Solitude wasn't as comforting to Coco as it once was. In fact, loneliness began to creep in his feelings with every passing day. He had tried to distract himself with his own chores and hobbies, but a feeling of emptiness kept sticking in his chest. Nothing felt as good as it should; nothing felt right any more. So there he was, slumped over on his kitchen table with his head in his hand and wallowing in these unknown feelings. He knew the cause of it all, and every memory of you that crept its way into his mind twisted a knot of guilt in his stomach; thoughts of you always the ones to bid him goodnight and returned to greet him in the morning.
Coco missed you.
He contemplated going back into Gourmet Fortune to work in the shop, but every day he found himself wanting to stay at home; even if home was making him feel like a prisoner. Having to put on a brave face to the public and look into their future relationship was something he didn't have the heart for right now. It had become a tedious part of the job a long time ago, but it's what the people wanted from him, so he delivered. Now the thought just made him feel unwell.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair, trying to muster the motivation to do something, anything. Exercising, cooking, training… nothing gave him that spark of energy that he pushed himself with. All in all, the Heavenly King felt numb to anything that wasn't related to you, and the guilt of laziness was starting to intertwine with his depression.
Kiss poked his beak in and nudged Coco aside, trying to prompt him to get up. Even the Emperor Crow knew that something was amiss with his friend and master, and he was doing his best to comfort him. Coco pet the beak idly and tipped his head back to look at Kiss.
"Sorry Kiss, I'm not feeling the best these days." Coco admitted to his partner, and was replied with a quiet caw.
Kiss suddenly pulled his beak out of the window and let out a cry as the ground rumbled underfoot.
"Krryyaaahh!"
"Raarf!"
Coco pulled himself out of his chair and exited through the front door, only to come face to face with Terry's steely gaze. Toriko called out from behind the Battle Wolf's ears.
"Hey Coco!"
Coco put on a smile and waved. He didn't particularly want company, but a part of him was thankful for the drop in.
"Hello Toriko, hello Terry."
Terry let out a light bark as Toriko jumped down from his mount and gave the wolf a pat on the snout.
"Thought I'd drop by, if that's alright?" Toriko said, clapping a hand on Coco's shoulder heartily. "It's been a while."
"Come in."
Coco pushed the front door open to let his guest in before pulling it shut, leaving the two beasts to interact with one another outside.
"What brings you out here Toriko?" Coco asked, busying himself with finding two mugs and boiling a small kettle for tea. "Did you need my help with something?"
"Nah, nothing like that this time," Toriko said, pulling out a chair for himself and dropping into it casually.
"Although I have heard there's some good food being listed for the upcoming summer festival in town. I'll probably get hired as some muscle to capture ingredients if you're interested in joining."
"Maybe, I'll see what I'm doing then." Coco responded nonchalantly, waiting as the water boiled.
Toriko sat there, looking around the room, trying to think of a conversation. Coco leaned on the kitchen counter with his arms folded, all but staring at his azure-headed family member. Silence built between them like the kettle water on the element.
Toriko let out a small cough and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and started tapping his foot on the floor. Coco's eyes picked up every little action.
"Is that all you came to talk to me about?" He asked, throwing Toriko for a loop. Suddenly his younger kin was making an unusually embarrassed face and grinned out of discomfort.
"Well, not exactly..." Toriko started, twiddling his thumbs and becoming oddly fixated with a spot on the wall.
"...I, uh...came to talk about something else, actually." He admitted, throwing Coco a weak smile as he winced.
"What's going on?" Coco asked.
The kettle on the element was making a soft whistle.
"I... Well, I came to talk about... about...-"
"-About what, Toriko?" Coco pressed, starting to get irritated at how long this was taking.
Toriko sighed in defeat and dropped his hands between his lap.
"I came to talk about girls." He said with resignation.
The kettle whistled indignantly as tension grew between them both. Coco just blinked in surprise before turning his back to Toriko without a word. He took the kettle off of the element and put it aside on the counter. Instead of pouring the hot water into the cups he had prepared, Coco exited to the lounge room, leaving a very confused and embarrassed Toriko at the kitchen table. Coco's soft shoes announced his return, and in his hand was a large bottle of whiskey.
Neither of these two knew how to approach this subject.
Coco pulled two small drinking glasses and set them down on the table as he slid into the opposite seat across the table. Toriko eyed off the brown bottle and grinned a little more honestly at the sight of it.
"I guess this is the hard stuff?" He asked, pulling himself around to face Coco completely.
"It's some of it." Coco said, pouring the rich liquid between the two glasses and sliding one over the table with his middle fingers. "Although, I didn't expect to have to need to use it. I'm surprised."
That much was true, but this was one of the last things he wanted to be talking about right now.
"So you've been sitting on this one for this kind of conversation? That's interesting." Toriko said, sipping at the deep amber fluid; a smooth smokey flavour rolled over his tastebuds and down his throat, leaving a warm trail through his body.
"Interesting, how?" Coco asked, swirling his drink softly before sipping it as well.
"I guess I never anticipated us ever getting to this point." Toriko admitted, giving that timid smile again.
"I felt it best to be prepared." Coco said, setting his glass down and tenting his fingers before locking his eyes on Toriko.
"Alright, what did you want to start with? Is it about Rin?"
Toriko downed his drink, avoiding eye contact with his older brother.
"Not exactly…-" he started, playing with his glass in his large hand.
"-Someone else?" Coco interjected, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, technically," Toriko rubbed the back of his neck before finally making eye contact with the poison King.
"I'm actually here to talk about (Y/n)."
Coco's stomach flipped at the mention of your name, and he became defensive. Was Toriko about to tell him he had feelings for you?
"What about (Y/n)? Is she alright?"
Toriko waved both of his hands in front of him.
"Yeah bro, she's fine! Well, physically I mean. I gotta ask though…"
He placed both of his palms on the table carefully.
"What happened with you and her?"
Coco blinked and furrowed his brow.
"What do you mean? Nothing happened." Coco said dismissively.
"That's kind of the point I'm getting at. I thought you both were, y'know, a thing?"
Coco just blinked as he stared.
"...What gave you that idea?" he said slowly, fidgeting with his glass.
"I dunno, you guys just have a...thing?" Toriko said, looking away again and running his hand through his hair.
"No." Coco said, taking another sip of his whiskey.
"Not at all."
Toriko helped himself to the bottle, pouring himself another glass.
"Then I don't think she got the memo. Maybe. She seems pretty cut up about something then."
Toriko gestured to top Coco's glass up but he declined, placing his hand over the glass wordlessly.
"So your first thought was that I did something then?" Coco retorted, anger started to bite at his tone.
"I don't want to word it like that, but did you?"
"No! What could I possibly do?!"
"Hey, hey, calm down; I'm just trying to get the pieces together."
Coco took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose.
"We weren't ever a 'thing', as you so put it. You of all people should know I couldn't be someone's partner, Toriko."
"That aside, I gotta ask…"
Toriko picked up his drink and looked squarely into Coco's eyes; his cat-like eyes almost making Coco feel like he was trapped.
"...do you like her, though? You know, in that way?"
Coco's jaw pinched under Toriko's gaze, and he downed his drink while still keeping eye contact. Coco was normally one to savour a nice drink, but even his own discomfort was getting the better of him. He let out a puff of air after his mouthful and slumped in his seat.
What was the point of lying to him?
"...Yes."
"Coco, that's awesome!." Toriko grinned, trying to celebrate his admission.
"Toriko, be realistic," Coco sighed, his disposition changing to reflect the heartache that he was currently dealing with.
"I can't be with (Y/n). I'll just end up hurting her with my poison if I tried to...get close with her."
Toriko rubbed his chin and was thinking hard over something.
"I'm not so sure," he said, his eyes looking upward while still stroking his chin.
"I think there's something about her."
Coco took a brief moment and shut his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"This isn't going to be one of those 'you're made for each other' spiels, is it?" He said wearily. He definitely wasn't in the mood to discuss his trainwreck of a non-existent love life.
"Kind of?" Toriko admitted, before leaning back in his chair and crossing a leg onto his other knee.
"Just hear me out; you know how your poison kind of stinks, right?"
"Excuse me?!"
"Not like that! What I mean is that it has a pretty strong scent. At least to me."
Toriko tapped the side of his nose and grinned.
"You remember those training sessions the old man made us do when we were younger? With all four of us?"
"The glorified hide and seek sessions, you mean?" Coco propped his chin up with one hand and listened.
"Yeah, you know the ones! I was always finding you first because I could smell you. Well, the poison in you."
"Oh, that's how you did it." Coco said, a hint of surprise in his voice. Now that he thought about it, even if he thought his hiding spot was good, young Toriko did find him first.
"Yeah my bad. I never told you because I didn't want you to feel bad." Toriko said, taking another sip of his drink.
"So you tell me now? Thanks." Coco said bitterly.
"Look, you personally smell pretty good. There's just always this... I dunno, sour undertone I can detect on you. It's not like anyone else can."
"Toriko, what's your point with all of this?" Coco asked with exasperation, leaning his head on his hand now.
"Oh right. Well, when you're near (Y/n), I can't smell it. Or barely. She has her own scent too."
"So you're telling me that she stinks too?"
Toriko let out his own exasperated sigh.
"I'm sorry I used the wrong word! But for lack of a better term, she has her own on that is weirdly compatible with yours. When you've been in contact with her, it negates yours."
Coco blinked and starting to think, running a finger on his other hand around the room of his glass idly.
"Is that true?" He asked quietly, not making eye contact.
"Yeah bro, why else would I say it?"
"That's fair."
Coco continued to run his finger around the edge of the glass, lost in his own thoughts. The moisture on his skin started making the glass whir softly. A lot of what Toriko said seemed to hold a lot of merit. After all, he was the only one that could possibly detect something like that, with how powerful his nose is.
"Sunny also said something too," Toriko said, scratching under his eye over his scars.
"Now Sunny's in on it?" Coco asked wearily. "What have you all been doing, having meetings about this?"
"Of course not. We all just happened to be there when (Y/n) said something."
"All?"
"Zebra included."
"Zebra?! What was he doing there?!"
"Eating, like he normally does. He does practically every week; sometimes multiple times."
Coco's blood ran hot, and he felt an unusual flash of jealousy. Zebra was his own challenge in himself, and if he even entertained the idea of wanting something, he'd stop at nothing to get it. This included people, after attempting to poach Komatsu from Toriko as his partner.
"Is that so?"
"It's not a big deal."
"To you maybe, but try to understand where I'm coming from."
Toriko ran his hand through his hair again and opted to just fill up Coco's glass again.
"My point is, I think she could possibly be a match for you. Has there been anything else that's been out of the ordinary? Sunny openly admitted to not wanting to touch her either. Said something about the way it feels reminds him of touching you."
Of course there were things that Coco hadn't wrapped his head around. He still remembered the way your tears stained his chest pale, why you could touch his bare skin without feeling sick; even after being in contact with some of his most potent poison...
Those odd smudges on your tongue.
Where had he seen those before?
"Do you think it could be Gourmet Cells?" Coco asked, finally raising his head as his mind swam with thoughts. These thoughts were filled with memories of his research, and something was nagging at him; like he was missing the final piece to a puzzle that he just had in his hands.
"It's possible. It's rare, but some people can just be born with them."
Coco rose from his chair and ventured off into the lounge once more, abandoning the drink on the table without a second thought. He stood in front of the bookshelf in the far corner of the room, eyes scanning over the hundreds of titles he had collected that chronicled the history of poisons and poisonous food found throughout the Gourmet Age. Shelved by age, edition and alphabetical order, in these pages was the answer that he was searching for. The bigger question: where?
Toriko scraped back his chair and poked his head into the room, swilling his drink in his hand and letting out another grin.
"I've seen that look before." He grinned, feeling a sense of relief that the poison King was acting more like himself.
"Guess you've struck a chord somewhere?"
"I've seen something in here that might compliment your thoughts." Coco said, pulling a small black book off the shelf and flicking through the pages. Not this one. "I just don't know which one it is."
"I'm sure you'll find it. I'm gonna head off and leave you to it then."
Toriko downed the rest of his drink and eyed off Coco's forgotten glass.
"Hey Coco-"
"You can have it." Coco said, without looking up from the next book. Not this one either. He reshelved it with a small sigh before trailing his finger by the spines, looking for his next target. Toriko's grin grew wider and he downed the second glass in one gulp, closing his eyes as the whiskey burned a hot trail into his stomach.
"Mmm, so good!" The glutton exclaimed as he set the glass back down on the table next to his.
"Hey uh, Coco?" Toriko pressed again.
"Yes?"
"I hope this works out for you. Really."
There was such sincerity in the way Toriko dropped that last sentence. As much of a clown Toriko could be, when he was genuine, it rang true. It was enough for Coco to pull himself away from his books and make eye contact with him. Coco's lips pulled into a smile; something he hadn't done for a long time.
"Thanks for dropping in… It helped."
"Not a problem! But uhh, before I go; you're all good with...y'know-"
Toriko pushed his index finger in and out of a small circle he made with the index finger and thumb on his other hand. Coco's face burned red and he scowled at his younger brother.
"Get out." He said, malice dripping through his voice.
"Okay, okay! See ya!"
Toriko hightailed it out of the house and jumped up effortlessly onto Terry's back, and the two of them leaped across the ravine, running out into the grassy fields, Kiss' yellow eyes watched them intently before he let out a caw and began grooming his feathers.
Coco, with a newfound vigour and a heated flush across his cheeks, started poring into his texts, trying to find traces of information that might help him connect the dots about the mystery of you. If what Toriko said was true, then perhaps there was a slim chance that maybe, just maybe, the two of you could be more than the mess he had made. If that was the case, then all of those years of loneliness and solitude could be made accountable.
It was almost dawn of the new day, and books were scattered everywhere across the living room floor. Piles of books on one end that pertained to some sort of information, even just a throw-away sentence, of people that held the cure for toxins within their systems. Mostly legends, but legends were born out of stories of truth.
A lantern burned low and weak, as the morning rays broke through the house's defences; casting elements of golden streaks across the shadows of nightfall. Coco's eyes drooped and ached after staying up all night reading, searching for every piece of information he could scour. Yet, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had concrete information pertaining to that strange discolouration he witnessed within you, and he was frustrated. It was so close, he could feel it; even taste the success.
There was only one book left. The one you gave him.
Coco sighed and let out a large yawn. If this wasn't it, then he would chalk it up to imagining the whole thing; blaming his desperation into fabricating an out for his desires. He pawed through the pages, much slower than normal due to his fatigue, as his hazel eyes darted left and right, drinking in the words. The pages each made a soft 'fwip' with every turn, and the sun rose with every passing moment, and like a halo of inspiration, a beam of gold shone down over his face.
He found it. He finally found it.
It wasn't much, but there was even a diagram sketched into the book that detailed the exact same symptom you exhibited. Coco shook the book with triumph and he cried out in relief, repeating 'yes' over and over again; he smiled so wide that it almost hurt. Hope filled his heart where that pit of dread and heartache had filled it over the last few weeks.
Perhaps he could have his happy ending.