All I Want For Christmas
When Haruta started begging Ace to take her place, the twenty year old really should have said no.
If he had said no, then the manager of the local mall wouldn't be handing him a hideous red and green outfit along with shoes that had bells on them, and were those pointed ears?
"It might be a little tight, but last guy who wore that was about your size." Shanks said, looking far more amused than Ace would have liked. In fact, the man began to chuckle, which quickly turned into full-blown laughter. "I wasn't expecting you of all people to take Haruta's place! "
Ace's eye twitched as the one-armed red head laughed his ass off at Ace's expense.
"Pfft, sorry Ace!" Shanks grinned after a moment, not looking sorry at all. It's then that the manager realized something and turned around to grab something out of the supply closet. "…Don't forget your hat."
Ace glared at his temporary boss under the green, hideous hat that the other man had placed on his head. He turned on his heel at the sound of his employers loud laughter once again and walked off to the changing room to get ready for his first shift.
He was glad that Shanks' wife, a lovely woman named Makino, had already explained what he would have to do working as an elf this Christmas.
A fucking elf.
He almost couldn't believe it.
Haruta owed him.
The twenty year old was about to open the door to the employee changing rooms when it opened and Santa stepped out.
Ace couldn't help but laugh at the sight in front of him.
Stone faced, serious Roronoa Zoro dressed up as Santa - fake wig, beard, and fake fat stomach and all - was one thing the job was worth.
"Stop laughing!" His friend barked, only fueling Ace's laughter. This must have been what Shanks felt; not that it gave the man any excuse.
"H-how the hell did they get you to do this?" Ace said, trying to calm himself down to the best of his ability.
"I'm friends with a real witch. I could say the same thing to you. I thought Haruta was doing it this year?"
"Change of plans. She had to go visit family."
Zoro grunted in acknowledgment. "Did Shanks tell you that the other elf is gonna to be late today?"
"Wait, so I'm gonna be the only one? Damn…" Ace rubbed his chin. He should've skipped too.
"Not for long. He's just gonna be 40 minutes late at the most." Zoro paused. "You're not the only one looking like a dumbass."
"Clearly." Ace grinned and shrugged off the glare that the green-haired man sent his way.
Zoro huffed and walked past Ace, who smirked before entering the changing room, mentally preparing himself for the humiliation to come.
"Merry Christmas!" Ace said to the mother who led two twin boys away from 'Santa'. Two twin boys who didn't want to be led away from Santa.
Who knew that Roronoa Zoro would be good with kids?
Ace lifted a little girl onto Zoro's lap while her parents stood cooing by the camera man; an angry guy name Bellamy who took good pictures but really needed to calm down.
When the girl started to tell 'Santee-Claus' what she wanted for Christmas, Ace could hear a voice nearly yelling "Merry Christmas! Happy holidays!"
He thought he could hear Zoro sigh.
Ace could hear bells that weren't his ringing, coming closer and closer.
And then the person yelling entered his line of view and Ace felt like he had been hit with a ton of bricks.
Greeting people in the line was the other elf.
He was rather short and lean, but the outfit looked perfect on him, hugging every inch of him. He wore a smile that was brighter than any Christmas tree Ace had ever seen. He had a scar under his left eye, almost covered by his unruly black hair. His lip was swollen and he had bandages on his nose.
He was absolutely adorable.
When he saw Zoro, he erupted into cute giggles. "Hi, Santa."
"You're late, Luffy. Merry Christmas, little girl." A moment passed, but the little girl was still on his lap. "Ace?"
The freckled elf was finally snapped out of his staring and quickly turned around to pick the little girl up off of Santa's lap, placing her on the ground and nudging her towards her parents with a "Merry Christmas", which Luffy echoed.
Luffy got the next child, a little boy who looked similar to a marshmallow in all of the extra layers of clothing, before turning to Ace with a blinding smile and extending a hand towards the twenty year old. Ace gladly takes the tinier, colder, and calloused hand in his and before he knows it, Luffy started to shake his hand excitedly.
"Hi, I'm Monkey D. Luffy! I'm a little late, but I'm really excited to be doing this!"
Ace didn't see how anyone could be excited to be a mall elf in their free time, but he could already tell that Luffy was probably just like that.
"Don't sweat it, its easy enough." Boring, but easy. "Portgas D. Ace, nice to meet you."
Wide blue eyes blinked and Luffy laughed. "You have a 'D' in your name too, that's funny!"
When Luffy went to pick up the little boy to bring him back to his mother, the Santa impersonator asked, "You're late, what were you doing?"
Luffy waved to the little boy and his mom before picking up the next child. "My match was later than I thought it would be! I won though! Nami didn't let me leave until Chopper looked at my nose because the other guy punched me in the face pretty hard. She said she didn't want me to have a nose like Usopp, shishishi."
Ace raised an eyebrow, which Zoro saw.
'MMA.' the faux-Santa mouthed before turning back to the little girl.
Ace blinked and grinned. It wasn't too often he ran into another person who was an MMA fighter, especially when both of you were dressed as elves.
"You do MMA?" he whispered once Luffy was standing next to him.
"Yeah! I box too, why? Do you like MMA too?" Wide eyes stared up at him in excitement. Ace felt his stomach flip when Luffy smiled brightly at him.
"Yep, I do both actually. Have for a long time now. You see yesterday's match on tv?"
Ace couldn't help but smile back when they spent the rest of their shift talking about MMA and whatever else they found out they had in common.
"Welcome back," was the first thing Ace heard when he closed the front door behind him. "How was work?"
A unique laugh filled with mirth echoed in his head when Ace shrugged his shoulders and took off his scarf and snow covered jacket, before he walked towards the voice. "It was okay, I guess. I looked like a fucking idiot though."
Sitting in the middle of the room, surrounded by towers of books and boxes, was Ace's older brother Sabo. The blond looked up at him amused before placing a particularly large book on sociology in a box that was quickly filling up with books.
"What else would you look like, dressed like an elf."
He flipped his brother off and toed off his boots, happy to hear an absence of tinkling bells as he walked closer to his brother. "Screw you. What are you doing?"
"Going through my books and deciding what I'll need." Sabo said, briefly inspecting a thin book before tossing it in a large pile. "These are the ones I don't even know why we have."
"'Everybody Poops'. I dunno, Sabo you might need this. Impress the ladies with your knowledge."
Ace only just managed to dodge the heavy hardcover book Sabo chucked at his head, falling on the couch with a loud peal of laughter. After a moment, he fell silent and crossed his legs, looking at his brother.
"So… Four more days until you leave, huh?"
Sabo nodded his head. "Yep. I should be able to come home during summer break though, hopefully."
Sabo was going to study abroad for his next semester and even if school wasn't in session, the twenty-two year old had to go a bit early to adjust to his new surroundings.
When Ace had first heard that Sabo was leaving roughly a week before Christmas and just before Ace's twenty-first birthday, he wasn't really happy about it. And he still really wasn't. He understood and he wanted his brother to do whatever he wanted with his life, but it would probably be kind of odd to not see him for a while.
Not that he would tell Sabo any of this. (Knowing Sabo, however, he probably didn't even need to say anything.)
"I'll end up skyping you a lot. Making sure you aren't doing anything stupider than usual."
Ace shrugged again, this time grinning. "Who knows, no one's gonna be here to keep me in check."
Sabo rolled his eyes and placed another book into the box. He had asked Marco to at least try to keep the hot-tempered twenty year old in check, but he doubted the blond man would be able to do much.
He could only hope that someone would be able to be there for Ace while he was gone.
Ace felt dread in his stomach three days later when he saw his brother's grinning face watching him from the line of people waiting to see 'Santa'. The line wasn't too long by now, in fact there were only two more children in his half half of the line that had yet to see Santa; the last of Luffy's line had left just moments before.
'Santa' was listening to a sleepy looking little girl's Christmas wishes while trying to ignore the cat calls Luffy's friends; who had shown up just minutes before, were making. The shapely pink haired woman in particular was making Luffy laugh like there was no tomorrow, which was both a blessing and a curse. Luffy's laughter was adorable, but was what the girl saying really all that funny?
(A part of Ace actually did find what the woman was saying funny, but it was overruled with a feeling Ace didn't want to admit was jealousy.)
The other two; a man with dark hair, an odd hat and dark circles around his eyes and the other with a bright red head of hair, no eyebrows, and dressed like it wasn't snowing, were switching between teasing Zoro and arguing with each other in a similar way a married couple would.
The three had apparently come to pick Luffy up after his shift; coming earlier than they should have.
But that was besides the point.
His older brother's amused gaze was heavy on his back as he handed the now sleeping child back to her father.
"The outfit looks great on you, little bro." Sabo teased when he went over to pick up the next child to bring over to 'Santa'. Ace pretended the kids father didn't choke on his laughter and sent a heated glare to his brother.
It was a real shame that his glares didn't really affect his older anymore, wasn't it?
"What are you doing here?" Ace asked, when he came back. He picked up the last child, who automatically latched onto his hair, which wasn't the the first time that happened today. Luffy decided to laugh particularly loud at something the dark haired man said. Ace was aware of his eye twitching, something that Sabo saw and raised a questioning eyebrow at.
"Thought I'd pick you up like the nice brother I am. Besides, I needed a new lockscreen anyways."
"Sabo, if you took any pictures of me I swear to G-" Ace was cut off by the child harshly tugging at his hair.
Sabo laughed in response to Ace's dilemma and Ace swore that he would pay him back one day.
They're done with the last child relatively quickly, Bellamy leaving as soon as the last photo is taken, and Ace didn't hesitate to take the dumb hat and ears off. Really, he couldn't understand how Luffy liked wearing them.
But then again, Luffy was hard to understand in general.
In the past few days Ace had known Luffy, the two had managed to become pretty good friends. And they had a lot of things in common, not just a similar interest in MMA and boxing.
Apparently, Luffy loved pirates. Ace had loved pirates since he was little; something Sabo could and would vouch for. His brother was more than happy to tell stories of how Ace had enlisted their mother's help and he would run around the house, acting like a pirate, getting so into it once that he attacked his father's legs with his fake sword until the man had played along and fallen to the ground in faux tears. Of course, Sabo would forget to mention that, most of the time, he had joined in on the escapades. But again, that was besides the point.
Luffy also loved food and they even seemed to like a lot of the same music he did. Not to mention that the teen, who he had found out was seventeen and a senior in high school, was unbelievably cute and charming.
Ace didn't think he would get out of liking Luffy even if he tried.
"You finally done, shitty marimo?" A voice behind Sabo cut through Ace's thoughts. It was another blond man, one with shaggy hair and an oddly curly eyebrow of all things. He reeked of cigarette smoke and he was dressed in a fancy way, but it was strangely not out of place.
Zoro grunted and stood up, stretching his back. "Why are you here, crap cook?"
"To see you look like an idiot. Also, wanted to see if sitting around all day has made you even worse in a race."
Zoro's green eyebrow twitched and his jaw set. "Is that a challenge?"
"I dunno, was it?" The tension between them was thick, but it seemed to completely dissipate when Luffy came dashing over to the blond man.
"Sanji! It's been forever since I've seen you! Are you here to get Zoro? Do you have any food with you? Is the old man still mad at me?"
"I saw you three days ago, moron. When's the shitty old man not angry at you? I'm beating the marimo fair and square today, if he can get out of that dumb suit."
"Okay, but did ya bring any food?" The pink haired woman, Bonney, asked from behind Luffy.
Sanji's eyes grew bright when he addressed the woman and, if she hadn't pulled her hand out of his reach, he would have kissed it. "I'm sorry Bonney-dear, I didn't have time to prepare a delicious meal for you to enjoy, but I'll make something especially for you some other time!"
"What about me?"
"You're always mooching food off of me, idiot." Sanji snapped at Luffy, but it was easy to tell there was no real fire behind his words.
Luffy deflated and the mere mention of food caused Ace's stomach to growl, causing all eyes to fall on him.
The pink haired girl laughed and reached over to sling an arm around Ace's shoulders, causing the freckled twenty year old to tense for a moment, which she ignored completely."See, curly! Ya should have brought something to eat with ya!"
"Oh, Ace, Ace! This is Sanji! He's a cook and he makes really yummy food and he's also Zoro's boyfriend!"
Ace raised an eyebrow at the last part. He didn't expect Zoro to have a boyfriend of all things. He had thought that the green haired man only cared about his swordsmanship.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ace." Sanji nodded to him before Ace turned back to Luffy, pointing his thumb in Sabo's direction. "This is my older brother, Sabo."
"Eh?! Brother? That so cool! Hi, I'm Luffy!" Luffy shook Sabo's hand in a similar way he had with Ace's.
"Hey, its good to meet you." Sabo grinned and shook Luffy's hand back.
"Luffy-ya," the dark haired one, Trafalgar, cut in. "We're going to be late, you should change."
"Please, Apoo would probably like it if Luffy showed up dressed like an elf, the freak." The red haired one, Eustass, scoffed.
"Sure you don't wanna come Roronoa? It was just gonna be the 8 of us, Bege flaked out as usual and Urouge… He's doing whatever he does, I'm not his fuckin' keeper."
"I'm good." Zoro grunted, pulling off the beard and hat.
"Suit yourself." Bonney shrugged. "C'mon Lu, go change! We ain't got all damn, night."
"Okay!" Luffy chirpped and ran off towards the changing room. Zoro and Ace exchanged a look before deciding to follow him in order to get out of the festive outfits.
The next day, the airport was pretty crowded, considering that everyone was trying to leave before Christmas.
Ace stuffed his hands in his pockets as he walked just behind Sabo. He couldn't really think of anything to say and he really, really wished that he had something to say. After all, when Sabo went through the gate, who knew when he'd next see him in person.
He would miss his brother, even if the twenty-two year old teased him constantly.
Sabo had even found a new thing to tease him about the day before.
As soon as they walked out of the mall last night, Sabo had smirked and straight out told Ace that his crush on Luffy was obvious to him. Ace tried to deny, telling Sabo that he definitely didn't have a crush, but the bright blush on his cheeks kind of gave it away. And, according to Sabo, it was obvious to Luffy's friends too.
Over the loud speaker, a worker announced that Sabo's flight was starting to board.
"Okay, I guess this is it." Sabo said, clutching his ticket in one hand and turning to Ace. "I'll see you later, little brother."
Ace swallowed past the lump in his throat. "Have fun, big bro."
Sabo smiled and, before Ace knew it, had his arms wrapped around his little brother. Ace hugged him back without a second thought.
"I know it's useless to say this, but don't do anything dumb without me." He said while patting Ace's head, making his hat fall a little further over his eyes. "Good luck with Luffy. I know that you haven't known him for long and I know him less than you do, but I think he'll be good for you."
Ace swallowed again with a nod. "Okay."
"I'll call you when I land." Sabo said, letting Ace go and turning his back to the younger man he had been with for most of his life. "See you later, Ace."
"Later." was all Ace could say through the lump in his throat as his brother gave his ticket to a worker and went through the gate, off to bigger places.
Ace sighed and turned around, knocking his hat off of his head so he could run a hand through his hair.
The lump in his throat had yet to recede.
On the way out of the mall, Ace rolled his shoulders. It had been a pretty long day and while not all kids had been bad, there had been some screaming and suspiciously sticky ones. But at least he was done working as a mall elf and he had his check in his pocket. And tomorrow was Christmas.
Really, Ace just wanted to get food in his stomach and sleep. To be honest, if he wasn't on his meds, he'd probably be long out by now. Of course, little kids might have taken advantage of that and drawn on his face…
Narcolepsy was both a blessing and a curse.
"Hey!" Luffy called from behind him, stopping Ace in his tracks. "Hey, Ace! Wait for me!"
He turned around and Luffy was coming out of the mall, into the cold snowy night.
And damn, did he look even better dressed in normal clothes. He was dressed in tight fitting dark jeans and a red jacket and a worn out straw hat, his cheeks and nose already turning rosy from the cold weather.
"Are you going home?" Luffy asked brightly.
"I was gonna, why what's up?" Ace shoved his hands into his pockets.
"I wanted to know if you wanted to get something to eat!"
Ace felt butterflies in his stomach and, really, who could say no to a face like that? Besides it wasn't like anyone was expecting him at home.
"Yeah, I'd love to."
"Yay!" Luffy cheered and bumped his shoulder against Ace's. "Do you like Chinese?"
"Love it." Not that Ace would say no to any kind of food.
"Great, let's go!" Luffy said, grabbing onto Ace's arm and pulling him along.
The freckled man couldn't help but laugh, letting the smaller male pull him. "I'm coming, I'm coming."
Luffy only let go of Ace's arm a few minutes later.
"So, what are you doing for Christmas?" Luffy asked his shoulder pressed against Ace's once he let go.
The twenty year old shrugged and tried to focus on not blushing because Luffy was so close and he smelled so good. From the way his face suddenly felt warmer than before, he had the feeling he failed miserably. "Nothing really, Sabo and all my friends are gone so I'm just gonna sleep in. What about you?"
Luffy hummed and swayed idly. "I'm gonna be alone, too. My dad and grandpa are always busy, but Makino said I could come over for dinner tomorrow!"
The fact that Luffy was going to be alone on Christmas made an ache similar to the one he had when he first found out he was going to be alone appear in his chest.
An idea, however, popped into his head.
"Hey… We're both gonna be alone on Christmas… So, do you maybe wanna hang out tomorrow?"
Luffy blinked and Ace almost took what he said back, when the younger started smiling as they reached the crosswalk. "That sounds great to me! I didn't even think about that! You're so smart, Ace!"
Ace didn't even try to fight the blush this time and could only hope that Luffy wouldn't call him out on it.
Cars sped by as they waited for the stoplight to give them their cue to cross the street. A frosty breeze rolled by, causing a shiver to go through Luffy's body. The seventeen year old brought his hands together to his mouth, rubbing them and breathing on them for warmth.
"It so cold!" Luffy said and it almost sounded like his teeth were chattering.
"Don't like the cold?" The cold never really bothered Ace, in fact he was actually pretty warm.
Luffy nodded his head in agreement. "Nah, not really. I love playing in snow though!"
"Hm… You can wear this if you want to." Ace started to unwrap the scarf around his neck.
"Eh, are you sure?" Luffy asked, looking up at Ace with a cute questioning expression.
The twenty year old draped the scarf around the teens neck loosely. "Of course. I'm warm right now, I don't need it."
The smile on Luffy's face was wide and Ace thought that he saw Luffy's cheeks flush pink, but they are quickly hidden by the scarf that Luffy pressed to his mouth and adjusted. The streetlight changed and gave them their cue to cross the street.
"Ace is… Ace is the best. I really, really like you Ace." Luffy whisperd to Ace, quietly so only he could here it as they walked across the street. His voice was muffled slightly by the scarf, but he sounded happier than Ace had ever heard him. "Thank you."
Ace scratched his head and looked the other way sheepishly. "Anytime."
"Last Christmas I gave you my heart," Luffy sang the song they had heard on the radio while eating as they walked up to Ace's empty apartment. They had decided to stay there for the night, Luffy even suggested watching movies all night until they fell asleep. "But the very next day, you gave it away! This yeaaar to save me from tears I'll give it to someone special!"
Ace chuckled and pulled out his keys when they were almost at the door. Luffy was still singing when he unlocked the front door and took a step into the doorway.
"Don't worry about taking your shoes off or anything." Ace said, starting to unbutton his jacket. Then he noticed that Luffy had stopped singing. The seventeen year old was staring above their heads, his cheeks pink and hat hanging around his neck. "Luffy?"
"It's mistletoe." Luffy said, pointing up above their heads. Sure enough, the easily recognizable plant was hanging above their heads.
Ace blinked and his cheeks quickly flushed, matching Luffy. Sabo's previous words from last week and his smirk were fresh in his mind.
"Good luck with Luffy. I know that you haven't known him for long and I know him less than you do, but I think he'll be good for you."
Ace didn't doubt that it was Sabo who put the mistletoe there, the bastard.
His brown eyes shifted from the plant to Luffy, who was blushing and looking at him in what could only be described as expectation. Ace felt his heart skip a beat.
No more words were exchanged, but before Ace realized it, he was leaning in closer to Luffy. So close that he could feel warm breath on his lips.
Ace gently pressed his lips on Luffy's and when Luffy softly kissed back, the feeling could only be described as incredible.
It was a quick kiss; quicker than Ace would have liked. Ace pulled back and pressed his forehead against Luffy's, his hair almost falling in his eyes.
Luffy looked back at him with half-lidded eyes, cheeks even brighter than before. Seeing the excitable teen like this made Ace want to kiss him all over again.
Luckily, Luffy seemed to have read his mind. The seventeen year old closed the distance between their lips and Ace didn't hesitate to kiss back. He placed a hand on the back of Luffy's damp hair and deepened the kiss. Luffy grabbed onto Ace's jacket after a moment and pulled him even closer, his own attempt to make the kiss that was quickly growing more and more passionate even deeper.
It was wonderful and Ace couldn't remember a time when kissing someone had felt this nice.
Ace prod at Luffy's lips with his tongue and, without a second thought, the teen part them just enough for Ace to slide his tongue into his hot mouth. Tongues slid against each other and Ace didn't miss the soft little sound Luffy made when they made contact. He tasted like the Chinese food they had just eaten and his own unique taste that Ace couldn't really put his finger on. Luffy quickly began to fight for dominance, but it was clear to Ace that the boy was completely new at this.
Ace retracted his tongue and sucked Luffy's lower lip into his mouth, biting on the sensitive flesh. Luffy gasped and shuddered slightly.
He let the lip go, leaning his forehead back on Luffy's.
"I guess this is a great time to tell you that I like you a lot, huh?"
Luffy giggled and wrapped his arms around Ace's torso, pulling him into a hug and burying his face into Ace's neck. "I already told you that I really, really like Ace a lot."
Ace felt his heart jump up to his throat and hugged Luffy back tightly, pressing his lips to the crown of Luffy's head, leaning his cheek on his soft hair.
"Guess there was something really good about this Christmas, huh?"
Luffy giggled with a nod and Ace felt soft lips kiss his neck.
"Does… Does this mean we're boyfriends now?" Luffy whispered against Ace's neck.
Gently Ace pulled Luffy back, cupping Luffy's cheeks in his hands and kissed him softly, hopefully conveying what he was too nervous to say.
When he pulled back, Luffy was smiling softly and leaned forward once more in Ace's embrace. "I hoped so. Merry Christmas, Ace."
Said man grinned and lead his new boyfriend into the apartment that wasn't so empty anymore.
Note: IT'S FINALLY DONE! I've been working on this oneshot for a while and I'm finally finished with it! I'm so happy about that omg. Plus, it's my longest oneshot!
I paid a bit more attention to the tense in this story and tried my hardest to switch everything to past tense, so if you noticed anything present tense... Oops.
All in all I enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading it! Also, props to anyone who knows what song Luffy's singing.
I hope everyone has a great holiday :')
