#kandyku

They'd send the Spade pirates home with a doggy bag and an extra bone for Yam as compensation. Right now Rio would have much preferred the rowdiness Kaido's son brought as opposed to the "guest" Andy personally wanted there.

Strawhat Luffy, of course, was banned altogether. Ace could vouch for one brother but he was fully aware of the chaos that the other brought, and no one here wanted to deal with the Marines' armed militia or some secret villain this island actually housed ruining the function.

Robin was allowed to bring her hubby because Koala wanted her there and Brook of course supplied the music for the night at Andy's request, both men openly sobbing at different points of the evening over "young love" - but three Strawhats were already more than Rio was willing to swing normally.

Andy and Koala had gotten them to sit down for a short forty-five minutes to eat and Rio even played the piano with Brook's accompaniment on the violin, stealing a kiss or two from their captain's table, letting Alba fix his dress shirt while they talked about where the kids would go from here with Violet, watching Katakuri and Kaku both flounder at social interaction under a little teasing.

From scrutinizing the catering's plating and flower arrangements clipboard in hand, to yelling at Ace for being faced down in his hors d'oeuvres. All of this between keeping a close eye on the happy couple, Rio would consider the night more or less a success.

As the festivities died down and Rio slipped away for a smoke, that damn toy finally crept out from the shadows. Sabo cleaned up nice in his freshly laundered three-piece with that ridiculous top hat and cravat he insisted on wearing everywhere but Rio saw right through him.

Buttons for eyes hanging lose on old thread, fabric thinned from being put in the wash one too many times, bits of stuffing trailing his every step. It was so worn and battered you'd think they'd let the family dog have a go at it before coming here.

Someone with no face in the mirror desperately cobbling together a human veneer.

"You've been avoiding me all night."

"Yet you still can't seem to take hint, can you?"

Sabo's expression pinched at the utter lack of emotion in that response, teeth set so tightly against each other he might just reset his jaw. He wasn't even worth looking at.

"Why."

"What?" Rio turned with their eyebrows knitted in the way that Sabo could recognize as annoyance. Okay, he could work with annoyance.

"I mean why are we always like this, why couldn't we just sit down and have a nice, normal—"

"I avoided you because I wanted to have a pleasant evening without any of this "nicety" nonsense," Rio flicked their gaze below to light up another cigarette, "you know I'm the last person that wants you here, so I don't understand why do you keep pushing."

When their eyes met again hers were once again cold and as Rio turned to leave. Losing that inch of expression that he managed to eek out from them, even if through irritation, Sabo felt his stomach hit the floor.

"I don't get why you keep running away from me, why do you hate me so much? Anything I do isn't enough for you, so just tell me how I can fix this! Why—Why did you abandon me?!"

Sabo laid chase. He was losing important ground, what exactly that was supposed to mean he couldn't quite parse right now. In a mild state of panic, he grabbed Rio's arm in an attempt to get them to stay. Instead, he felt the reflexive flinch, saw the look in her eyes, right before Rio yanked it away.

Oh.

"Rio, I-"

"Stop trying." They punctuated their words with a step back up the stairwell, until they stood at full height again.

"If you pulled your head out of your ass for as long as it takes you to lie to yourself non ti illuderesti che non ci sia una buona ragione per cui sei qui. You are here, because of whatever good graces luce dei miei occhi Constantine still has for your presence."

Rio always towered over Sabo even back when he was young and they still had a good relationship but little else made him feel as small as how he did in this moment right now as they walked him back to the railing.

"What you will not do, Sabo, is stand here and pretend that you are the most put upon man in the world because I won't waste my night listening to you blow smoke up everyone's ass.

We did our best to keep you out of Dragon's reach because she knew he'd turn you into a monster and we lost everything. I didn't have my future go up in flames just for you to destroy Andy's happiness on a selfish whim, quindi non puoi sederti qui and whine to me about being left behind."

For the first time in—fuck, forever, he guessed—Sabo saw what genuine anger looked like on Rio's face.

But for all the guilt and regret that he regularly tamped down beginning to swirl and spiral inside of him, the central emotion that maybe even protected his mind from the rest of those heavy feelings was confusion at one particular word.

""We"?"

Rio's gaze took on a frightening chill, like they'd accidentally exposed something precious and unfathomably raw, before it slipped back into that usual blank slate.

Just behind the shape of their shoulders, Sabo barely made out the glow of Haki in someone's eyes before an unbelievable pressure threatened to crush him. Rio simply turned with a passive raised hand, "I'm fine, Kat. Lets go back for dessert."

Sabo couldn't see her face anymore but he could almost hear how exhausted Rio was. And with a few clicks of their heels down the stairs, Sabo was left to catch his breath alone.