It’s Gonna Be Gucci

"How was it?"

Malik hummed through a spoonful of the spicy seafood filled boil, the mix of the different flavors of shrimp, sausages and vegetables soaked up by the rice was what he thought heaven may be like.

"That's not an answer, Mal," his uncle said with a chuckle, throwing a piece of raw chicken overhead for Nala to catch from behind his nephew. "What I say about using your words?"

"To use 'em," he responded plainly after swallowing his food. He felt something akin to irritation at being interrupted from enjoying the once in two months dish.

It was so damn hard to find or even afford half the ingredients for the staple Louisianan dish and his uncle made the best one. Not even his mum could've compared. Nobody made it spicy enough or as flavorful and after the long day he'd had, Malik just wanted to enjoy his favorite food in silence.

But the old man didn't even know how silence worked. He even talked in his sleep.

"So use 'em," Uncel Ant said as he leaned back in his seat, arms folded and food already devoured.

Malik took another spoonful, stopping himself from moaning again, and looked at his uncle as he chewed.

The man was old, but terrifying if one didn't know him. All muscles, tattoos, grey-black locs and a thick grey beard covering his face.

Malik thought he kind of looked like a Black punk Santa.

"Malik?~"

He shook his head and focused back on the old man in front of him, taking two more spoonfuls without looking down.

"Right," he said after swallowing. "It was fine. Team was coordinated but slow. I took care of it."

Antoine laughed loudly, looking rather proud. That was Malik's cue to go back to his food, but then his uncle spoke again.

"That's my boy! Did you make friends?"

"I'm 19."

"Oh you're so grown!~ And friendless, also bitchless."

Malik gave the man a pointed stare after taking the last bite on his plate, the old man only snickering in reaction. At times, he felt like he was the oldest one in their little home.

"Sorry, sorry. Ya never did like making friends. Always happier with your brother."

Malik lost his appetite.

He made to get up, not even scraping his somewhat empty plate like he'd usually do, but his uncle stopped him.

"Ehn, ehn, ehn," Uncle Ant tsked with a raised hand. "Sit back down, boy. You may be grown and with them damned wizard powers but I'm still your elder."

"…They're blessings."

"When did I ask? Sit."

He sat, but he picked up Nala to sit on his lap. He patted her soft fur slowly and looked down at the cute puppy. He was not at all ready to listen to his uncle anymore but the filial piety shit on both sides of his family still had a chokehold on him.

So he sat, and let his uncle say the same things he'd been hearing for the past two years.

"You're gonna have to see em again at some point."

Who the hell said I have to?

"They're family, petit garson."

Eh. By blood maybe.

"You're talking back to me in that head of yours aren't ya?"

Malik rose an eyebrow at him. What do ya think?

Uncle Ant laughed, resting his folded arms on their small table as Malik stacked their plates, keeping Nala from licking them.

"Fine, fine. I'll just tell lil sis the same thing."

Malik merely nodded, already done with the conversation.

His mum, Uncle Ant's sister, was at the very least, a good memory for Malik. She was strict though, stricter than her brother, but warm. He remembered how she got worried at the fact that he barely cried as a kid, how even when he'd been bullied by some kids and gotten his ass beat, he was too dazed by a butterfly to care about how much his body hurt. How she'd held him close and cried for him.

Or how dad, how the very traditional Chinese man was both harsh but silly. How he'd tried every second he could've gotten to make Malik laugh, even if it meant embarrassing himself. How he'd yell at him whenever one of his experiments caused a mini explosion and how that earned him a smack on the head or butt.

Then his little brother. Six years younger than him and most likely took all of Malik's energy in the womb to add to his own.

A ball of excitement and smiles that enjoyed randomly pranking Malik from time to time, hoping for a reaction. He remembered when one of the kid's pranks went the wrong way and Malik had slipped and split his head, bleeding everywhere.

He'd never seen Yulong that scared, crying as he tried with small shaking hands to help stop the bleeding despite Malik showing no signs of feeling pain other than a simple 'ow.'

But his brother was crying, and he didn't like that. So he helped the boy clean up his own wound, and hugged his baby brother until the boy wore himself out and fell asleep in Malik's arms.

He loved his mum, he loved his dad, he loved his brother. As much as he found it difficult to express that, he loved his family, but he couldn't live with them. Not anymore.

"…Jobs?" He wanted the subject to be changed immediately, so much so that he'd forgotten his plan to take the next two weeks off.

Uncle Ant sighed as he pressed the two ciffs on his ears, activating the visor Malik had pretty much built for him.

It had been one of the hobbies he developed as a kid, finding old tech and bringing them back to life. It was like a puzzle, something that helped control the intense emotions he found difficult to express.

"…This one might be big for you but the pay's good. Almost good enough to let you move out."

"You're really trying to get rid of me today." Uncle Ant laughed, enjoying Malik's random moments of sarcasm.

"You know I love having you, boy. I just want you to enjoy life a little. Only reason I agreed to help you with this hunter business is cause it's good money for the both of us."

"Hmm," he hummed as he lifted Nala to his face, her little paws pressing on his cheeks. She was so calm yet playful, a sweet little thing. "What's the job?"

"A raid."

Malik grimaced, not at all liking the sound of that.

A dungeon must have popped up, those things bringing about their own natural disasters. New monsters would've been in there, many from pure fantasies. It also meant that some bigger guilds were going to be involved and if they were requesting part-timers, it meant it was going to be a big raid.

"Requester?"

"Someone from the Dark Mountsin Guild."

He'd been right. That was the fifth biggest guild in the south, eleventh in the whole of the U.S. Malik sighed heavily before bringing in Nala for a peck to her head and standing up from the table.

"I'm taking her for a walk."

"Is that a yes or no?"

He put Nala on the floor and turned to his uncle who had started cleaning up the table.

"…Send me the request. I gotta get ready for it."

"So a yes." The older man said from the sink, his back to his nephew and his voice no longer holding that chipper air to it. "I was almost hoping you'd say no."

"Hmm. We need the money. You need the money."

That much was true. His business wasn't doing that well and their building was being sold to become a getaway house for some politician. It was likely why he'd even told Malik about the job, his uncle only giving him easy and safer requests usually.

Many died during raids, and his uncle had declined all raid requests sent to Malik. This had been the first one he'd even shown his nephew.

It was probably why the older man couldn't face Malik and why he had been insisting more that his nephew went back to his family. The old tattoo artist was being pushed up against a wall and all he had for help was the little nephew he saw like his own son.

Malik couldn't say no when he knew all that. Plus, he was going to be fine. He was a C rank and a low one at that, and it sounded like an A to S rank request.

The most he'd have been doing was reconnaissance then immediately pulled back.

He was going to be fine, like he always was.

It's gonna be Gucci. The old man needs to relax before his heart gives out.

Hell, he even thought the raid was probably going to just be another boring mission. The worst that could've happened was that he'd get more scars that his uncle needed to cover up with tattoos.