I'm working on the 5th installment (still), but here this is anyway. This one is... a little weird. And I can't remember if I edited, but I don't care. Just be warned, there is material in here that can be taken as incestuous, so if you do not care for the AceLu pairing (however light and fluffy), you may take the span of this A/N to click away. Go on, then.

Still here? Okay. Prepare yourself. ;)

He was lying in the grass with a book on his face. Again. He thought that fooled Luffy, and it did a little bit, at first, but he knew it was a trick now. Luffy knew that Ace only wanted to be left alone, but telling a lie in any form was not okay. Ace had told him something along those lines, so when Luffy caught Ace lying he knew had to do something.

But, he did not know what to do.

Luffy was never the one to give punishment. Ace was always talking at him about this- or that-a-thing, standards and politeness and something or other else that Luffy couldn't remember. Maybe he could think of something from what he'd heard Ace say... But, come to think of it, what had Ace said? What kinds of things had he done to teach Luffy not to lie?

Oh, I remember! Luffy thought, dropping a fist into his palm. He takes away what I lied about! However, he couldn't think what of Ace's he could take that would get him to stop lying about being busy.

As he mulled it over, Luffy came out from behind his vantage point and approached his "sleeping" brother. He couldn't hear any snoring, so he knew Ace wasn't really asleep. If only that book weren't covering Ace's face, Luffy was sure he'd see a sneaky smile. And then he had a revelation. I can take the book!

Luffy tiptoed slowly forward, his footsteps cushioned to the point of nonexistence by the grass. Much the same way as he had never given punishment, Luffy had never been sneaky, but he thought he was doing a good job. At least, Ace didn't seem to have noticed him, which was almost as commendable as receiving a ninja award, Luffy thought.

He stood as far away from Ace as possible to get the book, certain Ace would reach out at any time and yank his balance out from under him. Similar things had happened in the past, and Luffy could learn from his mistakes after five or six tries. Once he had a corner of the book cover between his fingers, Luffy yanked it towards himself, squeaked in anticipation, clutched the book to his chest and ran like hell.

oOo

After a few breathless minutes of sprinting, he realized Ace wasn't chasing him. Luffy had dropped the book what felt like a mile back in his panic, he remembered as he skidded to a halt and leaned against the nearest tree to catch his breath.

Didn't Ace want his book back? Or had he followed Luffy until the book was dropped a while back? Luffy didn't know. He hadn't been paying so much attention to anything other than not being caught and creamed. Maybe Ace had chased him? Whatever. He'd have to risk going back and getting caught to check if Ace had moved, and Luffy didn't know that that was worth it.

But he went back anyway. It took Luffy a strangely long time to walk back to the place where Ace had been lying in two senses of the word, but to his surprise Ace was still there. And he was still pretending to sleep. Luffy frowned.

This time, Luffy walked boldly over to stand beside Ace. He didn't know how he expected Ace to react, but that wasn't it. Even though he'd been a little scared, Luffy had hoped for at least a bit of rage or something. Ace wasn't supposed to just "sleep" through it.

With a pout on his lip and a boldness of character, Luffy kicked Ace in the side, already beginning to argue that it hadn't been a kick, but instead just an accident. However, Ace barely moved. The elder boy pulled a face in his "sleep" and shifted slightly away from Luffy, but that was it. No shock, no shouting, no normal Ace-ness.

So, he kicked him again. And still nothing happened.

Luffy puffed out his cheeks and crossed his arms over his chest. Now there was something else to punish, he decided. Ace was ignoring him. Luffy hated being ignored.

Thinking quickly and moving quicker, Luffy snatched up Ace's left foot, removed his shoe and ran off like he'd done with the book. That'll show him! Luffy thought, running even faster.

The shoe was ditched in record time when Luffy spotted a bush that seemed like the perfect hiding spot. He hadn't run as far as before, but as he dove behind the chosen bush Luffy felt just as out of breath as after his first hasty escape.

But, as with the first installment of Luffy's punishment for Ace, his big brother did not come after him. Luffy waited for what felt like hours, but still Ace didn't come bursting through the trees announcing his plans for revenge. Relief did not outweigh disappointment in Luffy's mind.

The younger D. brother marched back to where his older brother was still "sleeping." He pouted at the boy lying in the grass and flopped down on his bottom next to him. Luffy considered waiting there like that until Ace noticed him and asked what was wrong, but after a few minutes of deliberation, he decided against it. If Ace was ignoring him, sitting silently was probably what he wanted Luffy to do. Luffy did not want that.

"Aaaaaaaceee…!" Luffy whined, crossing his legs lotus-style. "Are you ignoring me?"

Ace did not move, nor make a sound. Luffy took that as a "yes."

"I know you aren't really sleeping! You always snore when you sleep and you're not snoring!" Luffy poked a freckled cheek and Ace, without a flinch or a word, began to snore loudly.

"Hey! Stop pretending to sleep! I know you're awake 'cause you started snoring when I said you always snore when you sleep!" Luffy shouted accusingly, pointing at Ace.

His big brother promptly snored louder. Luffy had had it with him.

"That's it!" Luffy threatened, leaning over Ace's face and pulling Ace's left eyelids apart and staring into his eye. "Ace! Give me something you care about so I can hide it!" Luffy ordered.

Despite his, he thought, very evident lack of patience with the situation, Ace did not move or stop fake-snoring when Luffy yelled. If anything, he snored louder. Luffy didn't know how he'd lived up to that point with such an annoying older brother.

"I'm serious!" Luffy told him, poking his face again before crossing his arms over his chest. "You have to give me something so I can punish you!"

Finally, Ace moved. The corner of his lips turned up in a small smile. Luffy was catching his breath to gloat about making Ace reveal himself when his brother sat up quickly, grabbed either side of Luffy's face and kissed him square on the mouth. Luffy didn't attempt to talk with Ace's lips covering his, but he did try to convey his confusion with an expression. He wondered when Ace was going to give him something of Ace's for him to hide.

Without opening his eyes, Ace flopped down on his back in the grass, fingers intertwined on his chest. He'd gone back to pretending to sleep.

Luffy could not make heads or tails of Ace's behavior, but he didn't mind the kiss part. In fact, Ace hadn't kissed Luffy since they were little and—although Ace would argue that Luffy was still little—Luffy was old enough, apparently, to not receive kisses anymore. He missed that.

"Ne, Ace," Luffy said, poking his brother's shoulder repeatedly, "do that again."

Ace opened one eye just a crack. "Aren't you mad at me?" he asked, quirking a smile and an eyebrow.

Luffy frowned. Was he? He didn't think so. And if he was mad he couldn't think why. "No," he replied easily. "Why would I be?"

The elder D. brother grinned widely. "No reason," Ace said and sat up to kiss him again.

=/=