Seeing Red (Kid X Reader)

Moving On

It took another month to repair things with Kid. You felt you did everything in your power to help him and decided to let him make all the moves. You felt bad at times when he struggled to figure out what to do with you, but something told you Killer was helping guide him along.

When Law came by to take out stitches, you stuck around to see the end result and provide support. Everyone knew what the outcome would look like. Still, you had to see the end result. It left you a little choked up but even though the scarring was pretty rough, it suited him. Some people might say it made him look scary, giving him a harsh, rugged look. You thought they just added to his charm.

You couldn't pinpoint exactly when, but he started inviting himself over to your place again eventually. He never stayed the night though. The scars didn't bother him but his lack of an arm did and he refused to let you touch it. Touch in general was kept to a minimum in fact. He stuck to just brushing against you and keeping close by.

Part of that was your fault. You were sure to chew him out when he started seeking your company again. By the end of it, he knew full well if he pushed you away like that again, you wouldn't tolerate it. He had to learn how to handle his emotions better if he wanted you to stay. You'd love him no matter what but you weren't going to put up with that. He'd been moving slow with you since then. You were fine with that. If he felt that's what he needed to do then you'd let him.

Work was a little tense at first. The other guys didn't expect to see you again. Imagine their surprise when you showed up and got busy right away. The gun trade that Kid had going on had stopped after his fight with Shanks. The Yonko refused to work with his crew anymore and you didn't blame him, for that at least. Needless to say, you and him didn't really talk anymore.

With everything going back to normal, Kid spent a lot of his free time drawing up the schematics for a new arm. What was left of his left one was still too delicate to take on a prosthetic, but he got to work planning out a new limb anyway. He decided he had plenty of time to make one just how he wanted and carefully made each detail for it.

He'd work on it a lot at your place, taking up an entire couch by himself as he sprawled out with a clipboard and papers. You enjoyed it. You'd be sitting in the other couch at times, watching TV or scrolling through your phone. He wouldn't say anything, but he'd reach out his hand and wait for you to take it when he'd get stuck on something and needed a second to think. Sometimes he'd do it just because he needed a break from it. But no matter what he had going on, he did it because he was itching to touch you and you never turned him down. His grip was always firm and warm and never seemed to last long enough for you.

You had to remind yourself he'd touch you more when he was ready. It couldn't stop you from missing your intimate time with him though. It wouldn't surprise you any if he waited to initiate much more until after he made his replacement limb. You could tell part of the reason he held back was because he felt he was lacking. Kid was a proud man and didn't want to admit that the lack of an arm made things difficult for him, including anything intimate.

Today was one of the few days you didn't have work and planned on sleeping in before he came over. It was still hard at times to get some rest when his half of the bed was always empty so you slept in whenever you had the chance. There was the occasional time when you couldn't sleep at all so you'd take what you could get. But you were woken up by the sound of the back door opening and closing loudly.

The only reason you knew it was the back door was you always forgot to lock it. Old habits die hard.

The familiar sound of heavy boots hitting carpet moved closer until Kid stood in your bedroom doorway. He hesitated a moment before crossing the threshold, uncertainty flashing in his eyes for the slightest second. You could feel that you didn't get much sleep but smiled and pat the side of the bed for him to sit anyway. You'd take his company over sleep.