Blooming thoughts
|The next day...|
...
"Uh-huurgh...?"
Opening his eyes abruptly with a confused expression on his face as his hands twitched briefly because of his waking up, Farid suddenly groaned in satisfaction, as began stretching his limbs with an unusually happy expression on his face.
"... Huff... It's morning already, huh?"
Cleaning the drool falling from his mouth with a sleepy expression on his face, Farid looked at the window of his room and squinted his eyes slightly as the sunlight began entering through the curtains. Blinding him momentarily.
-Yawn...-
-Scratch, scratch-
Then, yawning slightly as he began getting up from the bed, Farid scratched his neck with laziness evident in his movement, before he began walking towards the bathroom at a slow pace. Ready to begin his day.
-Creaaaak...-
After that, Farid opened the door and walked straight towards the mirror in order to begin washing his face. Muttering in a low voice with a slight smile on his face as he did so.
-Splash!-
"Damn... I slept like a log... Those brats sure tired me out, huh? I wonder if I should move the house just in case..."
...
Staring at the mirror with a serious expression on his face for a moment as he considered that option, Farid then let out a snort as a smirk appeared on his face.
"Hmph..."
Of course, soon he shook his head in denial, before then picking up a towel to dry his face, which was now completely wet.
-Rustle...-
As he did so, Farid muttered in low voice.
"... Yeah, I don't think so. They might come again, and when they see no house here, they might think they got lost or something. That would be quite bad..."
Then, as Farid finished drying his face, he put the towel down again, before he then looked straight into the mirror as a stoic expression suddenly appeared on his face. His eyes squinting slightly at his reflection.
"... Right...?"
After that, Farid stared into the mirror for a few seconds more in silence.
-Pfft-
However, at that moment, he suddenly let out a chuckle and grinned in amusement.
"What am I saying? I would never do that..."
Then, picking up a comb as he began combing his hair into a very stylish hairstyle, Farid smiled slightly at his reflection, before he then put the comb down and turned around, ready to leave the bathroom and begin with his day.
However, as he left the bathroom, a dark smile rose on his face.
"Yes... I would never do such a thing... Never..."
-Creaaaak-
-Click
After that, Farid closed the door and left.
Whether he would or would not do that, only he knew.
And whether he noticed or not that his hair had turned messy again in less than a second after turning around from the mirror, only he knew.
It appeared that he had quite rebellious hair.
...
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|A few minutes later...|
...
-Creaaaak-
As Farid opened the door of the living room, the sight of the slight mess that the kids had made during yesterday's visit came into Farid's view and made him narrow his eyes slightly.
-Sigh...-
"This is why I don't like visits..."
Letting out a sigh as he shook his head briefly, Farid rolled up his sleeves before he then began tidying up everything that seemed to be out of place.
There were some leftovers from some food that they had together during yesterday's evening, and there was also a lot of sand on the floor due to the kids being really careless about cleaning properly their shoes when going out of the house.
After all, sand is very annoying when it comes to maintaining clean some places.
That little wench enters everywhere. Be it shoes, clothes, food, water, or, just like in this case, the house.
Though, the latter only happens if one is not careful enough to clean their shoes before entering. Which was the case with those kids from yesterday, who, because they were too engrossed in running around, kept bringing more and more sand with them every time they left and entered the house.
-Sigh...-
Sighing slightly as he looked at the mess, Farid shook his head with a resolute expression.
"...The next time they come around, I'll teach them some manners..."
Immediately after that, his face changed after he noticed what he had said.
"... Wait, why am I assuming that they will come again...? Urgh... Let's just ignore it... Focus Farid, focus..."
Frowning slightly as his face turned grumpy, Farid scoffed, as he continued sweeping the sand out of the house while shrugging his previous words aside.
-Click...-
It was at that moment that suddenly the sound of the living room's door reached Farid's ears, and made him turn his eyes in that direction. Raising an eyebrow as he did so when he noticed the figure of Nico Robin entering the room.
Coincidentally, when he looked at her, he met her eyes.
"Ah..."
As they made eye contact, Robin let out a low gasp, before she cleared her throat and greeted Farid.
"Ahem, good morning"
"Oh... Good morning...?"
Raising an eyebrow at her strange behavior after greeting her back, Farid looked at her for a few more seconds in curiosity, before he noticed that Robin appeared to have dark circles under her eyes and raised both eyebrows in surprise. Soon asking her something out of curiosity.
"What, you had problems sleeping last night or something...?"
"What...?"
Having her body shake briefly after hearing Farid's words, Robin touched under her eyes with confusion evident on her face, before she frowned slightly and then cleared her throat. Shaking her head as she looked at Farid.
"No, it's probably your imagination"
Then, turning around and leaving only her back visible to Farid, Robin walked towards the table where she and Farid usually eat, and sat quietly as she placed a book in her hands on the table. Doing her best to ignore Farid's prying gaze landing on her back.
"..."
-Stare...-
Unfortunately for her, soon after that, Farid grinned slightly as an idea occurred to him, and asked her something again with a teasing tone. Snorting slightly as he spoke.
"Heh. Don't tell me you were the whole night planning a way to escape from here without making me alert the marine...? Because I believe I have already told you that you can leave whenever you want"
Shrugging his shoulders after saying that, Farid looked at her with a funny expression on his face, as he waited for her response. Wanting to see the face of someone who had been caught.
However, her face was slightly different from what he expected.
After hearing his words, Robin turned to look at him with a frown on her face as she muttered a "What?" with confusion in her voice.
"..."
Then, after staring at Farid in silence for a few seconds, soon she turned her whole body around to face him and asked with a slightly teasing tone of voice of her own. Making Farid expression rapidly shift from one of expectation to one of disarray.
"Hmm... Do you want me to leave then?"
"Huh?"
Immediately after hearing her words, Farid couldn't help but let out a bewildered snort. Not knowing what to say, as he was taken aback by the type of question.
He wasn't really against her being here, nor in favor. However, no matter which way he answered the question, it would appear like he was either kicking her out of the house or that he wanted her to live with him.
Thus, finding no other solution, Farid clicked his tongue and turned around with his back facing Robin. Answering her with an annoyed tone of voice as he went back to sweeping the sand on the floor.
"Tsk... Do whatever you want"
Hearing his response, Robin widened her eyes for a moment, before she let out a chuckle.
"Fufufu..."
Then, turning her head to look at the table once again, Robin picked up a cup from a nearby drawer, before she began preparing some tea. Seemingly lost in her thoughts as she did so.
Thoughts that, unconsciously, made her start glancing at Farid from the corner of her eyes repeatedly.
'He is always like that, isn't he...?' As she glanced at Farid, Robin couldn't help but remember how he acted ever since he got to know him.
Despite being very blunt, and sometimes plainly rude, he often acted based on the well beings of others. Like when he defeated Crocodile to save Arabasta, or when he fought against Baroque Works while being completely surpassed in terms of sheer numbers, simply to stop them from creating any further chaos in the country.
He had done all of those things. And even then, he had not asked for any reward or compensation, despite him having faced threats that almost no one would be able to face.
Even when he had saved her back there at the Tomb of the kings, and said that she couldn't die until he said so since she was his employee, she could easily tell that it had been a lie to stop her from doing anything rash like handing herself to the marines.
It had been pretty obvious, to be honest. Maybe not at first, since she was upset at him during those moments, but soon after she calmed down, it quickly became apparent to her what Farid's real intentions were at that moment.
'... And yet, even after doing all that, he acts as if he doesn't care...'
Smiling softly, Robin glanced at Farid with a tender gaze.
It was then, however, that her thoughts were cut short, as the kettle finished boiling the water for the tea.
-Screeeech...-
"Ah..."
Noticing herself smiling as the sound of the water boiling reached her ears, Robin's smile immediately disappeared as she turned her gaze away from Farid, blushing slightly as she began pouring water into her cup.
Soon after that, Robin finished preparing her tea and opened the book that she had brought with her. Doing her best to keep her troublesome thoughts away and concentrate solely on the book.
'I can't trust anyone... I know he has helped me, but so have many other people... And all of them turned their backs on me as soon as they would...'
Shaking her head as her gaze began darkening slightly, soon she let out a sigh before she then grabbed the book with both of her hands and got immersed in reading it. Losing track of time after that.
Probably wanting to forget everything she was thinking until now.
Maybe a few minutes passed, or maybe a whole hour passed after that. She did not know. However, at one moment, suddenly she felt a hand touching her shoulder slightly and snapped out of her trance. Turning her head soon to look at whoever had touched her shoulder.
Then, she saw Farid's face looking at her from behind with a curious expression on his face. Making her shake briefly in surprise.
However, as soon as she heard Farid's words, her eyes widened slightly in surprise and she stared at Farid in shock.
"Hey, those symbols in that book of yours are the same as those in that Poneglyph, right?"
Immediately after that, Robin asked back with confusion in her blue eyes. Making Farid sweatdrop a little as he didn't expect such a strong response to his question.
"... You know them? But how? You didn't even get to see the Poneglyph when we went to the Tomb of kings... How do you...?"
However, before she could finish speaking, Farid raised his palm and stopped her, soon answering with a calm expression on his face.
"Uh, no... I saw it"
Hearing him, Robin asked back with even more confusion.
"What...? When?"
Then, an answer she never expected came.
"When I rescued you. I glanced at it for a little as you were still in a slight shock after seeing my gallant figure save you from all that rubble falling on you. I remember most of the symbols there. Though in your book there are some that I don't think we're in that stone block..."
Hearing that, Robin couldn't help but sweatdrop a little as she glared at Farid.
"What...?"
...
-To be continued-
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(A/N: Damn, this chapter took a while to make... it was pretty hard, to be honest...
But hey, here's a new chapter. Let's just hope the next one won't be as hard as this one...
It shouldn't.
Probably.
Anyway, check this Farid picture in a more modern style --->
God bless Ai's. Those things can even replicate One Piece style almost perfectly now... Though, I still edited it a little on my own with photoshop to make the scar on the left eyebrow and his messy hair. Otherwise, it would have looked like some random dude.
In my opinion, It ended up looking pretty epic.
Anyway, that's all for now. Let's hope the next chapter will come out sooner than this one.)