A Light Touch (Eustass X Reader)

Chapter 6: Greasy

You shake your head. "No, I... I mean, if he comes by again yes, but not... now." You can feel Kid's eyes boring a hole into your skull, and you wilt a bit at the end. When you look up at him, he sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose, but doesn't say anything.

Coby leaves the three of you and Kid lets out another sigh after you look up at him for the half-dozenth time.

"It's fine, Mouse. Restraining orders aren't exactly effective anyway." He admits. "You wanna sit in there or out here?"

"In there. I feel..." You look around a little nervously. "Kind of exposed out here."

Kid inclines his head and three of you file into courtroom. Killer sits by the wall, you next to him, and Eustass closer to the aisle. You have to admit you feel pretty well-protected with the two of them on either side of you, a bit like a football between two atheletes. As an added bonus, no one seems to want to sit anywhere near Kid or Killer and there's plenty of breathing room around the three of you.

There are definite perks to knowing people who look scary.

The day goes by slowly, and you don't really focus on the different hearings that shuffle in and out of the courtroom. Shortly after lunch the case that affects you finally comes up. Your hand clenches and you look down as Vander Decken enters the courtroom. He doesn't look too different from how he was dressed when he showed up at your door. His face is impressively neutral, and his suit fits a lot better. His overall demeanor is less greasy, but the first impression lingers and you're sure you're giving the guy a hard time.

Much to your dread, you're called up to the stand.

"We're right here Mouse, it'll be okay." Kid whispers, squeezing your right hand as you shuffle by him. You nod slightly, but you're already struggling to push your anxiety down.

You answer the questions posed to you as best you can. It's mostly simple stuff, your name, occupation, what you were doing that day, what the result of the crash was.

You can feel Vander Decken's eyes on you. They narrow at first, but after a while there's something different on his face. It's mostly neutral, but it almost looks pleased. Your eyes keep darting to him, not comfortable with the steady gaze, but not able to completely ignore it. You trip over your words and feel your face getting hot from embarrassment.

The prosecutor picks up on your discomfort quickly and shifts so that he's blocking the defendant's table, helping you to focus on him and answer the question he's giving you. It helps calm you down and stay focused, and the rest of the exchange goes easily. You manage to almost relax while having entirely too many eyes on you for your comfort.

When the Prosecutor was done, the defending lawyer released you without any further questions, and allowed to go back to your seat in the courtroom. Decken's eyes followed the entire time, until you passed him, and he would've had to turn his whole body to keep you in his sights. You shuddered before moving down the benches and returning to your spot between Kid and Killer. Even the man's gaze was greasy.

When Kid was called to the stand you grabbed his hand in a moment of panic. The idea of Eustass Kid on the stand made you visualize the entire courtroom being tossed into disarray. He looked down at you with a bemused smile and winked before he went to the stand. You weren't sure if the wink was meant to comfort you or warn you to take cover while you still had time.

Killer put a comforting hand on your shoulder, his own shifting up and down along with the bemused smile on his face.

Kid on the stand was... elegant. You never expected you would attribute that word to Eustass Kid, but here you were. He was charismatic, in control of his emotions and his tone. He didn't want to be, you could see it in his eyes. He wanted to leap across the court room and beat Vander Decken within an inch of the man's life.

You were so certain of it; you were surprised they weren't already hauling Kid out of the courtroom in cuffs for intimidation of some kind.

Kid walked the courtroom through the entire accident, prompted by the prosecutor the whole way through. The two talked like they had been best friends for years, working off of one another seamlessly. By the end of the exchange, it was so obvious that Decken was completely responsible for everything that there was a recess called for the defense to, you didn't know, decide the manner of their defeat, you guessed.

Kid came back and sat down next to you, and the grin on his face was, well, sexy, you had to admit, but it was also definitely cocky. He reaches out with his prosthetic and closes your slack jaw.

"Keep gapin' like that and I'll fill your mouth with peas, Mouse." He whispers quietly.

Your bemusement with Kid was cut short as Decken and his lawyer exited the courtroom. Decken's eyes stayed on you, but he wasn't being overt. His stare was just so unsettling it was hard to ignore.

"What happens now?" You ask.

Kid shrugs. "Dunno." He admits.

"You just got done doing what you did, and you don't know?" You were legitimately surprised.

"I've testified for people after fights and shit in the past Mouse, I've never been a defendant."

"Huh." The sound escapes you before you can stop it and you see a vein on Eustass' forehead.

"Eh? Something to say, Mouse?"

"No. Nope. Not – a – word." You answer, and then press your lips together and look straight ahead.

"Yeah, most people are surprised to learn Kid doesn't have a record." Killer says, causing you to blush and Kid's face twitch in a scowl that he's struggling to keep at bay.

It took another day for the entire thing to be resolved. At the end of it you were awarded a settlement, and Vander was given a slap on the wrist for the drunk driving charge. You weren't thrilled with the result, but you were happy to be done with, and even happier to be getting some restitution from it.

It wasn't that you exactly needed the money, but it was obvious that he both had it spare and needed to be held accountable in some way.

Vander and his lawyer came up to you, Kid and Killer after all was said and done, and Vander apologized for showing up at your apartment the way he had. He offered his hand for a shake, and you declined, stepping behind Eustass and thanking Vander for his apology. You half expected Kid to growl at the man, but that was the end of things.

Or so you had believed.

Friday evening your phone buzzed with a text message. Kid and Killer had left for the night, and you expected the text to be from one of them.

Unknown: I'd like to take you out for coffee, Miss (Y/N).

You felt your blood go cold, even before you replied.

You: Sorry, who's this?

Unknown: Vander Decken.

Unknown: You're listed in the phonebook.