Title: a little more hesitant
Characters: Luffy, Sabo, Ace
Word Count: 380
Rating: PG
Summary: Time was elastic here.
Luffy knew he was dreaming even before opening his eyes; grass ticklish and fragrant beneath him, stinging sea breeze teasing at his nose, two small spots of warmth on either side, both breathing and shifting and very much alive. One head dark, the other light, and Luffy almost couldn't bare it after everything that had happened not long enough ago, feeling his two most precious people curled so close when neither would be there to brighten his world after he woke.
But Sabo sat up and smiled down at him and then Ace was doing the same, a little more reserved, a little more hesitant in his happiness - this was very much the Ace of ten years passed, the Ace who couldn't bring himself to love as freely or openly as the Ace of mere months ago had…
Sabo reached across Luffy's body to poke at a freckled cheek, drawing a half-scowl from the other boy. Luffy caught Sabo's gaze and grinned when the young ex-noble raised an eyebrow in suggestion. What was he doing, lying here all melancholy when he should be enjoying a chance to play with his brothers?
Luffy grabbed them both, Ace by the ankle and one hand tucked under Sabo's thigh, surging to his feet and holding tight. Ace dangled upside down, spitting curses around mouthfuls of laughter and swinging his tiny fists ineffectually at Luffy's scarred chest. Sabo shook with merriment at the sight, pointing at Ace mockingly from the relative safety offered by the crook of Luffy's elbow.
He couldn't be sure how long they stayed like that, roughhousing in the dirt or racing across fields of sunflowers, windmills spinning lazily in the distance. Time was elastic here.
The inevitable did happen, and when next Luffy blinked open his eyes orange sunlight peeked over the horizon and Rayleigh was leaning over him, face softened with understanding.
It got easier after that. Luffy trained, pushed beyond his limits and watched in satisfaction as the walls between himself and the power to protect his nakama, to ensure he never lost anyone ever again, shattered one after another. And somewhere in all the learning two years swept by, and Luffy returned home, heart more worn than it had been, heavier, but also full of hope.
