DOMINO - Eustass Kid x Reader

CHAPTER FIFTY: Off My Chest

***KID POV***

"We have the supplies we need. How long until you think we'll catch up with them?"

Killer sat a few metres away from me, watching as I tinkered with one of his scythe blades, having already detached it from the gauntlet.
"A week, tops. You keepin' an eye on everyone's training?" I asked, knowing that he would have even if I hadn't tasked him with it.

"Yeah. Haikei and (Y/N) are currently up on deck shooting seagulls. Making some kind of competition out of it." Killer replied, his fingers lightly drumming on the countertop, amidst scattered nuts and bolts.

He only does that when somethin's on his mind.

"Good. We've got this. That red-haired bastard is a goner." I snickered, eyeing him to gauge his reaction. He continued to drum, but that was all. It didn't seem like our looming attack on Shanks and his crew was what the issue was.

"Some would argue that you're also a red-haired bastard." Killer pointed out, and I grunted in annoyance, despite knowing he was right.
"Yeah, well, at least I still got all my limbs 'n shit..." I grumbled under my breath.

Well it ain't the Red-Hair bullshit. What's eatin' him?

We were both silent as I sharpened his blade, the flying sparks enough lessen the obvious, unnatural tension he had brought to the workshop. It was unusual. Usually we told each other everything, no holds barred.

"Okay, that's it." I slammed my hand down onto the table and turned in my seat, nose scrunching. "What's the problem? You're bein' weird. Spit it out." My way of asking if he was alright was kind of harsh, but that was just how I was. He knew that. Better than anyone.

Killer hesitated, which again, was quite unlike him, before he released a long sigh.
"I need to tell you something, but you're not gonna like it, Kid." He spoke low, but clear enough for me to hear. I didn't like when he dove into super serious personal conversation. I'd never liked it, because it usually meant that I was at fault for something.

"Okay? What?" I tried to hurry him up, wanting to rid the air of rigidity as soon as possible. Killer wasn't looking me in the eye, which I also hated. Only people with something to hide did that, or bashful little girls, and I had never known him to be either.

"I didn't wanna say anything before the fight...but it's eating at me..." I could hear a kind frustration in his tone, but it wasn't aimed towards me.
"Then just say it already! You're pissin' me off!" I barked, my chair creaking loudly in complaint as I leered towards him. "It can't be that bad, so spit it out!"

"I kissed (Y/N). Back in Water 7."

Registering Killer's confession took me a lot longer than I would have cared to admit, but once I had realised what he had said, I sat back in my seat properly, taken aback.
"You...kissed 'er..?"

Killer took a deep, composing breath as he nodded slowly, carefully, the hand that had been drumming now flexing anxiously over the countertop.
"Yes...You know I have...had...feelings for her, but I promise you, I was just trying to make her realise that you were the right person for her. Y..You know how stubborn you were both being, and-"

"Fuck off. That obviously wasn't just it." My voice was oddly calm for a man that had just been told that his closest friend, family, had kissed the woman he loved. Killer stiffened in his seat, but still tried to give little away.
"Okay...yeah, there were selfish undertones...but it worked. She ran to find you immediately. I'm sorry, Kid...I-"

I held up my hand to shut him up, looking down at the floor, which glistened with the particles of shaved steel. I needed a moment to think about what I could say. I didn't do that often, and I was pretty sure Killer was unnerved by it.