#thread.ryuji

Zakir took a deep breath, his throat felt dry after all the talking, his mind bubbling with words and conversations in three different languages. He could do this all day, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t also drown a whole tub of water. He coughed as the cold air hit his lungs and stopped dead short of following Ryuji away from the dingy abandoned packaging building. “That was a long meeting, ya’ani–” he coughed again. “Ya’ani, I could use some water.” He pulled his jacket tightly against him, the persona he’d crafted slowly fading away through the exhaustion. He never could prepare for these things, that wasn’t how the criminals worked. For a job maybe, for a heist perhaps, but for a meeting as a translator. No, he could be called out of his bed at 4am and be expected to give his full attention to the matter at hand. If he couldn’t discern Hindi from Gujarati, he might as well not show up. 

Rakesh had good days and they had bad days, on good days everyone got a smile, every dog got a bone, and every criminal they encountered was a friend first, enemy second. They would hand out tasks and give people a pat on the back, or ruffle some hair. On good days, they’d send their kid a text - though she really shouldn’t be having a phone - checking up on her, telling her they’re proud, asking how homework is going. Whatever. On good days, nobody can tell Rakesh they aren’t doing a damned good job. 

On bad days however, their always ruffled hair was even more ruffled, on bad days they gave people passing by a frown rather than a hello, on bad days: caffeine was usually the culprit. 

They sat hunched over their cup of coffee, but it had come too late, the headache was already there, the rage had already settled. Seeing other capos from rival gangs was probably the last good thing for their well-being, but with how much they were leaning forward, they couldn’t blame Ryuji that he hadn’t recognised them. The looked up though, eyebrows low over their eyes, yet frowning as well. “Must be my lucky day,” they said, dripping with sarcasm.