It's been a while since you've seen Crocodile in all his glory. Strangely, whenever you think of the man, you never imagine him in his fullness; it's small little vignettes that tempt you back to him. The broad of his tan shoulders, the gold of a hook that he always managed to keep soft on your skin, the shine that dulled away from his hair, unkempt often around you, the thick scent of his cigars that you'd manage to taste between your teeth like grit and dirt. Missing him is a chore— you haven't seen the man since he'd been spectacularly taken down.

You had expected it. It was the way the world turned, one egotistical man to take down another and when it was Crocodile that was taken down, you got out of there quick with all your savings and your fun. He was a nice few, brief nights, but nothing worth risking your freedom for. Obviously, however, it's different now that he's a free man, no longer stuck in Impel Down with no way of getting to him.

You let yourself reminisce when the news of his escaping Impel Down covers the pages of the Newscoo and then, let the impulse of adrenaline drag you back to his side.

You allowed your eyes to linger on his wide back facing you, himself hunched over a desk and his head leaning into his palm. A giggle is stifled to announce your arrival, sat on the window of his room. His golden hook— a hue of darkened yellow under the dim lighting of his room, threatening to kill— meets you first; then his eyes that relax from a dangerous gaze into an amused look. Soft, you recognise, around the edges as he lowered the hook. "I came to say congratulations on the guild."

He takes two strides to meet you at the window and soon has you on his knee, hand heavy on your hip and not allowing you space from him. "Thought you might have found your fun elsewhere," his voice is full of amusement, hinting at you crawling back to him like you have, "took you long enough to come crawling back."

You squint your eyes at the implication of you tucking your tail between your legs to come back to him— like a dog. Crocodile must know how it sounds, he's a mean and careful tongue in that manner. "No one else keeping up with you?"