"Have you ever heard the story about the princess and the beast?" Nami asked Kid as she leaned over his shoulder and watched him tinker on his workbench.
"No," he grumbled. He thought he'd find it completely and utterly intolerable to have her here, but surprisingly he didn't mind. He was even getting stuff done. He even liked her sweet little voice chirping away as he worked. Like a caged bird singing to him. He could even..maybe.. get used to it. Maybe.
"It's about a beautiful princess," Nami started.
"Let me guess the princess is you?" He rolled his eyes.
Nami smirked, "and a prince whose heart was so ugly, that a witch turned him into a hideous beast just as ugly as his heart."
"Are you calling me ugly?" He scoffed.
Nami ignored him, "and the beast wouldn't let the princess leave."
"Does he eat her? Because otherwise I'm not interested in the story." He grumbled.
"The princess was treated horribly at first. But eventually, the beast started being nice to her. They even became friends." She continued. Kid pretended like he had stopped listening. "Then he let her go, because he loved her that much."
"Who gives a fuck?" He said.
"I do," she said softly.
"Is that what you're trying to do?" He sneered, "Tame the beast so he'll let you go?"
"Why are you like this?" Nami asked.
"Is it so hard to believe that people are born wicked and do bad things because they love it?" He asked her. "Do I need a reason to be me?"
"No, I guess not," she said. "But I know my past affects me everyday. The choices I make, the things I do. I wouldn't be the same person had I not faced what I did."
"Great, I don't care." He shrugged.
"Can I sit on your lap?" She asked.
"No," he spat.
"Can you make me something?" She asked.
"A weapon? So you can kill the beast that you can't tame?" He mused.
"No. A new collar. I don't like this one. If I'm going to wear a collar like a pet, I want a pretty one." She said.
"I'm not a jeweler," he grunted.
"You're much too good with metal to leave this chunky piece of shit on my neck and be okay with it. I want one as pretty as me," she said, winking at him.
"I'm insulted. That collar was my finest piece of work," he joked.
"In that case I take back my compliment," Nami shrugged.
"Good," he spat back, "I don't need your compliments."
"No, maybe not," she leaned against his back, "but you want them." She whispered.
"You don't know what I want," he said, "if you did, you wouldn't be talking."
"I think you like the company. And I know exactly what you want," Nami teased. The image of her in the shower filled his head.
Kid turned around and grabbed and held Nami in one arm, "come on."
"Where are we going?" She asked.
"I'm feeding you," he grunted.
"Again? Twice in a day? Are you feeling well?" She joked.
"You look prettier when you're fed. You look sickly now." He said.
"Oh," Nami frowned.
"What's the matter?" He asked dropping her into a chair in the kitchen.
"Nothing, I just, haven't seen myself in a while," she said.
"There's a mirror in the bathroom," he said.
"Sooo, I get to what.. Just walk around, all by myself? Without a babysitter?!" Nami exclaimed.
"Goddamn it, you're annoying," he said.
Nami left Kid in the kitchen before he could change his mind. She got lost on her way to his bedroom, so she started exploring instead. There was her 'room' which she hated. The trashed room that she had run into scared shitless as Kid chased her. There was the room where Kid tinkered with his metal bits making who knows what. She was honestly afraid of what she would find if she just went around opening doors. She wondered how many other women were in her situation before her. And if any ended up dead. Did her room once belong to one of them? She couldn't imagine Kid having an empty room for his guests. Or having any guests at all that weren't prisoners.
She wandered around his work area. The things he made were really beautiful. Obviously he had an advantage with his Devil Fruit powers, but she'd imagine, even without that, he'd still be quite talented. She remembered a music box she'd seen as a kid, made entirely of metal. When you turned the key, little metal horses would gallop around in a circle like a never ending race. She'd stolen the music box, her sister found it and made her return it to the shop. She could have never afforded something so nice. She thought about the music box sometimes to this day. She bet if Eustass weren't so busy making things to kill people, he could make her one.
She sat down at the workbench and found a scrap of paper and a piece of charcoal. She wasn't good at drawing at all. But she drew what she remembered. How she thought the music box should look. She started to hum the song it played as she drew.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kid sneered. Although he'd wished she wouldn't stop humming, it was, kind of, nice?
"Sorry," she said, "I couldn't remember where your room was."
He grabbed her waist and pulled her off his stool, she dropped the charcoal onto the table and let him man-handle her. She noticed he had a plate of scrambled eggs in his other hand. He threw her onto the couch behind his workbench and handed her the plate. She smiled, wondering if scrambled eggs were the only thing he knew how to make. That was pretty adorable if that were true.
Kid sat back down at his workbench, seeing the drawing that Nami had been working on before he pulled her away. It reminded him of something stupid he made once as a kid. He used to sell all kinds of stupid things he'd make from metal for money. The weird thing was, despite Nami's apparent lack of talent in drawing, what she tried to draw looked just like a music box he once made.
Kid perked up a bit at the humming sound behind him. Nami was humming again as she ate her food. That same song he'd heard her hum when he first walked in. He would recognize that song from anywhere. Someone used to sing that song to him when he was really little. He held up the picture of the music box. That was the song he'd used in the music box he'd made.
"What's your favorite color princess?" He asked softly.
Nami blushed at the nickname he'd given her, "It's orange, why?" Eustass didn't answer.