"N-no, I don't m-mind it," answered Luffy quietly. He wasn't exactly pretentious about the things he used. Back at his old house, the only thing he bathed with was the cheapest soap he could find in Walmart.

"Yeah?" questioned Ace, finally managing to tie his hair.

Luffy nodded and watched how his brother pulled one of the bar stools across him to sit on. Ace put his elbows on the bar and looked at him.

"Sooo, how did you like the school when you went there? I know you pretty much just saw the building but still. I was told it's a nice one."

"Um, y-yeah, it's nice."

"What about the uniform? Is it completely hideous? I have never been fond of those things. 'To eliminate distinctions among children based on financial status' my ass. I've always hated that bullshit when I was going to school. Like you can't see anyway who's richer. Better teach those kids to not give a fuck about materialistic stuff like clothes and to not compare themselves to others. What a joke," murmured Ace and took a sip from the steaming red mug he was holding. "And not to mention, those ugly things cost a fucking fortune."

The raven-haired boy bit his lower lip, feeling guilty that his brother had had to spend a lot of money on him. He really didn't want to be a bother to the other one.

A couple seconds passed without anything being said. Luffy timidly lifted his eyes from where they had been glued to his lap the whole time since he was in the kitchen to look at Ace, only to be met by the other's expectant gaze. The boy flinched a bit not knowing what was expected of him.

"Soo," prolonged Ace, quirking up his eyebrow, "is it obnoxious? Have you tried it on?"

"O-oh, um, no, I-I still haven't."

"That's fine. Do it tomorrow or some time soon and let me know if everything fits you. If something isn't the right size we'll need to go to the school again to change it. I might drive you there if I have the time."

"O-okay but i-if anything, I-I can just go by myself."

"It's fine. I was going to drive you the other day there but something came up at work. It's been really busy lately," said Ace with a sigh and ran his fingers through his black locks, tiredness clear in his eyes. A couple of wavy strands escaped the hair tie and fell around the man's face, ruining his hard work from before. "At least things calmed down a bit and I'll be able to go out tonight. God knows how much I missed getting smashed the last couple weeks."

Luffy observed his brother while the other stretched out his back in the bar stool and rubbed his eyes, trying to fight off his sleepiness. The other stayed like that for a moment and with an another sigh, straightened up his body.

"You can already drink that, you know. It'll get cold," yawned out Ace, making a gesture towards Luffy's cup.

The boy blinked and with an awkward 'oh' took a sip from his forgotten tea. He was surprised by how nice it was, having in mind all of the strange flavors he heard about minutes ago.

"Good?", asked Ace, looking at him. Luffy only nodded shyly in return and took another sip. "You shouldn't have any problems falling asleep with that. I usually drown myself in it when my insomnia starts hitting in."

Hmm, now that was strange. Luffy didn't remember his brother ever having problems with falling asleep. Actually, it was exactly the other way around. The other could literally fall asleep anywhere, anytime - sitting, standing, it didn't matter. If he decided to sleep, he would sleep, even if he had been sleeping for 10 hours straight every night and taking 4 hour naps midday everyday. Or at least this was how it used to be in the past but apparently things change.

Luffy's thoughts were interrupted by the creaking of a door closing and steadily approaching footsteps. The boy saw the big grin that had appeared on Ace's face and followed his gaze to the black door of the kitchen.

Luffy had just managed to turn around on the high bar stool without falling when he was met by an oddly familiar face. The man standing in the doorway of the kitchen was tall and had the same broad physique as his brother. He was blonde with deep blue eyes and was smiling from ear to ear.

When the man's aqua gaze landed on him, his smile widened even more if that was even possible. "Luffy!"

The excited exclamation of his name confused the boy even more. While he was going to the inner turmoil of figuring out who this man was and from where he knew him, the latter had reached the bar stool he was sitting on with a few big steps and was now standing right in front of him.

"Hey, come on. Won't you give me a hug? We haven't seen each other in so long," said the man all smiles and with outstretched arms.

Luffy just sat there completely dumbfounded, not knowing how to react.

"Hey, what's up, pipsqueak?" asked the man, now confused. Good, that made two of them. "Is there something wrong?"

"U-um…"

Ace was watching the reunion bemusedly. "I don't think he recognizes you."

Luffy and the stranger both turned their heads to him. The blonde man furrowed his brows for a second but then his face relaxed and he started laughing. The deep masculine sound filled the room. "What, you really don't recognize me, Lu?" he exclaimed, chuckling. "I haven't changed that much."

"I-I-I, u-um…" started stuttering the short boy, not knowing what to say. He could feel his face reddening more and more with every second.

Luffy was too busy staring at the ground in embarrassment to see Ace's eyeroll.

"Yeah, like shit you haven't. How long have you two not seen each other? A decade probably."

"Oh my gosh, do you know it actually might be a decade? Jesus Christ."

"No shit," snorted out Ace. The blonde man smiled nostalgically and looked at Luffy again,

"Does 'Sabo' ring any bells, 'baby bro'?"

Luffy's eyes widened at that.

"S-sabo?"

"The one and only," answered the blonde and grinned bemusedly. "So can I get a hug or you are just gonna keep staring at me?"

"I-I…"

Sabo quirked his eyebrow and reached out to hug Luffy, while the younger one stood there dumbfounded. He couldn't prevent the tinge of fear, when the muscular arms of the other circled his body.

"Same scrawny kid I remember I see?" said Sabo warmly, when he pulled the boy into an affectionate hug. They stayed like that for a couple of moments before the blonde man pulled away. "Still not gonna say anything, Lu? I remember you not being able to shut yourself up under any sort of circumstances. You would babble and babble, and babble, and just go on until someone threw something at you."

Ace chuckled from across the counter plot,

"I think he is still in shock."

"Why would he be in shock? I really haven't changed that much," exclaimed Sabo.

"Yeah, sure," snorted the other.

"What? I really haven't! Same blonde hair, blue eyes, same face… What's to be shocked about? I look exactly the same way as I did a decade ago."

"Yeeeah, my ass. How old were you? 13, no… 12 was it? Yeah, you were 12. It was just before you went off to join the military."

"Yeah, and so? It's not like I switched faces there. Plus, I even think I had already started to grow out my hair a bit before I went."

"No, you hadn't. You were thinking about it because Luffy and I would make fun of your buzz-cut all the time but then you decided to join the military. You said it wasn't worth it because they would make you shave all of it anyway when you arrive there."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that. But still - hair or no hair, I definitely don't look that different," said Sabo with an eye-roll and crossed his arms in front of his cladded in a white Adidas T-shirt broad chest.

Now it was Ace's turn to roll his eyes.

"Yeaah, sure thing, blondie. Just a what? 11 years and a went-through-puberty sized difference between then and now. You definitely look the same," said he, the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Okay. I might look a tiny bit different then I used to," finally admitted Sabo, unwillingly.

"Just a tiny bit."

"Don't push it, dickhead."

Ace grinned, clearly very amused by his 'so annoyed' best friend. Luffy was watching the friendly bickering, trying to fight the sadness and the bitter sense of jealousy that was starting to overwhelm him. How things did even come to them being completely driven apart? They used to be so close when they were younger. Things really did change.

The boy sighed quietly, doing his best to not feel pity about the fact he didn't manage to preserve his bond with neither of them, something that they apparently succeeded in. They looked as close as ever. They most likely forgot about him all those years - probably remembered about his existence a few weeks ago, thanks to all the court stuff.

But well, Luffy guessed that after all that was life. Some people just were that easy to forget. To be wiped from everyone's memory just like they never existed. Some people were just born with no purpose nor significance. Waste of space and nothing more.

TO BE CONTINUED

(believe it or not I'm actually writing it now, so it actually is coming today or tomorrow)