Work Text:
____ was just trying to relax on this new island, smiling to themselves while they lounged on the beach and felt the sun on their skin. But of course, Kid couldn’t leave them alone. He smirked and ogled them while their eyes were closed, blissfully unaware of his presence. He held up one of his arms and their sunglasses flew off of their face, sent flying into his hand thanks to the metal that made up its frames. ____ frowned and sat up, wondering where their glasses had gone; when they saw Kid staring down at them, they recoiled a bit. “Um...hello again,” they said bashfully. Ever since the Sunny had docked on this island and the crew found out that the Kid Pirates were here as well, Kid had taken every opportunity he could to stare at ____ and aggressively flirt with them. Unfortunately for Kid, they didn’t quite understand what he was doing and thought that he was just enjoying how much he could embarrass them--which he did, but that was beside the point.
“Never seen this much of you before,” Kid mused, pointedly staring ____ up and down in their swimsuit. He tossed their sunglasses back to them. “You look good enough to eat.”
____’s eyes widened a bit. He’s not a cannibal, r-right? I know he’s killed a lot of people, but he’s just joking about eating me...I hope. God, where are the others when I need them? “Th-thanks,” they replied quietly, cursing themselves for not bringing their weapon off of the ship before coming down to sunbathe. “You look, um...just as intimidating as ever.”
Kid smirked and his chest puffed out a little bit at their unintended compliment. “‘re you scared of me, doll?” He bent down so that he was closer to them, and they nervously fidgeted with the towel they were laying on.
“Well, yeah,” they replied with a shaky laugh, “Most people are, you know. Just because I’m a Straw Hat, it doesn’t mean I’m like Luffy; he’s not afraid of anything, but I definitely am.”
Kid put his hand on theirs and they stiffened. “What do you see in that kid, anyway? You should join my crew,” he said. “You may be a bit of a scaredy-cat, but I’ve seen you fight before. You’re strong. You deserve to be with the guy who’ll actually be the King of the Pirates.”
____ felt his fingers curl around their own and a blush rose on their cheeks. What is his problem? Can’t he go harass Usopp or something for a change? It’s not like I’m the only one on the crew that’s easy to scare. And after all that, he’s asking me to join his crew? He’s just joking or trying to embarrass me again… “I’m already on the future Pirate King’s crew,” they replied, feeling a swell of pride as they talked about their captain. “And I don’t know how well I’d do with you and your crew. I mean, I can fight, but you guys can... fight. And, you know, you regularly kill people too, so there’s that. I’m a fighter, but I’m not a killer.” Their eyes wandered to the small dark brown flecks that dotted random parts of Killer’s metal arm. Were they rust? Or...blood? Or both?
Kid noticed them staring at his arm and assumed they were admiring it. He moved it out in front of them. “Made it myself,” he said proudly, flexing his mechanical fingers and bicep. “Wanna touch it?”
____ hesitantly reached out and rubbed one of the interlocking gears with their finger. It was a lot smoother than they expected; they figured that every inch of it would be sharp. “Can you feel it? Me touching you, I mean,” they asked. Their fingers danced around his arm and Kid shook his head with a grin.
“I wish, but nah,” he replied casually. “You’d have to put your hands somewhere else on me for me to really feel ya.” He licked his lip as he thought of a few specific places he had in mind for ____’s hands to wander.
As ____ touched and prodded every inch of Kid’s metal arm, Nami spied the two of them from where she and Usopp had been sunbathing on the beach as well. She squinted and peered at them from afar. “Ugh, him again,” she said distastefully. “Even if ____ knew he was flirting with them, there’s no way he’s their type.”
Usopp raised an eyebrow. “Wait, they still don’t know!? It’s not like Kid’s a subtle guy!” He joined Nami and watched the Supernova through the binoculars around his neck.
Nami glanced at Usopp. “What is he doing now?”
“____’s messing around with his metal arm,” Usopp replied. “You know, I’ve always wanted an up-close look at how it’s built. Maybe if I got an idea of how it worked, I could use some similar schematics to make a new weapon.”
Kid and ____ hadn’t noticed that they were being watched, and ____ reached up to touch where his mechanical shoulder met with his body. “So you can feel me here, right?” They leaned closer to examine how his metal arm intertwined with the muscle and skin underneath his shirt. “That looks...pretty cool, actually. It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
Kid took advantage of their proximity to each other and wrapped his free hand around their waist to pull them closer. “Ha! Nothing can hurt me,” he bragged. He looked down at their flustered expression and smirked. “Especially not something as soft as you, doll.” His voice dropped to a low purr and ____ let out a small squeak as he pressed them up against his chest and his metal arm wandered down one of their hips.
Usopp’s mouth fell open and Nami furrowed her eyebrows. “What?” she asked. “What’s he doing now?” Usopp handed her the binoculars and she let out a surprised gasp. She immediately rose up and sprinted up to them, pulling Usopp by the strap around his binoculars, kicking up sand as she ran. Before Kid could get any further, she bent down and threw a clod of sand at him. “Oi, leave ____ alone, you pervert!”
Usopp coughed and slipped his head out from under the strap so that Nami wasn’t pulling him anymore. He grabbed ____’s hand and pulled them away while Nami was smacking a very surprised and annoyed Kid over the head with Usopp’s binoculars. He looked back at ____, who seemed flustered and confused by what was happening. “What the hell is Nami doing? Why would she pick a fight with Kid of all people, and out of nowhere?”
“Why do you think? She saw Kid trying to get with you!”
“ ‘Get with me’? What are you talking about? He was just trying to embarrass me and mess with me. That’s what he’s been doing all day!”
Usopp continued running while jogged alongside him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “____, you’re a really kind person, and I know you aren’t an idiot,” he said exasperatedly, “But with how oblivious you can be, sometimes you’re a little too kind…”
(Later, on the Victoria Punk)
Killer looked up from the scythe he was polishing to see Kid silently fuming as he climbed back on board the ship, with his hair and clothes covered with sand. He watched as his captain passed by him and cocked his head. “Your latest attempt to flirt with them didn’t work, I take it?”
Kid shoved out his middle finger as he walked by and stormed inside to take a shower. Killer’s mask hid his smirk as he went back to polishing his blade. “I told you so,” he murmured in a quiet, sing song-y lilt.