A Light Touch (Eustass X Reader)

Chapter 17: Decisions

You stayed in your room the rest of the day. Spending all the time thinking on what you wanted to do, what you might need to do, and how you were going to convince the rest of the world to let you do it. No matter what you decided your normal life was over.

There was no 9 to 5 job waiting at the end of this rainbow, even if Decken was removed from the picture. Either you were going to be a part of Kid's crew, Doflamingo's family, or Luffy's crew at this point, there was simply no way you were going back to what the Grandline Metro considered normal.

What was most interesting to you, was that the biggest reason you knew you weren't going to go back to your job was because you found you enjoyed fighting. You had no idea how good you were at moving and even just exercising, since your mom had kept you so sheltered for so long. Luffy probably knew, since he had the intuition of a beast, but it was news to you.

As you had considered your options, you had practiced the moves that Emma and Hip had taught you up to that point. It was all basic stuff, but it was more than you had known before now. Once you did the motions a few times you could repeat them while thinking about other things. It wasn't perfect practice, but you weren't trying to practice perfectly for hours on your own, you were trying to keep your body distracted while your mind mulled things over.

After a quick shower you settled in for the night, laying in the impossibly comfortable bed and trying to drift off. You were nervous about tomorrow. Stating your decision wasn't going to be easy, and the impending conversation was sticky in your mind.

Sticky enough that an hour later you still weren't completely asleep. You heard the door to your room open, soft light from hall spilling into the room briefly before the door closed and bare feet padded quietly over to the bed. Your back was to who came into the room, but there was only one person in the whole manor who would do something like this. You were grateful for the thick fluffy blankets over top of you and did your best to keep your breathing even.

"Mouse..." His voice was soft, quiet and more unsure than you think you had ever heard.

"Don't say it." You say as you pull the blankets up to you face more, not turning to look at him. You could practically feel him flinch, even though he didn't make any noise.

"... Are you seriously awake right now?"

"I couldn't fall asleep! How often do you come in here?" Your face was turning red up to your ears, though you were sure he couldn't see in the darkness of your room.

"This is-."

"Pervert Captain." You interrupt turning your head to look at him. Your eyes go wide, Kid was shirtless. Pant-less for all you knew, you couldn't see that far down with your back to him like this. "ohmygod you're naked!" You hiss the words and disappear under the covers just so you don't start ogling him.

You could hear him growl from the other side of the covers. "I'm not naked! This is the first time I've come in here! Hells woman I came here to -."

"Don't you dare!" You say popping out from under the covers on the other side of the bed.

"Eh?!"

"Don't you apologize Eustass Captain Kid, or I'll – whoa!" You had been pointing at him and lost your balance, falling out of the bed before you could finish your threat. "Ow."

"... Mouse?" Despite it all you could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"Aside from my pride, I'm fine." You assure him, getting to your knees and peaking over the bed at him. He was dangerously good looking as a general rule, but shirtless was just unfair, even in the dim light you could already feel your thoughts wandering.