I am in the process of re-editing this story and fixing grammar errors and such. I have finished updating the existing chapters and will now start uploading new ones, starting from this one!

I'm very excited to finally continue this fic, stay tuned for new chapters, I hope you still find this silly story interesting and enjoy reading!

In the meanwhile please read and review! :) After each chapter I will wait for comments to see what people think and I won't update before that.

-Hansu

Zoro reached the safety and privacy of his own room and hurriedly nudged the door shut. Damn Sanji... who gave him permission to touch his computer, let alone stick his nose into his messages? He took a deep breath and focused on his laptop's screen.

'Sorry! Roommate-attack! It's over now.' he typed with haste.

'Hawk-Eyes', or Mihawk, chuckled in front of his own computer, and told his chat partner that it was alright. The roommate hadn't had time to type anything else besides 'This is Shitty Marimo's answering machine. He's getting something to eat. I'm sure he misses you too and he'll be back soon and you can be all lovey-dovey!' It was quite amusing, but it was understandable that the other one didn't feel the same way. As they chatted Mihawk found himself preparing for the night, in his office – for the fourth time that week.

'I think I need to go to sleep soon,' Mihawk typed 'I promised to meet up with my friend tomorrow morning. I'm not sure why, I know he's scheming something evil.'

That assumption came from the fact that Shanks had suddenly turned up in his office - very polite and unintrusive - and asked him with an innocent smile. It made a chill run through him.

'I hope you come out of it alive.' came the response 'I need to wake up pretty early too, promised to help my stupid roomie to shop food for the gang. We're having a get-together. He'll kick my ass if I don't wake up in time.'

'You don't fight at home I hope?'

'Well. Hmm. We critique each other constructively. Physically.'

'You have an all-out war going on in there, don't you?'

'Pretty much. But the other day we did the dishes together and he didn't kick me.'

'And that's an accomplishment of great measure?'

'Yeah.'

They soon bid each other good night, both feeling confused at how reluctantly they logged out. Mihawk laid awake thinking for a long time, stretched out on his office couch and staring at the ceiling and the changing shadows and reflections. This was becoming... dangerous. He couldn't just let a complete stranger from the internet close, could he?

People in flesh and blood were treacherous enough, and here he was, having opened his heart - even telling about his past! - to someone he had never met despite knowing better! He squirmed and threw his hand over his face in frustration. Talking to this person was so... so... easy. It felt right. He couldn't explain it more. But no matter how good he felt he knew that things were not always what they appeared to be. He... couldn't get dependent on a stranger, on someone else.

His conflicting thoughts and feelings made his night restless, and when he met up with Shanks the red-head found him groggy and cross.

"Man did you go to a party without me?"

"I'm not hungover."

"Suuuuure."

"I just couldn't sleep last night. I was thinking about things."

"What things? Something coming up in the museum?"

"Just...things." The older man sighed softly. "Remind me why I'm here again?"

Shanks gave him an odd look but then grinned. "To spend time with your bestest best friend!"

"Oh joy." Mihawk mumbled. Despite himself the corners of his mouth tugged upward when Shanks showed his intact arm into his side.

"Jerk. It's been ages since we did something, just the two of us. You're doing the thing again."

"What thing?"

"The thing when you pile up all sorts of work shit and ignore me – your charming, handsome and amazing friend. And everyone else too actually."

"Doesn't feel right imposing on you and Benn, you have a whole bunch of things going on..."

"Look we have friends coming and going in and out of the house all the time, that doesn't mean you're any less important. We're always gonna be mates, right? Or have you forgotten, even after all we went through, you asshole?"

How could he? It was years ago but the stump of Shanks's arm was an obvious reminder.

"Come on!" The grinning fiend tugged his sleeve. "Let's go have a blast!"

They passed by an ethnic food shop where another pair of friends were having an outing. Zoro grumbled and shifted, his hands already full of groceries when Sanji dumped one more bag into his arms.

"Stop whining I'm the one who'se gonna cook everything it's only fair that you carry it moss-head."

"Fine, fine...And I wasn't whining!"

"Good! I was worried that our brave strong swordsman might be out of shape or something!" Zoro glared at the smirking blond, but said nothing.

"Well that should be everything..." Sanji mused as they stepped outside, lazily making their way back. It was a bit chilly but the weather was nice enough, the air was fresh and pleasant to breathe.

"Who were you chatting with?" Sanji asked, out of the blue, almost making Zoro stumble. "Someone from school?"

"...Kinda." It wasn't exactly a lie. He assumed Hawk-Eyes was a former student, talking about the fencing club in past tense. It still astonished him – they had gone to the same school as him. The fencing club wasn't formed until recently so they might have passed by each other in the hallways in previous years. He might have seen his or her face. Every day he might have passed by this person who was so real, despite being just a phantom on a laptop screen. These thoughts had been making him restless since he learned about it. At first he had thought it wouldn't matter, it was just a nice little change of talking to someone new on the internet, they'd do it until they got bored of it and then they would move on. But now... when he thought about letting that person on the other end of the connection go... it felt so wrong.

"'Kinda'? What the hell does that mean?"

"He graduated already." Zoro didn't know why he chose the male pronoun. Maybe just to pre-emptively shut Sanji up about the online girlfriend thing...

"Ah, from your club or something?"

"Yeah..." Zoro nodded.

"Is there something going on? You seem kinda off somehow. Hey I'm sorry about yesterday did I mess something up?"

"Nah it's fine I just... there's this stupid essay I have to write..." Zoro said, trying to nudge the conversation to another direction.

"Ohoho, Marimo is scared of big words is he?" Sanji taunted playfully, earning a half-hearted glare.

"You wanna get punched?"

"What's it about? Don't worry man just scribble something down and be done with it."

"It's for the art course..." Zoro cringed. That damn teacher... he didn't seem to like Zoro much, or any of the 'athelete types' for that matter. "If I don't do at least moderately well I'm gonna fail and I can kiss goodbye any thoughts of graduating this year. Not that I have any idea what to do with my life after that..."

Sanji listened silently, while they walked towards their apartment, lighting a cigarette.

"Just take baby-steps, one task at a time. Focus on getting that essay shit done first. I'm sure Robin can help you out she's ace with that kind of stuff." he patted his green-haired friend on the back. "We'll take care of our shitty marimo!" he grinned and laughed when Zoro tried to kick his shin, wobbling slightly with the weight of the groceries.

How lucky he was, with friends like these. He wasn't even sure how their band of misfits had come together but it didn't matter, they stuck together and looked out for eachother. They laughed and cried together and shared hopes and dreams. It was the best thing he had in his life, besides the feeling he got when he was fired up and ready to go with a sword in his hands. The young man frowned. Why was he suddenly feeling so incomplete...

Dammit, Hawk-Eyes...

Back towards where they came from Mihawk and Shanks sat in a cozy old cafe. The dark haired man had to be in awe of Shanks for having a seemingly bottomless stomach.

"I don't understand how you can eat all that..." he nearly gagged at the amount of sweet things Shanks had already eaten in such a short time. He was perfectly happy with his dark chocolate muffin. "Where does all that go?" He wondered aloud. Shanks merely grinned and took another bite. "I need to eat a lot so I have the energy to be as awesome as I am!"

"Even half as 'awesome' as you are is more than enough. I don't understand how you stay fit."

"With Benn." Shanks finished and took a sip from his coffee. "Sex – great way to burn calories!" he beamed.

"I don't know why I was expecting something sensible." Mihawk replied with an unmoved expression while Shanks laughed. The red-head leaned on his good arm and sighed.

"Hey are we becoming old or something? Seriously, twenty years ago would you have ever thought we'd be sitting somewhere casually sipping coffee?" Mihawk's lips tugged upwards slightly, which Shanks recognized as his silent laugh from the look in his eyes. He prided himself in knowing Mihawk's language. "We used to just go out and wander through the night, running under bridges and in abandoned warehouses, picking fights. It was... it was life. It was all there was to life for us wasn't it? Friendship, rebelling and fighting."

"We weren't friends." Mihawk reminded.

"Yeah I guess not but eventually you saw the light." Shanks smirked at the dark-haired man.

Mihawk grinned despite his restless thoughts. His mind was only half-present in the conversation, and he felt a bit guilty about it. It really had been a long time since he and Shanks had just spent some time together. But he couldn't stop thinking about that chat partner of his... 'Marimo'... such a ridiculous alias... coming uninvited into his life and messing up his head. How did it happen... He admonished himself, letting himself get affected by such a thing.

"Hey, Hawky, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Shanks said suddenly, with that annoying innocent smile of his. Mihawk narrowed his eyes slightly at him. "I just want you to remember that I'm gonna be there for you if you need me." the red-head grinned. It was obvious to him something strange was going on with his friend, but he knew he wouldn't get anywhere by pushing. Mihawk would have to come to him on his own when he was ready to talk about whatever was bothering him.

Mihawk nodded curtly at Shanks's reminder. The red-head could be surprisingly perceptive and subtle when he really wanted to be, he admired. They quickly moved on to talk about other things, but nothing managed to make him entirely forget about his online acquintance. This...was not good at all, he thought grimly. It couldn't continue, he decided. He had to end it.