Look, I couldn't help myself.
"What the fuck?"
The timid knock of a door was enough to stir Eustass Kid from his sleep. The redhead slowly sat up in bed, rubbing at his pounding head. He felt as if had hadn't gotten any sleep, probably because he was out drinking until about two hours ago. He was sleep deprived and hungover, which was never a good combination.
His tangerine eyes lifted to the door as the knock came again. The man scowled at the threshold, rubbing at his neck tiredly. He then stood to his feet, quickly tapping at his phone to check the time. The anger inside him burnt stronger when he noticed that it was indeed early morning, definitely too early for any visitors.
"You better have a good fucking reason or I'm going to tear you a new one." Kid growled, storming over towards the door.
With one swift tug, the entrance flew open and the man came face to face with another. More like another so short, he had to look down upon them.
You.
You had no idea why you were lead here. All you knew was that before you had left, you made sure Bartolomeo was more than fast asleep. You were covered only by your hoodie and a small pair of shorts, your eyes solemn and cast to the ground like you had wandered up to a parent's room to tell them you were sick.
Kid, standing only in a dark pair of basketball shorts with his broad, toned chest on display, was mildly taken aback.
Had you accidentally wandered to the wrong door?
"You drunk or something?" He asked roughly, crossing his arms over his front. "Trafalgar's door is the opposite end of the corridor."
You slowly shook your head, trying so incredibly hard not to cry yet again.
"No, I'm f-fine." You replied unconvincingly, throat sore and voice quiet. "I just need to talk to you."
Kid frowned. You wanted to talk to him? Really? After everything he had said to you and warned you about, you still wanted something from him?
"Are you shitting me?"
Once more, you shook your head and the tears were threatening to spill. Kid watched as your eyes welled up, frowning harder. Though before you really did start to cry, something he knew he wouldn't be able to deal with, the man dissolved into a sigh.
He briefly leaned over you to look each way down the corridor, all before muttering down to you with a tired look. "Get in."
~~~
Kid's room was honestly exactly how you expected it to be. Much like Bartolomeo, he had a huge television set up, but also had a lot of video games and a good few consoles. Things as new as a PlayStation five right down to the classics like a GameCube.
Clearly, he liked his video games.
His bed was simple with grey covers, ones that crumpled in the shape of a sleeping man. You felt a little guilty that you had evidently woken him, but then again your mind was running at one hundred thoughts per second. Guilt was probably one of the last things on your mind.
While you stood by the door with your hands tucked into your sleeves, Kid leaned on the edge of his dresser. The man had his eyes on you and yours were still on the floor. You couldn't bring yourself to look up incase you were to start crying all over again. They were already too puffy.
"So what's so important you got me up, huh?"
"I want to know why your friends hate M- Bartolomeo so much."
There was a bout of silence. Kid was trying to see if you were serious or not. You couldn't care less before, you why were you so bothered by that now? As far as he was aware, you had chose to ignore him and wanted to stick with that...
The redhead leaned up from the dresser, deciding to sit at the edge of his bed. You looked up at him through your eyelashes, watching as he combed his hands through his bright, vermillion hair almost in stress.
"I take it you want to admit I was right." He hummed, shoulders relaxing.
"Please just tell me." You whispered, voice cracking.
Kid decided to stop messing with you and let his head fall to his hands. He let out a deep huff before he started up.
"Alright, but you're not going to like it," he warned. You didn't care. "During the first year of uni, there was a huge house party that happened at a friend of mine's parent's place just outside the city. They were out for the weekend. A fuck ton of people went, I'm surprised you didn't."
"Me and my friends aren't party people." You explained, earning a grunt of acknowledgment.
"Makes sense." He said under his breath, thinking of how antisocial Law could be. You didn't hear his remark, only focusing when he spoke up once more. "Anyway. Even your boyfriend was there with a few friends of his."
You frowned. "He was?"
The redhead nodded, glancing over at you briefly as you raised your head more. "Yep."
You frowned softly, puffy eyes still stinging. "... I don't see how this has to do-"
"Let me finish." He snapped, all before simmering down a little - fists still clenched. You shut up immediately. "I don't wanna go into the details of this shit, it's not fun to recount, but he got drunk off his ass and started to come onto my friend Killer's girlfriend at the time. He was hosting this whole thing, too."
Though you remained quiet, your blood ran as cold as the wind in a winter storm. Those tiger eyes raised and caught your own that had widened a little more as you stood frozen in place.
"He had his eyes on her before, you know. This wasn't all some spontaneous incident."
For some reason, you've always felt watched.
You felt like you couldn't breathe. "S-so..."
There was no telling why it was that way.
"So this had happened before?" You whispered, voice as quiet as a mouse.
You didn't know why.
"Yeah, pretty mu- h-hey, what the hell?"
Kid's face twisted into something akin to surprise as you dissolved into tears. You had your hands pressed to your eyes and your whole body was shaking, the salty liquid seeping down your cheeks. The man had no idea what to do, sitting there with his eyes on you.
He was completely unsure of what to say as he watched you completely break down in front of him. You must've been real uncomfortable about your problems to be so comfortably vulnerable in front of him.
The redhead cursed himself, standing to his feet. He awkwardly wandered over to you, looking down on your quivering frame. In a very stiff manner, he wrapped his arms around you. You found the back of your hands pressed to his exposed chest as you cried into them.
How you would kick yourself later for that.
"Yo, you want me to get you a-anything?" He said, not knowing what to do with himself as he patted your back robotically.
You didn't say a word in reply and Kid took that as a sign that you would rather let it all out in silence.
Why he was the one subjected to this, he had no idea.
~~~
After a good half hour, the room was completely silent. Weirdly enough, even when you had finally calmed down to the occasional sniffle, Kid was still holding you. You were sat on his bed in his lap, which was a little weird but he had become less awkward about it. In any other situation, it would've looked pretty bad considering you had a boyfriend.
You didn't care anymore, however. All you wanted was for someone, anyone, to comfort you.
Anyone but him.
Your head gently rested on his muscular chest as the two of you sat there in muteness. You could hear his heart as it went from a violent hammer to a much calmer beat. His hands ghosted gently over you, however. He was scared you were too fragile for anything else.
"It started when anonymous notes began to appear on my door." You whispered, your croaky voice just loud enough for the redhead to hear.
He frowned but let you continue on now that you had found the words. "I thought I could ignore it and get on with my life. I really did, you know?"
"So you decided to get with your stalker, is what you're telling me?"
You nodded softly. That was exactly what you were saying and this is what you had wanted to tell someone else forever. Really it was quite embarrassing. How long it had taken you, that it. Your friends should've been the first people to know and to help out, but you had settled for someone you disliked.
Well, until now.
Considering he was up at the crack of dawn alongside you, you had to admit he was actually an okay guy. Kid was just misunderstood, was the conclusion you came to.
"I take it he's in your room or some shit?" You nodded once again. Kid mumbled in reply to you. "Right."
"I can go back if you want, if that's what's bothering you."
"Bothering me? Are you pulling my leg?" He growled almost angrily, your eyes widening as you looked up at him. His tangerine eyes settled on yours briefly before he glanced away. "That motherfucker has been fucking everything up and I've reached my bullshit limit. You think I want to send some unstable chick back in with that psychopath?"
"Are you insinuating I'm mentally unwell?" You hummed almost jokingly, the redhead noticing your tone was lighter than before.
Good. You were feeling at least a little bit better.
For the first time, he chuckled softly. "Look at yourself. You're telling me you're okay?"
There was a small pause as you smiled and the man smiled back. Yet as you did so, he seemed to very suddenly snap out of it. You blinked owlishly at him as he slid out from under you, leaving you to sit on his bed. With confusion, you watched as he got to his feet and headed off towards his bathroom - grabbing a pair of jeans that were lying on his dresser as he went.
"Where are you going?" You asked just before he shut the door behind him.
"I have somewhere to go."
"It's four in the morning."
"I know." He called back, letting the threshold close after he went through. Your eyebrows furrowed into a frown and you sat there staring at the door, only for your eyes to cast up and out of his window.
The night sky was as starry as ever. Yet unlike usual, it was less magical and seemed to bring you less joy. Maybe because the times you had appreciated it the most were when you were with him. Not anymore. You knew you didn't want to go back, it was just how to avoid him here on our.
You had seen what he could do and you knew what kind of man he really was.
Not even two minutes later, the bathroom door opened once more and Eustass Kid stepped out. This time, his basketball shorts were traded for the denim jeans and he seemed to have woken up a lot more. The redhead snagged a shirt from the open draw of his dresser and then pulled it over his head, grabbing his car keys from the top of it. You had seen him driving before, he had a huge, red pickup truck. It was a Ford Raptor, if your memory served correctly.
Once more, you started to speak. "Where are-"
"Do me a favour and stop asking." He replied firmly, sauntering towards the door. The man looked over his shoulder and shot you a demanding look, gaining all of your attention. "When I go, you're to lock this door, stay put and get some sleep. Clear?"
You had no idea what to say, nodding hesitantly. Kid gave you one last serious glance before he walked out of the door, closing it harshly behind him. After that, you did what he had said to do and went to lock it. Though once you were back on his bed, you couldn't help but feel the exhaustion really beginning to hit you.
Maybe sleep was a good idea since you had cried a river. You were safe now, anyway. There was no one who could hurt you now. Not when you were secure inside the redhead's bedroom.
Not even he could touch you.
~~~
13.02.2022