One Piece One Shots (Requests: Closed)

Unrealistic Expectaions (Thatch, AU)

Requested by: Aliterck

That's the last of the requests! But don't worry, I'll update some more oneshots. I'm not quite to 200 chapters yet. So until I get there... there's still more to this book. I hope you enjoy.

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  She curls herself onto the bed, nothing in this world could make her feel any less pitiful. Sure, she doesn't deserve people's pity, but she's pitiful. Despite how she feels, she's beautiful. And that's typical. The one who is most insecure has the most right to feel confident. It's like the world has unrealistic expectations for her.
Why does she deal with this? Her boyfriend tells her no one else will ever love her. That he's the only one who would accept her the way she is. He has such a power grasp on her that she doesn't know what's left and what's right.
She has no friends, not anymore. After they met her boyfriend, they stopped talking to her. For what? Did he scare them? Or did they just figure she's someone else's problem now?
A sigh escapes her lips, he's not home right now so she can do whatever she wants. Her (e/c) eyes slide to the balcony door before she gets up and puts on a robe. It's cold outside and her pajamas aren't going to keep her warm long. She opens the glass doors and exits onto the balcony, slipping her feet into the cold slippers she left outside the night before.
The noise from next door gets slightly louder, seems that her neighbor is throwing a party. The walls are pretty thick, so she can't hear it in her own apartment. So if her neighbor is having fun, she doesn't mind. At least someone is, in this world.
She leans on the stone railing, looking out at the sky above the building in front of her. The music gets loud for a few seconds as someone exits onto the balcony next to her. She can her someone fiddling with a lighter and then she can smell the smoke of a cigarette.
She turns her head, it's a man. He has brown hair in a pompadour style, if she recalls correctly, and a short beard. She shrugs going to turn back to the view, but just then, a gust of wind blew and the smoke went right up her nose. As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop from coughing. Trying to get the smoke to escape her lungs. Her eyes start to tear up. This is how I die. What a way to go.
"I'm sorry," the man says, looking at her as her fit calms down, the cigarette he had in his hand already put out. "I didn't notice you there. I'm also sorry about the noise. My family can get a little crazy."
She shakes her head, wiping away the tears in the corner of her eye, "You're fine. I just came out for some fresh air."
"That's good," he turns away from her, he breaths out slowly.
They stand in silence, but it strangely makes (Y/n) feel calm, "I didn't know anyone lived in that apartment..."
"Huh?" he turns to her, and then it dawns on him and he smiles. "Oh, yeah. I don't really stay here a lot. I travel for work, so... I guess that's why my family gets crazy when they throw me these parties."
"What do you do?" she casts her eyes to the ground, they aren't that high off the ground, only the third floor. "For work? I don't know many jobs that require people to travel."
"There are actually a lot more than you'd think," he looks away again, this time closing his eyes. "But I work as a chef. I go to many different restaurants that are failing and help them renovate. Like some of those TV shows. What do you do?"
She nods, but then smiles sadly, "I don't do anything, my boyfriend doesn't like the thought of me working. I guess... he just... doesn't want me to be better than him."
His mouth forms into a frown, "That sounds stupid."
"Yeah, it does," she nods again, but turns around and walks towards the door; the sound of it opening, causes him to look at her. He can swear he sees a tear run down her cheek, but before he can say anything she goes inside and shuts the door.
"I didn't mean to offend you," he looks back at the door to his apartment and smiles. "What are they even doing?"
They never got each other's name. That only dawned on her after he already left again. Not like it matters, her boyfriend won't let her have friends anyway. It's been a few months since he left and it's strange that she even thought about him. It's not he talked to her because he wanted to. He's her neighbor and they were just making polite conversation.
She lets out a sigh as she finishes stirring in the coco powder for her hot chocolate. Then, she hears a knock at the door. Strange. She's not expecting anything, and she's sure her boyfriend isn't as well. But she still opens it up, she's surprised to see the man from the balcony.
She looks around, he's alone and no one is in the hall, "Can I help you...?"
"I realized we never introduced ourselves," he holds out his hand and gives her a smile that makes her heart melt. "I'm Thatch."
She swallows hard, what is he... magic? She was just thinking about this, "(Y/n)."

~Unrealistic Expectations End~