Multicolour
Words
Chapter
7
By
Gunslinger Blok
I wanna thank everybody so much for their reviews. Already over 50 reviews, I never expected that when I first began writing this story! And all the reviews are so positive, you guys have no idea how incredibly happy I am right now! I wanna apologize for being so slow with posting chapters, but because I didn't pass the year (yeah, my grades were worse that I thought), I thought I'd cheer myself up by buying a Playstation 2 with Kingdom Hearts. I was stuck to the thing for five days in a row and finished the game already. So I haven't been really in the mood for anything else. I do have a new obsession now, lol!
About the story; I know most characters have only showed one side until now. Luffy's happy and hyper, Zoro's annoyed, Ace's worried, Sanji's either pissed or jealous. But that's gonna change, I promise! I'm planning to let everybody, especially Luffy, experience a lot of different emotions and sides, to make the story a bit more interesting. However, I can't do that until I'm a bit further in the story, so please have some patience, thank you!
Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece. And me D:
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The rest of the night, Zoro hardly slept at all. Every now and then he would fall asleep, thinking it would be a peaceful and dreamless sleep, but every time he would wake up drenched in sweat, panting heavily with the voice of that child, that girl, in the back of his mind. And every time he had been asleep for only a couple of minutes.
Between the moment Ace had woken him up and the moment the first beams of light coming from the sun were entering their room, Zoro had fallen asleep and woken up like that at least ten times. He knew the rest of the day would be a struggle to get through.
Before Ace woke up, the freshman got out of bed, grabbed some clean clothes and a towel and left for the bathroom to take a long and, hopefully, refreshing shower. He really needed a cup of coffee right now. And some aspirin, though he wasn't sure coffee and aspirin worked well together.
When he got back from his shower, which had somehow exhausted him even more, he found Ace jumping around in front of the window, desperately trying to put out the curtains. For they were on fire. Again. Zoro decided to ignore this. He was getting pretty used to all the fires.
"Ah, Zoro-kun, good morning." Ace managed to say while trying to take the curtains down to throw them in the sink. "How are –aah hot hot hot- are you feeling today?"
"Horrible." Zoro responded. "Need help with that?"
"Nah, I'll be fine." Ace answered, grinning widely. "I hope."
"Kay, good luck." And ignoring Ace's cries of pain, Zoro left the room. He faintly heard his roommate yell 'visit the nurse!' behind him.
Right the nurse. He did promise to visit her, but he really didn't feel comfortable around her. That white labcoat reminded him of his dreams. The nurse herself was rather weird too. Why would he go anyway? He had never been to a nurse before and though he was still feeling like crap, the nurse wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Troubled by the promise he made to Ace, and Vivi, he left for the cafeteria. It was a long weekend, four days left to be precise, and most students had gone home to their families. Zoro, who didn't really have a family to go home too, stayed at school. He wasn't all alone though; Ace and Luffy were staying too, obviously, and even the love cook and Vivi had nowhere else to go this weekend. Nami he hardly saw anyway, since Nojiko was still in the hospital.
Softly mumbling to himself, he entered the cafeteria, ready to go on a quest for a nice cup of coffee. The first thing he noticed when entering the cafeteria, was that it was almost empty. There were only a couple of students, which was quite a relief. Zoro never enjoyed the chaos of the cafeteria.
The second thing he noticed was that all those students were staring at him. Zoro sighed. Of course, they must've heard him scream too. Ignoring the eyes following him, the freshman went to the kitchen. His favorite blonde princess was waiting for him.
"Here." Without any insults or bad gestures, Sanji put down a cup of coffee on the table. Zoro didn't say anything but just nodded. After that, Sanji took of his apron and left the kitchen. His shift was over, so he would probably be hunting down his precious Vivi-chwaaan for the rest of the day. Zoro took the cup of coffee and left to sit down in the farthest corner of the cafeteria. The cook did have his good sides every now and then.
Zoro could still feel the students staring at him, but ignored it, like he did with most things that bothered him. Most of the time it worked perfectly fine. There were a few exceptions, though.
"Zooooroooooooo!" Oh God, where did that awfully familiar voice came from? Zoro, who had closed his eyes to give them some rest, opened one eye a bit and looked around. It wasn't long before he noticed the red flash of Luffy flying towards him.
Before the freshman could either jump up or dive out of the way, Luffy had jumped on top of him, making both the chair and the two men fall backwards. An incredible pain shot through Zoro's head as it hit the floor, the weight of Luffy on top of him making it even more painful.
"Crapfuck, Luffy what the fuck-"
"Ha, sorry Zoro, I didn't know I was running that fast!" The boy laughed, while sitting up straight on Zoro's chest.
"Running fast or not, you should not just jump on top of other people!" Zoro muttered. "Now get the hell off me, you're heavy!"
"I'm not that heavy. Ace always says it's a wonder how I can keep so skinny when eating so much." Luffy muttered, standing up. He offered Zoro a hand to help him up, which the green-haired teen gratefully accepted.
"What are you doing here anyway, I thought you were at Usopp-kun's house." Zoro took the chair and tried to place it near the table again, when he noticed one of the paws was broken. Letting go of the chair, which fell down right away, he turned to Luffy again.
"Yeah, but there's some kind of cockroach problem, so I was kicked out."
"Luffy, did you bring in the cockroach?"
"Of course not! Though I did bring Herci, my Hercules beetle, but I somehow lost it…"
Zoro sighed deeply. This boy really was… something. The freshman reached for the cup of coffee he had left on the table and took another sip.
"Ohyeah, do you know where Ace is?" Luffy asked. "He isn't in the room."
"Probably outside then. He's been hanging around in the Gardens a lot on free days." Zoro answered. The 'Gardens' was a large amount of space behind the university, something Zoro found out on accident when he couldn't find the bike shed. There was only one way going in and out, since the place was surrounded by high walls, covered with ivy. Inside those walls were smaller gardens filled with flowers, spices, plants that were probably illegal and lots of weeds. Small paths criss-crossed trough the Gardens, most of them leading you to the impressive fountain in the middle. All that together made the Gardens a wonderful place to go when you wanted to be either alone, or with a loved one. Of when you're heaving a headache; the scents of some of the plants and flowers somehow made headaches disappear.
"Ah, right, the Gardens! Ace once told be about that…" Luffy closed his eyes, as if he were trying to reach a long forgotten memory. "Something about that fountain… Ohyeah! He told me that if I ever find someone that I love, I have to take that person to the fountain and congrats!"
"That's confess, you idiot." Zoro said. "And I find it hard to believe that Ace believes that you will actually find someone to confess to. Now let's go find your brother." Drinking the last of his coffee, the freshman left the cup on the table and headed to the exit of the cafeteria. Luffy followed.
"Why's that? There's tons of people that I like and love!" Luffy chirped. "I love Ace of course, since he's my brother. And Nami's like a sister so I love her too. And Nojiko and Vivi. Even Sanji, especially when he gives me extra meat!"
"That's not exactly what Ace meant when he told you about that fountain, kid." Zoro mumbled.
"And I like Zoro!" Luffy continued, not hearing Zoro. He didn't notice the sudden turn of heads and pairs of eyes staring at him. Zoro did.
Trying his best to ignore the whispering and giggling surrounding them, Zoro grabbed Luffy's arm and started to sprint for the exit of the cafeteria. When they were in the hallway, the green-haired teen slammed the door closed and turned to Luffy, but didn't meet his eyes.
"Don't say that in the middle of the cafeteria, dimwhit!" He hissed. "It's frikkin' university, people assume things when you say something like that."
"So?"
"So? What do you mean 'so?'? I don't want the school to think we're… we're… dating or something." He looked up to give Luffy an angry look, but he saw something he hadn't expect at all. Luffy was looking… insulted, even disappointed. Why? "What?"
"Nothing. Nevermind. Let's go find Ace." Luffy answered, his voice a lot softer than normal. He almost sounded cold. The boy left, not looking back to see if Zoro was following.
"What the fuck was that…?" Zoro mumbled to himself. He followed Luffy outside.
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When they reached the Gardens, Luffy was acting normal again. Like a ten year old, he wiggled around the smaller gardens, staring at the pretty colours and tasting some of the spices (which didn't taste very good). After a couple of minutes, the boy had stared at and tasted about everything in the Gardens, and he was reading to keep on walking. When the fountain came in sight (the Gardens were very big), Zoro saw something unexpected again.
Something he wasn't sure Luffy should be seeing.
Only a couple of meters away from them were Ace and Sanji, sitting next to eachother, their backs towards Zoro and Luffy. First, it seemed like they were having a normal conversation, but after a closer look Zoro noticed they were actually holding hands.
"Oh hey, there's Ace, and Sanji! Hey, Oni-sa-" Before he could scream to get Ace's attention, Zoro had grabbed Luffy and covered the boy's mouth with his hand to smother his voice.
"Ssst, don't!" Zoro hissed. He threw a look to Ace and Sanji, but they didn't seem to have heard anything. "They're ehh… busy." He slowly removed his hand from the kid's mouth.
"Busy with what? Ace said he would always make time for me!" Luffy protested.
"I'm sure Ace would do that, but this really isn't a good time, kid." Zoro mumbled. "Now, don't talk so loud and just… let them be." Zoro tried to pull Luffy towards the exit of the Gardens, but stopped when Luffy wasn't protesting. He wasn't doing anything.
"Ey, Zoro. What are they doing…?" The boy softly mumbled. He stared at his brother and the cook with eyes wide open, a shocked look on his face.
Zoro looked around and immediately felt his cheeks getting red. "That… ehh… that would be kissing, kid."
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"I'm sorry I had to drag you away from the kitchen just like that, Sanji-kun." Ace said. "But I guess we need to talk."
"Don't worry about it, my shift was over anyway." Sanji mumbled, trying to reach the lighter he held in his pocket.
"Here." Ace, who wouldn't leave the house with at least fives boxes of matches, lit a match and held it near the cigarette Sanji has in his mouth.
"Thanks." Sanji lit the cigarette and sighed. He suddenly grabbed Ace's hand. "What happened?"
The black-haired man looked at his hand, which was wrapped in bandages and smiled shyly. "Had a little accident this morning. I sort of burned down the curtains."
"Tsk. Idiot." The cook mumbled. He didn't let go of the hand, though. "You really should be more careful, one of these days you'll be burning down the entire building."
"Don't call me that, you know I can't help it." Ace said insulted. It stayed silent between the two for a while, before Sanji spotted something, or rather someone, in the corner of his eyes.
"You're brother's here. And that cactus-guy." He mumbled, taking another draw of his cigarette.
"W-what? But I haven't told Luffy about… you know…" Ace panicked. Sanji squeezed his hand.
"Yeah yeah, I know." He sighed. "Just pretend you don't know he's here. Otherwise, he'll think you don't want him to know about us."
"But he's so young…"
"For God's sake, the kid's 17, Ace!" Sanji whispered.
"Mentally he isn't."
"Good point." Sanji sighed. "Look, he'll understand. He knows what love is. He'll just need a little bit more explenation because we're both guys."
"I guess you're right." Ace sighed and looked down at his hand which Sanji was still holding. He then noticed the blonde reaching forward a bit. The cook touched the student's chin, pulling it up a little so their eyes met again.
"Don't worry so much, idiot." Sanji reached forward and the two met in a loving meshing of lips, making Ace forget all about Luffy at that moment. He closed his eyes and wrapped his free arm around Sanji, enjoying the kiss as much as possible. He felt Sanji's hand, which was still on the student's chin, slide into his black hair.
Talking could be done later.
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"W-why are they kissing?" Luffy mumbled. "I mean, I know boys and girls kiss, but I never saw a boy kiss a boy before…"
"Y-yeah, stuff like that happens too." Zoro stuttered. "Look, why don't we go get some ice cream an-"
"Ooh my, the girls from the shounen-ai fanclub are gonna love this!" Nami mumbled, startling Zoro with her sudden presence.
"Where the hell did you come from?" The freshman hissed.
"Oh, hush, you're just ignorant. I was standing behind you guys all the time." And out of nowhere, the orange-haired girl had taken a camera. "I'm gonna earn some big money with pictures like this!"
"Would you stop that!" Zoro tried to take the camera from Nami, but the girl was quick at dodging the swordsman's attacks towards the camera.
"FINE." Nami finally sighed. "If you can make them touch each other, I might consider giving you ten percent."
"For fuck's sa-" Zoro closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He felt his headache getting worse. "Hey, Luffy, how about some ice cream?"
"Whoa, ice cream!" Luffy's attention was drawn from his brother immediately. "Let's go let's go let's go!"
"I'm coming too!" Nami sang, putting away her camera. "I think I have enough pictures for now and I can't say no to free ice cream."
"Who invited you." Zoro mumbled, but Nami ignored him. "Let's just get out of here, okay?"
"Icecream!" Like he had already forgotten the weird scene he just witnessed, Luffy danced trough the Gardens, singing his famous 'Paina Pura Pura' song.
After leaving the Gardens, finding the snack bar and getting Luffy the biggest ice cream sundae possible, Zoro sat down on the little terrace in front of the snack bar. Nami had wanted the cheapest ice cream there was saying 'it was the best ice cream', though Zoro knew she knew Zoro didn't have a lot of cash. The swordsman bought a soda for himself. And together they were sitting on the terrace.
"Zoro, why did Ace and Sanji kiss?" Luffy suddenly asked, after swallowing all the ice cream at once without getting brain freeze. Zoro almost choked. Nami giggled.
"Look, kid, I'm not sure if I'm the right one to explain stuff like that to you. Why don't you just ask Ace when we're home." Zoro said.
"Why, I don't see a reason why you couldn't explain it to him, Zoro-kun." Nami said with a mischievous grin on her face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro grumbled.
"Oh, so you mean you're not like… Ace and Sanji are…?" Nami smirked.
"Of course not! Why would you think so in the first place?" Zoro hissed.
"You just got this… vibe around you."
"I do not have a vibe around me!"
"What kind of vibe?" Luffy interrupted their arguement.
"Nothing, Luffy, just ignore her." Zoro sighed.
"Oh, so you're already calling him Luffy, without the kun?" Nami's smirk grew bigger and bigger. "Isn't that interesting."
"Stop it right there!" Zoro yelled. "Don't even start, just shut up about it!"
"Oi, Zoro, can't you answer my question?" Luffy whined, before Nami could reply.
"Look, there's just something going on between that lovecook and you're brother, okay?" Zoro said.
"Something like what?"
"Something!"
"No, really, that's gonna make the kid understand." Nami whispered.
"You stay out of this! Why are you here anyway, don't you have to go to the hospital?"
"Nojiko's fine, according to the doctors, her recovery is going fine. I just left to pick up some stuff, but that can wait."
"No, that can't wait, I'm sure she's waiting for you." Zoro grunted. And after seeing his angry expression, Nami decided it was time to get back to the hospital.
"Fine, I'll give you two some private time, if that's really what you want." Nami giggled. "Bye bye Luffy-kun, Zoro-kun." They watched her leave.
"Finally, she's gone." Zoro mumbled.
"Why do you and Nami always fight." Luffy asked innocently, while reaching for the can of soda Zoro was holding.
"We just do, don't worry about it."
"Of course I worry about it, baka, I care about you two!" Luffy snatched the can out of the swordsman's hands and took a sip of whatever was inside. It tasted sweet. Zoro looked at the boy sitting next to him for a while. Why was he always so… happy and energetic? Luffy had no idea two men could have a relationship too, yet, he didn't seem surprised at all after seeing Ace and Sanji. Sure, he was shocked at first, but still; he accepted everything so easily. Perhaps this kid knew what love was after all.
"Ace-kun and Sanji-san…" The freshman started. "They have a relationship, you know. Just like your mom and dad used to have, and Vivi-chan and the guy from the store." He looked at Luffy again, to see if he was listening. And indeed he was, looking at Zoro with wide eyes, like he wanted to know everything there was to know about 'love'.
"They like each other, they might even be in love." Zoro continued. "And when two people love each other, they want to express that, by kissing for example."
"But I love Ace." Luffy said. "Should I kiss him?"
"God no, at least, not like that." Zoro sighed. This kid was oblivious after all. "Liking and loving like this, it's usually between two people who don't really have a relationship besides love. Like when two strangers meet, they start dating and they find out that they like each other. It's not something that happens often between siblings."
"How about friends?"
"Yeah, sure, friendship often evolves to a relationship like that…" Zoro muttered. He really wasn't good at this.
"Are there other ways to express love like that?" Luffy aksed. Zoro looked at him from the corners of his eyes. He sure had a lot of questions.
"Sure."
"Like…?"
"I dunno… giving each other presents or just… telling you love someone. I'm not sure, I've never really… eh…"
"Zoro never had a boyfriend?"
"No, I never had a boyfriend." Zoro grunted. Did Luffy also think he was gay or something? "Or a girlfriend for that matter."
"So… how about sex?"
"W-what?" Well, that was unexpected. "S- Luffy w-what…"
"It's just that, Ace once tried me to explain where babies come from, but that had something to do with a man and a woman." Luffy said. "Does that mean two men can't have a baby?"
"That's… yeah, that's correct." Zoro mumbled.
"So, men can't have sex together?"
"No, well, yeah but… Ehh…" Dear lord, this was going the wrong way. "Two men can still share a bed, but… they just have sex a different… way…" He thought.
"So when men are sharing a bed, they're having sex?"
"N-no, they… NO." Zoro closed his eyes tightly. What had he gotten himself into this time? "People can still share beds without having sex, that's just… ehh… another way of expressing love I guess."
"But what if-"
"Luffy, please stop with the questions!" Zoro pleaded. "Seriously, I don't know anything about love or whatsoever since I never had anyone to love in that way. Please, just ask Ace when we get home!"
"Right, sorry Zoro!" Luffy grinned. "I'm just curious, that's all! But hey, are you feeling alright? You're a bit pale…"
"Yeah, fine." Zoro answered. "I didn't have much sleep. Nightmares and stuff."
"Ah, really? I had a nightmare too! It was really weird." Luffy closed his eyes, thinking deeply. "It was in a building and there were a lot of kids and everybody was wearing the same outfit…"
Wait, that sounded familiar. The swordsman looked at the kid from the corner of his eyes. Was he going to tell more?
"Ah, and there were some adults, but I didn't really like them for some reason. I think they were hurting the children, because one of the other boys looked like he was in a lot of pain." Luffy mumbled, trying to remember the dream. "It was so strange, since Robin was in it too; she was the only nice adult. And… I remember a fire, a big fire! Like huge, the whole building was burning! And then I woke up. Usopp said I was screaming stuff but I don't remember that at all." Luffy laughed.
"W-wha- you don't… Ehh, do you remember anything else, Luffy?" Zoro stuttered.
"You sure you're feeling okay? You're talking weird today!" Luffy answered, trying to balance the empty soda can on the top of his nose. "And no, I really don't remember anything. Except that… that boy that was hurt? I feel like I know that boy, like I still do. It's weird, really."
"Yeah, weird." Zoro mumbled. "Hey, Luffy, I think Ace would've returned to his room by now, why don't you go and ask him those questions, eh?"
"Okay!" Luffy jumped up. "Thanks for the ice cream and the explanations, Zoro! Bye!"
"Bye kid." Zoro lazily lifted his hand as a goodbye wave when the boy disappeared out of his sight. "Bye…"
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That dream, why did Luffy had a dream about the same place Zoro's dreams took place? He never told Luffy about the dreams, and he was sure Ace wouldn't just tell stuff like that to the kid. Then why did he know about it? Apparently it weren't just normal dreams, since Luffy was having almost the same dreams. Then what were they?
Caught up in his thoughts Zoro was walking trough the city. It had been a couple of hours since he had sent Luffy home, so he could think in peace about all this weird dream-stuff. He wasn't getting anywhere, though. He just didn't understand any of it.
The dreams always kind of felt like a memory afterwards. But say these dreams are memories; why did Luffy have the same memories? Did they grew up together? If so, why didn't neither of them remember it. And what on earth had that devil woman Robin had to do with this? Perhaps he should just pay her a visit…
Then again, he really didn't feel like visiting that woman if it wasn't absolutely necessary. He would just ask Ace when he got home. Talking about home, he probably should be heading back by now; it was getting dark.
But which way was home…?
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"Zoro! What happened?" After almost three hours of wandering around, Zoro found the way home. He wasn't sure how he had managed to get so lost, but that really didn't matter any more now he was home. He looked at Luffy, who had asked the question.
"Got lost, that's all." Zoro shrugged.
"Well, don't do that!" Luffy almost yelled. "When you didn't came home I thought you were going to that gym or something, but that was hours ago! I got really worried you know!" He stood up from Zoro's bed and ran towards the green-haired teen, suddenly wrapping his arms around the man's waist.
"Whoa, kid, what are you doi-"
"Ace said I shouldn't worry, since Zoro can take care of himself, but how can I not worry? I care about Zoro!"
"W-wha- Luffy, chill, it's okay; nothing happened and I'm back home now, okay?" Zoro said softly. He looked around and noticed Ace was sound asleep in his own bed. "Look, just get changed and go to bed, oke? I'll try not to get lost again in the future."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Okay…" Luffy finally let go and walked to the closet, where he could change. When the kid closed the door, Zoro decided he could probably use some sleep too. He changed and got into bed, right when Luffy stumbled out of the closet again.
"Ah, right, you still don't have a new bed, right?" Zoro mumbled. "You can sleep here, I'll sleep on the floor."
"Why?" Luffy asked.
"Because I'm not gonna let you sleep on the floor."
"Nobody has to sleep on the floor! Why can't we both sleep in one bed?"
"Luffy, remember that talk we had at the snackbar today, about sharing beds and stuff…?"
"Well, yeah, but if we just sleep, then there's nothing wrong, right?"
"I'm not going to sleep in one bed with you." Zoro muttered. "Besides, these beds are too small for that."
"We can try, right?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Just… no. Don't worry about it, I'll sleep on the floor."
"Stop saying that, stop saying I don't need to worry!" Luffy snapped. "Of course I worry, I don't want you to get cold and have a horrible night because you have to sleep on the floor! Besides, Ace told me about what happened last night, and if anyone should get the bed, it should be you."
"Look, I can handle it, okay? I've slept on the floor before."
"I know, but you're not going to this time!" Without warning, Luffy jumped on the bed, half on top of Zoro, who hadn't managed to get out of the bed yet. "We're just going to sleep together!'
"Seriously, don't say it like that." Zoro mumbled. "Alright, fine, I'll sleep in the same bed as you. However, I have to get up early tomorrow morning, so no whining when you also wake up!"
"No whining!" Luffy repeated. He then crawled under the blankets and tried to get comfortable, without hogging up all the space. Zoro sighed deeply as he tried to get comfortable too, but soon noticed the only way for the both of them to get comfortable was to sleep really close next to each other. And with Luffy moving around the whole time, trying to get comfortable, he knew it couldn't be helped.
Zoro grunted, "Stop moving, damnit." He grabbed the boy and pulled him close, wrapping his strong arms around him. "And don't you dare telling anyone about this."
Luffy giggled softly. "I won't." He whispered, snuggling close to the swordsman, his head resting against Zoro's chest. He actually felt quite comfortable here. No, it was more than comfortable; he felt happy. A happiness that soon was overruled by sleepiness and before he knew it, the boy was sound asleep.
Zoro sighed again. What had he gotten himself into this time?
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That's it. Yeah, I know, it's a lot shorter than other chapters, but this is the only good place to cut it off for now. Anyway, I'm not really happy with this chapter, there's just something seriously wrong with it, and if I had the time I would rewrite it. But I don't have that time, even though it's vacation, so blah. Just enjoy it for now!
Thanks to Cowa for helping me out with her amazing English knowledge 8D Most of my time writing fanfics consists of searching in dictionary's for the right words, lol! Please review and tell me what you thought of the fluff in this chapter! It's my first time writing a kiss and I'm not sure if it's right… Besides, it's past 2 AM right now, so my brain wasn't really clear when writing this chapter, but somehow I only have time to write at night.
Thanks to Digitaldreamer for betareading! Sorry about the wich/which stuff, I just keep forgetting D:
Reviews make Blok happy and a happy Blok who remains a writing Blok (though a slow writing Blok…).