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0nych1nu5 · 6 days ago

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club onichynus

nightclub owner!sylus x bartender!reader tw: violence, assault

“And that is how you make Wanderer’s Toe Jam.”

You narrow your eyes at Luke as he slides the martini glass towards you. Kieran is already stifling his giggles behind his hand as you receive the glass and raise it to your lips. You take a tentative sip of the incredibly dirty martini and gag immediately. The taste of the sardine brine lingers on your tongue, salty and pungent. Kieran hands you a lemon wedge, and you shove it into your mouth, the acidity from it enveloping your taste buds.

“Man, you guys are fucked up,” you cough, sliding the glass back to Luke across the bar. “Sardines? Who hurt you?”

He shrugs as he tosses the rest of the cocktail into the sink. “Believe it or not, that’s actually something a customer once ordered. Would have hated to be whoever he was making out with that night.”

You wince as you wipe down the bar, not wanting to leave any trace of the monstrosity behind. It’s a quiet night at Club Onichynus, and the twins are testing out new cocktail recipes on their newest guinea pig – you. You’ve been working here for about two weeks already, and they had warmed up to you quickly, making you their latest victim for the weird and wonderful concoctions.

The club is full of life on the weekends, a live DJ blasting out tunes with swarms of bodies on the dance floor and customers crowding the bar. During the week, its patrons are a little different. The staff call them the VIPs – men dressed in suits, accompanied by bodyguards, heading across the dance floor to one of the private rooms on the club’s second floor. The twins bring them their drinks while you man the bar, wondering what sort of business they’re conducting behind those closed doors. You had heard whispers that the club is some sort of neutral ground where all sorts of deals are made. You decide that it’s none of your business – the pay is good, and you like the work environment so far.

You’re about to wring out the towel you’re using when you hear the twins greet someone from across the room, their voices rising up above the thumping music. “Boss Man! Mephisto!”

You glance up from the bar, and your breath instantly catches in your throat. Wearing a dark suit, accompanied by his raven-haired assistant, the owner of Club Onichynus strides across the dance floor towards the bar. It’s the first time you’ve actually seen him in person. He’s taller than you expected, at least six feet, his broad shoulders evident even under his jacket. His silver hair is swept up away from his forehead, revealing his ruby-red eyes.

You straighten up instinctively as they approach the bar. Mephisto, the assistant, the one who had hired you, gives you a warm smile as he greets you by name.

“How have the first two weeks been?” he asks as he shakes your hand. “I hope these two aren’t giving you too much trouble.”

You shake your head and return his smile. You can feel the twins’ stares bore into you as you start your answer. “Not at all. They’ve been absolute angels, sir.”

Mephisto laughs, tossing his head back. “Angels? Luke and Kieran? Maybe when hell freezes over.” He wipes at his eye with his finger as his chuckles die down. “And please, Mephisto is fine.”

He turns to the person the twins had greeted as ‘Boss Man’ and motions to you. “Ah, yes, Sylus, this is our new hire. Started a couple of weeks ago.”

Sylus reaches out with his hand and you take it, shaking it with as firm of a handshake as you can possibly muster. “Mr. Qin,” you greet him, trying to keep your voice steady. You bow your head deeply. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

He pulls your hand gently, leaning in towards you. The corners of his lips tug up into a smile as he locks eyes with you. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please, call me Sylus. We’re not that formal around here.”

You nod in reply, trying to mirror his smile. “Sure. Thank you, Sylus.”

With that, he releases your hand and turns his attention to the twins. “I hope you two are behaving.”

The twins look at each other sideways before Kieran winks at Sylus. “Always.”

“Did you bring back any souvenirs for us from your business trip?” Luke pipes up, leaning over the bar. Kieran nudges him. “Oh, and I hope you had a good trip,” Luke adds.

Sylus laughs as he slaps the bar twice with his open palm. He turns away, heading towards the elevators for the second floor. Mephisto follows along behind him. “You’ll get them if you manage to keep this one on board for more than a month,” Sylus calls, waving his hand at them. He turns his head slightly, making eye contact with you again, smirking. “Good luck,” he mouths, before turning away again.

—

Your first month at the club has flown by in a breeze. The weekdays are easy work – it’s quiet, and the hardest thing you have to do is put up with the twins. The weekends are a different story, though. All hands are on deck at the bar, three of you making drinks and servers running drinks to the VIP rooms non-stop. Dealing with customers at the bar is like herding cats. The twins are surprisingly good at handling the crowd demanding their drinks, and you watch them sometimes, implementing some of their tricks yourself. They may be troublemakers, but they sure do know how to do their jobs. The end of your shifts usually have you wanting a drink yourself, but you’re afraid of whatever Luke or Kieran might whip up for you, so you often finish your shift with a glass of water and head home.

At the start of every shift, Sylus has made a point to stop by the bar to greet the three of you. He checks in, asks if there is enough stock, and makes small chit chat with the twins. You’re usually posted at one end of the bar, cleaning glasses, not close enough to join in on the conversation, but close enough to listen to it. Before he leaves for his office he will usually stop by your end of the bar, giving you a soft smile.

“You good?” he would ask, to which you would reply with a nod and a single word. “Good.”

—

It’s a Saturday night and the club is at full capacity. You’re thankful for the numerous security staff posted at several points in the club – you can at least focus on making drinks knowing that they’d take care of the more rowdy customers. So far, the night has gone smoothly. You’re making your second round of cosmopolitans for the night, when you spot a customer from the corner of your vision. You had taken notice of him about an hour ago, when he had approached a woman with a drink in his hand. He had tried to hand the drink to her, and she had politely declined at first, but then he resorted to trying to get her to take the drink with increasingly aggressive attempts. Luckily, she had been pulled away by her group of friends, leaving him with the drink. He had attempted this with another woman, which had yielded the same results. You had kept a close eye on him since then, wondering if you should alert security about him.

Luke and Kieran haven’t seemed to notice him, and they continue making drinks while trying to chat to you.

“So… what do you think of Boss Man?” Kieran asks.

You shrug, and continue making your drinks while glancing up now and again, your eyes scanning that crowd for that one customer. “Sylus? He seems nice, I guess.”

Luke comes to the other side of you, working a cocktail shaker. “You know, there’s something fishy going on with him lately. He’s not here that often, usually. He used to come here four times a week at most, but he’s here every night now, checking in at the bar. You know, every since you started–”

Luke’s spiel is cut off by Kieran coming up behind him and nudging him, but you don’t take notice. Your attention is on that one customer again, who’s trying to approach another woman. You watch as he gets her attention and offers her the drink – it’s the same drink he started off with and you’re sure it doesn’t taste as it should by now. The woman declines, more forcefully than the two before her had. This enrages the man, probably the last straw on the camel’s back. He grabs at her wrist and shoves the drink in her face, spilling half of the glass onto her dress. She struggles against him, and looks into the crowd for help. You lock eyes with her, and in an instant, you’re running out from behind the bar, pushing past other customers.

“Hey! Let her go!”

The man hears you and releases the woman, hugging the glass close to his chest, the rest of the drink sloshing around in it. You take her elbow and guide her to stand behind you gently as you position yourself in between them. The man glares at you, his face turning red with fury.

You see the twins over at the bar, pointing security staff in your direction, and you sigh in relief, thankful that you’ll have backup soon.

You’re still thinking up of ways to de-escalate the situation when the man suddenly lunges forward, drink in hand.

“Bitch!” he spits, and raises his glass, aiming for the woman.

You barely have time to act – you push the woman back and away, and stand in the man’s line of aim. The glass flies out of his hand and you try to raise your hand to block it, but it hits you under the eye, just on the cheekbone. The drink is all over your hair, face, and uniform, and you’re about to retaliate and tackle the man to the ground when someone beats you to it.

In what seems like a split second, Sylus has come in between you and the man. You have no idea where he has appeared from. He holds the man’s outstretched arm by the wrist, towering over him. You’re not sure what happens next, but you hear the sound of a snapping bone, followed by a blood curdling scream. The other patrons of the club have now all turned their attention towards the scene. Security has finally made it to you, and they hoist the man up by under his arms.

Sylus leans in his face close to the man, who is now whimpering and cowering in pain. Sylus tilts his head to the side before speaking. “You think about coming in here again, I’ll do more than just break your arm.” He says it so casually, his tone chilling. “And if you ever look in the direction of any of my staff again, I’ll fucking kill you.”

With that, security takes the man away, leaving the rest of the club stunned. Luke and Kieran have made their way over to the bar with tea towels in hand, attempting to clean you up. Your adrenaline has dropped suddenly, leaving you weak in the knees, and feeling the pain in your cheekbone. The drink that had been thrown at you had dribbled down the side of your face and into the corner of your mouth. It doesn’t taste like regular rum and coke.

You watch as Sylus bends down to pick the glass up, which surprisingly, hasn’t shattered. He inspects it and you see his eyes darken and his jaw clench before he hands it to Mephisto, who is standing behind him.

“Oh shit, you’re bleeding,” Kieran breathes, dabbing a towel at your face.

You try to respond, but instead, your knees buckle, and you fall to the ground. Luckily, the twins react quickly and manage to catch you before you actually make it to the ground. Your vision is swimming, the voices around you becoming distorted.

“My office,” Sylus barks at the twins, who gently heave you up. “Now.”

—

You’ve never been upstairs at Club Onichynus, much less Sylus’s office. The next moments are a blur, and all you can focus on is trying to stay laying on the chaise lounge, as the world around you spins. One of the twins stays with you, you’re not sure which, trying to talk to you to get you to stay conscious. You’re barely able to respond with anything other than monosyllabic grunts. You’re not sure how much time passes, but you hear Mephisto and Sylus enter the room, talk briefly, before Mephisto leaves with... was it Kieran? Maybe it was Luke. You don’t care at that point – all you want to do is give in and pass out.

Sylus takes the twin’s place next to you on the lounge. You try to rise from where you’re laying, embarrassed to have your boss seeing you like this.

“Hey, hey, don’t get up” Sylus chastises you, his tone gentle. His hand is on your back, guiding you to lie back down.

“Oh, god,” you groan, still attempting to sit up anyway. “I feel like I’m going to throw up and pass out at the same time.”

You force your eyes open and see a bar cart next to the lounge. There’s a carafe filled with water with a glass next to it, a bottle of painkillers and a first aid kit. You reach for the water, but Sylus beats you to it. He pours a glass for you, and hands it to you, watching as you clumsily drink from it, water spilling out the sides of your mouth.

“Damn,” you gurgle, wiping at your mouth with the back of your hand. “I can usually take a hit better than that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“You didn’t just get hit in the face,” Sylus sighs. “That scum put… something in the drink. Enough to probably knock three grown men out.”

“Oh, fuck,” you groan again, instantly remembering how it tasted. “That much, huh? I only got a little bit of it too.”

Sylus turns away from you, but you can almost feel the rage emanating from him. You see his shoulders tense up and his jaw clench again. You shudder – you’d hate to be the target of all that anger.

“I’ll find him,” he vows, his voice barely audible. You feel a chill run up your spine. “I shouldn’t have let him leave.”

A wave of nausea and exhaustion washes over you again, and you put your head in your hands. You try to fight against it as Sylus’s hand finds its way to your back again.

“Lie down,” he instructs, guiding you back to a lying position. “Don’t move. I’ve called for a doctor already.”

You want to thank him, but you can’t seem to get the words out. All you can do is grunt in reply as your eyes start to close.

“Here, let’s start cleaning up that nasty cut.”

You hear him start to fiddle around with the first aid kit, and you feel the sting of the antiseptic as it meets the wound on your cheek. You hiss and flinch back, your eyes snapping open.

Sylus looks at you, an amused glint in his eyes, holding a cotton pad hovering just above your face. You realize just how close he is to you, and how he smells faintly of sandalwood. The pace of your heartbeat starts to quicken, and you feel your cheeks start to heat up

“Come on, darling,” he says, a teasing tone to his voice. “It’s just a little antiseptic. You can take it. I’ll be more gentle.”

You nod, and allow him to dab at your cheek again. As promised, his hand is light and gentle, swiping away at the blood with feathery touches. You’re both silent as he works on your wound, his breath washing over your face, warm and comforting.

The silence is interrupted by his phone buzzing, and he pulls it out from his back pocket with one hand, the other still holding the cotton pad. His eyes scan over the screen quickly before he returns his phone to his pocket, and he places the bloody cotton pad on the bar cart.

“Doctor’s here,” he tells you, rising from the side of the lounge. “They want to examine you. I’ll leave the both of you for now.”

“Wait.” As if acting on its own, your hand reaches out and grabs the end of his jacket sleeve. Sylus looks down at you with an inquiring gaze, but doesn’t pull his arm away.

“Wait,” you repeat, swallowing deliberately. Your head feels light again and Sylus’s suddence absence at your side is a heavy weight in the pit of your stomach. “Sylus… please, don’t leave me.”

He pauses for a moment before kneeling down next to you again. His hand, which had earlier broken another man’s arm in a single move, is now brushing your hair gently away from your face. His thumb sweeps up across your temple as he locks eyes with you.

“I won’t,” he whispers, his gaze softening. The world seems to stop spinning as you get lost in his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right here.”

#sysy

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