eatcatbuffet/ Charlie here (whichever account I first put this on), I was wondering the other day about OP pairings, seeing as I'm so new to this stuff. It gets very confusing! But anyway, I was wondering what sort of pairings were "normal". I wonder if anyone's considered Chopper and Zoro, or any sort of Chopper pairing, or Franky and Luffy or Sanji or Chopper and Robin or whatever? But anyway, I want to experiment! :D
PS: Saatchi is actually Thatch, but I only realised that afterwards, so sorry to the hardcore subbers out there!
AU school-y but not really. Ace x Chopper. Fluff. AceLu bromance. Marco and Thatch stealing from Kureha. Human Chopper *3*
NARCOLEPSY
Narcolepsy, Chopper writes down in thick, bold letters with his marker pen. He holds the pen vast in his hands, underlining the word in his notebook. His big worried eyes scuttle over to Portgas-san a few rows in front of him to his left, chatting amiably with Marco-san and Luffy-kun, eliciting bouts of carefree laughter from the latter and a grumble that could be interpreted as a chuckle from the first. Narcolepsy is a sleeping disorder. Under that, he writes; Narcolepsy causes excessive sleepiness and frequent daytime sleep attacks. Chopper taps his biro against his chin, pondering finer details. Sleeping disorders are usually connected to brain or nervous system disorders, he knows that for sure. But narcolepsy is somewhat different. He quickly scribbles; Narcolepsy is a nervous system disorder, exact cause, unknown, and sighs. Sure, the disorder is somewhat known about, but it's still a mystery. Scientists still don't know what's causing these impulse attacks that sets the patients off. He glances at Portgas-san again, who is shovelling his face with food, but less grotesque than Luffy, who just crams everything in his mouth and swallows things whole (Chopper winces painfully) in his race to eat everything in sight, along with talking to everyone at the table who bothers glance his way. He wonders what sort of diet he has. With the knowledge that he is one of Luffy's relatives, it has to contain a lot of meat. In some patients, narcolepsy is linked to reduced amounts of a protein called hypocretin, which is made in the brain. What causes the brain to produce less of this protein is unclear.
Chopper gently shakes his head. They're practically shooting themselves in the foot with that last one. He taps his medical textbook and tuts disapprovingly; it could be in people's genetics that they do not have enough of this, and not because of their consumption. And just by looking at Portgas and Monkey, he knows that their consumption preferences have a broad plateau. Ah, but there is a possibility that narcolepsy is an autoimmune disorder. An autoimmune disorder is when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue because it thinks it could be bad bacteria or a virus or something along those lines. Whatever the body's immune system is supposed to be attacking, it's not killing the right stuff. He glances over at Portgas-san's table again, Luffy being the only one brave (or stupid) enough to sit at the table full of scary seniors. It's disrespectful to the sempais, he'd once pleaded with his friend, trying to persuade him not to go near them. But Luffy had just turned to look at him with a questioningly cocked eyebrow and mouth set deadpan. "Why? Ace is my brother," And Chopper had never tried to stop him again, although his heart quickened and he felt his eyes flutter whenever naïve Luffy approached the seniors table without his older brother being anywhere in sight.
"Hey Chopper! Why don't you join us?" Luffy calls, cheeks full and crumbs spraying everywhere on the linoleum floor, having spotted him peeking at their table from between his books. Chopper blushes profusely and tries hiding himself. Luffy laughs at him. "I can still see your hair sticking out over the book you know!" He is sure that his ears are tinged pink. Now peeking over the top of his book, Luffy's inquisitive and juvenile face stares at him, having disentangled himself from his brother and friends, hastily grabbing a jam-filled biscuit to munch on the way. "Wanna join us? It's fun I swear!" He beams at Chopper and now Chopper can't say no when his friend smiles at him like that with the full expectancy that he will do it.
"Oh. Um, o-okay then," He mumbles, scrambling his books and notes together. Luffy laughs and grabs his wrist so that he can't escape even if he wants to so badly, steering them towards Chopper's impending doom. But he knows that Luffy is never the type of person to knowingly put his friends in danger, although Luffy and him have quite a different opinion on what is 'dangerous' and what isn't. Last time Luffy showed him and Usopp this apparently "harmless" potion they'd made in Chemistry, only for the thing to fuzz over and explode in their faces when he'd added the last ingredient. Sensei had scolded Luffy so thoroughly Chopper thought that the boy was lucky to be alive afterwards. Usopp had to have his nose sorted out by the nurse after he'd sniffed a large amount of ammonia wafting from the leftover potion. Luffy still laughed about it a lot. Chopper swore that he could still smell the faint stench of cat piss in the lab. To make matters worse Usopp was still sniffy and was blowing his nose every five minutes by the end of the week.
But Chopper doesn't have any time to be speculating about if Luffy's decision was a good one or not as he is sandwiched between him and Portgas-san on the bench and does not dare make any sudden movement as he shakily meets his eye. "H-hello," He gulps, quivering like a leaf in the wind. He'd heard of Portgas D. Ace before; nicknamed Fire Fist by the sempais, an intimidating young man with a fierce attitude and strong body. And Luffy's older brother. "Pleased to meet you, P-portgas-san," He nearly wails in despair when Marco, a scary-looking senior with a half-shaved blonde head, grunts.
His hand claps him on the shoulder, and for a moment little Toni Toni Chopper is afraid that Luffy's brother might punch him. And being punched by one of the high-profile seniors is not anywhere acutely in his favour. Ace-san had earned that nickname for a reason; a burning stubborn will and a blazing punch to set his rules straight. But he smiles brightly instead and the hand on his shoulder is meant to be reassuring. Marco's grunt turned out to be a rough acknowledgement, even if he only glanced up at him before looking down again to mess with his food. "Nice to meet you Chopper. Please just call me Ace." He surprises Chopper with how polite he was, even bowing his head slightly to him. He smiles brightly again, and then chats at Luffy over his head. Poor Chopper is just too short for the two gangly D. brothers. "So this is your friend?" Ace asks. "Yes!" Luffy grins, and Chopper feels proud to be one of his friends, to be shown off like this. Because it means that Luffy is also proud that he is his friend. "Toni Toni Chopper is my nakama!" He beams. Chopper blushes. "Mn, asshole, don't say that~!" Ace-san laughs loudly at that. (Next to him, Luffy laughs, spraying Jaffa Cake crumbs and apple juice everywhere but himself. "Ha ha! Chopper is weird!")
This seems to pull a few seniors eyes in their direction. Nakama is an old crewmate type bond. Gulp. Could they cotton on to the fact that he's part of the Strawhats? "Nakama ey?" Ace-san turns to Marco-san with somewhat of a hopeful smile, who fixed him instead with a pointed look. Rejected.
Luffy pokes the side of his head with a rubbery finger. Guy eats too much greasy food. "Oi Chopper, what's in that book?" This pulls a lot of the seniors attention, probably because cool people like themselves didn't delve into books and studying. And the fact that Luffy has never been interested in a book apart from Nico Robin's Rainbow Mist, which most of the student body still thinks was a flirtatious tactic to get a date with her. A flirtatious tactic which Chopper thinks is bogus, because Luffy has never shown any interest in anyone before and if his hormones have kicked in at any point he's hidden it bloody darn well too. Luffy doesn't even get beard stubble and the most affectionate he's been with anyone are his brother and his nakama, and mostly that's just giant bear hugs that crush your spine in the process. "Eh? Um, it's my medical book." But before Luffy can get his dirty hands all over his precious notes and textbooks, a strong arm encircles him from the back and gently plucks the notebook from his grasp. "Oi Luffy, wash your hands, filthy pig." Ace grumbles next to his ear.
"I-Oh." Ace's eyes widen as he takes in the title, what he has written, the references used in his textbook and his medical encyclopaedia. Chopper takes in the faint reddening of his ears, the way his freckles look pinker. He feels his own ears go red with the blood flowing through his head. Before anything can turn truly awkward though, Luffy leans over their shoulders to peek at the notebook. "Hey! That's so cool Chopper!" He says loudly, crumbs on his cheeks. He suddenly seems to remember the hygiene code Ace-san set him and swallowed his food loudly. Clearing his throat, he says, slowly this time; "I didn't know you were studying narcolepsy-stuff." Chopper nods his head, fluffy locks of brown hair clouding his vision briefly. "Mn. Yeah." Opposite him, Marco grunts.
"You want to be a doctor, yoi?" He stabs a meatball with his fork, twirling it in circles in the air, offhand manner boring a hole in his skull.
He nods again, with more clarity. "Yes. I want to be the best doctor out there."
On his right, Luffy hums happily and folds his hands behind his head. Ace, on his left, shows him a small, genuine, and a touch heartfelt smile over the edge of his book. Suddenly, Chopper felt brave and he knew the right words to say all of a sudden, and he wasn't so scared of the seniors anymore with his nakama by his side, even if it were one. (and a half)
Chopper stood up, and with a headfast determination said boldly: "I am going to be the best doctor out there, so I can always help the future Pirate King!"
Luffy laughed loudly, proudly. Marco blinked. Ace smiled politely. He quietly sat back down again, certain that he was feeling steam coming off his face. The senior next to Marco dislodged himself from his other friends and turned to their inner circle. He looked like a typical oldschool gangster with his giant brown pompadour hairstyle. Chopper faintly remembered Zoro pointing him out to him during assembly, marking the sempai as Thatch. Thatch jabbed his cutlery in his direction in a very Luffy-ish fashion. That is, if Luffy actually used cutlery. "You one of Monkey D's?" He drawled. Chopper cocked his head at him, slightly nervous and confused. Ace jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. "Nakama," He whispered out of the corner of his mouth, lower part of his face hidden by Chopper's notebook. "He wants to know if you're Luffy's nakama."
"Oh! Yes! Um, yes, I'm with Luffy."
Thatch shuffles closer to them, shoulder to shoulder with Marco, the blonde not liking the intimacy that much, if his hot glare was anything to go by. "Strawhat?"
Luffy may not have noticed it, but Chopper had very good ears; most of the table was eavesdropping. The rowdy crowd feasting had quieted and food was consumed slower than before. The senior crowd could be inconspicuous if they wanted to be, he realised with a jolt. And right now, they were being very subtle.
Chopper readied his gaze. "I'm a Strawhat."
(Though one couldn't really identify him as a Strawhat because Luffy usually kept his precious hat in his locker and out of the teachers' view. He did it because he didn't want to kick up a funk at school about him being a pirate crew captain and all that shit. Similarly, Chopper did the same with his small X hat. The last thing he wanted was to get expelled for fighting in school, and then his dream of becoming a doctor would truly be destroyed. But because Luffy decided to do it, it left huge, underground gangster tension running high. It seemed that if Luffy was going to let people identify him as Strawhat Luffy then everyone could just blow cover and fly the pirate flag. Which would then start with a giant war, with classrooms divided under coloured bandanas and symbols and Jolly Rodgers splattered with blood.)
His captain roused him from his sinister thoughts. "Hey, hey!" Luffy pipes up, bouncing on his seat, the turn of the conversation setting him off on a hyperactive bout. (Which have resulted in delirious babbeling more than several unfortunate times. Last time they ended up talking about the colour of Nami's shoelaces.) "Swear it on Adam!" He says.
"Luffy!" He hisses.
Marco merely raises a thin eyebrow while Thatch vocalises his thoughts. "Huh? Who the hell is Adam?"
"It's my medical encyclopaedia," Chopper mumbles into his lap, face red. (The encyclopaedia was titled A.D.A.M, for various reasons he couldn't remember, and since Usopp had once mistakenly interpreted it, ... Well, the name kind of stuck.)
"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy beams, whomping him between the shoulder blades. Ace shoots him an apologetic smile from behind the safety of Chopper's books. "It's like his medical bible!"
With that, Thatch and the rest of the table deem him boring and uninteresting, as the noise returns full volume and Thatch strikes up conversation with an unenthusiastic Marco. Ace returns his books to him, plopping it down in a neat pile in front of him, also striking up conversation with a big surly looking boy next to him, tucking back into his food. (He seemed to have deemed the underclassmen as not in peril danger and was thus relieved of babysitting them both.) Chopper lets out a relieved sigh. He rounds on his captain. "Luffy, you ass! Why did you say that?" He pouts and scratches his head. "Mnn, I get it, Adam is really special okay? I won't do it again Chopperman." Chopper unwillingly blushes at the nickname. Stupid docile captain~!
Behind him, Chopper hears a strangled gasp and suddenly the table in up in laughter, roars of giggles and mock running up and down the bench. The infamous Portgas D. Ace has just face planted his dish. (He was lucky he hadn't carved his eyeball out of its socket with his fork.) Thatch and the surly looking boy were trying to rouse him, but to no avail. Ace stayed unconscious, face twitching on his plate of spaghetti meatballs and exotic salad leafs, other random snacks on the rim of his plate. A few ginger biscuit crumbs mattered in his wild, curly black hair. Luffy stifled a giggle under Chopper's murderous glare.
Marco startled them from their reverie. "Aren't you going to be the best doctor out there, yoi? Could just as well start practising on him," He pointed at Ace's face in his food, tone calm, as if he'd been through Portgas's sleeping spells hundreds of times already and had gotten quite used to it.
Seniors gathered around, leaning forward eagerly, waiting to see him, the short underclass man, give the popular and nose-dived-the-food Fire Fist Ace a check-up. The most he could do was explain what was wrong with Ace, seeing as there was nothing he could do to wake him up. "Oh. Um, yeah, o-okay then." He stammered, feeling the pressure mount. He glanced at Portgas, completely out of it, sleeping in his food. Uh, right. There's a patient, here's a doctor, do the maths Chopper!
"Right, um," His hands fluttered over Luffy's older brother's hunched back for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He glanced at his captain, who eagerly nodded his approval. And with his go-sign, it was all he needed to flick into doctor mode.
A casual tid-bit of information flitted across his mind. Narcolepsy tends to run in families. Certain genes are linked to narcolepsy. So he turned back to Luffy and asked him seriously: "Does anyone in your family have narcolepsy?"
"Huh?"
"Sleeping attacks Luffy, sleeping attacks." Luffy scratched his head. "Dunno, well, I mean... Sometimes old bastard falls asleep in the middle of his sentences but I thought that was just from work or because he's so damn old." He gulped. "Um. I think that old bastard has it. Dunno 'bout the rest though."
Narcolepsy symptoms usually first occur during ages 15 to 30. He glanced at Ace. He slotted into that category perfectly. "The symptoms of narcolepsy are when people sometimes feel incredibly drowsy, have a strong need to sleep. Usually patients with narcolepsy then, let's say, 'take a nap'." Chopper pointed at Ace, still blissfully unaware of everything going on around him. "What Ace-san is experiencing right now is a sleeping attack. It usually happens during conversation, while driving, eating or other activities. Sleeping attacks take about fifteen minutes, though they can vary." Then, he added on a lighter note. "He'll wake up feeling refreshed."
"Woooooooow," Luffy croons, eyes sparkling. Chopper looks around to see everyone staring at him, either impressed or confused. Marco-san sent him a reassuring half-smile, igniting Chopper's hope that not all the seniors were necessarily bad because they looked scary. He blushed heavily under their intense gazes.
"So what's gonna happen to him? Can't you doanything?"
Feeling somewhat useless, Chopper answered.
"No. There's no cure for it."
The seniors whimpered in sympathy for Ace, their true feelings of pity for him showing in the brief time slot they had while said teenager was out. "Oi," Thatch groans, hands on Ace's shoulders. "Is he even aware when he falls asleep?" Chopper thought that he heard him grumble something along the lines of 'bastard is supposed to gimme a ride home'.
"Yes. There's a condition called sleep paralysis. You can't move when you start falling asleep or wake up. It could take a while to snap out of it. There's also Cataplexy. It's a sudden loss of muscle tone while you're awake that paralyses you. Anger or laughter could also trigger an attack. I think that has to do with how the neurones in your brain are wired." He glances at Luffy. "Most attacks last about 30 seconds." He mumbles as an afterthought. He feels very self-conscious in front of all these strangers, and Luffy can tell that he doesn't want to play doctor in front of the others anymore.
Marco's voice rings out in monotone. "Your head will suddenly fall forward, your jaw will become slack, and your knees will buckle. In severe cases, a person may fall and stay paralyzed for as long as several minutes." He glances at him over the top of Adam, the encyclopaedia. He arched a curious eyebrow. "Did you memorise all of this?"
"Yes," He mumbled back, still feeling shy. "And about fifty other medicine related books."
As if to prove to him, that he is going to be the best doctor out there, he plucks a stray piece of paper from the table and steals someone's biro pen and starts frantically scribbling down a whole list of medicines. Next to him, Luffy grunts in confusion. "What's with the medication Chopper?" He didn't look up from his paper. He felt that he should at least do this for his captain's brother, because he was so kind to him. "There are certain prescription meds that you can buy at the pharmacy to help keep Ace awake. Try a stimulant drug first; Armodafinil. It's less abusive. You could also buy dextroamphetamine —" The surely boy interrupted. "What's that?" Chopper ignored him, turning to Luffy. "Personally, I'd advise you to get him this," He pushed the paper into his face. His nakama plucked the paper from his hands and briefly scanned through his writing. "Methylphenidate, or rather, Ritalin."
A few kids grunted as they recognised the stimulant drug. Quite a lot of the rowdy population of the students took the stuff, keeping their thoughts more rational and their actions less wild. "Hey!" Luffy's face brightened. "I take that stuff!"
The look on Marco's face indicated that he clearly knew why Ace's little brother would have to take the stuff. He's not even aware that admitting he takes concentration pills has just made him a bit of a social outcast. But Monkey D. Luffy clearly didn't worry about such coffee house titter-tatter. (Even if in all honestly Chopper didn't think he was always a hundred percent right in the head. Like his Chemistry experiment a few weeks back. Or the time he'd given Franky the most dangerous, irreversible, un-turn-downable epic dare in history: "Hey, go punch that wasp nest over there,"with the full knowledge that there wasn't a water source nearby that he could escape in.)
Next to him, he hears a pained groan and Ace wakes up, blinking rapidly, body groggy. The sempais fall about laughing their heads off again as Ace warily straightens up, one side of his face caked with tomato and meatball sauce. He takes in their laughing faces with dilated, confused and innocent eyes. Marco's napkin hit him in the face and Thatch tussled the crumbs out of his hair. He turned to look at him and his brother, head cocked and eyebrows inquisitive. Chopper saw the mechanisms in his head click as he pieced together what had happened. It probably wasn't the first time that it had happened while he was eating. His face turned bright red and he groaned loudly, furiously scrubbing his face with the napkin. Much to his chagrin, his friends laughed louder, flashing pictures of his lazy ass sleeping in his food. "Oh God nooooo," He hears Ace whimper into the napkin, forehead banging the table, avoiding his plate this time. "And you know where this is going oooooon," A banter of older girls sing-songed. Maybe Luffy could stand this because it was just casual like he was with their nakama, but Chopper would not stand for it if someone was being ridiculed for something they had no control over, much less something they were suffering from. He slammed his hands down on the table. "Hey! Stop disrespecting Ace-san! It's – " Mean?How childish did that sound? Even if it were true. He was left open mouthed and awkward, about to explode in embarrassment, anger dissipated.
Luckily, Zoro popped up behind him, thumb resting on the switchblade hidden in his pocket. "Hey Chopper, these guys being an ass to your patient?" Zoro never had any incentive to visit the sempai's table before until now, perfectly at home chatting away with Yosaku and Jhonny in a corner somewhere. But now seemed a good time as any to slander over to their table as their little nakama was about to get his ass handed to him. Luffy beamed and turned to face his second in command. "Hey Zoro," The tall nakama grunted in his direction, then fixed a glare at the seniors, pointing at a still red-faced and recovering narcoleptic teenager. "I'd advise you not to mess with Chopper's patients if I were you." While Roronoa's presence had made a fair few fall silent and stay frozen in their seats, it also triggered a battle lust in some of the rowdy crowd and soon a plastic board was flung their way. Luffy, nimble and unpredictable as always, and thus their captain, jumped up from his spot like a flying squirrel and grabbed the board. He pivoted on the dot and then slammed it down onto the attacker's outstretched hand, hard. With a ferocious roar of pain, the senior, easily six and a half feet tall, jumped up, clutching his broken hand, unspoken death flashing in his eyes. Luffy then took that as the signal to grab Ace and hightail it out of the place, laughing like a maniac, Chopper and Zoro hot on his heels.
Marco and Thatch don't react, they could take care of their own crowd and it probably didn't bother them that much that a pipsqueak and his gang had just kidnapped their friend. They most likely didn't give a shit either way. "Oi Luffy!" Ace shouted, face red, repeatedly hitting his brother's back. "Put me downyou asshole!" But his captain just laughed and bumped Ace higher and more comfortably over his shoulder, running from the enraged sempai. He pinched his butt for good measure too, which drew a nasty snarl from his passenger. "You fucker," But Portgas soon accepted defeat, and with a sigh hid his face in his hands. "God, this is so embarrassing." He groaned. Chopper felt almost sorry for him. They turn a corner, spotting Sanji chatting with some undoubtedly cute girls. "Sanji!" Zoro calls, requiring back up from the long legged blonde. Chopper knew that the longest piece of metal Zoro had on him was his trench knife located in his boot, but there was no time to stop and fish it out. Their nakama sees the furious senior, also known as Don Krieg, and intercepts him.
"Do not worry, lovely ladies! I will protect you~!" He shouts, and with a well timed twirl and sophisticated balance, roundhouse kicked him in the centre of his face. With a yell Krieg falls to the ground in a crumpled heap. The girls cheered and applauded Sanji, probably glad that they weren't in any danger of some creep.
Zoro yells a word of thanks, along with a free 'bastard'tossed in. They can hear the horde of Krieg's men nearing them, now unable to rely on Sanji, who responsibly led the girls away from the violence. To Chopper's surprise, Luffy kicks open the guys' toilet door open and throws his brother in, shoving Chopper in after him, books in tow. He heard Luffy yell at them as he and Zoro hastily ran on. "Oi Chopperman! Take care of the patient will you?"
And with that, Toni Toni Chopper and Portgas D. Ace were left in a deserted guy's bathroom.
Both of their faces turned pink, the situation Luffy had left them in was well and truly awkward.
"Well," Ace grumbled, black eyes averted to the tiled floor. "I guess I'll have to be your patient then, Doctor Chopper." He stressed the last two words teasingly, sniggering at his brother's words. Chopper joined in. After a while though, Ace groaned and slumped against the cool tiles, sliding down the wall, landing on his rump with a muffled thump. "I feel like shit," He commented. Chopper bent down on his knees to look at him. His fingers flitted over Ace's forehead. "M-maybe another attack?" He murmured. Ace shook his head, wild black tresses bouncing with his movement. "Nah," He hummed. "Just, ... Tired." He either didn't mind his brother's nakama touching him or he didn't show his discomfort. Chopper felt his pulse on the base of his neck. Normal. No impending attack. "Having a stupid little brother makes the older one worry." He hummed, head nodding at the senior. He still went through a regular check up procedure with him in case there was something that he had overlooked.
Ace lazily picked up a book and flicked through it's contents. "What's the best way to treat a choking patient?" He asked. Chopper, without thought, answered back. "Rubbing soothing circles on the back between the shoulder blades, occasionally thumping it. Encourage the patient to drink water to force the blocking object down."
He heard Ace snort, impressed. He must have quoted the book beautifully. "And why is that?" He asked, a hint challenging. Chopper pressed his hands against his forehead, feeling his temperature. He gazed at his black eyes, smiling. It was fun to share his medical knowledge with someone else. "Because it is best to coax the hazardous object down than forcing it up. Use the Heimlich manoeuvreas a last resort. Using the Heimlich breaks your ribs easier than it does make you cough things up. Stand behind the choking patient and wrap your arms around their front. Link hands over the sternum and push. This makes the patient cough up the object."
And with that, Ace and Chopper sat against the bathroom wall and Ace quizzed him about various different topics for at least half an hour, ranging from drowning people to hysterical women. From poisonous animals and antidotes, applying first aid (note; always suck and spit the poison out of the bite first, then apply antidote), shrapnel explosions (Ace winced when Chopper explained that the metal would penetrate your body and lodge itself in there.) and mass blood loss and blood plasma. They didn't care that lunch break and seventh lesson had appeared and had long gone by, engrossed in medical equipment and books, eagerly poring over a picture of a human skeleton and weak points in the nervous system.
At some point in their conversation Ace froze, eyes wide, and Chopper just managed to catch him before he hit the tiled floor. He checked him over quickly, he was out like a light. All he could do for the older boy was prop him in what he hoped was a comfortable way up against the wall and wait. And so he sat shoulder to shoulder next to Ace, breathing in his aroma of tangy salt that reminded him of the sea and burnt matches. He felt Ace's calm breathing flutter against his collarbone, and with a start he realised that he had rested his head against Chopper's shoulder. He looked at him and blushed slightly, the only other person that had been this close to him was Dr. Hiriluk (with the exemption of Luffy of course). He couldn't see much of his face, but he could guess that he felt relaxed enough to lean against him. Chopper could just as well take a nap with him.
And it was that way that Luffy and Zoro found him two hours later; slouched against the bathroom wall, dozing comfortably, surrounded by books and diagrams. Ace was nowhere in sight. The last bell had rung ten minutes ago. Chopper grumbled and got up, rubbing his butt and picking up books, throwing a dark glare over at his nakama. "You could have come to get me earlier you know, I missed a Health and Safety lesson because of you and that bastard." Zoro pfffted air out through his lips and shrugged his shoulders. Like he gave a damn. Fighting was more important than school.
"Anyway, where's Ace?"
Luffy grinned, a dark shiner on his right eye stretching as his facial muscles contorted his skin. He had a busted lip. Chopper would have to take care of those later, but right now he had more pressing urges. He felt like an animal, waking up with his pack gone and left feeling confused and slightly disorientated. Finding where Ace was at was one of them, along with finding out if he was okay.
"He just left. Said he woke up a few minutes before we got here. He didn't want to wake you up. He also wanted to thank you, but then Thatch showed up and they left." Luffy explained, happy and smiley and completely childish. Chopper had to smile at him, he was like a little sun, rubbing off good moods on everyone.
His captain and first mate left him to his own devices shortly afterwards, saying they'd catch up later. Chopper sighed and picked up his books, feeling better now that Luffy had popped in to see how he was fairing. Of course, Don Krieg had had his ass handed to him by Strawhat Luffy and Pirate Hunter Zoro, and his best man Gin had been dealt with by Sanji in his own special way.
Chopper frowned as he picked up Adam, the encyclopaedia. His fingers felt the rough edges and scratched surface. He had held, opened, read, used and carried this book hundreds of thousands of times, it almost felt like a part of his own body. But something felt wrong with it. He pondered about what might have made him question his books as he exited the bathroom, steadily making his way to the lockers on the main floor. He stared at the cover. Plain. Deep rustic red. Nondescript. Medical Encyclopeadia, A.D.A.M, it read, in gold letters. He'd gotten it from Dr. Hiriluk one snowy Christmas morning and had treasured it ever since.
Feeling slightly stupid, he brought the book to his face and sniffed it. It faintly smelt of burnt matches and pressed pine leaves from back home, but the old and used paper book smell overpowered most of the other aromas. Spotting a small rift in between the pages, he flipped through the book, now wary of bumping into other students. Finally, he flicked to page 199 and was faintly surprised to find the title NARCOLEPSY flashing back at him. His eyes scanned the page, turning the paper onto the other side, so that page 200 now stared back at him. And there, right at the bottom left corner, written in blazing red ink, someone had written something. Chopper stared, fixated, at the scrawl in his book. He felt slightly devastated; no one had ever scrawled in his book, apart from him, and even then it was done with faint pencil outlines. He reached his locker and started shoving books and notepads in and pulling others out and placing it in his bag, eyes still fixed on the graffiti. He blushed bright pink, suddenly able to read the archaic and sharp symbols blazing across his treasure.
Thanks for the check-up little doctor. I liked it a lot. — Ace
And next to it, in incredible detail, was a twin set of red beads, one grinning, the other seemingly howling, engulfed in a swirly flame.
Outside, loud enough to be heard inside the building, a car's engine backfired loudly, and he thought he heard several students swear darkly, including some voices he had heard earlier at the seniors table. "Hey! Watch it, dumbass!" Chopper hurried outside, slamming his locker shut and fingers fumbling over the clasps on his bag, pushing to the front of the curious sea of students. He came face to face with a weird scene, unsure what was going on. The thug Don Krieg was being severely punished by the school's doctor Kureha, who also taught Biology and Chemistry classes to the seniors. Students all around craned their necks and stood on tip toes to get an eyeful of the situation. Marco-san, having spotted him staring at Kureha like a dipstick, came over to clarify. "Thatch thought during lunch that it would be a brilliant idea if he stole some of those drugs you recommended for Ace from the nurse's office. When Dr. Kureha found that someone had dipped into her private stash of medicines, ... Well, the outcome wasn't pretty, yoi." He carefully weighed his words, knowing that the old bitch had a set of good ears on her. Chopper felt confused. So Thatch-san had stolen some medicine, but, ... But why was Don Krieg of all people being punished then? "She went hunting for the person who did it, and she managed to fuck Thatch over at the last moment, right when class ended, yoi."
"Found some labelled bottles poking out of his bag and asked him to empty his bag out on her desk." Chopper gulped. Marco tapped his temple. "She's not stupid, yoi." Behind their turned backs, Don Krieg was getting an ass-whipping of a lifetime. "H-how did the Don end up getting punished too?" Chopper asked tenderly, unsure if Thatch was left bleeding to death somewhere, punishment already handed out. Marco smirked and shook his head. "Thatch isn't a dumbass, but this time it was purely luck." They drifted away from the crowd of students, wandering off to a less populated spot at the front gates.
"The Don," The blonde explained with an amused air, "for some retarded reason, decided to butt in then and there and say that it was his own bag, yoi. All Thatch had to do was agree and Don Krieg got the blame." Chopper chuckled, feeling relieved that Ace-san's friend got away safely.
Far away, Dr. Kureha's screams and yells of abuse drifted to them, audibly hearing quite a few curse words and invented ones cropping up between her ferocious lecture.
They stood there comfortably in silence for a few minutes, listening to the school doctor introduce Krieg to the principal, his scared whine and the audience of students snicker.
Suddenly, the senior with the pompadour hairstyle popped up, cautiously peeking from behind a building block. "Psst! Marco-dumbass! Over here." He whispered, hands waving them over. Chopper felt a mixture of anticipation and giddy excitement as they jogged over to them, watching Ace's grinning face appear next to Thatch, with the full knowledge that he was doing something stupid and reckless and completely against the rules.
Thatch opened his bag and proudly showed off the plastic bottles labelled Methylphenidate, 30 Milligrams, slow release, and Dextroamphetamine.
Chopper's eyes widened. "H-how did you manage to get your hands on that?" He gushed, feeling quite awed by the sempai's ability to steal. The teenager smirked, proud and quite righteously so. "I wanted to steal something anyway, piece of cake." He said. Ace snickered, thumping his friend's back. "No, seriously. Tell them the full story, they've got to hear this; I wanna see their faces." He smirked at Portgas. "I stole that retard's bag while he was off chasing you lot and broke into the nurse's office. Took me a while to find all the right shit and I even took a few other stuff for fun. When I had it all I got the hell out of there. That was the easy part. I hid my own bag with the right meds in it and walked to class with the other stuff. I had Biology last lesson and Don Krieg was there, all pissed off that some jackass had stolen his bag. Of course Kureha-sensei was royally ticked off, and so when she figured me out she took the bag," Thatch's eyes flickered with sadistic glee. "It was only natural for that ass to see it was his bag and told her so. Seeing as the meds were in his bag, it should obviously be himthat stole from her office." Marco and Ace burst out laughing, Chopper joining in with their fun.
"Although," Thatch dragged out, cautiously peeking behind the wall again. He looked back at them. "That old crusty probably figured out that other stuff have gone missing too, so I'm a prime suspect. I'm trying to keep a low profile at the moment."
Marco nodded. "Okay, you do that then. Wanna bum a ride, yoi?" Startled, Thatch glanced at Ace. "Oh, I was supposed to go with—"
Portgas laughed and shook him off. "Nah, you go with him. I'll take him instead." He pointed at the only other person in their little group.
Chopper gulped silently.
"R-really? Um, because I can just take a ride with Usopp, um ..." He was lying, even though he loved his nakama and Usopp's hilarious lies, he'd rather be shoved into a public transport bus with dozens of other smelly and stressed people than put up with Usopp's incessant sniffing. He felt sorry for the long-nose, ammonia was a hell of a strong alkaline. But he was cut off before it could seem like he was trying to squirm out of the offer by Ace's friends.
"Yeah! You go with him! If he falls asleep again you'll know what to do!" Thatch cheerily said. Chopper knew he had no choice. Marco, even though he most likely knew that Ace's sleeping attacks were unavoidable and there was nothing he could do but wait them out, grunted and agreed. He sighed, a ride with the seniors was probably better than taking the bus home. But if Ace's driving skills were anything like Luffy's he'd rather FLYthan ride with him, seeing as his captain put everyone in a potential death trap as soon as he got behind anything with a steering wheel and four circular rubber plates. And that was seriously saying something, because Chopper had a nervous breakdown last time he boarded one of those flying metal monsters.
With a detached from the world sort of feeling, Chopper stood there, acutely predicting impending doom as the sempais all secret-handshaked each other and went their separate ways, Thatch and Marco dashing off after shoving the stolen goods into Ace's bag. Luffy's older brother started leading him away to his own vehicle of transport. Ace's fingers gently dug into his shoulders, and Chopper had to suppress a shudder that left his spine tingling all over. The thumbs softly kneaded the spot where the nape of his neck and shoulder met. He blushed slightly, still being driven forwards by Ace, going God knows where. Ace was a good masseuse. By the time that Portgas had led him to where his car was, all sorts of tension and worries were erased from his mind, left with a feeling of comfortable ease. They chatted a bit, mostly about where Luffy could be right at the moment, (in Usopp's little crappy car, dubbed the Merry, driving to Usopp's flat, or Franky's garage, trying to help by passing spanners and oil but rather being the opposite and spilling brake fluids on the floor, laughing at Sanji and Zoro as they were crammed into a tiny bus, with Brook or Robin as they walked home, etc.) and the crew.
"Here it is," Ace announced grandly, pride in his voice. He swept his arm out in a wide arc to demonstrate. "my baby."
Chopper gasped, he'd been expecting, well, ... something, but not this. Maybe some worn down, passed from generation to generation, dingy truck or something. Or just some crabby little claustrophobic minicar. "It's beautiful," he whispered, walking around Ace's baby-girl, awed by it's sleek style and gleaming surface.
A beautiful motorbike was in front of them, profile, angled slightly with the parking stick. And it wasn't just any motorbike, it was a lovely high-speed racing bike, with a proper windscreen and everything. Chopper didn't know much, in fact, anything about motorbikes, but as he listened to Ace describe his baby-girl with such glory and pride, he knew that it was a very fucking specialbike. A sleek black coat, so smooth when he daringly ran his fingers over it, with gleaming ridges and leather grips. Chopper stood and admired it from many angles. He felt an irresistible pull from within; he wanted to try out Ace's motorbike.
"So, you want to do this?" Ace asked teasingly. Chopper turned, and saw that he had extended a black helmet for him to wear, a flaming orange hat decorated with twin blue smiley faces and red beads seated neatly atop his head. "Oi! What if you crash? What use will it be if you're not wearing a helmet?" Portgas chuckled to himself. "Nah, brain-buckets are expensive as it is and I've never crashed before. Besides, this thing is like my signature," He tapped the brim of his hat and smiled, adjusting some cords so that if it blew off, which it would definitely do, it'd still be hanging around his neck. He caught Chopper's speculating frown. "It doesn't matter if you've never crashed before; there's always a first. I'm afraid for your wellbeing." Ace smiled and fidgeted with his hat. Chopper caught the pink hiding behind his freckled cheeks. "It's gonna be alright Chopper, I swear. I'm an experienced driver." Chopper pinned him with an inquisitive stare.
"Besides, I've driven Luffy on this thing. No sweat."
It sealed the deal instantly.
"Okay. I'll do it."
He accepted the helmet extended towards him with nervous energy. Chopper hadn't ever really worn a helmet before, and so with the problems of having a big head, the thing soon felt like a metal headlock. He silently fussed and struggled with the thing, jamming it this way and that over his poor ears and tussling his hair. Ace chuckled at him, and Chopper threw him a flustered glare. "Here," Portgas said, hands gripping his own to prevent any more hair tussling or possible skull damage. "let me help." Ace leant in close and removed the helmet, fingers digging into his downy soft hair. "After all," He gently whispered. Chopper stiffened. "you helped me before, right doctor?" Chopper furiously nodded his head, making the sempai laugh.
"Now stay still," Ace commanded, holding the helmet aloft.
Chopper froze like a statue and didn't budge, willing for the senior to help him with the helmet fiasco. Especially seeing as Ace had sacrificed his own safety and helmet so that he could be safe. Ace gently slid it over his head, opening the visor and nudging stray locks of hair out of his eyes. He looked him dead in the eye, knees bent a bit to get to his level. The helmet concealed the pinking of Chopper's nervous face. "good?" He asked. He nodded, both turning to the bike, Ace hopping on it, legs and hands and feet magically finding the right places to rest and grip. Portgas looked at him, still standing by the edge of the bike. "You coming?" Chopper fidgeted.
"Well, this is sort of my first proper ride if you don't count the time Duval let me on his scooter."
Ace sighed. He signalled him over, rolling his wrist. "Come here, you," He said.
Next thing Chopper knew he was straddling the bike with his feet behind Ace's and his hands loosely held around his waist. He could have died from embarrassment. He'd never been in such personal contact with anybody! Not to mention, with someone he only met at lunch break!
Ace tutted and grabbed his hands that weakly held the fabric of his shirt. "That won't do, you have to get closer." And with that, Chopper's arms were pulled to encircle his midsection and his backside was scooted forwards so his frontside was pressed flush against Ace's backside.
Ace, now happy, ignored the underclassman's splutters of shyness and shock, and turned on the ignition.
Chopper fidgeted while Luffy's brother revved his gears. "Um, Ace, ... J-just please remember that I'm not really used to thi—"
Vroom.
Chopper had to remind himself to thank Ace the next day for putting up with his hysterical screaming and cheers as they sped across traffic and red lights, occasionally humouring themselves by flipping off the birdy to a passing car.
It'd felt like his body was still left where the bike once was when Ace had speeded out of the school's campus, and a great gut-wrenching jolt had rippled through his body. It had been a great experience, and one that'd he'd never forget.
And the next day Chopper willingly, albeit shyly, let himself be led by Luffy to the seniors table and ate lunch next to him and Ace. The other seniors teased the fiery Portgas about him and Chopper, as if he was a sort of pet, but Ace wasn't offended by them. It reassured Chopper that it meant that he was either really mature about such things, or wasn't bothered by the fact that he was friends with a tiny underclassman. (or that he'd given him a ride on his bike, something which ticked off a lot of people, because their requests to have a go on Ace's baby were denied.) Either way; they had a fiery fist coming their way if they pestered him and Chopper too much. That, and they didn't really want to be sprayed with half digested food coming from Luffy if he decided to intervene and kick up a storm.
Chopper realised that seniors weren't really so scary as they were made out to be; Portgas D. Ace was one fiery devil and yet the most tame tomcat in school, and his friend.
Besides, when it came to food fights the sempais really knew how to raise hell.
(Chopper mostly enjoyed them so much because they mainly targeted a douche named Wapol and his stuck up buddies.)
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I quite like this one-shot, though I may keep writing stuff similar to this. I'm so surprised that the F-bomb has only been dropped once or twice, which is a really rare thing in my stories. I also feel like writing a short one-shot about the Luffy-Franky dare and about a few other random things that popped up in this story! : )
I'd really appreciate it if you review this story, say what you liked best, what made you laugh really loud, what made you giggle and what was fluffy. Because reading what people think about the things I've written really makes me feel good and encourages me to improve all the time.
BTW, the motorbike link is on my profile, just for fun, if anyone is a bike-fan. ;P
FUN FACT OF THE DAY:
I take Methylphenidate (Ritalin) because I have Attention Deficiency Disorder. (FYI it's like ADHD's cousin.) Which means that after a two week holiday when I haven't used it, it results in me going high off my face when I end up taking it again. :P
DISCLAIMER:
All medical information about Narcolepsy has been used from A.D.A.M, the medical encyclopaedia, on Wikipedia. Just so you know.
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