Warning: unbeta'ed.
I don't own Frankenstein, Mario Bros or One Piece
Author's ramblings at the bottom, so… enjoy!
New House, New Life
"Are you really sure about this, Ace?"
It was a beautiful morning; the sun was shining and the breeze was flowing ever so slightly. It was the perfect day to go outside and enjoy yourself doing nothing but to relax.
Inside one house of the small village that was not precisely the case. A young man placed the box he was holding at the bottom of the stairs and sighed contently. He brushed the inexistent dust from the back of his pants and turned his sight to the man that was standing before him while sending him a bright smile. The young man was wearing black, loose shorts that were being held in place by an orange belt with a big A in the buckle. He was wearing a faded orange button shirt – though none of the buttons were buttoned – which showed his well built body. His messy black hair was being held up in half a ponytail while some bangs fell into his forehead, framing nicely his handsome face. His eyes shrunk slightly due to the smile he was giving the other man, though a playful glint could be seen on them; and his childish freckles contrasted nicely with the mature aura the young man was emitting.
He walked toward the older man and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "It's alright Shanks! There's no need to worry at all!"
The red haired man known as Shanks gave Ace a mortified look; he opened his mouth attempting to say something, but some hurrying steps on the stairs and a sudden crash beat him to it.
"Ow ow ow! Why is there a box at the bottom of the stairs! It could've killed me, you know!"
Ace and Shanks both sweat-dropped at the sight before them. A boy with messy black hair was lying on the ground face first with his butt sticking in the air. He rapidly stood up while he brushed clean his white boxers and rubbed his forehead into what promised to be a new bump. The scar that was usually seen under his left eye was now hiding under what seemed to be a speck of chocolate, and the usually bright smile that adorned the boy's face was now replaced with a scowl as he mumbled something about mysterious boxes and their evil intentions.
"I know you can take care of yourself just fine, it's him I'm worried about!" Shanks blurted out as he pointed at the oblivious Luffy that was now sniffing the air; he swore he smelled chocolate just now.
Ace sighed, he knew that dealing with Luffy was in a whole different level, but this decision was for the best. "I know, but you don't have to worry, I've lived with him long enough to know how to deal with him."
Shanks gave him a small smile, it was true though, out of everyone that knew Luffy, Ace was probably the closest person to the boy and the one who knew him best of all. But even though he knew that, Shank was unable to worry less for them. He gave a heavy sigh but smiled nonetheless. "I'll go get the boxes from the kitchen." He said before he disappeared into the next room.
"Hey, Ace, why do I smell chocolate?"
The older boy chuckled at the boy's naivety and walked towards him with an evil glint in his eyes. "Stupid Luffy," He said before grabbing the boy in a head lock and rubbing rather painfully his thumb against the boy's cheek. "I seriously don't know how the hell you eat to get chocolate stuck under your eye… There, all done. "
Luffy rubbed his cheek once Ace finally let go of him and gave his older brother a glare, though the glare went unnoticed by the freckled boy as he stared fixedly at the boy before him. "Luffy?" He said getting the boy's attention, a dust of pink tainting his cheeks. "Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
Luffy grinned at the older boy while he crossed his arms over his bare chest proudly before answering. "You told me to pack all my clothes before we left, so I packed my shirt and pants too! I originally planned to pack my underwear, but then I thought it would be weird to walk around the street with no clothes on…"
Ace face-palmed, it was really unbelievable how dense his little brother could be. "I meant for you to pack the clothes on your wardrobe! Not all your clothes, Luffy." Luffy watched how his brother rummaged through one of the boxes Luffy brought while still mumbling. "Seriously, of all the stupid things… Why would you even go half naked into the street?"
After a minute or so of searching, Ace finally found a shirt for Luffy; a red button down, short sleeved shirt. He threw it to the younger boy carelessly as he grabbed some blue shorts and tidied the box he just opened. Luffy stared at the shirt for a while before wearing it –without bothering to button it, and sat down at the bottom step of the stairs. "Hey! That's mean; Ace almost never wears a shirt in the house!" Luffy said after taking the blue shorts, eying his brother as he closed the box. "If you wear the shirt like that then it is as if you're not wearing any shirt at all!"
A vein popped on the forehead of the older boy at that statement, but he conformed with giving Luffy a nuggie in the head for the time being. "That's different, we're inside the house!" He said over the struggling Luffy. "I will button it up when we get out, and so will you."
"Yeah right." Luffy said playfully once he managed to get out of Ace's grasp, "Ace is a pervert~!"
A shade of pink tainted the older boy's cheeks as he gaped at the laughing Luffy, he had a sudden urge to pounce Luffy and hit him repeatedly on the head, but his murderous thoughts were soon put to an end when Shanks appeared from the kitchen. He mumbled something that the boys could not quite catch as he placed his cell phone on his pants pocket. "Stupid… now… busy… Asshole…"
"Shanks?" Ace called, gaining the red haired man's attention.
"Eh?" Said Shanks cleverly as he noticed that somehow he had ended at the stairs with the boys. He sighed, "My boss called, he wants me to go and get some papers at the office."
"Shanks always curse when his boss calls him." Luffy whispered quite loudly to Ace, making Ace nod and provoking a vein to pop on Shank's forehead. "You're boss is really strict, right? You should go before he yells at you."
"No, no; that stupid hawk won't yell," Shank said with a defeated sigh. "He just gives you one of his famous blood-freezing glares and makes you suffer silently and periodically with absurdly tiring jobs until he finds a new victim."
A shiver ran down the boy's spine at the memory of Shank's boss and both swore silently to never work for him.
"Well then," Shanks started once he got the keys to his car. "I'll get going. Once I get there and deliver those papers I'll be here to pick you up." He stopped at the front door of the small house and with a sigh he turned around. He knew this was useless, but it was just so hard to see them grow… "Are you really sure you want to move out?"
Ace and Luffy, taken by surprise, stared at the man in front of them for a moment before giving him two identical grins. "Shanks, we know you're worried, but everything is going to be okay." Luffy said kindly as he launched to the red haired man and attacked him with a glomp.
Ace smiled at the older man and said in a reassuring tone, "Ever since we were kids you guys had to take care of us even though your work made it near impossible. Garp was always at the office and you had to travel a lot, so Dadan had to deal with the hyperactive bundle of energy and me." Shanks smiled at the memory of those chaotic days but let Ace continue. "We all know that Dadan has always wanted to move to that house on top of the hill but never could because of us, so now that we can take care of ourselves we can let Dadan have her dream accomplished."
"Yeah!" Luffy said, finally losing his grip on Shanks. "Besides, we will be living near Makino's bar and a few blocks from school, and you can come and visit us anytime you want!"
"I don't travel that much now… Well, you're right, but…" Shanks said with a defeated sigh. "Ah! But how could I let go of such a cute, innocent little brat!" He said dramatically while giving Luffy a bone-breaking hug. "And what if Ace brings girls to his room! You could get any girl you want, Ace! And if Luffy walks into your room while you're having s-"
"SHANKS!" Ace yelled, his face resembling a tomato. "D-D-Don't be ridiculous!"
"But! You're really good-looking Ace! Remember last Valentines when we found that girl hidden in your closet? And there were about ten other girls hiding outside the house~!" Ace cringed at the memory, that had been one scary Valentine. "And Luffy too! When those girls nearly kidnapped you after school so they could go on a date with you!" Luffy paid no mind to Shanks words, mostly because he was struggling to get out of his hug-of-doom; Ace, on the other hand, tried to suppress a growl as he remembered how some guys at school had tried to rape his little brother after classes ended. Of course no one ever knew of that incident, and the guys he beat up were too scared to utter a word.
"Shanks… I can't breathe…"
"Oh, sorry." Shanks said while letting go of Luffy, the latter clinging to his older brother as he coughed and took desperate gasps of breath. "Well… I'll just go and send that stuff; I'll be back in about an hour to pick you up so bring everything down already." He said with a resigned sigh as he opened the door. "If you change your mind, call me immediately."
Once Shanks was finally gone, both boys smiled, they knew it would be a little hard to live by themselves, but they would definitely manage. "Let's get what's left downstairs." Ace told his little brother. The youngest nodded and headed upstairs with a wide grin, his brother following closely behind.
It took them ten minutes to finally get everything down. There was not a single object left that was not in a box, and said boxes were placed neatly near the front door, waiting patiently to get on Shank's car and head to their new home. Luffy and Ace stood silent for a while, both staring at the now empty house as they recalled all their childhood memories. Every time they broke anything valuable while in one of their rampage attacks and got Dadan mad, or how they would run and hide whenever Garp came to visit his grandsons causing even more damage to the valuables of the house; every memory made in that house would always be present in their hearts, because they would never forget what they learnt there, but it was time to make a new start.
Without warning whatsoever, Luffy turned around and headed to the stairs taking Ace by surprise. "Luffy?" He called, not really expecting his brother to be so gloomy.
"I'm gonna say good bye to my room." Luffy said with a bright smile and resumed once again his steps. Ace stared for a moment where his brother had been just a second ago before smiling; he should say good bye to his room too.
Ace climbed the stairs with heavy steps, he turned to his right and saw Luffy's bedroom door closed; his door, which was next to Luffy's, was wide open on the other hand. He stepped into the empty room and closed the door behind him before leaning on it. A sigh escaped his lips as he walked through the wooden floor, there was nothing left there except for his old mattress. Most of his best memories had been at this very room, whenever he was not playing outside he would be in this room with Luffy, plotting their next prank on Dadan or Shanks – Garp being out of the question since last time they played a trick on him they had ended cleaning his office for a whole week; Garp's Fist of Love was included in the package.
A sudden knock on the door interrupted Ace's musings, and without even waiting for an answer the younger D. entered the room and walked straight to the empty mattress; sitting down and watching gleefully the empty room.
"What the… Luffy?" Ace called with a surprised tone. "I thought you were going to say good-bye to your room?"
Luffy let his gaze fall on Ace before he gave him a big smile and laid his back on the mattress. "I'm done already." The older D. looked skeptically at the boy but stood silent, waiting for an explanation that came soon after. "Most of my best memories are in your room, Ace; I spent most of my time here."
A smile appeared into Ace's face, "Yeah, when we were still kids you would come and sleep here almost every night; you were such a cry-baby Luffy."
A blushing Luffy sat up sharply while opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. "I-I was not!" He said stubbornly as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I-I only felt lonely okay? And you know I've never liked storms either!"
Ace laughed loudly after his little brother's statement. It was true, soon after Ace started to live with the boy he noticed how almost every night Luffy would go to his room in and spend the night there. It was quite difficult for Ace at the beginning, he wasn't used on having someone who depended so much on him, but soon after, every time he heard his door open he would simply pull up the covers and wait for Luffy to join him. It was nice to sleep with him, especially since Luffy was the cuddling type, but as Luffy grew up he would come less and less at night – much to Ace's relief – and instead spend the day at Ace's room.
"Hey, Ace," Luffy called his older brother with a wide grin. "Do you remember that?"
Ace turned his head toward the spot Luffy was pointing; a dark stain that was above Ace's head. A smirk made its way to the freckled boy's face as he recalled the memory of that day. "How could I forget! We planned to go camping for weeks and a stupid storm got in the way." Ace chuckled lightly, his eyes never leaving the spot on the ceiling.
"Yeah, and you thought it would be a good idea to have our camping day indoors instead…" Luffy said with a giggle, because now that he thought about it he realized just how stupid they had been.
"Ah, that's right…" Ace said. "Dadan was really pissed when she found out we made a fire in my room…"
The younger D. laughed freely at the comment before deciding to tease his brother a little further. "Ace is so stupid! How could you drag lil' innocent me into such a silly idea!"
Luffy's laughter filled the room, and Ace smiled kindly at the sight of his little brother in such a happy bliss. Had it not been that the boy was laughing openly at him while pointing shamelessly, Ace wouldn't have minded the childish laugh of his brother. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, the older D. walked towards Luffy in an almost predatory way, ready to jump on Luffy and give him a tickling attack. He was just in front of the boy, and as soon as he gave his last step, a narcoleptic fit attacked the unsuspecting Ace, making him fall face first and – conveniently – on top of Luffy.
"Wah-!" Luffy fell back into the mattress with a soft thump as he struggled to get the older boy off of him. "For God's sake, Ace! You sleep through the most random places!" He mumbled as he flailed his free hand in the air.
After several failed attempts to get Ace off of him, Luffy resigned to move the boy anymore and proceeded to poke him in the head with the hope that he would miraculously wake up. Something in the corner of his eyesight caught Luffy's attention nonetheless; he turned his head to the side and there it was: the black marker Ace had used to label the boxes. With a mischievous plan already forming in his head, the boy stretched his arm as far as he could, trying with all his might to get the marker without waking Ace up. Luffy tried to ignore the tickling sensation of Ace's breath on his neck, he needed concentration right now or his prank wouldn't be accomplished.
Too focused on getting the marker, Luffy didn't notice how Ace's breathing had changed its pace; the tips of his fingers had already touched the marker. After blinking a few times, Ace realized that not only had he fallen asleep, but he was also on top of something soft that was certainly not his bed. He blinked a few more times and his eyesight finally adjusted to its surroundings. Realization struck him hard and painfully, as he noticed that what was under him was in fact his little brother, his lips were merely inches away from the boy's neck, and the intoxicating vanilla scent that the boy was emitting was enough to drive Ace's sanity out of the window. He had to muster all of his self control to prevent himself on kissing and biting on that smooth neck.
Ace lifted his head up slightly just in time to see his little brother turn his head toward him. A few seconds passed before he realized that their faces were so close that if he just leaned slightly forward he could kiss senselessly the boy.
A vibrant red took possession of Ace's face, as he jerked himself off Luffy and rolled ungracefully from the bed and to the ground. "Ah… Wh-… I… Uh…" He stammered, evading looking at the younger D. directly into the eyes.
Ace knew he loved Luffy more than a brother should, but those were some feelings that were best repressed. He knew Luffy would never feel the same way as he did, and what he feared the most was Luffy's disgusted look if he ever found out; Ace wouldn't be able to live on knowing that the person he loved the most hated him.
He had been aware of this feeling for so long now… he wasn't sure how it started, but from the moment that boy smiled to him the first time in that alley he wasn't able to get him off of his mind. Ace was too young to understand why he would be so angry whenever Garp hit Luffy with his 'Fist of Love', or why whenever he saw Luffy sad, he had this urgent feeling to kill the responsible of it; of what he was sure was that no matter what, he would always protect Luffy, because seeing him happy was Ace's happiness as well. But things couldn't stay that way forever.
When Ace hit puberty he started to notice Luffy more than ever; whenever Luffy came to his bed at night and cuddled with him Ace would feel his stomach turn and flutter and heat would rise to his face considerably fast. He started to feel uncomfortable with the boy in the same bed as him, so when Luffy got older and decided to sleep in his own bed a wave of relief spread throughout Ace's body.
But things just got worse as time passed by. Ace would now have strange dreams, dreams that involved his brother and him. It had been weird to be near the boy from there on, he needed something to distract him from the cute little boy.
He needed a girlfriend.
But not just any girlfriend, Ace would get the prettiest girl in school to forget about Luffy for once and for all. It wasn't difficult to spot said girl because every time she would walk near any of the guys they would immediately start to drool. This girl –Alvida, as a friend of his had told him, had long, silky black hair, although not as smooth and beautiful as Luffy's; her eyes gave off a look of superiority that demanded respect unlike Luffy's, which emitted a playful, adorable glint that just made you want to hug him. Admittedly, her body surpassed those of the other girls at school; she was lean, with long legs and fair skin.
In Ace's opinion, this girl was nowhere as perfect as Luffy, but she seemed to be the best he could manage at such a dire moment.
It was rather difficult to approach this Alvida girl with all those horny boys around her, but somehow he had managed to ask her out one morning when he bumped into her in one of the hallways of the school.
From there on, they started to see each other frequently, and it was just a matter of time before the whole school found out about the relationship those two had. It seemed they were the hottest couple at school, and according to Ace's friends, he was the luckiest man on earth. Everything was going according to plan, Alvida was the kind of girl that demanded attention, leaving Ace with no choice but to see her almost every day after school. He thought this was a good thing, because less time at home meant less time with Luffy. There was just one problem with his plan, Luffy noticed that Ace spent more time with that girl rather than with him, and he was not going to let some intruder steal Ace from him. The little boy traced a plan in his head, a plan that he thought would be absolutely successful.
Ace always came home to eat after school, it would be after that that Alvida called the boy to go out, so Luffy had about forty minutes with Ace to make his plan work. The younger D. came home and soon after Ace came too, "Is my little heartbreaker going out today again?" Was Garp's welcoming.
To Luffy's delight, it seemed that Ace's girlfriend had caught a cold and they wouldn't see each other outside school until she got better. With a new plan forming in his head already, Luffy devoured his food in an amazing speed, and excused himself. He dashed to his room, grabbed his favorite red hoodie and looked frantically for the tickets his friend Usopp had given him some days before.
After a couple of minutes Luffy heard the door besides his room close. He smiled brightly after finding what he was looking for at the base of his untidy school bag and went over to Ace's room. He opened the door without even bothering to knock first and saw Ace lying in his bed while reading some book; Luffy grinned evilly and charged toward the freckled boy, launching at him before Ace had time to react.
"Let's go to the amusement park, Ace!" Luffy had said from his position on top of Ace taking the older boy by surprise. It took Luffy fifteen minutes of whining and pouting to finally convince Ace, and after he grabbed a jacket and some money, both boys went to the amusement park.
It had been a wonderful day. Not a single thought of Alvida crossed his mind, and Luffy made sure to get in every single ride with Ace. The freckled boy had amazed Luffy with his throwing skills before getting Luffy a cute plushie of a blue, baby whale, and Luffy had managed to get two free ice creams for his brother and himself, Ace dragged Luffy away from that woman's sight soon after.
The day ended with an exhausted Luffy sleeping soundlessly on Ace's back as he carried the little boy to the house, the whale Luffy had never leaving his grasp.
The day after, Ace had planned to take Luffy to the zoo, he had such a great time with the boy at the park that he finally noticed how much he missed spending time with him, but a smiling Alvida walking towards him in the school shattered his idea soon after. The woman had recovered, and it seemed that she wished to go out with Ace to do some shopping.
That same day had been hell to Ace, not only was his mind somewhere else, but every time they entered a new shop he would have to restrain himself from buying something for Luffy. Ace was bored, he didn't' want to spend any more time with Alvida, and so, as soon as he got to his house he decided to break up with her when they meet again.
It was a Sunday afternoon which meant no school for the boys. Alvida had called Ace in the morning and Ace asked to see her that day to talk with her; she would go to Ace's house in a moment or so.
Ace had traced a plan in his head already; she would ask her to go to the Ice Cream parlor that was close to her house and break up with her over there. Easy, right? He decided to take a quick shower before Alvida came, but it seemed that she appeared in the house earlier than expected, and to his misfortune, Luffy was the only one around at the time.
"Who are you?" Luffy said after attending the door. He didn't like the woman outside the door, she seemed to look down on him.
"Where is Ace?"
Luffy frowned, this must be the girl that took Ace away from him. "He's taking a shower." Came the cold reply from the glaring boy.
Alvida scoffed, but didn't move nonetheless. "Well, aren't you going to tell me to come in?"
Luffy stuck out his tongue childishly at the woman before crossing his arms. "No, I don't like you, you ugly woman."
The response had come as a shock to Alvida, no one had ever said such offending words to her. She, ugly? Every guy that looked at her would simply drool and beg for a date, but it seemed this boy was not the case. He was the first guy ever to dislike her, he was a challenge…
…And she liked challenges.
Ace came just in time to stop Luffy from offending the woman some more, as much as he knew he would enjoy it. He told Luffy to get inside and that he would be home early before getting outside with the still shocked woman. "Who… Who was that?" Alvida asked in something more than a whisper.
Ace frowned, he knew pretty well that If Alvida decided to insult his little brother he would close the door in her face, "Luffy, my little brother." He said coldly.
Alvida just nodded and stared at the door some more time, her eyes showed a glint Ace couldn't quite decipher, but something told him that whatever it was, it was nothing good. "You said there was something you needed to tell me." She said, not even bothering to look at Ace. "What is it?"
Ace was taken aback; he didn't expect to tell her that on his house mostly because he didn't know how Alvida would react, he thought it was safer to break up with her near her house. "Uh… why don't we go to the ice-cream parlor and talk over there?" He offered, but Alvida just shook her head, her eyes now resting in Ace.
"Fine." He sighed, "You see, I… don't really feel the way I should feel when I'm with you, I mean… I don't feel particularly excited when I'm about to see you, and I guess that's not okay, you know? So I don't want to hurt you by pretending I feel something I don't, I hope you understand…" His words trailed off after seeing the calm look in Alvida, he hadn't expected that at all.
"It's okay," She started. "Because I think there's someone else I like, and it's not precisely you, Ace."
Ace's eye twitched after noticing how Alvida's eyes stared at the door of his house. This couldn't be…
"So, does Luffy have a girlfriend?"
Something inside Ace broke. She was asking about Luffy, his little brother! How dare she! But things just got worse after that, Alvida would now appear in their usual route to school, which meant that not only did she shamelessly harassed Luffy, but she still had the nerve to talk with him and give him her home-made bento boxes.
Thank God for his obliviousness.
Ace's hell ended along with the end of school year, Alvida would transfer to a school at the north which meant no more bentos and –thankfully- no more Alvida.
Ace shrugged at the memory; that had certainly been something he didn't wish to revive. He felt a light weight lift from his legs and saw a grinning Luffy toss the black marker he used to label the boxes to the side. "Shank's is here!" He said happily before rushing out of Ace's room.
Ace sighed, he headed to where Luffy had dashed and was received by a wide-eyed Shanks as he coughed to hide an obvious laugh. "Well hello there Ace-kun, I guessed you had one of your sleeping fits, right?"
Ace cocked his eyebrow at the snickering pair in front of him, how did he know he fell asleep?
"Ace can sleep with his eyes open now!" Luffy all but yelled at the laughing Shanks.
Sleep with his eyes open? What was Luffy talking about? He touched his face, expecting to feel some paper or whatever that had stuck in his face, only to find the tips of his fingers stained black. Ace suddenly remembered the marker Luffy threw ups stairs and a vein popped on his forehead.
"Really, Luffy, those glasses look really good, and that connecting the dots stuff with his freckles… is that a star?"
Connecting the dots? What the hell? Ace dashed into the bathroom to take a good look at himself in the mirror, only to realize that it was already in their new home. "Sorry Ace! You'll have to wait a bit longer!" Came Shanks happy reply from the front door.
Ace sighed before banging his head repeatedly in the wall, why, of all the moments, did he have a narcoleptic fit in front of Luffy?
He grumbled incoherently before getting some boxes roughly and placing them in Shanks car. He took a quick glance in the side mirror to finally see Luffy's artwork. He had a stitched scar across his forehead, resembling something like a living Frankenstein, and his eyebrows had suddenly converted into one; he was wearing odd shaped glasses and had a bushy, Mario Bros. style mustache adorning his handsome face. A goatee beard was now in his chin and his freckles were now all connected in a weird way, although Luffy had managed to create something that resembled oddly like a connect-the-dots-star on his left cheek.
"Do you like it?" Was Luffy's happy comment as he passed by the frowning Ace. "I think my drawing skills have improved."
"You still need practice." Ace replied as he tried to rub off the offending black ink.
"So mean…" Luffy pouted. He walked over to the house and grabbed some more boxes; it was only a matter of minutes before they finally placed all the boxes in the car.
"Well, let's go." Came Shanks reply from inside the car. Ace got himself in the passenger seat while Luffy sat directly behind Ace, his face sticking out of the window as he watched his old house fade away. "Garp called me while at work, he said that he already settled some of the stuff the moving truck sent earlier into your house, and that he'll come back first thing tomorrow to help you with whatever's left." Shanks saw how Ace nodded absentmindedly as he tried to rub off the Frankenstein-like scar.
"I thought he would come today." Luffy said as he popped his head between the front seats.
"He said an emergency occurred at work, or something like that." Luffy nodded. "And, I'll need to go back to work too after I drop you at your new home." Shanks finished with a scowl.
"Back to work?" Wondered Ace out loud, he had somehow erased half of the scar. "I thought you were done already."
Shanks mumbled something the boys couldn't understand as he parked the car in the wide parking lot of the condominium. It was rather big, about ten stories tall. From what could be seen at the front it seemed as if two identical buildings had been placed one after the other, being divided only by the large staircase placed in the middle. The building itself had a nice feeling to it, a homely kind of feeling.
The three guys walked to the front gate and Ace took out his new set of keys before placing the metallic strip the landlord had given him earlier under a scanner. They heard a soft clicking noise from the gate and soon after Shanks was able to push open the gate and hold it in place with one of the boxes he brought.
"So cool!" Luffy gawked as he stared at the strip in Ace's hands.
"Oh yeah, you'll have one too, Luffy, the landlord said to go early tomorrow to get it." Ace grabbed a folded note in his pants before saying out loud, "We're on the third floor, condo number 4."
"Well, this place has my approval." Shanks said while going back to the car and getting out more boxes. "It seems secure enough and you can see Makino's bar from here."
Ace and Luffy smiled at Shanks comment, seemed he was finally accepting the fact that they were moving out. The boys went over to the car and grabbed as many boxes as they could, they wanted to make just one trip from the car to the new house, and after several attempts to get everything in their hands, they managed to get into condo #4 with only a few bumps.
Ace opened the door after dropping several boxes and many curses were thrown to the wind, but all that struggle was worth it after seeing the inside of their new home.
It was relatively small compared to Dadan's home, but for Ace and for Luffy, it was perfect. The living room was now decorated with some furniture, a couch that Dadan had given them as a moving out gift which was placed in front of the television Shanks and Garp had given the kids. A small table was placed in between them and several boxes were scattered across the room. The kitchen, which was at the right side of the room, was already packed with the necessary equipment such as an oven, microwave, and a new refrigerator, courtesy of Makino. There was a large breakfast bar connecting the inside of the kitchen with the rest of the house, and a small bathroom with just a toilet and a sink at the bottom of the stairs.
Luffy, without sparing the bottom of the house a second glance, dashed upstairs in order to claim a room. "Yosh!" He said in a really loud voice. "This is my room!"
Shanks laughed while following the younger D. upstairs, Ace mumbled something about foolish kids, but a smile could be evidently seen in his face. The second floor of the condominium was simple. There was a small hallway that connected two rooms, one aside from the other, and at the other end of the corridor was a door that led to a full bathroom.
Ace walked into his new room to find out that the beds were already there, along with his side table and the desk where his laptop, lamp and books would normally reside. He sighed contently at the sight, and walked calmly to the window that was placed directly besides his bed, offering a beautiful view of the small village.
"Gramps also settled your room!" Luffy said form the door, startling Ace for a moment. "Most of my stuff is in my room too, but I can't find the chair of my work table…"
"Luffy! I found it!"
"Ah, Shanks found it!"
Ace chuckled a bit and walked to where his brother was standing, he gave the boy a small hug by the shoulders before leading him to the hallway. "So, do you like our new home?"
Luffy nodded enthusiastically, passing his arm behind Ace's back and hugging him by the waist, making a small blush appear on Ace's cheeks. "Yep, and I promise I'll help with the cleaning this time!"
"You better!" Ace answered while ruffling the younger boy's hair affectionately.
The brothers headed downstairs with the resolution to start unpacking everything only to find Shanks placing the last boxes at the middle of the room. "Well boys, I need to go." He said before stretching a little bit. "It seems Mihawk didn't like the fact that I was late and decided to torture me by giving me incredibly stupid tasks."
Ace and Luffy gave a step back after feeling the killing aura that Shanks was emitting. "It… It's okay, Shanks! Right, Luffy?"The older boy said with an apologetic smile, Luffy nodded enthusiastically besides him.
"Yeah! You can come tomorrow with gramps to see the house tidier!"
Shanks gave a small smile before heading off; of course, a colorful vocabulary was could be heard on his way to the car.
The brothers stared absentmindedly at the boxes before sighing, sadly enough they wouldn't unpack themselves. After discussing it for a minute, they decided to unpack the kitchen utensils first, and after almost three hours they had managed to arrange almost everything. They headed to the living room next, placing the lamps, movies, books and games in their respective places, along with some cushions for the couch and a rug under the table.
Ace headed towards the first floor bathroom while Luffy finished arranging the living room, but a sudden ring from the intercom caught their attention. "I'll get it!" Luffy all but yelled as he jumped towards his new doorbell, obviously excited about using such an interesting object for the first time. "Who is it?" He asked in a singsong voice while pressing the required button, soon after, the image of a blond man with a bored expression appeared in the monitor of the intercom, and before he could even open his mouth, Luffy opened the gate for him, urging him to pass and telling him which floor and room they were on.
"Who is it?" Ace asked from the bathroom, poking his head out just in time to see his little brother opening the door and tapping his foot on the floor in a desperate fashion.
"Marco!" He said happily, turning his head towards the staircase in hopes of seeing the blond man. "Oi Marco! Hurry up would ya!"
A grunt was heard from the stairs before the blond man appeared on the hallway, "You're an impatient kid aren't you?" He said before grabbing Luffy by the neck and dragging him to his house. "Yo, Ace!"
"Marco! What brings you here?" Ace asked with a big smile after watching his best friend bully his little brother. Out of every man he knew, Marco was the only one he trusted enough to be around Luffy without having any weird intentions; not to mention that no matter how clingy his little brother could be towards him – or any other person for that matter – Ace couldn't bring himself to be jealous of the blond man.
"Man, what a pretty house…" Marco said, finally letting go of Luffy while inspecting the house with a low whistle. "I came to tell you that Pops says that you can take today off, he says he doesn't want to see you thinking Luffy got the house on fire while you're at work ("Hey! I would never do that!"), and since tomorrow's Sunday, you can finish this before the new school term begins."
Ace laughed, his boss had never met Luffy, but Ace couldn't help himself and talk non-stop about the cute little boy that there was not a single person at his work that didn't know about Luffy. Ace worked for Edward Newgate, the most powerful man in the Grand Line. He had the biggest car manufacturing company in the world, Whitebeard Co., with most of the market under his power. Admittedly, every worker respected Newgate in unimaginable ways, he would take in every person as long as he or she proved to be trustworthy, and so was the relationship between them that he dared call his employees his sons, as all of them would call him as their father. Ace started to work in that company a little over a year ago, he had planned to move out with Luffy and let Dadan have the house she always wanted, and Whitebeard – as most people would call him – accepted him as his worker when no one else did for him being still a student.
He would always look for the sake of his sons, and Ace was truly grateful to him. "He knows me well, doesn't he?" Ace asked from the door frame of the bathroom. "Tell Pops I say thank you, and that I'll work hard on Monday."
Marco smiled lazily before dismissing himself, telling Ace he expected an invitation once the house arrangements were done.
"What about you, Luffy?" Ace asked suddenly, once again going to his task of tidying the bathroom. "Did you talk with Shakky?"
"Yep," Luffy nodded. "She told me to help you with the house, otherwise she would feel guilty for making you work all alone."
Ace grinned at the comment, Shakky and Ace had met a few days after Luffy started to work with her and quickly became attached to both D. brothers. "Well then, tell Shakky she's welcome here anytime she wants to visit."
Shakky was the owner of a bar located a few blocks away from their school; the moment Ace told Luffy he had gotten himself a job so that they could move out, the younger boy went to find a job too almost immediately, he wouldn't let his brother handle all the burden of a new house. Luffy had somehow met an old man while looking for a good place to ask for a job. They had bumped each other in the street and, the man finding Luffy quite interesting, invited him for some coffee. It seemed that that man, Rayleigh, had met Garp some time ago, and after finding out that Luffy needed a job to help his brother with the house they planned to buy, he offered to escort him to the bar of a friend of his who needed a part-time worker for the afternoons.
Luffy had accepted immediately (God bless his oblivious and trustworthy self) and headed to said bar with Rayleigh.
Shakky, the owner of Shakky's Rip-Off Bar, hired Luffy that same day mostly because she needed someone immediately, but after knowing the kid some more she grew fond of him and his cheerful personality. He would come and work after school and serve only in the afternoon, because Shakky had found it too dangerous for such a cute kid to work at night in a place where drunken, perverted men would usually hang out.
"There, all done." Ace said proudly before walking into the living room, where Luffy was currently struggling with the cables of the DVD player. "…The hell are you doing?"
Luffy turned his head up and pouted. "I can't connect the DVD player…"
Ace turned his head to the side in order to prevent a nosebleed because of the cute sight his little brother was giving him. He disguised his embarrassment with a cough before taking the DVD from Luffy and helping him get untangled from the lucky wires. They stayed at that room settling every single detail until nighttime finally came and a rumbling from Luffy's stomach brought them back to reality.
Ace got up and stretched a little before turning his head to Luffy. "I'll make some snack for the meantime." Luffy's face lit at the comment, his rumbling stomach backing up his point.
He headed to the kitchen and smiled, he liked the idea of being the owner of said kitchen, and the sense of responsibility it brought him seemed almost too good to be true. He took out some plates and after realizing he didn't know what to make, headed back to the living room. Apron on already. "Oi Luffy, what would you like to…" His words died in his throat after seeing the cute sight before him.
Ace smiled lovingly at the sleeping Luffy who was curled in one side of the couch, a small trail of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. He grabbed a blanket from one of the scattered boxes before taking a seat next to the sleeping Luffy; Ace grabbed gently the sleeping boy from the shoulders and positioned Luffy next to him so that the blanket could cover them both. He stroked absentmindedly the soft hair of Luffy while thinking in nothing in particular, and soon enough, he too was called to the sweet land of dreams.
Do you know the kind of chapters that are only there in order for you to understand the story? Well, this is one of them. I'm sorry! I know this chappie was a bit boring, but it was necessary so that you could understand the story later on… please hang on a bit more, next chapter will be more exciting than this one…! I promise!
On the bright side, it was pretty long… right?
Anyway! I've seen many authors who take their time to express their gratitude to their reviews, and I think it's a really nice thing to do, because seriously guys, you have no idea how happy your reviews, alerts and favs make me :')
So… review replying time! (yay!)
Sdfsdfasdasd, Haha, I had to copy-paste your name! Yeah, they are Jango and Kuro, I haven't read that arc in a long time either, but I wanted to make the first villains someone unexpected… I wonder if it worked… And thank you so much! You made my day with your compliments! Hope you enjoyed this action-lacking chapter!
eternitybeckons, Thank you so much! I originally planned to make Axe-Hand Morgan the first villain since he was one of the first bad guys, but I thought it would be weird to have a guy with an axe persecuting some kids… I hope you liked this chapter, and I promise to make it more interesting in chapter 3.
Saskie, Yes! They were Jango and Kuro! Haha, here's next chapter (kind of late but… it's better than never, right?), hope you enjoyed it.
AlzeahXei, You make me blush… haha, thank you! I know, there aren't many AcexLuffy stories… sadly enough…
Luffy95, Thank you so much! And I'm sorry, this wasn't really soon enough, but I tried to make it long!
Voquo, …. Please don't cry… Hahah thank you so much! I know, I seriously thought of just making them bad guys without some uh… perverted thoughts, but… they needed to have something really really bad. The good thing is that Ace was there to protect Luffy and beat them up! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
WindGoddess Rune, Thank you! I'm happy you liked it. And yes, Ace had to have the chance of beating them for treating Luffy like that!
LolyGothica, Thank you! I'm glad you liked last chapter, and even though there was no action in this chapter, there will be soon enough!
animechick57, Thank you! And here's next chapter! (I know, Luffy's just so adorable…!)
Viero D. Eclipse, Thanks! I'm sorry it wasn't soon enough, but it was a long chapter! Haha, I hope you enjoyed it!
hilian, Thank you! I'm glad you liked it, and yes, I do think Ace is cute too!
DoomedUnicorn, Thank you! Here's next chapter, hope you enjoyed it!
You guys seriously made me so happy! Free Chopperman plushies to you all!
See you next chapter!
~nt'kit