Trust

Restless | 遽しい

At some point, after staring thoughtlessly at the ground for what felt like hours, exhaustion finally overtook Lucy and she began dozing off, unknowingly burrowing further into her knees and soon falling fully asleep.

Their room was quiet after that and it was nice, as both of them were relaxed and fast asleep, not bothering to guard themselves against each other.

However, that quiet was soon broken by Kouen who, having just woken up, blinked a few times and sat up onto his arm, eyes easily focusing on Lucy's sleeping figure. So he wasn't imagining her appearing at dawn then, it actually did happen. Taking a moment to wake himself up, he stretched his arms and yawned before getting out of his bed and staring at the mostly unused wardrobe in the corner of the room.

After a brief pause where he contemplated whether he should go to it or not, he made his decision and walked over to open one of its two draws. Bending down, he picked up a throw blanket (one of the very few things in it), closed the wardrobe door and then draped it over Lucy, watching as she brought it closer to herself and let out a content hum.

With a small smile, he carefully opened the room door and with one last look at Lucy peacefully sleeping on the armchair, he quietly closed the door behind him.

- - - - -

Waking up after getting not as much sleep as she was hoping to get, Lucy felt something soft on her, but she didn't know what it was. She doesn't remember ever putting a blanket on herself but at the same time, she also barely remembers when she fell asleep, so her confusion didn't really surprise her.

Instead of dwelling on it for any longer, she wrapped herself up even tighter in the blanket, not realizing how cold it is in the morning, especially when surrounded by oceans upon oceans. Careful to make sure none of her skin was exposed to the crisp breeze, she stood up to look around the newly empty room.

Did I come to the wrong room—no I couldn't have, he welcomed me back last night, so why is the room so empty now—

Wait.

Upon closer inspection, she realized that while the room was empty, the sheets on the bed were still ruffled and barely made, looking as if someone just crawled out of them (which Kouen did).

"Oh," she muttered breathlessly, finally putting two and two together. "So that's where the blanket came from." Without realizing it, she snuggled into it even more, feeling her eyelids becoming heavier as time passed. Sleeping for a little while longer wouldn't hurt anyone and Lucy was just so comfortable, as the blanket felt almost as soft as Aries' wool. They were at sea anyways, and there were plenty of powerful people around in case something bad did happen, so she can...

Not even bothering to finish her thought, Lucy fell face first onto the bed and wiggled her way into the sheets, exactly where Kouen was, relishing in the scant remains of body heat still clinging to the mattress.

Yeah, a few more minutes of bliss would be fine.

- - - - -

From a young age, before she even became a teenager, Lucy learned a very valuable lesson: having expectations of any kind will only lead to disappointment.

She learned this from her mother dying, her father shunning her and focusing solely on his company, the loneliness that ensued afterwards and that's just from before she turned twelve. Even after she left her home and decided to have some hope and raise her expectations a little—though it started off great—she ended up more hurt and disappointed than she ever was before. In this new world too, she hasn't had any kind of expectations for anyone and because of that, she had yet to have been disappointed, only grateful and relieved.

So why, after all this time of her constantly preparing herself for the disappointment she's come to expect, did the first time in so long that she decided that maybe things weren't so bad, she ended up not even able to enjoy a mere half hour of peace.

Everything was going so well that it should've been fine. The other, far more awake people, should be able to deal with anything. They all should be safe since they're in the middle of the ocean and farther out than any fishing boat would be able to go.

All of this should be true and Lucy knows this.

But instead of enjoying a few more minutes of comfort in a soft bed, covered in fluffy blankets, in a peaceful bliss she hasn't experienced in a long time, she was fighting off against pirates.

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A/N: This chapter is way too slow for my liking and took way too long to come out I wasn't sure how I wanted it to go but out of the fifty rewrites I did, this one is the one I liked the most. But since I don't like shit being so slow paced, next chapter is definitely going to be faster paced than this. Also, 1k votes??? Actually insane, ily you guys.