A.N: Spoilers up to chapter 112. Also this has hints of a ship, so it might not be for everyone.

Locked Up

"Sasha, slow down! Nikolo's going to be fine!" Connie yelled as he and Grior struggled to keep up with the frantic woman walking ahead of them.

"We don't know that for sure!" Sasha argued without stopping or looking back "The MPs don't like Marleyans; they might even hurt him just for laughs!"

"She has a point; they dothat sometimes" Grior said, quickening his space a little. Connie cast him a glare, saying: "You're not helping!"

Even so, he too picked up the pace. He was worried about Nikolo, but even more so he was afraid of what Sasha might do if it turned out that Nikolo had actually been hurt. He didn't want her getting in to trouble.

"What a mess…"

"How did I get myself in to a mess like this?" Nikolo wondered as he sat in a cell, rubbing his aching wrist. It was stupid, really. Just why had he tried to go back in to the restaurant through the window after forgetting the key? He should've just waited for Grior! It was a given that someone trying to get in to a building late at night through the window would be mistaken for a thief. Of course, he had explained himself to the local MPs that were alerted over. He had thought everything'd be fine, for those MPs actually ate at the restaurant from time to time and knew his face. But no, that's not how things went. In fact, he felt like they wanted to make things hard because they knew who he was and didn't like him.

"Well, I suppose I can't blame them. If our roles were switched, I'd probably be doing something similar" still, he didn't like this. Grior must've noticed by now that he was gone; perhaps he had contacted the MPs and was working to get him out? Or was Grior thinking that he'd decided to try and run and didn't want to mess his chances? In that case, he could be stuck here for a long time.

"That hurts, you jerk!" Nikolo jumped, recognizing the voice. Sasha was here… wait, she was hurt!? Standing up, he rushed over to the door in order to hear better, but before he could press himself against it, it opened and Sasha stumbled inside, being pushed by one of the MPs.

"Sasha?!" he cried out, instinctively catching the stumbling woman in his arms, wincing a little from the pain caused by the sudden movement.

"Ow" Sasha whined, managing to cast one final glare at the MPs over her shoulder before the door was shut once more "I really don't like those guys…"

Nikolo had to agree with her, but that wasn't important right now.

"Why are you here?" he asked "Why did they just lock you up?"

Sasha blinks before grinning sheepishly "Well, I kind of messed up…"

"Oh really? Wouldn't have guessed" Nikolo says, eyebrow twitching. Letting go off her, he crosses his arms, trying to mask away the slight worry he feels for her "What happened?"

"When Connie and I got in to the restaurant, only Grior was there and he said he hadn't seen you since yesterday. So, we asked around, and one of the neighbors told us someone had been taken away by the MPs after trying to break in. Grior had found your key, so we figured it must've been you and came here" she said "We were supposed to just take you back with us, but the MPs got bitchy so I… well… I might have punched one or two of them…"

Nikolo just stared and Sasha looked away, seeming a little embarrassed. He wasn't all that surprised about Sasha lashing out at the MPs, but that she'd do that for him, that was a shocker.

"You… went that far… for me?" he asks slowly, both fearing and hoping he'd misunderstood something. If he'd misunderstood, then that'd mean Sasha cared about him less than he now thought she did, but if he got it right it meant that she was now stuck here because of him. He didn't like either option.

"Well yeah, I was afraid they'd hurt you" Sasha admitted, and Nikolo thought he was able to see a small blush on her face "Since, you know, they don't like Marleyans…"

"Right…" they stand there awkwardly, neither really knowing what to say, before Nikolo catches Sasha's eyes going up and down his form. Blushing a little, he asks: "What are you doing?"

"Just checking if you're hurt" she answers "Are you?"

"…No" he lies after a while, realizing that he probably shouldn't have lied as Sasha frowns at him "You're not being honest with me."

"…Yeah" he admits as the woman doesn't back down "But it's not serious; nothing's broken. My wrist just hurts a little."

"Show me" Sasha demands, grapping his wrist. With how much power she does it, he's glad that it's the wrong one "It's the left" he says, pulling away before Sasha can yank at it "It's fine, really."

Sasha narrows her eyes at him, and Nikolo finds himself to be weak against that look. Damn. Hesitantly, he lowers his left hand, letting her take a look. He's prepared for it to hurt, but to his surprise Sasha takes his hand gently, perhaps having realized her earlier mistake. She observes it, pressing down carefully, and Nikolo hisses before he can stop himself.

"Sorry" she apologizes "It doesn't look like it'd be broken, but you should be careful for a while."

"I know" Nikolo says, pulling his hand back as Sasha lets go "…What do we do now?"

"We'll just leave everything to Connie; he'll figure something out" Sasha says with a shrug, smiling. Nikolo however, isn't all that reassured: "Leave it to Connie? Really?"

"…Well, Grior's there too" Sasha says with a sweat drop, getting the hint "They'll come up with something."

Nikolo just stares, and the last of Sasha's smile falls off her face.

"…We're so in trouble"

"Yeah, we are" Nikolo agrees. He just hopes that Connie will realize to go get someone smarter than him to their aid, otherwise they might be locked up for who knows how long.

"Ah well, it can't be helped" Sasha says, walking over to the single hard bench in the cell before sitting down. Looking over at Nikolo, she pats the seat next to her "Come over here!"

"…Why?" Nikolo asks hesitantly. Sasha shrugs once more, saying: "Since we're both stuck here without nothing else to do, we should make use of this rare opportunity. It's not often that we actually have time to talk to each other properly!"

Well, she's not wrong, Nikolo knows that, but to just have a casual chat in a cell like this…

"Screw it" he thinks, accepting Sasha's invitation. And they talk. About food, about their friends, about the outside world, anything. Neither really knows when it happened, but at some point, both of them drifted off to sleep.

"Should we wake them up?" Connie asks as he stares at the sleeping duo with Jean and Grior.

"Yeah, better do that before the MPs change their minds" Jean says, watching how Sasha leans against Nikolo's shoulder, who in turn is asleep against the wall, his head tilted in Sasha's direction "Though I do wish I had one of those camera -things right now."

"No kidding" Connie says with a snort "I'll never let them live this down."

Tired of their chattering and wanting to get out of the place, Grior ends up being the first to walk up to the sleeping duo. He pulls Nikolo up by the collar of his shirt, startling the man awake in the process. It also awakens Sasha as the woman can no longer lean on Nikolo and slams down on the bench rather hard.

"Ow…"

"What?" Nikolo asks groggily, taking a while before he can understand his surroundings. When he meets Grior's blank stare, he scowls "What are you doing?"

"More like what are you doing?" he hisses back, gesturing towards Sasha who's now nursing her head as Connie helps her up. Confused, Nikolo stares at Sasha. They were talking about the dishes he'd eaten once when he visited Asia and then… what, exactly? He couldn't remember… did they fall asleep? Next to each other? That would explain some things… "Nothing of importance."

Grior keeps staring at him blankly as Nikolo frees himself, straightening out his shirt. He catches the sight of Jean at the cell's door, and when the man meets his gaze he smirks and asks: "Had a nice nap?"

Nikolo can feel his face growing red, and the widening of Jean's smirk only makes him surer that he must be blushing like a mad man. Naturally, he sees it better not to say anything.

"I know I did before the rude awakening" Sasha says, casting a glare at Grior, who just glares right back. Frowning, she asks: "Can we just ditch Grior here?"

The man is startled before looking at her with narrowed eyes, causing Sasha to stick her tongue out at him. It would serve him right.

"Maybe next time" Jean says, wanting to defuse the fight before it can properly start "For now, let's get out before the MPs change their minds."

"So, we're free to go?" Sasha asks and when Jean nods, she cheers: "I knew I could count on you!"

"What about me?" Connie asks, but she ignores him. As they all walk out, Sasha catches Nikolo's eyes and smiles. He's a little startled, but smiles back anyway. As much as he has always hated sitting in a cell, this time it hadn't been all that bad.