Test the Waters (Cracker x Reader)

Over Worked and Under Appreciated

You felt like shit. There was no other way to put it. For the past month and a half you'd been busting your ass to get as much done as possible and it was getting difficult to keep up. You'd gotten much better with your devil fruit abilities and could finally move enough water around to sink a galleon with little thought. If that wasn't good enough then you didn't know what else could impress. Avah had you doing really well with self defense and hand to hand combat. And you were blazing through the books.

The problem was you'd been so busy that you forgot to eat and hardly slept on a regular basis. Now you were paying for it. You'd been reading and rereading the same paragraph in your book for the past few minutes and it still wasn't making sense. It was late at night and you weren't sure if you had the energy to get up and make it to bed. Maybe if you put the book down and rested your eyes for a minute you'd be ready to move.

So you did just that, marking your place before placing it on an end table beside you and curling up on the couch. Nothing could compare to the feeling of finally letting yourself relax for a minute. If the workload wasn't stressing you out, Cracker was. He didn't care about you doing your own thing during the day as long as he had you at night and occasionally early in the mornings. If you didn't piss him off, he wasn't a complete ass but he had little regard for keeping you happy anymore. As long as he got what he wanted, nothing else really mattered.

That was fine. If he acted like he cared half the time it would only become confusing for you. If he was always a jerk it stayed easy to understand him. He was a selfish asshole who didn't care about anything that didn't benefit himself directly. Easy.

Avah was nice but your casual conversations with her were rare. She was very much all business and never mentioned anything about the Charlottes. That made sense with her being hired solely to help you.

Funny enough, you'd made friends with Sylas. Sure he was still a kid, but he was smart and sweet. You'd see him every morning when you went to the kitchen for breakfast, staying away from the dining room in case Cracker was there. Sylas would be working on one chore or another and you'd help him until the head of the kitchen chewed you out for it, more out of necessity than anger. He liked you but knew you weren't supposed to be helping around when you had other stuff to do.

You sighed contently as you started to drift off, mind filled with information you'd picked up from the day. All you needed was a few minutes and then you'd head to bed.

----

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

You ached so much worse than normal and you were freezing. Shivers started working up and down your body as you buried your face into the bed. Except the bed didn't feel like bed.

"Hey! Get up, the blue haired woman has been asking where the hell you are and it's annoying."

You forced your tired eyes open as a violent shudder passed through your body. You felt worse than when you passed out. You felt sick to your stomach, everything hurt like you just got through a marathon, you were freezing, and it was impossible to focus on the person in front of you.

A groan passed your lips as you closed your eyes again. Trying to muddle through the dizzy feeling was only making you feel even more sick.

"How late were you up?" The slightest tinge of concern laced their annoyed voice.

"Late. Early? Until about 3 I think." You rasped, feeling around for a blanket in hopes of warming up but there was none.

"How long have you been staying up that late?"

"All the time. 'cept when Sparky wants me." You gave up on your search and burrowed into the corner of what you found out was the couch. You never made it back to bed like you'd planned.