Title: His neighbor, irresistible
Chapter 3: His first stay over.
Rating: T in this chapter
Warning: Language, grammar and OOC-ness. (I know the Luffy here is nothing like the Luffy we all know, but only in this chapter I couldn't help myself to alter his personality a bit and make him timid, less talkative but cute at the same. I repeat, only a bit. Hopefully, he'll be back to his old self after this. Xp)
A/N: I am extremely, terribly sorry for the super late update and I'm sure lot of you might think I've abandoned this project. Not in a million years! I was just too wrapped up with my other stories *grinning sheepishly*, so I sort of forgotten about this little baby. Heh~
Wiper's P.O.V
Morning began as it usually did, with a swat to the alarm added with some light cursing. Needless to say, I wasn't happy it was morning again. The stressful days at work lately due to the non-stop clients, ready to get their body inked almost made me wish the time would stop at dawn and won't pass beyond that so I could sleep more and didn't have to go to work. But seeing how the morning ray already illuminating my room although I had covered the windows with the darkest and thickest curtain, I knew such hope was flushed down the toilet by now. The sunlight itself was stingingly bright, as though it was urging me to move from the mounts of plushy pillows and warm blanket and start the day with a happy, cheerful mood.
Hmph. Rise and shine my ass.
With a loud groan, I pushed myself up and made my way to the bathroom despite the urge to continue my slumber. In agonizing slow manner, I took off my sweet pants and tossed it to the laundry basket. Turning the shower knob all the way up to make sure the water was scalding hot, I finally stepped into the shower, sighing in relaxation as the first drop made contact to my skin.
Almost two weeks had passed since I moved here and so far, everything had been well. It was a really nice neighborhood and since now I'm closer to my workplace, it's only 15 minutes walking everyday unlike before where I had to take subway to go to work. So this place was worth it and I was glad that I decided to move here. Really, if I had to stay in that shit hole (I mean my previous home) any longer, I definitely had to assign myself to mental institution. Gods, those neighbors of mine really know how to get on people's raw nerve! The way they fought for almost every day was similar to a bunch of drugged monkeys put into a cage to claw off each other eyes. What surprised me the most was up until the day I moved from there, nobody seems to be dead in their apartment.
An hour later, I was ready to leave with my hair fully braided again. It always amazes Kamakiri how I could stand having such a long hair that almost touches my mid thighs and I still could remember clearly how Laki had threatened to cut off my hair if I ever make a scary face in front of my niece again. Of course, it always ended with a shouting match and pair of scissor almost poking my eyes out. But the most important was my hair was safe and untouched.
That witch. She owed to die and rot in hell. But that probably wouldn't be a good idea as they might later dump Aisa to be under my care.
Me taking care of that rascal. Brrr… The image was too scary for me to imagine it.
I sighed again and quickly closed the door behind me, keeping in mind that I'll be inking my first client in only half an hour.
Luffy's P.O.V
Out of 24 hours in one day, the most wonderful, harmonious and glorious time for me was when I could eat. Make it breakfast, lunch, teatime, snack time, dinner or supper, as long foods presented before me and for today lunch time, I bought two more soba breads and strawberry milk although I had just finished eaten the big lunch Ace made for me this morning.
"So Mugiwara-ya…" A soft voice pulled my attention from my bread and I looked up only to take in a smiling Law who sat across me, his back leaned against the chair in relax manner. "Roronoa told me you have a new neighbor. Is it true?"
Few pairs of eyes focused on me except for Zoro because he was taking an after lunch nap like he always did. For a solid ten seconds, my eyes didn't blink as I pondered on Law's question but then it clicked me. He must be referring to the tattoo guy.
"Oh, you mean Wiper-ossan? He's okay I guess." I answered and resumed to munch on my bread. "But he has this reaaaallllyyy cool tattoo on him! And he's a tattooist."
The answer somewhat made Sanji's already curled brow knitted together. "Ossan? I met Ace yesterday and he said it was a rather good looking guy who moved in."
Nami snorted. "Hmph. For Luffy, anyone who's older than him is ossan even if he's only two years ahead."
The smile that was pulling Law's lips before turned into a smirk. "Really? A tattooist? How good looking is he?"
I was about to answer when Kidd showed up. "Why are you that interested anyway, Trafalgar?"
For me, Kidd always looked… different from the rest of us, but appealing at the same time. From his red fiery hair, his bloodshed eyes, his pale skin, his much larger muscular body, his spiky wristbands and down to his black polish coated nails made even the linebackers in football club cringed in his presence. But I like befriend with him and because of that, Kidd always called me 'crazy guy' but still hang out with me whenever he got free time and sometimes he brought along his equally weird friend, Killer.
"Is it wrong for me to take interest in my own friend's new neighbor?" Law said pleasantly, but his left brow already rose few millimeters.
"That depends on your definition of 'interest'." Nami inserted. Law didn't find it amusing but didn't argue with her. I think he didn't have any comeback for what Nami had just said. So instead, he just crossed his legs and picked up his juice before bringing it up to his lips with a small pout on his face while Nami and Kidd both wore a victorious expression.
The rest of the periods went by like usual with Marco-sensei throwing chalks to me when I fall asleep during his class and a hard kick on my chairs came from behind when I still didn't wake up after the third chalks had been thrown. Kidd was the culprit of course. Since today I didn't have much to do, I decided to just go straight home after packing up all my belongings and bid goodbyes to my friends. Halfway left till I reached our building when a low rumble of thunder could be heard made me stopped dead track. Scowling, I looked up and a fat raindrop landed on my forehead.
"Oh noooo…." I moaned in disbelief.
Another rumble and it didn't take more than five seconds for a heavy rain to follow that one drop of water. In an open space like this I had no chance to take cover from the rain that was attacking me without mercy, soaking me whole to bone and my long bangs now sticking to my face. Knowing it was now too late to save any of my anatomy from being soaked, I picked up my pace.
"I hate rain." I managed to grumble as I ran down the street while imagining a hot, bubble bath waiting for me.
The moment I stopped in front of a light blue door, I frantically searched my pockets for my keys but after inserting my hand through all my pockets, I found nothing. Furrowing my brows further, my hands then went straight to my school bag in hope to fish out any metal-like thing.
Nothing!
Did I forget to bring the keys with me today? Possibility was there since I left earlier than Ace this morning so basically it wasn't me who locked the apartment.
Coldness started to suck out my body heat. With a shivering hand, I dug the pocket in my pants to find my cell phone so I could call for Ace.
Another realization hit me.
I had forgotten to bring my cell phone too.
'Noooo…! This can't be happening…!' I moaned inwardly as I kneeled down in front of our apartment door and moped for my bad luck.
Wiper's P.O.V
Damn, today was even tiring than the other days! Cursed that Kamakiri for having fewer clients than me! No thanks to the earlier heavy rain, I had to wait until it let down when my body screamed for me to get some rest or sleep for full twelve hours. As I checked for my keys and headed to the door, something insightful greeted me and it was enough to make me stop from entering my apartment. The 'something' I just mentioned was the younger D. sitting down on the balcony with his knees brought up to his chest and soaking wet while his hands curled around his body. He had his face buried into his arms and I wasn't sure if he was sleeping in that position. Walking to the boy, I bent down and tapped his shoulder.
"Wake up kid." I said. "What are you doing here? You'll get sick."
After few more taps, he finally looked up, blinking his half lidded eyes and stared at me. Rubbing his eyes, the kid spoke up. "I forgot to bring my keys and I didn't have my cellphone with me either." His voice was thick and the sniffles that followed after clearly showed he had been sitting outside here for a while.
"Where's your brother?" I asked again.
Luffy sniffled again before answering. "Dunno. Maybe he's staying at his friend's house or something."
Sighing, I straighten myself up and mentioned for him to follow me. "Come inside kid. It's cold out here and I don't want any dead body in front of my door."
It didn't thrill me to have someone else inside my house but I wasn't cruel enough to let a seventeen years old kid freezing to death, especially when he was my own neighbor. Home, for me was the only a place where I could have my own privacy (not to do perverse deed, mind you) and even Kamakiri who I had known since we were kids rarely set his foot inside my house.
My invitation had his head perked up and he quickly stood up, using the wall as a support. "Really? You'll let me in?" Disbelief and excitement coated his previous thick voice.
Instead of answering him, I only hummed and stepped into the dark space, blindly reaching out for the switch and turned on the light in which the kid followed me three steps behind.
"Stay here." I said suddenly to him as he barely passed the doorway, causing him to stop from advancing further more. His head tilted to the side in confusion. "I'll get some towels. I don't want waters dripping in my hallway."
Without waiting for his comeback, I strode to the bathroom to run the hot water in the tub. While waiting for the tub to be filled, I rummaged through my drawers for the smallest shirt and pants I had which I knew it won't exactly fit him either way. Not really left with much choice, I picked a simple white shirt and night pants, folding it up and headed back to the bathroom. Turning off the water, I placed the clothes on top of the cabinet before taking out a white fluffy towel and walked out again towards the doorway only to find Luffy was still standing on his exact spot, his eyes looking around.
"Here." I said as I tossed the towel to him and straight to his face. That caught him by surprise when he yelped and flailed his hands around.
"Wha-what? What's happening? Why suddenly it's dark?" He babbled on and almost tripped himself with his slippery feet.
I let out a heavy, defeated sigh before reaching my hands towards him and patted his damp hair with the towel I had tossed earlier. It startled him at first but soon a relaxed sighed escaped his mouth and he closed his eyes as he let me dry him off.
"Tch. Seriously, how can you call yourself a high school student when you don't even know how to dry yourself." I grunted in which the kid only giggled in respond.
Satisfied, I pulled away from him with the towel still in my grasp. "Go take a bath. I've already got the hot water ready. There are some clothes I left on top of the cabinet and don't forget to put yours inside the laundry basket." Somehow I felt like giving an instruction to five years old boy.
His eyes practically sparkled in joy and I could almost see an invisible tail wagging behind him. "Yay! Hot shower!"
The inside structure of the apartments here were the same, so I assumed he already knew where the bathroom located and didn't bother giving him any direction. And I was right. He walked straight to it without any delay, skipping few steps probably due to the need for a nice, hot soak as much as I needed one too but that could wait.
When I heard the bathroom door shutting with a loud click, I stepped into the living room and sat back on the couch, then proceeded to take out a pack of cigarette from my pocket along with a lighter. Putting one of it between my lips, I lit it and took a drag on the tobacco stick, silently savoring the taste before swiftly exhaling back. Silence filled the room and somehow it made me a little bit uncomfortable so I snatched the remote that sat idly on the coffee table to turn on the t.v but unfortunately, nothing interesting seemed to be on air at the moment after few channel flipping. Slightly disappointed, my finger pressed the OFF button back and stepped into the kitchen after lazily hung the damp towel on the sofa armrest while keeping in my mind to take care of it later. To satisfy my urge for something warm, especially in this chilly temperature, I decided that a cup of coffee would be perfect. Grabbing the white porcelain mug, I fix myself a cup of steaming dark liquid, bringing it up to my lips to blow at the surface and took a sip. I closed my eyes at the blissful feeling as the hot liquid ran down my throat, heating up all my nerves immediately. Outside the window, I noticed it began to rain heavily again and I would bet every penny tonight would be indeed a cold night.
I was about to take another sip when I heard a shuffling sound, so I snapped my head back and saw Luffy was poking his head through the doorway, slowly inching in as he did so. He was wearing the clothes provided and I could feel the corner of my usually snarling mouth was twitching upward, threatening to split into a VERY rare smile at the kid's comical state. Not only were the pants longer, they didn't even fit his hips, making it looked like low riding pants. The long sleeves shirt was obviously big for him; it covered his hands and went pass his hips. Overall, it felt like the kid was wearing a dress.
Clearly, Luffy was oblivious at how ridiculous he looked like right now.
No words exchanged between us, the awkwardness starting to get me. I noticed the kid wrinkled his nose a bit, probably disliking the smell of tobacco that hung in the air inside the small kitchen space. Shrugging, I took one last, deep puff before stubbing the almost finished cigarette into the ashtray that placed on the counter-top; my ears caught a rather strange noise. With a small curious frown, I whipped my head up only to have my eyes locked with wide, pleading ones. For a minute, my mind tried to build the connection between the odd sound and the fidgety teen before me.
Then, I came up with an early hypothesis.
"You hungry?" I asked.
My suspicious was confirmed when Luffy nodded his head vigorously. Seriously, could those eyes get any bigger?
Scratching my non-itchy head, I figured it would too impossible to deny his face when he was practically attacking me with another of his cute puppy look—Oh no, no, no, that definitely wasn't cute at all and I'm only doing this not because of those huge, black orbs. It's just a small courtesy as a neighbor.
Yeah, that's definitely the case.
"Fine, I'll make you something. Just… sit somewhere and wait." I instructed as opened the fridge to see what was in it that I could use as ingredients for tonight's dinner.
Though I didn't see his reaction, I could sense he was overjoyed like a child thrown into a candy store.
The kid responded 'alright' and turned around before stopping and spinning back around.
I paused and gave him an odd look. "What is it?"
"Can I watch t.v?" He asked, staring me with hope dancing in his eyes.
'Good fucking lord; please stop giving me that look!' I roared inwardly.
Tearing my eyes away, I continued my searching but didn't ignore his request either. "Yeah, sure."
As I closed back the fridge with some vegetables and meat in my hand, I heard the boy left, his bare foot padding down the hallway and the sound of nightly comedy sitcom followed after it. For the next forty minutes, the sound of the t.v continued, giggles and sometimes gut busting laughter that came from the kid mixed with the noise, making my house a tad livelier than it used to be. Not to mention the chopping and the sizzling of the food also added to the commotion. Done with everything, I placed the used kitchen utensils in the sink, washing my hands and dried them off.
"Kid, it's done." I said out loud as I served out the dinner I had made onto two plates.
When I reached the dining room, Luffy was already sitting on the table and chanting 'food! Food! Food, food, food!' to show how hungry he was. A toothy grin pulled the corner of his mouth as he saw me immerged and this time I managed to maintain my usual stoic expression as I placed the meal in front of him first then sat down opposite him. It was nothing fancy, only plain spaghetti with meat and sauce on top of it together with a bowl of fruit salads. There was nothing much I could make due to the limited ingredients in the fridge. Too busy with the parlor, I've even forgotten to buy the groceries. Besides, usually I just order a takeout and rarely eat at home, but that didn't mean I can't cook at all.
"Thish ish good!" He said through a mouthful, putting another fork full into his mouth. I stopped eating all together, my eyes narrowed down, watching him eating like a starving beast.
Not even bother to swallow, he made another attempt to speak, a small chunk of meat flew out and landed on table next to my plate. "Even better—Mphh!" Faster than lighting, my left hand reached forward and clamped it over his mouth, disabling him from spitting out more food.
"Don't talk with your mouth full." He looked straight to me, obsidian eyes staring into mine with questioning look but nodded slowly. Closing his eyes, he almost made a swallowing gesture, but stopped again when I applied a little pressure on my hand.
"And chew your food." I said again without letting go of my limb. Even with his mouth covered, I knew he was pouting, a faint grumble noise could be heard. Obediently, his jaws moved a few times and finally he swallowed down. He shot me an 'I'm done' sign and I removed my hand, picking up my forgotten spoon and continued eating.
Almost mimicking my action, the kid also continued with his meal. "And yours even better than Ace's always made!" He picked up where he had stopped as though nothing unusual happened and I only nodded in respond.
We both chew on our food, surprisingly dining in silence. Out of the corner of my eyes, it didn't escape me that the kid was trying to start conversation, but snapped his mouth shut seeing how impassiveness I was. When we finished our food, I stacked the plates and glasses, bringing them to the kitchen to wash them. I checked the watch that hung on the kitchen wall as my hands busy scrubbing the pot.
9.45 P.M.
"Your brother not coming home tonight?" I asked, shaking my hands to remove the excess water after I had done with the dishes and placed them nicely on the dish rack.
"I guess so." Luffy mumbled out, a slight irritation in his voice. "Stupid Ace." He added more.
Turning my back so I could face him, I cleared my throat quietly. "I only have spare blanket and pillow in the closet, so you'll have to settle on the couch."
His eyes widened. "You are letting me sleep here?"
I shrugged and turned my face away. "Your brother is not home, you don't have your keys nor your cell phone and I highly doubted you remember his number, so what other option is left here? Unless if you want to bust down you own door, that'll be a different story." I sighed before continued. "And like I said, I don't want any dead body lying on the balcony instead of newspaper."
At this, I pace to my bedroom and straight to the closet, pulling out a blanket and as for pillow, I only grabbed the extra I had on the bed. By the time I exited the room, the kid was standing on the hallway near my room but didn't enter it. His eyes were darting forward and back down again, unsure if he should follow me earlier into my bedroom. I was glad he didn't, because it would feel awkward as hell for a stranger infiltrating what I considered personal area. Although he was my neighbor, but the feeling still exist.
This time, he gave out his hands when I handed him the materials and silently returned back to the living room with me toddling behind him.
"You know where the bathroom is, and if you need anything knock on my door. ONLY and ONLY if it is damn important." I reminded him, punctuating the word 'only' twice for him to get my message.
My reminder didn't stop there when I pinned him with a glare. "And don't raid the fridge." That made the kid twitched visibly and again his eyes darted slightly towards the kitchen. Exactly like a kid who intended a midnight snacking. For the third time, my hand moved forward and placed it on top of the kid's head, slightly tilted his head up so he was facing me square. My eyes bore into him.
"I mean it, Luffy. Don't touch the fridge." He stayed motionless for a minute and nodded, muttering 'stingy ossan' under his breath, but I literally ignored the comment and released my hand.
I was about to on my heels when the kid called back. "Wait, are you going to sleep already?" The teen voiced out as though sleeping early was a crime.
I ran my hand through my hair tiredly. "Yesss. I'm fucking tired and I'm going to bed. NOW."
Unfortunately, the kid wasn't satisfied with my answer. "But it's still early and I'm not sleepy yet. And I'm bored and—" I didn't let the kid to finish his complains as I quickly snatched the blanket, spread it out and covered his head along with his upper body with it, causing him to stiffen.
His shocking state didn't stay long before his limbs started flailing. "Arrk! It's dark again!"
Ignoring the flailing kid, I headed off to the bedroom. "Try not making too much noise." I grumbled, not sure if he heard me. Once I locked the door behind me, I threw myself to the bed and lied on my back, not caring if I hadn't shower yet. My body and brain were too tired to think of anything else other than sleep and I could just clean up tomorrow morning. I found myself staring at the ceiling, wondering if the kid had asleep by now and hoping he would really follow my reminders. Repositioning myself so my head was on the pillow, I closed my eyes and let sleep took over me.
-To be continued—
A/N: I know, the plot hasn't yet to thicken since I figured that it's too early for it to happen, especially for someone like Wiper*snort*. So unlike my other stories which I went straight to the smut part, I intend to make this one a tad slower. But no worries, the *ehem*ehem* part would be there. DEFINITELY I'm telling you.