Circus (Army x Aloha, OLD)

Be Careful, Aloha!

"A super cool underwater theme, awesome!" Diver says. Our team met up at the shop that Straw Hat had told us about. Octo smiles at Straw and says, "This is a great idea!" 

"Especially considering how close Aloha's house is to the beach!" Straw says then gasps. "Oh. My. COD! Look at this~!" She holds up a stuffed shark that was as tall as her, almost taller. 

"It's kind of sad how a stuffed shark is taller than you, though, dearie~." A voice chimes, mockingly from behind us. I turn around to see Forge. I tilted my head around her. Army and his team stood a few feet away. Army....I shook my head, riding myself of my thoughts. 

"Ah, nice to see you as always, Forge~!" I greet, waving. She looks at me weirdly. 

"Uh...nice to see you too...what're you all doing?" She asks, noticing the theme of what my team was looking at. "Ew, another party?" Forge asks. 

((I'm sorry, I needed someone to be the party-hater, I have nothing against precious Forge~!!)) 

"Ah...yeah..." I mutter awkwardly. I was barely paying any attention to her, but, her captain instead...Army seemed to be on my mind more and more lately. It was bothersome...why did it bother me? I don't know what's wrong with me...am I sick? No, I don't feel sick. 

"Are you alright?" Forge asks, breaking my thoughts. 

"Gah! Uh, yes!" I lied, turning my attention to her. "What's your team doing here? Heh?" I ask her, forcing myself to keep my eyes on her instead of Army. 

She cocks an eyebrow at me and nearly follows my gaze to Army when I interrupted her. "A-Are you guys doing something?" I ask urgently, she turns back to me. 

"Us? Oh, sir is here trying to find you, actually. He needed to tell you something urgent." Forge admits, turning to Army and shouting, "Sir! I located Aloha!" Before turning back to me. 

"W-What?" I squeak. "R-Right now? I'm a little busying..." I say, trying to think of an excuse to leave quickly. No, no, no, don't come over here! Army walks up to us before I had the chance to run away. I can hear Diver snickering behind me. I shoot a glare at him and he bursts out laughing. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Army. Forge had walked off. 

"Can we talk?" He asks. I nod slowly. "Um, you mind if we leave this place? It's a little crowded." He says, pointing to the door. I start walking and he follows. When we were far enough out of earshot of any inkling or octoling Army turns to me. "Aloha...I..." He starts. I feel myself panic internally. CALM DOWN. HE'S NOT EVEN DOING ANYTHING TO YOU! I mentally scold myself. 

"I'm sorry," He says. I bite my lip, waiting for him to continue. "I- I figured out why you were bait for our team, to win and I should've helped you so I'm sorry." He finishes. 

"Mmm, it's okay. Hey, is that my team? I better go! It's okay, though, Army! Okay, bye!" I yelp and run around the corner before panicking. "Gahhh, I hate myself!! Why did I run? Why did I RUN? What the holy hel-" 

"Aloha!" Army's voice called. I froze and clamped my mouth shut. "ALOHA!" 

Oh my cod, do not do this to me. I'm going to panic, I'm going to panic and flee. He probably knows I was lying. Did he notice? I carefully come back to him. 

"Yes?" I squeak. 

"Are you sick? You look a little pale..." He points out. I flick my head down, staring at the ground. 

"Nope, I'm fine~!" I lie, not looking up. "What's up?" 

"Uhm, Diver texted me...said you're throwing a party and that you needed help so I'll help you. A-Are you sure that you're okay?" Army grabs my wrist, pulling me forward a little before putting his hand to my forehead. "You're burning!" He says.