DOMINO - Eustass Kid x Reader

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE: For This Moment

My entire jaw clenched tight and I threw my gaze to the tiled floor, tracing the grout in a futile attempt to distract myself. How could he say that I was needed after what he had done? After I had only just made a step away from him?

"Thanks, and I'll let her know..." I could feel Killer's eyes on me, but I didn't look up. "Take care of yourself, Kid. I'll check in regularly and figure shit out." The sound of the snail disconnecting came before the faint thud of footsteps, his boots coming into view.

Upon his intake of breath to speak, I quickly wrapped my arms around his middle, squishing my face beneath his pectorals. Killer welcomed me in with not a moment of hesitation, hands gentle as one melted into my hair, the other on my back.

"I thought you left..." I whispered, realising quickly that my voice was pitched and threatening to crack. Immediately his arms curled tighter around me, the warmth of his breath spreading from where his nose pressed to my scalp.

"You know I wouldn't do that. I couldn't." Killer murmured, finally peeling back and effortlessly lifting me onto the counter so we could be eye to eye. "I...wasn't sure if you'd regret what happened last night, so I thought it would be best to come down here, then Kid called, so-"

"I don't regret it!" While I could understand why he would consider that possibility, I still hated hearing him say that sort of thing.
"Then are you crying because you thought I left, or because you heard Kid's voice after so long?"

Crying?

I didn't realise tears were rolling down my cheeks until Killer tenderly reached to wipe them away, but I wasn't sure how to answer his question. Not without the risk of hurting him.
"It's okay." Killer kept one hand on my hip and used the other to brush my hair from my face so it wouldn't stick. "I understand, so don't go worrying your bratty ass about it."

Tilting my head back, I dried my own eyes, sniffling back anything else threatening to spill before I looked back at him. He knew better than I did that I still loved Kid, but at the same time I loved him too. The only difference was that Kid had done something I couldn't forgive, and time hadn't had enough of itself to heal those wounds as of yet.

"I'm not a brat..." I muttered, scrunching my nose when Killer leaned forward to nuzzle it, a small smile on his usually stoic face. It was still so strange, seeing him without his trademark helmet, which sat upon his bedside table, untouched.

"You really are. The ultimate brat. I do love you for it, though. Most of the time." He puffed through his nose instead of laughing properly, and for a moment I thought back to the unique laugh I had heard the night before. That memory then continued into everything else that had happened between us.

"Uh, l..last night you, um, said that you'd done that a thousand times in your head..." I murmured, flustered by the recollection. "When did that start..?" The curiosity was killing me.
"I did say that, didn't I..?" Killer exhaled, letting his fringe fall back over his eyes in an attempt to quell his embarrassment. "I'm not quite sure. I think I started falling for you that first time we brought you to the base...then I guess the, uh, mental scenarios started not long after that..."

I had been oblivious to his feelings up until our kiss on Water 7, and I felt horrible about it. If I had known, then maybe I could have made the right decision to begin with and spared myself the heartbreak Kid had caused.

No, Kid wasn't a wrong decision. I wasn't dumb enough to think that. He just wasn't ready for what a relationship entailed, or maybe we weren't compatible. For all I knew maybe he really had been playing with me. Shaking my head, I decided it didn't matter. Not right now.

"So? Did I live up to your expectations..?" Kind of hooking my legs around his thighs, I trapped him as close as possible, tilting my head to the side. Throwing his embarrassment to the side, Killer dragged me further to the edge by the waist, his smirk ghosting over my lips as his baby blues gazed back at me.
"What do you think?"