His Angel, Her Hothead | Eustass Kid x reader

Prologue

You fell.

Fell like a feather... if it was completely and utterly chain to a rock, unable to move and unable to make anything human come out of its panicked mouth except a spine chilling scream. The wind wizzed past your ears, deafening you as tears obscured your vision and your palms went sweaty from the stress of knowing that you wouldn't make it out alive. Clouds that surrounded you as you fell seemed almost pitiful, as if they were a bystander to your misfortune.

But then again, weren't most people?

The people of your island in the sky weren't bothered with someone like you: someone who had no parents and the sad reality of being alone. No one looked after you so you had always tried to survive by yourself, saving money from shining people's shoes and weapons for them and buying what you could.

You most certainly didn't know how to cook as you never owned your own cookbook and had never been taught, so the majority of what you brought ended up being pre-cooked or just edible raw. You were lucky that the majority of people just ignored you as a whole, but there were some who did more than just ignore you.

The people of Skypiea had one thing that normal human beings didn't: wings.

You had always wondered why you had these things when they didn't even work, it was like they were just some kind of permanent accessory that was adhered to your back. They always itched at the base and you couldn't reach that itch, they got in the way when you showered and the most annoying times was when they wouldn't comply when wearing a rucksack or jacket. You thought you would never miss them. Never miss their annoying twitch if someone got on your nerves or their stupid shedding feathers.

Oh how you were wrong.

Very wrong.

The tears blinded you as you succumbed to the fate you knew you would end up having to suffer as you fell faster and fast to the blue sea below. Yet, you thought of what happened moment ago and just knew anything was better than what went on up there,

"You're so weak, scum!"

A kick to your side was what made your already-suffering body curl up so you could try and save yourself from even the smallest bit of pain. The laughter you could hear brought tears to your eyes.

"Look! She's crying!"

"What a loser!"

Bullying wasn't uncommon in this cruel world, every other day the boys in the village would remind you how much of a loser you were. A loner, even. They pulled your hair and kicked at your sides, plucked feathers from your wings and threw rocks at you. All because you were weaker than them and had no one to protect you.

"Hey, guys!"

One of the older boys had come back after going off to look for something, the ones who tormented you looking up at their friend. A sly snicker left the young teen's mouth while you looked slightly to the side with your already half-closed eyes - done in by the pain. Something was glinting in his hands as he walked closer, something which gave you a bad feeling.

They always dragged you out of town, away from the adults. Even if no one paid you mind, they didn't want their own children to be seen doing things like bullying. However on this particular day, they had taken you right to the cloud's edge; right where the land dropped off into nothingness below. But that wasn't the worst of it.

You felt a harsh tug and yelped, the older boy pulling you up by the wing. All of their nasty faces were turned into horrible sneers as they laughed at you. They too had wings so they knew exactly how painful it was to be taken up by them, let alone for the wings to be touched. Sensitivity at its finest.