#ultra modern architecture

[hometoursandotherstuff]

When I first saw this ultra modern 2010 home in Malibu, CA, my first thought was, "who is going to clean all of this metal and glass?" But, then when I saw the $57.5M price tag for the 5bd, 7ba home, I realized that if you can afford that much, you have a staff. Look at this place.

Approaching the entrance.

Here we are at the glass door. Oooh, look at the house statue.

The entrance hall.

See what I mean about the glass?

This is crazy. I don't even know how to navigate this home. The description says it's "feng shui inspired."

It's very open concept with the family/living room and kitchen combo.

Very modern kitchen with a wall of cabinets that goes from the kitchen to the living room. Open and airy, there's another sitting area with doors to a patio.

It all overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

All sorts of stairs and ramps lead to other floors.

Small corner sitting room that comes to a point.

We appear to be approaching another living area.

There's a rounded bedroom with a view of the ocean.

And, look at this. The Japanese soaking tub makes it look like you're in the ocean.

More catwalks and stairs.

Another bedroom suite with its own terrace.

So many levels.

Each bedroom is private with a terrace.

Gee, is this the good life, or what?

Wow, look at the setup in the music room.

Beautiful. I wonder if the outdoor art conveys.

Look at the private beach.

The home is gated with a security system.

.83 acre lot. I'm thinking maybe they didn't put in a pool for all that money, b/c the ocean is right there? But, still. A pool & the ocean are 2 very different things.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/41800-E-Pacific-Coast-Hwy-Malibu-CA-90265/16493848_zpid/?

[elyxir]

Dining Room in Melbourne Example of a large trendy kitchen/dining room combo design with white walls and no fireplace

[t13shoots]

[bungalowmakers]

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[sprwiphonetips]

Melbourne Pergolas An expansive, modern picture of a backyard deck with a fire pit and a pergola

[glitzlighting]

Our MS30 Ultra Thin Magnetic Lighting System in Black.

Light Up with Precision: Black Channel for MS30 Ultra Thin Track Light – Sleek, Modern, and Effortlessly Versatile.

[ultrastones]

The main principle of biophilic design is integrating natural elements into architecture and interior design to create harmony between nature and technology. This promotes the use of natural light, plants, organic shapes, and natural materials. The presence of earthy elements instills a sense of calmness and tranquility, allowing relaxation of mind and body.

[mcmansionhell]

this house may or may not be real

on grayness in real estate

Allegedly, somewhere in Wake Forest, North Carolina, a 4 bed, 5.5 bathroom house totaling more than 6,600 square feet is for sale at a price of 2.37 million dollars. The house, allegedly, was built in 2021. Allegedly, it looks like this:

A McMansion is, in effect, the same house over and over again - it's merely dressed up in different costumes. In the 90s, the costume was Colonial; in the 2000s, it was vague forms of European (Tuscan, Mediterranean), and in the 2010s it was Tudor, dovetailed by "the farmhouse" -- a kind of Yeti Cooler simulacra of rural America peddled to the populace by Toll Brothers and HGTV.

Now, we're fully in the era of whatever this is. Whitewashed, quasi-modern, vaguely farmhouse-esque, definitely McMansion. We have reached, in a way, peak color and formal neutrality to the point where even the concept of style has no teeth. At a certain moment in its life cycle, styles in vernacular architecture reach their apex, after which they seem excessively oversaturated and ubiquitous. Soon, it's time to move on. After all, no one builds houses that look like this anymore:

(This is almost a shame because at least this house is mildly interesting.)

If we return to the basic form of both houses, they are essentially the same: a central foyer, a disguised oversized garage, and an overly complex assemblage of masses, windows, and rooflines. No one can rightfully claim that we no longer live in the age of the McMansion. The McMansion has instead simply become more charmless and dull.

When HGTV and the Gaineses premiered Fixer Upper in 2013, it seemed almost harmless. Attractive couple flips houses. Classic show form. However, Fixer Upper has since (in)famously ballooned into its own media network, a product line I'm confronted with every time I go to Target, and a general 2010s cultural hallmark not unlike the 1976 American Bicentennial - both events after which every house and its furnishings were somehow created in its image. (The patriotism, aesthetic and cultural conservatism of both are not lost on me.)

But there's one catch: Fixer Upper is over, and after the Gaineses, HGTV hasn't quite figured out where to go stylistically. With all those advertisers, partners, and eyeballs, the pressure to keep one foot stuck in the rural tweeness that sold extremely well was great. At the same time, the network (and the rest of the vernacular design media) couldn't risk wearing out its welcome. The answer came in a mix of rehashed, overly neutral modernism -- with a few pops of color, yet this part often seems omitted from its imitators -- with the prevailing "farmhouse modern" of Magnolia™ stock. The unfortunate result: mega-ultra-greige.

Aside from war-mongering, rarely does the media manufacture consent like it does in terms of interior design. People often ask me: Why is everything so gray? How did we get here? The answer is because it is profitable. Why is it profitable? I'd like to hypothesize several reasons. The first is as I mentioned: today's total neutrality is an organic outgrowth of a previous but slightly different style, "farmhouse modern," that mixed the starkness of the vernacular farmhouse with the soft-pastel Pinterest-era rural signifiers that have for the last ten years become ubiquitous.

Second, neutrals have always been common and popular. It's the default choice if you don't have a vision for what you want to do in a space. In the 2000s, the neutrals du jour were "earth tones" - beige, sage green, brown. Before that, it was white walls with oak trim in the 80s and 90s. In the 70s, neutrals were textural: brick and wood paneling. We have remarkably short memories when it comes to stylistic evolution because in real time it feels incremental. Such is the case with neutrals.

Finally, the all-gray palette is the end logic of HGTV et al's gamified methodology of designing houses with commodification in mind: if you blow out this wall, use this color, this flooring, this cabinetry, the asking price of your house goes up. You never want to personalize too much because it's off-putting to potential buyers. After twenty years of such rhetoric, doesn't it make all the sense in the world that we've ended up with houses that are empty, soulless, and gray?

A common realtor adage is to stage the house so that potential buyers can picture their own lives in it. In other words, create a tabula rasa one can project a fantasy of consumption onto. Implied in that logic is that the buyer will then impose their will on the house. But when the staged-realtor-vision and general-mass-market aesthetic of the time merge into a single dull slurry, we get a form of ultra-neutral that seems unwelcoming if not inescapable.

To impose one's style on the perfect starkness is almost intimidating, as though one is fouling up something untouchable and superior. If neutrality makes a house sell, then personality - at all - can only be seen as a detriment. Where does such an anti-social practice lead us? Back to the house that may or may not exist.

In my travels as McMansion Hell, I've increasingly been confronted with houses full of furniture that isn't real. This is known as virtual staging and it is to house staging as ChatGPT is to press release writing or DALL-E is to illustration. As this technology improves, fake sofa tables are becoming more and more difficult to discern from the real thing. I'm still not entirely sure which of the things in these photos are genuine or rendered. To walk through this house is to question reality.

Staging ultimately pretends (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) that someone is living in this house, that you, too could live in it. Once discovered, virtual staging erases all pretensions: the house is inhabited by no one. It is generally acknowledged (though I'm not sure on the actual statistics) that a house with furniture - that is, with the pretense of living -- sells easier than a house with nothing in it, especially if that house (like this one) has almost no internal walls. Hence the goal is to make the virtual staging undiscoverable.

If you want to talk about the realtor's tabula rasa, this is its final form. Houses without people, without human involvement whatsoever.

But what makes this particular house so uncanny is that all of these things I've mentioned before: real estate listing photography, completely dull interiors and bland colors all make it easy for the virtual furniture to work so well. This is because the softness of overlit white and gray walls enables the fuzzy edges of the renderings to look natural when mixed with an overstylized reality. Even if you notice something's off in the reflections, that's enough to cause one to wonder if anything in the house is real: the floors, the fixtures, the moulding, the windows and doors.

This is where things are heading: artifice on top of artifice on top of artifice. It's cheap, it's easy. But something about it feels like a violation. When one endeavors to buy a house, one assumes what one is viewing is real. It's one thing if a realtor photoshops a goofy sunset, it's another to wonder if anything in a room can be touched with human hands. I won't know what, if any, part of this estate costing over 2 million dollars actually exists until I visit it myself. Perhaps that's the whole point - to entice potential buyers out to see for themselves. When they enter, they'll find the truth: a vast, empty space with nothing in it.

The better this rendering technology gets, the more it will rely on these totally neutral spaces because everything matches and nothing is difficult. You are picking from a catalog of greige furniture to decorate greige rooms. If you look at virtual staging in a non-neutral house it looks immediately plastic and out of place, which is why many realtors opt to either still stage using furniture or leave the place empty.

Due to the aforementioned photography reasons, I would even argue that the greigepocalypse or whatever you want to call it and virtual staging have evolved simultaneously and mutualistically. The more virtual staging becomes an industry standard, the more conditions for making it seamless and successful will become standardized as well.

After all, real staging is expensive and depends on paid labor - selecting furniture, getting workers to deliver and stage it, only to pack it back up again once the property is sold. This is a classic example of technology being used to erase entire industries. Is this a bad thing? For freelance and contract workers, yeah. For realtors? no. For real estate listings, it remains to be seen. For this blog? Absolutely. (Thankfully there is an endless supply of previously existing McMansions.)

The thing is, real estate listings no longer reflect reality. (Did they ever to begin with?) The reason we're all exasperated with greige is because none of us actually live that way and don't want to. I've never been to anyone's house that looks like the house that may or may not exist. Even my parents who have followed the trends after becoming empty nesters have plenty of color in their house. Humans like color. Most of us have lots of warmth and creativity in our houses. Compare media intended for renters and younger consumers such as Apartment Therapy with HGTV and you will find a stark difference in palate and tone.

But when it comes to actually existing houses - look at Zillow and it's greige greige greige. So who's doing this? The answer is real estate itself aided by their allies in mass media who in turn are aided by the home renovation industry. In other words, it's the people who sell home as a commodity. That desire to sell has for some time overpowered all other elements that make up a home or an apartment's interiority to the point where we've ended up in a colorless slurry of real and unreal.

Fortunately, after ten years or so, things begin to become dated. We're hitting the ten year mark of farmhouse modernism and its derivatives now. If you're getting sick of it, it's normal. The whole style is hopefully on its last leg. But unlike styles of the past, there's a real, trenchant material reason why this one is sticking around longer than usual.

Hence, maybe if we want the end of greige, we're going to have to take color back by force.

If you like this post and want more like it, support McMansion Hell on Patreon for as little as $1/month for access to great bonus content including extra posts and livestreams.

Not into recurring payments? Try the tip jar, because media work is especially recession-vulnerable.

[froody]

How do you feel about churches becoming houses? I think they're cute but I'm a simp for big windows and stained glass.

I actually have super mixed feelings about church to home renos. I’d prefer to see churches remain community spaces and become event venues or theaters. I’ve seen some truly terrible church renovations, like putting in a second floor in the main chapel that essentially cut the stained glass window in half. I saw one that was a beautiful 18th century gothic style cathedral that had been turned into a terrible fucked up ultra-modern hellscape on the inside.

But it can go either way. There are a lot of beautiful empty historical churches out there and I’d certainly rather see them renovated into living spaces than torn down. I think if you decide to live in a church or renovate a church to be a home, it’s good to remember it’s a church and to uphold the architectural details that make a church beautiful.

[dailyoverview]

Luxury resorts line the coast of the Caspian Sea in Awaza, Turkmenistan. Located about 7.5 miles (12 km) west of the city of Turkmenbashi, this special tourist zone constructed its first hotel in 2004 and now has at least 22 hotels and resorts. Due to its remote location and ultra-modern architecture, Awaza has been called the “least-known and most peculiar beach resort in the world.”

39.974626°, 52.828381°

Source imagery: Maxar

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Thanks to Ingek73 for sending this unique ultra-modern apt. in Amsterdam. You literally get 4 apts. made into 1 penthouse. There are no neighbors above or below the connection, and, it's above a shopping center- I would literally be in heaven. 4bds, 3.1ba, € 2.275M / $2.400M

As you can already see, it's a huge home. Check out the chess board in the floor. (If you're like me, you can always play checkers.)

The living room is so big, a grand piano fits in with tons of room to spare. Like the separating wall- you could use the shelving for books or display.

Beautiful modern fireplace is situated between 2 rooms.

Doesn't this dining area look like a bistro? It has a long banquette, and would be great for entertaining.

Modern kitchen unit with built-ins and a chalkboard wall.

The dining area is super-spacious.

This is cool- an indoor/outdoor space.

Hallways are well-lit.

Everything in this home is over-sized. Look at this bathroom. I love "conga drum" sinks.

Double showers.

Dressing room/closet.

Stairs to the 2nd level.

What a fun lofted bedroom.

That's kind of an odd place for a window, but it's a nice bath.

This upper level bedroom is spacious, interesting, and also has a fun loft.

The en-suite for this room is also very nice.

So many bedroom options. This one is a flex-space b/c it has its own stairs from the floor below.

Another large bedroom. There's a lot that you can do with this apt.

It just keeps going and going. This would make a great studio.

Partial bath.

Here's your mailbox.

And, more of the great shopping center.

[elliesmainhoe]

TLOU MASTERLIST

ELLIE WILLIAMS

TLOU2 / Older Ellie

HEADCANONS:

Feminine!Reader

Feminine!Reader Part2

Boxer!Ellie

Sugar Mommy!Ellie

Knight!Ellie X Princess!Reader

Knight!Ellie X Princess!Reader Part2

Period comfort

Streamer!Ellie

Bodyguard!Ellie X Singer!Reader

Housewife!Ellie

Housewife!Reader

Dealer!Ellie X GoodGirl!Reader

Tattooist!Ellie

Tattooist!Ellie Part2

Hockey!Ellie X Cheerleader!reader

Stubborn!Reader

Delinquent!Ellie

SingleMom!Reader

Vampire!Ellie

Vampire!Ellie Part2

Ballerina!Reader

Pregnant!reader

Singer!Reader

Hip-Hop Dancer!reader

Rockstar!Ellie

Masc!reader

Introvert!reader X Introvert!Ellie

Affectionate!reader

Actress!reader

She calls you mommy

Goth / grunge reader

Reader with ADHD

Bossy!reader

Ellie on her period

Streamer!Reader

Reader is Maria and Tommy's daughter

Taller!Reader

Reader with OCD

make-up artist!reader X streamer!Ellie

Older sister!Reader

Insecure!reader

Apologetic!reader

Deaf/ hard of hearing!reader

RichOlderWoman!Ellie

southern!reader

loser!ellie

having a baby with her (biologically)

ONESHOTS:

You deserve more

Summary: after you caught your boyfriend making out with another girl at a bar, you call Ellie for a ride home. (MODERN AU)

Reckless

Summary: While working, Joel comes in and tells you that your girlfriend, Ellie, was injured on patrol.

Protecter

Summary: After sneaking out, Ellie protects you from some unwanted attention. (KNIGHT!ELLIE X PRINCESS!READER)

New Year's Day

Summary: You and Ellie host your first ever New years Eve party, and as you both clean up the mess your friends had left in their wake.

Can I take a picture? (Out soon)

Summary: You, an architecture student, decide to spend yor three months off for summer break exploring and visiting classic Victorian houses, seeing beautiful structures and meeting eccentric people. (VAMPIRE!ELLIE)

MULTI-PART:

PROFESSOR - Pt 2 - Pt 3 ✓

Summary: After Dina forced you to go to her new physics teachers public lecture, you start developing feelings for the professor. (PROFESSOR!ELLIE X STUDENT!READER)

PLAYER TWO - Pt 2 - Pt 3

Summary: A series of imagine entailing the chaos you and streamer!Ellie cause together. (STREAMER!ELLIE)

MOTIVATION - Pt 2

Summary: You become your girlfriends physical therapist. (BOXER!ELLIE)

Why?! (PART 2 OUT SOON)

Summary: it was bound to happen sooner or later. I mean Joel slaughtering all the fireflies seven years ago was a pretty hard secret to be kept quiet- but you still wish it never reached Ellie's ears.

IMAGINES:

Phone S*x NSFW

Summary: You send Ellie a nude when she's abroad on a business trip. (SugarMommy!Ellie)

Play for me

Summary: After Ellie lost her fingers she longed to play the guitar again, so you played for her.

Jackson's Love Hotel NSFW

Summary:Your favourite customer needs to relax after a very stressful patrol and comes to you for some relief. (Brothel Worker!Reader)

Ask your daughter

Summary: Eventful late night escapades makes Ellie a no-show for patrol. (Maria+Tommy's daughter!Reader)

Miss me sugar?

Summary: After three months of deployment, Ellie finally returns home. (Military!Ellie)

Tattooed on my heart

Summary: Ellie's always loved when you doodle on her arm, leaving behind traces of you. She loves them so much she wants them to stay forever.

Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl

Summary: wasting a Friday night on a first date with a boy you've never met in person was a dumb idea- and surprise! it all goes to shit- but Ellie's there to make sure you have a good time! DAY 2 OF SAPPHIC SUMMER

SAPPHO

Summary: Ellie pulls up outside of your house, ready to take you on a first date. DAY 3 OF SAPPHIC SUMMER

Rescue Remedy

summary: you call Ellie to come and rescue you from a bar after having a few too many drinks DAY 4 OF SAPPHIC SUMMER

SOCIAL MEDIA AU:

(strictly texts and insta posts)

Texts with Ellie

Part 1

Part 2

ABBY ANDERSON

TLOU2

HEADCANONS:

Doctor!reader

Anxious!Reader

Farmer!Abby

Werewolf!Abby

Masc!reader

ONESHOTS:

(Nothing here yet)

MULTI-PART:

HUNTED (PART 2 OUT SOON)

Summary: Although you stopped Abby from killing Joel, Ellie still wants to seek her revenge.

IMAGINES:

Sundress Season NSFW

Summary: A picnic date can really only end one way~ DAY 1 OF SAPPHIC SUMMER

Hayfever

Summary: you've fallen sick, and you don't want Abby to get sick too- she says it's just hay-fever. DAY 5 OF SAPPHIC SUMMER

HBO ELLIE WILLIAMS

HBO TLOU ADAPTATION

!!THIS CHARACTER IS UNDER 18! SO IT WILL BE PLATONIC!!

HEADCANONS:

(Nothing here yet)

ONESHOTS:

GOODNIGHT, MOM

Summary: After helping Ellie down from a panic attack, she calls you Mom for the first time. (MotherFigure!Reader)

MULTI-PART:

(Nothing here yet)

IMAGINES:

Happy Mothers Day

Summary: The first mothers day Ellie has ever celebrated and she's going to make sure that it's amazing. (MotherFigure!Reader)

I LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT

coming soon

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!!

I write for:

Ellie Williams (Romantic + Platonic)

Abby Anderson (Romantic + Platonic)

HBO Ellie Williams (PLATONIC)

[t13shoots]

[nestedneons]

By Sandu

Prompt:

"Closeup architecture Minimalist night rain busy city scene floating granite ship space dock, azzuro amber forest, scifi wild, glass and steel industrial shiny metallic space station complex architecture into deep cloud environment, volumetric light, hot engines, huge air polygonal intake gates with shutters, living pastel color pods towering skyscrapers at cliff edge, jet era shapes, The 5th element，The Matrix，Craig Mullins，Syd Mead, eerie Sandu Baciu style, photography award, ultra realistic, wide angle, high detail, volumetric light at noon, Trending on artstation, Unreal engine hyper realistic photography award magazine cover -s 222"

By Sandu

Prompt:

Mid day street scene futuristic asian market neon signs light strips Blade Runner rain pastel neon AR displays full body robot on plastic transpatent pastel clothes elegant white shinny ski jet jacket wet android police decals and stickers in pastel ski jaket scifi pockets zippers, walking american flag in space shuttele cockpit cap concept art basic droid blade runner rogue one, bokeh giant logo on chest, mecha pulp art humanoid robot schematics prints elegant ultra sci - fi robots droids fashion design, ultra modern scifi look, custom gorgeous inca wood inlay pulp art style elegant eerie sandu baciu brush painting comcept art blade runner style --s 222

[paganimagevault]

Scythian mummy tomb (Fifth Pazyryk Kurgan), Pazyryk culture 3rd C. BCE. More pictures on my blog, link at bottom.

"The pair were buried alongside nine horses, a huge cache of cannabis and a stash of priceless treasures - including the world's oldest carpet and an ornate carriage.

The man had curly hair and was aged between 55 and 60 when he died, whilst the woman was about ten years younger.

It is believed he was a chieftain or king of the Pazyryk civilisation, which lived in Kazakhstan, Siberia and Mongolia from the 6th to 3rd centuries BC."

...

"The attractive log cabin was a prefabricated construction by the prehistoric Pazyryk culture to house an elite tomb - in which was buried a mummified curly-haired potentate and his younger wife or concubine.

The mound in the Altai Mountains was originally 42 metres in diameter, and this tattooed couple went to the next life alongside nine geldings, saddled and harnessed.

The house itself, recently reconstructed, was not built as a dwelling but nevertheless is seen by archeologists as showing the style of domestic architecture more than two millennia ago.

This structure was the outer of two wooden houses in the large burial mound in the valley of the River Bolshoy Ulagan at an altitude of around 1,600 metres above sea level.

The core of the mound including the ice-preserved bodies of the elite couple had been excavated by Soviet archeologists in 1949, and many of the finds are on on display in the world famous State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

As we have previously written, the pair - who owned perhaps the world’s oldest carpets - are currently undergoing an ultra modern medical scan to establish the cause of death, and reconstruct the appearance of the ancient pair, and to study the techniques of mummification in more detail.

Yet in 1949 this fascinating house was left in the permafrost ground - and only retrieved now from the so-called Fifth Pazyryk Barrow, to the excitement of archeologists.

Head of the excavation Dr Nikita Konstantinov from Gorno-Altaisk State University, was full of admiration about the skills of the ancient craftsmen.

‘We took out the log house and reassembled it right next to the mound,’ he said.

‘We made kind of express reconstruction, which made it possible to study the log house in detail.

‘Notches were made on each of its logs - building marks…’.

This was like IKEA instructions today for building their products, telling modern day excavation volunteers how to correctly construct the prehistoric building kit.

The result is seen in the pictures shown here.

‘This log house was first built somewhere away from the mound, then it was dismantled, brought and reassembled in the pit,’ said Dr Konstantinov.

‘Today we build in similar way, using Roman numerals, as a rule.

‘In those times they simply made different numbers of notches.’

The archeological team followed the code left by the ancient craftsmen and reassembled the house without problems.

‘The Pazyryks knitted the corners of the building in a masterly way and chopped the attachment points of these logs.

‘They fitted very cleanly….

‘When we built the log house and began to measure the height, it turned out that the height difference in the angles is only one centimetre.’

In modern constructions, a difference of 7 cm is allowed which showed how skilful were the ancient craftsmen.

He said: ‘This is a funerary structure, but we can say with a high degree of probability that the log cabin was created in the image and likeness of the houses in which the Pazyryks lived."

-taken from siberiantimes and thesun

[alwaysthefool]

Melting (like ice in whiskey) Part 2

Part 1 is here:

Tags: alcohol mention it’s chuuya so borderline alcoholism, fluff, gun mention, dazai mention

Warnings: mild cursing, reader has very anxious responses, power imbalance

“Uh, I don’t drink.” During work, at least.

“Bummer.” He smiled at you, taking a sip. “You’re can take a break, seriously.”

You smiled back a little awkwardly, bowed, and left the room. That was strange. It was still only around lunch time, so you went back to the dark office, with the blonde woman finally off her keyboard. You didn’t really think about lunch as you took that opportunity to ask her about your new boss, his favourite coffee order, anything that could help you.

“Coffee? I’ve never seen him drink anything but whiskey and wine.” She replied.

Another red haired boy, with a bandage on his nose, rolled near your desk with his rolling chair, and chimed in “I saw him drinking gin once.”

The next fifteen minutes were spent between you, Higuchi, and the red haired boy known as Tachihara in discussing Chuuya’s favourite coffee order. You settled on authentic Irish coffee, sweet coffee mixed with whiskey and cream. You worried about his liver a little, it’s not like you wanted your hot and cold tempered boss to die soon. You wanted to keep this job as long as- well, until you found a legal job.

You tried looking up authentic coffee shops that sold Irish coffee— some place niche but still well rated. The place you found was almost across the town but it’s not like you had anything better to do. On your train ride there, you thought a little more about your boss’ schedule. It started late and ended late. Technically, you were supposed to stay until he did, but getting home that late was worrisome. You were also issued a gun but chose not to take it, simply because you didn’t even want to think about having to use it.

You eventually reached the Victorian style building, standing out from the modern architecture of the surroundings, giving you a strange feeling, almost like you’d enter another world once you stepped in. The café surprisingly didn’t have any customers except one brown haired man dozing off near the window. Something about him felt familiar to you, and something in the well lit café gave you a sense of peace in absolute opposition to the darkness of the Mori building.

You didn’t realise you had just stopped in your tracks until someone held your hand. A rough bandaged hand, but soft fingers, smelling like buttercream and iodine. “My, what a beauty.” The man from before spoke. “Tell me, have we met in a past life?”

You were confused, as a red haired girl yelled across the room “Stop harassing the customers!”

You pulled your hand away, murmuring an apology, and going to the girl at the desk, whose name tag read ‘Lucy’. “Could I get an Irish Coffee to go?”

“To go? Is it for someone else?” The man leaned on the counter beside you.

“Ignore him.” The girl spoke irritatedly, leaving to make the coffee.

“Um, yeah, it’s for my boss.”

“Your boss drinks at the workplace?”

That question stressed you out. This man wasn’t just anyone. You refused to respond and took a seat near the counter, but the inquisitive man sat right beside you, not showing any intention of leaving you alone. You had lies planned out in your head but it felt like he could see right through them. Almost like he was one of the guys from the detective agency you read about in the papers.

Actually, wasn’t it somewhere in this area…?

Realisation dawned on you as your heart beat rose. The man beside you felt familiar because you recognised his coat from a newspaper article. You were in the very vicinity of the detective agency.

That was alright, it wasn’t like he’d arrest you or anything. “So, about your boss, what do you do?”

You already know what I do.

“I’m working for a shipping company.” You wanted to tell yourself to shut up, or say something smarter at least. You put your head in your hands, shutting your eyes. “Sorry, sudden headache.”

“That seems to happen to a lot of mafiosos when they talk to me.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You wished the barista would hurry your order but she seemed to be taking her sweet time. You didn’t open your eyes, wishing all of this would stop. “Look, I… I’m not a criminal, this was just the only job available.”

“I know.” He spoke kindly, putting a hand on your back. You could feel him smile and as you opened your eyes and peeked at him, he really did have a gentle expression. It was like, with him, you didn’t have to watch your back. You wondered what Chuuya would think about a person like that. “But, there’s always a way out.”

He handed you his business card. You kept it in your pocket after a glance, meeting his eyes finally, a little relaxed.

“By the way, Irish was a good choice!” He patted your back, after removing his reassuring hand from it, whispering something to the barista and going up the stairs.

Was the agency on the top of this very café? You were amazed at how you went to the worst possible place, purely by coincidence. And what did he mean, Irish was a good choice? It wasn’t like he knew exactly who your boss was, and on top of that his favourite coffee order.

After a while, Lucy finally called on you. You hurried with the payment, leaving as fast as you could without looking insane. You decided to take the taxi back, lest you ran into another Agency member on the way, and reheated the coffee at the office. There was nothing else on Chuuya’s schedule until a little later, when he had to go for an inspection.

You knocked on his door. “Come in.”

Your boss’ table was filled with papers and files, so much so that even an assistant would need an assistant to go through them. He probably did not trust you enough to let you help with them, but like a golden employee, you sure as hell would try.

“Boss, I got you coffee!” You had heard from Tachihara he liked being called ‘Boss’, and being referred to a bit casually from people working close to him.

“So that’s what you were doing.” He did not sound happy. Your heart stopped. Could he have put a spy on you and thought you were a double agent for the agency considering you went there and spoke to one of their detectives? Part of you found this to be too far fetched, but your pounding heart told you to get on your knees and beg for mercy.

With quivering lips and shaking hands, you asked “Sir?”

“I told you not to fucking call me that!” He banged his fists on his table. You tried not to show your emotions but your body betrayed you.

You bit your lip. “I’m so sorry.” If you said anything more than that, you’d start crying. Didn’t your boss tell you to scram earlier in the day? So what was this now? Why was he so fickle? Did he have anger issues?

“You can’t even bring the fucking files in, do you think you get paid for nothing?”

You simply shook your head, keeping your head down, trying your best not to cry. You were just gone for 40 minutes. Why were you being scolded on something so trivial?

“Just keep the coffee and leave.”

You couldn’t afford to do that. You had to try your best. Mustering up courage, you began “Can I help you with-“

“I said fucking go!” He yelled at you. You bowed your head, kept the coffee on a table, hoping he wouldn’t notice your shaking hands. The second you left the room, the tears fell like water from a faucet. Even if it hurt, you had to keep it in and try your best. You couldn’t cry, not here. You had to keep going on. You took a deep breath, going to the washroom to wash your face.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” Taking a break inside the stall, you heard people outside say.

“Did you see them cry?” You realised they were talking about you.

“This one was so easy to set up.”

Set up? Why would they do that?

When you heard these laughs fade and footsteps leave the washroom, you stepped out. Who were these people and why did they put you in that situation? And by ‘this one’, did they mean they did it to other assistants too?

You got the gist of what was happening. A group of people in the mafia sabotaged all of Chuuya’s assistants to the point he’d stop wanting one, or to put a particular person in that position. They may even be spies who needed something from him. You couldn’t really go to your boss, or the boss with this outlandish theory, or even the detective you just met, considering that would be plain espionage on your part. You had to investigate that yourself, and maybe that could be your big break. You remembered their voices, at least.

You walked back to the assistant’s room, seeing the blonde woman typing again, and Tachihara goofing off with a masked mafioso. Surprisingly, things were left on your desk, a bouquet with a card congratulating Chuuya for something. “Oh yeah, a delivery guy left them at the lobby. You should deliver that to him.”

“Right.” You replied. The card was signed ‘Mackerel’, making you think it was code for someone Chuuya knew. The flowers were so fresh, even the thorns were intact, and they looked like they’d been picked with great care. Whoever ‘Mackerel’ was seemed like someone who did everything for a reason. You resisted the urge to open the card it came with.

You took a deep breath and knocked again. “Come in.”

Chuuya was relaxed, done with almost half the files. To your relief, he did drink the coffee. “Uh, someone named ‘Mackerel’ left these for you.” You felt weird calling him by his first name, or ‘Boss’ remembering the last time you called him that, so you chose to not call him anything, and go with ‘ums’ and ‘uhs’, as one would do when they didn’t know the name of a person.

“Who?” He sounded nice again, as if his mood changed like the time. You handed him the card and left the bouquet on his desk, wanting to say something, but staying silent. He opened the card with one gloved hand, looking somewhat cool in doing even that, making you sad somehow. Even a card was being treated better than-

Chuuya crushed the card in his hand. “That fucking mackerel.” He cursed.

Great. Is his mood gonna change again?

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it to you.”

“No!” He said politely, almost in a guilty tone. “I’m sorry. Truly, I shouldn’t have yelled at you when I was the one who told you to leave.”

Your eyes widened. None of your previous bosses, professors, or teachers ever apologised to you after yelling at you.

“The coffee was really good too.” He smiled. Actually smiled. At you. “Did you spend your own money on it?”

You just nodded, not really knowing if saying something could set his mood off again. “That won’t do. Here, take my card.”

He handed you a premium black card, one of those that even top celebrities couldn’t obtain. How did you get to work for someone so cool? You thanked him for the card, realising even a percent of money in that card could probably solve all your problems. However, it was for business use only.

Chuuya reached for the flowers, and something came over you, stopping him by holding his wrist.

“They’re thorny, Chuuya. Let me.”

You took the roses out of the bouquet, picking the largest one and clipping off the thorns with a nail clipper, and then handing it to Chuuya. As he took it slowly, you saw his wrist, ears, and face were turning red.

Shit, is he angry again?

“Thank you.” His voice was, for once, a little low.

You bowed, and put the rest of the flowers in a vase, removing all the thorns. You could feel Chuuya just watching you, and in your distraction, you pricked your finger, pulling it away.

“Shit.” He ran up to you, holding your hand. “Be careful now.”

His gloved hands brought your finger to his mouth, as he licked the blood off. You would’ve done the same thing, but never expected him to do it. He blew on your finger, grabbing a band-aid from a nearby drawer, still holding your hand. He wiped off your finger with his own, and wrapped the band-aid on you.

Perhaps noticing your bewildered expression, he clarified “Habit. Taking care of wounds in the field and all.”

Sure. Surely it was just that, you figured, disappointment coming over you as he let go of your hand.