2025.04.25 drabble

[mekachu04]

kidd stared down at killer, stared down at where his shirt buttons had popped off in their rough-housing, stared down at the soft fabric cupping a full round breast just hair's breadth from his fingertips where his hand rested in the tangle of killer's shirt along the bottom of his rib cage.

a breast that was heaving, killer still trying to catch his breath from where kidd had him pinned. trying to pull free the hand trapped behind kidd's knee. trying to pull free the hand that kidd had his own fist tight around his wrist. killer who'd otherwise gone as still as death under kidd, and just as quiet.

Kidd was fighting his every instinct to touch the bra, to feel the breast to see if they were real or some kind of trick. He'd poked Victoria's once and she'd nearly strangled him, the memory of it the only thing staying his curiosity. "You got tits," kidd said finally.

Killer... killer looked scared. "I do," he whispered, watching kidd with wide, terrified blue eyes. Kidd wasn't sure he'd ever seen killer scared before, and that scared him.

kidd hated feeling scared. scared didn't fix things. scared didn't keep them safe. "When'd you get tits?!" he demanded. Anger kept you safe. Anger protected you.

killer swallowed thickly, tongue wetting his lips before he tried to smile at kid, "started grown' 'em myself a few years ago." he tried to make light of it, only to flinch when kidd looked at him like he was a stranger, grip tightening painful on the fine wrist bones under his fist.

"...kidd?"

shaking his head as if to deny the reality under him, kidd let killer go, pushing up off the ground and stumbling back away from him. "kidd?" killer tried again, only for Kidd to shake his head in denial again.

"Why are you a woman?"

killer didn't seem to know what to say to that, sitting up and trying to pull his shirt closed, "I'm sorry. kidd, I'm sorry..."

Kidd continued to back away.

"Please... kidd?"

Instead kidd turned heel and fled.

---

Kidd wandered the streets for the next few hours, uncertain how to feel about the day's turn of events.

like his entire relationship with his best friend has just been shown to be fake from the start. He'd known killer his whole life, the time before him just fragments of memories that might not be more than just a dream.

but... had he known killer at all? the strange angry boy with the mop of wild blond hair who'd bit kidd's bully the first time they'd met. bit kidd a few times too in those early days, but to be fair, kidd had bitten him back.

the boy who'd shoved a smashed cabbage roll at him when they'd lay hiding from the angry older boys, kidds empty stomach grumbling angrily for all the running they'd done with nothing to eat for days up until then. Kidd had inhaled it before he'd even realized what it was, only to hear the other kid's angry empty stomach complain next to him.

the boy he'd come to know as killer's sheepish little smile at his side, before turning his back to kidd to watch for danger. who trusted kidd from the word go to not be 'danger'

trusted kidd to watch his back.

but not enough to tell him he was a girl the whole time.

kidd didn't know what he was supposed to do with this.

The two of them had been shacked up in a condemned section of an older apartment complex - the locks really nothing more than child's play to kidd's developing devil fruit skills. they were far from the only degenerates holed up in there, but no one got past kidds locks.

at least no one except killer; kidd never figured out how he snuck in and out, but when kidd returned, the locks were still all in place, but no one was inside. killer's meager things were gone too, a space left just for kidd. For the first time, kidd was... alone.

the only sign killer had once shared this place with him was a windup robot kidd had made years before, holding a little sign reading 'tha mi duilich'

Kidd wasn't sure he could remember what he'd done back then, but killer hadn't talked to him for days. more so, he'd given kidd a cold shoulder. Kidd had finally won him over with his little marching soldier. the one sitting on the cracked and warped countertop, his childish handwriting recently traced over with killer's own shaky hand.

he might have messed this one up.

---

One would think living in each other's pockets for the last decade would give kidd some idea where killer would go. but it had been three days, and he still hadn't found him. or was it her now?

Kidd looked at the little windup toy, rubbing his thumb over the fresh ink on the sign.

He wandered back to a place he'd swore to never return to - a noodle joint the gangs had run out of business a year or so back, but the smell of curry forever stinking up the air. They'd all been friends still, before his big mouth went and ruined that.

There was an older homeless camp nearby, tucked up under one of the bridges. He and killer had lived there for a while, back when victoria would sneak out to see them, the lack of an actual roof overhead sometimes safer then the home that had one. The gangs and hooligans would come by from time to time when they were bored, but otherwise most everyone turned a blind eye to them. pretended they didn't see the group of too old or too young wasting away under their feet.

He almost missed her, the outsider, not yet welcomed into the fire circle, but allowed to loiter in the safety of the light it gave off at night. dirty blanket pulled up tight, hood keeping her raggedy blond hair out of sight, scarf pulled up around her neck to keep her face from view. even huddled in on herself, kidd knew killer anywhere.

She didn't look up when he approached, made no move to acknowledge him; all the proof kidd needed that she knew he was there. He sat next to her, facing the other direction. watching her back. letting her watch his.

"How come you never told me?"

"For a long time, I thought you knew. By the time I released you thought I was a boy too... I didn't know how to tell you." She was quiet, her voice rough. tired. "you didn't.. you didn't treat me like the other boys did. I was afraid that if i corrected you, that you'd treat me differently. treat me like the other boys do. nobody's ever thought i was a boy before, and i was scared that was the only reason you and i were friends."

"not friends."

she didn't make a sound, just nodded, hanging her head.

"Victoria and us were friends. friends leave, say they hate you, then don't ever come back."

Killer looked up at that, wary but willing to hear him out.

"Maybe we were friends in the beginning. long time ago. but we haven't been that in ages." he slumped against her side, resting his head on her shoulder, "we've been partners way longer than we were ever friends. .. at least.. I thought we were."

"partners?"

"yeah. you and me. kidd and killer. 'sold as a set, do not separate' "

"you're not mad at me?"

kidd sighed, turning slightly so he was practically snuggling into the filthy blanket over her shoulder, "I shouldn't of been mad in the first place. I just.. didn't know what else to do. but i shouldn't of left you like that. and i won't leave you like that again. even if i don't understand."

---

"Did Victoria know?"

"no.. well.. maybe. She was always the smartest of us." killer fiddled with a lock of her hair, "I never told her, but... she probably knew. I think she knew my interest in her period and stuff was more than just passing curiosity. but she never called me out on it."

"so... are you a girl then? or do you want me to still call you a boy?"

she looked exhausted at the question, kidd wasn't sure he'd ever seen such a soul weary look on her face before. "I dunno, to be honest? Am i a girl, really? if I spend all my time hiding it from everyone?"

"do you.. are you gonna keep hiding it then?"

killer was quiet for a long time, pulling her knees in close and hugging them as she said nothing.

Kidd rested his head on her back. she didn't have to say it. they both knew.

kutzk was never a safe place for those on the streets. and more so for the girls.

"maybe sometimes, when it's just us. you can be a girl then?"

She had to smile at that, despite the tears that started to fall at some point.

at least at the end of the day, girl or boy, she had kidd in her corner.