Save My Heart

🌓 Chapter Twenty Six 🌓

~ ​˖⁺. ༶ ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷ (=^‥^=) ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷ ༶ ˖⁺.​ ~

"A-Ace?" Luffy stammered before running and leaping onto the Halcyon, "AAAACE!!!"

He tumbled to the ground in a somersault and hugged the tablet tight to his chest.

"I see you're still a massive crybaby." Ace teased despite the pool of tears swirling in his eyes.

"Am not!" Luffy countered.

"Are too!" Ace continued.

"You're crying too, liar!" Luffy sobbed, hiccuping every so often while the rest of the room had tears in their eyes.

"I can't believe you're alive!!!"

~ ​˖⁺. ༶ ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷ (=^‥^=) ꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷ ༶ ˖⁺.​ ~

"Hey Luffy, check out what I found at Gray Terminal today!" I yelled up to the boy who was swinging up in the tree's.

Luffy scrambled down the tree in a hurry, losing his grip on the bark and falling down onto his back with a small yelp before bouncing on the ground like a skipping rock on the water.

He quickly scurried to his feet with stars in his eyes, excited about what I had brought back from the dump.

"OOO! OOO! What did you bring back this time Sabo?" Luffy exclaimed, trying to see what I was hiding behind my back.

I smirked while presenting the item in my hands, "This!"

"That's... a lid?"

"A smooth, metal lid."

Luffy gave me a confused look before directing his attention to the trash can lid I had picked up.

"So I tried something on my way back earlier..." I started, remembering that I had originally grabbed the lid as a way to collect rainwater to drink so we could stop running too Dadan's place every time we ran out, and whenever we ran out of the massive barrels of clean water Tiger Mask gave us a few weeks ago, I'd rather be prepared.

I was walking back with Ace originally, but he said he had to, "go and think about 'stuff'", and he didn't think I saw the flush on his ears when he turned his head after he said that, so I instantly knew it was something to do with Tiger Mask.

Ever since they showed up for the first time, it was pretty easy to tell that Ace wasn't being his normal self, especially with strangers. Normally, he wouldn't even talk to someone he didn't know, but he had a massive blush on his face once I came up to the treehouse to wrap his ankle a few weeks ago.

I mean, yeah, I was blushing like mad too, but that's because Tiger Mask just looked so... enchanting- and Ace never blushes. Ever.

But now, anytime Tiger Mask would come from out of nowhere, he would make any excuse to be around them.

NOT THAT THAT'S A BAD THING- it's just not how Ace normally acts around people, and I'm worried he may have caught one of the sicknesses my parents once talked about.

Was it Lice Sickness? Loaf Sickness? Or maybe it was Live Sickness.

Whatever it was, they made it sound contagious.

And it's gotten so bad to the point that Luffy's even noticed too! And he's... well... let's just say he's lacking in the observant department.

So, I let him be on his own for a while since he seemed like he needed some time to himself.