•This story is inspired by the movie 3D2Y, which I had recently just watched. Every time that friggin moss haired piece of shit mentioned Luffy not being able to save his brother I wanted to punch him in his ugly face. That anger became sadness, then depression. So, this story was born.•
— The lake looked peaceful, stunning, beautiful. Nothing disturbed it. Grass swayed healthily from side to side surrounding it, its reflection on the untainted waters fresh and crisp. —
1. Playful
Quiet described that evening pretty well. It was the peaceful kind, the one you have right after a big meal, of when you're about to go to sleep, or when you're just happy- happy and so content with life and everything goes your way.
Two hearts swell and one's mouth curl up into a mischievous smile. Eyes swirl around the room, waiting, watching, creeping. It is ok, nothing will happen, he will not get caught. Repeat this. Over and over again. It is okay. Nothing will happen. He will not get caught.
Reality is a bitch.
His younger brother pounces on him, spraying water all over his bare chest, the idiot giggling like he's lost it. The freckled faced man grips his own water gun in annoyance. What the hell. He thought nothing would happen, so what is this?
The neon orange and green gun catches the streams of sunlight from the window as he aims it at his younger, vest-wearing brother. He's got him now, nothing could ruin this moment. Cocking his chiseled face to the side and shutting an eye, the older brother shoots-
-and misses.
Loud laughter from right behind him throws his thought process into a frenzy. Since when?
Luffy, nothing short of a high cheetah at this point, beams. "You will never be able to get me, Ace!"
And it's the way he says his name so lovingly, the way he is so proud to escape his clutches, the way he smiles at him, that makes Ace lose it. The older tackles his brother, silently thanking all of the blessings he received to have such an unruly, pain in the ass, trouble-making brother. If he didn't have Luffy, his rock, who knows where the hell Ace would've end up now?
Dead?
The sunlight illuminates the two of them, brightens up the room, brightens up the walls, and the both of them are smiling, so happy, so happy. They hug fiercely on the floor, just glad they have each other, thankful that the world is for them, and that life's pretty good.
It's alright.
No matter what happens, it's gonna be alright.
The unspoken mantra lies between them, fills them up, makes them giggle all over again. But it's sweet, brotherhood is such a sweet, dear thing to the two of them, something they treasure so dearly ever since they lost their other sibling to the plane crash that faithful day. Ever since, the two always are close, protecting each other, loving each other, fighting each other, playing with each other. And for Luffy and Ace, there's not one damn thing the world can throw at them to end that because, you know, they have each other. They would get though it.
Luffy laughs only his laugh, his distinct laugh, and stands. Ace sighs contently, because he knows that even if he was half-deaf and in a concert, he would still be able to find and distinguish Luffy's laugh. "I have to write a paper," the wide eyed teen says suddenly, a small smile still tugging at his lips.
Ace shrugs and stands, streches, watches the leaves through the window. "And?"
"I don't wanna do it."
"Luffy, dammit, you have to."
And then a pout face. Whining. "Why?"
A hard, pointed glare. Both know it's fake, but still. "It's for your education, essay writing, I did it in high school, so you should too."
One stomp. Puffed cheeks. Balled fists. "But, Ace, you work as a part time firefighter-"
A long, exhausted sigh. A rolling of the eyes. One hand hand in a muscled hip, the other gesturing to absolutely nothing. "Listen here, Luffy."
The younger bounces on his toes, energetic. Oh, he is going to listen so hard! He'll show Ace that he can listen! Straining his ears and turning to the side, Luffy looks up at his beloved brother with determined eyes.
No further sound comes from his brother, and he looks down to see a collapsed Ace, having fallen asleep on the floor. He smiles, a real, big, genuine smile, one that makes your gums show. Luffy loves this. He loves his brother so much, he takes up such a big chunk of his heart, his brother. Ace is like his air, water, gravity, sun, fuck, you name it, Ace is it, and without him, Luffy is nothing. He wouldn't even be in school right now. He'd probably be drunk on the side of the road, as one of society's failed experiments, laying around as exhibit for all those who were well off. He would be what mothers would point to their children and warn them what not to be in life. Education is key. Knowledge is key. Get some, grow up, earn money, die. This was how the world worked. This was what adults told him. Hell, what Ace told him that Dadan told him. After they'd moved away, into a more respectable neighborhood and area, Ace and he started the road to respectable human beings.
Oh, but it wasn't easy. Dammit all to hell, it wasn't easy.
Ace was the one who got him enrolled into Grand Line High School, now ages ago, as a freshman, while he a senior. It has been years since then, three of them. Three years with him and Ace and Ace and him and it was delightful, fulfilling, loving.
Now, Luffy was a senior in high school, and Ace in his third year of college. He goes to this pristine one, one you can only get into if you get a scholarship, the tuition is so high. It's called New World College. Ace set the bar high up for him. Now it was almost time for Luffy to reach it.
February 27th.
It was the end of the month and one month closer to the end of the year, and yet another month closer to college, the same as his brother's. Luffy looks at the sleep deprived eyes of the older. Regardless of how much sleep he gets during the day, it is never enough, he can tell, from all the bags under his eyes and the way he carries himself everyday after school.
He notices.
Ace doesn't think Luffy does, but it's true.
And he notices it the most right now, at the peak, as Ace sleeps in front of him. Tiredness seemed to crash over him like waves, ramming onto him over and over again. Sympathetic, Luffy effortlessly picks him up and carries him to Ace's bedroom. He knows Ace will wake up happy and thankful. Luffy would laugh proudly, and serve him breakfast in bed. That's not a bad idea, Luffy muses, until he absentmindedly bumped Ace's bed on the doorframe, which elicits a grunt from sleeping man.
Screaming apologies internally, Luffy then proceeds to set down his brother on the small bed that his part time job can afford. Covers him up. Makes sure his Fire Fruit light light is turned on, Ace claims he can never sleep peacefully with it off, and exits. Closes the door behind him. Walks away. Explores their apartment.
White, white, white everywhere. Literally nothing but white walls and white floors and white ceilings and white fans and everything is so void of color and Luffy hates it so much. He keeps it to himself though, because it's Ace who puts this roof over his head, and it's Ace who shelters him, and it's Ace who puts food on the table, and it's Ace who insists that Luffy focus on his studies instead of getting a job right now, because education, education, education.
Luffy wanders around the small place he, despite his dislike towards the decor, is proud to call home. Because Ace calls it home, and he shares it with Ace. That is good enough for him. A small kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, a living room connected to the kitchen. Two hallways, one to the jointed kitchen and living room from the door, and the other to the bedrooms. The pale color is everywhere.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Somehow he ends up outside, and somehow he's walking, walking away from his home and Ace and into the windy sunlight.
And the breeze feels too good.
It's warm, a sharp contrast to the bitter cold they experienced yesterday. It's time to mark the Calendar again. Maybe he'll write something about the weather, or maybe something better is to come. Luffy almost turns back, but continues on. He will have something good to tell Ace when he wakes up. The wind picks up speed, pushing him, struggling against his small frame, but Luffy holds firm, holding his arms up in defense. It's okay. No matter what happens, he'll be okay, they'll be okay.
It's alright.
When Luffy gets home it is almost dark, and he makes this grave mistake by encountering the clown, the weird boots in the stalls, the lady who sold purple lemonade, the man in the store with three ears and a golden nose ring, the dog who stood upward like a human, the colorful Sakura blossoms which enchanted his way back home. Too many things distracted the boy, he knew, but it wasn't like Luffy couldn't help it. That's just how he is.
His brother was not inside the house, Luffy could tell. The telltale signs of burning bush and smoke emitting from behind catches his attention pretty quickly, and the young, innocent face of the young adult morphs into one of horror. His constant, steady gait turns into a jog. Then a run, dash, sprint, and ending with a jump into his house. He scrambled to the back door and opened it, only to see Ace breathing breathily, his back to him, covered in sweat, with five lit pieces of wood in one hand and a match in the other.
Luffy widened his eyes. His brother was pissed.
The entire backyard was in flames, which were obviously drunk on oxygen, as they soared high into the sky, crackling and waltzing. Smacking his forehead sadly, Luffy simply grabbed the hose nearby, already plugged in, always ready to go, because Ace had this tendency, just to set things aflame, when Luffy was out of his sights for too long, and he should've known this before he left.
All he wanted was a walk.
Sighing, the younger brother hoses down the flames as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Battling the phenomenon, winning, losing, losing again, and then winning. Ace just watches him with a dazed look in his worried, oh so very worried, eyes. "Is that you Luffy?"
Out of the corner of his bight coal orbs, the younger brother can make out the older's figure against the smoke. "Yeah."
"You're alive, right?"
"More than ever."
"No one had kidnapped you?"
"Pretty sure."
A tension in his shoulders released. "Good, good, that's good..."
The irony between Ace's job and his...hobbies...always gets Luffy in a laughing fit.
Even he had to admit it, just how weird his brother was sometimes. He thinks one of his college friends...Marco, maybe?..calls it a brother complex. Whether it be an innocent worry or a 'disgusting, twisted worry that needs to be shut down and arrested immediately', according to Marco, anyway, it was a pleasant feeling to know his brother fussed over him. Cared for him. Fretted because of him. A smile graces Luffy's lips as he finalizes the fire dousing. Slowly, carefully, he eases the lighted sticks from the muscled, older man, rebuking from him the power to cause more damage. Luffy quietly laughs his laugh, the one that Ace loves, and touches Ace's shoulder silently. The wavy haired brother understands the movement and walks inside. They would need to update the Calendar, it couldn't miss this.
Ever since their other brother died, Ace and Luffy had kept a Calendar on their walls, it was the first thing you would see if you were to walk inside of their apartment. The Calendar was something that they could both write on to talk about their day on each of the dates, something where they could remember what they had done or accomplished or seen or how they were feeling that certain day. They would update it daily, always, because they wanted to live life, everyday, to the fullest. Getting an education is, obviously, a part of that, but also these small, daily things are too. That's why Ace is so adamant to get such a good education- to be something.
There was never a day they forgot to update it. It's in their blood, wired in their brain, an automatic movement.
Grabbing the pen that was always near the Calendar, Ace grins as he writes:
Got worried about the idiot. Set a few trees on fire.
Smiling at the sloppy handwriting, only Ace's, Luffy takes the pen from him and writes:
Saw the marketplace today. Went out for a bit too long.
He finishes with an arrow pointing from the last sentence to Ace's writing.
It is almost seven o' clock.
Luffy is starving.
Ace goes to work making dinner, because it's his day. He grabs two twenty pound packages of meat from the fridge and stars to cook it, pushing away the star-eyed teen when his eyes caught a hold of it.
Heat, stir, spice, spice, spice, stir, heat. Finish. Just how his brother loved it, just how he loved it.
They ate hungrily, with Luffy telling Ace of the many wonders he saw on his outing today.
And the house, though small and plain and white, was full of laughter. It was Feburary 27th, a Sunday, which meant school for the both of them tomorrow. Ace's grades were well off the charts, and Luffy's were, well, getting there- although his were exceptional as well. Not Ace good, but pretty well.
After dinner, Ace went to sleep, and Luffy worked on his essay, reluctantly. Ace didn't know he was, he wanted the older to be proud in the morning. So he worked. Worked pretty damn hard, losing about four hours of sleep. It was about two in the morning when the black haired teen finally laid his head on the soft, simple, white pillow.
Today was school.
The building of Grand Line High was pretty big, spanning over four stories high and about, what, half a mile long? The school had major funding, Luffy could tell. Prestigious, that's what Ace called it.
Ace dropped Luffy off on the days he didn't feel like shit, and Luffy dropped Ace off when he didn't feel like shit, it was a fair trade.
Luffy hugged his brother, a big bear hug, because he was going to miss him during the seven hours of hell he had to endure here. But it was alright because he would see him again after seven hours afterwards. Ace drove off, and Luffy sent him with a smile.
People thought he was gay.
But he didn't give two flying fucks.
They are irrelevant, everyone here is.
It doesn't matter because he has Ace and nothing can stop him from feeling like a boss, the superior, when he enters the school.
Luffy came a bit too late, it was two minutes until his first class.
It's like a fucking infestation of human arms and legs and heads and people, and there's so many that it makes Luffy's head spin, and he must go into a nearby restroom for comfort. But, of course, every freaking stall is taken, and about twenty people crowd around the urinals, and the air reeks of smoke and of pee.
Suffocating, Luffy exits.
Then he starts to choke.
It's only one minute until the bell. People are more frenzied then ever before, even if there are less of them. Luffy almost turns violent at the ridiculous amount of people pushing and shoving him. He raises his fist.
Ace.
The look of pure disappointment and sadness he would give him right then, it would break Luffy's heart. An education, and education, get one, get one here! Ace did, it was Luffy's turn, go out, make yourself something. The younger brother calms himself, takes a deep breath. Closes his eyes.
It was okay.
It was alright.
No matter what would happen, he would be okay.
They would be okay.
The bell rings.
Students disappear.
Silence.
Luffy smiles, walking towards his locker. Finally.
Peace.
•Hope you liked the first chapter! Look out for chapter 2!•