Kitsune here with some quick notes. First, once again thanks to the amazing Bard of Chaos for beta-ing this story. Secondly, the Omake side stories? I'm going to be posting them as a separate story so as not to interfere with the flow of this one. Expect them up in a few minutes. That'll be Both Omake 1 (on the Ship) and Omake 2 (Warehouse) with a new chapter for Ship. Third, I'm also posting a Dark!Sabo fic. And hopefully my DW/OP story will be ready by the end of the week at the latest. It's almost done but stuff came up and I didn't have the motivation to bang out that last 4,000 words. But, on to Skid Marks 2!

Sabo yawned, stumbling his way into the kitchen. It was the second time that he'd been awoken by the sounds of terrified screams coming from the master bedroom, and he was glad that Thatch had warned him about Luffy's night terrors when he'd moved in a little more than a week ago. The microwave's display told him it was just after three in the morning- way too early to be up, but there was little chance of going back to bed now. Not when he could still hear his young roommate whimpering behind the closed door. It was painful to hear, but he didn't want to intrude on them. No, they were hurting and as much as he wanted to help something told him that seeing Luffy like that might do more harm than good to their newfound relationship. So instead he turned on the coffee pot.

Classes would start up next week, and by then he hoped he was used to the late night interruptions. It would be foolish to think they'd just stop by then. The bedroom door opened near-silently and Sabo didn't bother to turn around, instead grabbing a second mug down from the shelf. "Get the milk out?"

"Sorry he woke you." Ace muttered, moving to comply.

"Don't worry about it." He poured two cups, passing over one as he emptied sugar into his own cup before reaching for the milk. "He going to be alright alone?"

Ace nodded, mixing his coffee. "Hawkins- that's, uh, the therapist we're seeing- he gave me this sedative to give him if he has a bad one like tonight. It knocks him out for a long time, and Lu doesn't like it… but he was awake the last two nights, so I didn't give him a choice."

"Can't say I blame you. Tell you what; when he wakes up let's stick him on the couch all day. We're all done moving in and I'm off tomorrow/today anyway, so I can keep an eye on him and make sure he takes it easy."

"He's going to make you watch anime." Ace smirked.

"Bring it on." He replied, grinning back. "Seriously, he can't go without sleeping. Maybe you should see if there's anything he can take before bed? You know, to help him sleep?"

The other man chewed his lip, "I could… but…." but then he'd be vulnerable, huh? Sabo's mind supplied, grin faltering as he remembered how broken they'd looked that first day. He didn't push the matter, and at length Ace sighed, "You're right, though. He needs sleep. I'll call Hawkins and maybe even Kureha. See if there's something I can do."

"Afterwards you could join us for that anime," the blond bit back another yawn. "You're looking a bit worn out yourself, too. I think we could all use a day of just vegetating on the couch."

In the end Luffy had groggily woken a little after ten, stumbling into the kitchen muttering about food. It was a simple matter of frying up a package of sausage and scrambling up some eggs for the teen before maneuvering him over to the couch which he and Ace had already opened up for more room. While it wasn't quite as big as a full size bed, it still offered more room for them to sprawl out during long marathons. Not to mention it was a handy place for someone to crash for the night if needed. Not that it had ever been put to the test yet. Luffy seemed more than content with the idea of a lazy day, picking out a whole bunch of movies for them to watch, most of them being animated of course. Sabo didn't mind, though. It was a lot of fun watching movies with Luffy; the boy was very enthusiastic about them. He became so involved, Luffy didn't even notice when Ace slipped out of the apartment around noon. Sabo figured he'd gone out to ask about Luffy's sleeping issues in person so he didn't draw any attention to it, deciding if the other asn't back in two hours he'd call and demand he return. After all, they all were supposed to be taking it easy, and Ace had had dark circles under his eyes, too.

At some point Sabo must have drifted off to sleep. He was warm and comfortable, though he was pretty sure that someone, probably Luffy, was using him as a pillow since he couldn't move. That was vaguely problem, since he might have to pee in a minute. Someone muttered behind him, explaining where Ace had gotten off to and why his own pillow was lumpy as he looked around. Luffy did look very cute sprawled across his part of the fold out couch, arms latched around Sabo's stomach like he was a giant teddy bear. Until the teen squeezed slightly. Now he really DID have to pee, as in, right now.

Slowly he eased himself off of Ace. That was simple enough, the man slept pretty soundly. Unfortunately, Luffy was pretty attached to him, arms hooked around his middle as they were. Every time he moved he dragged the kid with him. Carefully he worked on prying one hand free chanting I gotta use the loo I gotta pee let goooo the whole time. As soon as both hands were free he almost dove off the couch only to trip. Somehow Luffy's hand's had latched onto his belt loop. He glared at the offending fingers and figured that if he kept moving the worst that would happen was his pants would rip. Which was fine, since they were old. So he kept going, ignoring the pressure and waiting for the sound of tearing, which never came. Though the pressure didn't ease up, either. Not even when he was past the couch and almost over to the bathroom. With a glare he glanced down at his pants and froze in shock. Luffy was still holding on to his pants, which he was expecting...but he wasn't dragging the kid. His arm- his arm had STRETCHED! Sabo's mouth dropped open as his eyes followed the expanse of arm from his belt to the couch where Luffy was still sleeping like nothing was wrong. And he lost it.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!" They say hindsight is twenty-twenty, and in retrospect Sabo probably shouldn't have shouted at the top of his lung with two gunshy roommates. Their reaction was dramatic to say the least. Ace half rolled half vaulted off the bed facing the door looking like he was ready for war, and the arm that was inconveniently attached to Sabo started to retract, drawing the startled blond with it with a yelp. "Luffy! Let go! LET ME GO! OH BUGGER! ACE!" Desperately he turned and curled his fingers around the edge of the countertop in an attempt to save himself. He'd given up on saving his pants and only sighed in pseudo-relief when he felt them rip.

"What the…? Sabo….?" Ace sounded groggy behind him and he didn't bother to turn and look, instead slowly releasing the counter and taking deep breaths of his own to slow his heart rate. "...Shit. SHIT! Dammit, Lu!"

A sniffle, "I'm sorry!"

"God dammit!" Ace huffed, "I told you to get more sleep, didn't I? And now look! Just….FUCK!"

Sabo figured he was about as calm as he ever was going to get. Turning he rested causally against the counter and looked at his roommates. Luffy did truly look guilt ridden, and Ace looked somewhere between apocalyptic and sheepish. It was an odd combination to say the least, but comforting to know that despite how badly the, er, incident… had freaked him out it wasn't abnormal for them. Or a prank. After a moment he cleared his throat to get their attention, "So, I take it I wasn't supposed to know about whatever that was?"

"Er…." Luffy grinned rubbing the back of his head, "not yet?"

"Uh-huh. Well, since I do now, mind telling me what was up with taffy-boy here?"

"Taffy? Isn't that a kind of food, Ace?"

"No, we're not going to try and eat you, shush." Ace shoved his brother back onto the couch, "Fold up the couch, will you? I guess the first question is, can we trust you?"

"Should I be insulted or flattered by that?" Sabo laughed. "Really Ace, that seriously scared the piss out of me. Most sane people would be out the door by now, you know. And the other type… they wouldn't bother to hear your side of it and you know it. So out with it."

"What do you know about the drug Devil-fruit?"

"Not much, just rumors." Sabo shrugged. " Some of my, er… associates… were interested in acquiring some back in England. But it's pricey." He wandered over to the fridge and pulled out three cans of soda, handing one to Ace and another to Luffy before popping the third one open for himself as he sat on one of the recliners. No way he was sitting on the couch right now. "Never really understood the appeal, myself. Not with what I've heard about it."

Luffy fiddled with his can not looking at him, "What have you heard?"

"That it's more likely to kill you then not? People say it's supposed to give you crazy-powers or some shit, but no one I ever talked to could confirm it. Everyone else ends up dead. Bad stuff."

"Sounds about right. Kill rate is actually three out of four, by the way." Ace said, finally opening his can and taking a long drink. "And those who survive? Well, for the first few months they sure as hell wish they didn't."

Sabo felt like he was hearing it all from a distance. He had a feeling he knew what his friend was saying but he couldn't believe it. "Oh? Why?"

"That shit about Devil-fruit giving you powers? It's true." Another drink, and he noticed that Ace's hand was shaking. "But it hurts, man. Like you wouldn't believe."

"Ducky says it's because the drug um….re-rec-recodes? yeah, recodes the DNA." Luffy put in, still fiddling with his can. "It sucks, and it tastes horrible...and then your body doesn't work like it did anymore, either." Luffy's eyes finally met Sabo's and they were so full of pain there was no denying it any longer even if the boy hadn't continued. "I was scared, but Ace was there for me, so it wasn't so bad."

"You? You took it? But why?"

"He made me." Ah, that explains it. His roommates never spoke of their time with Teach if they could avoid it, but from what Sabo had gathered it was unpleasant. He wanted to say something, anything to comfort his young friend, but he had no clue what he could possibly say.

"Well, he's gone now, so you're free and clear, right?"

Ace shook his head, "We're being, uh, watched."

"Thatch?" The can of soda gave under his tightened grip. He'd thought the man was a friend, but apparently he was wrong.

"No! Well, yes, but not like that…" Luffy denied, looking over at his brother helplessly.

"Being a, uh, user, attracts the wrong kind of attention with the government." Ace shrugged. "If you don't work for them, you're against them is the logic."

"That's bullshit!"

"Yeah, it is." Ace nodded, "but I can see their point. Some Devil-fruit users are dangerous terrorists… so when I, uh, sort of blew up a marine base, they mighthavethoughtIwasaterrorist."

Sabo blinked, "You what?"

"Teach made me do it?"

"Well, that's a given." The thing was, if he'd heard that right, Acehad admitted to being one of these Devil-fruit users, too. Reminding himself that he trusted his roommates and that it couldn't be easy for them to share he chose to glance over that, "How are you not in jail?"

"Well, it's a long story." Ace shrugged.

"Gramps said that they couldn't use the fact that we were users against us anyway because we were so young." Luffy grinned weakly, "He said that we couldn't be expected to know any better since T-t-t… he made us users as kids."

"And so now they're making sure he's right?" Sabo snorted, "America's government is full of fools. Anyone who bothered to get to know you could tell you guys would know you weren't terrorists."