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“So where’s the fifth one?”
“Hm?” Crocodile looked up from his newspaper, finding the feathered asshole he had no real title for beyond ‘nuisance’ was crouching beside him on the couch and peering thoughtfully at his hand.
A long index finger reached out and lightly tapped the older man’s bare ring finger.
“This one. Where’s this one?”
“There isn’t one.”
“No?”
“No.”
Doflamingo tilted his head and frowned, lifting his gaze up to meet the reptile’s.
“Why not?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yeesh, would it kill you to use replies longer than three words?”
“Possibly,” Crocodile snorted with the hint of a smirk, turning back to his paper.
Pouting exaggeratedly, he looked back to the hand and the finger that held no ring. Was there any real reason for it or was Croco-man just yanking his chain by being evasive? Chewing at his lower lip for a moment, he reached out and stole the newspaper from the other man’s grasp, tossing it to the coffee table for the time being.
“What are you doing, you—?” the older man snapped, but stopped as Doflamingo grabbed hold of his wrist.
“Shut up a sec, I got this,” Mingo replied with a grin, holding his wrist still as the pointer finger of the other hand tapped the base of Crocodile’s ring finger.
There was an odd sensation that caused the former warlord to knit his brows, glancing down at his finger before shooting a demanding look to the blond. It had felt like he’d done something to the digit, but he could see no changes, just a faint pressure around it that reminded him of…
“A ring,” he concluded aloud, frowning with a slightly perplexed expression.
“A ring of string,” Doflamingo confirmed with a grin, letting go of Crocodile’s hand and wiggling his fingers to indicate the source of this new ‘ring’.
“Why?”
“Why not?” the younger man countered mockingly, sticking out his tongue. “Don’t get too excited, I know you must be to receive such an amazing gift.”
“I’m elated,” Crocodile muttered, reaching out to the table to collect his newspaper. “A shame I can’t see how amazing it is.”
“Ah, but seeing the thing isn’t the point of the thing. The point of the thing is in feeling the thing there and knowing what it means.”
“And what does it mean?”
Doflamingo only shrugged and grinned in his usual way, earning an exasperated sigh from Crocodile.
“Guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?”