Hi guys! I'm not dead. Inspired by a picture on zerochan . net by Luce, so credits to Luce. I would have posted the picture as the cover for this fic but I wasn't sure how to get or should I have permission for it. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda, and the picture to Luce, I just own the words.
It's late when Sabo returns from work. The hall light is still on and Sabo sighs, wondering which of his brothers is still awake. Probably Ace, he decides, because Luffy would be dead tired after school today. Although, he muses as he puts away his shoes in the shoe cabinet, Ace has been looking pretty exhausted lately, his narcolepsy kicking in during the afternoons and evenings and stealing away his ability to sleep during the night. The new meds aren't helping and Sabo is seriously considering bringing Ace to another doctor, hang the cost.
He is surprised however when he walks into the hall and sees Luffy holding a finger to his lips to tell him to keep quiet. When he catches sight of the reason why, he smiles. Ace is fast asleep on the floor, a pillow under his head and looking the most unguarded Sabo has seen him lately, barring the times he has a narcolepsy attack. His short black hair is spread messily out over the pillow and his lips are parted slightly, cheeks a little flushed. His body is curled up, the back of his T-shirt riding up and Sabo can't simply dismiss the fact that he's curled facing Luffy, who's sitting on the floor beside him. The best part and the one that makes him immediately whip out his phone, is Ace's hand which is clutching the hem of Luffy's shirt. After snapping a few pictures, with Luffy gesturing to ask him to send them to his phone later, he seats himself beside Luffy, near Ace's legs.
"What happened?" he asks, because Ace sleeping in the hall without a narcolepsy attack is so rare he can count on one hand the number of times Ace has done it.
"He was already home when I got back and he looked really tired," Luffy explains in a low voice, reaching out a hand to card his fingers gently through Ace's hair. "He was really insistent about waiting up for some work Marco was supposed to send to him. I decided to sit with him and somewhere along the way his eyes started sliding shut."
"You coaxed him into lying down," Sabo predicts and grins when Luffy nods. "How long has he been asleep?"
"Maybe a few hours after I got home from school," Luffy shrugs. "He kept jerking himself awake when he realised he was falling asleep. You know how he is."
Sabo chuckles. Sure, he knows Ace can be pretty stubborn but it's a testimony of how tired Ace is and how persuasive Luffy can be with his older brother that Ace is currently asleep on the floor at the moment.
"You hungry?" he asks, still smiling. The grin Luffy throws his way is an answer enough. He doesn't waste time in getting his little brother a quick snack and fixes something for himself too before leaving it with Luffy.
"Don't finish my food," he warns his little brother who just grins widely. He sighs, resigned to his fate before he goes to his bedroom to take a quick shower and change out of his work clothes into something comfier.
He makes a quick detour to the kitchen first before heading back to the hall with more food for both himself and Luffy. The coffee table has been cleared of papers and Ace's laptop by the time he gets back, everything set to one side, by Luffy who has miraculously done everything without breaking Ace's grip on this shirt or waking him up.
"Movie?" he asks Sabo when he walks back into the room and Sabo nods in agreement.
They have a silent but heated debate over what to watch, filled with wild gestures and pulling faces but in the end Luffy wins, and Sabo sighs as he pops in the CD.
It's halfway through the movie that Sabo suddenly asks, "Tomorrow and Monday are public holidays right?"
Luffy nods, throwing him a puzzled glance. He grins, knowing he has a good idea.
"How about we take a holiday?"
The shock on Luffy's face melts into glee within seconds. Sabo smiles triumphantly. They could all use one to rest and recuperate. He grabs Ace's laptop and starts going online to book a hotel at a place, near enough to go but far enough from their home. He hasn't really found anything when Ace starts to stir, mumbling a little and finally relaxing his grip on Luffy's shirt.
It takes a while for his eyes to open and Sabo is grinning the whole time but it softens when brown orbs meet his own blue ones.
"Sabo?" he says; voice croaky and hoarse from not being used for several hours. "When did you get home?"
"A while ago," Sabo replies. "Had a good nap?"
"Still tired," Ace mumbles, a yawn punctuating his sentence. "Luffy-!?" he suddenly exclaims, about to sit up when said little brother snuggles down next to him with a pillow of his own.
"I'm right here, Ace," he tells him and Ace scowls.
"You made me lie down," he accuses.
"You slept," Luffy shrugs, uncaring.
Something else occurs to Ace and his eyes widen. "Marco was supposed to send me some work!" His eyes flicker to Sabo who is grinning amusedly at him. Then, he realises Sabo is using his laptop.
"Sabo," he growls. "Give me my laptop."
"No," Sabo tells him and maturely sticks out his tongue at him. "You said you were still tired. Go to sleep."
Ace makes a move to sit up and grab it, but is foiled by Luffy securely wrapping his arms around him and his own sleep-laden limbs.
"Luffy," he groans to his little brother's unique laugh.
"Ace still looks tired. Ace should sleep," Luffy insists stubbornly, unrepentant of his actions.
The only warning Sabo has is the mischievous glint in Ace's eye before he's suddenly tugged down to join them on the floor. He just barely manages to not drop Ace's laptop.
"Idiot!" he snaps without heat to a snickering Ace and Luffy. "At least let me get a pillow."
Ace grins and Sabo wonders for a moment if his brother wouldn't let him go before he is released. He puts away the laptop on the coffee table and is about to snag a pillow when he glances at his brothers and decides it would be better if he just got out the mattresses they sometimes used when they wanted to nap together in the hall.
Luffy reads his mind because he's up and making sure the other rooms aren't lit before returning and turning on the air con, grabbing the remote control for the television and cleaning up.
Ace gets up to help but both his brothers give him glares and order him to the bathroom to get cleaned up before they start their official sleep-over in the living room. The fact that they're living together doesn't count.
By the time they are ready, Ace is already on the verge of sleep, no matter how much he wants to be awake to enjoy this. He falls asleep to Luffy's quiet chatter with Sabo and just barely manages to groan out a response to Sabo's, "Ace, we're going on a holiday, okay?"
It's the best sleep he's had and he loves his brothers for the fact that they're willing to stay with him.
Later he's on a war rampage to steal their phones and delete the picture of him napping but that's another story. The fact that Marco got the picture too is a thing of mystery and wonder only to Ace.
I almost forgot! I was kinda planning to turn this into a series of multi-chapter fics of ASl in a modern-au, so if you guys have any request/ideas that you would like me to try my hand to, I wouldn't mind. Uh, be forewarned though, my life is a little hectic as of now so your requests might get fulfilled late... But I will let you guys know if I do choose to do it!
Icewing5, out!