Zoro woke up to an empty bed, highly unusual considering that Hawkins rarely rose before he did. Zoro yawned as he rolled out of bed and headed for the kitchen.
The balcony drapes where open, Hawkins silhouetted against the slowly brightening sky.
Curious the offer headed out to the balcony, the smell of cigarettes expected, the vodka was not.
“Morning”
He leaned on the railing by Hawkins, his voice still rough with sleep.
{ ✠ } —— The evenings where the dark was quiet and himself quieter still, his mind elicited the loudest noises. Ash from old cigarettes sat heavy in his lungs, as was the vodka down his gullet long after the bottle was done. Hours ticked by slowly, quiet reminders that he was no longer in the past. What were nightmares to a man who killed off his emotions?
Waking to the clarity of all of his men dead, cleaved to pieces as he had done many times before without batting an eye, would do it perhaps. Ah, whose motive was stronger then- his own, or the Family? It didn’t make sense that these thoughts would plague the blonde now, more than a decade after he had already been in the business. This line of work was all but typical- routine, even. Then what---
Zoro’s morning greeting jarred him from his thoughts when he turned from where he’d been looking over the balcony His eyes were alert in spite of the glaze sheen reflecting in them, rimmed with a sleepless night when finally looking over at his partner. It took a moment for him to speak.
“So it is.” Something like relief sounded in his voice as he moved from the railing, arm reaching out to Zoro to confirm the other was actually there. His expression softened by a margin while gathering the other against him. “Morning..”