Honey, Your Aspies' Showing

by authenticaussie

Luffy has something wrong with him; he just doesn't know what it is. Words are dropped around him like he can't hear what they're saying, and it's almost like he doesn't, because even when the terms to describe it all stick in his head, he can never seem to find out anything else. (AKA, that one modern AU where Luffy has Asperger's syndrome and hints of minor ADHD.) Drabbles

4. Numbers that Obey the Opposite Way

When Luffy first meets clocks, he is neutral of their existence.

They tick, and click, and turn around, and if he wanted to he could watch them and no-one would think it any different of them.

So there is a point in their favour.

However, others do not share his fascination, uncertain of what he waits for, and rush away when the clocks strike one or two, or three or four, Cinderellas in suits and jeans instead of ball gowns.

So there is a point against.

However, then he realises- that time was a concept that existed with a clock.

Sleeping Beauty obeyed the laws, sleeping for a hundred years, and Cinderella left the ball once she realised it was twelve 'o'clock.

But how did they know?

Clocks. So clocks are cool-

Until he realises that to understand them, you have to think. And now, he doesn't mind thinking – really, he doesn't – but for some reason, it doesn't click.

Maybe he's just not getting it explained the right way. Maybe it's just the clock itself, a bright yellow and red thing that you move the hands around on and try and guess the time;

But maybe the problem is in the fact that he's guessing. No matter what he tries to say, he gets the hands mixed up. Is it big that tells the hours, or is it little? What does it mean when they're both at opposite sides? And with the questions that buzz around in his head distracting him, he learns how to ignore clocks. The questions fade, and they start on fractions instead.

And percentages.

And shapes and addition and division and multiplication-

And each one takes him hours. Hours and hours of silence in the room when he's trying to figure out why he can't do anything right. Hours and hours that tick by on the clock face he can't read as he tries to memorise numbers that float away as soon as he goes to sleep.

He decides that he doesn't like clocks.

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AN: I have all of these typed up already so there is no fear of me not finishing. ^w^ Shameless self-promotion warning ahead~ I've got a whole bunch of other One Piece stories uploaded onto my profile, if you wanna go check those out, and I take requests/asks/general inquiries on my tumblr. (Imprisoning Eggs is one that I am very proud of in terms of general fluff-suffocation.)