Of Storms And Soothing Siblings

Lightening brightens the cold winter night, the rain a soothing undertone in between the relentless booms of thunder, entwining with the vibrations left behind and sounding like strung guitar strings. Shadows and light dance, hop and run over every surface like playing a twisted version of tag.

Usually, Ace sleeps through such storms like it is nothing, despite the fact that thunder storms in Grey Terminal are loud and dangerous and brutal, so Ace isn't sure what it is exactly that wakes him up in the middle of the night.

Ace lies in his bed for a while, wondering, before he hears sniffles and silent sobs come from behind his door. Ace scowls and is ready to jump out of bed should it be a thief or thug, or anything or anybody else that could be a potential danger, when he hears a knock on his door, barely hearing it over the major orchestra of nature.

"Ace?" Ace knows that voice, and he also knows immediately that something is wrong, because the voice says it in a way a child would say please, please help me or make it all go away. "Ace?"

But Ace is already standing and strides to the door in quick, long steps, because his brother senses are ringing and yelling that something is wrong, because Luffy's voice does not crack like that. Luffy may be a crybaby, but Ace admits that he does have enough courage to not cry when something frightens him.

When Ace opens the door, his mind goes blank and all he sees is his little brother; Luffy is hugging his pillow so tightly that his knuckles are white, his otouto's bottom lip is trembling in suppressed terror and his little brother's eyes are panicked and desperate, and Ace feels like his heart will break in two.

"Luffy?" he has to ask, because he isn't sure if this boy standing before him is the same boy who was laughing just a few hours ago.

"C-can I—" Luffy starts, but stops himself because his voice cracks, his eyes getting wetter and wetter as another bolt of light struck outside of the window. "Can I sleep with you, please?"

Normally, Ace would slam the door in his little brother's face for asking something so ridiculous (because they are already far to old for that, although a part of Ace disagrees with that), but the plea was so desperate, and Luffy is looking so incredibly vulnerable and young that Ace's heart is aching and screaming at him to do something because his big brother senses are screaming at him that Luffy, his little brother, his annoying little brat of a brother, is near tears and practically begging him to help him.

But, Ace still has to draw the line despite the want to sooth and calm his otouto because they are both too old and too big to sleep in the same bed anymore, and Ace knows that Luffy knows that (although a part of his mind is whispering that Luffy must really have no other option if he ignores that fact, but he tries to ignore the guilt burning in his chest).

Ace is about to say it (a simple word, two letters: no), but the word catches in his throat because Luffy actually flinches and Ace decides, fuck age and fuck size, because Luffy is actually on the brink of crying here, and Ace's big brother sensors will not tolerate it any longer and will not live that fact down.

And so Ace scoops his otouto into his arms quickly, turns around and strides across the room to his bed in speedy steps. Luffy wraps his arms and legs tightly around him several times, clinging to his older brother like a lifeline. Ace lifts the duvet with one hand while supporting his brother with the other, and carefully crawls into his bed. It is cramped, but they still manage to fit in there easily enough, and Ace tries to calm Luffy down while he tucks them both in with a restricted arm.

Luffy's shoulders heave in suppressed sobs and Ace hears several sniffles in his ear while stroking his little brother's hair, unconsciously making shushing noises like the ones he used to make whenever Luffy woke up from a nightmare before.

Ace notices the way Luffy jumps at every explosion of thunder, notices the way he flinches when there is suddenly a flash of light and notices how despite the death grip Luffy has on him, he is trembling in terror and Ace feels guilty for not doing this immediately after opening the door and knows it is because of his ego, and it only worsens the guilt eating his stomach like acid.

When Luffy isn't trembling as much anymore, Ace asks quietly, "A nightmare?"

Luffy shakes his head. No.

Ace makes another shushing noise after another boom of thunder makes Luffy jump in surprise again. "Scared?"

Luffy hesitates, presumably thinking about it, but only shrugs uncertainly with quivering shoulders. I don't know.

Ace frowns in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing together, rubbing his little brother's back soothingly after he flinches from a flash of light. "So you didn't have a nightmare, and you're not scared. Why are you here, then?"

Ace curses himself a moment later when he feels his little brother's bottom lip start trembling, and he thinks he should have worded that phrase better. "I didn't mean it in a mean way, Luffy! I don't mind if you're with me, honest! I just want to know what's wrong so that I can fix it!"

And Ace feels like the shittiest older brother in the world a moment later when he feels Luffy suck in his lips against his shoulder, obviously trying to fight back the tears. He holds him closer, guilt eating him up inside, and strokes his head. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I really am, so please don't cry. Please?"

Ace breathes out a sigh of relief a moment later when he feels he feels Luffy uncoil his lips and smiles slightly, although he still feels the slight trembling and his smile morphs into frown when Luffy flinches again. "So, if it isn't a nightmare that brought your here, and if your not scared, what's the reason to as to why you came here?"

He waits patiently, and when Luffy speaks, his little brother's voice is soft and small and child-like. "Gramps abandoned me in the jungle sometimes."

Ace does not ask, just strokes the back of his otouto's head gently and listens.

"One time he abandoned me when I was four and there was a storm, just like this one," Luffy continues softly, stopping for a moment to flinch because of the lightening outside. "And I got lost and I didn't know where I was going, and I was alone and I didn't know what to do and—" Luffy breaks off to sniffle once.

"And?" Ace prompts gently; his tone is soft and his hands are steady, but inside he is boiling in fury. Never mind that Garp is three times taller than him and forget the fact that the man probably weighs five times as much as he himself does, Ace will make him pay!

"And I thought I was going to die, because loads of trees were falling down and I couldn't see anything and I had no shelter and I was so scared, Ace!" Luffy sniffles a few more times before Ace can feel him shifting, shaking his head against Ace's shoulder to wipe away the tears out of the corners of his eyes. "I bet you think I'm a scaredy-cat, right, Ace?"

"No, I don't think you're a scaredy-cat," Ace replies honestly, but then grins to himself in mischief. "But I'm glad that it got into your thick skull that storms like this are dangerous."

It isn't much, but the familiarity of the insult makes Luffy laugh quietly and Ace has to smile because seeing his little brother happy was much better than seeing him on the brink of tears. But he frowns again when he remembers who is responsible for this, and swears that the next time he will see Garp, that man will feel pain.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

The next day, when Dadan is walking down the corridor to the kitchen, she notices that there is a lack of noise from Luffy's room. Quietly opening it, she glances around the room—two shirts on the floor, a little bunk bed in the corner of the room with the duvet on the floor, a small oil lamp on the bed side table along with Luffy's straw hat, a bō staff leaning against the wall next to the doorway—but she does not see Luffy anywhere. She feels somewhat concerned, but reassures herself with the fact that Luffy knows how to look after himself when it comes down to it.

So, Dadan keeps walking without worrying about it too much, when she hears Luffy's snoring coming from Ace's room. She grins (this is perfect blackmail material!) and tries to open the door as silently as possible. She glances around the room—some books on a desk, three bō staffs leaning against the closet (two broken), a small rug on the floor, a orange hat hanging off the door handle—and sees almost immediately the two boys sleeping peacefully in bed.

Luffy's head is on Ace's right shoulder, while the rest of Ace's arm is thrown over the ten-year-old's thin back, his hand resting on his little brother's head, Luffy's arms are hugging Ace around the chest while their legs are a mass of entangled limbs. Luffy's face is peaceful and innocent, as if he was always meant to sleep there, his lips tilted upwards in content. And Ace's face, usually so guarded, cold and dismissive, is open and love, affection and protectiveness seems to be drawn into every single line of his face, a certain maturity shining through despite the childish freckles on his face.

And Dadan, despite being a bandit and a tough woman, can't help cooing at the sight. She decides that, for this once, she won't say anything because she knows that despite their strong love for each other, their relationship is also very fragile. And with that, Dadan only smiles silently to herself and gently closes the door again.

She continues walking down the corridor towards the kitchen and does not look back.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.

Seventeen days later, Garp comes to visit his two grandchildren.

It is the usual routine; there is Luffy laughing, Ace being grumpy and Garp being abusive. Everything is normal and everything is going on just like any other time when Garp comes to visit them.

There is one story after the other about Garp's time in the Marines, several of them involving pirates, and although neither of them want to be in the Marine like Garp has been, they listen because although their grandfather may be abusive sometimes, they still miss him at times and they do love hearing about pirates (not to mention about learning how to escape Marines, not that Garp realizes that).

But Luffy falls asleep with his head on Ace's thigh in the middle of the story of Kai the Faceless, because it is a sunny day and the wind near the cliff was warm today, and they have just eaten and everything was just perfect for an afternoon nap. And Luffy does, cocooned in the warmth of his love for two of his most important people, and he snores lightly with a smile on his face.

Everything is peaceful at first—Ace even stroking his otouto's hair (a rarity usually only deserved for indoors when they were alone)—and Garp sighs contentedly, happy and calm, and he wishes that everywhere it could be this peaceful.

But then, Ace looks at him, glaring, and says brusquely, "Garp,"

And Garp jostles out of his lulled state, looking at his grandson carefully. Ace does not stop in stroking his otouto's hair, but his eyes are fiery and hard, and they remind Garp of burning forests and blistering skins. "Yes?"

"Did you abandon Luffy in the jungle once while a storm was going on?" Ace doesn't really ask, he is demanding it. Garp feels something in his chest—Regret? Guilt? Sadness? Sorrow?—because the anger, the determination, the fierce love in the boys eyes reminds him of wide smiles and booming laughs, and Garp feels nostalgic all of a sudden.

But Garp has been in the Marine for several years, and he knows how to push those emotions and memories away with nothing more than a small flicker in his eyes.

"Yeah. What about it?" he replies back boringly. Ace bristles in front of him and his hand stops caressing Luffy's head, too, at his apathetic answer.

"You left a goddamn four year old into a goddamn jungle while a goddamn storm was brewing?!" Ace doesn't yell or shout or scream, although Garp can see that he wants to because it's written in every single line on his face, because Luffy is there and his little brother is sleeping. "I thought you had more sense then that, baka!"

"Well, Luffy needs to toughen up if he wants to be in the Marine," Garp answers back, and thinks it will make Ace understand.

However, Garp realizes his mistake quite soon, because Ace's glare turns murderous and he's baring his teeth warning, like a wild mother bear about to defend her cub. Garp has seen more mother bears in his lifetime than he'd like—especially infuriated ones—and knows that Ace will hurt him in some sort of way or form as a kind of retribution for what he has done to Luffy by leaving him like that in the woods.

Garp does not regret doing it, he never will, because he knows he's instilled fear into Luffy, and fear is good way of encouraging self-preservation which Luffy does not have. Ace knows this, but it doesn't keep his brother sensors from going wild and screaming for his grandfather's blood because he hurt Luffy, goddamit!

"Your toughening sucks, then!" Ace hisses through clenched teeth, one of his hands clenching into his pants. "And Luffy doesn't even want to be in the Marines! Get that through your thick skull, you ancient fossil idiot!"

Garp's eyebrow twitches in annoyance, and his cheeks redden (neither of them are sure if it's because of embarrassment or anger). "WHAT?! Why you little—!"

"Ace?" a small voice interrupts, and Garp sees Luffy look up at his older brother, his right fist rubs at his eye and he yawns widely.

Ace looks down at Luffy, and smiles in a brotherly way at him (his brother sensors still haven't quite come down yet, and probably won't for another good while) before he starts to gently stroke his brother's hair again, his fingers going in between the dark strands of hair. "Yes?"

"Why is Gramps shouting?" Luffy says sleepily, and looks briefly at Garp before looking into his brother's eyes again.

Garp already opens his mouth to say something, but a stone connects with his skull before he can bring even a sound out. He doesn't yelp, but he fumes because despite the fact that Ace's just hit his grandfather with a stone, his other hand is still steadily stroking his otouto's hair while and his smile never wavers. He does, however, see Ace's eyes harden, and decides to say nothing for the moment. "Nothing, Luffy. He's just being the same old gramps he always is, okay? Go back to sleep."

"M'kay," Luffy consents, sighing before a few seconds later, the same quiet snores from before continued.

"Garp," Ace says it seriously, a dark promise of pain and suffering underneath the casual tone that makes Garp's neck hairs rise uneasily. Ace looks up from his little brother's peaceful face, and looks at his grandfather seriously, his eyes cold and calculating. And Garp remembers a man he's known over thirteen years ago, dead, who has had the same fire in his eyes, the same will to protect everything he loves, the same will to destroy anything that could be dangerous to those he loves, and he feels nostalgic again. "I don't care if you're my grandfather and I don't care if the Marines go after me for this, but if you something like this to Luffy ever again, I will murder you. Your position in the Marines and your relation to me be damned, got it? I don't care if it is to toughen him up or to give him training. If he ever comes nearly-crying to me ever again because of something you did... it won't be pretty, Garp."

And Garp nods seriously, almost sighing in relief when Ace smiles at him and his eyes warm up again. Garp knows this isn't the end of it. Ace is an intelligent child when he isn't overruled by emotions, and that boy knows that, in his current state, he won't be able to do much damage. And so Ace will wait, because Garp knows that his grandson wants to cause him as much pain as possible for hurting his little brother.

Garp inwardly groans and swears that he can hear Gol D. Roger's proud laugh in the back of his head, and curses him for giving him such a troubling grandson.

But when Garp sees the loving look in Ace's eyes when he looks at Luffy, he isn't sure if he shouldn't curse his own son rather than Roger.

In the end, Garp decides to curse both of them.

The old man sighs quietly to himself and wishes for a bottle of spirit, looking at the sky. He listens, and notices that there are two pairs of snores, and he looks up to see Ace hunched over, asleep and smiling, and Garp sees all the brotherly love and adoration in every line of the boy's face—oddly unguarded compared to his normally cold nature—and Garp can't help his lips curling upwards.

And Garp decides that despite the fact that they are a pain, he still loves his grandchildren unconditionally.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

When Makino goes towards the cliff to see after Garp, she is not quite sure what to expect. She imagines a lot of possible ways she could be finding them—strangling each other, fighting each other, Ace and Garp trying to save Luffy from falling off the cliff—but she does not expect this.

Garp is spread all over the grass, arms and legs stretched out and a giant bubble coming from his nose, next to his two grandchildren. Ace is lying on his side, facing his grandfather, while Luffy lies behind him so that they are sleeping back-to-back, their hands goined loosely in between them.

Makino smiles secretly to herself and giggles lightly before she walks back to the village.

The image stays in her head and leaves her smiling all day long.

.–.–.–.–.–.–.–.

Author Note:

First of all: YOU GUYS ROCK!

The morning after I posted the first chapter, six hours later, I checked my e-mail and hoped that one or two people had maybe put this as a Favorite, possibly a Follower. I didn't hope too much for a review, but I did still anticipated it.

I had 27 emails in my In Box. Around 24-26 of those emails were about my story the D Brothers; I had 9 Story Followers, 10 Story Favorites, 7 Reviews, and the rest being Followers for my account and people putting me as their favorite.

I got so much encouragement through your support that I was itching to write another chapter, and so I did! You can't imagine how your support has brought me through a tiresome week with a smile constantly on my face. And since then, a few people have further encouraged me when they favorited/followed me or my story.

So, please read: Thank you to all of you people reading, reviewing, favoring and following me and/or my story! It's through your support and encouragement that I managed to write this, so I'm very grateful for it.

Please continue reviewing, reading, favoring and following my story, because any of these things make me write more :) Suggestions are always welcome!

Thank you for reading, please review!

PS: Luffy is ten, which means that Ace is thirteen, just to clarify that :)