longer.blue

[I laughed as the boys put on a dramatic display for my birthday, singing off key and out of sync. Sanji placed the cake on the tabletop. My hands gripped tightly to the back of the chair. I had never had a cake, let alone have someone make me one before. Candles were lit. My eyes followed the flickering glow to each wick. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were fighting over who would get to the cake first. I paused in thought when it was mentioned to make a wish and blow out the candles. I stood thinking and the trio pushed against the table, causing it to flip and the cake to go flying. The flame blew out as the cake smashed against my face when it landed. I stood annoyed as the cake peeled and fell to the floor. Luffy laughed as Usopp and Chopper stared in horror. I wiped my hand over my eyes and fling the glob of cake towards Luffy before I stepped out of the kitchen. I heard Luffy’s laugh cut short as Sanji’s voice raised about the ruined cake on the floor and the lack of thought or care. I hugged my arms over my chest as I walked. I wish I could say this was the worst but it wasn’t. I stepped up the stairs to shower off the mess of cake from my skin. I stood beneath the spray of water, watching as globs of cake and frosting rinsed from my hair. Tears streamed down my face, dripping off my cheeks with the water that sprayed from above. Once it cleared I scrubbed shampoo through it just to make sure it was fully gone. I hated my birthday. The last one I could remember was my eighth. Bellamere made a big deal of it. She made a tangerine pastry with a pinwheel and sang to me. I missed her voice. I missed hearing her tell me not to get upset over the little things. I missed that stupid tangerine pastry. I scrubbed soap over me and rinsed clean before I turned off the water to towel off. I pulled on a fresh set of shorts and a tank top. I used the wind tempo from my clima-tact to dry my hair before I pulled it back from my face and in a high ponytail. I grabbed my clima-tact and clipped it to my shorts as I made my way back to the main deck. I found a spot by one of my tangerine trees. I plucked a tangerine from the tree and pulled a knife from my pocket as I lowered to sit cross legged on the floor of the deck. I use the blade to carefully peel the skin of the tangerine. The memory of my ninth birthday made an appearance, reminding me of the mistake I made in mentioning it to Arlong. He “𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥” it with the crew taking turns in hitting me, claiming it was my “𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵” it should’ve only been nine wacks but after it felt like it was a thousand. I never mentioned my birthday again after that. My birthday no longer existed. That was until I let it slip to Sanji. I sniffle a bit as I bring my hand to wipe the tear from my cheek. My mind was lost in the shitty memories and the emotions that still haunt me. I hadn’t even heard Sanji step behind me. I felt his hand on my shoulder, flinching at the unexpected touch. I looked up to see his expression. A mix of angry and sad as he looked at me. Sometimes I wondered if he could read my mind. “𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎…” I raised a hand and stopped him.] 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝒸𝒸𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝒮𝒶𝓃𝒿𝒾. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓀𝑒. 𝒲𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉.. 𝑒𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝐿𝓊𝒻𝒻𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒾𝓃 𝑔𝑒𝓃𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁. [“𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚗.. 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐?” I flinched when his hand raised to catch the tear rolling down my cheek. I pulled back and took his hand, holding it between both of mine as I pulled it towards my chest. I wasn’t sure if it was to reassure me or him.] 𝐵𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉— 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹… 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒… 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒻𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃’𝓉 𝒶𝒸𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓁𝑒𝒹𝑔𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒… 𝐵𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇𝑒— 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓃… 𝒜𝓇𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝒸𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓁𝑒𝒹𝑔𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃.. [I watched as Sanji’s features softened. He pulled his hand back slowly, needing to light the cigarette that hung from his lips. I nodded. “𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚞𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝚂𝚊𝚏𝚎. 𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜.” I took the cigarette from his lips and took a long pull before I handed it back. I held the smoke in before I let it go in a long stream.] 𝒞𝒶𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒾𝓉’𝓈 𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉’𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝓅𝓊𝒻𝒻 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒶𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔? [I lifted the Tangerine from where I had dropped it and finished carving the peel. I shaped the peel to resemble the pinwheel and pinched the ends together between my index and third finger to hold it together. I held it up towards him as the other handed him the peeled tangerine.] 𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝓃 𝒶 𝓉𝑜𝑜𝓉𝒽𝓅𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝒸𝓀? 𝒲𝒶𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒻𝓊𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓁𝑒. [I smiled as my eyes met his. He nodded with a smile of his own before he pushed himself up to stand. I watched as he walked back towards the kitchen. I lowered my head for a moment as I wiped the tear that had trailed my cheek. I felt the nudge of a bottle against my arm. I turned to see Zoro, a serious expression as he offered the bottle of Sake in his hand. I took it and popped the cork free before taking a sip from it. Before I could hand it back Zoro was already climbing the ropes. “ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴏᴏᴋ ꜱᴀɪᴅ, ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇᴀᴋ ʙᴀꜱᴛᴀʀᴅ ʀᴜɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴅᴀʏꜱ! ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏᴏ ꜰᴀʀ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴀʟʟ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴅᴀʏꜱ.” I raised the bottle of Sake towards him with a smile. I brought the sake to my lips and took a longer pull from it, pausing when I realized Zoro actually shared his Sake with me; he never shares his Sake. A grin stretches my features, he really was my best friend. For once I didn’t feel so alone anymore.]