Chapter 10: Of Brothers and Randomness

Summary: Random moments in the lives of the D Brothers. Modern AU. Plot less humor.

Phone call

Portgas D. Ace was not overprotective. Despite what his friends thought. And his classmates. And his teachers. And even random strangers sometimes. But Ace was not overprotective. Just whenever he left Luffy alone in the house, without anyone, not even his friends around, he got a little worried. So he called him. A lot.

"Ace, chill out, will you? It's been like half an hour since you last talked to him! Kid's fine! Relax!"

"Shut up, Thatch. I have a bad feeling. I need to check on him." Ignoring the other man's sigh, he hit the dial button and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"He's not answering the phone," Ace stated, a look of terror crossing his face. "He's not answering the damn phone!"

Thatch frowned, not quite believe his friend's fears would actually be convinced. "What? Seriously? Where did you call?"

"Home," he replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Maybe he stepped outside for a second. Try his cellphone."

"Right, right!" Ace quickly did as told, holding his breath as he waited for his little brother to pick it up. It took quite a few rings but eventually a familiar voice was heard from the other line.

"Hello…?"

Relief washed over the freckled man, before quickly turning into rage. "Luffy! Where the hell were you?!"

Thatch leaned closer to the guy, pressing his ear against the phone to hear what had happened to the younger boy. He had met him quite a few times and had grown quite close to him. If something had happened to him, he'd like to know.

It took a few moments for Luffy to reply, in all seriousness…

"In the bathroom."

If he had said anything else after that, Ace couldn't have heard him over Thatch's loud guffawing next to him.

Halloween

Luffy loved Halloween. Thatch would always organize this huge party and invite him and his friends as well. So he could get to spend the night with both his brothers and his nakama. Also the dressing up in costumes was just plain awesome.

This year he was going as a pirate. Zoro would be dressing up as a samurai, while Nami was going to be cat woman. Chopper had puzzled them all, saying he had a reindeer costume this year. Their blue haired friend, Franky, who would be a robot this time, had also told him that Usopp would be Pinocchio, Brook a skeleton, Sanji a little devil and Robin would actually try to dress up as the goddess Kali, much to everyone's surprise.

What Luffy didn't know was his brothers' plans. However Ace had promised they'd come pick him up so he was going to find out soon enough.

He was just adding the finishing touches to his outfit, when his phone rang. The teen practically bounced over to the coffee table, where he had left it and cheerfully answered. "Hello~?"

"Lu, are you ready? I'll be there in five minutes."

"Ace… What are you dressed as? Tell me!"

"Can't, lil bro. It's a surprise."

A groan came from Luffy's side of the phone. "What about Sabo?"

"Sabo…" Ace sighed deeply, making his kid brother frown. "Sabo's dead."

Luffy froze, mouth agape, eyes wide and disbelieving. "Y-you… you serious?"

"Yeah… I'm almost there. Talk to you soon."

With that he hung up the phone, leaving his sibling to stare in shock at nothing, his brain failing to process the information correctly.

Five minutes later, Ace walked in the house to find Luffy huddled on the couch, unshed tears gathered in his eyes. His brother senses screamed at him and he rushed over to the younger, wondering what could have possibly gone wrong in the short time between hanging up and coming here.

"Luffy? Luffy? What happened? What's wrong?"

"S-S-Sabo's….Sabo's d-d-dead… You said…"

Ace gave his brother an incredulous look before he realized what the problem was. "Oh. Oh. Oh, shit. Luffy, no…. That… Whoops. That was my bad."

The blonde man standing by the doorway rubbed his temples in frustration, thinking that if he really had been a zombie and it wasn't just his costume, then with those brothers he would certainly starve.

Video Games

"It's raining," Luffy stated with a pout.

Ace didn't bother looking up from his book. "I am aware of it."

"Nii-chan," the younger boy whined and Ace knew the peace and quiet was officially over. "I'm bored! Let's do something!" He strode over to the couch the other was sitting on and promptly plopped down next to him. "Come on!"

With a sigh, he turned to look at his brother. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know… Oh! Let's play a game."

Not seeing anything wrong with that idea, the freckled man turned on the console and handed him a controller. He picked a fairly straightforward fighting game, where the two brothers would have to clear out some stages with their chosen characters. Luffy picked a character that could manipulate fire with the excuse that it reminded him of Ace. For some reason.

Now, Ace had played his fair share of games with his kid brother, but it was the first time they played this one together. Nothing could have prepared him for Luffy's… excited ways.

"Woo-hoo! I'm on fire! Literally! Ace, Ace, look! I have wings of fire! COOL!"

"Come on! Burn, burn, BURN!"

"OUT OF THE WAY! OUT OF THE WAY! I'LL TURN YOU INTO A BARBEQUE! MOVE!"

His brother didn't know whether to be worried for the kid or just enjoy the hilarity of this enthusiasm.

When twenty minutes later that enthusiasm broke the controller, Ace decided to just kill him.

A/N: Randomness, FTW! It's not even that funny, really. More like stupid. You can't blame me, it's really late and I'm really tired and I honestly don't know what I'm writing half of the time. Anyway, hope it wasn't too bad. By the way, there's a poll in my profile about your favorite chapter in this story. If you have time, check it out!