Feeling queasy, Roronoa stood at the top of the stairs and wondered for about the 100st time why he was doing this to himself.
A proper wage for a change, well and good, but the employees?
This creepy woman and that... barkeeper.
Sighing he tried to recall the words, Madam Robin had said before their parting yesterday:
„The 'Dix Fleurs' it's is very own caliber even within the world of amusement. You will need some time to find your way around.
Don't worry, even if you are confused a bit from time to time, especially in the beginning."
'A bit from time to time'?
That woman was a master of understatement. He hadn't even begun working yet and already didn't understand anything of the things that happened concerning this club.
/And for sure I won't understand much more by standing around here and wrecking my brain thinking./
He gave himself a mental push and descended the stairs.
When he arrived at the clubs door he hesitated a moment, listened and pressed the handle, when he didn't hear a thing.
He entered. A faint clacking.
Startled he whirled around and faced the bar.
Sanji, this time obviously freshly styled in a neat white shirt and black vest, gave out the aura of animpeccable, professional barkeeper and seemed to be compelety absorbed into his work.
With almost scientific precision he mixed liquids, stirred them and poured the mixture into a silvery shimmering shaker.
As unpleasant as his character might be, Madam Robin apparently hadn't exaggerated concerning his working skills.
With a hint of envy Roronoa stared at the agile fingers that twirled the Shaker in mid-air, pulled out a glass from one of the cupboards behind the counter and opened the containers cap.
Sanji took the glass and inspected it in the light of a dim lamp. He took a sip, tasted, made a face.
Then he raised his head and considered Roronoa with an expression that perfectly united mockery and distaste.
„Watching in secret turns you on, doesn't it?"
He opened a fridge below the counter, placed a lemon next to the glass and got a knife from a drawer.
„Just so you know, peeping won't get you anywhere around here."
Inquiring he checked the knifes edge with his thumb.
„If you continue doing stuff like that, you can as well dissappear right away."
„What the..." One moment Roronoa was muted by so much impudence contained in one presumptuous blondie.
The next, anger raged within him.
„If idiots that get off to being sucked in public, aren't kicked out, I guess I'll be alright" he snarled back.
„Besides, Iam here, because my working hours started some minutes ago. I don't know what you had in mind."
The curled eyebrow that wasn't hidden by blonde locks assumed a way steeper angle than before.
Cool down, newbie!" he scrutinized his opponentwith a slighting look.
„We don't want your lawn-head to catch a wildfire. What I do or don't do is of no concern to anyone. What I am allowed to do and what you can dare trying, are two different worlds."
So quick Roronoas eyes almost didn't observe the movement, the barkeeper pitched the lemon towards the ceiling, cut it with a liquid kind of slice with his knive and caught both halves before they hit the counter.
Half way fascinated by the graceful example of skill, half driven by the desire to let this prickass of a cocktailsplasher taste a bit of his own audacity, Roronoa stepped closer. Lazily he crossed his arms.
„Why? Are there special bonuses for loose tongues and pants?" he
With great satisfaction he watched the composure fade from the blondes face. His whole posture signalized the barbed comment hit as intended.
„At least I don't have to run around begging for a job like certain muscle-heads!"
Roronoa lazily crossed his arms.
„So? What did you have to do to get this Job? Spread your le-?"
The blade was ice-cold on his throat, before he even realized that Sanji had lunged across the counter betweem them.
Sanjis face, suddenly so close to his, revealed an unexpected expression of borderless hate, anger and- Roronoas eyes widened in astonishment – pain?
They hesitated for the lenght of a heartbeat. Then Roronoa grasped Sanjis wrist and tried to push the blade away from his neck.
Baffled he discovered that the other, despite his slender physique, could fight him on par strenghwise.
The knife vibrated but didn't move at all.
Threatening and icy it brushed his skin.
„Never. Again!"
It was nothing more than an angry hiss, but it pierced him to the very marrow of his bones.
Roronoa gazed down at the warped expression.
„Never. Say. That. Again!"
A subtle something beneath the barkeepers surfaced feelings hit him hard as a blow.
For an instant his arm bent, the knife sliced his skin and Sanji, surprised by his own momentum staggered forward.
A few seconds passed in paralyzed silence.
Roronoa didn't dare to move. Not even, when he felt a thin thread of blood trickle down his neck.
He stared down on the face of the barkeeper who was, still clutching the knive, propped against his chest and looked up towards him, an awkward expression on his face.
Then he took in the fact that his arms held the blonde pressed to his body.
By some kind of freak instinct he obviously had grasped Sanji in the second he s aw him fall, had caught him and pulled him close.
Not that this wasn't already crazy enough, he couldn't even consciously remember doing so.
Shocked he pushed him away and pressed one hand on the cut that burned, now that he had enough brain-capacity to consider the pain.
Wordless they stared at one another when suddenly a loud bang echoed throughout the room.
Both spun towards the door Madam Robin just had shoved shut after entering the room
Smiling she stepped through the clubs half-light towards the young men.
„I see you are already getting aquainted" her eyes twinkled with amusement.
„Anyway I'd like you to," her eyes scanned the green-haired mans neck
„postpone your private discussion to your leisure time. As soon as I have shown Roronoa-kun his working clothes I'd like you to discuss the tasks for tonight. Would that be possible?"
Her voicehad a cadence so silky, the order was unmistakable.
„Yes, Madam." Two voices in unison.
With a slight nod the woman indicated Sanji to return to the bar and led Roronoa towards her bureau.
The last thing he saw of the barkeeper was him pressing a few drops of lemon juice into the cocktail, tilting his head back and emptying the glass in one long chug.
The door closed and Madam Robin lead him to the door next to her own bureau.
Inside what resembled a sparse but comfortable break room she pointed to a chair standing in a corner and rummaged inside a small closet for a moment. Meekly he sat down and gingerly touched the still bleeding cut.
When the woman turned, she was holding a first-aid kit.
„Will this be enough"she raised the box on eyelevel „or do you needa doctor?
Surprised Roronoa perked up, when he heard real concern within the womans words.
He slowly shook his head.
„No, it's.. nothing. Just a scratch, but... what was that just now?"
The smile tugging on her lips turned melancholic and a little rueful, as she began disinfecting the cut
„Obviously you have got a gift, when it comes to rub Sanji-kun the wrong way."
„The sentiment is quite mutual..." Roronoa muttered under his breath and jerked
when the disinfectant burned on his skin.
Madam Robin laughed quietly.
„So it seems."
She pressed a pad against his neck.
„Hold this in place with a little pressure. This should be able to stop the bleeding." She reached for a gauze bandage.
„And to get this kind of an eruptive response out of him, you managed a blow straight into his nether regions, I suppose. Although I doubt you did it on purpose"
Skillfully she attached the pad with part of the bandage.
„But your reaction indicated that I wasn't wrong with my first impression of you."
She gave him a radiant smile.
„I'm sure you will manage to find a way of coexisting within notime. Done."
Madam Robin stepped back, inspected her work, nodded contently and began to clean up her utensils.
Then she pointed to a locker at the rooms rear wall.
„There are clothes for you in there. Get dressed and join us in the club as soon as you are ready, okay?"
Without waiting for a response she disappeared with an encouraging smile into the corridor.
Strange woman. Very, very strange.
Shrugging he opened the locker and inspected the neat stack of clothes.
White shirt, black jeans, a long, black apron.
Simple, nothing fancy but certainly top quality. He was pleased by the simplicity.
Not as pretentious and sleek as...
Roronoa removed his bloodstained top and tried the Shirt.
To his surprise it fit perfectly. Same with the trousers.
Even better than his usual clothes actually.
Considering his more often than not, critical credit balance he couldn't afford being picky with what he wore. Baggy clothes were more comfortable to move in anyway.
Still, how that woman had gained his measurements was beyond him.
A bit dazed by the recent events, he knotted the apron loosely around his waist and stepped towards the door.
However he had gotten caught up in this whirlwind called "Dix Fleurs", he had missed the moment to slink out of it a long while ago.
Feeling more queasy he pressed the doors handle and stepped into the corridor.
To be continued...