Hunger

Chapter 9

"So, Pink, what's your story? How did you end up on that island? Definitely a shit-show of a pirate group you've managed to worm your way into," Buggy asked between bites. Columbina had brought him a heaping portion of food, and watched as it quickly left the plate. When was the last time he'd eaten? Maybe his appetite was just huge? He was obnoxious as all Hell, but she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him.

Hunger was no joke, and it wasn't something she'd wish on her greatest foe.

"Shit that's better," he mumbled after she'd scraped the last bite up and deposited it into his mouth.

"Do...Do you need me to get you some more?" Columbina asked, pushing the plate aside, but ready to retrieve it, her brows furrowed at him.

"I'll let you know, how about that?"

She nodded in understanding at him.

"I would very much like it if you poured me some of whatever that is. Please tell me whatever's in there is going to help me forget this," Buggy turned towards the bottle of rum, scrunching his nose a few times so she didn't miss his meaning.

"In a minute. There's something I wanted to ask you."

Buggy let out a low grumble. He knew where this was headed. Instead of pouring him a shot like he'd suggested, Columbina began to lean over him, her eyes inquisitive. She searched his face, very much looking like she was scrutinizing the way he looked.

Anger flashed through him, hotly. Once again, one more woman was taking full note of the part of himself that he hated the most, that others had mocked him for mercilessly since he was old enough to remember words.

"What. Are. You. Staring. At!?" he seethed through his teeth, his face red.

"There's some dried blood under the left side. Certainly looks like I gave you a good whack, doesn't it? Lord knows."

"NOSE!?" Buggy yelled at her, his lips pulled back far away from his teeth. As Columbina's fingers began to descend towards him he snapped at her twice.

Columbina barely pulled herself away in time. She let out a tiny squeal, hugging her hands to her chest, looking back at him with anger and shock. Buggy heard the sound of her chair creak against the wood as she pushed herself away from him.

"Why-you...how dare you! " She yelled at him, maybe loud enough for one of the Strawhats to hear. He almost hoped they did, having the desire to be taken away from her and her touchy-feely horseshit. There was nothing wrong with his nose, and he was not in the mood to have one more stranger point out to him how round and weird it looked on his face.

"How dare ME? " Buggy yelled back at her, "How dare YOU!"

"We agreed on our walk back to this place that you wouldn't try to bite me, you shithead!"

"Nice of you to call me that. Because I also remember us agreeing that if you so much as pointed my nose out I was gonna get real fucking shitty with you, didn't we?" Buggy snarled, hopping towards her. "We agreed that you wouldn't look at it, wouldn't try to touch it, wouldn't mention-OW. Fuck me sideways! "

He'd hopped just a little too far, landing with a thump on the hardwood floor. Columbina completely missed him, and maybe she hadn't tried to catch him, anyway. He groaned and cursed, realizing he was too close to her feet.

"Ugh. Gods, please don't kick me again."

"Now why would I bother to do that when you well and good just gave yourself a wallop to the other side of your face? Looks like you took care of your other nose hole all on your own."

Buggy opened his eyes against the pain, not expecting Columbina's face to be staring directly into his. She'd gotten down on the floor beside him, her body prone and her face next to his. It was almost like she was trying to comfort a child that was throwing a terrible temper tantrum.

"What are you doing?" he asked, slightly weirded out by her behavior.

"Leveling with you," she replied, "How else am I going to convince you to let me check you for injuries?"

She got to her knees, bringing herself to a sitting position and regarding him with something he couldn't quite place. Pity, maybe? It looked an awful lot like pity. Not something he needed nor wanted from her. There was also a weariness to her he hadn't noticed a moment ago. Point for Buggy? Point for Buggy, he thought to himself.

"Look," Columbina said, "I'm not trying to make you self-conscious. I'm trying to help you if you'll let me. I'm supposed to be looking after you for the next couple of hours and as much as you've done gone and thoroughly pissed me off, that island I need to get to is on the way to Arlong Park and you said on the way back to the ship that you're the only one who can get us there."

Buggy had managed to get himself upright, taking a moment to see if she was being sincere. He studied her, her grey eyes looking like they'd lost their sparkle, dark bags forming underneath that he hadn't noticed before. She looked wan in the dim light of the cabin, even with her pale skin.

"Do what you need to do," he grumbled, not seeing that he had much choice in the matter.

"What we need right now is each other," Columbina said frankly, picking him up off the floor carefully and sitting with him on the bed. "And believe me when I tell you I'm none too happy about having to rely on someone else to get what I need," with a huff she adjusted the pillows on the bed to give herself support as she sat cross-legged, Buggy's head in front of her.

"Let me try this differently," she said, blowing a puff of air out of her mouth and rustling her blunt bangs away from her face. "May I please take a look at your nose? To see if I haven't broken anything?"

"Make it quick, Pink."

Buggy tried not to flinch as she brought her fingers to his face, embarrassment coursing its way through him as she began to feel around his nose. He glared at her, daring her to make some kind of commentary, but she said nothing as she assessed him, her fingers gently checking for any signs of swelling or broken bones. The feel of her fingers delicately grazing over his skin was a more luxuriating experience than he cared to think about, her fingertips feeling like some kind of cooling balm was being left in their wake.

"Dare I ask you even know what you're doing?" he inquired.

"I know enough," she said, "Maybe you can't tell but mine's been broken twice."

"That so," he murmured, his mind starting to wonder about her. Abruptly he found he was trying his best to not lean into her ministrations, the urge hitting him to nuzzle his face into her palm out of nowhere. She was warm and delightful and doing something to him that he was definitely deprived of.

A sense of peace and well-being began to wash over him, almost like her touch carried a soothing medicine in its wake. Sparks of energy like a kind of fire that she'd kindled for him and him alone.

Fire...her touch was like erotic fire...

Apparently satisfied, she dropped her hand away from him and immediately Buggy felt as if something important to him had been torn away like a toddler from its mother's arms.

He had to stifle the sound of resistance that nearly escaped him as her fingertips left his skin.

He frowned, utterly confused at himself as Columbina stood from her sitting position on the bed and plucked his head off the mattress, bringing him back to the table next to the bottle of rum.

"Seems normal to me," she said as she poured them both a shot. "You feeling all right, then?"

He stared at her strangely. What the Hell had that been, even? Any and all trace of physical pain he'd been feeling up until that point had simply vanished. And he could have sworn that an uncharacteristic bereftness had entered him now that they weren't touching any longer.

"What's your story?" he repeated his question from earlier, his curiosity beginning to get the better of him.

"Bold of you to assume I even have one," she said, taking a sip of her rum, "For all you know I could be the most boring person you've ever met."

"Yeah?" Buggy asked, "Well lucky for you I'm a clown that can make a shot of liquor last. Let me pick your brain then, Pink. We've got all night."