(this is not perfect, but this will work for him)
Nami helps him with clocks, patient to the point of exasperation and beyond, and when the number start making sense, she doesn't leave, letting the scratch of pencil occupy their time together, and sometimes he gets things before her and they start helping each other and it works, which is what he wanted in the first place.
Usopp teaches him words, letting stories flow between them and helping him get his thoughts to the page, a buffer to let the pen understand what he wants to say, and Robin comes round to help with essays too, with fancy words that are fun to let roll off his tongue and see their looks of surprise. He learns new ones too, when they're not there, and sometimes it's a game; play compare, see which ones you know and which ones you don't.
Zoro drops by every afternoon with a soccer ball, or a baseball bat, or sometimes just with running shoes and he does that in the morning as well; driving all the electricity from under his feet into productivity so that when he actually gets to school, he's just a little more able to concentrate. And sometimes Zoro doesn't come round with sports, and just shows up with games to distract him from stressing out, and that's nice; letting yelps and laughter as their pixels jump across the screen fall between the easy silences and close skin.
Franky teaches him to use his hands; how to hold broken things still and straight and put them all back together so they are delicate workings once more. Franky builds him things, shows him rings that he can twist around his palms that move instead of biting into his skin when he doesn't know what to do with his fingers, and proves to him that messy work isn't a problem as long as you can read it.
Brook shows him how to dance like everyone is watching, how to dance like there is no-one in the world but the people you want to see, and it's not that Luffy likes dancing without someone, but when he's with Brook and the others, when music is something that flows from Brook's heart straight to his violin, Luffy will dance. Brook shows him, in his own way, that staying close and staying far isn't necessarily a bad thing, and nor does it mean that he is not loved (that he cannot love, because he can if he wants to, it is just not something that he chooses to do with words).
Their little doctor in training teaches him patience, like it is a value that Luffy does not already know he needs in greater quantities, but while he does that Chopper shows him everything that everyone already loves him for instead of the things he wants to rip from his mind. Chopper shows him that he is already wonderful enough to be treasured.
Sanji tries to show him how to cook, and Luffy responds quite happily because meat! He can learn how to cook meat! But he ends up not being so good in the kitchen (he may've eaten a bit more than his fair share of the fruit and the cake batter,) so Sanji tries to teach him table manners instead.
That ends with a goddamnit Luffy! So Luffy teaches Sanji to dance and climb trees and Sanji makes picnics and they all spend summer in the sun with grass stains on their knees.
Luffy thinks that maybe he found some friends that aren't bubbles; maybe the first ones he had might not've been friends, but something infinitely more fragile to the younger him, with his made-for-breaking hands.
Bubbles go pop eventually, but these friends aren't bubbles, and they're close enough so he'll hurt them too, if they leave.
So maybe they won't.
Maybe they won't.
AN: Oh my gosh oh my gosh I am so SOOO sorry this wasn't up on Wednesday! I've been super super busy and way exhausted after school, so pretty much I've just been working and then passing out, and I literally have not had the energy to do anything. I'm still really busy, in fact, but I remembered that I hadn't given you guys the last chapter and
whispers oh my god I am so sorry.
Super special thanks to Love in fire and pugslover, who have managed to review every chapter! 3 Also thanks to gorekind, for your hella-sweet review! :3
Also! A quick question: When I finally finish writing Ashes to Ashes and Dreamers and Deadmen, (the One Piece superhero AU~) what day of the week would you like me to post the chapters on? As the story itself is shaping up to be really long (yay?) I will only post a chapter per week, so I have the whole week to edit the next chapter and make sure everything is perfect, but it means I'm not sure which day would be the best. If no-one has an opinion (or just, you'know, doesn't care,) then I'll just post new chapters every Saturday, and probably in the evenings, Australian time.
Anyway, thanks again for sticking through we me! I'm kinda sad to be letting this plot wrap up, but I'm really glad that everyone who read it enjoyed it. Thank you for reading! ^w^