While they were climbing the stairs, Vivi didn't miss the opportunity to mess around with the boy about his stuttering from before and about his flushed face, and especially didn't find it inappropriate to say how smocking hot were his brother and his colleagues and how much she would love to come 'visit' him sometime and accidentally barge into Ace's bathroom.

At that Luffy couldn't prevent the new rush of blood to his cheeks that made him look, according to Vivi, like a baby tomato (not that he really knew how that was supposed to look like anyway).

XXX

The freshly showered boy entered his room, while drying his short hair with a small fluffy towel. The smell of strawberries was following him suit, thanks to pink scented shampoo he found the previous day in his bathroom.

He was wearing some of the clothes he put in the washing machine before he left the house in the morning. Half an hour ago when he found them clean and without water flooding the entire floor, he had been extremely happy. While he had been showering, they had been in the dry-house and now they were warm and soft against his skin.

Luffy made his way to the glass wall and the pillows in front of it. He was careful not to make wet the fresh bandages wrapped around his hands. His wounds from the falling marathon in the wood had been so bad that he just gave up on the sticking plaster and just put gauze over them.

The boy sat on top of one big pillow and pulled another snow-white one in his lap to hug. He lifted his gaze to the starlit sky. It was really beautiful. It was pitch-black outside and the stars were shining brightly. It wasn't that late, maybe around 8-9pm but because it was the beginning of September, it was getting dark earlier.

Vivi had said just before she left that she was going to visit him again tomorrow. Luffy was getting a nice and warm feeling in his chest just by thinking about it. He hadn't talked with anyone so much in a long time. It felt nice.

But although he was really happy about making a new friend (it didn't matter that they were a ghost), he couldn't stop himself from thinking about Alvida and how he could deal with her.

Most likely her death wasn't an accident, judging by Mrs. Loki's words. Maybe that was why she was following people around and scaring the shit out of them? Because she wanted to somehow get revenge on her murderer? Or simply find justice for her death? But if she actually wanted that, what could Luffy do? He wasn't an investigator or anything for that matter. He couldn't do anything.

The raven-haired boy let out a heavy sigh and snuggled more into the soft pillow, burying his nose in it.

He just felt helpless. And worried. He really didn't want to deal with demented ghosts right now. He was starting school soon. He just started living with Ace. In a new town - a place completely foreign for him.

He didn't even want to think about his new classmates. His fellow ones, you see, he hadn't been on really good terms with them.

A sudden knock on the door took him out of his thoughts. Luffy blinked and turned around, inviting the person in.

The door opened and Ace's broad form came into view. His brother's eyes landed on him and he asked, "Did you take a shower?"

Luffy nodded silently.

"You bandaged your wounds?"

"Y-yes."

Ace raised an eyebrow, "clothes?"

"U-um, I put them i-in the washing machine," answered the boy fumbling with the hem of his shirt, eyes fixed on his brother's grey socks. He didn't dare to meet Ace's gaze. Luffy really hoped he wouldn't be beaten up for disobeying him and being late again.

"Are you sure you managed to set it correctly? You didn't ask me to explain you how it works."

"I-I thinks s-so," answered Luffy nervously. "I a-already washed my clothes o-once with it."

"Hm.. Alright, then. But don't use it for a T-shirt or two, wait until you have more dirty clothes," said Ace and with the corner of his eye the boy could see him leaning against the door-frame and crossing his hands in front of his chest. "By the way, when I said you last time to not come home so late or go out in such clothes, I meant it."

Luffy shuddered at his brother's stern voice and the clear annoyance in it. Fearfully, he lowered his head even more and gulped heavily, not knowing what to say to ease Ace's anger. Didn't help the fact that his mouth had become drier than Namib desert and the lump stuck in his throat didn't have any intention of disappearing any time soon, either.

"Well?" asked Ace expectantly.

The raven-haired boy gulped again, not answering. A heavy silence settled in the room, making the air feel thick with tension. The only sound in the room was coming from the rain that was falling in torrents with renewed power.

"Luffy?"

Silence again, although it was broken soon after by Ace's heavy footsteps. Luffy lifted his gaze a little bit only to be met by feet, cladded in Emporio Armani grey socks, steadily nearing him and finally stopping 20 cm away from his sitting form.

"Luffy."

Nothing.

"Luffy look at me," came Ace's words demandingly.

The boy trembled but nevertheless casted up his eyes, averting them as soon as he took in his brother's scowl and the apparent irritation showing on his face.

Luffy was staring at the wall left of him, when a big hand obstructed his vision. The startled boy jumped a little bit and was just about to open his mouth, when long careful fingers wrapped around his chin, warily tilting his head backwards.

Luffy's wide-open round coal eyes were met with his brother's almond-shaped but equally dark ones.

Ace's stern expression softened after seeing the fear in the shivering boy's roaming gaze and the way his hands were squeezing, as if for dear life, the fabric of his thin shirt.

"I want you to look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you, clear?" asked Ace quietly.

Luffy somehow managed to nod, although his heart was drumming like crazy in his chest and he was shuddering, cold sweat running down his back. It didn't look as if Ace was going to hurt him, but the boy couldn't really think straight at the moment. It was as if his brain had shut down completely.

"Luffy?"

"O-o-oka-ay," stuttered out the boy.

Seemingly, his brother was satisfied with the overall answer because he let go of Luffy's chin and stood up, taking a few steps back.

Fresh air flooded Luffy's chest, burning the inside of his throat and lungs. The boy almost visibly chocked onto it. He didn't realize that he had stopped breathing until now.

Ace cleared his throat, breaking the silence, "So, are you hungry? The others and I already ate but I can fix you something fast - scrambled eggs with bacon, steak with some salad or, um.. I don't know, what do you want for dinner?"

"U-um, no. I-I'm not h-hungry."

His brother raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms in front of his body. "You sure? I bet you haven't eaten all day, look how skinny you are."

Luffy blinked and felt a rush of blood to his cheeks.

"U-u-um, y-yes. I-I was a-actually thinking a-about going t-to bed," muttered the boy, shifting his eyes from the ground to his brother, who was hovering over him.

"Hm? Well, suit yourself but first come down to drink some tea or something. You'll wake up with a cold tomorrow with all that wondering around in the rain, wearing shorts in minus 2 degrees."

Luffy flinched at the last one but nodded and stood up, nevertheless. Ace started walking towards the door and opened it, waiting for Luffy to go first.

"I-I can go and drink i-it in my room, so I won't bother you and your f-friends," said the boy nervously, while they were climbing down the glass staircase.

"It's fine. They already left. I'm going out in..." his brother took a quick look at the expensive watch, wrapped around his wrist and continued, "half an hour. I'll probably come home around 4 or 5 in the morning. I'm gonna do my best to be quiet but if anything, don't get worried if you here any noises."

Luffy nodded, although Ace couldn't see him. He stared at his brother's back, mesmerized by the way the muscles flexed under the grey Emporio Armani blouse.

The boy tugged awkwardly at his black sleeve. He kinda wished he had such muscles. Ace was right about his body, he was indeed very skinny.

Well, if not the built, he would appreciate at least 10-20 cm more in his height but let's not get greedy, of course.

Luffy silently sighed, knowing that he would probably stay like this. According to many studies and scientific researches, men grew up until their 20th year but… Yeeeah, he seriously doubted it.

The raven-haired boy just had that inner feeling that he was going to stay a shorty for the rest of his life. Not that he wasn't used to it. For what he remembered he had always been the shortest kid - in kindergarten, in class… Probably he had been the smallest baby in the maternity ward too.

Well, he presumably was. He was a micro preemie, after all, meaning he had been born at 23 weeks*. His and Ace's mother had a difficult pregnancy with him (too much medical terms for him to remember the exact thing, though) and due to that she gave birth to him way before her term.

Before he even realized it, they were in the kitchen. He was sitting on the bar stool, while Ace was boiling water for him. There was a large red box of teabags in his left hand.

"What do you want? I have caramel, mint, hibiscus and mint, ginger with fennel and cinnamon, lemon, berries, oolong tea, green tea with white chocolate and orange peel, black tea - but you are not drinking that - matcha, chamomile with mint and lemongrass, earl aaand mint with chocolate and chili ," listed his brother and looked at him expectantly.

Luffy had opened his mouth to simply say mint but the last one caught him off guard. "U-um.."

While he was wondering in what universe chocolate and chili can coexist in something as a tea, he kind of forgot what the others were.

Ace waited patiently a few seconds for Luffy to choose but a good look at the boy's confused face, made him simply voice out his suggestions, "Hibiscus and mint is nice but the one with chamomile, mint and lemongrass is for calming the nerves and helps you to fall asleep more easily."

"T-the last o-one, please," answered Luffy, thankful to his brother's consideration.

Ace nodded and went to one of the wooden cupboards to find him a cup.

The boy used that time to look at his brother's attire that consisted of a grey blouse, rolled up at the sleeves, matching grey socks with a black Emporio Armani logo on them and black tight-fitting jeans that were ripped at the knees.

His wavy hair was tied in a small loose ponytail at the back of his neck with only a few shorter strands out that were carelessly surrounding his face.

He had found Luffy some normal (surprisingly not fancy) black cup and was now pouring the hot water into it. After that he placed a white lid on top, which had a small hole for in it for the metal teaspoon.

Ace put the tea in front of him and the boy awkwardly thanked him.

"By the way, you probably will start school in a week or two. If you need anything such as new clothes, shoes or anything in general, you should tell me. We will go someday during this week for school supplies," said his brother, while sitting across him at the bar and letting his hair down.

"O-okay, b-but I don't n-need anything."

"You sure?" asked Ace and cast him a glance, while biting on a black hair band. He was trying to slicken his hair back but without much success. Although his brother looked way better than him and they were nothing alike, their hair was the same - black, thick and hella disobedient.

Luffy gave a quick nod in response and looked at the cup in front of him, placing his hands on it to warm them up.

"I didn't really know if you will be carrying any bath stuff so I bought you some, guess you have already seen them," added Ace. "Hope you don't mind the strawberry shampoo. I asked one of my friends to pick some of the stuff and dunno why he decided it was for my girlfriend."

TO BE CONTINUED

*micro preemies - babies born between 23-24 weeks