The AU Within An AU: High-rise Living AU
Quick lil' Author's Corner: Hey-a! So, I have something I'd like to do. Starting this month, I'll be writing little oneshots set in different AU's! I'd love to hear your guys' suggestions for AU's to do, so let me know!
May and Ace were sitting out in the hallway floor again, playing a game of War. A few tenants passed by, all offering their sympathies, or stopping briefly to see who was winning.
"Ha! King against a six, suck on that!" May cheers, collecting her's and Ace's cards.
The lift dings, signaling that someone has arrived on their level and they look over to see May's neighbor from the left, Law, step out. He takes one look at them and sighs.
"Are those two at it again?"
"Yup," they both answer and lay down their next cards; Ace takes them.
Law quietly walks over to them, sets down his bag, and lies out on the ground, face down.
"Wake me up when they're done, I just got off a fifteen hour shift at the hospital and would like to see my bed soon."
"We'll probably be here a while, Torao, they only recently started," Ace tells the poor man, but all he gets is a half-asleep 'hm' in reply.
They hear some angry footsteps stomping up the staircase, and the door at the end of the hall bangs open.
"Could those two be any more fucking loud?"
Eustass Kidd, the guy that lives below May looks downright furious as he storms down the hall.
"What are you talking about, Red?" Ace asks him, "They already are fucking loud. Literally."
"Haha, you're hilarious," he bites out sarcastically.
"Aren't I, though?"
"Eustass-ya, shut up," Law grumbles, "You're too loud."
"I'm too loud? I'm too loud?! What about those two freaks in there?" he points a thumb angrily at the door that has a doorhanger advertisement for the restaurant 'Pho King' hanging off the handle; he slams the heel of his boot against it, "Oi! Listen up, you fuckers! Some of us have work in the morning and would appreciate a little quiet!"
"Kidd, if you leave a hole in my door again, you're paying damages," May warns him as she takes Ace's card, "You might as well sit and play a game with us, or sleep like Law, and wait until they're finished. They won't stop even if you kick down the door."
The red-haired man huffs and takes a seat next to Ace to wait it out.
The two playing War both lay down a five.
"War!"
"Oh, it's on!"
"May?"
She glances up from their game to see the girl who recently moved in above her, a sweet girl named Vivi, approaching.
"Is everything alright? I heard a terrible racket coming from downstairs. Why is everyone out here?"
"Walls are too thin," Law explains tiredly.
"Walls are too thin," Ace agrees, laying out three cards.
"I can hear those damn assholes though the ceiling," Kidd growls.
Ace and May both lay down their final cards.
"Ha! I win!" she cheers, before she turns to Vivi to explain.
"Luffy and Nami are bumping uglies in there. Wanna play a game of War?"
It was laundry day.
May shuffles down to the lift, carrying the hefty basket of dirty clothes in front of her.
Just before the doors slide shut, a door in the hallway burst open and she hears quick footsteps. A hand grabs the doors by a fraction and Ace gets in, smiling at her.
"Laundry day?" he asks, looking down at the clothes she carries.
"Laundry day," she confirms.
The elevator stops at the floor below and Kidd gets on. His face explodes into an angry red.
"Will you put on some fucking pants?" he snaps at her, "And a shirt while you're at it?"
Ace makes frantic 'knock it out, are you a moron' gestures at him, but May just smiles as she stands there in a bra, underwear, and her only clean cardigan.
"But it's laundry day."
"Red, will you shut up and enjoy the moment?" Ace tells him.
They stop at the ground floor; Kidd and Ace both leave (Ace taking one last, long look at May's chest), and Law gets on, hardly noticing her wardrobe with his nose buried in a medical journal.
"Going down," May says, and he finally looks up; he freezes for a moment and his eyes stop above the load of laundry she carries, but quickly recovers.
"Ah, laundry day, May-ya?"
"Laundry day," she nods.
They ride down to the basement where the dryers and washers are, the doctor occasionally taking discreet glances over the pages of his reading at the woman beside him. Mostly at her boobs.
"Well, here's my stop," she hefts the basket higher in her arms and Law holds the doors open for her as she gets out, "Coming over for dinner tonight?"
"Would be my pleasure."
"Great!"
"See you then."
"Oh, Law?" she says as she sets down her basket on the washer.
"Hm?"
May grins and pulls open her cardigan that was barely covering her to begin with to give him a better view of her bra.
"Isn't it cute? I got it yesterday."
He dives behind his journal again as the lift slides shut, burying his face to hide it.
May laughs and sticks her clothes into the wash. Laundry day is always fun.
She jolts awake when she hears someone's alarm go off. Falling back down on her pillow, she figures out it's coming through the wall, that would be Law's room on the other side. Sighing, she listens to him get out of bed and after a few moments she does the same.
May heads to the kitchen and tries to be as quiet as possible making coffee so that she doesn't wake Nami up.
The front door opens and Ace walks in and unceremoniously throws himself into an armchair, at least he didn't slam it open.
"Morning," he yawns, "Heard'ya making coffee."
"Yeah, Law's leaving for work," she tells him, pouring a cup and handing it over.
"Does that guy ever sleep?"
"Yes, I do, thank you very much."
The two jump at the doctor's presence. He takes a seat on the sofa quietly.
"Morning, Law. Coffee?"
"Yes, please."
May brings him a cup as well as one for herself.
"What time is it?" she yawns and takes a sip.
"2:30 in the morning," says Law, "Sorry for waking you."
She waves him off, yawning widely again.
"S'okay, I was gonna wake up soon anywho."
"I was awake already," Ace informs them, even though neither of them really needed to know.
The three of them were somewhat infamous throughout the high-rise for their strange sleeping hours. What with Law being a doctor, he was often called away in the early hours of the morning or late at night; May, being a baker, woke early every day as well; and Ace, with his narcolepsy, would often be awake at unusual hours because he fell asleep during the day. They had been dubbed the Odd Hours crew by many of the buildings residents. Zoro would sometimes join them in the morning as well, since he often didn't go to sleep until four.
"You really should get some more sleep," Ace tells the doctor as he pokes his cheek, "You could easily hold a wallet, lipstick, phone, and some loose change with the bags under your eyes."
"Stop touching me," Law has an annoyed tick on his forehead.
"No, no, you could go grocery shopping with those bags!"
"May-ya, tell him to stop."
"Ace, stop."
"Seriously, what brand are they? Dolce Gabana? Doskoi Panda?"
"Did you think me telling him to stop would do anything, Law?"
"Worth a shot. Will you stop that!?"
Without any more words, Law snatches Ace's finger away from his face and starts throttling him.
"Fight, fight, fight, fight!" May cheers as the two struggling men as they roll around.
"Shut up, you guys are so loud!"
"Sorry, Nami!"
Ace, May, and Luffy all get home at the same time. They enter the high-rise together, and read in horror the sign hanging off the elevator.
'Lift broken, please use stairs until fixed.'
"Oh boy," May says blankly, "The stairs."
"Maybe if we're lucky, everyone will still be out?" Ace asks hopefully.
"We need a battle plan," Luffy decides firmly.
"Okay, what's the plan?" May and Ace ask the younger D brother.
He nods and puts his hands on his hips seriously.
"Run like hell and hope they don't catch us."
"Ah, that's a good plan."
"Right?"
"Let's go!"
Some explanation is probably in order. You see, in this building, whoever designed the stairs was, to put it simply, a complete imbecile. Rather than have one continuous staircase easily accessible from all floors, it had a staircase that every ten floors, switched to the opposite side of the hall. The three of them lived on the twenty second floor, meaning they had to go through two hall ways to reach their apartments.
These two floors they had to cross were incidentally two of the most infamous halls in the entire building, and were often avoided as much as possible by anyone who didn't live on those levels.
Why?
Well, the first hall was the home of many…eccentric and very…enthusiastic artists. If you weren't careful when you crossed this hall, you could easily become one of the resident's latest live works of art.
The second hall…well, you'll see in a moment.
(The other infamous halls of the high-rise were higher up. They included the all-female hallway that was dubbed 'Amazon Lily' and was best to be avoided if you were male, and the mysterious 51st floor in a building with 50 floors that had been named Skypiea and nobody knew if it was real or not.)
The first hall was the artists'. Ace peaks his head out of the stairwell door and looks around.
"All clear," he whispers, "Everything looks good."
He motions for them to follow him and they creep as quietly down the hall as they can. However, a door bursts open and all hell breaks loose.
"New models!" a man with hair styled into a three yells, "Wonderful! You'll make excellent candles."
"Run!" May screams and the three start booking it down the hall as more and more doors open.
"Stop right there!" a colorful lady with red and yellow hair shrieks, "I need people to paint classic works of art on! You'll look beautiful in Picasso!"
"I need a nude model!"
"I need some of your hair for my paintbrush!"
They duck, dive under, and leap over the crazed artists (maybe punching a few in the face…but only because they took them by surprise) and make it to the other side in one piece and immediately sprint up the stairs.
"Made it," May pants as she takes a moment to bend over her knees; being the considerably more out of shape of the three, the sprint took more out of her than it did the brothers.
"Good job, May," Ace pats her back.
"Yeah, really good!" Luffy agrees, "Now all we need to worry about is that floor!"
"Woo," May cheers weakly.
"Well, no use waiting, let's get it over with!"
They make their way to the end of the staircase and take a moment to collect themselves.
"Let's just start running right off the bat, there's no use trying to sneak by these guys," Luffy whispers.
"Agreed."
Without further ado, they burst through the door into a world of lights, glitter, and fishnets. Lots and lots of fishnets.
"Welcome~~~ to Newkama Land!"
"Run!"
May, Ace, and Luffy arrive on their floor, panting and wheezing (well, it's mostly May doing that, but the other two are slightly out of breath as well.)
"Dear god, I thought that was the end!" May says as she sits down on the ground.
"At least they didn't get all of us," Luffy laughs at his brother, who is sporting a pair of thigh high socks, a garter belt, and stilettos.
"Hey, these are surprisingly comfy. I feel like I could take on the world in these heels."
May's door opens and Nami pokes her head out.
"Oh, May, good, you're home. Nojiko sent some oranges today, and also, we have a leak in the sink."
The orange-haired woman is wearing a corset and garter belt. She looks knowingly at Ace.
"Newkama Land?"
"Newkama Land."
"Aren't tights the best?"
"Yes! I never knew how great they were!"
May shakes her head. What a crazy place she lives in.
May taps the spoon on the side of the soup pot, and takes a quick sip of it. Mm, perfect.
"Nami! Soups' on!" she calls to the woman she shares the apartment with and turns off the flame. Then, she knocks on the wall above the stove.
"Luffy! Ace! I made dinner if you want some," then the opposite wall, "Law, come and have some soup!"
There is some crashing from Ace and Luffy's side.
"We'll be right over!" it's slightly muffled, but her neighbor's voices carry clearly through the thin walls. Really, May doesn't know why they haven't just demolished the walls between them yet, it wasn't like it would any difference to their current arrangement. It would make going between the apartments easier, but the sound levels probably wouldn't change in the slightest.
"What kind of soup?" May jumps slightly at Law's voice; geez, it sounds like he's right next to her! See what she means?
"Beef and gnocchi, it's really good."
The door bursts open and the brothers rush in, taking a seat at the dining table, the very old and battered Quintin. Law shortly follows and Nami comes out from her room as well. May hefts the large soup pot over and places it soundly on the table, making the wooden top bend and groan slightly at the weight.
"Alright, dig in!"
Soup goes splashing everywhere as everyone tries to fill up their bowls at the same time, Luffy and Ace fight over the ladle, Nami throws her spoon at Luffy and takes the ladle for herself, then passes it to Law, who smacks Luffy's hand when the teen tries to take the entire soup pot for himself.
"Hey, what's cooking? Smells great!" a head of red hair pops through the open doorway; Shanks, one of the guys who lives on the very top floor, grabs and seat and plops down into it uninvited.
"Oh, we're having soup tonight? Eh, I was feeling lamp chops, but I guess it'll do," Usopp, who lives across the hall from Ace and Luffy grabs the ladle from Shanks and takes a sip from it.
"Gross, don't put your mouth on it! We don't want your cooties," Nami barks at him.
"Hm, the soup's good."
When the hell did Zoro get here and serve himself a bowl?
"Thought I smelled May's cooking! Looks tasty."
Annnd now Franky and Robin are here, the couple that lives across from May and Nami.
"Oi, there are too many people in my dining room," protests May.
"Yohoho, always room for one more!"
"Gah! Chopper, don't take all of the soup, I still haven't gotten any!"
"Pass the salt, yoi."
"Here you are, Marco."
"May, more soup please!"
"Whew, it's a good thing I made a second pot. And a third. And a fourth."
"Ah! Quintin broke under all the weight of the soup!"
May laughs at the chaos that is her dining room as just about the entire building's residents seem to cram into her home; it's another normal evening for the tenants, and none of them would have it any other way.
Author's Corner: Hey-a! So, here we are, the first AU within an AU :D If you can't tell, it's an Au where all of them live together in high-rise apartments. I would love to know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions for following AU's. There will only be one chapter like this a month, so don't worry about the main story, it's not going anywhere! This is just a little fun something I'd like to do on the side.
Thanks for reading, stick around!
-jj
