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kdyism · 2 years

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CHANTEL.

pairing. detective!jay x bar-hostess!reader

theme + genre. slice of life, somehow-lovers, a silly story.

wc. 3697 k / warn. mention of gun, knife, alcohol, kissing

synopsis. the story of how a detective and a bar-hostess go in rounds before becoming a couple. aka detective!jay is a coward in face of confession.

yunan is saying. this fic is super indulgent and makes no sense at all, i was sleep depraved and writing for the heck of it, 2hrs of mindless writing leads to this but it sparked my interest :> felt like i couldn't not post it.

It is an odd sense of clarity that the sizzling sound of the neon sign gave him, it is hung outside, Chantel, a little bar with a game rule; once you lose your sobriety, you get out or pay twice the market price for the drinks you bought. If you leave before you are drunk, you get a discount of 20% off the market price. A place that housed college students with money to blow off and working adults who wanted to have a drink without a hangover the next morning and a sweet deal to save some money. When he found this place it was fairly new and the itching feeling he felt in the depth of his chest when he saw numbers pouring in is something akin to jealousy.

Everyone knows about his little secret place now and he didn't like that one bit.

Inhaling the cold air, Jay hugs his coat around him whilst pushing open the entrance, the familiar wind chime rings and his eyes swiftly shift towards the bar hoping to find your welcoming smile. "welcome, chief!" Niki said, hands busy with drink mixing and you nowhere in sight.

Sighing softly, he walks to his usual seat in front of the bar and grumbles, "Don't call me that, kid,"

"Aren't you pretending to be one?" Niki shrugs, sliding a menu to him and earning an eye roll from him. "I should call you that so your cover doesn't blow,"

Shaking his head, Jay skims through the menu; though he already knew it back to back sans the weekly specials. The bar was little as mentioned already—the textured walls decorated with movie posters, the single wooden wall that housed his painting; it still made his heart race whenever he sees you admire it, the closed-off cubicles with cushioned chairs. The bar felt more like a family restaurant sometimes even though it sold more alcohol than food, and the sheer difficulty to get minors inside.

You always hired more staff than other bars your size. You had said it was so that the game would be manned properly, anyone seeming drunk would be notified to leave or agree to move to the high-paying section upstairs with the scarier staff members to prevent brawls and mishaps. one day, he had told you that you were too paranoid and incidentally, a fight had broken out on the second floor that left you with a deep cut along your arm.

You could never be too careful when you said drunk people to pay double the price. even if they already knew the game rules when they decided to move upstairs.

Though sometimes, Jay thinks he might be a reason for heightened security around a tiny bar like yours.

"Where is the owner?" Jay asks, craning his neck around the room for suspicious people, also looking for you Niki hums before replying, "Before that," the young boy smiles.

Leaning closer towards Jay, Niki asks, "Did you know that a VIP customer proposed to the owner a few days ago? she said she'll think about it—does that mean you and her are not dating?"

Gaping at the revelation, Jay scoffs, "She'll think about it?" he exasperatedly repeats.

As if on cue, he catches a whif of your signature perfume; the sweet smell of odd citrus he could never quite pinpoint what it was. "Jay!" your voice is almost like honey, so warm and sweet, Jay immediately felt his annoyance peel away when his eyes set on you and your name tumbling out of his mouth so easily.

When Jay is on duty, he hates his name more than anything else. the repeated calls for help, from his juniors and seniors alike, his name irked him off more than even a case that had no leads but when it was you calling him, the name that made him want to rip his hair out makes his knees weak and toes curl, suddenly, leaving him so feverish and light-headed.

"Jay! you're back early," you grin, your hands fidgeting around his face on instinct checking for any bruises and you sigh, "You didn't get into a fight did you?" you ask, narrowing your eyes at his sudden visit.

Shaking his head with a smile of his own, Jay pulls your hands down. The jealous feeling he got because everyone knew your bar now always disappears when your attention is solely his, your hands easily finding him and your lips repeated calling after him. no one who knew the bar who could make you as unfrazzled as him.

"I am fine, I got a lead that the target came here earlier than expected," he explains, glaring at Niki who is now curiously watching the two of you. "Niki here said you got proposed,"

Blushing slightly, you straighten up and say, "Weren't you the one who asked me to seduce information out of him? It's not my fault he jumped straight to marriage," crossing your arms in feigned annoyance, you glance at Niki, your trusted mixologist, his face contorts to shock and disbelief, gaping at you.

"You are working with him!" he shouts in a quiet tone and Jay rolls his eyes. "UGH, just when I thought Jay was gonna be dumped,"

Laughing at his reaction, you quickly pour Jay his preferred drink, water, while on business and start your report, "He says he wants to move to the next town by next week so we gotta get married soon—It's so hard trying to keep his hands off me, he thinks I want to fall all over him all the time," you whine, your lips curling downwards with disgust and you sigh.

"Hmm, what about his business?" Jay asks, creasing his brows to focus and your hands cup his face, fingers smoothing out his furrowing brows while you reply, "He said he has a few clubs about twice this size scattered around the red light district—uh, didn't say what it was called but something to do with his name, like an anagram or so," trailing after your report, you smile gently at him.

"Was I helpful?" you ask, tilting your head to meet his eye level and Jay bites his lips, "You didn't have to do this," holding himself back from melting into your hands.

You could've said no when Jay asked for your help with his investigation, even when he constantly checked up through phone calls if you were still okay doing it. You couldn't say no when you realized this was probably going to be your only chance to help him with his work, a little flirting pales in comparison to having him go to dangerous places collecting evidence. Not to say you didn't like his job as a detective, it did make him super hot especially when he wore his uniform on official duty, however, you didn't particularly like the idea of him being constantly on the tail of people who wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger or stab a person.

"Is he the one upstairs?" Jay asks, and you nod solemnly pulling away from him, knowing what was going to happen.

"Please be careful," you said, watching him rubbing his thumb in circles on your hands and tearing apart from you slowly while he walks towards the stairs.

He always did that. A non-verbal way to apologise and thank you, the first time he did it was after he kissed you for the first time—he didn't say he likes you yet but his instinct when he saw you flushed and took deep breathes after running away from his previous target was to kiss you.

When he first kissed you, in the heat of the moment after you rescued him from gunpoint behind your bar's back entrance, that was the first time his heart paced that quickly not in fear for his life but the love of you, you who wouldn't hurt a fly had come out running to save him, your stamina so much lesser than his but you still tried to outrun the man with a gun until Jay realized and began leading the two of you to safety, his chest tightened around his heart, choking him up and the hammering on the back on his head that had tears brimming his eyes because of the combined heat from running and his loud heart, nothing compared to that moment.

Not when he was in front of death's door did he feel more frightened and desperate than when he was in front of you looking so worried and scared for him, keeping him safe with your hands and pulling him closer. When the scent of your sweet citrus perfume filled up his system pulling him deeper into you, he felt like it was the right moment to lean into the kiss he has been thinking of for days and maybe the adrenaline from the chase was the only thing making him come out with his feelings for you.

Taking your hands in his, closing the distance further and you could hear his ragged breath as he tilts his head into yours, his thumb rubbing in circles on your hands, as if he was apologising for kissing you so suddenly and thanking you for kissing him back.

Hearing your name being called in a hurry, you peek at the stairs finding a confused Jay blinking at you. "Did you get him drunk?" he splutters, looking at you with wide eyes as you nod, "Uh, this is a bar—Did I do something wrong?" you ask, moving in his direction and following him up the stairs.

Standing in front of the cubicle with the drunk man, a ring box on the table and the tapping device Jay had given you. You exchange looks with him, slightly worried you messed up before he laughs, rubbing his hand on your head softly. "You made my work so much easier!" he cheers, pulling out the handcuffs from his pocket and placing them on the unconscious man's hands.

"Oh thank god, I thought I committed a crime or something," you sigh in relief and Jay shakes his head, grinning ear to ear.

Dialling his team to arrive on the scene, he says, "Arresting him and getting him on tape is this easy only because you helped," Jay takes your hands in his and you blinker at him, your ears tingling in heat.

"This would wrap up my case," he slowly trails, gulping down his nerves and leading you back downstairs to the bar. "Remember that time you helped me run away?" Jay asks, his cheeks glowing and you nod, looking away from the back of his head as embarrassment catches up to you with your memories of that time.

"After that, we kissed a few more times," you whisper, gripping his hand tightly and he sheepishly smiles, letting you go behind the counter while he sat back in his seat and Niki glares at him, minding his own business and watching the police come in to take the man from upstairs away.

Jay sighs, the two of you despite having a relationship that is akin to lovers are more strangers than anything. All he knew was your name, this bar and everything you did for him because of your acquaintance through the bar. Likewise, all you knew about him was his name and his job and the fact that you didn't want him to die while on business with unsavoury people.

Strangers, that's what Jay would call you if not for the vulnerability he has shared with you, the kisses he has taken from you and the intimacy you showered him with—almost lovers but somehow, you were still strangers.

If he wanted to know more, he could easily find out. It was his job as a detective to find out about people and their lives, after all, the things they care for and the things that made them weak, however, it never crossed his mind to ever use those means when it came to you and he knows, you too as a bar-hostess were adept at opening people up and having them share their deepest secrets in the comfort of your bar, and yet, you have never quite asked him anything more than what he was willing to give.

Even though he was frankly willing to give you his life and anything it might encompass, be it his heart, or even his very last breath.

The silence that Jay lets brew doesn't go unnoticed by you, he let the police do their business behind him and brushes them away saying he will write up a case report tomorrow morning—his face though had a shimmer, a glow of heat that he kept hidden under his hair and his coat but your eyes curl when you see it, a smile settling on your face and you are sure your face felt the same as his in the heat behind your ear and your neck, your chest blossoming like spring, suffocating but your body feels like a furnace.

You could tell that Jay felt like he was too obvious right now to face anyone but you.

And as soon as the commotion dies down, Niki flees upstairs to man the bar, you cross your arms on the counter in front of him, positioning your face to meet his eyes and your nose brushing with his. "Why don't you start asking your questions, detective?" you tease, your body shaking in a high you could only blame him for.

"Don't you already know what I want to ask?" Jay breathes out, the heat of it whiffing towards your lips and you shake your head, "I am not sure what you mean," you smile, tilting your head upwards playfully.

Groaning quietly, Jay throws his face into his hands and hears the sound of your giggles, so close to his ears that it felt like it was burst, he takes a deep breath, meeting your eyes again—trying so hard to remain unfazed by the lack of distance.

The sound of life in your little bar always made him feel clear as if he knew everything he wanted in life and as if nothing would ever go wrong, however, his troubles often found him in the little bar in his early days here even though he thought he was being careful. Amateur mistake, he faced off with his targets twice in front of you and that was before the security was increased around your bar. He knows you did it because you wanted him to be safe at least when he was here and he knows you don't want to tell him that you were paying for more staff because of him.

There have been too many instances where his feelings slip out of his actions, like you said, you have kissed more than once and chances are they are mostly initiated by him, the way your hands aren't afraid to hold him, crease him and cradle him, he has been in your care and comfort without ever telling you or asking you for more.

"Would it be easier if I make a game rule?" you ask, pulling a bottle of Bacardi and a shot glass.

"Don't you think there are enough games in this bar?" Jay throws back a question, eyeing the bottle and shaking his head. "You never get drunk—this is a special game for you," you shrug, pouring the drink into the small glass and pushing it towards him.

"Every five minutes that pass and you don't say what you want or talk about something other than what I want to hear, you drink," you have a small smile on your face, casually adding, "I hope you know this bottle has a high alcohol percentage,"

Inhaling sharply, Jay scoffs chugging down the drink and you smirk, nodding your head. "I don't need that many drinks, one will do," Jay said determinedly.

Taking your hands in his, Jay immediately clears his throat unflattering almost as if he was buying time. "Niki, can you please handle the counter?" you call, hearing back a ‘yes, ma'am’ immediately. "Let's go inside," you said, unlocking the door to the staff area and Jay blinks at you before following you in.

"Am I allowed in here?"

"I am the owner... now Jay," you call his name.

"You know, you are very aggressive when I get shy—" "That's only because you keep dragging whenever you get shy!" you interrupt him, feeling a faint blush rising again.

Bar Chantel is your pride and inside it, you always felt more comfortable and free to do whatever you liked. Even if it meant you'd be embarrassed about it once you back home which was on the third floor of your building. Everything that ever happened with Jay has always happened while you were in Chantel.

Closing the distance between the two of you again, you ask, "Why did you kiss me? more than once?"

"Because I wanted to," he said, glancing away from you and you roll your eyes.

"Why do you want to kiss me then?" you ask, moving your hands to bring his eyes to meet yours. "Don't hide from me and just say it, you already know my answer so why are you so scared?"

Jay sighs, hearing you up it in words makes him wonder, why couldn't just come out and say it? why has he never come out and said it? it made sense in his head, detectives have rough lives. He is constantly in danger because he works in a unit made for criminal catching. your life with him would never be easy.

Maybe you didn't want that.

He knows though, "You know that I would never stop you from doing your work right? That's what you are worried about right?" you cup his face and furrow your brows. "Just why do you think I helped you today?"

"Do you want to go out with me?" you ask.

Your hands burn the skin on his face, his eyes wide at your words, breath cutting short with each second. "I wanted to ask you out—I kissed you first, I wanted to do this that time too," he rambles, gulping harshly and you scoff, pulling his face to you and pressing a chaste kiss on his lips.

"All you had to do was ask, you already know I am so weak towards you,"

Laughing breathlessly at that, Jay says, "You could say the same about me,"

A detective and bar hostess, no matter what Jay thought, it didn't make sense. Nor did a life where he didn't want you, one where you were just the owner of a bar he likes and you were merely a cog in the world that keeps spinning.

The work he did that never let him rest is only manageable in a life where your little bar housed quiet peace and a place to drink without worry, a game rule that seemed odd but made so much sense to the person who runs the business. The little bar, Chantel, always sinks a clarity in him and you are the centre of the weathered ocean, the sunshine that greets him with the sound of the sizzling neon sign, the wind chime and your sweet voice calling his name to welcome him into your arms.

"This place... honestly I am so glad I found this place," Jay grins, snaking his arms around you and pulling you into a hug. "I walked in here with a bloody coat the first time didn't I?"

"It scared me so much but then you asked me what this place was called even though there is a big sign on the outside," you laugh, remembering the time he fell on the floor of your entrance while being on call with his subordinate. "Chantel is the only bar with a sign that big around here," you remind him just as you had said to him on that day.

"I was dizzy from blood loss—but I remember thinking Chantel was your name too," Jay said, his fingers tangling into your hair and you nod, "you called me that when you woke up a few hours later," you recall fondly, melting into his heat and he calls you again, "Chantel,"

"A pretty name for a pretty lady," "A pretty name for a pretty lady," you said at the same time as him and a giggle escapes your lips, pulling away to see his face.

"God, that sounds so stupid—I am so sorry," Jay shakes his head removing his hands from around you and hiding his face again.

"Please! Jay! it was cute," you said, cooing at him and pulling his hands down from his face, "If it wasn't for you misunderstanding that, you wouldn't have found this place again,"

"You're right," Jay trails, quietly locking his gaze with yours and you stop laughing, his hands tied around your wrists. "I thought about you, Chantel, for days, almost a month before deciding to find this again,"

"I should be thankful too then," you said, "That it made quite an impression on you,"

"Still, whether it was this place or because it was you—I don't know why it took me so long to come back and also to tell you how I feel,"

"That doesn't matter now, detective, all that matters is that from today... We are a couple!" shaking in excitement, you stamp your feet in a little happy dance and Jay laughs sheepishly watching you, "Niki is going to hate this so much," he says, remembering his comment from earlier.

Rolling your eyes, you said, "that's only because you treat him like a child,"

"But he is!" Jay scoffs, pulling open the staff room door and you shake your head, following him out and finding Niki watching the two of your curiously. Nodding your head, you ask, "You are only a few years older, are you a child?"

"Why are you siding with him!"

Locking gaze with Niki, who smiles as he heard the conversation, you can't help giggling when you said, "Because he is a kid," receiving a loud ugh from the said boy.

taglist: @soobin-chois @sungbeam (drop an ask or pm to be added or removed!)

#enhypen x reader #jay x reader #park jay x reader #enhypen jay x reader #park jongseong x reader #enhypen imagine #enhypen imagines #enhypen headcanons #enhypen scenarios #jay park x reader #enhypennetwork

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fedonciadale · 5 years

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I understand the temptation for us as Jonsa fans to feel vindicated by Dark!Dany becoming canon, but we ought to be wary. The execution of her descent into darkness has been sloppy, sexist, and borderline nonsensical. And I say all of that as a person who wanted Dark!Dany this season. I don't for a minute believe Dany will go berserker on the innocent people of KL in the books. I don't think she'll know about the wildfire caches at all, and will set them off in her attempt to burn the Red Keep.

Hi there!

I answer this together with this ask:

David and Dan wrote themselves into a corner in season six by having Tyrion tell her Jaime told him about the wildfire. It’s actually highly unlikely Jaime did so, otherwise his collapse and confession to Brienne wouldn’t have the emotional weight they do. Cersei doesn’t know either. I think D and D meant this as just a way for Tyrion to win Dany’s trust, but you can see the ramifications of that choice over and over. It takes Dany from ruthless to sadistic in her desire to burn KL in s7 and 8.

In a way you came to the wrong place, dear nonnies. I have never believed that Dany has a good heart. Her aims were always selfish, and I do think that even in the books she will burn King’s Landing despite knowing about the wildfire.

I never felt that Daenerys has a good heart. I would remind you of her thoughts in Book 1:

Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver's Bay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne. "I've told the khal he ought to make for Meereen," Ser Jorah said. "They'll pay a better price than he'd get from a slaving caravan. Illyrio writes that they had a plague last year, so the brothels are paying double for healthy young girls, and triple for boys under ten. If enough children survive the journey, the gold will buy us all the ships we need, and hire men to sail them."(AGOT, Daenerys VII)

Yes, sure enough, after that scene she proceeds to rescue the women (to the fate of becoming her personal slaves or marrying the men who raped them - great rescue that). But she has already accepted that the slaughter of innocents is the price of the Iron Throne.

Dany’s whole arc is about hardening herself enough so that she won’t be affected by pity any longer. Later she suprreses her urge to be merciful:

"One hundred and sixty-three," she answered. She had them nailed to wooden posts around the plaza, each man pointing at the next. The anger was fierce and hot inside her when she gave the command; it made her feel like an avenging dragon. But later, when she passed the men dying on the posts, when she heard their moans and smelled their bowels and blood . . . Dany put the glass aside, frowning. It was just. It was. I did it for the children.(ASOS, Daenerys VI)

She crucified the masters here and to her credit she has a queasy feeling about it, but she does not act on this.

Her arc in Mereen in ADWD leads her on the painful way to try to rule peacefully. She grows frustrated with this and in the end she forgets the people who suffered - tragically knowing/feeling that this is not good sign.:

"Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …" Dany could not recall the child's name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. "I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons." (ADWD, Daenerys X)

She embraces the words of her house:

No. You are the blood of the dragon. The whispering was growing fainter, as if Ser Jorah were falling farther behind. Dragons plant no trees. Remember that. Remember who you are, what you were made to be. Remember your words. "Fire and Blood," Daenerys told the swaying grass.(ADWD, Daenerys X)

Without dragons, how could she hope to hold Meereen, much less win back Westeros? I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I. (ADWD, Daenerys II)

So, I happen to disagree. I neither think that the Battle of King’s Landing will be after the War for the Dawn in the books nor that Dany will blow up King’s Landing unintentionally.

I agree that it is unlikely that Jaime told Tyrion about the wildfire, but in the books Tyrion knows about the wildfire because he used parts of the caches in his defence at the Battle of the Blackwater. So, it is likely that Dany will know about the wildfire and that she will not care, because she has accustomed herself to feel no pity - because that is the price for the Iron Throne.

I believe that by the time Dany stands at the gates of King’s Landing she will have no pity left. Sry, not sry. She never had a good heart and she has hardened it to a stone.

And as much beef as I have with D&D and their sloppy writing, their inconsistencies, their sexist dick jokes and cringeworthy lines, I think that they did a half-decent job of conveying DarkDany. The foreshadowing was there for many, many seasons, the PoV trap was done well with triumphant music, giving her unsympathetic villains to defeat, glossing over dark moments by giving her nice moments in between. I do think that they could have done it better in this season by offing the NK in episode 2, or at least show her ambivalently burning both sides in the war. I understand that GRRM has the need to show that even bad people can have good moments, but for the screen D&D should have down-played her role in the battle for Winterfell - or let her go into battle without knowing about RLJ, because episode 3 felt like a flip-flop. I also would have dropped the Missandei plot. Dany did not need a reason to attack, she has wanted to fire the Red Keep for ages. And already her stans are saying that she was ‘justified’, because she was in grief for Missandei. As if anything could justify war crimes.

I will also never forgive D&D for focussing so much on DarkDany as a plot twist that we completely lost Jon’s PoV.

All in all, DarkDany is about the only thing I am really satisfied with in this season and I actually rather liked the last episode.

Dany didn‘t go mad by the way. She made a conscious decision to inspire fear and more fear in her would-be subjects.

I do think that D&D are sexist, but I do not think that they were sexist in how they pictured Dany’s fall. It is not sexist to have a femal villain. It is not sexist to have the theme of “power corrupts” exemplified with a woman. It is not sexist to show that intentions matter and that there is a difference between freeing slaves because you want to free slaves and freeing slaves because you want an army. It is not sexist to show that a powerhungry woman can be as bad as a powerhungry man. It is not sexist to have a “hero from the other side” as a woman.

The way people still defend Daenerys shows how relatable she is for many people.

Sorry, I am not with you nonnies. I do think that Dany is a ruthless conqueror who trained herself not to care, because she thinks that there is a price to pay for the Throne she wants. And she cares more about that throne than for keeping her humanity and this is why she was exaclty where her arc led her in the last episode.

Thanks for the asks!

#anon ask #Daenerys Targaryen #DarkDany #The Bells #Got8ask #Got 8 #got 8 spoilers #Was it a surprise?#No

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