AN: hello again, I was going to publish this chapter sooner but well...^0^
as you can see this is a two part chapter, I did this to make it easy for the readers to get everything and not just squash everything in the same one. I like to take things easy and slow and have a little break between what happening sorry if it bother anyone.
the next part will be up soon, it still need some fix's here and there. thank you for anyone that comment and read this story and follow this story. it really mean a lot to me!
a big thanks to my beta firestartear, that help me fix all my spelling mistakes.
hope you like it ^-^
Chapter 4.1
The smell was the thing that attracted him like a bee to honey. It was so good and it was coming from Sanji's kitchen. Even if he wanted to sleep a little longer in the warm and comfy bad, he was fully awake now and followed the scent. Sanji was sitting in the kitchen table, reading the newspaper and holding a cup of coffee to his mouth. He seemed so calm and composed, unlike yesterday he got pissed off about everything he said or did, now he seemed refreshed and different in a way - more elegant and styled like and he had to admit, it was a little annoying.
But he still kept going with slow and heavy steps, sitting next to him at the round dining table. Sanji raised his head to look at him and smiled calmly.
"Good morning."
"G…good morning…" the kid answered hesitantly and looked down, he wasn't sure what to say or how to act to this calm Sanji.
Sanji sipped from his coffee and looked down at the newspaper again as he fixed his glasses.
He took out a plate that was covered by another to keep the food from getting cold and showed him his breakfast, sliding the plate on the table to where the kid was sitting and then going back to his newspaper again with an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
"How did you sleep, brat?"
The kid didn't answer and started to eat, making sounds of enjoyment and nodding to him.
"Great! The best sleep I've ever had! I want to sleep with you again tonight!" he giggled and Sanji frowned.
"Keep dreaming about it, brat. It's never happen again!" he didn't sound mad this time, more calm than angry.
"Boo! I'm sure you liked it too, asshole." he said with full mouth and kept chewing; god he was so happy Sanji didn't kick him out yet. If he could eat more of his food then he didn't need much more in his life, his food was delicious.
"Stop talking with your mouth full Jesus! You're even worse than him." he muttered and looked away with disgust.
"Uh...who?"
Sanji closed his eyes and smiled calmly, nodded with his head and kept drinking his coffee. Sanji was so weird!
"No, it's nothing. How does it feel to finally be clean like a normal human? Good, ah?" he laughed and ruffled his hair, the kid blushed and slapped his hand away in embarrassment.
"It's not bad or anything, but it's no different from before." he said to the smirking Sanji.
"What are you saying? You look great now! Like a real human being! And I can finally see your hair color! You're going to grow up to be one handsome man! haha!"
"Ahhh! I'm not…stop it asshole!" he fought him blushing but Sanji only kept his asshole smirk and drank his stupid coffee.
They chatted for a little while until he finisher his breakfast and Sanji looked at the big clock on the wall and sighed. It was already nine a.m.
"So…what do you want to do today?" Sanji asked him suddenly. It was so random he wasn't sure what to answer.
"Mmm…be with Sanji…" he choked out and Sanji put down his cup of coffee, leaning back in his chair with a small smile.
"Is that so? But I don't think that's a good idea." he said simply but didn't add anymore, which really pissed him off. Why did he like to be such an asshole!?
"Why not?! You don't want me around that much?!" he screamed. Why can't he stay nice like he was when he woke up, he really didn't get Sanji at all.
Sanji raised his hands in defence "No, that's not what I meant."
"Then why…" but before he said more Sanji kept going.
"Well, first you can't go out wearing only a shirt and looking half naked in the snow. You'll catch a cold and you know it! Secondly, I prefer you don't go out in the cold weather, and stay in my warm apartment, eating what I made you and resting. That's how your life should have been in the first place - not going around in the streets."
He didn't have anything to say about this. Sanji was right. He couldn't go out like this, he'd freeze to death for sure. He only lowered his gaze to his hands.
"Besides, you don't have anything to do at my work. Only sitting around watching me cook all day will be boring and I can't talk to you when I'm working. No matter how you look at it, it's pointless for you to come. At least here you can some TV and eat. I know it's not much, but it's way better than watching me all day."
"But…I want to be with you." he could hear his voice shaking slightly. Sanji grumbled a little, when he met his gaze, he looked like he felt guilty about it but didn't say anything.
"Look I get it, but I really think you should stay here for today and wait for me." Sanji concluded and got up from the table, taking their plates and cup of coffee and washing them in the sink.
"I need to go now, I'm a little late. but I just wanted to make sure you ate breakfast. Also, lunch is in the fridge. You only need to heat it up in the microwave. Can you do it?"
The kid nodded and watched Sanji go into the living room, wearing his black suit and jacket and make to leave. He could not stop himself and ran after him, hugging his leg tightly.
"Noo! I don't want you to go to work. Stay! Don't work!" he begged. He knew he was selfish but he didn't care. He didn't want to stay here alone in the new apartment, it scared him.
"Ohh and who is going to pay the rent if I don't work? I need to pay to live here you know." Sanji joked and petted his head in a comforting manner as he was calm and patient. The kid was sure Sanji would get mad but he didn't. That only made him cry and whine more, he wanted him to stay.
"But…but I hate them, the people at your work so mean! They laugh at you and are so mean to you! I hate them! They don't care how you feel at all! So you should stay here with me!" he whined, he wasn't sure if this was going to work but he tried anyway. Sanji chuckled and smirked as he bent down to his level.
"You know, I've been living with them half of my life. I know they sound mean but that's just their way of showing they care; I don't expect you to get it. But don't worry about them too much…their like a big, loud, and annoying family. So don't be so harsh on them kiddo."
He could only whine now. Sanji didn't let him win no matter what he said. He would leave him no matter what he did.
"Please don't leave me. Stay with me! Sanji! " he whined and heard him taking a deep, long breath and then picking him up in his arms.
"Look, I know it's very hard to stay alone here. But if you manage to wait for me for a little while longer and be patient, I'll give you a reward."
The kid raised his head to him and wiped his face, his eyes shining.
"Reward? What is it?" he asked and could not hide his enthusiasm, he really wanted to know what Sanji will give him.
"Tomorrow I'll take a day off, we're going to have a shopping day and buy you everything you want all day, just for the two of us. We can go eat later after we're done shopping. What do you say? Can you wait for me today until I come back?" Sanji challenged the kid who could only stare at him with wide eyes. He really wanted to spend all day with Sanji, but it would be so hard to wait for him in the new place, he still wasn't used to it and he felt a little trap in there. But he wasn't one to quit so fast.
"When are you coming back?" he asked and played with Sanji's blond hair. He never got why he styled it so it covered half his face, it looked funny.
"Do you see the big clock over there?" Sanji point out Sanji pointed out the old clock beside the TV that kept making noise. He stared at it for a while and nodded to Sanji.
"Okay, so when the smaller arrow passes all the numbers and circles back to the nine again is when I'm finished with work. But I have to close the Baratie so I'll be here at ten. Got it?"
When the kid shook his head to say no Sanji hit his own forehead with his hand.
"Ten the numbers with one and zero close together. See?"
"Yeas I get it…but it so long! Why you have to work so fucking long!? Can't you just go for one hour and come back?" he whined like the little kid he was and hugged his neck tight. Sanji chuckled.
"Are you crazy?! My old man will have my head. I really need to go."
"Promise you'll come back?" he asked and held out his pinky to Sanji who took it with his own pinky.
"I promise." smiling, the kid hugged his neck tighter, shaking he put his face on his shoulder.
"What's up with you this morning? Why are you clinging to me like this?" Sanji asked with worry.
"Just for a little bit!" he whispered, closing his eyes tight, tightening his grip on him in silence. Sanji let out a sigh and waited quietly. He figured he needed a little time before he could let him go and he didn't mind. After some time the kid let go of his neck and Sanji put him on the sofa and turned on the TV.
"It will pass fast, watch some shitty cartoons. And don't forget to eat the lunch in the fridge. I'm going now." he said in a gentle tone for the last time and hurried out the door, locking it behind him to the silence kid in the living room.
"Yeah right, easy for you to say, idiot!" he murmured to himself while putting his head on one of the pillows, hugging it and watch the boring show that was suppose to be funny.
After an hour of watching boring things he sighed.
Everything was so boring! He felt like he was in a cage. Well enough was enough. He watched the clock again and moved from the sofa. There was no way he'd spend the whole day watching boring shit on TV. He wanted to do something fun. An idea just came to him, he smiled mischievously and made his way to Sanji's room. Sanji won't mind, right? He was sure he wouldn't.
Smiling wider at his brilliant idea, he entered his room and turned to his closet. The knobs were too high for him to reach, so he dragged a chair from the kitchen to the closet and opened it, staring in wonder then started to rummage through Sanji's clothes.
He was soo going to be in trouble for this but he didn't care. He was having fun tossing the clothes out to try on and tying some around his body.
He threw some to the floor some of them to try out or tie them around his body, creating the coolest costume ever made! Most of his clothes were so fancy and expensive, like designer clothes you see in display window of shops. But they looked so weird after combining them together. Why did Sanji buy this kind of stuff? He didn't get it, but it sure was fun to play with them and make all kinds of new costumes with them.
After long hours of playing around with Sanji's stuff and throwing almost all of his clothes on the floor, he decided he liked the green shirt more, so he put it on again after he was done playing dress up. Then he noticed a small box hiding in the corner of the closet, it looked more like jewelry box. If he didn't take out Sanji's clothes, he have never noticed. It was too dark to see behind all the clothes. Did Sanji do that on purpose? His curiosity took control and he had to see what was inside it, it was too tempting to leave it alone.
He crawled on his knees to the back of the closet and took the box out to the light of the room. Opening it with anticipation and holding his breath, it was like finding a treasure no one wanted you to find and it was so exciting.
The box opened slowly revealing old pictures. Well it wasn't gold, but it sure was nice to see pictures of Sanji. But in most of them Sanji wasn't there, only young people he didn't know or have a clue about who they are. Most of them wore black high school uniforms and smiled, well apart from one guy that always frowned and looked angry with really weird hair. That guy mostly wore jeans and some simple T-shirts. Sometimes he looked at the camera and sometimes he ignored it completely and focused on something else. When it happened, he was mostly glaring at Sanji or yelling at him or really fighting him with his hands. But why was it always Sanji? He never looked at the other four people around him when he wasn't looking at the camera. It was strange, but what was stranger was that the girl with the red hair held his arm most of the time. What it meant, he wasn't sure but they all looked nice and fun to be around.
They also looked happy, really happy. When Sanji showed up in them he looked happy too. Much younger than he was now and shorter, but it was obviously still him.
He always stood close to the two girls, the read head, and the one with black hair. The black haired girl seemed a little scary. There was also another guy with tanned skin and a long nose.
Sanji always looked at the camera or seemed aware of it except when he was fighting with the muscular guy. He seemed like he forgot everything about the world, and it made him smile to examine him do it.
But he could not stop from asking himself why Sanji was hiding them. These pictures were so cute and innocent to him. He should frame them and hang them somewhere on the wall, that's what he would do. But Sanji hid them in a box inside his closet instead. Sanji always was so weird, he will never got him or why he did the things he did. Maybe something happened, or maybe he didn't like them anymore. Still, all this hiding stuff was odd in his eyes.
Before he managed to put all the pictures away the doorbell rang and made him jump with fright. Sanji wouldn't ring the bell, he didn't need to since he had the key... so who could this be? The rings didn't stop it sounded like the person ringing the bell was angry.
"Open up, shitty cook!"
His heart skipped a beat from fear, and he snuck around to the door as as quiet as he could be while dragging a chair behind him and using it to peek through the hole in the door.
He couldn't open the door anyway since he didn't have the key but he wanted to see who was ringing so stubbornly and yelling for a cook. Why he was so angry? He wanted to ask him but he was too afraid to do so.
He was shocked to see the guy from the pictures. The same guy with the weird hair color that fought with Sanji - at least they seemed like they fighting in there. Could it be he wanted to hurt Sanji? If not then he didn't know what it was, and right now he wasn't going to figure it out.
After long couple of minutes with him yelling and ringing the bell he scratched his head and left without a word.
That was scary. He wasn't ready for someone to come to the door like this, and he didn't want to imagine what would have happened if the door wasn't locked. But he was still curious about him. He didn't know much, but he hoped the scary guy would come back. He looked very scary and strong, his eyes portraying just that, but he still looked cool.
He sighed and went back to Sanji's room, putting the pictures back where he found them and replacing the box in the closet with a guilty feeling in his chest. He dismissed it since he could not help looking at them. He was curious and bored - and it was Sanji's fault for leaving him all alone in this house. Would Sanji forgive him if he told him he peeked? It was hard to think of Sanji forgiving him that easily.
It was too scary to imagine Sanji's face enraged, and he was afraid he would pick him out of the house, so he couldn't tell him. No matter what!
It was a shame he could not talk with the weird haired guy though, he looked so cool. He hoped that the next time he came to visit Sanji would be around to answer. He should really tell him about this maybe, that was okay to ask about right?
He settled down on the couch again,squeezing a pillow as he stared at the annoying TV again. He wanted to smash it. He was restless and looked at the clock every five seconds, hoping the arrows would move faster if he did that, but they didn't. They only moved slower. The clock was doing this on purpose cause he knew that Sanji wouldn't come back until it finished the circle – stupid ass clock! It's his entire fault.
He became even more restless being in an empty house by himself, it was a little scary.
When he felt hungry, he ran up to the kitchen and heated the food Sanji made for him. It was tasty but he still felt hungry and took some snacks back to the sofa with him.
By the time the clock was finally done with it's circle he wandered around the house eager for Sanji's return. He was supposed to have come back by now judging from the clock, but he still wasn't here so he spent his time rolling on the floor and playing war with the pillows.
The creeping fear that something bad might have happened to Sanji rose up, he suppose to be here right now! Maybe he decided to leave him and never come back; maybe he got sick of him. It hurt and he wanted to cry, but fifteen minutes later he heard the door open and Sanji stepped in, putting down the bags he was carrying with a sigh.
"Hey brat, I'm home."
"Sanji!" the kid screamed and ran to him, grabbing his legs and hugging them tightly.
Sanji almost fell down, but held himself steadily on his feet.
"Hello there, sorry for being late. I needed to buy some things for dinner. How was it? It must have been hard on you." he stroked his hair and the kid left his legs to avoid his touch.
Free again, Sanji yawned and layed down on the couch, sighing deeply. The kid followed him and watched him closely, poking him every few seconds.
"It wasn't hard on me at all." he said stubbornly, and Sanji chuckled at him.
"Then next time I can leave you for longer?" he smiled teasingly at the yelling kid that jumped on him.
"Nooo! Asshole!" he whined.
Sanji laughed loudly and tiredly, petting his head.
"Hahaha! It was a joke don't worry, I'd never do that to you. Sorry I can't come home sooner, this job is taking over almost all my life."
"You came back so its fine. I wasn't that scared." he tried to sound convincing but instead only sounded whiny.
"Yeah yeah…" Sanji said and closed his eyes, sighing again. He looked kind of worn out.
"How was your day at work?" he asked. He wasn't sure how to ask about the scary guy.
"It sucked. That shitty old man doubled my work today. What the hell does he think I am?! I'm only human god damn it, I can't do the job of five cooks at the same time! Bastard old man, he must be mad at me for something - after kicking my head he takes his revenge on me like this! What's his problem anyway?! Old fucker! But I showed him how amazing I am, so it doesn't matter."
Sanji was mad, but at the same time he looked pleased with himself while the kid hugged his arm.
"You should stay here with me and never go to work."
"That's what you want, isn't it?" Sanji teased to see him pouting.
"Jerk!" he pouted and kicked him gently to which Sanji chuckled and stroked his head.
"What do you want for dinner? I'll cook you something; you must be very hungry by now. How was the lunch I made? Was it good?"
The kid nodded and looked down.
"Um…Sanji…"
"What is it?" Sanji ask casually.
"You see…someone came after you left and rang the doorbell, I didn't know what to do. But he sounded really angry and he had a weird hair color. He was asking for you I think."
Sanji stared at him for some time in surprise, thinking about something,the kid looking anywhere to avoid his eyes since he wasn't sure how he'd react.
"That's strange. My friends usually come to the restaurant. I didn't expect anyone to come visit without telling me. Did he say anything?"
The kid shook his head, waiting for Sanji to say something. Sanji sighee and closed his eyes for a couple of minutes, nodding and petting his head again.
"Well its fine, if they didn't let me know they coming then it wasn't important anyway, just forget about it. That reminds me I didn't pay the rent to the land lord yet, he has a weird hair color too, so it must have been him. It's good you didn't answer him." he smiled encouragingly. The kid stared at him with worry but Sanji kept smiling like it was nothing.
"Why?" he asked worriedly.
"No reason, he's just kind of annoying. I paid this week so don't look so worried, I have enough."
"Jerk." he kicked him again when he saw him smirk.
"Hey, I never said I'm a good person. You chose to follow me."
"Bully!" he pouted again and huffed, leaving Sanji on the couch as he sat on the floor. He decided to show him how mad he is by ignoring him. Sanji took a couple of deep breaths, trying to rest and relax from the long day.
"That reminds me, I bought you something."
The kid immediately jumped up, completely forgetting his anger and stared at him with sparkles in his eyes.
"What is it? What is it?" he excitedly walked around the couch full of energy again and Sanji smirked.
"It's in one of the bags, could you bring them to me? I need to rest a little more."
The kid nodded and did as he was told, dragging them to the couch. After doing so, Sanji rose up to a sitting position and dug in them a little, finding what he was looking for he take out a plastic cube wrapped in plastic cover to protect it, it had many colors around it and the kid stare at it with wonder, he wasn't sure what it was.
"What is that?" he ask with curious eyes while examining the weird object.
"You never had Rubik's Cube before? Damn I used to love those when I was younger. You're missing so much kid! So now you have one, have fun."
He said and open the plastic cover and gave him the cube, the kid only stared at it and wasn't sure what he needer to do with it.
"Umm…" he was lost and just stared with wonder.
"Look, it's very simple." Sanji took the cube and moved the colored squares around until the colors were mixed in each other, giving it back to him.
"You need to move around the cube in the right way so all the same colors will be grouped together on different sides. Each side can only be one color. If you or manage to arrange all the colors on the different sides then you win."
The kid caught on fast, and with excitement he started to move the cube's colors around, smiling.
"Soo cool!" he declared "I'll solve this game!" he looked so determined and concentrated on his new toy oblivious to Sanji's playful smirk.
"Good luck kid."
But the kid didn't hear him, too busy with his cube and didn't pay any thought about the rest of the world. Sanji was glad he found something to distract him other than the TV - for the time being anyway, and stretched his body.
He need to start dinner soon but first he wanted to wear something a little less formal and went to his room to change.
He was shocked to find his clothes all over the floor. Wrinkled and most likely dirty. This kid was so dead!
"You little shit, I'm going to kill you!" a scream came from Sanji's room making the kid jump.
"Oh no" that was his sign to hide or to run away as fast as he could.
Sanji came out from the room and ran after him. It was kind of fun to get all his attention by pissing him off, not that he really wanted to piss him off that much but well, it was fun that Sanji chased him.
"Haha you won't catch me!" he mocked him and stuck out his tongue.
"Just wait, you shitty brat!" Sanji hissed back.
They ran around the house several times, to the kid's luck, Sanji was tired from his work day so he was a little slower than his usual self, but Sanji didn't let it stop him from chasing him all around the house. The kid laughed and kept running around, jumping on the beds and the couch, running under the table to the next room etc. he had so much energy to spare that Sanji wondered if he ate something with too much sugar or caffeine.
At the end of their chase, Sanji had win and caught him. Holding him tight to his body and glaring murderously at him.
"Don't you ever, ever touch my clothes again, got it, shitty brat?!" he yelled sharply and squeezed his fist on his head, the kid nodded and cried. As much as it was fun to mess around with him, Sanji was powerful and scary when he was mad, like he had fire around him.
"I'm sorry Sanji, please don't kick me out!" he cried stronger and Sanji growled and let him go, taking his tired body to the kitchen and murmured, "It's fine, as long you won't do that again. I was a little brat myself once. I guess I forgot about it."
The kid kept crying for a while until Sanji brought him his food and hot milk.
"I said its fine didn't I? Don't cry anymore and eat. I made you something good, you like milk?" he said softly and calmly as possible, to show him he wasn't mad anymore. The kid nodded and started to eat in silence and sniffled from time to time. Sanji wiped his face slowly with napkins until he stopped crying.
"Do you want to shower? I'll help you."
"No, I'm tired. Sanji...sleep with me?" he asked again and sent him that large eyed puppy dog look. Great, not again!
"Not tonight, okay. Are you excited for tomorrow?" he tried to change the subject which worked good for him and took the plates away, the kid screamed in agreement and followed him to the kitchen.
"I want tomorrow to come now! I can't sleep."
"Oh Yeah? Don't worry tomorrow will come, you won't even notice. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep so go wait for me in bed." Sanji said and washed the dishes, the kid grabbed his shirt and looked at his feet.
"You have nightmares too?" he asked with as quiet of a voice as possible. Sanji didn't look at him until he finished his task and dried his hands.
"Sometimes…come on, it's time to go to bed."
Sanji ended the conversation and picked him up in his arms, the kid hugging his neck and his eyes beginning to close with a big yawn.
Sanji let out long and deep breath and looked forward with despair.
"If it's going to be like this every day, I won't survive!" Sanji whined quietly.
When he reached his room he laid down the kid on his bed and covered him with his blankets, stroking his hair slowly.
Only in the silent darkness of the room, when the kid was asleep and Sanji watched over him for a while longer could remember his old wound. It was so old and so painful even right now, and wept quietly in his hand.
"Bastard! if you won't come back soon, I will never forgive you! And then…I'll really move on!" It was only a whisper he said to himself. Then he soon fell asleep sitting on the floor next to the bed, his head close to the kid's.
TBC