Emma and Hip nearly squeezed the life out of you, one after the other, as you entered back into the house.

"You came back!" Emma cries, squishing you against her chest.

"You would not have looked good in pink." Hip says, hugging you and Emma at the same time.

"I don't think they have uniforms like that, Hip." Killer says, pulling the two ladies off you. "Let her breathe you two." He looks down at you for a moment before a smile crosses his face. "Welcome back (Y/N). Did he pull you clean out of the limo himself, or did he show restraint?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he had just tossed the limo." Wire adds flatly.

"Eh?" You looked up at Killer questioningly before turning to Kid. "Were you watching the whole time?"

"Don't listen to them, Mouse." Kid says, ruffling your hair enough it pushes your head down and turns your gaze away from his face. "Let's get her up to speed."

"Does that include telling her about the plans to raid Doflamingo's castle?" Heat asks with a crooked smile.

Kid's fist clenched so fast you could hear the metal crashing into itself. He growls, but it stops when you start laughing.

"Pfft- hahaha, I don't know why, but when you called it a castle I could only picture 'Sorry Kid, but your Mouse is in another castle'. Like that one old video game." You look up to see Eustass frowning, but despite his efforts to look angry his ears were red. "Sorry, sorry." Another errant laugh escapes you and you cover your face. "What am I being brought up to speed on?" You say, desperately trying to distract yourself before you collapse into giggle fits.

"We've found a way to find Decken." House says, coming over and hugging you as well. "We've had a way to find him, but the sporadic attacks only told us his location was changing. So we couldn't nail him down."

"Without Doflamingo harassing him, we can pin him down easier." Killer says.

You frown. "That asshole!" You growl. You were getting legitimately angry. "That fluffy pink bastard said not finding Decken was proof that Kid wasn't doing enough to protect me, and it was HIS FAULT YOU COULDN'T FIND HIM!"

You reached out as though you meant to strangle the air. "That cocky bastard!"

"... I think that's the first time I've seen you get angry." Kid says, his brows raised in amusement. "It's kind of adorable."

"I'm not adorable, I'm mad!" You insist, stomping your foot.

"Give 'er a break, cap'n," Emma says, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, it's as fierce as a mascot can get!" Hip adds and the entire crew breaks into laughter. You're pretty sure you can even hear Killer breaking from behind the hands over his mouth.

"You're all terrible." You grumble, not that anyone can hear you over all the laughing. After a moment you manage to smile as well and the whole room comes back under control.

By the end of the day, you had been brought up to speed with what had happened without you yesterday.

It had been determined before now that the direction the items from Decken traveled was as direct an arc as possible. The items would change course if you moved, but as long as you walked toward them, they wouldn't shift, they'd just arch downward faster.

If they hit something between their starting point and destination, they would cease to move. 'Something' being things more dense than air and water and less dense than wood, concrete, and metal. At least that was what they'd been able to sort out so far.

This meant that Decken was tossing these items as high up into the air as he could, so they cleared buildings and made their way to your location. There were some summits in the Metro he could be utilizing, but while he had been dodging Doflamingo it was unlikely he could be too picky.

There were also other assumptions that had to be made - how much velocity the items had or could gain. If strong winds could knock them off course temporarily or not, and other unknown limitations or empowerments granted by the Devil fruit ability itself.

Heat pointed to a few places on a map he'd brought out. "Since he'll realize he's not playing with Doflamingo anymore, he's most likely to take advantage of these elevated locations. Each one would send items into the house on different sections, so once he attacks again, we can head to the most likely location."

"It's not a guarantee," Kid says. "But it's not 4-dimensional chess anymore. It's just between us and him."

"He's going to do what everyone except Shanks has done since we got here," Killer says. "And underestimate us."

"Except Shanks... Hold on, are you telling me you guys waltzed into the Grandline Metro, became kings, and then hopped the fence past the Warlords and challenged an Emperor?!" You were completely dumbfounded as a couple crew members nodded their heads.

"Only cost us an arm and we learned a lot from it, Mouse."

You made a face. You're pretty sure your soul made a face.

"I'm surprised it took this long for The Crisis to hit you like that." Emma quips.

"The Crisis?"

"Everyone who joins the crew has The Crisis. Crisis is defined as 'a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger'." Wire explains. "The Crisis is that moment when you realize just exactly what it means to follow Eustass 'Captain' Kid."

"And yet none of you bastards have left after having your crisis." Kid points out and taps on the map to pull everyone back on topic. "I want Mouse to stay here tonight, and we need to send out scouts to look at these locations before an attack. See if there's any we can rule out first."

"We're leaving her alone here?" Hip asks.

"I mean, I'd be safe in the basement, right? Or the workshop – it's mostly a bunker." You offer.

"We're not leaving you alone." Kid grumbles, even though he gives you crooked smile. "You're shit at taking orders, Mouse. I'll stay here – subtle isn't exactly my gig anyway."

"If we happen to come across him while we're scouting, you want us to just handle things?" Emma asks.

"Sure," Kid says. "If you can bring him back here I'd consider it a gift, but at this point we need this problem solved. I ain't going to be a picky bitch about it." He looks around. "Pull Boogie, Reck and Mosh too. Moai and Hop if they're not busy. Tomorrow, I want a call out to gather the crew, give everyone that's scattered a week to get back here."

"Hey House," Kid called out, and put a hand on her shoulder before leaning down and whispering something in her ear.

"I mean, I'll do my best, Captain."

"Yeah, don't go nuts, but do what you can." Kid waved his hand. "Alright, handle your shit, back by dawn."

The crew ruffles your hair or pats you on the back as they file out, leaving you and Kid in the den together.

"What was that with House?" You ask out of curiosity.

"If I wanted the crew to know, I'da said it louder." Kid answers sarcastically, glancing at you from the corner of his eye as he collects up the map.

"I'm not the crew," you say, and you see him flinch. "I'm the fucking mascot." You say with a laugh.

"Seriously Mouse." He muses, putting things back.

"Am I though?" You ask, and see him look at you and raise a brow. "A member of the crew. Truly? Officially? In a you're-not-going-to-tell-me-to-get-into-limos-with-mad-men kind of way?"

"Pretty ballsy assumption thinking I'm not a mad man, Mouse. You want a gold letter certificate or something?" He asks. "I said I wasn't giving you a choice."

"... I hope you didn't recruit everyone else by snoggin' 'em." You say with a grin.

"Only Killer," he answers without missing a beat.

You choke. You didn't even have anything to choke on but air, but you still manage it.

Kid leans down and speaks low into your ear. "Don't underestimate me, Mouse, or I'll have you speaking in tongues on my workbench until you forget your name." He promises you, giving you a light kiss on the side of your neck before he walks out of the den.

The heats rushes from your toes up to your face, and you make an involuntary sound before you can get your hands over your mouth. You're in the chair for a good minute trying to get your body to settle down before you exit the den as well.

Realization sinks in that with everyone out on reconnaissance, you were going to be alone with Kid in the house. You were completely certain that he wasn't going to do anything to you. He said he wouldn't until after Decken had been taken care of, but that was before you were officially part of the crew. It wasn't protection from Decken that was keeping you here, it was deeper than that.

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After getting ready for bed, you found yourself standing outside Eustass' room. You were in the only thing you could really call lingerie that you owned. It wasn't an overtly seductive design, but it was a babydoll design with a little lace, and for you – and you were sure for Eustass – it was going to get the point across.

You knock on the door and hear him on the other side.

"What, too scared to sleep alone to-." The door opens and Kid, and his words, froze. His hair was damp and fell against his face, the white t-shirt he was wearing was dappled with water, and you were a little taken aback how good he looked in sweats.

You weren't sure what to say, but you could feel his eyes on you were certain you were as red as his hair. "You know what you're doing, Mouse?" He asks, and his voice is heavy.

"I'm inexperienced, not uneducated." You manage to reply, looking up at him. It might be your imagination, but he almost looks nervous. "I promise I'm not underestimating you."

There's a loud thump from the other side of the door and you aren't sure if he slammed his fist into something or kicked the wall. There's a moment of silence, and the gaze that settles on you sends a chill up your back.

"I can't promise I'll be able to hold back, Mouse."

"... I can go bite Victoria, if it'll help." You say with a twisted grin.

Kid motions you forward with a finger, that predatory grin on his face. "Get in here."

You step inside, feeling a hum almost like when Kid used his power, and felt your heart stutter when the door clicked closed behind you. You were quickly coming to understand the whole predator/prey relationship as you realize you weren't sure if it was safe to move.

"Go sit on the bed, Mouse." Eustass says, and the tone of his voice almost physically pushes you forward.

You climb onto the bed as he pulls his shirt off, grabbing a chair he comes over and sets it by the edge of the bed. The lamp by the bed is on, it's not bright, but there's more light in the room than you expected. You are exceptionally aware of everything, and trying not to focus on any one thing.

Eustass' room smell like his workshop, but different. There's the scent of metal and wood, but it's muted, and there's a scent of something like bourbon and chocolate mixed in. It's surprisingly elegant and sensual, and reminds you of Victoria and Eustass on the stand in the courtroom – unexpectedly fitting.

He sits on the chair and leans back, regarding you with those golden eyes of his. His tongue slides over his teeth as he grins before his expression turns serious.

"Play with yourself, Mouse." He says, in the same commanding tone that had spurred you toward the bed in the first place.

"Huh?" You heard him, but you couldn't process the words. Your face goes red and you can feel your heart beating faster.

"I know you know how. Show me." He orders. You hesitate for a second and he leans forward. "If you take too long to get started, Mouse, I'm going to start turning on every light in this room."

There's a rush that runs through you and you shake your head. "N-no, I-I'll, um... do it."

You spread your legs open and slip your hand under the band of the lacy underwear. You're already soaking wet, and when your finger slides over your clit you gasp at the unexpectedly strong sensation. You weren't sure if it was his gaze or his commands that had you in this sort of state, but your body was warm and trembling almost as soon as you started.

You hold yourself upright with your left arm as your right hand went to work with practiced movements. Your legs twitch and begin to close as the pleasure began to build up in your thighs, your breath was already coming out heavy, and you bit your lip, concentrating on the sensation.

"Keep your legs open, Mouse." He commands.

"It's – ahngh, n-not easy." You admit, spreading them back open even as your thighs twitched and pull back together. "They always... wanna close..." Your face was so red you could feel the heat in you making you a little light headed.

He stands up and pulls the thin lacey panties down. "Keep going, I'm just getting a better, view." His voice was low and warm, and his sweatpants weren't hiding his enjoyment of the show.

He brings your legs together long enough to pull the thin undergarment off, his hands grabbing your ankles and spreading your legs apart for you. You gasp at the sudden motion and feel a shiver rip through you at the expression on Eustass' face as he took in this new view.

Your heavy breaths were turning into moans, as the pleasure sent shivers down your legs.

"Hngh... Kid, I'm gonna..." For some reason you almost felt like you needed to ask permission, so you did. "Ah, please, lemme c-cum."

"Fuck Mouse, listen to you begging on your own like that," Eustass growls, his fingers tightening around your ankles for a second as his tongue slides across his lips. "Cum for me."

His tone, the words, the situation, the state you had been in before you had even knocked on his door, it was crashing into you as you cried out your pleasure into the room. Your legs twisted in his hands and you laid back on the bed as you came down from your pleasure.

Before you could even sink into the comforter of the bed, Eustass' hands slip up your legs and grab your ass. He pulls you to the edge of the bed as he kneels down and your sensitive twitching clit is devoured by his mouth.

"Hngh-Kiiiiiid!" You exclaim as your words melt into unintelligible moans.

You curl into him in surprise, and his arms shift enough to hook around your thighs and pull your legs open. He pushes into you as he spreads you open, his tongue plunging into your soaking pussy as your hands grab onto his hair.

Your body falls into the bed, your hands pulling at his hair in a futile attempt to get him to stop as the new wave of pleasure begins to overwhelm you. You're not begging him to stop, but when his thumb rolls over your clit and his tongue pushes deeper inside of you, your body clenches so hard you're vaguely worried you're going to pull his hair out.

Instead, he hums approvingly against you, continuing his assault. You feel yourself nearing another climax when he leans back and slips a finger inside you. The sensation causes your breath to catch in your throat, but he doesn't relent. His lips and teeth tease your clit as he fits a second finger inside you, and you can't beg permission from him this time.

You manage to suck in a breath just in time to cry curses into the air as you come again.

"You are deliciously sensitive, Mouse." Eustass purrs, licking along your slit and making your body shudder. "I've got some toys that might actually break you."

Your head's spinning from the pleasure, and your body is already exhausted. You can feel your skin flush as Eustass moves over you, your body sunk into the comforter of the bed. Aside from an airy nervous laugh, you can't muster up the energy to say anything back to him.

You're certainly not going to egg him on at this point, but you're vaguely reminded of Emma teasing you about needing stamina if you were going to be "friends" with Eustass.

He leans down and kisses you softly, his kisses moving from your lips, down along your jaw. When he reaches your ear, he runs his teeth along the sensitive flesh before his voice sinks into you.

"I'm not going to risk breaking you on the first night, Mouse." He says, kissing your neck and eliciting a soft gasp from you. "But I'm not going to make any promises about tomorrow."

A/N - Wanna know what the Crisis Face™ looks like?