As you stepped outside you side-eyed Law, he had barely said a word to you all week. He was definitely annoyed with you. But he said he wasn't when you asked. Feeling your gaze upon him, those steel grey eyes shift to you and he frowns, though honestly, you think he's always frowning so you guess he's frowning more deeply now?
"What?" his tone comes out gruff,
"Are you sure you're not angry with me?" you blurt out, he sighs as he walks over to his car unlocking it, you wonder for a moment if he will even answer as he gets Bepo into the back,
"I don't like repeating myself (Y/N)-ya," he finally responds, you puff out your cheeks, "just get in the car," he grumbles heading back to the house and calling for Rosinante. You shuffle in beside the dog who gives you a friendly lick. You smile and ruffle his thick fur. It had been almost a week since you lost your job and Rosinante had made his offer, you were still trying to decide if you should take him up on it. You weren't sure more change was needed on top of everything that had been going on,
"What do you think I should do Bepo?" the samoyed barks happily at you, "I wish I knew dog," you chuckle and glance out the window to see Law lecturing Rosinante, you wonder what kind of accident the tall blonde had stumbled his way into this time. Law was still reprimanding the man as they both got into the front,
"Your awareness of your surroundings is literally non-existent Cora-san," Law grumbles as he starts the car, Rosinante just chuckles and throws you a smile. You settle back into your usual silence as the car pulls out of the driveway, you were on your way to a barbeque, friends of Rosinante and Law wanted to give you a small welcoming party of sorts. Not that you are overly fond of parties, you hope that when they said small, it would mean small. Though Law had warned that their friends' idea of small was different to your idea of small so you were trying to mentally prepare yourself at least. You hadn't been travelling that long when the car pulled to a stop outside a large house and you had to wonder why you guys didn't just walk here. This made you believe they planned on staying quite late, you withheld the groan from that thought and slip out of the car with the others, pulling Bepo with you. The dog half dragged you excitedly towards the house and up the porch steps. Before any of you can knock on the door though, it swings open and reveals a raven-haired boy grinning widely,
"Yay you're here! Now we can eat!" he runs off leaving the door wide open, Bepo slips out of your grip charging after the boy,
"As energetic as always," Rosinante chuckles and pushes you through the entry way,
"Luffy stop running!" a male voice shouts somewhere ahead,
"Hey Rossi, you guys made it yoi," you look up towards a set of stairs where a blonde is walking down towards you. Your instantly reminded of a pineapple but you quickly push that rather rude comparison out of you mind, "This must be (Y/N)," he grins lazily at you as you give him a small polite smile in return, "welcome to the crazy house, sorry if it's a little more busy than planned yoi, Luffy tends to invite all his friends,"
"Nothing new there," Law sighs and heads in the direction Bepo had run off to. A tall brunette pops their head through the doorway Law just passed through and he grins,
"Hey, you're finally here," he comes out into the hall, "Welcome, welcome,"
"This is Marco and Thatch," Rosinante tell you, resting a hand on your shoulder,
"Nice to meet you both," you say quietly,
"Aww, she's so timid," Thatch chuckles,
"I didn't think he was into quiet types yoi," Marco adds on, this confused you and you tilt your head questioningly,
"I hope you're not about to start teasing her," a voice you recognise reprimands, Ember pushes past the brothers and gives you a bright smile before narrowing her eyes at the two, "go torment your brother, not (Y/N)," she then purposefully comes over to you and pulls you away from them and through the house to the back, "ignore whatever they said, okay?" she gives you another smile and you can't help but feel a little more relaxed. You had only met Ember a handful of times but you found her to be a genuinely nice and warm person, "so, I'm going to introduce you to people, but don't worry you don't have to talk to them all. I know it can be a little daunting,"
"It can't be that bad right?" you frown,
"Well, Luffy has a lot of friends. We managed to convince him to only invite his main group of friends," she sighs, "I don't think you would have wanted to experience your cousin and Kid go at it," she shakes her head, "I don't think they hate each other exactly but... okay, I'm rambling," she guides you through a large kitchen and into the back yard where a large pool sits and off to the side is a gathering of people. You spot Law with his two friends, Shachi and Penguin. The two wave dramatically at you making you smile amused and Ember mutter out, "dorks," Ember then proceeds to introduce you to everyone. At which point the blonde who had been manning the barbeque and simultaneously holding a drooling Luffy back from the sizzling meats spins his way over to you and takes up your hands,
"Such a jewel before my eyes, please honour me with your name?" you're momentarily distracted by his curly eyebrows,
"Oh um, it's (Y/N)," you mumble out,
"A beautiful name for a beautiful princess," he goes to kiss your hand but suddenly vanishes. In his place is a pool noodle? A loud splash has you looking to the pool where the blonde has suddenly appeared. You're very confused as to what has just happened, so is Ember it seems,
"Um, that was Sanji," you both share a look as a now sopping wet Sanji pulls himself out of the pool, throws you both a smile and storms over to Law,
"What the hell was that for Trafalgar!" he also aims a glare at the laughing mossy haired boy, "you can shut up too marimo,"
"What just happened exactly?" you mutter out quietly to Ember who shrugs and shakes her head,
"That was something Law can do with his devil fruit power," you both spin to find a smiling Sabo, your heart thuds hard in your chest. You had almost forgotten how pretty he was, like a prince in a fairy tale,
"Hold up," Ember raises her hand, "Law has devil fruit abilities? Why am I only finding out now? How many more of my friends have them?" she scowls, and spins around walking off towards where your cousin and friends are, "Shachi!"
"Oops, I think I got them in trouble," Sabo chuckles stepping beside you, "How are you today (Y/N)?" you sort of just stare at him for a moment before realising he asked you a question,
"Oh, oh I'm good. Just sort of taking things in slowly," you shrug and glance away as your cheeks burn a little, he chuckles softly, "I didn't know my cousin had a devil fruit ability..." you frown, "though I don't honestly know a lot about him in general," you sigh,
"I'm sure you will with time," he sounds confident, "so don't worry about it,"
"Hmm, I'll try not to,"
"Did Ember introduce you to everyone?"
"Mostly, until that happened," you look at the pool noodle on the floor in front of you, still processing, Sabo picks it up and throws it back into the pool,
"Can't say that's a common occurrence, but then, Law's never had anyone to protect from Sanji's flirtatious advances before," you look at Sabo after this with a small frown,
"Protect?" Law was protecting you, that just didn't seem right. But Sabo nods,
"Yes, I know I would do the same in his place."
You talk with Sabo for a little while before he's pulled away by his giant of a father, you thought your heart would give out when that man walked up. Now you were sat with Ember, Shachi and Vivi. Vivi, you knew, she used to attend your school and although a year above you, you both were in the tennis club. She had given you a tight hug upon arriving.
"So, you're saying he's angry with you?" Vivi tilts her head then glances over at Law, "isn't that just his usual outwardly expression, he always seems standoffish to me," that makes Ember snort out a laugh,
"He barely talks to me, I didn't mean to forget to let him know I didn't need the lift," you sigh and slump back in the seat, "even if he says he's not angry with me..."
"It's not you he's angry with," Shachi adds in,
"But he is angry?" you sit forwards,
"Of course, but it's not at you. It's just when he's pissed off, it's like it's everyone's fault, but I promise you, if he was annoyed with you, you'd know it."
You decided to mull this over, along with your other thoughts. As it got later, and rowdier, Sabo's brothers were all rather energetic, so was he you realised after watching him half the day. You slipped away out the front of the house to sit on the porch swing you had noticed when you arrived. You leant back and stared out at the empty street. Today was probably the most you had willingly spoken to people since the accident, a sigh rumbles out of you,
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," you mumble to yourself. A moment later the front door opens and a flushed Sabo steps out onto the porch shutting the door quickly and leaning against it, "are you alright?" you ask making him jump slightly,
"I didn't realise anyone was out here," he lets out a small embarrassed laugh, glances at the door then walks over and much to your delight, joins you on the porch swing, "taking a breather?"
"Yeah, think I may have had my dose of crowds for the day," you smile amused,
"Don't mind me joining you in your breather?"
"Not at all," you chuckle, you didn't mind one bit having his company to yourself for a little. You felt calm with him beside you as you let your thoughts drift. "Do you like Grand Line high school?" you feel his gaze on you as you ask this rather randomly,
"Yeah, it might not be one of the best schools in the area, but I'm proud to say I go there," he answers while gently rocking the swing,
"Rosinante has suggested that I maybe transfer," you tell him, "Red Line Academy is somewhat, expensive, I was paying the fees..."
"Sorry," Sabo cringes, "probably didn't help with me getting you fired," he rubs the back of his neck, you shake your head and give him a soft smile,
"Don't be sorry, my boss was a real jerk, wasn't the first time he was like that," you shrug, he sits forward looking serious,
"Has he tried to hit you before?"
"Ah, um..." you look down at your clenched hands in your lap, you didn't want to lie, you hadn't ever wanted to mention it to anyone either though, at least before now anyhow. Sabo takes your hand,
"(Y/N)?"
"It doesn't matter now," you shake your head, "it was never serious, and I don't have to go back there now,"
"It's still wrong," his tone is almost growl it's that low, you squeeze his hand,
"I know, but it's in the past, I'm moving on from it," you both sit in silence for a moment. It's only when muffled sounds of someone shouting inside that you both realise, you're still holding hands. Both of you let go quickly, both blushing.
"Um, if you do consider changing schools, I'd like it... I mean, it would be nice," he cringes again going a deeper shade of red, you try not to giggle, "I know the others would like it too, but I understand if you don't want to leave your friends a Red Line,"
"Well, I'm still considering it for the moment," you give him another smile which he returns. After a while the both of you head back to the rest and you settle into the long night, a little bewildered, and amused. You didn't think you would smile like this again so soon.