Author's Note: I know, I know it's been long since I updated. I was in a bit of a writer's block, but luckily I was able to get out of it. I'm hoping that this chapter will satisfy you.
I don't own One Piece.
Please, enjoy.
Sabo woke up to a major head ache. It felt like he was smashed on the head with a hammer. What's worse is that he fell asleep on the rough carpet. Looking around he was surprised to see Luffy sleeping next to him, at first. The thought of Luffy's sleeping face appeared in his head as he watched him sleep. Acting unconsciously he reached out and pinched Luffy's nose.
Luffy's eyes instantly opened as soon as Sabo's hand came in contact with his nose. He too was surprised to see the other, but remembered what happened yesterday. Yesterday, he cried... All over Sabo...
"I'm Sorry!" They both yelled out at the same time.
Sabo looked at Luffy confused. He really didn't know what he was talking about.
"I'm sorry about yesterday, I have to go," Luffy quickly gets up and walks out the door. Leaving Sabo in utter shock and confusion.
~.~
"You're not even going to talk to me," Ace said as he sat on Luffy's bed.
Ace has been trying, for the past couple of minutes, to get Luffy to tell him what happened over at Sabo's place. When Luffy had rushed in the house and up to his room he could tell something was up. At first he thought Sabo did something to upset him, but what Luffy said seemed like the other way around. The only thing Ace could get out of the boy was "I don't think Sabo wants to be my friend anymore."
Luffy pulled his head from under the pillow and gave Ace a cold hard stare. Relaxing, he moved up from the bed and stood in front of Ace.
"Do you want to hang out?" Luffy asked.
Ace's head was spinning. Ok a few seconds ago Luffy was upset. Now he wants to hang out. Not really sure anymore, Ace slowly nodded his head in response.
Luffy was really trying to get himself distracted from his mind. It just kept on bringing bad thoughts about Sabo. Some which seemed could happen and some that seemed unnecessary. Maybe some time out with his brother could help cool him off.
~.~
Luffy shoved the stacked pancakes in his mouth, "ghese pamcages are deglishous."
Ace laughed out loud, causing people to stare at the two. Ace took the one last napkin he had left and handed it to Luffy.
"I don't understand what you're saying."
Luffy happily took the napkin from his hand and wiped his face. Burping the loudest as he can, he sank into his chair and patted a huge belly.
"I'm so full," Luffy's loud voice filled the room.
Ace chuckled and stood up, "C'mon let's go somewhere else.
~.~
Ace and Luffy entered into the Arcade with eagerness to play the new game that just came out.
Ace had beaten Luffy three times, which meant that Luffy had to do what Ace said tomorrow for the whole day.
Getting bored of losing, Luffy noticed the crane machine in the background. It was just the plush dragon toy in it that caught his attention. For some reason it reminded him of Sabo. Maybe it was because he caught the picture frame of a dragon sitting on Sabo's table.
"You want something from the carne machine?" Ace asked catching sight of what Luffy was staring at.
"Y-yeah," Luffy said as he walked to the machine.
Luffy came back with a huge grin, shoving the dragon plush toy in Ace's face. Ace didn't really expect this. He expected him to get the orange monkey instead. He watched as Luffy sunk his chin in the dragon and squeezed it tightly. It was as if the dragon was to represent someone, but whom.
Ace decided to forget about it and have a good time with his little brother.
"So, who is it for?" Ace asked as he took it away from Luffy to take a good look at it.
Luffy reached up and snatched at it back from him, "It's for someone."
Ace looked at Luffy weird and shrugged. At this point he didn't care anymore.
The rest of Luffy's day with Ace was great. They both went to the park, and decided to have a water balloon fight. They did get some people wet, but they decided to join in on the fun as well. On the way to the mall they had met Bartolomeo on the way. The three didn't have any money so they just went to the mall to try on clothes and not buy anything. Bartolomeo and Luffy started laughing out loud when Ace was caught "stealing" the sunglasses that was on his head. With his quick reflexes, Ace took of the glasses and quickly ran.
Unfortunately, Bartolomeo had some errands to run, but it was still fun. The two brothers visited the park again. This time to relax. They sat on the swings just talking. Things turned around when Luffy asked Ace a strange question.
"Do you think I should get a job?" Luffy asks Ace.
Ace almost chokes. Seriously where did that question come from? They were just oddly talking about Marco, when all of a sudden this happens.
"Sure, If you want," Ace said shrugging his shoulders, "but why?"
Luffy shrugged as well, "I have no money, plus I'm sure tired of me borrowing money from you."
"Yeah, I am," Ace chuckles a bit. "So what jo-"
Ace stopped talking when he noticed that Luffy wasn't paying attention. He caught him staring at a strange man in a far distance. Ace couldn't by pass the feeling that Luffy has been distracted lately. First with the dragon, now this stranger.
"Luffy are you alright? You don't seem like yourself lately," Ace finally decided to ask him what was wrong.
"Oh sorry Ace, I thought that person was someone else," Luffy says turning his attention back to Ace.
Ace got off the swings, and stood in front of Luffy, "That's it. You've been getting distracted lately."
Luffy looked up at Ace before burying his face in the dragon plush toy. Luffy knew why he was acting this way. He just didn't know how Ace would react if he told. Well, there was only one way for him to find out.
"Well maybe it's because I really like Sabo," Luffy says quitely before holding the dragon tightly.
~.~
Koala had just gotten back from her trip to Florida. She was now in Sabo's house talking about the story. Well how they were going to finish.
"Maybe, I can do all the typing," Koala said giving her suggestion.
Sabo sighed, "That wouldn't be fair, I want to help as well."
They both didn't say anything. Maybe they should just call their publisher and go on a complete hiatus.
Sabo didn't know what else to do. With him having hemianopsia maybe he should just quit being a writer. It seemed like the better option by far.
"We have to do something," Koala said as she started pacing around.
Sabo didn't say anything, he just rested his hand on his head and groaned. Koala asked him if he was alright and Sabo responded with a no. Sabo moved to the kitchen to get an ice pack. The headache was just bothering him even more than before. He thought it had stopped, but it just came rushing back. Even with the ice pack it didn't work, what's worse was that it started to get hot in the room.
"Why's it so hot in here?" Sabo asked tugging on his collar.
"It seems cold to me." Koala walked towards Sabo and put her hand on his head, "Sabo, you're burning up."
Sabo started breathing heavily and he was starting to get sweaty. It felt his head was dizzy, and his mouth was just completely dry.
"I don't feel well, I'm going to get some water." Sabo started moving to the kitchen once again, but with a small steps he took his whole body just started shaking. Sabo decided to stop moving, but his head didn't stop. Closing his eyes made it worse. It now felt like whole his body was swaying, in fact it like the house was spinning. The last sound he heard was Koala yelling out his name and that was it.
~.~
It took Koala a lot of muscle to move Sabo on the couch. Of course she had to make it nice and comfy for him first. So she went in his room to grab his bed comforts and pillows.
Koala had turned down the a/c to 60 degrees. She also took a wet cold cloak and put it on Sabo's head. No matter what she did, Sabo's temperature kept on rising and rising.
Sabo's had opened his eyes and he tried getting up, but he felt the pain rushing in him.
"Why is my neck so stiff?" Sabo asked putting his hand on it.
Koala slowly put his back down on the couch. She watched him, thinking if she should call the doctor or not.
Sabo started moving his body a little. It felt like he had slept on rough grass all day or touched poision ivy. Either way his whole body itched, and scratching it wasn't doing it any good.
"That's it I'm calling the doctor," Koala said as she saw Sabo furiously scratching himself.
~.~
It didn't take long for the doctor to tell what was wrong with Sabo.
"It seems like he has chicken pox," The doctor said as he approached Koala.
"Don't scratch it Sabo," Koala said as she saw that Sabo was about too.
"Are you his girlfriend?" The doctor asked the sudden question.
"No, I'm just a good friend of his," Koala said chuckling a bit.
"Was their anything wrong with him before?" The doctor asked.
"Well, he does have hemianopia," Koala said.
The doctor didn't say anything, but hummed. He just started writing in his files, like that was all he needed to know. He then moved to his cabinets to get a bottle of pain killers.
"Here, take this," he said handing the pain killers to Sabo, making sure not to touch him. He then moved to the sink to fill a cup with cold water before giving it to Sabo, telling him to drink up. After that the doctor walked out of the room in a hurry.
"You really shouldn't be scratching yourself," Koala said shaking her head at him.
Sabo put his hand down, feeling kind of embarrassed, "I know, it itches like crazy!"
"Maybe you should just rest," Koala said.
Sabo didn't say anything, but closed his eyes. It took him a while for him to fall asleep, but he was able to.
Koala thought that it was cute how Sabo sleep talks. Especially when one of the words that came out of his mouth was Luffy's name. An idea then started rushing to Koala. She had a strong feeling that Sabo liked Luffy. She could tell when a soft smile appeared on his face when he said his name. Smirking, she picked took out her cell phone and dialed Luffy's number.
~.~
"You What?!" Ace yelled in shock after hearing what Luffy said, "You're too young to date, plus he's too old for you."
Luffy looked up at Ace, looking at him angrily. He still clutched the dragon toy in his hands, "So, you started dating Marco when you were my age and he looked like he was 5 years older than you."
Ace didn't say anything. He really wasn't expecting that from Luffy. Luffy was right though.
"I'm sorry," Luffy's voice softened, "I just seem to like him so much."
Ace stayed quiet. He really didn't know what to say. A few seconds later Luffy's phone started ringing.
Luffy quickly picked it up. He didn't even get a chance to say hello; Koala just started talking. She was going on about how she and Sabo were talking about the novel. Luffy started to get worried when she talked about Sabo getting a fever. He started to ask her if he was alright. Koala didn't say much. All she said was "He's in the hospital. Hurry I need you here."
"Is everything ok," Ace asked putting a reassuring hand on Luffy's shoulders.
Luffy shook his head negatively, "Koala says that I should meet her in the hospital. Sabo's in the hospital,"
Ace saw how Luffy's eyes were filled with worry. An amount of worry to tell that he cared so much about someone.
"Don't worry, I'll drive you there," Ace said looking at Luffy with a smile, easing him a little.
~.~
Luffy and Ace rushed to the room where Sabo was. There at the door, they saw Koala standing next to it.
Koala could hear feet hitting on the ground, coming in her direction. She knew it was Luffy, but she didn't know Ace was coming as well. Still, she decided to go with the plan.
"I'm here. Is Sabo ok?" Luffy asked out of breathe.
"Not really, he has the chicken pox. He says that he needs you," Koala said lying through her teeth. Well the first part of that was true.
Luffy's cheeked turned a deep shade of red. It sounded as if she said that Sabo needed him. He could feel his heart beating fast. Luffy held the dragon plush toy to calm him down.
Ace was also surprised when Koala had said that. In the corner of his eyes he could see Luffy blushing. He was starting to think that it was alright for Luffy to date Sabo. Luffy did seem to care for him.
Luffy decided to walk in the room. Ace had tried, but he was quickly pulled back by Koala.
Koala smiled and shook her head no at Ace. Ace looked at her weirdly, and then realized what she was doing. He decided to accept it; leaving the two, along with Koala.
Luffy slowly approached Sabo. He could see the peaceful look on his face as he slept, making Luffy give a soft smile. Koala was serious when she said Sabo had a chicken pox, but why did she say Sabo needed him.
"Sabo?" Luffy softly called his name, hoping he would wake up.
Lucky for Luffy, Sabo's eye began to flutter open.
"Luffy, is that you?" Sabo asked his voice kind of sounding lazy. Sabo really couldn't see Luffy. He really wasn't sure if the voice belonged to Luffy. With him having fever and chicken, it felt like he couldn't anyone right anymore.
"Yeah it is. Koala called saying that you need me," Luffy said sounding worried.
Sabo started to grow mad. Not at Luffy, but at Koala. He knew that this was one of Koala's schemes. However, another part of him was happy. Happy that Luffy was here.
"I'm sorry but I never said that," Sabo said telling him the truth.
Luffy's face looked sad, "Oh, I guess I should leave then."
"No," Sabo yelled suddenly. "I actually like that you came," He said with his voice sounding softer.
Luffy's heart started to beat two times faster than before. His face was now completely red.
The doctor had walked in ruining the moment between the two. He was surprised to see Luffy there instead of Koala.
"What happened to the girl that was here," He asked looking at Luffy strangely.
"Oh, she left," Luffy said.
The doctor didn't say anything but slowly nod his head, as if he heard an unbelievable story and decided to go with it. He then ignored Luffy and came to Sabo.
"Sir, with you having hemianopsia and chicken pox there is a possible chance that you would have the shingles."
Sabo didn't say anything else but, "Oh". It was as if he was starting to get used to what is happening to him.
"I'm sorry the only thing I can do is give you this cream and medicines," The doctor said handing him his prescriptions. "Please come back within the next 10 days if the chicken pox is still there."
~.~
"Thanks for visiting me at the hospital?" Sabo said as Luffy walked in his house.
Luffy smiled, "It was just the least I can do."
The two didn't say anything; they seemed to be in a deep thought.
"I'm sorry," Luffy said suddenly.
Sabo looked at him surprisingly. Luffy continued to say what he was going to say.
"I'm sorry for suddenly leaving you this morning. I was just thinking that you may think I was weird because I started to randomly cry out of nowhere. I feel bad for-" Luffy stopped talking when he heard Sabo chuckling.
Honestly, Sabo wanted to do more than just chuckle. He really wanted to kiss Luffy right then and there. However, he couldn't with his stupid chicken pox. He surely didn't want to get Luffy in the same situation he was as well.
"It's ok, I didn't think you weird. I actually thought you were kind of cute," Sabo said as he started to blush.
Luffy flustered. Did he just here him right.
"Oh look, you are working on your story," Luffy says quickly changing the subject.
"More or less," Sabo said.
"I'll be glad to help you," Luffy says looking at story's draft.
"You certainly don't-"
This time Luffy cut off Sabo, "I'm helping you."
Luffy sounded the same before when he said that he was going to help Sabo. Honestly, Sabo loved hearing the determined side of Luffy. It got him excited, really excited.
"Ok then," Sabo said smiling.
Before Luffy could start typing, Sabo had asked him a question.
"What's with the dragon plush toy you've been holding?"
Luffy felt embarrassed. This was going to be a gift for Sabo, but how could he forget all about it.
"This was actually a gift for you," Luffy said sounding embarrassed as he handed it to him.
Sabo looked at Luffy than back at the dragon plush toy. He slowly reached out and took the plush toy from Luffy.
"Thank you," Sabo said smiling.
"You're welcome," Luffy grinned at him. With that being said he went back to helping type Sabo's story.
~.~
After Ace and Koala had left the two alone, Ace had asked Koala why she saw doing this.
By the look Ace was giving her, she could tell that Ace was having assorted feelings about this. Well, she really couldn't blame him. If she had younger sister she cared about, she would be cautious about whom she likes. Koala just simply told him she was being a good friend.
Ace went silent. He realized that he wasn't really supportive of Luffy. He was acting like Sabo was a bad guy, but would a bad guy save his little brother from a car accident.
Ace sighed, "Maybe I should be a good brother."
"You should," Koala said chuckling.
Being bored and all, the two decided hang out somewhere that would be fun. This somewhere was known as the bowling alley.
They were surprised to see some of their friends and some of Luffy's friend as well.
All of them had enjoyed themselves, well except Zoro...
The gang had decided to go to many different places, like Sanji's restaurant. They had ordered a bunch of food, well mainly Ace, and when the bill came they ditched him.
They were now at the movies, waiting in line to get tickets to see the new movie "Inside Out". Ace had pulled out his phone to check the time, but he suddenly kept on staring at it.
"Is anything wrong Ace?" Izou asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Ace snapped out of his daze, "Oh, I just had a feeling that Luffy was going to call.
Both Izou and Ace jumped back when Ace's phone actually rang.
Izou looked at the phone, then at Ace. He did this at least 3 times, "Oh my God, Ace, you're psychic."
~.~
Luffy couldn't do more than type at least 6 pages of Sabo's story. His hands were aching from being on the computer for so long, and he was getting really hungry.
Luffy stared at the amount of work he did, feeling proud of him. His happy face soon turned into a blank stare. Luffy thought it was weird. He never once read any of Sabo's novels, but he managed to fall for him. Smiling, he decided to actually go to the library and see if he could burrow one of Sabo's books.
Before leaving, Luffy had written a note for Sabo saying for him to get well soon. Luffy stared at the sleeping Sabo; he looked so cute as he slept with the dragon plush toy.
Luffy was now on his way to the library, he decided that he was going to call Ace to tell him where he was.
"Hey Ace, I'm done with my visit with Sabo," Luffy said.
"Where are you know," Ace asked.
"Oh, I'm at the library," Luffy says as he just walks in.
The line goes silent. Then all of a sudden, Luffy hears a burst of laughter coming from both Ace and Izou.
"What, I really am," Luffy pouted.
"Yeah sure... Come... meet us at... the movies," Ace says between laughs.
"Ok," Luffy said before hang up the phone.
It didn't take long for Luffy to get a hold of one of Sabo's book, with the help a help from a librarian.
Hurrying he was able to meet Ace at the movies. The gang was still waiting in the long line to get tickets.
~.~
The movie was starting to get to Luffy, as well as Ace, Koala, and Usopp. Their sadness began to act up for the three of them. You could hear the loud sniffles, especially coming from Luffy.
Ace was surprised when Thatch started to cry.
"Why are you crying," Ace said, making sure to whisper.
"I... dropped... m-my popcorn!" Thatch began wailing hard.
Ace and Luffy looked at Thatch with an "are you serious" face. They just ignored him and went back to watching the movie.
After the movie was over the gang decided to go head home. It's been a long day for them all. Plus they had a lot of other things to deal with as well.
"So, you actually did go to library," Ace said as he saw the book in Luffy's hands.
"Yes, I told you before," Luffy said chuckling.
As they were walking, Luffy accidentally bumped into a man, making him spill his drink all over him.
The man had red hair and a pair of goggles on it. He wore a white t-shirt with a black leather jacket. He wore yellow bag pants and red boots.
"I'm sorry," Luffy says looking up at him.
The man had an angry face, "Sorry won't cut it."
Seeing that he was about to step into Luffy's personal space, Ace quickly stepped in front of Luffy.
"Hey, he said he was sorry," Ace said defending Luffy.
The man pushed Ace out of the way, "I don't care. This was a new shirt, and an expensive drink."
Luffy stared at Ace who was on the floor, then back at the man. He began to grown angry at him. He moved forward and pushed the man hard on the ground.
"You're going to pay for that, bastard." The man got up to quickly throw a punch at Luffy, but missed. He was about to throw another punch, but Ace was quick to kick the guy in his ribs.
"Are you ok," Ace asked as he pulled Luffy close to him.
"Yeah, I'm ok," Luffy said checking for blisters.
They both stared at the man who lay on the floor. He was all talk; he didn't even put up much of a fight.
"C'mon Luffy let's go home," Ace said holding his shoulder.
After a few seconds they began to hear foot steps behind them. Turning around they saw the man coming towards them. He quickly punched Luffy in his left eye, Luffy was too late to dodge.
As Luffy removed his hands from his eye, a black eye was shown. Ace started to grow pissed. He looked at the man intensely.
The man started sense the anger inside of Ace. His body began to feel numb. He wanted to run away but he was too scared to move.
Ace cracked his knuckles. This guy was going to need some attention when Ace was done with him. He slowly began walking towards the man. As he got closer to him, he pulled back his hand and sent a fist flying towards the man's face. The hit was hard and painful, causing the man to go unconscious.
Ace scoffed as soon as the man knocked out. He crouched down to where the man was and still looked and stared at him with a serious look on his face, "Don't mess with us again, bitch."
"Let's get you home," Ace said as he walked towards Luffy looking concerned at his black eye.
Authors Note: I think we all know who that man was right. I really hoped you liked this chapter and I apologize again for not uploading so soon. Please review, favorite, and follow. Tell me what you think (good or bad). Come back later for the next chapter.