A Taste of Forever (Katakuri x Reader)

Chapter 34 - Healed

With your legs dangling over the roof of the Château, you pointed at a bunch of stars, marvelling at their beauty while you explained what Izou and you had imagined life to be like on other planets.

Three-meter-tall octopus aliens (Katakuri insisted that he could take down an infinite number after you had introduced him to the game Izou and you had liked to play), aliens made entirely out of gas, a planet where Vista's moustache had a life of its own. Originally it was Pops', but he didn't like it when you had claimed that his moustache sounded like Marco on helium. After he had smacked you both of the back of your heads for that, you settled on Vista.

You laughed happily as you skipped from one star to the next, throwing in a piece of Whitebeard pirates' trivia every once in a while, and always glancing at Katakuri beside you in-between explanations to make sure he was still following your monologue, unaware that he hadn't really paid any attention to anything you were saying.

Not that he wasn't trying, but you had never really shared anything of your previous life with him, and even more interesting than your and Izou's shared creativity was to see how you spoke about your family.

While you were focused on the blinking firmament above you, Katakuri watched the same sea of stars dance in your eyes. Thousands of galaxies were captured in your (e/c) orbs, and still the smile on your lips, the love radiating off you and the happiness in your eyes whenever they squinted in laughter outshone every single one of them.

He saw what he could have lost. 

The brightest eyes. 

The warmest smile. 

A soul a bigger treasure than the One Piece.

Someone more perfect than himself if people were to ask him.

If he wasn't him, if he didn't have to be the man everyone admired for his diligence, if he could have risked being seen, he would have bent down and captured your lips. Instead, he opted for committing every single thing about you to memory. From the way you slapped his thigh whenever you got especially excited over something, to the way you (unsuccessfully) tried to muffle your laughs to avoid being spotted by biting down on your lips, to the little wrinkle in your nose whenever you laughed.

"So, how many?" you quizzed, casting your eyes from a large star in the southwest to Katakuri.

"30," he remarked confidently without knowing which alien species you were now referring to.

A snort wrinkled your nose, followed by you slapping a hand over your mouth to muffle the loud laugh that shook your body. That wasn't necessarily the answer the tall man had expected.

Arching an eyebrow in confusion, Katakuri watched you hold on to his vest to make sure you weren't falling off the castle in laughter, your muscles contracting and your stomach cramping before you turned to look at him with a cheeky grin stretching your lips.

"I have been babbling nonsense for a while now and was just checking whether you are still pretending to listen." Your comment made Katakuri stiffen next to you as his eyes widened.

You gave his leg a playful pat before you shifted on your feet to look at the sleeping city in front of you, the cold night air brushing through your hair and ruffling your clothes. Leaning your head on his shoulder, something you were only able to do because he was sitting and you were standing, you chuckled softly.

"Don't worry," you tilted your head up to flash him a grin, "I know it must be boring for you, but I appreciate your effort."

"It's not that. I just got a bit lost because I –" He stopped and you saw a flicker of tension pass through his eyes before he groaned silently into his scarf.