Walking on Eggs

Sabo watched in surprise how Ace slammed the door shut behind him, bolted all the locks and threw his own body against the door as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

His brother looked up and only now Sabo noticed how pale he was. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Ace murmured something along the lines of, "Not a ghost," and dragged himself to the couch. He looked tired.

Sabo rose from his seat at the table and made his was over to the freckled man. "What's the matter? I thought you would go do groceries."

"I forgot 'em," Ace murmured and buried his face in a pillow.

Unfortunately for him, Sabo was not in the mood for taking shit. He pulled the pillow away and asked firmly: "You forgot to do groceries? Then what the hell did you do all this time?"

"I did do groceries! I… just forgot them downstairs."

Sabo felt the familiar urge to smack his head against the wall, or Ace's for that matter. "Then go get them! Luffy will be home soon and I'm not gonna explain to him why dinner isn't ready!"

"No!" Finally, Ace looked up, but the look on his face made Sabo take a step back. Ace looked truly frightened. "Please don't make me go!"

Sabo took a seat next to him on the couch. "What's going on with you? Are you afraid of something? Or someone?" He had seen his brother punch guys twice his size in the nose without a moment of hesitation, so it was hard to imagine him being afraid of someone. Yet Ace was actually shaking.

The freckled man just shook his head. "Please don't make me go," he whispered.

"Fine." Sabo rose again. "I'll go get them. You just take some rest, okay? Take a nap or something." The last thing he needed was a hyperactive brother and one with a mental breakdown.

He left Ace behind in the apartment and pushed the button of the elevator. Ace had said he had forgotten the groceries downstairs, so maybe he had checked their mailbox and forgotten to take the groceries back to the apartment?

Leaving the elevator, he checked at the mailboxes, but there was nothing to be seen. Groaning, Sabo let his head fall against the wall. Why did he have such an airhead of a brother? The hallway was empty as well and after checking on the doorstep and pavement, he didn't see a bag there either.

Well, if Ace had left the groceries outside, someone probably had taken them. That thought gave Sabo an idea. Maybe one of their neighbours had taken the groceries inside in case someone would pick them up!

Going inside again, Sabo knocked on the first door he passed. He could hear voices coming from inside and soon, footsteps were approaching.

The door was answered by a man wearing a kimono. "May I help you?"

"Hi," Sabo said quickly, scratching the back of his head. "My name is Sabo, I live upstairs. This might sound like a weird question, but my idiot of a brother forgot his groceries downstairs and I was wondering if you'd seen them."

"I don't live here, but I'll ask my brother. Marco!" the man called. "There is a young man for you at the door!"

Sabo could hear loud sound like a pan was being dropped and a moment later, the door was ripped open further, revealing a blond man. His face seemed to drop when he saw Sabo, but it was hard to tell with the bored expression he wore.

"Hello," Sabo started again. "My name is Sabo and…"

"He wants to know if you've seen a bag of groceries," the man who had opened the door filled in.

Sabo smiled sheepishly. "My brother forgot them. He can be an airhead sometimes."

The blonde eyed him closely and Sabo was starting to get uncomfortable when the man said: "Yeah, hold on a sec."

He disappeared inside and appeared again a few seconds later with a plastic bag filled with groceries. "They were in front of my door. The eggs were all broken, so I had to throw them out," he added apologetically.

Sabo groaned. "Dammit Ace!" Then he inclined his head a little in a sign of gratitude. "Thanks for saving them. I'll give my brother a good talking-to." He turned around to leave, but suddenly, a thought struck him. "You wouldn't happen to have some eggs I could borrow, would you?" Luffy would be home soon and he did not feel like going to the grocery store again.

"How many do you need?"

He scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. "Ten? My brothers have a big appetite," he hastily added.

Marco smiled. "Sure, I'll see how many I have. Please come in."

The man who had opened the door took a step aside to let Sabo pass. "I'm Izo, by the way," he said.

Sabo smiled. "Nice to meet you." Then he looked around. The apartment had the same outline as their own, with a living room connected to an open kitchen, but it was a lot cleaner. Unlike their own apartment, there weren't dirty laundry, books and empty containers of food scattered around. Marco did look a little more mature than two students and a Luffy could ever be, though.

His eyes suddenly fell on an envelope with the crest of the university on it. "Do you study?" Sabo asked, wondering if Marco would be studying still or again.

Marco peered around the fridge door. "Ah, no," he said when he saw what triggered the question. "I work at the university. I'm a counsellor.

"Oh, then you must be Mr Fenwick!" Sabo exclaimed. "You gave my brother advice on how I could get a scholarship so that he could work less."

Marco smiled. "Yes, I remember. How is that working out?"

"Great! Well, the extra money is welcome, and at least now Ace can work less. Those hours were really taking its toll on him. But I think he's happy to spend less time at that place."

"You approve of where he works?"

For a moment, Sabo's eyebrows raised slightly, but then he looked at Marco suspiciously. "I don't see anything wrong with a job as a security guard. Why, what did he tell you?"

"He didn't tell me anything," Marco replied.

An awkward silence hung in the air, in which the two blondes were trying to size each other up. Izo looked from one to the other, his eyebrow raised.

It was Marco who broke the silence. "I merely meant the late hours. I'll get your eggs now."

Sabo shrugged. "It's not ideal, but our youngest brother can be a handful. So I usually work during the day so Ace can keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, Ace needs to be watched as well, so it's a good thing you live in the same building as we do!"

A thud could be heard and Marco let out a curse. It would appear he had hit his head against a shelf in the refrigerator.

"You okay?" Sabo asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Marco placed the eggs in a bowl and handed them to Sabo as he rubbed the back of his head. "I only have eight, sorry."

"Thanks! That's okay, this whole thing is Ace's fault anyway." Sabo made his way to the door. "I'll make sure he'll personally bring you a new box and thanks you properly!"