Stop Smoking, We Love You

I wrote a little thing based on @unkat's chilaios EMS AU, which has consumed my little pea brain. you don't need a whole lot of context though. 1k words, cw mentions of medical trauma, smoking, drugs. title comes from the car seat headrest song which makes me misty eyed thinking about my stupid boys.

Chilchuck relished the icy cold breeze on his sweaty face as he burst out into the rear parking lot of the hospital, the one for the employees that visitors still park in. He patted himself down until the sharp corner of a fresh pack of Newports hit his palm, and he remembered he’d been trying to use the inside pockets after he’d accidentally dropped a pack during a call and wasted thirteen bucks and tax before he’d even opened the damn thing. He was fortunate enough to have remembered his lighter, too; Senshi’s visiting family this weekend and he has no one else to bum a light from. He’d gotten in trouble the last time he asked a patient out of desperation.

He flicked his zippo and lit it in one smooth motion, a party trick that had long worn out its novelty and was just about to put it to the menthol-cool cigarette between his lips when two large hands entered his vision. One clapped the zippo shut and the other pinched the cig by the filter, tugging both out of Chilchuck’s grip.

“Yoink.”

“You mother fucker—”

Laios laughed as Chilchuck lunged after the precious nicotine clutched in his big hands, held just out of reach.

“This doesn’t look like twenty feet to me,” Laios grinned.

“I was going to hold it in until I reached the grass, fuck off, alright?”

“Then you won’t mind if I walk with you?”

Laios returned what he’d taken, and Chilchuck snatched it back. “Fine, fine, whatever. Come freeze your ass off with me.”

They crossed the parking lot, stepping carefully across black ice and hopping the curb to stand in the grass, a foot beyond the premises. Chilchuck made pointed eye contact with Laios as he stuck the cigarette between his lips and flicked the lighter open and shut, taking a long drag. He debated breathing it in Laios’ face, but decided to turn away. He blew a thin plume of smoke that caught on the brisk wind and whipped away. “Happy?”

“Not exactly,” Laios admitted. “You shouldn’t smoke, Chil.”

Chilchuck scowled. “Oh, here we go… listen, it’s my right to poison my body however I want. Just look at our patients.”

Laios fought a grim laugh and failed. “Hey, you asked.”

“What’s it matter to you anyway?” Chilchuck asked, slurred around the filter. He took another long drag and tapped out the ash into the frozen grass.

“As a medical professional, I prefer not to watch people die.”

Chilchuck released the smoke through his nose, rolling his eyes. “Preference doesn’t matter much to us, does it?”

“I guess not.”

Another long drag. He’d somehow blasted half the cigarette already. “You sound like my youngest,” Chilchuck breathed, with a fondly exasperated smile. Laios shifted around, his cheeks going pink in the cold. “She’s in the middle of some kind of health course and it’s got her all freaked out. ‘Daddy, don’t smoke those, they’ve got rat poison in ‘em!’” Chilchuck said, affecting a raspy falsetto. “It was kinda cute, but she was pretty upset,” he sighed. “She was crying. Must be a pretty heavy-handed program.”

“I had that growing up,” Laios said. "They had a cop come in and everything. Showed us pictures of tracheotomies.”

“Is that what they’re doing?” Chilchuck hissed. “She’s nine! She’s too young for that shit. I’m gonna complain to the PTA.”

“Hey, it kept me off. Do you want her on it?”

Chilchuck’s mouth drew into a long, thin line. “I guess not.”

They stood there, Chilchuck smoking, Laios doing fuck all with his hands in his pockets. Chilchuck wondered why he was out here at all if he hated cigarettes and smoking so much. It was biting cold, blustery, damp. It was a holiday weekend and there was only a matter of time before they got another Narcan call, he could be catching a nap before rush hour, but he was here.

“Does it help?” Laios asked. “With the stress, I mean.”

“Gives me an excuse to step out,” Chilchuck shrugged. “Gives me something to look forward to. Gives me a reason to breathe in and out for a few minutes that isn’t that dippy yoga shit.”

“Have you ever done it? That dippy yoga shit?”

“Hell no.”

“You want to try it? I can show you a few poses.”

Chilchuck choked on smoke, something he hadn’t done in twenty years. “You? Yoga?” The ass definition suddenly made a lot of sense.

“I don’t take classes, but you can learn a lot from YouTube videos.”

“Hm.” It had been the class aspect that turned him off the most. It felt somehow more embarrassing than just rocking up to the gym at three in the morning and dissociating on the treadmill for a few hours. “I’ll think about it.”

“I think it’d be fun,” Laios said, and Chilchuck almost believed him. “And it’s helped me, you know. After rough calls.”

Chilchuck sucked down the last of his cigarette and blew it upwards, a brief break in the wind allowing it to coil in upon itself in midair, minute particles glittering in the warm, flickering glow of the light post and simmering down in his lungs. He leaned down to smash the smoldering filter into the curb, putting the butt in his junk pocket to avoid being further nagged.

“Alright,” Chilchuck relented. “Why the hell not?”

Laios beamed at him. Chilchuck could think of a thousand reasons against meeting up with his boss to do anything that didn’t involve getting a beer, but looking at that self-satisfied grin gave him one very good reason in his favor. “It’s a date.”

“No it’s not!” Chilchuck squawked. Laios skipped away. Skipped. “It’s not a date, Laios!”

“See you then!”

“Nice HR violation!” Chilchuck screamed. “Mother fucker.” He muttered to himself, tapping his pack angrily against his palm and flipping up a lid for one more, just to spite him, and looked down at the neat rows of little paper cylinders, pristine and fresh.

Chilchuck crammed the box back into his pocket and trudged inside.

More Posts from Emma-the-j0626 and Others

emma-the-j0626

4 weeks ago

I bet Zoro has a thing for Luffy’s bad boy side. Oh, don’t get me wrong — he loves everything about Luffy, and he loves that Luffy is adorable and unserious most of the time. But when Luffy is being his anarchist self, challenging the Warlords or, oh dear god, the Five Elders directly, I bet Zoro gets ALL hot and bothered and can’t wait to get him alone. When he finally does, you know that man is dropping to his damn knees for his captain.

124 notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

2 months ago

zoro as a mellowed old man brightens my day. him silently opening his arms for chopper and luffy to jump into whenever he sees them, drinking a little less alcohol because it seems to get to him a bit quicker these days. zoro who smiles so gently and so often.

zoro as an old man who just seeps appreciation and gratitude in his own quiet way; for the life he’s been blessed with, and for meeting luffy at that barren marine courtyard. zoro who’s fights with sanji have no bite behind them, insults ranging from ‘cook’ to ‘idiot cook’ like they aren’t just age-old nicknames. his eyes gently watching nami approach to hit him over the head, complaining with only softness as she scolds him, full of unending fondness. laughing with complete adoration as he watches usopp’s legs shake in fear, hoping they never have to be apart and thanking their fates that they get to be together.

old man zoro who is still quiet, gruff, and rough around the edges but gosh, so soft in the middle. he looks at luffy like he strung the stars, like he always has done, but with a sweetness only age and many decades together can bring. he reaches for him often, unashamed physical contact, just because he wishes for the closeness and loves him so much. he relishes in watching chopper grow up, terrified and gleeful on the day the strawhats noticed he’d grown taller than him. zoro who still trains, god knows he won’t stop, but when robin, jinbe and franky ask if he wants to join them on the deck, he says yes instead of continuing without pause. zoro who sits next to brook and is lulled into tranquility, hearing his soft violin and noticing the brush of brook’s blazer against him.

zoro who accomplished his goal to be the world’s greatest swordsman, and doesn’t settle (never settles), but his tenseness eases. knowing his strength is unparalleled and looking around, his crew’s strength is too. he can relax, and he naps belly up with pride each passing day.

zoro who takes more naps and complains about his muscles aching because old age lets him do that, despite the fact he’s been tired and sore since he was seventeen. mellowed old man zoro, you are perfect.

166 notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

1 month ago

I think my favorite way to look at love interests for both Falin and Laios is that both of them always got at least like two people eyeing them up and down but being oblivious to it.

Especially when it comes to ships like Farcille and Chilaios with their individual partners just having to stand guard while both of them just don’t care or even took notice.

And I just love the idea of Chilchuck having to like run off people double his size like Toshiro from Laios or Marcille just malding from the amount of people trying to flirt with Falin.

52 notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

3 months ago

pre-TS zolu like this because Zoro would be embarrassed to ask for cuddles and kisses

Post-TS Zoro would not feel an ounce of shame tho. He sometimes would randomly get up and hug Luffy kiss all over his face and return to his nap (he got up because he heard Luffy's laugh and he couldn't stop his desire to kiss his smile)

70 notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

3 months ago

A Captain’s Love

A fully colored digital comic of the Strawhats from One Piece.

The first page only contains a panel with the words "A Captain's Love.“

The second page shows Luffy and Nami holding hands and smiling at each other. Pictured underneath is a close-up of their interlinked hands and the gray silhouette of a person asking "So, are you guys dating?" Another panel shows Nami's reaction: an appalled expression on her face and "huh?" written in bold red letters.

The second page depicts Luffy sitting on Zoro's lap, happily eating meat while Zoro is drinking. Next to them is a gray silhouette again, asking: "isn't that weird?" At the bottom of the page is Zoro's reaction: an intimidating glare with "WHAT" spelled out in big red capital letters behind him.

The third page contains a drawing of Luffy and Usopp, sleeping on spread out blankets and pillows on the floor while cuddling. Again, the silhouette of a person is in the corner, remarking: "you know what people might think." Usopp's reaction in an extra panel is giving the person a deeply disapproving side-eye, asking "oh yeah...?"

The fourth page depicts Luffy tighly hugging Robin while lifting her in the air as both of them are grinning. The gray silhouette of a person is asking: "Are you really gonna let him act like that with your girlfriend?" Pictured underneath is Franky, deeply confused expression on his face, only responding with a bewildered "uhh...."

The last panel shows Luffy, grinning and holding his hat. The asexual and the aromantic flag are pictured behind him.

36K notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

1 year ago

If Gojo, Shoko And Geto Had Adopted Tsumiki And Megumi

If Gojo, Shoko and Geto had adopted Tsumiki and Megumi

44K notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

3 months ago

Roronoa "If I can't protect my captain, if I don't have Luffy by my side as a king of pirates when I achieve my dreams, then my ambition means nothing" Zoro.

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emma-the-j0626

4 months ago

happy new year eve ! ! !

2K notes View Post

emma-the-j0626

3 months ago

something that haunts me is how kuraigana island is an extension of thriller bark. the general aesthetic, the darkness, the hostile environment, even perona’s presence. kuraigana island is thriller bark.

zoro spent two years surrounded by reminders of his sacrifice, he left thriller bark only to return to it. his timeskip was a horrible twin to the place he barely escaped alive from.

in an eerie castle of stone walls, exactly the same. helpless in a gloomy wood just as he had been so shortly before. zoro looked out of his window to rubble and forest, thinking of luffy’s pain. he looked to the sea, past the island’s confines, and could only think about how he wasn’t able to stop luffy’s suffering this time, he failed, unable to get to him at marineford. he looked to the mist and yearned for his captain, the sun, unsure if there was even an end to the fog at all.

zoro having nightmares about kuma, about thriller bark, only to wake up in its uncanny lookalike; unsure whether he had even woken up, whether he had ever left, still wrapped in the bandages of his sacrifice.

and then he spent each day being taught by the man that until thriller bark had caused him the most agony, that he lost to. a personally curated island of his weakness, sacrifices, pain and shame. while i’m sure it motivated him to get stronger, it equally must’ve been an indescribable torture. surrounded by trauma and his fated enemy.

zoro, the proud man he is, threw down his swords in front of kuma and begged that day, vulnerable and desperate, anything for his captain. and he put his swords on the ground and got on his knees in front of mihawk exactly the same.

the parallels between thriller bark and kuraigana island are unapologetic and constant. what a horror zoro’s timeskip must’ve been.