Painting In Crimson | Eustass Kid x Reader

Normality Restored

He isn't in this chapter (it's more of a build-up) but Happy Birthday, Eustass Kid! (10.01.2022)

Pretty much everyone had viewed your story, the one where you had reposted that picture.

Most messages were other fans saying how they wished they were as lucky as that girl, the support alone causing a warmth to spread through you. That meeting was a memory you wouldn't forget.

The constant pinging of your phone as you cooked your breakfast made you constantly glance over at your device, your phone that was now dry and working properly once more. Though talking of notifications, your phone was blowing up made you think twice about not wanting an account manager. No matter.

Your day was intended to be slow.

After what had happened, it made you realise that you needed a serious rest. What you had planned was simple; to stay at home, possibly game a little but save the streaming and chill out. The sun wasn't glaring and the rain wasn't pouring, it was a humid yet cloudy day and felt comfortable enough for such activities.

Once you had plated up the hot breakfast that you had made, you wandered over to the table. It wasn't a huge table but it was nice, antique and not something you could find around the place nowadays. Though it might've been a little out of place in your whitewashed apartment, it was still dear to you.

You began to dig into the food, humming contently. Over time, living by yourself had made you into a decent cook and you began to appreciate it. Luckily you had enough time in your day not to want to be lazy and order takeaways, meaning that you got your healthy balance in between sugary drinks. It was much needed and kept you going.

"What's on the old gogglebox today..."

Reaching over for the remote, you hit the button to power up the television. You rarely watched it, finding things like YouTube and other online platforms much more entertaining. In fact, you couldn't actually remember the last time you had put it on. Maybe you would find that you were missing out.

"Now for the news at ten o'clock."

The news, what a simple way to start the day.

Most people did it, right?

You never watched it and actually weren't too informed about the goings on inside your city, let alone your country. The place was much too big to cover completely and in all honesty, you would rather not know about the bad stuff.

Gnawing on a fried egg, you glued your eyes to the screen as the beautiful, blonde reporter came on. They always seemed to be that way. If they weren't a handsome, older guy, that was.

"Good morning everyone,"

As usual with reporters, the look on her face was serious and rather grim. You wondered what it would be like to sit there, reading from a scrolling screen behind the camera for most of your day. Sure, that was basically what you did yourself, but in this context, it was dull. It made you appreciate your job a little more than you already did.

"A rise in murder cases across New World has caused the police force to bump up security in and around the city. Late last night there was a murder that had occurred on the west side,"

You grimaced, furrowing your brows at the woman's blunt words. It was just her job, but it really made you think about how inhuman the job of being a reporter was - they were puppets relaying information to the people. Day after day, week on week. You knew well that news wasn't always good, but hearing about murders first thing in the morning was doing your appetite one.