- We Stargaze Together -
(continuation of previous chapter)
After that little fight in Gray Terminal, we were now steadily making our way back through the forest. I was still tightly holding on to Luffy's hand, taking the lead in the walk home as it became increasingly harder to navigate through the forest. It wasn't like I didn't know where I was going; it was Luffy I was worried about really- hence me holding his hand. Not only that but the forest was far more dangerous at night compared to what it was like during the day- it was almost child's play to get lost, fall off a cliff, get stuck in a swamp or even be eaten by a beast roaming these woods.
For most of the journey we ended up walking in silence, partially because I needed to listen out for anything suspicious and also because I was feeling a little down. Who knows what might've happened to Luffy if I hadn't shown up back in Gray Terminal- they were dishing out enough insults to make a grown man cry.
Ever since we left Gray Terminal, I've noticed that Luffy has been quieter than usual... and I'm guessing that he's still pretty upset from those bullies before. I thought he was fine when I showed up, but obviously what they said really got to him. I definitely don't want him to be hung up on such trivial matters. But I actually have no idea what to say to my little brother to cheer him up, it's obvious that all I can do now is make things worse... - sigh - if only Sabo was here... Luffy would be laughing his little socks off, Sabo always knew how to cheer him up and make him feel better, Luffy has already told me how much of a nicer brother Sabo was than me, that obviously makes me feel like a shitty brother.
I looked to the tree tops above and noticed that the thick branches covered in the summery leaves were covering the sky, not an inch of light peeked through, even though it was night time- it was what made the forest harder to navigate through, you couldn't even see the stars...
Wait a minute... stars? Hmm... That gave me an idea, one that would hopefully cheer up my little brother and make him forget about today. Walking through the forest with Luffy and me not being able to provide him with some kind of relief was really getting to me. Obviously I'm not the fun, openly loving and caring brother that Sabo was, who was always kind, playful and helpful towards Luffy, but I want my baby brother to know how much he means to me and cheering him up tonight is my number one priority, I am going to prove to him and Sabo that I'm not just some over-protective stick in the mud of a brother.
"Luffy?" I questioned out of the blue, I decided to stop and talk to him about it, obviously he wouldn't say no, and even if he did- unfortunately he didn't have a choice.
He looked at me and smiled softly "What's up niichan?"
"Would you mind if we took a slight detour, I want to show you something... and I think you'll like it..." I smiled confidently... well; I know he'd be amazed by it considering what he's usually like towards things as such. I'm mainly hoping he hadn't already come across it, either accidentally or been shown by Sabo in the past.
Luffy shook his head softly and with that I practically pulled him the rest of he way. It easily took us an extra half hour before we reached our new destination. I wanted it to be a surprise, so before going anywhere near the place, I told Luffy to close his eyes and hop on my back so I could carry him safely. "Promise you won't look?" I said.
Luffy nodded excitedly, "Promise!" with a huge grin plastered across his face, just seeing him smile made me feel all bubbly and warm inside.
I continuously checked on him to make sure he wasn't peeking, as we made our way through the last stretch of forest that was particularly denser than the rest in order to get to this special place I'd been thinking of. The branches covered the only visible path and the floor was littered with roots thicker than my body, if I wasn't careful I'd end up tripping over one of them and send Luffy flying.
As we passed through bushes with thorn-covered branches, I could hear Luffy moaning slightly at the branches hitting and slapping his face. He couldn't exactly defend himself from them and I was doing my best to keep Luffy above my waist and free from the branches that were hitting me harder than him.
We eventually reached our destination, even though we were covered in scratches, leaves and the occasional flies that had gotten lost, it was well worth the struggle. I remembered why I loved this place upon seeing it.
I set Luffy down on his feet and reminded him not to look until I told him to. I navigated him on his own across a large grassy field, that surrounding it was the thick forest we had just emerged from. The field was circular and had a large hill smack bang in the middle, which is where we were heading.
"Can I look yet niichan?" He pleaded over and over again, but I eventually started to ignore him and I used my hands to cover his eyes.
There was a particular thing I wanted him to see before anything else that was around us and I wasn't going to let him spoil
it for himself, this was my way of cheering him up... I was still hoping he would be amazed by it... but of course, I just needed to remember that Luffy was extremely gullible, I could easily tell a lie and it would make him so much more interested.
As we walked up the fairly steep hill, the horizon slowly came into my sight and just beneath it was the ocean we would one day set sail on, leading us to new and exotic destinations, friends and treasures beyond our imaginations. It was slightly sad to think about the day we would part ways in order to pursue our dreams.
"Aceee~" He moaned again... jeez, this kid was not patient at all!
"Hang on, we're almost there..." I said eagerly, it wasn't long before we reached the top of the hill, and by now you could see most of the Goa Kingdom, along with Gray Terminal where we had just been and Mt Corvo, where we should be right now- Dadan must be freaking out! Ah well, I didn't really care what the old hag thought, I was doing this to make Luffy feel better, and as I said before, it was top priority.
"Okay Luffy, we're here now but you can't open your eyes yet, okay?" Luffy nodded in compliance, "Now, I want you to lie down on your back and relax as much as possible."
I could feel Luffy's face scrunch together in confusion, I'm pretty much just hoping he doesn't think we're going to do that tonight instead of what I originally have planned. I have to admit, what I was telling him to do was not helping. Ahh- I'm worrying too much again... I really need to stop over thinking these things when it comes to Luffy!
...
"Ne, Niichan? Are we gonna do that sacred act thingy?" I noticed him smirk slightly... damn, so close! It's like he waits for the right moment and BAM, he just says something like that without even realizing what it really means, making me feel really awkward because then I involuntarily imagine it happening and it's kind of weird and surprisingly interesting.. I just wish he'd stop talking about relationships, love and sex with me altogether.
However, I didn't really want to dignify his question with much of a response, so I simply said "No." as I lay on the floor next to him, still covering his eyes.
"Are you ready?" Or maybe it's just me... maybe I don't realize what I keep saying half the time and it's the sole reason I end up in these situations.
After seeing and feeling him nod up and down a couple of times, I slowly removed my hands and waited for him to open his eyes... his eyes immediately sprung open and widened to their fullest extent in ore and utter fascination as he was met with billions of dazzling stars in the sky, each one glowing brightly and lighting up our secret little spot.
His mouth practically hung open as he inspected the night sky, his gasps and facial expression were enough to let me know that he was pleased. We had the clearest and most open view of the night sky, it was pure and free from any kind of light that we might see in the city or back on Mt Corvo, it was just wonderful and peaceful. There was a slight breeze but it was still oddly warm and fresh, so there was no need for huddling or anything intimate as such to keep ourselves warm.
"Ace..." Luffy finally spoke after a good few minutes of staring up in fascination, "there are so many stars!" he continued to smile in wonder and gaze lovingly into the night sky.
I smiled, "yeah, it's amazing isn't it? Someday we'll be up there too."
Luffy looked over at me, confused as always, "Huh? How will we get up there? ..."
"Well... we physically can't, but once we die our souls will leave our bodies and continue living in the sky... watching over the world." I wasn't too sure if that was true, but Garp had told me quite a lot about the stars.
"Really?" He gasped again, looking back up at the sky, "So Sabo is watching us right now?" He smiled happily, I hadn't given that a thought until now, but just thinking like that made me feel somewhat happier..
"Yeah, I guess he is..." I too looked back up at the sky and hoped that Sabo was staring right back at us, smiling. I noticed Luffy wave crazily at the sky and shout, "Hey Sabo! We miss you!"
I could see that he was feeling a lot better compared to before, he was smiling much more naturally and freely and I felt great relief that I'd made my little brother feel a lot better, even though I'd given him such a touching speech back in Gray Terminal... I was kind of upset that he hadn't really paid attention to it, knowing him he's probably forgotten all about it... crap, I'm over thinking again...
I failed to notice Luffy snuggle closer to me whilst I was busy arguing with my own mind. My arms were spread out on either side and he took advantage of that and rested his head on one of my arms and lay the rest of his body extremely close to mine. I didn't mind the sudden intrusion; in fact it was rather comfortable and if it made him happy, then this would have to do... although I was getting a little sweaty from the extra heat, I'd already mentioned there was no need to huddle close together to keep warm; it was right in the middle of summer!
I didn't want to tell him to back off though, he was enjoying my company and admittedly I was enjoying his, I don't think anything could ruin this moment...
"Ne... Aceee?~" Luffy spoke up out of the blue. We'd been silent for a couple of minutes now and I was wondering who would talk first. "I was just wondering..."
That was a bad sign...
"What is this... sacred act thing you promised you'd do with me when we got older?"
I rolled my eyes... not this again, "if you don't know what it is then why did you think we we're going to do it before?" I questioned.
"It..." He started, but after which remained speechless for a good few minutes, I could see him thinking about it, it was written all over his face. "It- it felt kind of special and exciting, that moment. I thought that sacred act thing had that kind of feeling to it as well..."
Well he wasn't wrong, but he still didn't really know what it was... I was undecided whether to explain to him or not. If I did then maybe it would put him off and he'd forget about the whole thing, then again it may tempt him more to try it now and I really didn't want that... I was probably just as confused as he was! "Well... yeah, it is special and very exciting; especially if you do it with someone you have deep feelings for and really care about." I simply explained, well... to be fair, it was probably better he hear it off me than some pervert or weirdo when he's older. I think I'd come to the decision to tell him but discreetly... even if I really didn't want to tell him, I guess I had no choice, I was teaching him about everything else in life, this was a part of life too.
"Is that when you love someone? And other people see you as lovers?"
"Yeah, when you find someone you love and perform this act for the first time, your partner takes your innocence and keeps it, so they can forever say that you belong to them. Some people however, do it because it doesn't mean anything for them, it's just an act."
"Wow..." Luffy replied, utterly amazed, I hadn't even gotten to the good part yet... I simply nodded...
"So... if we did it, would you take my innocence?" Luffy replied.
I decided not to over think this question, like I had with all the other awkward questions he had asked... But the images of us performing this act continued to pop into my head and it was becoming increasingly harder to keep my cool. "Assuming you hadn't done it with anyone else, then yeah I would and you would forever belong to me." I smirked teasingly, but he didn't seem to mind, he just seemed more excited, which probably wasn't good...
I once again saw Luffy's overly determined face... "That settles it! I'm not going to do it with anyone until I find someone I love and who loves me back" He turned and faced me... hinting at something.
I simply nodded and ignored the fact that he was hinting for me to take his innocence away... "Good luck with that, some people end up waiting for decades before they find that special someone." I pretended not to care as much, as though I wasn't his special someone or I wasn't interested in being with him, hopefully he'd forget about the whole thing.
He saddened a little and looked away... once again I'd managed to upset and deter my little brother from his ambitions... I had to fix this. "But it's not uncommon for people to find that their special someone has been right next to them all along..."
Luffy quickly turned and faced me again, with an even bigger grin on his face... "You're right next to me Ace!"
I quickly got up from the grass and shouted "No I'm not!" I decided that this kind of situation was enough for Luffy to forget about our previous conversation... plus, I was kind of in the mood for some fun and a harmless game of tag wouldn't hurt. I ran away from him, but I couldn't go very far without tumbling down the steep hill. Luffy had quickly caught on and was chasing after me, we were going round in circles until he decided to trick me and go the other way. We ended up running into each other and collapsing, which led to us tumbling down the hill together.
Once we reached the bottom, I realized we were in yet another awkward situation... I raised myself up so that I was still on the floor, but holding my body up with my knees and hands. Somehow, Luffy had managed to tangle his legs around my waist whilst the rest of him lay beneath me. Once I fully realized what was going on, I ended up blushing and looking away from embarrassment, I couldn't exactly stand up either, Luffy had me trapped. "Okay... you got me" I admitted.
Luffy smirked widely but still didn't let me go... He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled himself up, I thought for sure he was going to try and kiss me on the lips, but he instead whispered into my ear "Aceee is going to take my innocence!"which he ended up singing.
My eyes almost widened in fear and realization... the idea was starting to grow on me... and I knew that if Luffy kept this up, then there was a definite chance it was going to happen... might as well go along with it!
"Yeah I am!" I smirked playfully and hugged him in return; I really did love my little brother.
... I eventually realized that we hadn't really paid much attention to the stars, but without them then we wouldn't have ended up here.
Even so, I liked it when we were stargazing together... even if for a short period of time, we still have many years ahead of us!
In case you haven't seen yet, I've decided to start taking ideas for stories- obviously they'll be written by me, but you'll be credited for the idea in the chapter. I have loads of ideas already, but I want to see what you guys come up with :) For now though, I am only accepting ideas for their younger selves (Luffy seven and Ace ten), plus the ideas can't be explicitly sexual or graphic, but this chapters level of graphic is accepted.
Thanks for reading, take care and remember to review! :D
Love youu guys! ox