The raven haired boy stood staring off at his long time crush. He realized how stupid he was for not ever getting up and talking to the man, but he was nervous, things like this weren't supposed to happen.

Luffy walked home like usual, saddened by his lack of bravery and his inability to speak up to the one he wanted to most. How could he though? He was right, the guy was one of the most popular in the school, and worst, most popular for dating girls. Every girl to be specific. Besides, the man was already in a relationship at the moment. He didn't stand a chance.

Maybe the courage would come to him one day and he wouldn't be afraid to state how he felt anymore? Maybe he could just lay the cards on the table and if he's rejected he'd get over it. Maybe he could move on if that's what's needed.

Maybe he could live life how he was supposed to after all this shit had passed him by,

"A calmer, more normal life," he reminded himself for the hundredth time since this mess had begun.

"It'd be over if you just told him…"

Luffy got home and went back to his normal, energetic self; he played video games with Ace, ate dinner with everybody, then went upstairs to finish his homework.

But something interrupted his nightly routine when there was an unexpected knock on his door.

"Luffy?" Ace asked outside his door.

"Yeah?" The smaller raven replied.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," Luffy set aside his homework for later and opened the door for his brother. "'Sup?"

"You seem kinda out of it lately, everything good?" The older one asked, slight concern in his tone.

"Y-yeah.." Luffy replied, taken back by the sudden show of concern on his brother's face

"Are you sure? You can always tell me anything."

"Well, how do you…ask someone out?"

The older of the two was admittedly kind of surprised at the question, but answered honestly nevertheless.

"Well, you get the courage to stare the person you like in the eyes, and you be honest with them. Tell them the truth, but be nice about it. You wouldn't want to sound like you're weird or desperate."

"I see…well, that's all I guess. I gotta finish my homework, so I'll see you tomorrow. Later!"

"Later," Ace left the room feeling a bit better that he'd helped his brother, and hoped for the best tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~

On the way to school, the obsidian haired one met with his friend who had the hair colour of a marimo.

They greeted each other and walked to school like they did everyday, talking about the things they did last night or things they plan to do on the weekend.

"So, Ace talked to me last night."

"About what?" his friend replied.

"I think I'm going to tell Sanji…" Luffy said, slightly nervously, anxious to hear what his friend was going to respond with.

"Really?!" His friend screamed back.

"Well, what's the worst thing that could come out of it?! He could just reject me and then I'd know..or at least that's what Ace told me."

"Well, you're right. But that's pretty much what I've been telling you for years," Zoro said before laughing with his friend and entering the school grounds.

~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~

First bell rang and Luffy walked into his class. This was one of the only classes in which the younger students mixed with the older; meaning that the younger boy got to see his friends and his crush. Sadly, those two people didn't quite like each other. So when Luffy walked in, he was greeted with yelling and cursing from the two guys.

"Shitty Marimo."

"Curly-Q," Luffy, being used to the wake up call from his friend, walked to the back of the class where he could sleep without attracting unwanted attention; ignoring the insults.

~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~

Class began and ended with a blur like everyday and the next period was gym. The only other class the younger student had besides health.

Zoro called Luffy over at the lockers after getting dressed.

"I want you to talk to him, now."

"Wh-why?" the younger asked his friend.

"Because you said you would and you should do it today. If you don't, it'll be like when someone says they're going on a diet tomorrow. Tvhey say they will and they almost never do.

Luffy realized for the umpteenth time that day that this wasn't something he should be nervous about, he'd talked to people before, this isn't much different, yeah?

"Ok. After school, but, can you tell him to meet me?" the raven asked with the happiest and most nervous smile the other had ever seen the kid wear.

"Sure, but if you don't tell him then, I will."

~~~~~~~~~~§~~~~~~~~~~~

The end of the day approached and Luffy's nerves had washed away. He walked up to the meeting place and saw Sanji standing there, cigarette in his mouth and hands in his pocket. The younger man walked up with his nerve and stated his reason of the meeting.

"Sanji, I like you; a lot. Go out with me?"

Sanji was taken back at what he said, but answered honestly non-the-less.

"Sorry, I...have a girlfriend," Sanji said and he scurried off quickly, not used to such a forward approach, especially from a guy.

Luffy stood heartbroken, but not enough to be still for more than a minute. So he went home, the same way he always did.