Title: Morning Spring
Rating: G for gen!!
Media: fic/drabble
Characters: young!Ace & young!Luffy
Word Count: 529
Prompt: Leaf
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to the wonderful Oda-sensei. Only the very simple plot of this drabble is mine.
Morning Spring
It's still cold out, and the morning is unpleasant. Ace doesn't want to wake up; it's far too early and far too cold. He huddles up in his blankets and hopes that the pleasing sensation of sleep enwraps him once more.
Ace's eyes grow heavy again – but it's not the only thing he can feel. He feels something – someone – tugging on his sheets. He kicks out, hoping it's his imagination. His initial theories are confirmed however, as Luffy's high voice echoes through his head and he can suddenly see his brother's giddy face smiling wildly in front of him.
"Luffy – Luffy – stop, no! Luffy it's cold, don't – the sun's barely up!" But his cries don't stop Luffy from pulling his sheets off and throwing them across the room. The icy air gives Ace the chills, and he can't help but shiver on his –now sheet-less and chilly – bed. Before his senses awaken and before he can grasp the reality of consciousness, Luffy grabs his hand and drags him out the door.
The floorboards and freezing and Ace can't help but yelp and tug against Luffy as he wonders how – how on Earth his little brother can possibly stand the cold of a Winter's morning when the sun isn't even up yet. Luffy leads him to the front and opens the door and Ace knows it's going to be cold and plain and can't possibly think what Luffy wants to do in the freezing outdoors.
Ace is surprised however, to find the outside not as cold as he thought. The sun is only just peaking over the horizon yet he can feel its warm rays signalling the end of winter – which he didn't even realize was approaching.
Luffy's smile widens even more than before and holds out something in his hand – a leaf – green, fresh and the first one Ace has seen since the beginning of winter.
"That big tree outside the village is filled with them!" Luffy grabs Ace's hand again and drags him out, with Ace holding onto the leaf and smiling as well before he realizes – what's Luffy doing outside the village this early? He pushes the thought back though as they reach the outskirts of town, and Luffy starts to climb the tree.
The sun still hasn't left the horizon, but it's close to it. Luffy desperately yells and waves his arms at Ace who joins his little brother on the highest branch that that he'd settled for. Ace shivers as his skin brushes against the morning leaves which, though new and green, are cold and wet with morning dew.
The cold doesn't last though. While before, he would have rather stay in bed until the sun was well past noon, Ace is glad that Luffy had dragged him all the way out here this early. Luffy laughs and yells giddily as a brightly coloured bird lands next to him with a beetle in its mouth. Though distracted and not paying any attention whatsoever, Ace hold his brother's hand and stares at the sunrise, happy to spend the first morning of spring not alone in his cold bed, but outside with his brother, watching the sunrise.