A Fairy's Tale (Eustass Kid X OC) (ORIGINAL)

Chapter Twenty: Seeing The Sights

Loklynn slapped a hand at his shoulder when he finally relented to her demand for release.

"You already kidnapped me once, you gear-headed Neanderthal! Did you really need to do it again?" She snapped, eyes flashing a bit before she could stop them. Kid laughed it off.

"Don't try to throw the book at a pirate, babe; no choir to preach to," he chortled as he brushed past her with a jerk of his stupid, cocky head. "Now c'mon, we got shit to do."

Loklynn, with a palm to her forehead and a long-suffering sigh, reluctantly moved to trail behind him. This was going to be a long day... It had only been three minutes and she was already exhausted!

...And did he just call her babe?

It wasn't the first thing he'd called her; at this point, he had so many names for her that she was certain he was likely to forget her actual name. She wondered briefly about those nicknames of his, pondering their significance. She'd heard the Red Hairs use things like that in an affectionate way towards women they'd gotten friendly with in bars. Sometimes it was teasing, but mostly romantic. Benn had called Miss Makino Honey or boss whenever he saw her, making her blush every time.

Bright-eyes, Babe, Sweetheart; Were Kid's nicknames his way of flirting with her as well? It was hard to tell since she wasn't sure if anyone had ever flirted with her before, but then, Kid had already admitted to liking her just that morning in bed. Heat had also dubbed her 'Doll' or 'Babes'... but it was different with him somehow. Whenever Kid did it-

"Drifting off there, Bright-eyes?"

"Sorry, just thinking," she assured him vaguely, thankful that he didn't bother to pry. "where to first?"

"We gotta pick up your shit from the tailor, don't we? I wanna see what else I bought you yesterday."

"Fair enough, I suppose; you did foot the bill..." Loklynn playfully shoulder-checked him as they walked, of course not budging him an inch, "And thanks again by the way."

Kid gave her a lazy, side-eyed smirk. "Oh, no need to thank me. Trust me, I'll be getting a little somethin' outta this too..."

"...That tone worries me."

"Good job, you're learning!"

When Kid bumped her shoulder, she was thrown to the side and forced to perform an impressive routine of clumsy gymnastics to avoid bowling over a sweet-looking older couple toddling along nearby. Kid found this much funnier than she did.

When they arrived at the clothier's establishment, it was surprisingly empty. At the happy chimes of the door's entry bell, a woman's voice floated toward them from the back of the shop:
"O-Oh! I'll be with you in a minute! I'm j-just running a bit behind!"

Loklynn's brows twitched upward at her frazzled tone. She sounded... nervous, for some reason. She stopped Kid on his way to the front desk with a hand on his arm.

"It's only been a day, if that," Loklynn reasoned hesitantly. "She might not have had time to-"

The captain waved her concerns away with a dismissive scoff and an oddly dark grin. "The broad had plenty of time. You could say our order was... high priority."

Loklynn narrowed her eyes at Kid suspiciously; If he'd threatened the poor woman, he'd be getting an earful, and the vendor would be getting paid extra.
Before she could inform him of this, he slammed his metal hand down on top of the call bell to get the woman's attention... smashing the bell flat and cracking the desk in the process. A shriek of surprise sounded from the back of the store before a woman came running out in a panic, looking like she hadn't slept a wink.