Drama, drama everywhereeeeeee.

The next morning Luffy awoke to an aching dizzy head. He had troubles sitting up properly, and once he did it took all the muscles in his body to keep him from leaping off the bed and onto the bedroom floor. He felt terrible... How high could his fever possibly be now? He should ask Ace for a temperature meter or something. If he was lucky Rouge had already prepared breakfast. Despite feeling sick, he was really hungry!

The boy got up slowly, finding it difficult to stand on his own feet and just resulted in wiggling around like a zombie once he moved his legs. He went to the bathroom next door, trying to rid himself of the dried tears hidden in the corner of his eyes and down his cheeks. Looking into the mirror he noticed his cheeks and eyes were red and puffy, probably from the lack of sleep. He also felt exhausted like he had been running a marathon, but he wasn't sure if that was from all the crying or just the weakness of being ill.

Had he been crying all night?

He sniffled a bit, putting on new clothes that he had brought with him, one which was not a girl's attire. He tiptoed down the stairs soundlessly with the blanket from before around him, wondering if Ace was already awake at these early hours of the day. He didn't notice anyone up, it was too quiet for that, and decided to raid the fridge for anything to snack on.

Eating from a bag of chips, he went into the living room to notice Ace sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep and snoring lightly. The TV was still on so Luffy supposed he must have fallen asleep watching.

Ace really did look cute when he was sleeping...

Luffy shook his head to rid himself of the thought. No, don't think like that!

Ace wasn't having any blanket, Luffy made notice of. He would get cold like that! He put the blanket on his shoulders over the sleeping figure and settled with crawling and sitting on top of the older's chest, grabbing the TV remote and changing the channels to his favoured cartoons.

Once the show was over, he felt the need to go to the toilet, jumping off the still sleeping Ace and heading toward the bathroom. Although he couldn't help but stop once he heard a small thud behind him, turning to see what may have caused it.

Ace lied flat on his face on the floor, having fell down once Luffy got off of him, his ass sticking up in the air. Luffy blinked in confusion, that quickly was replaced with laughter. "Pftahahaha! Y-you- ahaha!"

"Ow..." Ace pushed himself up slowly, having been waked up in the worst possible way. "Stop that!" He hissed at Luffy's obvious amusement. He reached up to hold his nose which had taken the most damage and mumbled into his hands. "It hurt."

Forgotten about all worries, Luffy continued his laughter, only increasing as Ace complained about the pain. "Ahaha! Ace... you're funny!" Luffy giggled, earning an annoyed groan and a hit to the head from the older. "Hey!" Luffy whined in return, pouting as he touched his head.

"Hah." Ace reached to pull at his cheeks, stretching them in an almost inhumanely way.

"Asee, it hurffs!"

Letting go of his cheeks, Ace left to the kitchen, leaving Luffy to rub his now swollen cheeks. Ace was such a meanie!

"Well, I guess since you're sick, we'll just skip school. I don't feel like going anyway." Ace said, as Luffy made his way into the kitchen and watched Ace curiously while he looked for something already ready and edible in the fridge. Luffy nodded, he didn't mind, even if Ace just used Luffy's excuse of being ill to keep himself at home.

"Where's your mum?" Luffy asked in between mouthfuls, as he swallowed down his food at an incredible speed once Ace put meat on the table. Ace ate in the same manner, but using a knife and a fork to help him instead of gobbling it all down like a caveman. He didn't wish to speak with his mouth full and settled by pointing at the door down the corridor.

Luffy easily understood what it meant. She was still sleeping, after all he had woken up quite early.

"It's odd though. She's usually up either singing or cleaning at this hour." Ace said a matter of factly as he drank a glass of water. Luffy tried to smile as an response, but it just came out as some displeased grimace, making Ace a little worried. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay... " Luffy lied. He was feeling like shit, but he didn't want Ace to know that. He didn't want to act weak around him, although he had already showed his weak side to him countless of times, he felt like it needed to stop there before Ace gave up, or just felt worse about the deal of wanting to break up with him.

"That's a good thing." Ace reached over to touch the younger's head, petting his it gently, causing Luffy to blush slightly and turn his head down. Did he really like him? Since he was acting this way... where was his hopes running off to now? Of course he didn't, or at least not for long... don't feel like an exception, cause you're not Luffy... He tried to convince himself. Yet there still was a small hope inside him that wished that he was the one exception that Ace would make.

As he was finished, Ace didn't give Luffy a small second to think about moving anywhere as he pulled him into his arms and carried him to the sofa, laying down with him and pulling the blanket from before around the smaller. He wanted to help Luffy as much as he could if he was as sick as he appeared to be, even if his help wasn't big.

Luffy could feel Ace's arms around him, finding itself around his waist, as Luffy's hands rested against his chest along with his head. Why did Ace do that? … his heartbeat was definitely racing right now. And he could guarantee that Ace must have felt it due to their closeness. Did he have to be so friendly with him?

Although his heartbeat was definitely stressing and beating wildly, Ace's was slow and relaxing, almost lulling Luffy into sleep just from listening to it.

Ace smiled, noticing how his boyfriend had calmed down, and was now closing his eyes and breathing evenly, probably asleep he supposed. He ran his fingers through the smaller's hair, making Luffy hide his face into his chest to hide the blush creeping to his face. It felt really nice to him... He would miss this.

But for now he should just enjoy the moment.

"Ace, how did you learn to draw?" He mumbled into his chest.

"How?" That question came out of the blue. "Well, I guess it was cause I had nothing better to do when isolating myself from people. You could say the drawings worked like a diary to me."

Luffy looked up at Ace's face at this. "So if I look through your art books … I'll learn more about you?" he blinked. Why did he say that? Luffy wasn't sure.

"Kind of." Not that Ace really wanted the little one to sneak through his stuff, it was personal matters after all. Not any types of secrets, but still matters he'd like to keep to himself. His past depressions wasn't really of any shareable value...

Luffy kept quiet, just settling with listening to Ace's calming heartbeat. He wondered why Ace gave so much effort in taking care of him if he was just going to move on later. Was it that he thought it would work out, but it never did? He looked up to Ace's face, who was unaware of the looks directed at him. Maybe he should ask Ace about it. He had nothing but a little time with him to lose after all, in case he got angry with him. Luffy felt a little nervous to this, asking Ace what had been tugging at him for a while now.

"Ughh...!" Luffy groaned, quickly jumping off Ace and running to the bathroom in a panic. He hurried to the toilet and threw up all the contents of the meal he had swallowed mere minutes ago. That's it! He felt really sick! He'd never been like this before. His head was spinning and he had troubles breathing. Relaxing his arms on the toilet sea, he gasped for air, his vision becoming blurry.

"Lu?" Ace went to the bathroom door to look at the younger, worry evident in his face. He must be getting really sick... Good thing he stayed home with him. Arriving by the door, he noticed Luffy laying on the bathroom floor, eyes closed and seemingly unconscious.

"Luffy?!" Ace yelled, running to help the other up, checking his pulse for any sign of life as there was no breathing coming from him. No movement that signified life.

And his pulse was dead.

Ace found himself in the hospital, exactly an hour later, sitting in a chair outside of his boyfriend's room and waiting impatiently to be able to see him and if he was fine. He buried his face in his hands, still trying to calm down from the shock of Luffy's lack of pulse.

"The doctor said he'll be alright and you can go see him soon." His mother informed Ace, coming back from having a talk with Luffy's doctor. "It seems he was drugged with something, that causes your pulse to immediately stop, and without removing it from your system you may even die if it takes to long. Good thing Luffy noticed it so soon." She smiled.

Ace could only think of one possible way this could have occured. Luffy wasn't the suicidal type, and definitely didn't have any access to such illegal things. He wasn't the type to, and it wouldn't make sense that he tried to make himself sick. The only person he figured could get a hold of this was Kid. Luffy had told him he had been having earlier encounters with Kid and his gang earlier, therefore it was easy to put two and two together. Kid had drugged poor Luffy! His Luffy! That bastard. He swore, did he see him again, he wouldn't care for the consequenses, he would just kill him on the spot.

"You can always cry you know. It doesn't make you weak." Rouge added.

What would she know?!

Ace looked away from his mother, wanting to avoid her noticing the rage in his eyes.

"Don't be so mean to your mommy, Ace!" Rouge pouted.

The doctor went out, making Ace turn his head up in panic as the door opened. "Luffy is in a stable condition. You can go see him now."

Ace ran past him, into Luffy's room, without delay, nearly glomping the boy who had just returned to consciousness."Luffy!"

Luffy sat up at the voice, getting a small second to realize where he was before he was pulled into an embrace, face pushed into Ace's chest and hugged tightly, arms placed on his back. Luffy blinked in surprise. "A-Ace...?"

Ace only responded by hugging him tighter, resting his head on top of Luffy's, happy to know Luffy was still well and healthy and here with him. He didn't want to lose another loved one.

"Sorry for worrying you, Ace..." Luffy managed to say, yet still coming out as muffled noises into Ace's chest.

"I thought you were dead. Don't do that."

Did he really care that much? Or not... Luffy sighed and started to laugh nervously, sticking his face up from Ace's arms. "I'm alive and wanting meat!"

Ace didn't reply like he thought he would, but only got into the bed with him, crawling on top to pull him into an even tighter embrace. Luffy hugged him back hestitantly, still baffled of Ace's display of caring for him. He could feel his heartbeat like before, but this time it was racing much faster than he thought was possible. Was he really worried?

"I should have killed Kid the first time I met him."

Wait what? "A-Ace...! You would have been the same as your... Your dad..." Ace sighed, resting his head in Luffy's neck.

"I know, but it's still tempting."

Luffy blushed at the warm breath at his neck. "W-what happened to me?"

"You were drugged by Kid." Ace responded, moving his arms around his waist. Luffy looked down in return, his expression turning to a frown.

"Am I ... going to die?" He asked in fear.

"No, you're fine." Ace responded, petting Luffy's head and leaning in to kiss him, which Luffy returned dubiously.

Ace pulled away quickly, almost acting disgusted by the touch of lips. "Maybe I should leave, so you can get some rest."

Why did he stop? Did he not like it...?

As Ace turned to get up, Luffy's hands found themselves holding onto Ace's shirt. "C-can you stay ...till I fall asleep...?" He wasn't sure why, but he wanted him to stay, even if might be uncomfortable for the both of them, Luffy was no fond of these cramped hospital beds, or walls for that matter, and didn't really feel like being abandoned in this place, no matter the person. Ace seemed rather surprised by the action, but quickly nodded and sat back down under the sheets beside him.

Luffy mumbled a thank you and rested his head back against his chest, sighing wearily as a set of thoughts circled in his head. Maybe Ace liked him more as a bestfriend? or a brother? He wondered. The thought of when Ace was going to leave him still drifting around in his mind. Ace frowned, feeling a little uneasy for some reason. Luffy was acting very secluded and distant. Maybe he just wasn't feeling so well, that would be understandable. He lied his head on top of the younger's and waited for the latter to fall asleep.

"Love you, Lu." Ace whispered softly, although Luffy had already drifted to sleep. Ace had no intention of sleeping however, still very shaky from the fear of losing the one who had grown so close to him the past week. A sudden thought crossed his mind, picking up his phone from his pocket and writing another innocent little text to Marco.

"Yo."

Marco's gave a prompt reply in return. "Where were you today? I wanted to kill you for the earlier texts."

"M-mea..t... heav...en...!" Luffy mumbled in his sleep, shuffling around a bit to lie against Ace's shoulder and sighing softly when he finally found the perfect position to rest in Ace's arms.

Ace snickered, and dialled the number to call, thinking of explaining the whole thing that had happened that day to his pineapple of a friend. "Didn't know you cared to look for me at school, geez Marco, that means a lot." He said once Marco picked up. He could hear him sigh at the other end.

"This is such a pain. So what happened? Decided to ditch school again? you know what that earns you."

"N-no."

"You're stuttering."

"I'm just a little shaky, but it's okay, I'll be out of the hospital tomorrow."

"Oh wow, You got into another fight or something?"

"Marco, you care?" Ace laughed as he could hear Marco sigh again. "Nah, car accident." He wasn't thinking to trick his friend like this, but it was too fun to stop now, despite how Ace had troubles keeping his laughter inside, covering his mouth in case it decided to escape while Marco responded.

"Okay... Be careful. Well, it's late, even if you stay up to morning returns, I won't. Night."

"I'm at my deathbed, and you're leaving?!" Ace pretended to cough. "At least I spoke to you one last time..." He said in a faked weak voice. "Bye."

"You're what-"

Ace hang up and put the phone aside, lying down with the figure beside him, moving his hands around Luffy's small waist, an amused smile across his lips. Marco was got to be worrying about him now.

He couldn't help it, it was too funny to mess with him.

Luffy turned around to face Ace, snuggling up to the older and mumbling incoherent words probably including the two things he had on his mind: "Meat" & "Ace."

The nurse went into their room, carrying the medicine to her patient. She noticed the couple sleeping together this early in the morning and couldn't help but smile at their cute way of clinging onto each other as if they were siblings of sorts. She put a hand on the older's shoulder, shaking him awake gently. She smiled once Ace sat up silently, tired eyes looking around in the room, confusion evident in his face.

She put the medicines for Luffy on the bedside. "Do you mind waking him up?" Ace nodded and turn to face Luffy, petting his head.

"Wake up, Lu."

Luffy yawned in return, holding around Ace's arm and hugging it closer, trying to pull Ace down with him. The nurse kept on giggling, Ace trying to push the clinging boy off. "I told you to wake up!" He said, karate chopping his head.

Luffy pouted and sat up, displeased by the wake up greeting, a tear finding itself in the corner of his left eye. "Ow..." He mumbled.

"I'll get you something to eat." Ace said and went out of the room, to get food down the hall. Luffy beamed in excitement, drooling at the thought. Breakfast in his bed for the first time in his life!

He noticed the nurse standing beside the bed, preparing the medicine for him. She had blonde hair, two braided pig tails and some sort of antennas at the top of her head with a ball on top, which made Luffy want to laugh. "Oh hey nurse. What's up?"

The nurse chuckled. "Not much, and you?"

Luffy yawned, pulling the sheets further up to his head to avoid the cold air around him. "I was sleeping and then I –" Luffy stopped talking after noticing a pointy needle at the table. "What's that for?" he said, with a hint of fear. The nurse only nodded as to reassure him about something, stealing his arm and injecting the substance through the needle into his body. Luffy yelped in pain and surprise, yanking the arm away from the disturbing object.

"That hurt..." Luffy mumbled, pouting as he rubbed the spot where he had been stabbed, the nurse putting the tool away.

"Now you should be completely healed!" she cheered with obvious emotion, heading out of the room to leave Luffy to himself.

"Did Ace say...say something while I was sleeping? Uhm...?" Luffy wondered, finding difficulties addressing her when he didn't know her name, tilting his head downwards, causing the nurse to stop in her tracks and make her way back to him, settling on the side of the boy's bed.

"My name's Conis." She smiled and bowed politely. "No, not much. Is he your brother?"

"Conis? ...W-well, he's my... I guess... b-boy...friend." Luffy stuttered in embarrassment, heat creeping up to his face as he was messing up his words.

"Ohh!" She replied in return, like everything made sense now. "What's the matter? You don't like him perhaps?" She wondered based on how Luffy didn't find the right words to say all of a sudden.

"No! I do like him... but it feels like I'm just a burden to him." He held onto the sheets tightly in a nervous manner.

"Hm, I'm not the one to answer, that but..." Conis looked around awkwardly, trying to think out a decent reply, and then returning her gaze back to him. "I'm sure he doesn't think so judging by the way he was when you were unconscious."

"Huh? Really?" Did he act worried about him? Although that was only natural if someone suddenly passed away in your home. "Thanks Conis." he responded, despite not feeling the slightest bit more positive about things.

"When did you start dating?"

Why did everyone keep asking this?! Was it that important? Luffy didn't understand. "Uhm... about nearly a weak … I'm guessing. Yeah, a week." That was pretty accurate, right?

"Were you friends before this?" She tilted her head, her antennas falling to the side which forced a small Laugh out of Luffy. She blinked in confusion. "Were you?"

Luffy stopped the laughter, and hung his head. "I guess we were... we were put together for a stupid girly play, "Romeo and Juliet", I bet you know it..." he blushed slightly, albeit only for a short while, before his face faded into a frown. "So he's Romeo, and we began to practise for it... and then we just got together!" He finished the painful confession.

"Maybe he thought he liked you, but in reality he just got lost in the play? And he's starting to regret it now?" Conis proposed, which dumbfounded the boy, not having expected such an idea, and only adding to his list of paranoia and negativity.

"I guess you're right, haha." Luffy laughed nervously, if this was true he must look like such an idiot to her, not being able to even notice that. "Now that I think about it... I guess I got into the play too much too, and thought that I liked him." He lied, tears threatening to spill. He knew it, no one would love him, just like his grandfather had said.

"That's not what I –" Conis responded with worry as she noticed Luffy's unhappy expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you! I'm sure he likes you, and you seem very much as if you like him too."

"It's okay. I'm not upset." He lied again, wiping the tears from the corner of his eyes. "Anyway, when am I getting out of here?" He tried to smile. Conis got off the bed, and turned to walk out.

"You're free to leave soon in a few hours."

"Yay! Awesome! And what's the time?"

"Around 4."

"4?! Ohh, crap. Vivi is going to wonder where I am! Can't I just leave now, Conis? Please?"

"Uhm... let me just find your papers, and then I'll let you go. You can wait an hour, right?"

Luffy nodded. "Mhm!" A goddamn hospital, wasn't going to stop him from missing out on any meat! Conis left in a hurry, leaving Luffy to sigh out of boredom. "I'm so hungry! Where's Ace?!" he whined.

After getting an enormous amount of food for the younger, as he knew Luffy liked to eat, he went back to his room, but ended up dropping a can of coke on the ground. "Ugh, fuck life." he groaned in annoyance, reaching to pick it up again, all the while having great troubles not dropping anything else with it.

"Yo, Ace." He heard behind him, turning to see Marco walking over to him. "You look fine to me." He said in an irritated voice.

"You believed in that?" Ace got up, forgetting all about the now abandoned soda. "Wow, Marco, you're just as stupid as your hair." Marco's eye twitched in annoyance, grabbing his friend's collar.

"I thought you were going to die. You may be bothersome, but you're still a friend." He shook the smaller as if trying to shake some money or some valuable things out of him that he stole.

"Would you let go of me, I have a brain damage that's giving me a few hours left to live, I wouldn't shake me too much, I might pass out." Ace countered.

"You had a brain damage for a long time, did you just notice?" The blonde continued to shake Ace violently. "Come on, pass out. Die." He ordered, obviously not believing Ace's dumb lies.

"Marco, that's mean!" Ace whined.

Said person sighed and let go of him. "What are you really doing here, Ace?"

"Luffy's being treated here, some guy apparently managed to poison him." Ace answered, trying to get his shirt back in place, and dusting his shoulders off like something dirty had just touched him, earning another irritated sigh from Marco.

"So what's going on with you and Luffy these days? I seldom seen you showing up on my doorstep to bother me lately."

"Why do you care?" Ace stuck his tongue out childishly in return.

"Rumours been going around school since you and him haven't been coming in. It's ruining your reputation, Ace."

"Reputation? I bet you're just jealous!" Ace continued the immature act, which earned himself a hit to the head.

"No, I'm not jealous." Marco said calmly. "What I mean is, you're popular, he isn't. You Ace! Everyone loves you and looks up to you, girls throw themselves at you, and Luffy... he's just someone."

"Ouch! That hurt! Geez, I was kidding. And so what? It's not like I ever cared for what they think anyway."

Marco sighed for the umpteenth time that day. "So it's really true you two are dating?" Ace nodded. "Do you like him?"

"I do. Why do you care? You don't care about anything else concerning me, so why this?"

"Because… " Nope, he couldn't possibly tell Ace that. "forget it." The raven haired boy raised an eyebrow at this. "So you're invited to Vivi's party tonight?"

"Yeah, with Lu, but he seems in a bad state, so I don't think I'll be going." Ace turned his head to the door not far away from where they were standing. He should probably go now, Luffy was sure to be wondering where he went off to. "Don't let yourself get eaten!" He waved to Marco, heading back to Luffy's room, only stopping once he heard Marco shout behind him once again.

"Then want to go to Vivi's party with me?"

Ace turned to look at the blonde. "Dude, I'm not a girl."

Marco sighed once again. Seriously, did he really fall for some idiot like him? He cursed to himself, picking up a vase from the nearby table and throwing it in his direction, which caused Ace to let out a "eek!" in surprise, dodging the flying object. "What I mean is to go there and let Vivi know about why Luffy isn't there. She'll be devastated if neither you or he comes."

Ace began to laugh. "I thought you were asking me out for a second." he joked. "Sure, I guess. But Lu's still..." He looked back at the door once more.

Marco didn't know if he wanted to respond to the first statement. "I wouldn't do that if someone paid me, and Luffy will be alright, don't worry." He said with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Ace nodded, putting the food he got for his boyfriend by the door and going back to his friend, walking with him to his car. "But come on, you don't find me hot? Not jealous of Luffy at all?" He continued to tease.

"I've got better taste than all those fangirls you've got constantly running after you."

"Better taste?" Ace looked at him, deep in thought. He looked at the blonde's hair, then back at his face, turning his gaze back and forth from it. "Hmm..." he nodded. "You sure do." He agreed with sarcasm in his tone.

"You are one more insult away from dying."

"Fine, whatever. Let's get going! I want to get back to Luffy as soon as possible."

Everything was ready, Conis had finished going through the papers, and he could leave at any moment. But where was Ace? He never showed up...

Luffy looked down sadly. Did he really ditch him like that?