Midnight Scuffles

Ace opened the door with a tired sigh. He toed his boots off and ran a weary hand through his hair, full of knots but ripping through it anyway. The keys in his hand were thrown casually onto the counter of their joined kitchen and he put his hands on his hips, frowning thoughtfully at the fridge before deciding with a shrug and a sigh that he was too tired.

"Ace-nii-chan?" there was a yawn and Ace turned around before he smiled indulgently at his brother.

His little brother had always been a small kid with a skinny frame that had always worried him and Sabo, with big, black and expressive eyes that were adorable no matter the circumstances (although he and Sabo never said that). If he were honest, Luffy was the definition of cute with his bubbly personality and plunging charisma (Sabo's words), but he was all the more adorable when sleepy.

Luffy rubbed his left eye with a fist as he yawned again before he tilted his head in Ace's direction. A black eye took in the messy hair, sweaty shirt, dirty trousers and weary face before his brother frowned at him.

"Ace-nii-chan," he said disapprovingly. "You overworked yourself again."

Ace gave him a strained smile. "I'm fine."

The way Luffy arched an eyebrow and leant against the door frame of their singular bedroom with his arms crossed (his brother was spending far too much time with his friend Zoro and that Law-guy) made it clear that his brother didn't believe him. Ace thought about who he was fooling; Luffy had always been able look through people, especially people he loved and cared for.

Especially himself and Sabo. They might as well be open books with the way Luffy could read them.

"Ace," and that was the signal that he was in deep shit and that he would listen to his little brother because once the 'nii-chan' was gone, it was all business (and Luffy had a knack of things happening when he wanted them to). "Go to sleep."

Ace sighed and smiled patiently. "Sure, but I'm just going to quickly finish some homewor—"

"Ace," Luffy's voice took on a dangerous tone. "Now."

"But—"

"Oh, for the love of god Ace," there was a sigh before Sabo face came to view over Luffy's shoulder. "Just get into bed and stop bitching already—you're making it difficult."

Ace immediately felt guilty, because Sabo had classes early in the morning (today? Tomorrow?), and who knew when Luffy had settled down enough to sleep. Still, his guilt was overridden by annoyance and he glared at his brothers.

"I'm fine; I don't need you two looking after me like some kind of overprotective parents!" Ace said indignantly.

All he received were two deadpan stares and a raised eyebrow. And suddenly, he felt stupid—very stupid, because he knew he would react the exact same way as they would (with a few—or many, depending on his mood—more swearwords thrown in between).

Suddenly, Luffy sighed and bounded over to him before he grabbed his wrist and (literally) dragged Ace behind him. He was thrown into their room and the first thing he saw was Sabo holding the door open with an amused expression.

Ace flipped him the bird.

Sabo shrugged with an 'I told you so' expression; or, what they named between them, the 'Luffy gets anything he wants in the end and you knew it but you were too stupid to remember that fact' look that Ace (grudgingly) admitted he deserved.

He was then placed (read: dragged, pushed and pinned) onto the bed before Sabo settled behind him, back pressed up against his own, and Luffy in front of him while his little brother tugged his head under his chin.

There were worse ways to fall asleep, Ace thought as his narcolepsy finally kicked in.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

Author Note:

I know; I know I should work on my other three stories before this but I just really, really, really want to write about Sabo too, and get off that melancholic crap for a while.

Sakazuki is the name in japanese for that sake ritual that they did in the canon—hence why I chose the name. Basically, this will be like a story only in one-shots that loosely link together (I hope) about their daily lives-maybe a few dramas. We'll see.

Thank you for reading and please review!