Eat Your Heart Out (Smoker X Reader)

Dedication

"That boy shouldn't be tagging along for a job this rough." Smoker said, tapping his cigar against the ash tray he balanced on his thigh.

"I know." You nodded and took a sip of your cold coffee. "I'm going to talk to my boss about having him partner with someone else or postponing his field training."

The two of you sat outside a cafe in the early hours of the morning. It was warm out but not quite hot yet and he was able to get to his habit of chain smoking cigars right away. The only new information you had to work off of is what you knew from Val's phone. And the plan was to see if the two of you could somehow find a new lead from that or some other missed crucial piece from prior crime scenes.

"Good." He pulled the cigar away from his mouth long enough to take a drink of his own coffee before taking a puff. "Now let's see what we've got to work with."

"Shouldn't we do this somewhere more private?" You asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Some information on the killings hadn't been released to the public and talking about it in such an open place didn't seem like a good idea to you.

"I'm not in the mood to be at the station and have Akainu breathing down my neck."

"Still..." You glanced around to see a couple people looking in your direction, obviously curious.

Smoker was more inclined to stay put from what you could tell.

"I'd rather go somewhere else." You gave him a smile in hopes it would encourage him to stop being so stubborn. "My place is close by, we can go there and you can even smoke on the porch."

That seemed to do the trick. He nodded and got up. "Lead the way."

----

He pulled in behind you with his undercover car and got out, taking in the scenery that was your small home. Buggy sat in a folding chair at his front porch, eyeing Smoker like he was competition.

You ignored the stares from your neighbor and unlocked the front door, ushering your work partner in. You weren't one to bring men over and Buggy knew that. It probably had him thinking he had more of a chance with you than he actually had. That being said, maybe bringing Smoker around from time to time might help deter him some.

The male was nice enough to make sure he stepped in the house without a lit up cigar but he had no problem wandering through your main living space and inspecting it as you gathered up your laptop and papers. You watched him work his way into your kitchen slowly and pick up the framed photo on the counter.

"Family?" He asked.

"Yeah." You picked up your armload of things you'd need and got close enough to look at the picture. "My parents."

It was a silly photo but you didn't have the heart to get rid of it or move it somewhere else. In it, you, your mom and dad were hovering over a dimly lit table, trying to put together a puzzle. You remember that day vividly. The puzzle was giant and complicated and the three of you spent the entire day getting it done. You were still in highschool at the time and spent a lot of time with them when you weren't at school.

"So you've liked solving things for a while it looks like." He remarked with a never before seen glint in his eye, placing the photo back how he found it.

"Yep." You smiled and nodded for him to follow you out the back door through the kitchen. "Both my parents were detectives so it was a passion I got from them."

"Were?" He held the door open for you, noticing your hands were full.

"The job comes with it's own risks." You stated as you were met with warm sunlight. "They took on one and somewhere down the line things.....didn't work out right. The murderer was caught but not until after he killed them."