Killer lived in a detached house made from grey stone blocks and as rugged as it was, it appeared to be in relatively good shape. It was a bit on the small side for Kid's tastes though and he thought it'd have looked better with brick instead. It wasn't as bad as it could have been he supposed… then again, it was a bit drab compared to houses back at home.

He could just imagine what Killer's reaction would be if he knew what he was thinking – he'd be tutting, shaking his head and probably be chastising him too for being so finicky about his choice of house.

Killer would probably have a pretty meticulous interior. He knew his friend was someone who liked to stay organised and Kid sniggered because he knew he'd likely end up messing it all up in a matter of weeks.

They were best friends though, so he was sure Killer could put up with it.

Once his suitcase had been unloaded, Sanji and Law had left promptly leaving Kid by himself. He approached the door and knocked. And then realised that was pretty stupid because Killer probably wasn't home yet.

He knocked again just to be sure and looked around more while he waited.

Squinting at the drainpipe above him, he could just make out some weeds hanging over the edge. There was also a considerable amount of moss on the roof.

There wasn't much to note about the front garden aside from a few plants here and there and a tortoise made of sweeping brush bristles.

Once he felt sure that Killer wasn't home, he got his phone and called him.

"Yo, when're you coming back?"

"Impatient as always Kid jeez," Killer answered, sighing when he heard Kid snigger at that. "Let yourself in. There should be a key under the doormat."

Of course. How the hell Kid didn't try looking under there when it was the most obvious place, he didn't know, so he just looked instead.

And found nothing.

He blinked at the spot a few times and rubbed his eyes and still nothing was there.

"Dude, you're sure about that?"

"Yes~"

"Cos there's nothing there."

There was a long pause while Killer tried to register what he said before sighing, sounding a little more irritated than before. "It's that damn neighbourhood cat thief again."

"Neighbourhood whatty what?"

"A literal cat thief, Kid. And stop laughing, it's not funny."

The idea of Killer being a victim of a cat thief of all things was too amusing and Kid ended up using the wall to support himself while he tried his best to stifle his mirth.

Clearly, Killer wasn't willing to put up with this any longer because he muttered, "Just wait till I get home then you jackass," before hanging up on him.

Then it started to rain.

000

When he finally came home 30 minutes later, he found Kid hiding under a tree in his back garden looking very much like a wet cat. He was still complaining even as Killer explained about the traffic jam he'd been stuck in. Kid was soon pacified with a hot chocolate and some food.

On the ground floor, there was just the living room and the kitchen/dining room. From there, Kid had to carry his suitcase up the ridiculously steep stairs and to his bedroom at the end of the corridor.

He didn't do much aside from take some fresh clothes out and change into them so he wasn't left shivering in his sodden clothing for much longer. He left the rest of the unpacking for later when he could be bothered (or rather when he had to).

As he came into the living room, he flopped into the armchair beside the window and happened to spot a cat outside.

A cat holding what looked like a key in its mouth.

"Killer. Killer. Hey Killer."

"What?"

"Do you know what your cat thief looks like?"

"It's white and long haired, got blue eyes-"

He was interrupted mid-sentence as Kid scrambled to his feet and shot out of the door without closing it.

"…What's up with him?"

000

The rain was still coming down heavily but that wasn't enough to deter Kid from sprinting after the cat. It had already started making it's escape by the time Kid had opened the door enough to see it but he didn't give up.

As tall as Kid was, he was also pretty fast, fast enough to not completely lose the cat every time it turned a corner though it remained too far away for him to grab it properly.

Kid was concentrating so hard on catching the thief that it didn't quite occur to him where he had been running until he saw the cat leap up and he realised belatedly that there was a person in his way.

He crashed into them and both of them ended up in a puddle.

The cat was safe enough – it was being held up in the air by the other person's arms so it wasn't being squashed underneath Kid. As he looked up to glower at the cat, he recognised who it was.

"Eustass?"

Law was blinking at him with a slightly bemused expression on his face.

"Is that cat yours?"

"Yeah."

The cat mewled pitifully, and as it did so, the key dropped out of its mouth. Kid snatched it away before it could be taken away again.

"Hah! Don't you dare try stealing Killer's keys again you lil-"

"I understand that my cat has been acting out of order and causing disorder within the local community but could you save the lecture for when you've got off me? I'd rather not lie in this puddle for much longer."

Kid agreed. Law put his cat down before he picked himself up off the ground, wincing slightly. There were tiny splashes as the cat tottered towards the gate.

"AEIOU."

"Alright alright Bepo, I'm coming."

As soon as the gate was opened, Bepo shot through it so he was safely under the arch where it was dry (and quite a mess by the looks of it but that was beside the point).

"It seems like my cat has been thieving a lot since I went on holiday." He nodded towards Kid in an awkwardly polite gesture. "Do tell Killer that I apologise for the inconvenience."

With that, Law shut the gate behind him before going up the stairs Kid could see on the other side of the arch.

000

Kid spent the next day at work with a cold and being annoyed at himself for sniffling and sneezing all the time. He also didn't do a great deal to socialise with the other workers at the garage – he wanted to wait until he was in better shape before making an impression.

His boss, Franky, was a cool person though, and they had some pretty riveting conversations even if he was a bit overwhelming at times which made Kid wonder how he was so energetic (it was probably the cola).

To his delight, the garage made regular trips to The Shitty Restaurant for their lunch and so Kid was able to get his first taste of Sanji's cooking.

At 12:30 sharp, Kid, Killer and Franky made their way down the slope beside the shop and Kid took his first step in.

A metallic counter split the front room into two and behind it was Law who was busy getting the chips out of the fryer. The back wall was a very pale mint green while the adjacent walls were white. One wall had a menu of English meals while the other had Chinese on.

A casserole dish in the heater on the left hand side of the counter caught his eye. "What's that?"

"Chicken curry. I'd say that's one of our most popular dishes," Law answered.

"You should try it Kiddo," Franky said. "That's some real good shit there."

A faint shout of "STOP CALLING MY STUFF SHIT, FRANKY" could be heard from the kitchen.

Franky yelled in reply, "SANJI, YOU KNOW I DON'T MEAN IT."

In the end, Kid did take his suggestion, half because there was so much stuff on the menu that he wasn't quite sure where to start, and half because Law noticed his indecision and offered to let him try a bit…which he did not regret because it ended up tasting like the best goddam thing he'd ever had (especially with those chips, sweet holy jesus fucking christ those chips).

Aside from Kid's chicken curry, Killer ordered some other dishes: shredded beef in chilli sauce; salt and pepper chicken strips and chips; chow mein and some more. Kid had a feeling he wouldn't be able to resist nicking something from everyone's plate just to try it out.

He made a mental note to order everything on that menu at some point or another because he liked challenges and he also liked not cooking, so that was a bonus.

Franky also tried to order more cans of coke (as if he didn't already have enough in his stash) and when Killer objected, Franky overruled him and bought them anyway.

Law left to take their order in and there was some light discussion before they heard the clang of a wok and the sound of sizzling oil.

Kid took a seat on one of the benches beside the window but just as he did, he jumped as a kid dashed past the window and into the shop, jumping so high he almost went over the counter. Instead his top half ended up flopped over the counter while his legs dangled in the air.

"MR. LAW~ I GOT MY STUFF AND-"

Law poked his head back around the corner. "Chopper, chill. I'll be there in a second."

A few minutes later and he came out and placed a few trays on top of the bain marie at the back before taking Chopper over to one side. Kid wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, but it was probably medical stuff if the sciencey terms they were throwing around were anything to go by.

Law took the sheets Chopper gave him, marked them and then returned them alongside some other sheets that he whipped out from underneath the table.

Kid waited till the kid had skipped out of the door and out of sight before he asked, "Who's that?"

He shrugged. "Just a kid I'm tutoring. I'm having a gap year before I start my foundation training in a hospital so-"

"Wait wait wait," Kid interrupted. "What're you doing?"

"I'm training to be a surgeon you dope."

Kid blinked at him a few times before he clapped his fist on his palm. "Oh."

"Why do you look so impressed all of a sudden? You didn't seriously think I was gonna work in here for the rest of my life did you?" Law sighed and rolled his eyes when Kid nodded. "Right, whatever."

"Anyway before I get interrupted again, he lives with his dad next door," Law continued. "He's a chemist but that's probably where Chopper gets all his enthusiasm from. Practically begged me to teach him some stuff, so of course I took the opportunity."

Kid asked, "Do you like kids, Trafalgar?"

"Hell no," Law said while looking positively disgusted, "I'm only doing this so I don't get rusty."

"What about Luffy?" Killer said.

Law heaved yet another exasperated sigh. "He's just my replacement, ok? It's for Zeff's sake."

Franky grinned at him. "Hey bro, you really don't sound like you hate kids at all yeah? Got any more students that you want to tell us about?"

"No." Law glared at him. "At least Luffy's somewhat more tolerable than that Bon Clay dude; all he did was dance around like a ballerina and start arguments with Sanji about what was the best way to cook a duck."

Despite Law's protests, the three of them continued to tease him and laugh.

"Hey Trafalgar, if I ever have a kid, can I just send him over to you instead of making him go to school?" Kid said in between giggles.

"Fuck you."

000

Only a short while passed before Sanji had finished cooking all their food and they were able to leave. Suffice to say, Kid did succeed in pinching something from everyone's dishes and combined with the massive portion he had to himself, he was stuffed by the end of it.

Later that night, they had a party at the pub down the road to celebrate Kid joining them. That was pretty entertaining for Kid who was a big party lover himself and they had a good time drinking themselves silly.

At one point, Kid removed himself from the inside in order to have a breather before going back inside and challenging someone else to a competition of some sort.

He lay slumped over a bench until he saw someone on a motorbike park in the car park across the road. What caught his attention was their ridiculous helmet; it looked like Elmo from Sesame Street.

When they walked past him however, instead of commenting on the helmet, he pointed to the cucumber in their bag and said, "Hey dude, is that cucumber as big as your dick?" He was very obviously slurring his words and hiccupping in between. Needless to say, he probably looked a right mess.

Yes, when Eustass Kid got drunk, he also got flirty, flirty in a dirty way.

Kid couldn't quite lift his head up enough to look at their head properly and even if he did, he probably wouldn't have been able to make out the face of whoever it was behind the darkened see through plastic that was Elmo's mouth.

The person's reaction to his question was to get said cucumber out of their plastic bag and hit him in the head with it before walking away.

000

"I'm back, Sanji." Law said as he came into the kitchen through the back door. He dropped his bag onto the table so that Sanji could fish out the ingredients he needed.

"Have you got that cucumber then-" Sanji stopped midsentence as he lifted the cucumber out. "Law, what the hell happened to the cucumber?"

"…Nothing."

"Don't nothing me! It's split in half what the fuck!?"