A Light Touch (Eustass X Reader)

Chapter 12: Punctuated

When you woke up it was Tuesday. The pain meds, and the exhaustion of the procedure itself, kept you out cold for just a few hours shy of a full day. Your screaming bladder had you bolting out of the room, and you activated your healing. You'd be sore and raw for at least a week, but you wouldn't have to worry about knocking anything loose or having to have anything redone if you healed it up as fast as you could.

When you came out of the bathroom you were surprised to see Kid coming into the room, and he was just as surprised to see you up. He had a tray in his hands with a covered dish on it.

"Good to see you up and about, Mouse. How're you feeling?" He asks as he lifts the tray and motions back to the bed. "Eat up before you head downstairs."

"It feels like I should be able to move fingers I don't have, and my whole arm is on fire again." You admit, coming over and hopping onto the bed, accepting the tray as Kid sits down on the floor. "I swear I brushed my hair with my left hand, but I had to have dreamed it. Speaking of my hair, it was clean – er?"

"It was House, Emma and Hip." Eustass says with a grin, "I was going to take credit, but I didn't need that tray of food all over the bed."

"So, now what?"

Kid raises a brow.

You swallow before you clarified. "When can I have my hand? I wasn't exactly lucid when you were getting me out of there."

"The doc said two weeks. Even if you heal up before then, you want to give the nerves time to acclimate properly. It'll be a month of a rehab after that before you're back to some sort of normal."

You smile, "I guess I'm stuck here for six more weeks then." Your face drops a bit. "Well, I mean – what's happened with Decken?"

Kid's face twists into a scowl and he growls. "He's a slippery bastard. We haven't nailed him down enough yet to have a talk, let alone anything else. Oh, right, that brat called while you were sleeping, I hope you don't mind that I answered your phone."

"Brat?"

"Yeah, that officer Colby or whatever."

"Coby, okay – I mean, whether I minded or not I wasn't in a position to protest. What'd he say?"

"He says according to the public records, his family is cursed." Eustass explains, scoffing at the idea even as he says it. "It sounds like they've been passing a Devil Fruit down through the family and writing it off as a curse to keep from registering. Decken's dad died a few years ago under suspicious circumstances, and now that bastard has the curse."

"Any ideas what this curse does?"

Eustass shakes his head. "Something about bringing 'misfortune to the things they hold dear'. Whatever it is, I'm assuming it's how that paper airplane homed in on you, but I figured that was a devil fruit ability from the start, so nothing Coby said changes anything."

"... What if I can't go back to work because of this?"

"You wanna work Mouse, we'll make sure you can work." Eustass promises, standing up. "Almost done?"

"Mm, yeah, thanks." You say as he collects the tray.

"Get changed if you want, or chill in your pjs all day. Just don't go outside by yourself until we've nailed this bastard down." Eustass says as he turns to leave. It's a rule you've been following so far, but there's an extra layer of concern in his voice.

"Kid... what did that letter say?"

Kid's shoulders drop and he looks up to the ceiling for a minute before sighing.