#balalaika

✒︎ Volume I. Chapter 41: Red Velvet

“I just want to remember.”

“Remember what?”

“That I want this. That I want you… That you are… mine.”

If you have the time, I do have a request for you– and of course, feel free to not fulfill this if it's too confusing.

I was wondering if you could write Balalaika x reader (if you included the other characters, that'd be nice but so long as Balalaika is involved I'm good) where she's in a relationship with a reader who's not physically the strongest? Like, as in they have a fairly weak physical constitution.

Thank you so much for allowing repeat requests, and thank you if you fulfill this ask !!!

(⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）

Hiiii, thank you so much for this cute request so here is how I think Balalaika would treat her weak partner :<

~ Balalaika x Weak Reader

• Balalaika does not do half-measures. If you are hers, you are under the protection of Hotel Moscow, even if you're incapable of protecting yourself.

• She won't let you walk the streets of Roanapur alone. You would constantly be flanked by elite heavily armed former Soviet paratroopers. Every aspect of your daily routine would be monitored for safety risks.

• She would likely keep her partner confined to safe zones, either the heavily fortified Hotel Moscow headquarters or a secure luxury apartment. She knows well her world is toxic so she would deliberately keep you away from the grime, drugs and violence of the docks.

• Balalaika would absolutely despise total helplessness. Even if her partner is physically weak, she would force you into a brutal crash course on basic survival. You will learn how to handle a firearm, how to clean a gun and exactly what to do if an ambush happens. It wouldn't be a gentle lesson either, it would be treated like military basic training.

• Balalaika likes control. A weak partner is entirely dependent on her for survival. This satisfies her deeply ingrained commander instinct, she is responsible for your life and she takes that duty with absolute, almost religious seriousness.

• Surrounding herself with someone soft, innocent or fragile keeps her tethered to the normal world. It is her way of holding onto a piece of humanity that the war in Afghanistan stripped away from her. She also can let her guard down around you knowing she won't have to worry about you betraying her.

• If you prove your intelligence to Balalaika, she might actually discuss politics, business logistics and syndicate moves with her behind closed doors. She values her lover's untainted analytical perspective outside of the military echo chamber. She loves a sharp mind and loves your strategic way of thinking.

• If you physically get hurt, Balalaika will instantly place Roanapur under a total blockade. Hotel Moscow soldiers will lock down the docks, the roads and the alleys. Allowing no one to leave the city. She'll order her men to find whoever did this to you and take care of them with great attention, whether it's tørture or another horrific ways to k*ll someone.

• In the privacy of their room, away from her men, Balalaika’s ice will finally break around you. Seeing her lover wrapped in bandages because of her world will fill her with a profound quiet guilt. She might gently trace the bandages with her hands trembling, a rare sight for the fearsome captain. Showing how much she cares about your safety.

• While she will be incredibly tender and attentive during the recovery, the overprotection will double. Your freedom will be heavily restricted. More bodyguards, tighter schedules and absolute surveillance. Balalaika will never let her guard down and see you get hurt again.

• I'm sure Revy would initially mock the relationship, calling Balalaika's lover a "soft princess" or a "kept pet." However, if you prove your mental sharpness and doesn't flinch at Revy's foul mouth, Revy will grudgingly respect her.

• Rock would see a reflection of himself since Rock is also a non-fighter who survives on intelligence. He would respect her but feel terrified for her, knowing exactly how razor-thin the line is between Balalaika’s love and her wrath.

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:

Hii I love this idea ᐠ( ᐢ ᵕ ᐢ )ᐟ Thank you for your request. Here's how I think Balalaika would act after she hurt her partner for necessary reasons.

~ Balalaika x Reader After She Hurt You (angst)

• You two were together for a while, you trusted her and became the only thing that made her feel human. But Balalaika had to make a choice between her men and you.

• She will look you dead in the eye and state exactly why she did what she did. An apology will be implied but not wept. She will not cry or beg for forgiveness since she views that as a sign of weakness. A harsh truth will be spoken. She will directly tell you that if the exact same situation happens tomorrow, her men will still come first.

• If you're hurt or angry about the situation, she'll let you scream, throw things or demand answers, she will stand perfectly still and let you empty your rage without interrupting, waiting for you to be done with your little tantrums, she won't back down or apologize for the choice she made either because in her eyes, protecting her men is an absolute law and she will not pretend to regret saving them. She will remain calm, won't even raise her voice to tell you to calm down either. She views your anger as a storm that she simply has to weather.

• If you withdraw, refuse to speak to her or just cry silently, it cuts through her armor. She will sit in the dark, smoking heavily, just watching you. She will struggle with eye contact. For a woman who stares down mafia bosses without blinking, she will find it incredibly difficult to look at your tear-stained face. It reminds her of the monster she has become.

• If she sees that the pain is too much for you, she will lay out a brutal truth, "I am a soldier and Hotel Moscow is my blood. If my world is too heavy for you, leave. I will not stop you." She will protect you from the shadows. Even if you break up with her and walk away, her men will always watch over you. You will find your path cleared and your life safe because injuring you is a debt she knows she can never truly repay.

• If you accept that what she had done was something necessary and don't leave her, she'll get visibly relieved. Accepting her means you acknowledge that her men come first in a crisis. She will love you fiercely but she will expect you to understand when duty calls her away. She'll expect you to be strong. Now that she knows you accept her flaws and her violence, she will never let you go. You have seen the worst of her and stayed. Which means, in her mind, you belong to her completely :<

~ Balalaika x Reader (if she was obsessed)

• If she was obsessed with you and you get hurt after the decision she made and decided to leave her, she won't let you. Roanapur is too dangerous, she has already hurt you once and the only way to ensure your absolute safety is total control.

• You will no longer live in a private apartment. She will set up a living space for you directly inside her heavily fortified headquarters or the room right next to her office. If you are part of the underworld, she will give you a fabricated paperwork job that requires you to sit at a desk in her office all day. She wants to be able to look up from her paperwork and see you breathing.

• If she works late into the night (which she proably does), she will occasionally stop to just stand over your bed, smoking a cigarette while watching your chest rise and fall to reassure herself you are alive and you won't escape.

• If you need to go to the bathroom, go downstairs or just simply get a drink, a squad of armed, silent Hotel Moscow soldiers will escort you. They aren't only guarding you from enemies, they are guarding you from leaving.

• If Balalaika thinks a friend or contact is trying to convince you to leave her, that person will "disappear" from Roanapur overnight. When you are in the same room, she will want you close. She might keep a hand firmly on your shoulder, pull your chair right next to hers during meetings or hold your wrist tightly when walking.

• If you fight her on this, she will not view herself as a villain. She will look at you with cold, dead eyes and recount the time you got hurt. To her, this is the ultimate act of love and protection. She'll make you think that this is for your own good rather than her controlling your every move and basically keeping you trapped to her.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The head of Hotel Moscow in Roanapur.. Balalaika

So, I do have a request for you if that's okay?

How do you think Balalaika would behave and such with a reader whom she's romantically interested in? Like, pre-relationship, so it's sorta a crush type of situation?

I'd love to see your interpretation on this

(⁠*⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠)⁠/⁠～⁠♡

Tysm!!! And thank you if you do end up taking this request

I LOVE THIS IDEA ᐠ( ᐢ ᵕ ᐢ )ᐟ Here's how I think Balalaika would act around someone she has a crush on, Pre-relationship.

Pre-relationship with Balalaika

• Balalaika’s eyes keep tracking back to you. When you catch her looking she doesn’t look away. She simply raises her glass of vodka in a silent slow-burning toast.

• She has invited you to sit on her right side, the spot usually reserved for her highest-ranking officers or the people she needs to keep under a direct eye. Her leather boot occasionally brushes yours under the table and she makes no effort to move it away.

• When she speaks to her subordinates, her voice is a cold and authoritative rasp but when she turns to ask how your week has been the cold edge vanishes. Her voice is still deep and commanding but it carries a softer melodic warmth meant only for your ears :<

• She doesn't play dating games. If you notice her feelings towards you and ask her directly how she feels she will look you dead in the eye, take a puff of her cigar, and tell you exactly how highly she values you, waiting to see if you have the courage to match her intensity. She won't try to hide her feelings or be shy about it, she's direct and all clear.

• She is very deliberate. She might place a heavy yet reassuring hand on your shoulder or let her fingers brush against yours when handing you a glass. Her touches are slow, lingering and loaded with intent to see how you react. She tests your boundaries, learning what you're comfortable with and what you're not.

• If you get hurt after a mission; Balalaika will sit in the chair right next to your bed, she'll gently take your uninjured hand into her own scarred palms. Her touch is heavy yet warm and grounding. She will squeeze your hand gently to remind you that you are safe now. Balalaika prides herself on absolute control so she will genuinely blame herself for not protecting you well enough. I think she might say something like "I gave orders to keep you safe," or "The failure is mine. It will not happen again."

• She will personally oversee your recovery. If the hospital food is terrible (it is) high-end meals from the best restaurants in the city will start arriving, if the room is too loud or uncomfortable she'll have the entire wing cleared out just so you can sleep. After you heal she'll start to watch you even more closely, not letting you get out of her sight even for a moment.

• As for dates, since you two are not in a relationship yet she'll try to make it look like as if it's something formal and necessary but it's obviously not.. She'll make sure everything is perfect and nothing will go wrong. She will close down an entire high-end establishment for the night whether it is a luxury French restaurant on the upper floors of a Bangkok hotel or a private seaside villa outside Roanapur. She ditches her usual military uniform and draped trench coat, instead she'll wear something more nice and suitable for the date like an elegant dress, I think.. And she absolutely loves to see you dressed up for her.

• After she confesses her feelings in a direct and blunt yet completely honest way, and you accept her (obviously I mean who wouldn't), she'll genuinely get so happy and relieved, I believe she'll give you a genuine and warm smile and take your hands into her own.

• When she is doing paperwork or planning operations at her massive mahogany desk you are always welcome. Actually she prefers you sitting right there. She will hold your hand or rest her boots against yours while reading top-secret intelligence reports.

• She drops all remaining walls. She will tell you her real name (Sofiya Pavlovna), talk about her childhood in the Soviet Union and share her deepest vulnerabilities. You become her only true safe haven from the horrors of her job.

• As a partner, Balalaika is intensely devoted, highly possessive and surprisingly affectionate behind closed doors. If anyone looks at you the wrong way her eyes freeze them to the spot. She loves wrapping her arm securely around your waist or shoulder in public and silently let every one know that you belong to her.

• She has access to immense wealth. You will find yourself flooded with high-end gifts like tailored clothes, luxury watches or rare imports. If you casually mention liking a specific food an entire crate of it will be delivered to your door the next day.

• In the privacy of your shared bedroom, the terrifying Balalaika completely vanishes. She becomes Sofiya, a woman who just wants to hold you close, run her scarred fingers through your hair and fall asleep listening to your heartbeat, finally at peace.

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