Transparent (Eustass Kid X reader) (Modern AU)

Ten

"I'm just asking you to be more careful." _____ frowned, hands tending skillfully to Killers. Yet another man she found numb to the pierce of a needle, it almost made her sigh in contempt.

"I am careful."

She turned a pair of disbelieving eyes to his fringe.

"Do you see this?" She lifted his palm, fully stitched and ready to be bandaged. He looked to it, and watched as her nimble fingers traced the other scars that littered his palm. "Because I look at these and I see someone who is not very careful."

"...Kid has more scars than I do." Killer pointed out, watching for her reaction. She rolled her eyes, pulling the roll of alabaster bandages over his wound.

"Your hand is full of little scars. Scrapes, cuts, small accidents you either did yourself of from someone who got a little too close." She didn't look at him as she spoke, quietly and with a wisdom she was too beautiful to hold. "Eustass has scars from injuries he couldn't have stopped. He is careful, even if he doesn't look like it."

"You've put a lot of thought into that." Killer used his free hand to scratch his chin, eyes flashing over the workshop. Nobody was close enough to hear them speak, so long as they stayed quiet. "He said it was just a fling."

Nobody could have predicted the snort of laughter that erupted from her chest, nor the giggles that followed.

"A fling." She whispered incredulously, snickering as she fastened the last of the gauze secure. "Alright, same rules as for the Kiddo. Keep it clean, all that. I'll come by to take out the stitches and please tell me if it starts looking infected."

"Alright."

"Hey!"

"Speak of the devil." ____ gave Killer a tight lipped smile before turning to Eustass, hands balled into fists and set on her hips. She watched him peek out of his office, for coat abandoned along with his shirt, chest on full display. "What?"

"Are you done?" He asked, eyes glancing over his friends patched up hand. You nodded.

"Yeah, just finished. I'm gunna-"

"Get in here." He cut her off with an order, jerking his back into the office he just came out of. _____ blinked, it'd been a long time since someone ordered her to do something. She couldn't say she missed it.

"I have lunch plans with Zoro." She countered, frowning. "Can it wait?"

"I want you to take a look at the prosthetic."

Her lips pulled down even further. Damn him, he knew what he was doing. Eustass was no stranger to her bleeding heart, and he held no qualms with taking advantage of it.

"I hate you." She huffed, brushing past to enter the office room.

"I hate you too." He hummed, subtle smirk on his lips. She looked over her shoulder with a sarcastic sneer, nose scrunched up and lips pressed into a thin and forced smile.

Killer watched bemused as Kid broke out into quiet snickers, following her back.

He decided to watch them through the office windows, leaning back in his shotty plastic garden chair. Kid would surely get onto him about slacking, but she had said for him to avoid using his hand. Doctors orders, he had an excuse.

So he sat back, good hand scratching his chin as he observed their interactions.

At first it started out casual, neither seemed to really be interested in speaking to the other. Killer never took Eustass for a awkward type, and it made him smirk when he avidly avoided eye contact. But then the formalities faded and they seemed to slip into a familiarity with each other, bickering and teasing, poking fun.

And then, suddenly, all of that progress dissipated.

_____ pulled out her phone and answered it, a pleased expression on her face. Eustass, however, looked livid. The red menace didn't voice his anger, surprisingly. He simply stewed in it, amber eyes burning holes in the side of her head.

____ crossed her ankles as she leaned on his desk, a soft color to her cheeks as she spoke with whomever was on the other line. Killer felt his brows raise. She looked smitten.

That was an expression he didn't think he'd ever get to see on her face.

He didn't like it.

The _____ he knew was confident, a little wild. She was a woman who set her goals high and her standards even higher, she locked onto her target and would stop at nothing to get it.

This ____.... This ____ looked like a schoolgirl, nervous and giddy.

But then as she spoke, Killer watched Kid's expression turn confused.

The called ended shortly and Killer strained his eyes to read their lips.

'Why the fuck did you lie?'

'Do you want me to tell him I was with you?'

Silence.

'Some things never change, Eustass.'

'He treats you like shit.'

'You don't treat me much better.'

_____ shook her head and spoke something so quickly Killer couldn't keep up, but it made Kid visibly deflate.

She pushed off the table and exited the office, wiping the disappointed look off her face. She shoved her hands deep in her pullover's pockets, flashing the blond a dazzling smile as she made for the exit.

Eustass exited shortly after.

"You told me it was a just a fling." Killer spoke up when his boss plopped into the rickety chair ____ had occupiers not long ago. Eustass grunted. "Can I know the truth?"

"It's complicated." He frowned, scarlet lips pulled down low and brows creased tensely.

"That doesn't mean you can't explain it." Killer retorted, carefully poking the subject with what he hoped was a long stick. "Just that you don't want to."

"A couple years ago...." Kid sighed, running his one hand over his face stressfully. "Back in Sabodoy, I met her in a bar. It was just me and you, Heat, Wire at the time. She and I..."

"....dated?" Killer tried to pick up where he trialed off, but Eustass shook his head.

"We were never officially together."

There was a pause, Kids face scrunching as he debated speaking his mind.

"But I really, really liked her."

"Kid, you still do."