Corner Store Diplomacy

Intro

Bell above the door don't chime, it clicks like a safety

Ontero's been the only ground where both sides come in and act right

Verse

Ninth Street on the left rack, Colton on the right

Same fluorescent hum but they don't share a light

Ontero built the aisle wide, said keep your business outside

Inside these walls we all just customers, no sides

I seen Marcus buy a soda next to dudes who wanted him gone

Both counted out their change while the radio hummed a slow song

Store's got one rule wrote in Sharpie on the wall

Leave your set at the door or you don't shop here at all

I was fifteen first time I broke up a stare-down by the chips

Told both sets, y'all can beef outside, not over my chips

Ontero slid me a job for that, said you got the ear for peace

Been running that counter since, keeping the war down to a crease

Bulletproof glass got a crack shaped like a river bend

Splits the register but never splits who I call a friend

Every scar on this block got a story it won't tell

I just make sure nobody adds another to sell

Chorus

Leave it at the door, that's corner store diplomacy

Same bread, same line, corner store diplomacy

Guns check like coats, corner store diplomacy

Peace got a price and it's corner store diplomacy

Verse

Tuesday, Colton's cousin came in limping, blood on his shoe

Ninth boys watched him buy a wrap like it's nothing new

Nobody said a word, just nodded like the old days

Ontero rang him up, slid a bag of ice, no delay

That's the treaty, never signed, never spoke out loud

Just a counter and a clerk keeping both blocks proud

I learned diplomacy ain't soft, it's a harder kind of steel

Takes more to hold your tongue than to make a scene real

Watched a war almost start over a stolen lighter

Talked it down with a joke, made the tension lighter

Told 'em outside these doors do whatever you decide

But in here we all just neighbors trying to eat and survive

My uncle used to say the block remembers who kept it fair

I keep that ledger in my head, not written anywhere

Every face that walks in, I clock the ones with grudges

I ain't the law, I ain't the judge, I'm just the one who nudges

Chorus

Leave it at the door, that's corner store diplomacy

Same bread, same line, corner store diplomacy

Guns check like coats, corner store diplomacy

Peace got a price and it's corner store diplomacy

Bridge

Ontero retired last spring, handed me the keys

Said the block don't need a hero, just somebody who sees

Now I'm the one behind the glass watching both worlds collide

Learning peace ain't a moment, it's a shift you gotta ride

Some nights it's quiet, some nights I hold my breath

Every truce in this store's one bad day from death

But I still open at six, still sweep the same tile floor

Still tell 'em all the same thing standing by that door

Outro

Leave it at the door, that's corner store diplomacy

Been the only peace treaty this whole block's ever seen

Bell still clicks like a safety every time it opens wide