Waking up in Ace's arms was no surprise. The fact that his face was just centimeters away from yours... Well, yes, that was a bit surprising.

"A-Ace?" You stammered, blushing in embarrassment as you caught yourself staring at his partly opened lips. Damn, it's like they were inviting you to just press your own against them!!

Ace grumbled sleepily and woke up with a yawn. As he slowly opened his eyes, seeing your face just in front of his own, he stiffened and quickly muttered an apology.

You giggled and sat up. "It's alright." You replied, stretching your arms up and letting out a yawn.

Today was the day you leave Thriller Bark and the start of classes was just around the corner. You got up from bed and started to pack, leaving out the clothes you'll be wearing for today.

The sound of someone complaining about being hungry made you laugh as you zipped up your bag and headed for the connecting door, unlocking and opening it to greet your friend with a bottomless pit stomach.

When you opened the door and peeked inside, you caught Luffy in the middle of pulling his pants up. Hearing the door open and your girlish scream made him glance over his shoulder and grin at you.

"Morning (Name)!" He greeted.

Turning to face you, you immediately covered your eyes and felt your cheeks heat up. "D-D-D-Don't turn around when your pants are still down!!!" You shrieked and turned around back into your room, slamming the door shut as you did.

Ace sat up and glared as you slid down against the door, covering your red cheeks and shaking your head to get rid of the image still fresh in your memory. "Wh-Wh-What a w-way t-to start a m-m-morning..." You stammered.

After forgetting the rather embarrassing events through a nice hot shower, you grabbed your belongings and headed outside to meet everyone who was waiting for you at the parking lot.

Ace followed closely behind as you jogged over to Franky and surrendered your key. Corazon stashed your bag away with everyone else's as you climbed on board to the vehicle.

You knew Ace was pouting, but you honestly didn't want to talk about what happened earlier.

Luffy was at the fridge and grabbing every snack he could find, closing the door with his foot and looking up to see you flinch as his eyes locked on to yours.

Somehow he found your uncomfortable and awkward state hilarious, making you even MORE uncomfortable and awkward at the fact that he was practically laughing at you.

Ace walked over and glanced him over with an irritated scowl. "This kid is starting to piss me off." He said, crossing his arms on his chest as he glared at Luffy.

You laughed nervously as Luffy arched an eyebrow at you, glancing at the direction you were looking at but finding no one there.

"What's the matter, (Name)?" Luffy asked as he kept on staring at the empty space you were looking at moments ago.

What he didn't know was Ace scowling and sticking his tongue out at him. You couldn't exactly tell Ace to stop since Luffy would have heard you and think you've gone insane, so you just stood there with an awkward smile on your face.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." You simply responded, looking at Ace with a 'please stop that' expression to which he ignored.

"(Name)-ya, it's been fun hanging out with you." Law said.

You turned around to find him sitting beside Chopper, a smirk on his bandaged face. "It'll be annoying without anyone keeping Straw Hat-ya out of trouble."

You giggled. "Aww, I'll miss you too, Truffles!"

"Please tell me that isn't a permanent nickname..." He sighed.

Ace huffed at how you were now being friendly with Luffy and Law, and somehow feeling left out. He was fine with you having friends, but something in him made him feel... competitive for your attention.

The drive back home was restless as Luffy kept suggesting games to play. His short attention span and inability to keep still for more than ten seconds was starting to irritate both Ace and Law.

You complied willingly to play whatever he wanted, just to keep the two from killing him.

Right now, you were playing tag. Yes, inside a moving vehicle.

As you ran around trying to catch Luffy, you tripped over your own two feet and unconsciously squeezing your eyes shut as you felt gravity pulling you down. "(Name)!!!" Ace, Chopper, and Law cried out as you stumbled.

However you didn't feel the impact of the floor, but rather something else was underneath you. You opened your eyes and saw Luffy beneath you, his hand resting on the back of your head and the other was hugging you tightly.

"Are you okay?!" You panicked, realizing that he kept you from falling on your face.

When he was about to answer, the vehicle stopped and Franky yelled out Home Sweet Home. You helped Luffy up and thanked him, sighing as Ace and Law scolded you for being careless.

The servants got your bags and brought them inside. Mozu and Kiwi greeted you and Chopper with bright smiles as you came in the house. "How was the trip?" "Did you have fun?" They started bombarding you with questions, to which you happily answered.

Robin called them out and you waved them off. Looking out the open doorway, you could see Luffy pressing his face against the window of the car with a pout. Law was standing beside him, staring at you with a stoic expression.

You waved to them goodbye before following Chopper up the stairs. School would be starting in three days so you were going to make sure you get as much R 'n' R as you possibly could.

You jumped into bed, relishing the comfortable warmth of your room. You hadn't been here long but that mini vacation made you miss this place so much that you couldn't even believe how much it felt like home.

Chopper immediately ran into his bedroom across the hall and slammed the door shut. Why? Well...

"(NAAAAAAAME)!"

"Uh-oh." You giggled to yourself, glancing up from the pillow that you pressed against your face and prepared for the impact.

Just as you did, Luffy came speeding inside like a torpedo and body slammed into you, making you fall off the bed into a heap of giggles and laughter on the floor. The young boy's arms were wrapped around you tight, but you didn't mind.

"I'm gonna miss youuuu!" He whined as he looked down at you and pouted.

You felt yourself smile at his adorable childlike whining and nodded, "I'll miss you too, Lu. But, you know, we'll see each other in school soon." You hugged him back and rolled your head back to see his face going full shock.

"I'm going to be transferring to New World University in a couple of days." You calmly told him. "Looks like we'll probably be classmates."

After hearing that piece of information, you were surprised of his spontaneous response by pressing his lips against your cheek. Unable to move due to shock, you just lay there on the floor with widened eyes as he released his hold on you and laughed.

"That's your 'Welcome to school' present!" Luffy said cheerfully, getting up from the floor and rushing out the door. "I can't wait to be your classmate, (Name)!"