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

5. Silence, Please

Turing Pages and Not Breathing (Silence in the Test, Please)

His first test really screws him over.

And he doesn't mean that in a nice way either. He's not really sure there can be a nice way to screw someone over so horribly, but if there was, he'd times it by five to get how much trouble this test got him into.

Where his forearm rests against the desk feels too warm, so he moves it to be cold and moves it again and can't get comfortable-

And scratches at his face with his pen, itches restlessly at the ants that crawl on his skin, and he can't help but fidget, scratching at his skin, staring at the sky, doodling on the side of his page, writing down answers when he knows them. Watching other people, with their heads bent low like dead flowers to their exams.

He gets in trouble for that, but he really did try his hardest! He really did try to get the answers written down, but the bell rang too early and he filled out most of the questions, anyway.

His attempts at passing the second test don't really go much better. Now that he knows there's some purpose to the mass madness that seems to have overtaken the teachers, he tries his best. His pen taps on his teeth when he pauses and he tries to concentrate, scrawling words in answer to the printed questions, but even as he does that he can hear pages flipping.

Pen nibs scratching the page, someone coughing, coughing- sneeze to break the silence, and he looks up, looks down.

Looks up, looks around.

Again and again, in a cycle set to drive him mad as he realises that they're all probably ahead of him. They're all probably getting the answers down faster than he is, solving them right, solving them right-

And that's always been his problem, hasn't it? He can't seem to do anything right.

He fails that test too, but only because his thoughts build up like ten tonne weights in his brain, pushing his head to the desk till he can't see the questions. Only black caterpillar blurs where there should've been letters, and even then he's only sure that's because he was three feet from crying.

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AN: Thank you pugslover and Loveinfire so so so much for your reviews, you have no idea how much it means to me. :3 I really appreciate and love every single one!