#gloryredwrites

Listening to Shanks brings back a rather bittersweet feeling at the pit of his gut, it has been so many years and yet, despite everything, he could barely bring himself to properly stare the other in the face, or listen to his voice worn by the time and events surrounding him.... which if he were to guess, had been rough here and there. It wasn't worry, not at all, never ever, it was just a curiosity buried well deep beneath all the vits that bithered him about the other, about the jealousy and the inferiority complex, many thungs that kept blinding Buggy impeding him from actually wonder why it felt so-- weird, this did, not in a bad way, not in the best one either. Something was amiss.

He had to admit the bastard had some good points witht that argument, but he knew of other two that would argue with him that it would be best to keep a distance from him. To hell with that. There's a lot of unresolved feelings and time was, if anything, drawing thinner for two of them, the wind had been changing, the world too, if there there ever was a good time for them to cross paths again it was right then and there.

From the corner of his eye he sees the other Yonko drink with extra ease, but he doesn't question it, why should he when he never asked about more obvious things? And yet he felt it was a bit too kate to start even showing any amount of worry. None of that was needed.

-I've missed my best friend-

Simple yet effective, Buggy almost jumps hearing that, but he manages to somehow keep his cool. He wants to yell at him again, if he had missed him so much then why did he never come back to him? But he isn't one to be reproaching such things when he is culprit of them as well. He never reached out and just let resentment eat him alive, trying to get rid of all the moments they spent together, of the good and bad, but specially the good so it hurt less.

Snatching the bottle from his hand, trying not to think too deeply about the smeared red on his lips, the clown tries to down the rest of the bottle himself, attempting to put an end to his train of thought. ENOUGH ENOUGH ENOUGH!!!!!

"MnPgh-pHhAwww---" coughing a bit, almost choking there at the end, he passes Shanks a new bottle while the one on his other hand is left with just a sip worth of liquid. "YoU are--- you are..... GOD, I hate you so much, you bastard!!!" Of course, he wouldn't be able to say it in another way for a bit, not yet. "You wanted to see me anD how long did that take you, huh?! ACK- nevermind!! JUSt. Cheers, you son of a bitch-!" And leaning close to clink both their bottles he finished what was left of his own.

"LiSten. If you are waiting for me to admit how much I have missed you as well, you are dead wrong, redhair!" But he did. So so much. "I'm still mad at you! Just because you come here, tail between your legs, handing me a piece of shared memories won't make me admit that I missed you too------ nOT. Not like. I did. Not at all!!" Struggling already? After just half a bottle? He was worse than he thought himself to be. "Aghh... you are so frustrating, you knew that? I feel you haven't changed at all! Annoying face, annoying voice, stupid words---" at some point he had started tugging at Shanks' cheek as he spoke, letting go after realization hit him. "Same-- idiot as back then"

Slowly his blue eyes return over the shape of the other man, tentatively as if he didn't want to get caught staring back-- even if that would be the normal thing to do. Just then is when he catches onto that kind smile of his, one he had known so well and seen so many many times, yet there was a difference there he wished he could just ignore. It's been so long.

"Hmn? Whatcha got there?" Curious as ever at the prospect of a gift he is stepping closer, internally happy that he had been thoughtful like that, expecting gold or pretty and expensive jewellery, maybe some interesting treasure maps to follow, but what he gets shown instead is something far less frivolous.

Now. It does take him a few seconds to process it, it attacks directly to his excitable heart and it almost, almost makes him fall into a pathetic display in front of Shanks. THANK LORD He didn't, else he wouldn't be able to outlive the shame that would follow.

"That's ---" even though years have passed the label and bottle shape remained the same, just like back then, he could almost taste it on his tongue already, the strong flavours accompanied by the salty breeze and laughs left and right. Even when he missed it, he had made his best to move on from all of that by now, yet a small indulgence like the one they might be about to have now wasn't so bad. Or maybe he was still trying to lie to himself about that moving on thing.

"Heh, you truly are--" his mumble moves to silence as Shanks' voice rings back up, listening as his hands rest over his hips, head tilted to look back at him again with an amused smirk that he tries his best to make look as genuinely confident as he can, body tensing up at the mention of Mihawk remembering his-- co-partners. Co-stars. EvEn THoUgh It's HIS SHOW, DAMN IT. His show, his protagonism, his group!

"Of course you have seen them!! As you said they are all over the place! As they must!! Hehehe..... yeaaahh, they came to me asking for a place there, how could I say no? It would be stupid if I did! They are great a-" he coughs a bit, already feeling their heavy glares over the back of his head, trying not to let his voice break. "Assets!! Very strong, very useful, doing great work under good ol me-- because I'm at the top! I am. Mn-hmn! I am the strongest of them anyways!" He speaks rather quickly there, his eyes shifting around a little even when he is trying to sell out the concept of the Cross Guild being different than what reality hides underneath and trying his hardest to just brush over any mentions of power levels. If they could hear him right now........ a shiver.