Hey, everybody, it's Jo-chan :P! So this fic is a one-shot, and a late celebration of Ace's birthday, and it's also ZoLu! It's basically a modern AU where Ace, Sabo, Zoro, and Luffy find themselves together during a blizzard! Ace and Sabo, well, actually, just Sabo don't really trust Luffy's new boyfriend at first, but things happen, and cuteness is a definite. There will be some side SaboxKoala at the end of the fic, BTW. Also, see if you can catch a small cameo made by Fisher Tiger while reading.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights to their respective owners.
"Happy birthday, Ace!" Luffy said, hugging his big brother tightly. Ace hugged Luffy back.
It was Ace's birthday "party", if you could call it that. Only Ace's brothers, Sabo and Luffy, and Luffy's boyfriend, Zoro, were in attendance. Luffy had just arrived, with presents and boyfriend in tow.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ace noticed something, or, rather, someone, odd. A boy, holding two wrapped presents was standing at the door awkwardly.
The boy holding the presents was muscular, and seemed like he might be a football player, except for the fact that he had green hair.
Luffy noticed him too, and ran to the boy.
"Zoroooooo! You got Ace's presents from the car! Meet my brother, Ace! Ace, this is Zoro. He's my boyfriend." Luffy said, pulling Zoro towards Ace.
Wait, Ace thought, this green haired boy is Luffy's mysterious date he's been talking about nonstop for the past month? He doesn't seem anything like the friendly, sweet guy Luffy's made him out to be.
"Luffy, who the fuck is this?" A voice said. Ace turned to see who it was. The voice's owner was Sabo, Ace and Luffy's other brother.
Sabo was the oldest, a few months older then Ace. Sabo wasn't technically their brother, merely a cousin who lived with them, but to Luffy, cousin was close enough.
Ace knew Sabo would be very suspicious of Zoro. The last time Luffy brought a boy home, Sabo had sent the poor guy running for his life!
"Sabo, don't interrogate this one." Ace said, stepping in front of Sabo.
"But, Ace, what if he's a perv? What if he's gonna cheat on our little brother? We gotta protect Luffy at all costs." Sabo said.
"Speaking of Luffy, where is he?" Ace asked. Luffy had a habit of disappearing when not being carefully watched.
Suddenly, a yelp was heard from the kitchen, followed by what sounded like someone in pain.
Zoro ran for, what Ace supposed, Zoro thought was the way to the kitchen, calling, "Luffy! Are you ok?"
Ace and Sabo, knowing the right way, ran to the kitchen, Ace pausing to grab Zoro and pull him in the right direction.
Upon entering, there was Luffy. He was sitting on the floor, and his thumb was cut pretty badly.
"Zoro," Luffy sobbed, "I just wanted to cut you a slice of Ace's birthday cake, but I hurt myself."
He gestured to the bloody knife lying on the table next to the cake.
With one swoop that could only be described as eagle-like, Zoro picked up the boy, and hugged him tightly to his chest.
"It's ok." Zoro said, letting Luffy cry into his shoulder.
"But I ruined Ace's party!" Luffy cried.
"No, you didn't. I'm still having a great birthday." Ace said.
Luffy nodded. Ace got the feeling that this was one of those times when Luffy wasn't actually accepting something, and just saying he did. Hopefully, Luffy wouldn't do something really stupid trying to make up for it, like walk outside after a snowstorm looking for something cool to give Ace to make up for what happened.
Sabo turned to Ace and whispered, "This one is ok. Not preferred, but ok." Ace nodded in agreement.
As Zoro hugged Luffy, the sound of a beeping phone pinged into the air. It was Sabo's.
"Looks like there's gonna be a big blizzard tonight." Sabo said. "I'd hate to be driving in that."
"Can I stay here tonight?" Zoro asked. "I really don't want Luffy to get in an accident driving me home."
"Or you just really want to get in to something else with Luffy." Sabo said accusingly in a tone that sounded very much like a growl a bear might make were someone to come too close to her cubs. Sabo grabbed the bloody kitchen knife, and began to run towards Zoro from behind.
Ace grabbed Sabo's wrist.
"We have a guest room. Zoro can sleep there." Ace said. "In the meantime, who's up for some movies?"
"Me!" Luffy said, jumping out of Zoro's arms, grabbing his hand, and pulling him into the living room.
Ace and Sabo followed, with Sabo muttering, "Perverted punk with his hands on my little brother," till Ace elbowed him in the side to keep him quiet.
The next morning, Ace was rudely awakened by Sabo shaking him.
"Ace, I can't find Luffy or Zoro. What if that pervert kidnapped our brother and we'll never see him again?" Sabo said, sounding clearly on the verge of tears.
"Calm your ass down. Zoro didn't kidnap Luffy." Ace said. "Zoro said he didn't want Luffy to drive cause of the blizzard, anyway. And Zoro gets lost so easily, he probably wouldn't want to risk driving in this weather. Remember that, Sabo?"
"But the blizzard stopped hours ago."
"I don't think Zoro'd want Luffy driving him home with a lot of ice on the road, so I'm sure they're nearby. Have you checked downstairs?"
Sabo shook his head, and Ace sighed. Sabo's particularly bad habit of jumping to the worst conclusion often led to him forgetting obvious things.
Ace rubbed his eyes, and got up. Then, it hit him. His beloved little brother was missing. Lost. Ace ran down the stairs, with Sabo on his heels.
The stairs led straight into the kitchen, where Ace noticed something odd.
An envelope was waiting on the table. It looked as if someone had just sealed a note in it, as it was closed with duct tape. Ace picked it up and opened it. The note inside read:
Woke up. Luffy is missing. I don't know what he's up to. I'm going after him. Please try to find us if we're not back yet.
Zoro
Ace was immediately worried. Luffy alone in the cold? Zoro had a tendency to get lost, as Ace knew from having to walk him to a class more then once, so unless Zoro got lucky, both of them could be in huge trouble.
Ace showed Sabo the note. Sabo seemed to calm down a little after reading it.
As quickly as they could, Sabo and Ace piled on heavy layers so they could go search for the two lost boys.
As they were about to set out, someone rang the doorbell.
"Who could that be?" Ace asked.
"Probably the cops, telling us that evil green haired bastard has murdered our little brother." Sabo said. Ace chose to ignore Sabo's glaring negativity and answer the doorbell, with Sabo following behind.
What Ace saw shocked him, and made him smile. Oh, how Sabo was getting a pleasant surprise today!
It was Koala, the girl who lived next door. The niece of Fisher Tiger, as many called the high school principal, rarely visited them, which was a shame, since she was Sabo's crush, and Ace did need something to playfully tease his older brother about from time to time.
"I found two nincompoops." Koala said. "I think you may know them."
"Koala?" Sabo said. "What are you doing here?"
"I was making my uncle some breakfast in bed, for a surprise, you know, and I saw two figures in the snow. I opened the door, and asked them in for hot chocolate."
"Ace!" Luffy said as he ran out from behind Koala, almost knocking over his older brother with a hug.
Zoro awkwardly followed behind.
"Luffy told me he went out to find you something cool, cause he ruined your birthday party, and wanted to make it up to you, Ace. However, he got lost, and Zoro must've gotten really lucky and found him. The weather must've frozen over their common sense, because they came to my house instead of back to yours!" Koala said, giggling.
Koala turned to leave, but before she could, Luffy grabbed her hand.
"I think Sabo has to say something to you, Koala." Luffy said with a smile.
"Koala, would you like to stay for breakfast?" Sabo asked, trying to hide the blush he could just feel creeping over his face.
"Sure thing." Koala said. "I'll shoot my uncle a text so he knows where I am. But first, I think that I should tell you something, Sabo."
"Oh? What is it, Koala?"
"I-I think you're kind of, well, cute. Would you ever consider, maybe, possibly, going on a date with me sometime?"
"Sure." Sabo said with a grin. "Let's make this our first date."
"A breakfast date? That sounds great!" Koala said.
Sabo extended his hand, and Koala grabbed it and walked in.
Zoro grabbed Luffy and followed, leaving Ace to shut the door.
Ace smiled as he did, thinking to himself about the events of the morning. Ace had had a lot of awesome birthdays in the past, but seeing his cousin, and his little brother, happily in love? That was the best present of all.
A/N: I started writing this on Ace's birthday. So wow, this one didn't take very long. I've never written with Sabo, Koala, or Ace before, so I hope I did them well. Remember, follows are cool, favorites are awesome, and reviews are super! Coming up in terms of my writing, I'm working on a feels-y NaVi one-shot, however, that may be put aside for something Valentine'sy, since that's coming up. Most likely, this Valentines fic'll be SanUso related, since that couple hasn't gotten a fic focused mainly on them yet. There will also be a Frobin fic going up around Robin's birthday, so that's something I'll need to start working on. ViVi's birthday is coming too, I know, but I like writing characters fluff for their birthdays, and I don't think that NaVi one-shot would be considered fluff, by any standards. So, yeah, that's what's coming up for me. Till next time. ~Jo-chan :P