Alright I still needed to edit this chapter, so that's why it's a bit on the late side. Anyway, I'm really happy with the nice comments! :D So thank you very much!

Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter as well~!

Chapter 4

It was Thursday when he was sitting in a room with four other people, barely able to keep his eyes open. Hina had forced him to take a day off to see a specialist in sleeping disorders. So here he was, sitting in the waiting room, waiting to be called. Well, at least the people around him should have a similar kind of problem, so they would have to forgive him for not looking very awake.

It was a few minutes later when his name was finally called and he was taken to a small office where he had to explain his problem. It had only gotten worse the past few nights and Smoker was sure that three hours of sleep in an average night were not enough to live a normal life. It had become harder to focus and he had noticed that he had become a little less nice to people who annoyed him even the slightest bit – Tashigi didn't have to tell him that, though she still did. Beside that, he also became more and more paranoid at night and every shadow worried him at some times. And he didn't even mention the nightmares he had when he did sleep. Mostly they were about him not being able to catch or hold anything or anyone. Which, to be honest, was one of his biggest fears.

After he'd explained his problem, the woman who was trying to help him, told him that he should make an outline of his sleep schedule, writing down exactly how late he went to bed, how late he got up and every time he lay awake in between that. She also advised him to keep a regular rhythm, not lying in bed for more than eight hours a night, even if that meant the time he actually slept was reduced even more. Eventually, his body would get used to it and take over that rhythm, she said.

Even though she also advised him to keep himself busy during the day, it was only two in the afternoon when he got home and he was deadly tired. Deciding to begin with the doctor's instructions that night, he lay down in his bed, curtains closed and set on getting some extra sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he was confused for a bit. He had actually slept. After casting a look at his clock, he was even more surprised. He had slept for four hours straight! He couldn't remember any unpleasant dreams either, or any dreams for that matter.

Even though he knew that wasn't nearly enough sleep to make up for all the hours he had lost the past week and a half, he still felt a lot more energetic again. In contrast to this morning, he felt like he could handle the whole world, if it were to be in need of him.

He refreshed himself and pulled on a pair of pants, purposely leaving off a shirt, before walking out of his door, turning towards his neighbor's and ringing the doorbell. He leaned with his arm against the doorpost when Izo opened the door. The black haired man seemed surprised to see him, or at least to see him without a shirt, but not unpleasantly so.

"Hey," Smoker greeted him. "Do you want to come over for dinner?"

Izo gave him a long look over and barely visibly licked his lips. "Depends…" He locked eyes with his neighbor. "Have your skills improved since last time?"

Smoker chuckled. "I might not be a Michelin chef, but I think I can cook pretty decent."

A smirk formed itself on Izo's lips. "Then I would love a taste of your… cuisine."

"Alright, I'll start on it then," Smoker answered. He kept standing there for a second longer than necessary, but then turned towards his own apartment. "I'll leave the door open for a bit, so you don't have to use those 'tricks' of yours again. You can come in whenever you're ready."

"I will," Izo answered and Smoker walked away contently.

He was only working on dinner for about five minutes when Izo stepped into the kitchen. "So, what are you making me?"

Smoker looked around to see that Izo had changed his clothes and that the pants he wore were dangerously tight. He quickly turned back to what he was working on. "Oh, you'll love my balls."

Izo snorted. "A little straight forward, aren't we?"

"My meatballs." Smoker closed his eyes, embarrassed by his own choice of words. "Swedish meatballs. I'm making them."

A deep chuckle escaped Izo's lips. "I'm sure I'll love your balls."

"You like garlic?" Smoker asked. "Or will that keep your vampire self away?" he joked.

"Garlic is fine," Izo's voice suddenly sounded way closer. "I've left my vampire years behind me."

Smoker could feel Izo's breath on his neck and couldn't keep the image of his neighbor, letting his teeth sink into his flesh, out of his mind. He wondered why that seemed so appealing to him. He blinked a few times to get rid of the image and then looked over his shoulder to see exactly how close Izo was standing behind him. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure." The black haired man smiled. "Some wine would be nice."

Smoker got the bottle of Chardonnay out of his fridge and poured his guest a glass plus one for himself as well, even though he wasn't that big a fan of wine. "So what have you been up to the past few days?" he asked the other while resuming his cooking.

"Oh, not much special, mostly rehearsing for the new production, of which the first night is next Wednesday," Izo answered while leaning against the fridge and watching his neighbor do his thing.

"Wednesday? That's pretty soon already," was Smoker's reaction. "Where is the show? In this town, or…"

"No, in the Gold and Silvers Plaza in Logue Town," the actor answered. Logue Town was the nearest city one could describe as 'big' and was about twenty miles away from where they lived. "But we're almost ready for it already, so I'm sure everything will go according to plan."

"Good to hear." Smoker went through his working schedule inside his head. "So which days do you play then?"

"Every evening from Wednesday to Friday and the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, for the first three weeks at least. After that, it depends on how popular the show is." Izo smirked. "Are you planning to come and watch me?"

Smoker shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe, if I've got some free time." Next Friday was his day off, so that was a possibility. "I'm not a very big theater fan though."

"That's okay. You don't have to," Izo smiled. "But how's it going at your job? Did you catch Ace already?"

Smoker grunted. "Let's not talk about that brat. You know perfectly well that we didn't catch him. Not that we tried to. He's allowed to await his trial at home, unfortunately."

Izo chuckled. "He's not such a bad guy, you know."

Smoker looked at him for a few moments. "Say, do you know anything I need to know? Do you know if he's threatening one of the witnesses, for example?"

Izo stayed silent for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, nothing." As Smoker kept looking at him, he turned his gaze away. "Okay maybe I know something, but I'm not gonna meddle in this. I'm not choosing his side, but I'm not choosing your side in this either. Just leave me out of this."

"He's defying the law, how can you just accept that?" Smoker asked, shaking his head.

"It's not like I approve of it. I told you, I'm not choosing a side." Izo did a step towards him, smiling a little mischievous. "Besides…" he continued with a much deeper voice, "it's not like I'm such a saint."

Smoker cursed his body for reacting to that sentence in the way it did, but tried to ignore it and raised an eyebrow. "Do I want to know?"

"I don't know… do you?" Izo said sensually.

Fuck, this way they wouldn't make it to dinner, so something had to change. He cleared his throat. "Maybe you could set the table? It won't take too long before everything is done." He wasn't really one to make his guests work, but it wasn't the time yet to build up such a tension between them, so he had to kill it while it was still possible. He'd see about that again after dinner.

Izo chuckled. "Sure."

Smoker pointed him towards everything he needed to set the table, except for the plates, since he would be taking them to the living room himself when the food was done, and Izo went to work. It was when Smoker was almost finished with dinner that he noticed Izo still hadn't returned to the kitchen, and he wondered if he had blown everything and his neighbor had fled his apartment. He would have been able to set the table three times already, after all. Smoker finished his cooking anyway and made two plates ready to serve.

When he entered the living room, he was pleasantly surprised. The table was perfectly set, even with two burning candles on it and in the background one of his CDs was playing. Izo just sat down on one of the chairs at the table and smiled at him. "I hope you don't mind me rummaging through your stuff a bit, but I needed to find some candles and music."

It seemed Smoker's neighbor was quite the romantic. "That's fine. I'm slowly getting used to your burglar tendencies."

"Really now?" Izo asked amused.

"Not that I'm encouraging you to expand them," Smoker warned him. He put the plates down on the table and sat down himself. "I hope you enjoy your meal."

The actor smiled and Smoker watched how he cut one of the meatballs in two and put one part into his mouth. Izo closed his eyes as he slowly chewed and swallowed it. A soft moan escaped his lips and when he opened his eyes again, he looked straight into Smoker's. "Your balls are delicious," he said teasingly.

Smoker was not sure how he should respond to that and eventually just went with an "I'm glad".

Dinner proceeded pretty well, until Smoker noticed that his neighbor looked a bit as if something was annoying him. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

The look immediately disappeared from Izo's face. "Oh no, nothing, I was just having a thought that wasn't really appropriate and I needed to remind myself of that." He smiled innocently. "Say, do you always eat dinner without a shirt on?"

Smoker looked down his chest and only now remembered that he had forgotten to clothe his upper body before starting on dinner. "No, usually not. Does it bother you? 'cause I can just –"

"No, it doesn't bother me," Izo interrupted him. "Distracting me maybe a little, but not bothering me."

Smoker raised an eyebrow while looking how Izo took another bite of his food, showing a little more tongue than necessary. The white haired man's eyes were glued to that mouth, those slightly colored lips, the bit of tongue…

"But you seem to be a bit distracted yourself as well," Izo teased after he had swallowed his food.

Smoker tore his gaze away from his neighbor and shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about." He focused on his food again, and after a short chuckle, indicating that Izo thought differently, dinner continued relatively easy.

After their food was long gone, Smoker had poured them both another glass of wine – it wasn't that bad after all – and it was only when there fell a short silence that he noticed the music had stopped.

"Oh," Izo said as he slowly leaned forward. He brought his hand close to Smoker's face and let a finger trail from his chin, up to Smoker's bottom lip. "You've got a bit of lingonsylt left here." As he retreated his finger, Smoker saw indeed a bit of the red sauce on it. Izo brought it to his own mouth and slowly let his tongue slide along his finger and finally wrapped his lips around it, making sure every trail of the sauce was gone. Of course, he never broke eye contact with his host as he did this.

Smoker watched him, mesmerized, his breath becoming slower and deeper and his mouth hanging slightly open. Fuck, well, he didn't have a reason to stop this anymore right? They didn't have to focus on dinner or anything anymore…

Smoker tried to get his breathing normal again and stop his heart from beating so loudly, but it didn't work. He tried to say something, but couldn't remember the words. It was almost like Izo had put a spell on him. He was just unable to look away.

"That was delicious," the dark haired man said in a deep voice.

"Do you wanna taste something else that's delicious?" Smoker had said it before he realized it. His heart started to beat even faster as he realized what he had said, but still his body slowly leaned forward.

Izo seemed to be drawn towards him as well and answered, "I would love to."

Smoker could feel the other's breath on his skin already, and it only took a little more courage to actually cross the last bit of distance between them. Their lips met, first carefully, getting used to the other's touch, but then more confident. Smoker placed his hand behind the other's head to deepen the kiss some more, opening his mouth as he felt Izo's tongue against his lips. He only heard a faint thud and didn't pay much attention to it, too absorbed by the kiss, but was abruptly awoken from his trance when Izo let go of him with a slight squeak.

The police officer looked at his neighbor a little confused. Wasn't this what he wanted too? "What's the matter?"

Izo closed his eyes, obviously a bit embarrassed by the sound he had just made. "The wine. We knocked the glass over and it's dripping on my leg." He began to laugh softly. "What a timing."

Smoker chuckled relieved. "I'm sorry. I shall get you a towel to clean up." Smoker stood up, took the dishes back to the kitchen and soon returned with two towels, one so Izo could dry off his pants a bit, and one to clean up the table. "At least it was white wine, not red," he commented.

"Yeah, because you would be paying for the cleaner's costs if it was," Izo joked while removing the wine stain as well as possible.

After everything was as clean as it got for now, Smoker refilled Izo's glass – the one he had knocked over – and they moved towards the couch. They talked some more and there were a few awkward touches in between, both not exactly sure where the two of them were standing. However, when Smoker opened another bottle, things slowly got a little less awkward.

Izo's hand was caressing Smoker's knee, going up so slowly that the white haired man barely noticed it at first. "Izo, can I ask you a personal question?"

The raven head chuckled. "Then what were all the other questions, if not personal?"

"Yeah, you've got a point there. So… why are you looking the way you look?" Smoker asked, sounding a little blunter than he had intended.

Izo raised an eyebrow, but then lifted his free hand to eyelevel and looked at it intensely. He shrugged. "Because that is how the man and woman who created me… created me?"

"No, I mean, with the make-up and the high heeled shoes and all," Smoker explained, noticing that Izo's hand on his leg stopped moving for a moment.

"I just care for my appearance. It's a shame that there is this clear separation of 'male' and 'female' everywhere in society. Ninety percent of the clothes worth looking at are made 'for women', and you wouldn't want to know how often I'm told 'I'm sorry, sir, but these are female clothes'," he said with a mockingly higher voice. Then he snorted. "What a bullshit. I can wear whatever I want. And make-up isn't that unusual when you have a stage-acting background."

Smoker looked at the man as he spoke about the gender connected expectations society had and how he hated them. The police officer really admired him for opposing those expectations, because there were not many people who dared that. "You do have a point about the clothing and everything," Smoker said. "And they look very good on you, too."

"Why, thank you," Izo smirked. "I like the way you're dressed as well."

Smoker looked down at his still bare chest and chuckled. "I'm glad." He noticed Izo's hand had moved up his leg again and his neighbor was slightly leaning in. Smoker's eyes rested a little longer on those slightly red lips, which looked very tempting.

"That's their natural color, you know," Izo said softly, still coming closer. "The lipstick has faded away a long time ago."

That gave Smoker the final push to place his own lips on them. The kiss soon deepened and Izo pushed him down so his upper body was lying on the couch. The taste of his neighbor's tongue was not comparable with anything, just as the things he could do with that tongue. God, Smoker had never even dreamed someone could be such a good kisser.

The police officer let his hands wander down Izo's back, soon reaching his perfect butt. He squeezed it softly and gained a moan from his neighbor, which send a warmth through Smoker's whole body, but specifically to his groin.

Smoker let his hands slip underneath the shirt Izo was wearing, feeling every inch of skin underneath his fingers. This seemed to encourage Izo to kiss him even more lustful.

Until Smoker tried to take off his neighbor's shirt. Izo suddenly let go of him and sat up. "No. We're not going there yet."

Smoker looked up a little confused by the loss of contact. "Why not?"

Izo stood up, casting a look at the clock and then through the window, at the already darkening sky. "Why not? It's not very classy to have sex on the first date, don't you agree?"

Smoker looked up at him, even more confused. "I thought you didn't care for the standards society set? Besides, it's not really the first date."

"No, but I have my own standards." The dark haired man cast another nervous look outside. "And some dignity. Besides, it's the first time we kissed, so that counts as the first date."

Smoker sat up, trying to get rid of his arousal, but not really succeeding yet. Still he smiled. "Well, aren't you a good boy," he teased. "You're right though, I guess. It was a bit fast."

Izo chuckled. "Oh, no, that's where you're wrong; I'm a very bad boy." He winked. "But that's not something you're about to find out tonight."

After some disappointment that that seemed to be the end of their 'date', Smoker had let Izo go to his own apartment. When he gave it a second thought, it was actually a good thing too that his neighbor didn't stay for the night. At least he could work on his sleeping pattern now. Besides, it had been more a heat-of-the-moment action of him to want to rip off the other's clothes. He was glad Izo had broken it off, because it would have looked as if sex was the only thing he was interested in, which was absolutely not true. Though Izo had a beauty few men possessed, it was not only the outside that attracted Smoker.

He sighed as he stared at the ceiling above his bed. The only problem now though, was that he was pretty aroused. Which didn't help when you already had problems with falling asleep. Still, he tried to ignore it and think of other things that weren't Izo. He remembered the story Tashigi had told him the other day, about meeting a man who shared her passion for swords. He wondered how interested she actually was in him.

Thinking of something that didn't really bother him, slowly lulled him to sleep after all, and he cast a last look at his clock before his eyes fell shut.

It felt like he had only slept a few seconds when he woke up again, seemingly by his own moan. After a moment of confusion, thinking whether that sound had really come from his own mouth, he remembered to check the clock again – for the notes he had to make. 23:34, so it really had been only a few minutes of sleep.

He stared down his body. How the hell did he get more aroused in those minutes? He hadn't even had the time to dream anything that could possibly turn him on! Still, he had a faint memory of someone touching him, so maybe he did have some sort of tiny dream?

Suddenly, he saw a shadow move beside his bed. And this time he was very sure he had seen something. His heart skipped a beat. Oh God, there was someone in his room. Wait… had that person been touching him?!

Smoker immediately stood next to his bed, flicking on as much light as possible. He looked around the room, ready to confront the person who dared to break into his bedroom. But he found no one. Nothing. He checked the corner behind his closet and the space behind his chair, but no person or animal or whatever was hiding there. He even looked underneath his bed, even though no normal person could even fit underneath there.

He stared at the covered windows. There was only one place left where they could hide and that was behind the curtains. Even if the person would have had to walk over his bed to reach it. Smoker took a deep breath and quietly walked over to the window. He counted to three in his head and ripped the curtains open.

His heart stopped for a moment. He stared at the huge mass of black before him that was nothing more than the night outside. There was no one behind his curtains.

Inspecting the whole room again, this time also checking the insides of his closet, he came to the conclusion that there was nobody inside his bedroom. And still… he was pretty sure he had seen someone move. Smoker turned off the big light, leaving only the lamp on his nightstand to illuminate the room, and got into bed again. He noticed his heart was beating fast and loudly and he had to admit to himself that he might become a little scared – and he didn't get scared easily. Something was not right here. There was something going on which he couldn't grasp, couldn't explain, and that frightened him a bit.

Though, there had to be some explanation, right? He looked outside the window again. On this side of the building were no street lanterns and it was a cloudy night, so no stars or moon to lighten up the sky and cause any weird shadows in his room. Besides, the curtains had been closed, blocking every light that might have tried to come through his window.

Smoker shook his head. What was he even scared of? People couldn't just disappear. However, somewhere in the back of his mind, Portgas D. Ace tried to get his attention. He had seemed to have disappeared from his cell after all. He couldn't be behind this either, could he?

Smoker let his eyes wander through the room again. Of course not, he reprimanded himself. At least not directly. His mind was probably just playing tricks on him. The idea of still not knowing how the bastard escaped, together with being sleep deprived, made him see things that weren't there. That must be it.

With a certain peace of mind, though not completely convinced, he turned off the light beside his bed and tried to sleep again.

That night, he made a new record of exactly two and a half hour of sleep before his alarm went off.

~ bonus ~

The first rays of sunlight slowly started to warm up the room. "I just can't help it! I don't want to, I mean, I like him, but… it just happens. You know, I'm drawn to him every time again. Well, probably because I like him, but…" He looked desperately at the man before him.

The blond gave him his usual bored look. "That sounds like a problem."

The dark haired man rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for your help."

"I just don't get what you see in him in the first place!" A third voice came from the kitchen. "He's pretty much an asshole."

The older two ignored the voice and the blond looked thoughtful. "You could come over to us next time, it would be like a slumber party." He smiled. "Or the three of us could even go out together, to make sure you don't wander off."

"I can't," The freckled man came down from the kitchen, a slice of pizza in his hand. "I've got some business to do…"

TBC.

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