@thatweirdomidas made one small comment to convince me to post the little Rafayel x Reader section I have for a fanfic, despite it not being perfect lol. Pls tell me if you think the writing is still good even though I know there are areas to be improved upon with this section. The overall fanfic idea is still loose, but I have a better sense of what kind of Reader I want to pair Rafayel with. Also, this is before they start dating. Without further ado, here's the section!!
You blast into the Wanderer in front of you. The familiar kickback of your guns ripples through your arms. Then, your phone rings.
Gorgeous singing flows out from the speaker, gracing the battlefield with its song. It’s obvious who it is. You created a specific ringtone just for him.
You stop shooting long enough to take out one of your earbuds and pop it in. You answer the call.
“Hey, babe, what’s up?” you question, unloading on a Glimmerblade.
Rafayel barely listens to you as he starts to whine. “I’ve been hospital—”
Then, he hears the background noise.
“Are you in the middle of a battle?” he asks, concerned and bewildered.
“Yep, but don’t worry about it. I’m vigilant as always. I picked up because you’re important to me, pearl. I know my limits. If something goes sideways, I’ll refocus on the battle,” you reassure, using the new pet name you picked out. “Now, did you just say you got hospitalized? What happened, and which hospital? I’m coming over as soon as I finish this.”
The other side of the line is quiet. You don’t know what he’s thinking as you hone in on the Wanderer in front of you. You doubt Rafayel got into anything major based on his tone. It seems more like a ploy for attention.
After getting to know the painter, you learned that he’s an anxious person who needs constant reassurance that you haven’t left him. It’s subtle, but it’s enough that you noticed it. Therefore, you make a point to be consistent to reassure him. For some reason, he picked you to be his anchor. You also have a strange pull to him, so you don’t mind being be the moon to his tide.
Then, your fighting partner does something stupid. You weren’t assigned to Xavier this time. Jenna claimed that the two of you should teach some of the others, since you both have better combat experience. It would’ve been fine if you didn’t want this day to end.
“2 o’clock!!” you shout to him.
Your voice has a hint of irritation. You pause, remembering Rafayel is still on the line. He’s sensitive to your emotions, so you clarify.
“Sorry, babe. That wasn’t for you. People are being idiots again,” you apologize as your tone softens. “There might be intermittent yelling. I’ll try to warn you, but I might not have time. If that’s gonna bother you, I can call afterward.”
You vaguely hear him take a deep, shaky breath. It gets overshadowed by your bullets. It takes him a moment to respond.
“Call me afterward,” Rafayel replies.
His tone is breathless before he shifts it to a playful voice. The facade isn’t very secure, though.
“I don’t want you dying because I’m distracting you,” the artist jokes.
You hum with a smile. “Talk to you soon, Raf.”
You cut off the line and start berating your partner.
“Keep up the momentum of your claymore and push it against something! You don’t want it to run behind you! How did you even pass the practical exams?!!”
(i think it's cute. What do you think? Some obvious things could be improved upon. However, if you're not looking at it from a writer's perspective, then it's pretty good. Leave your thoughts in the comments! Do you like this kind of Reader with Rafayel?)
Listen to my latest and favorite rough writing at the moment. I decided to do something different so that you can connect to my writings as I do. I hope you enjoy it.
(It’s been a while since I wrote anything and I am quite out of practice. So, no drama, just some mild life on the Starblaster between the eldest crew members)
---
It's late evening when Davenport finally retires to the ship's tiny common room slash kitchen. He had been watching the coordinates and readings from the ship's console, monitoring the land below carefully for signs of either the Light or life.
This plane, so far, held no sign of either.
The human members of the crew had long gone to bed, as had Merle, which left him in the company of only Lup and Taako, who were going over papers and notes quietly, mugs of tea or water or whatever sitting half-forgotten in front of them.
They both perked and nodded to the Captain, Lup giving and easy smile while Taako merely waved.
"Anything to report?" Lup asked hopefully, setting aside a chewed up pen.
Davenport shook his head, hopping into his seat at the head of the table with a sigh.
"No signs. Not even a glimmer of anything yet. This whole plane is just... well... rocks and dust," he said with a purse of his lips. It was disappointing and boring.
Taako moved to stand, shaking his own head as he pushed from the table.
"I'd call this place a bust, Cap. I say as soon as we get the signal we just bail," he suggested, moving to the oven and turning the dial to ‘off’. He opened it, donned the well-worn oven mitts, and drew out a small pan.
Davenport raised a brow, the smell of herbed cheese and mushrooms hitting his nose. His stomach growled and he blinked down at himself. Right... he had worked through dinner, hadn't he?
Lup smirked at that and sat back with crossed arms.
"We kept some supper hot for ya since you were so intent on watching all that nothing earlier," she said with some amusement. Davenport couldn't help but chuckle softly at that, taking her ribbing with good nature.
"That's quite thoughtful of you," he stated as Taako set the dish in front of him, complete with a knife and fork. It looked to be a simple but hearty risotto. The elf retook his spot across from his sister, shrugging as he did so.
"Well, we weren’t about to let the Captain starve. We made a bunch so eat lots," he said almost firmly, his ears flicking at the compliment. Lup chuckled and looked at Taako with a raised brow.
"Taako was so thoughtful that he smacked Magnus with the wooden spoon when he tried to finish it off earlier, just like some grumpy old auntie," she said with a twinkle in her eye. " 'Magnus Burnsides, were you raised with no manners at all?! Save some for Dav!' " she added, mimicking his voice and waving an imaginary spoon. Davenport couldn't help but chuckle, seeing Taako turn his face away in mild embarrassment.
"It's true! He's like a little brat the way he just grabs whatever his grubby mitts can get a hold of. He thinks he can just run around and dash into trouble! Hell, he's died how many times now because of it and he STILL hasn't learned to not run headfirst into things!" Taako grumbled, shaking his head.
Davenport took a bite of the food and looked up thoughtfully, savoring the impeccably delicious and simple meal.
"Well... I suppose compared to the rest of us, he really is a kid," he pointed out after a moment of thought. "Delicious, by the way. As usual."
Lup nodded in acceptance of the compliment, but her smile faded somewhat.
"You're not wrong. But it's been what? Ten, eleven years? He might be stuck in the body of a young adult human but you'd think he'd catch on that he can't just... you know... run into danger like he does," she sighed. Taako rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement with his sister.
"I mean, we see the same shit with Merle too. He's not nearly as reckless but he's got, like, the idealism of somebody whose never had to face some real hard truths," he muttered. Davenport looked to Taako curiously at that.
"The man's a cleric. It's sort of what the job entails," the gnome pointed out. Taako shook his head and seemed to try to find the words he needed to further his explanation. Lup spoke up then.
"What Taako probably means is that Merle's still got a bit of that youthful veneer too. He's, like, middle aged for a dwarf right? Still kinda young? But he's not exactly as pragmatic or as self-preserving as he needs to be," she said with a sigh. Davenport looked amused at that, pushing bowl away.
"Okay, and what about our other two humans?" he asked, curious for more of the twins feedback. May as well do a small evaluation of how his crew viewed each other if nothing else.
Taako frowned before nodding as if resolving to make his opinion known while Lup straightened herself up. After a brief moments of thinking he continued on.
"Lucretia's lived a safe life which comes from a life of being overly cautious,” Taako began, trying to phrase things as tactfully as he could manage. “She writes and keeps record of everything she sees and hears but she's still so... closed off? She's got a good head on her shoulders, usually, but where Magnus and Merle run headfirst into things, she just... hangs back. I get it though. The shit we're dealing with is scary as hell and way beyond what we signed up for, but some of it isn't all bad. We see some pretty neat stuff, talk to interesting people, eat dope food," he said with a wry smile. Davenport chuckled and nodded, urging him to continue.
“She could maybe benefit from putting the pen down for a while and just seeing the world a little more. Be a little braver. Take charge,” Taako finished, glancing toward where Lucretia’s bedroom lay. Davenport took a moment to consider the elf’s evaluation of their resident chronicler, humming as he weighed what was said. he looked to the other, urging her to say her piece. She took a sip of her drink before speaking her stance.
"Barry's much the same way but he'd rather stay in the ship's lab. He's gotten a bit better at being less of a homebound dork. He even offered to go to the surface with Magnus and I when we got here," she pointed out. “He’s a science nerd who hasn’t had to do real fieldwork before any of this Hunger stuff happened. He’s... well... maybe it’s because he’s kind of the oldest of the bunch but he’s better at seeing and evaluating risk and reward. Plus, he’s got enough fear in him to not just go flying headfirst into danger,” she finished off, looking between her brother and captain.
Davenport took in their words before looking between the twins, a look of mild amusement in his eyes.
"So we have two team members with no chill and two with too much is what you're saying? Maybe next cycle I'll make sure to keep that in mind," he chuckled.The twins gave each other a look before laughing quietly as well. It was hard to argue with that.
Lup sighed, looking somewhat wistful.
"I don’t think we can't judge them too harshly. Between the three of us we have some actual genuine centuries on them. We’ve seen shit. We lived it too. Like, I'm pretty sure some of the stuff we've seen and lived through they've only read about in history books," she added then. Taako wrinkled his nose then and looked to Davenport.
"Merle actually thought that basic chemistry's only been around for the last few decades. I had to explain to him that alchemy wasn't just a pulp fantasy trope. He still doesn't believe me," he said with a derisive snort.
Davenport smirked and rolled his eyes. He had heard the argument earlier that day.
"You think that’s bad? Lucretia genuinely thought that I was pulling her leg when I told her I was around for the last orc revolution. It was only a couple centuries ago!" the gnome said with a chuckle.
Lup and Taako couldn't help but laugh at that as well. Taako sat back in his seat, shaking his head with a sigh.
"You know Lup and I rode right through the middle of that mess. We were with one of the orcish merchant troupes when shit was going down and we were lucky we missed the whole fray,” he said, his tone going a little more solemn. Lup lowered her eyes, remembering that time as well. Davenport’s own eyes lowered as well.
“Two centuries... we really are the old people on this ship, hey Cap?” Lup said then, her voice quiet. Taako shot her a glare while Davenport looked somewhat amused.
“That’s us. Little old people keeping the kids in check while we’re on a road trip to nowhere,” he shrugged. Taako pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not old. You two old fogeys can embrace it but I’m going to stay young forever. Taako is good blending in with the youth,” he grumbled.
Lup and Davenport exchanged looks before laughing out loud at that, much to Taako’s annoyance.
“Okay ‘Grandpa’. We’ll keep that in mind!” Lup said while Davenport held his stomach as he tried not to keel over.
“Well, make sure you keep ‘hip’ with all the ‘cool’ and ‘radical’ slang the kids use nowadays while Lup and I go to play Bridge,” Davenport giggled. Taako grumbled and crossed his arms, scowling between Lup and Davenport, the pair laughing uncontrollably.
“Ha ha, yeah, you two old farts can stay up and reminisce about the ‘good old days’ all you want. See if I save you dinner again, Cap,” he grumbled, his ears flicking to show he wasn’t nearly as annoyed as he was pretending to be. He was trying to stop himself from getting caught in their mirth but failing.
Davenport wiped his eyes and looked to him with a grin still, still giggling. He tried to regain his composure as best he could, straightening himself up.
“Well, I suppose if you really wanted, you could just start being just as reckless as Merle and Magnus. Get a dose of idealistic and youthful ‘bravery’ that they seem to have heaps of,” he said. Lup tried to sit up as well, trying to catch her breath.
“Yeah right. Taako running with Merle and Mags into trouble? That’ll be the day,” she smirked. Taako looked up in thought then before looking to the Captain with a glint in his eye. “I bet I’d actually be a good influence on the two of them. You know, they’d learn some damn self-preservation for once. If not, I’d at *least* be able to be a decent back-up when Merle forgets he has buffs he can use,” he stated then. Davenport fell quiet then, looking at the table as he weighed Taako’s offer.
Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. They may have been making fun of the humans (and Merle) for their lack of experience and youth, but if he set them up in the right teams to better balance things out...
“Alright. Next plane I am assigning you these missions. Taako, you, Merle and Magnus can go and scope out the Light. See if you can’t keep their self-destructing habits in check a little bit and make them use their heads,” he nodded, looking then to Lup. “You’ll work on getting Barry and Lucretia out of their comfort zones a bit more. Convince them that they can actually go beyond sight of the ship for a while,” he nodded, looking to the twins with a smile.
They both nodded in turn, giving small, half-serious salutes to Davenport. He sighed before looking to the Twins almost sheepishly.
“Maybe it’s just because we’re ‘so old’ but I wouldn’t be opposed to us actually playing Bridge. Either one of you know how to play with just three people?” he asked then, causing Lup to laugh again and Taako to facepalm. Nonetheless, he did get up to find the cards.
➸ summary: the glances spared to the handsome stranger at the coffee shop lead to something greater
➸ genre: real-life au
➸ pairing: optional bias x reader
➸ work count: 1.4k
➸ warnings: none
➸ authors note: wrote this when i was bored! sorry if its not good, the handsome stranger is based off of lucas (wong yukhei)
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Our first glances were something I will never forget.
Sitting in the coffee shop was a good decision. The smell of coffee beans filled my senses to the point where my head swirled with the thought of a roasted espresso or some kind of caffeinated drink. And I don’t even like coffee. But you know that.
It was autumn and the wind was getting colder day by day but the sun pushed its way through the clouds, just as you pushed your way into the chair across from me.
I had been sitting at my laptop, document open and page ready to be filled with my communications essay but only my name took up space. I sighed not even know how to start when I glanced up and there you were.
Your presence hit me like a tidal wave, sun-kissed skin, with blinding white teeth and lips curled into a broad smile as you greeted the barista. Your hair was wind-tossed but you made it look like you stepped off the runway. Your coat was a bit too short on your tall body but you made it work. Your jeans were ripped, but not too much that your skin was exposed to the unpredictable wind and your shoes were a pair of sneakers that looked like they had seen better days but your multi-colored striped socks poked through near your ankle and I couldn’t help but smile.
You had ordered a coffee; two cream, one sugar, and a hint of cinnamon, which I had strained my ears to hear your beautiful voice from my seat away from the counter.
Your voice was deep and sounded like a spring day when the sun is out and the breeze was nicer and everything seems put together, and only after you glanced at me, eyes meeting, had I realized I must have been staring the entire time you were ordering.
My face heated and I ducked my head down, eyes wide with embarrassment. ‘Why was I like this? God, I’m so obvious...’ I thought to myself.
As I was beating myself up for being so embarrassing I glanced up again to not find you at the counter anymore but at the table facing me. You were looking right at me.
As my eyes widened and was just about to break the eye contact your full lips curled into a bright smile.
Teeth on display, I couldn’t help but return the smile, mine never seeming to be as bright as yours no matter how hard I tired.
I looked back down at my laptop, the mouse still blinking where I should have been typing and I sighed. Rolled my neck, plugged in my headphones and began writing.
After about 15 minutes of non-stop typing, deleting, and repeat I glanced back up again. You were looking at me but a smile no longer held the place on your face. A silly look, tongue out, nose and eyes scrunched, I couldn’t help but let out a giggle. I quickly covered my mouth and looked back down at my laptop.
When I glanced back up, between my eyelashes, your silly face replaced with another one, this time your eyes crossing to meet in the middle and again, I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle, hand coming up slowly to block the sound.
After another 15 minutes of writing I decided to glance back up to see if you had actually left this time, sad I may never see your handsome features contorted into funny faces, but there you were, cheeks sucked in and lips pushed into a pout while you held up the peace sign, and I couldn’t help but let out a loud laugh.
It echoed throughout the shop but I paid no attention when all I could see were your eyes widen briefly and then your face turn into the brightest smile I have ever seen on a person.
“Finally,” you laughed. “I’ve been trying for like the past thirty minutes to get you to smile”. said your beautiful deep voice which sounded like the prettiest song in my ears.
My smile never faltered but my hand moved to come up over my mouth, a habit I incurred while wearing braces for 8 months during my senior year of high school.
“No, no, don’t do that now. I wanna see your pretty face when you smile”, you stated as you pushed your chair back, the scraping of the legs echoing like my laugh had. The sound was loud but nothing could be heard as my heartbeat loud in my ears as you approached my table.
You placed a hand on the chair across from me, but hesitated before sitting down, “Is this seat taken?”, you questioned.
“It’s all yours”, I replied, cringing internally as my voice came out higher than normal.
You pulled out the chair, quickly plopping into the seat, leaning back in the seat, simple pose making you look picturesque.
“Hi,” you said.
“Hi.” I replied, smile never fading.
We introduced ourselves. Our names, how old we were (you are one year older than me), which school we go to (I go to one downtown, you go to one a bit further out and are visiting family in this area), how many siblings you have (both of us having younger brothers), favourite colours (I answer purple, trying not to ponder while you talked about how the world had too many colours to just pick one and you proceeded to show me your socks, colours clashing together but the smile on your face made them look modelesque).
Your voice soothed my ears and swallowed my entire attention like a wave landing on the shore pulling sand back with it.
“Can I buy you a drink?”, you asked after many questions were asked and my laptop was shut and pushed to the side.
Cheeks heating I quickly declined, “No, no! Don’t worry about me I can get something myself”.
“Nonsense. Let me buy the pretty lady a drink. It’s the least I can do for butting in on your productive afternoon”.
I felt a smile forming on my lips as I looked down, cheeks aching from laughing and smiling too much already with you.
“So what can I get for you? How do you like your coffee; two cream one sugar? Milk?”
Nose scrunching, I cringed. “I honestly don’t like coffee”, I laughed.
“Don’t like coffee? Hmm okay. Let me surprise you then”.
“I’m not picky.”
“Then I will be right back”.
The chair scraped against the floor, sound echoing in the the back of my head as I watched you approach the counter with a smile on your face while you whispered the surprise order to the barista while sparring multiple glances back at me.
A few minutes of waiting and a couple other silly faces later, you walked over with a steaming cup, careful not to drop any over the sides.
“Here you are! I hope you like it, my own little concoction”.
You handed me the steaming cup, warning me that it was hot with a nervous smile on your face.
‘Were you nervous about a drink you bought for me?! I think I would like anything you gave me...’ I thought to myself.
“Well that’s nice to know, but I do want to know what you think about the latte”, you laughed.
“Ohmygosh, did I say that outloud? I’m so sorry”, I said quickly, ducking my head.
“Noooo don’t hide from me now, beautiful. Try the drink, I’m excited to hear your thoughts.”
Blushing more than before (is that possible?!) I brought the cup to my lips and was greeted by the warm taste of cinnamon and sugar and milk and it was good but the smile on your face made it taste even better.
“Do you like it?! If not I can go buy you a different one, oh I didn’t even ask if you liked cinnamon, I’m sor-“,
“I love it,” I stated simply.
You smiled and I smiled back and my cheeks hurt and essay still needed to be written but as I glanced back at you over the top of the cup, I realized I wanted nothing more than to see you smile for as long as I could.
