"Ace?"
Ace woke up upon hearing his name being called. He felt a small hand on his arm, shaking it to try and wake him up.
"Ace?"
Ace opened his eyes to see who was interrupting his sleep, he had an idea as to who it was but it was always best to check. Sure enough when he opened his eyes and turned to look at the person who was stood by the side of his bed he was confronted with his little brother staring at him.
"Ace?" Luffy's voice started to waver and Ace just knew what had brought his little brother into his room. Silently Ace lifted the corner of his blanket and shifted over to lie on the other side of the bed.
A few seconds later Luffy crawled under the blanket and snuggled into his brother's chest. He started to sniffle a bit as Ace pulled the blanket to cover them both properly.
"Nightmare?" Ace asked Luffy as he moved one of his hands to run through Luffy's hair.
Luffy nodded and burrowed his head further into Ace's chest.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Alright."
There was a long silence after this and Ace assumed that Luffy had fallen asleep. He shifted his body slightly so that he was lying on his back and Luffy was lying slightly on top of him so they could both fit on the small bed.
"Ace?"
Ace, who was almost asleep, jumped slightly upon hearing Luffy who he believed to be asleep.
"Yeah Luffy?"
"Thank you for letting me sleep here." Ace smiled at the top of Luffy's head and ruffled his hair slightly.
"It's no problem. I'll always be here for you when you need me."
"I know," Luffy yawned, "night Ace."
"Night Luffy."
Ace looked down to check that Luffy had actually fallen asleep this time before closing his eyes. He slightly tightened his grip on his brother as he slowly fell asleep as well. Luffy did not have another nightmare that night as he felt so safe inside the circle of his brother's arms. He knew that as long as Ace was there he would always be safe, his brother would always be there to help him and save him from the nightmares.