A?N: Haha... so life may have gotten away from me for the past few weeks and I completely forgot to update this. Oops.
Anyways, enjoy!
Snapshots of Adjustment
"Is something wrong, Ace?" Rouge asked. She reached over, letting go of her utensils, and squeezed his hand.
"I'm fine, M..." The word 'mom' died before it could pass through his lips.
"He's probably just hungry." Sabo pointed at Ace with his spoon before taking another bite of the dish in front of him, loaded with pasta. "The kitchen staff made your favorites. Eat up before Lu gets it all."
Some things never changed even with memory loss it seemed. The buffet of dishes in front of him was almost like something he would see on the table back in Moby, especially on special occasions.
His stomach grumbled, and Rouge giggled as Ace finally cut into his steak with a blush. Luffy reached across the table to steal, but Ace whacked his hand away on instinct.
"Just like old times. You boys are going to be just as rowdy as you were when you were kids, I bet."
"I guess so." Still adjusting, Ace wasn't sure if he was up to acting like a rowdy child yet.
Dinner was quieter than at Moby, but it had its own type of excitement with Luffy's antics, Sabo's snickering, and Rouge's endearing words. He'd get used to it in time, he reassured himself.
It wasn't hard to get lost in the castle. Ace had absolutely no idea where he was going. The layout (more vertical than horizontal) was completely different from Moby's castle. He'd look out the window one second, and suddenly he was looking out at different side of the city in the next window.
"Excuse me, your highness, but do you need any help?" one of the servants asked.
"Uh- no thank you! I'm fine!"
Needless to say, that was a lie.
"It's funny," a voice said a few moments later after Ace had dashed in the opposite direction.
"Gah!" He turned around to glare at Sabo, who was grinning smugly. "When did you-"
"I know all the secret passages, Ace," he said, shrugging. "You used to."
Ace rolled his eyes. "Yeah. I'm sure I know them now."
Sabo grabbed his shoulder. "You'll figure it out."
"Wait. What?"
Sabo suddenly shoved him against the nearby statue. It began to turn in place, Ace helpless to stop it, and before he knew it, he was in an almost pitch-black passageway. He lit up his left hand with a scowl, raising it above his head.
"Sabo!"
He stumbled out of a bookshelf an hour later, glaring at Sabo, who was flipping through a book rather lazily. "Have fun?"
"Thanks, asshat."
"Well you learned your way around the passages at least."
Sabo was right (yet again), but Ace wasn't about to admit that. He was definitely a brother.
Ace rolled over, groaning as a weight shook his bed.
"Wake up, Ace!" Luffy yelled, continuing to jump.
'It's your birthday, Ace! Wake up!'
"Urgh. Stop it, Lu. It's not my birthday."
"What?" Luffy finally stopped, but he decided to poke Ace's forehead instead. "You're weird, Ace. Of course it's not your birthday.
Ace frowned, opening his eyes to look at him. "Why'd you say that then?"
"I didn't." Luffy simply grinned his stupidly wide grin, resuming his jumping soon after. "Wake up! My friends are coming!"
Ace grabbed one of the many pillows next to him and put one over his head to muffle Luffy's yelling. He could only imagine how much louder it was about to get. He could only imagine what they were going to be like.
"You guys are surprisingly sane," Ace admitted, as he stared at his black hole of a brother consume anything and everything on the table for breakfast.
"We know," Nami sighed, pulling her plate out of the way of Luffy's stretchy arm (Ace was still getting used to that). "I think Luffy has enough insanity for all of us."
They were going to get along just fine.
Ace couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his mother. What kind of queen napped under a tree? He walked over, kneeling next to her. Cautiously, he touched her shoulder, shaking her to wake her. "Your Majesty?"
"Hm?" Rouge shifted, opening her eyes slowly. She smiled immediately. "Oh, Ace. I didn't know you were here. "
"I just got here, Your Majesty."
"Please, none of that. I'm your mother," she said. "Come sit with me."
Ace sat next to her, shoulders tense and his back straight against the tree as he kept his distance from her. Rouge moved, closing the distance between them. Ace glanced at her dress, which had some mulch and dirt stuck to the skirt (easily noticeable because of the light blue color).
"This was your favorite tree in the garden." Rouge stared up at the branches. "It hasn't changed much."
"I mean, it is a tree. You never know."
"Well, look up there." She pointed, leading Ace's gaze to where her own was. "See that?"
A red strip of cloth fluttered in the wind, yet still tied securely around one of the branches. "You three wanted to surprise me on my birthday, so you three climbed the tree and tied a big banner up there."
"Happy birthday, Ma!"
"Luffy slipped out of the tree though and fell to the ground, and you jumped after him before anyone could stop you!"
"Ace!"
"I'm fine! I'm fine!"
"You broke your leg, and I swear, Luffy didn't want to let you walk for weeks."
"What happened to Luffy though?" Ace asked.
"Oh, he was fine, as always," Rouge said. "Bounced right off the ground!"
An image of Luffy ricocheting around the garden came to mind, though Ace couldn't imagine that ending well, contrary to what Rouge said.
"I scolded you that night though. I worry about you, my little fireball."
"You're growing up so fast, my little fireball!"
"I'm not little anymore, Ma."
She pulled him into a hug and quietly whispered, "I know."
They fell asleep together under that favorite tree as Rouge stroked Ace's hair with a feather light touch.
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