I'm still about this story~
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They're headed to the cafeteria at about eleven thirty, walking on a special pathway designated for pedestrians that's cut off from the road by large, yellow-dyed concrete blocks. Despite the midday sun mercilessly bearing down on them, Lucci continues wearing his suit jacket, seemingly unaffected by the heat. Trucks drive past them in droves – the majority going towards the warehouse where customs just finished their inspection of the cargo – and the fumes of exhaust pervade the sweltering air, thick already with the smell of industry and the sea.
The chain-linked fence that separates the backyard of a private storehouse from the port's public area, sways lightly against a sea breeze that sticks to the skin the same way the heat does.
Luffy skips ahead a few steps, swirls around wildly on his heels and walking backwards, goes on about how funny the captain looked when Lucci started to question him. With his arms crossed casually behind his head, Lucci can clearly see the boy's pit stains, and grimaces contemptuously. His chatter's punctuated by the cawing of seagulls flying overhead.
"—and his face!" Luffy exclaims, not able to get another word in before he bursts out in laughter. Recalling how much the captain resembled a cartoon pig with his puffed-out, flustered cheeks and lower lip trembling in barely-concealed fear
"I know. I happened to be there too," Lucci grits out, tightening his grip on the handle of his briefcase and stuffing his other hand in the pocket of his pants. While the intention behind his brusque reply was to silence Luffy, it only seems to spur him on instead.
Rolling his eyes at how eagerly the boy recounts all the weird stuff they found in some of the containers – snake hides, contraband Chinese medicine, dried herbs and flowers, and a whole crate of living frogs! – Lucci wonders what it'd take to make this kid shut up. His gaze falls on the two vending machines a bit further down the sidewalk and he quirks an eyebrow.
Lucci comes to a standstill, clicks his briefcase open one-handedly and interrupts Luffy mid-sentence when it becomes clear he isn't going to stop talking any time soon, "I'm getting a drink. Do you want something too?"
At the somewhat sheepish expression on the boy's face when he's patted down the pockets of his pants and came up with some loose change and a crumpled thousand-yen bill, Lucci lightly shakes his head and says between pursed lips, "You can put that away. It's my… treat."
"Really?!" Luffy asks, wide-eyed. He doesn't bother waiting for a reply though, just shy of dashing over to the vending machine and going over the options with his forefinger pressed against the plastic.
He's lost count how many times the boy made him sigh today and so, doesn't care to stifle the curt sigh when he moves to walk after him. Standing still makes him uncomfortably aware of the sweat trickling down the length of his spine, anyway.
Luffy gets a bottle of sweetened milk tea and a box of strawberry-flavored pocky to snack on, while Lucci settles for a can of ice-cold Boss coffee that's still too sugary for his tastes.
"Thanks! I kind of thought you didn't like me, y'know, but I guess you do after all!" Luffy says bluntly, in between bites, trying to gobble up two to three pocky in one-go and spilling pink frosting over that too-big, store-bought shirt of his. "This is so good!" He exclaims, stretching out the 'so' and shoving another pocky half-way down his throat.
Narrowing his eyes at the boy's atrocious manners, Lucci chides matter-of-factly, "Swallow whatever's in your mouth first. Then talk. Please."
He cracks open his can of coffee, the sudden sound nothing more than a hiss against the rumble of the trucks' engines, and tips his head back as he drinks. A white van drives them by and the guy in the passenger's seat flicks something out of the window and from his peripheral Lucci thinks to recognize him as one of the crane operators in Iceburg's team.
Casting a glance over his shoulder, he sees the trunk of the van disappear around the bend and a cigar's butt left to smolder pathetically on the asphalt.
Paulie, he concludes with a sneer on his face, of course it's Paulie, who else would be so stupid to light up a cigar even after four reprimands and with all the non-smoking signs around?
The building for Customs and Police sheds its long shadow all the way across the street. The large '9' bolted against the wall above the entrance is unable to contrast against the white cement of the building with its faded black paintjob. Lucci grabs Luffy by the shoulder to prevent him from trekking onwards, oblivious and munching on the last of his pocky, and tells him this will be his workspace for the semester.
When they pass through the automatic glass doors and the rush of cold air from the air conditioning hits them face-first, Kalifa looks away from the two monitors on the receptionist desk and pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Behind her, there's a huge panorama shot of Kobe's harbor hung up against the wall. Kalifa's stares at them with her brows arched high and a slight, self-satisfied smile curled up on her lips.
Lucci briefly wonders if she knew beforehand who his intern was and how much of a headache he was turning out to be. She even has the gall to wave coyly at them.
And Luffy, who was downing half his bottle of milk tea in one go, interpreted her wave as a reason to walk on over and say hello. He's a lot quicker on his feet than his wit is, limber and careless like a street rat looking to scrap, a bounce in his step as he bounds over.
With a curt 'plop', he puts down his bottle, slightly wet from the vending machine, onto the receptionist's desk and Kalifa's smile falters slightly at the sight.
"I'm Luffy and I'm new here," Luffy runs his mouth, forgetting to begin his introduction with a short 'hello'. "Pleased to meet you! Are you the person that weird customs manager told me to see for my badge? Oh yeah, this is—" he turns around to point at Lucci who unhurriedly makes his way over too, gripping the handle of his briefcase so hard that his knuckles become a bone white, "—my teacher, or something like that. Does he have to come along too?"
"I'm your supervisor," Lucci corrects promptly, not missing a beat, and gives Kalifa a nod in acknowledgement.
Kalifa rests her chin on the back of her hand and looks up at them from behind her glasses, with half-hooded eyes; her mouth drawn in that self-satisfied, tight-lipped smile from earlier again. "Didn't Spandam say that you were to see me after your shift?" She asks, her sly tone of voice betraying that mean streak their superior is so afraid of.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Luffy sheepishly admits, "I wasn't really paying that much attention."
"I suggest you do from now on," Kalifa answers readily, briefly glancing at Lucci from the corner of her eyes before looking back at Luffy again. "Your shift ends at two thirty, but I'm sure Lucci's already told you as much—"
Her mouth thins into a straight line when the sudden rumble of Luffy's stomach interrupts her. Clutching his abdomen in embarrassment, he whines to no one in particular, "I'm so hungry."
Pouting like earlier this morning when he was told he wasn't allowed to go on the container ship, he then turns to Lucci and pleads, "Can we go eat now?"
Behind them, the double glass doors slide open again and three police officers on their lunchbreak enter the building, joking and laughing as they take the corridor right, towards the cafeteria. They have the sleeves of their uniforms rolled up to the elbows and sweat gleaming on their foreheads.
Lucci hauls a hand through his hair, getting some more hairs loose from his ponytail, and mutters, "Didn't you just have a snack?"
"That only made me hungrier!" He retorts petulantly; with his big, brown eyes open-wide and his jaw set angrily, he has this uncanny resemblance to a defiant puppy. It takes a couple of handfuls of Lucci's self-control not to lash out at the brat, or smack him over the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.
Loudly scraping her throat, Kalifa attempts to draw their attention back on her again. "Please," and it takes effort to make the word sound even a bit sincere, Lucci can tell. "Stop by after your shift so we can take a picture for your badge."
"Uhm? Oh, right! Sure lady," the boy answers, in that happy-go-lucky way of his. A grin on his face now that he's convinced they'll head off to the cafeteria right away to eat. "It was nice meeting you," he adds as he takes his bottle of milk tea and turns to the corridor on the left. Lucci sighs and grabs him by the shoulder, stopping him in his tracks, hissing that it's the other way. His shoulder's slender, bony almost.
Kalifa pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose again; the steel blue of her eyes adds to the compassionless look she gives Lucci as he drags the boy away. He glares at her and she offers a tight-lipped smile in return, as if to say: have fun with your problem.
Because most officers and government personnel aren't on lunchbreak yet, the cafeteria isn't that crowded. There are two main entrances; one at the front where the food court is and one at the back, and the opposite wall's lined with large rectangular windows. The blinds are down however, and the sunlight filters through in a dull orange, casting a strange glow on the tables closest to the wall. Luffy bounces from one fridge to another, skimming through the bento boxes and side-dishes.
Grabbing a tray from the stack next to the door, Lucci taps the brat on the shoulder and shoves it against his chest, muttering, "Here. You forgot this."
"Thanks!" Luffy yells cheerfully and props the tray on the counter before giving the buffet his undivided attention again, rubbing his chin pensively as he tries to decide what to get.
There's a selection of skewered fried vegetables and meats, octopus dumplings, steamed pork buns and pressed sushi, with the price tags neatly in front of each plate. He pulls the thousand-yen bill out of his pocket and scrunches his nose. Lucci waits for him near the check-out counter, leaning against the wall, briefcase placed next to his feet and arms crossed over his chest. It takes the boy a good five minutes to decide.
When Luffy teeters over, practically salivating over the food on his tray, Lucci comments dryly, "Took you long enough."
"Everything looked so good," the boy whines, trying to keep up with Lucci's long, determined strides while balancing the plates and bottle of milk tea on his tray. "Eh? Where's your food? You don't want me to share, right?" He asks when they settle down at a table in the back corner and he finally notices Lucci wasn't carrying a tray this entire time.
Scoffing at the inane questions, Lucci puts his briefcase down on the sleek, chrome tabletop, clicks it open and pulls out his lunchbox. Yesterday's leftovers consist of linguini, tuna and a creamy tomato sauce with olives.
The boy's eyes grow big like saucers. "Did you make that yourself? So cool!"
"Yes, I did…" He doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence as the boy suddenly snaps his throwaway chopsticks open and tries to snatch some food from his lunchbox. Reflexively, Lucci smacks the back of his hand with the flat of his fork and warns, "Do that again and I'm jabbing my fork into your hand."
"I just wanted to try some…" Luffy murmurs dejectedly, bringing the full force of his puppy dog eyes onto Lucci before staring hungrily at the lunchbox again.
Give him an inch, Lucci thinks sourly before muttering an 'itadakimasu' under his breath and twirling some linguini around his fork. He takes a bite, watching how the brat delves into his own meal with much gusto. More people file into the cafeteria, crowding the food courts and talking loudly, police officers and customs administrators alike. Watching them while eating, Lucci tries to spot some of his colleagues from inbound; he thinks to recognize Blueno over at the refrigerators but he's sitting too far to know for sure.
"Hey, uhm..." Luffy trails off, scratching the back of his head while trying to figure out what Lucci's name was again. "You. What do we do around here if there isn't anything to inspect anymore?"
"What do you mean what do we do around here?" He retorts after swallowing down some tuna and pressing a napkin against his mouth. His lips feel slick from the sauce. "You…" Lucci almost can't believe this, but honestly, there wasn't much else to expect. "You don't have a clue about what we do here, do you?"
The brat has the audacity to shrug nonchalantly, as if he doesn't care in the world.
"Not really." He says before gulping down a dumpling whole. He smacks his lips loudly and continues, "Gramps got me in, being all like you need a steady job after you graduate and I know this weirdo who works at customs whose dad still owes me or something. And now I'm here for the semester." While speaking, he imitates his grandfather's expressions and at the end of his sentence, he's grinning widely as if Lucci should be happy about that.
He furrows his brows and takes a steadying breath, mentally counting down from ten to one, like he would in the gym before a sparring session.
"You're taking this all very lightly," Lucci responds, managing to keep his voice even, a cool smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Too lightly." He stabs into his lunchbox and twirls the last strands of linguini around his fork as he says this. "We'll have to work on that, and we're starting right away."
When he catches Luffy watching the food with so much longing he almost falls off his chair, Lucci's unable to shake the feeling that he's facing a challenge, like a well-trained opponent in the ring or a particularly difficult case. All that's sitting in front of him however, is a wide-eyed, infuriating brat.
Still, it's this itch for a challenge that makes him rethink his decision of turning the assignment as the boy's supervisor down.
Deliberately, he brings the fork slowly to his mouth and takes a big, satisfying bite, enjoying the way the boy's posture deflates, pouting and resting his chin on his forearm. He's still going to have a talk with Spandam to twist the odds in his favor however, to make him a bit more lenient regarding Lucci's teaching methods.
"So…" Luffy pipes up, stretching his right arm and resting his cheek against his shoulder, gaze flicking from a spot on the table to Lucci's face. "Can I go grab dessert now?"
He shoves his fork into his lunchbox, the metal clanging hollowly against the plastic, and deadpans, "Lunchbreak's over." When the brat starts to protest –Oi! I have enough coins for a mochi! Can't I get one, please? See! I used 'please'–he simply pushes his chair back, stands up and cleans up, saying, "We're leaving. Now." Luffy's face falls at his words and he ruthlessly smiles him down in return.
Lucci only plays to win.
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