She paces across the parking lot, her heart is racing. He didn't come home last night, and no one's been able to contact him. He didn't show up for work. And it's her fault. She was acting selfish. And now she needs to pay for her actions.

She notices a car pull into the lot, and she immediately holds her breath. It's his car. She waits a few seconds after he steps out of the car before she runs towards him.

He hears the footsteps and looks up, their eyes meet and he can see she's relieved, "(Y/n)?"

"You had me so worried!" she jumps him, and wraps her arms around his neck, "I talked to Luffy, and he said he didn't hear from you. And then he called-"

"Ace!" a blonde male comes out from his apartment, he doesn't look as please as the woman. "Are you kidding me? Leaving for a whole day without telling anyone where you're going? And you didn't even show up to work? What the hell were you thinking?"

  Ace gives him a bittersweet smile, "Sabo... aren't you supposed to be at college?"

  "Don't you lecture me about where I should be!" the blond hits his shoulder as the (h/c)-haired woman lets go of him. "You're lucky you're a grown man because I would've called the police!"

  "But I'm older than you," Ace points at himself before pointing at his brother. "Which means that I should be more worried about you than you are about me."

  "That might be true... in a different context," Sabo lets out a sigh. "But I'm not the one with the track record of almost dying."

  Ace chuckles slightly, "It only happened once. It's not like it's a long track record."

  Sabo stares at him, obviously unamused, "I don't care how long it is! You can't just leave us! Don't you see that your actions lead to many people being worried about you? Luffy wanted to leave work as soon as he heard that you didn't come home last night. He called me right away... I drove here as fast as I could."

"Besides that," his face relaxes a bit and he gives him a half-smile. "You made someone as pretty as (Y/N) worried about you. What were you thinking?"

Ace shrugs. He honestly didn't expect anyone to worry that much about him. Much less (Y/N). Especially since she didn't even want to be friends the last time he checked.

  "I needed to get out," he puts his hand on his arm. He's almost starting to feel helpless again. "I felt suffocated in that apartment. And my therapist said it might be good. It was late when I went out, I forgot to tell anyone. I'm sorry."

  "So then where did you go?" Sabo lets out a sigh, he knows that pressuring him for any thing more won't work. "Tell me you didn't go far."

  "No, just to that club we used to go to," he gives him a smile. "I slept way in today."

  "Ace... can I talk to you privately," (Y/N) takes in a deep breath, staring at him. "Later, of course. You're in the middle of a conversation with your brother. And I don't want to ruin that."

  "Of course, (Y/N)," Ace forces a smile. He can still see the look on her face as she was crying because of him. "Anytime yo-"

  "You don't need to force yourself around me, Ace," she stares at him before she turns around. "I'll be up all night. Just knock on my door when you're ready."

  He nods before she turns around and starts up the stairs. Sabo puts his arm around Ace's neck, lowering his voice, "So when we're you going to tell me about her, huh?"

  "She has a boyfriend, Sabo," Ace shakes his head, trying to force the bad memories out of his mind. But the sensation of her lips on his still lingers. Despite him kissing another woman last night, it's (Y/N)'s kiss that he remembers. "There's no reason to tell you about her."

  "But do you hope she didn't have a boyfriend?" the blond lets go of his brother. "If she was single, would you try to date her?"

  "I don't know," Ace lets out another sigh. "She feels different than others, Sabo. So maybe. But she's very much in love with him. I don't even stand a chance."

  Sabo puts his arm around Ace again, this time leading him back into his apartment, "Please. You should've seen how worried she was about you Ace. No one is that worried about someone they wouldn't give a chance to."

  Ace keeps quiet. He's sure that there's another reason someone could be worried about someone else. They feel guilty about it. That has to be what she wants to discuss.

  Ryker puts out his cigarette, staring down as the brothers go underneath the corridor. He lets put a deep breath. He knows what he needs to do. But he can't seem to do it. So for just a little while longer. Things will remain the way they are.

  The door opens behind him, "Aren't you going to bed?"

  He turns around and gives her a smile, "Yeah. I need the rest."

  She wraps her arms around his neck and gives him a peck on the lips, "Sleep well, love bug."

>~<