Here is chapter 3! I really didn't expect so many favs and story alerts in such a small amount of time! I'm very glad that so many of you liked this story! I hope that you will continue liking it :D Well, I'm glad that I have managed to finish this chapter now, since I have been feeling quite lazy since I published the last one. Anyways, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Oda does. I do however own the plot of this story.
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Luffy's POV:
I didn't stop running until I reached the common room that my room was connected to. I couldn't think properly. No, scratch that. I couldn't think anything at all. My heart was beating so fast that I felt like it would go out of my chest at any moment, and I knew that this wasn't precisely caused due to the running that I had done. I still couldn't believe what had happened bare minutes ago. Ace had kissed me. Ace had kissed me. Ace had kissed me. Ace had kissed me. It didn't matter where the focus of the phrase was at, it still made me feel as strange, bubbly and surprised as I was already, probably more each time that I repeated it. I still couldn't believe. The person that I liked, no, loved, had kissed me voluntarily. I felt my cheeks burning right now, and I couldn't stop myself from bringing my hand to my lips and touching them. I could almost feel the soft, warm and comfortable contact of his lips on mine. I could still feel it and I couldn't help but want to feel it again. I wanted it to happen again.
"I can't believe it..." I muttered as I sat down on top of one of the many sofas that were inside the common room. "I still can't believe what has happened" I then muttered again, as touched my lips and then my mask again.
I had danced with Ace all the time (well, and with Vivi too). I had danced with Ace, and he hadn't turned away. This night had been one of the best that I had lived through in all my life. I had just done something that should be impossible for someone like me and someone like him, and it had been voluntary. His lips had been so soft, inviting and had an unnatural warmth that made me feel comfortable. It had felt so damn good, better than what I had ever imagined, and it had been quite a lot.
I brought my hands to my face and touched gently and by accident the mask that still was placed on my face and that had been completely forgotten of by me. I had completely forgotten that I still had the clothes that I had worn to the ball on.
"I must take these off quickly or..." I muttered as I jumped out of the sofa and I started running towards my room.
I had to take these clothes off or someone would come into the room and discover that I had been the unknown person at the ball, and I didn't want that to happen. No, it shouldn't be discovered that I had been the person at the ball. It should be thought that I had been sleeping or eating all evening, like always.
I opened the door that led to my room and entered the place that I was so used to and that I had spent so much time inside of bare hours ago. I quickly ran towards the mirror, preparing to get rid of the clothes that I was wearing at the moment and put on my normal ones. I couldn't help but stare at my masked reflection then. It seemed so perfect, how I was dressed and how I had been able to be myself inside this place thanks to this mask. How I had been able to kiss the guy that I loved since who knows how long ago thanks entirely to this costume.
"It has to finish now" I suddenly said then as I slowly took off the mask, revealing my still crimson cheeks and my normal face: The face of the boy that would never be taken seriously here, of the most infamous boy at the school and of the boy that would never be liked by someone like Ace. Yes, never. And there was no way in which to avoid this. This couldn't be changed. I had to go back now to being just that person that nearly nobody talked to at this school full of people with impeccable bloodlines.
I opened a drawer of my wardrobe and I placed the mask that I had chosen so many weeks ago and wore barely hours ago and placed it there, where nobody would see. I was tempted to put it back on again, but I soon got rid of this thought and continued with the process of returning to normal. I started taking off the long coat that I wore this night, the fancy vest and the shirt, and in no time I had gotten rid of all of the clothes that I had been wearing until bare minutes ago. I walked towards my bed, where the clothes that I usually wore most of the time were at. I soon was wearing the blue shorts and the red vest that I was so used to and that I was so comfortable in, and that also made me look weaker than what I really was.
I soon had finished changing, and when I had done this I found myself staring at my reflection in the mirror yet again, remembering the events that had happened less than an hour ago. Suddenly I remembered that I had to make it seem that I had been here all evening and that I hadn't gone out of here to go to the ball, that I hadn't even gotten close to the room.
"Where would I be right now?" I asked myself out loud, not really being able to think properly.
I remained several minutes thinking, and it was some time after I had asked myself this question loudly that I suddenly remembered what I usually did at this time of the day.
"I would be sleeping or eating at the common room!" I shouted as I suddenly turned around a hundred and eighty degrees and I ran towards the door, opened it and continued running towards the common room.
When I arrived there about a minute after realising that I usually was there at this time of the day I immediately looked around me. I was wearing no longer the clothes that I had worn to the masked ball, but my sudden entrance to the room was bound to attract suspicions to me. I was neither the most discreet of people nor the best liar, but I wanted to avoid these kinds of things. I was relieved when I saw that there was no one inside the comfortable room that I was so used to. The chimney had a fire lit inside it, probably done by someone that worked at the school, and this fire gave a comfortable and peaceful atmosphere to the room and filled it with the relaxing sound of the fire as it burnt. I grinned and I went towards the sofa where I always sat at when I was here and I soon lied on top of it. Someone was bound to arrive soon here, since many students liked this place and usually spent quite a lot of time inside here.
It was not long until my prediction became true, and soon I heard a pair of footsteps coming towards the common room at a slow but visibly nervous pace.
"I already told you what happened Sabo!" I heard a very familiar voice say from not so far away.
I lied on the sofa on the same position that I slept in and I placed a cushion over my face in the most normal manner that I could manage. I was a terrible liar, and if any of them saw my face while I 'slept' they would instantly know that it had been me at that ball.
"But he didn't say his name?" Sabo questioned as they both opened the door that led to the common room.
"I already told you! No he didn't!" Ace shouted back at him.
"Okay, okay man. There's no need to react like that" Sabo then said. "But why didn't he?" He then asked Ace with a curious tone of voice as they both sat on a sofa at the common room.
"I don't know, he just said that he couldn't" Ace replied.
"He didn't give you any reasons at all?" Sabo said with surprise. "What the hell" He then added after that, quite surprised and confused about the whole deal.
"He just said it was a long story" Ace then said, visibly less happy about this. "I don't care though, I will find him" He then added.
"How will you, you have no data about him" Sabo said with shock.
Ace grinned at this. "Oh, yes I have" He then said with a light cheeky smile on his face.
"What do you mean?" Sabo then questioned as he looked at Ace.
Ace then looked away from Sabo and looked into the fire. "He was about 172 cm, had black hair, quite muscular, but not too much, is from the school and had the most beautiful onyx eyes that I have ever seen" Ace then said with a surprisingly serious tone of voice. "And his lips were so soft..." He then added in a very low tone of voice that was not low enough to
"Wow, he really made you fall hard for him in such a small amount of time" Sabo commented.
Ace blushed deeply. "N-no! I just want to find him, that's all!" He shouted at Sabo, clearly embarrassed.
Sabo laughed loudly. "Of course you do Ace" He said in a teasing way after he managed to stop himself from laughing.
I just continued lying on top of the sofa, trying to make no sounds and listening to both of them as they talked about what had happened. I really hoped that I didn't make any sounds right now and that they wouldn't notice me. I really hoped this.
"I don't care if he didn't want to say who he was, I will find who he was soon" He said with a confident and dead serious tone of voice.
"Ace, how do you know that he was from the school?" Sabo suddenly asked. "You know that he could have been from outside the school" He then added.
"He said that he knew who we were" Ace easily replied.
"Many people know us, including people from outside the school" Sabo then said.
"I know that we are known for various reasons Sabo, but he said that he knew us and Vivi" Ace then replied.
"I see" Sabo said. "So he had to be from the school then, there's no other way" He then said with realisation in his voice.
"However I haven't seen someone like him in the whole of the school" Ace suddenly said, "I wonder who he was" He then added.
"The only thing that I wonder is why he didn't want to say who he was" Sabo just replied.
"He may have had his reasons" Ace soon said, defending me. "However it doesn't matter since I will find him" Ace then said.
"I'm not doubting that Ace, but it is stupid to not have revealed his identity like that" Sabo said, deep in thought. "He didn't reject your kiss after all, didn't he?" Sabo then asked. "He must have surely felt something then... it would be better for him if he had revealed his identity" Sabo then finished saying.
"Well, it's not like that can be changed now, the only thing that is left is to find him" Ace sad with confident again. "But maybe I should have kissed him, Sabo! I humiliated him and made him run away from the ball!" He said with a nervous tone of voice.
This statement made me grin lightly, but I soon forced the grin out of my face. I could still remember that kiss, yes, and it had been so wonderful...
Sabo laughed at this, causing Ace to blush deeply again. "Wow, you really fell hard for him" He said with a laugh in quite a teasing way.
"Shut up!" Ace immediately barked at him, just causing Sabo to laugh even more. "I told you to shut up!" he then repeated with the same embarrassed tone of voice.
"Okay Ace, okay. Let's just go to up to our rooms now, we have to get ready for tomorrow after all. Let's go down here again later, okay?" Sabo asked Ace.
"Okay" Ace said as he stood up. Soon both of them started walking towards a corridor and towards their respective rooms, and I was soon left alone at the common room.
I remained in the position that I had been in for quite some time and I almost literally jumped out of the sofa. "I better go to my room now" I thought as I started running through the corridor that took to my room. I was sure that both of them would go back down and continue talking about tonight, but even though I really wanted to know what they would say I didn't want to be there any more time just in case. I wanted to go to sleep (and eat something) too, and the only way to do this was to be inside my room. I grinned again as I remembered what had happened tonight and that kiss, and I touched my lips with my fingers for what surely was the umpteenth time this night.