A/N: I know it's been a while since I posted anything really substantial, but honestly, life is just too much a lot of the time to get anything out. But don't worry! I have some longer things in the works. It's just that they take longer, too…
I keep seeing soulmate!aus around and I had a rabid plotbunny based on the one where soulmates share injuries and pain and such things. Hence, this… thing.
It hadn't taken Ace too long to realise what exactly Luffy was to him. The signs, after all, were hard to mistake.
The scar on his cheek was enough to tip him off. Ace could remember when it had opened on his own cheek, could remember Dadan bandaging it up for him, and how she had muttered that it figured Ace's soulmate would be just as troublesome as he was.
Luffy's scar was right there on his face, plain to see, mocking him, because how could such a little brat be meant for me?
Ace's version was hidden underneath a bandage, even though the wound had long healed over. He hadn't earned that scar, after all; it wasn't his to wear. Suddenly he was even more glad for his decision not to show it off — as long as Luffy never saw it, he reasoned, things would be just fine.
But then, Luffy just had to get himself captured by Porchemy. Just had to get tortured. And Sabo just had to notice that Ace's mysterious new cuts matched Luffy's.
And of course Sabo let it slip to Luffy, and of course Luffy took him by the hand and announced to anyone and everyone who would — and wouldn't — listen that "Ace is my soulmate!"
Sabo always thought Ace's consternation in the face of Luffy's instant, unconditional love was hilarious.
"You'll have to accept it someday," Sabo would say, chuckling, and clap him on the shoulder. "Besides, I think he'll be good for you."
Ace was never in agreement, but eventually, he stopped fighting Luffy off whenever the boy tried to cling to him. It was only after Sabo was gone that Ace started clinging back.
He wound up getting used to Luffy; they had seven years with each other, after all, before Ace left to become a pirate. He got used to letting Luffy climb all over him giddily, as if he were a jungle gym; he got used to the way the two of them shared strong physical sensations, they way they shared all the same marks and scars.
In hindsight, he really should have seen the 'incident' coming, but at the time he hadn't even considered it.
It had been maybe a year after Ace left Dawn Island behind. It wasn't too uncommon that a new wound would suddenly open up on Luffy's body, sometimes going away quickly, other times leaving small scars like the one between the thumb and index finger on his left hand, or the long, thin line running down his thigh.
Just simple injuries — so the day of the 'incident' came as more than a surprise.
It started very suddenly, with Luffy dropping his dinner to grab his arm and yelp.
"Ow!" Luffy yipped, his fingers clenching around his arm until his knuckles turned white. "My arm! Ow! What the hell?!"
"Luffy!" said Magra.
"What's happening? Are you hurt?" Dagra added with concern.
"I don't know! It's weird and it hurts!"
"What's your idiot soulmate doing now?" Dadan asked, scowling. She took Luffy by the shoulders and steered him over to a nearby stool they had set up to treat Luffy's unexpected injuries long ago.
"Ow ow ow owwwwww," Luffy whined as Dadan took a rag, wet it, and began wiping gently at his suddenly-raw skin. He craned his neck, trying to see. "What's happening to my arm?"
Dadan didn't pay him much attention, instead watching his arm closely as something began to take shape. Her eyes narrowed when it hit her.
Luffy noticed, and as the pain in his arm seemed to become more intense, he began to expect the worst. "What is it? Is Ace okay?!"
Dadan didn't answer, instead taking a long drag from her cigarette. "That idiot…"
Ace was ecstatic. Of course he was — reuniting with your soulmate after a long separation was always a rush. He had missed Luffy more than anything and it was indescribably good to see him again.
And frankly, it was a relief to see him in one piece, too. There had been a few wounds that had made him seriously worry (shark bites on his neck?!).
Luffy, though, seemed a bit reserved. He didn't tackle Ace on sight like he thought he would, although he did greet him fairly happily. Ace had expected Luffy to talk his ear off, but instead, the younger was oddly quiet.
Even now when they were alone, Luffy wasn't jumping to shower him in attention. After three years apart, he definitely never thought Luffy would give him the silent treatment. This was too weird.
Ace couldn't stand it. He broke the silence with a grin, hoping Luffy would at least smile back. "So? I want to know everything. What did I miss in my little Luffy's life, huh?"
Luffy was unamused. He frowned, not looking directly at Ace. "It hurt, you know."
Ace blinked, caught off guard. "It… hurt? What hurt?" Ace straightened up, suddenly on alert. "Are you okay?" he demanded.
Luffy glared at him, his fingers curling into the sleeves of the coat he wore to protect himself from the desert sun.
"Luffy, what's wrong? Why are you mad at me?"
With a huff, Luffy reached for the buttons of his coat, undid them, and pulled it off. He bared his arm for Ace to see.
There, on Luffy's arm, was A-S-C-E spelt out in big black letters, exactly matching Ace's own tattoo.
Ace paled. He had never realised— "Oh, um… oops."
"And you got two of these things?!"