of you let out a sigh of relieve, finally being able to make things right. This wasn’t going to be easy, but that didn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re on the same page, entering a whole new chapter.

After a nice dinner, where you guys had lots of time to talk about regual things for once, he had decided to take you home.

“So,” he says, making you look over at him. “Does this mean I have to meet your parents?”

You look at him, wondering if this man is actually being serious right now. So much for taking it slow.

“Oh baby, you ain’t ready for all that”

If you’d like to be added to my Rio taglist, please let me know! ✨

@appropriate-writers-name

@gemini0410

@sesamepancakes @vicmackeybullshxt

@chrmdnbeautiful

@thickemadame

@isisafrofairy

@stitchesbystults

[bensonstablers]

Ok so admittedly I haven’t watched the whole 20+ minute interviews that were released - I only watched Retta and Christina’s so far but it sounds like they’re giving the interviews and making it seem like Rio is long gone and they’re so happy to be out from under him! Are they just being told to act that way or what! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi, anon! It is quite a long video, haha, but totally worth the watch if you do a get chance :) The cast just seem super fun and really happy to be a part of this show (and looking forward to season 3!) which is always nice to see. And btw, it’s this video for anyone who might be curious!Something I do want to point out is that some of the clips from that 20+ minute video were used in the season 3 trailer sooo I’m wondering if these interviews were done super early before Manny started to do press (hence why he isn’t in it) and before it became even clearer that Rio would be back :) But anyway, onto your ask…

I actually got this ask and in my answer, I talked about whether them acting like Rio is long gone, is actually for the more casual viewers. Like, I remember seeing social media posts about Manny (and from Manny) talking about season 3 and it was basically confirmed he would be coming back. I mean, it’s partly why the potential of Rio getting shot in 2x13 (which he did), didn’t worry me because I knew they wouldn’t be killing him off. Then, of course, we’ve had on set photos of Manny (not to mention the pic Retta posted that had the call sheet stating Manny/Rio would be there) and pics of him showing up to table reads (like the one Isaiah Stannard posted which was promptly deleted). And that’s before they had Manny doing press and whatnot for season 3 lmao.

Also, not to mention this interview where Manny said, “well, I’m alive, thank god.” Which… I don’t think you can really get more straight forward than that.

However, if you’re a fan who only uses social media in a very specific away and you don’t engage all that much with the fanbase or the official accounts (or you just don’t use social media at all), you might not have seen the obvious signs that Manny is coming back as Rio haha. I think the actors (and crew) try to be as vague as possible to keep that air of mystery for anyone who might be genuinely surprised when he rocks back up. Like I said, a lot of those clips in the 20+ minute video were used in the season trailer, which is one video even casual fans might see, so it makes sense that the cast are vague about Rio. That being said, I am curious to see how his back is done considering they must realise that a lot of fans know he’s alive already :’)

Also, in terms of being happy to be out from under him, something I try to remember is that they’re all actors who probably love to try different things. We’ve had two seasons so far with Annie, Beth, and Ruby working for and with Rio. Now, presumably, they’ll end up working with Rio again in season 3 but it’s supposedly going to be a case of them having to work with him and we know the girls try to set up their own business at first. The latter is technically new territory for them which is something new for Mae, Christina, and Retta to play in regards to these characters (characters that they clearly love!). And we know that Manny is excited about season 3 and I’m guessing he’ll get to play Rio in a slightly different way to what he has so far.

So, I don’t know if being excited to get from under him is them being told to say that. I think it’s just the actors genuinely excited about something new and also, from a character standpoint, I feel like Annie, Beth, and Ruby would feel more in control now that Rio isn’t a part of it. Like, before they had to worry about his part in everything (and not really knowing what that part was seen as they never really saw him work) and also if they screw up, he’s technically screwing up too. Now, there’s not that pressure. This time if they mess up, it’s all on them, but they can also do things their way and be as big or small about it as they want.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying they actually are in control. What they’re doing will most likely go wrong and/or they’ll reach a lot of issues along the way but I can imagine it’ll feel more freeing and as if they have control (as opposed to actually having it). Oh God, I hope that makes sense!

However, I will say that it is very likely that the cast (and crew) were told to be as vague as possible about Rio. Especially considering social media posts have been deleted in the past that suggest Rio is alive. Most of them tend to hint that he could come back but none say outright (as you’ll see in Matthew Lillard’s portion of that interview lmao).Anyway, sorry this got long, anon! 🤦‍♀️