His fingers tapped an unsteady rhythm against his leg, accompanied by the slow munch as he got through the last crust of what'd previously been a peanut butter sandwich. Brushing off his hands, and shrugging on his bag again, Sabo hesitantly unfolded his legs from the crossed position he'd kept them in before, so that anyone who'd peeked under the bathroom stall wouldn't have been able to see his feet.

For such a posh school, it did seem to collect in an inordinate amount of bullies.

As he hadn't heard anyone come in while he'd been eating, Sabo unlocked the door and escaped, double-checking the hallway before he headed for the back entrance to the school. It may've been longer travelling through the edgeway by the tennis courts, but it was also easier to avoid anyone if you went that way, too.

He'd stayed behind to talk to the science teacher the session before lunch, and so had been caught out and hadn't had time to eat. He hadn't forgotten that, considering how much his side ached during maths, and had quickly scampered to the bathrooms to eat his lunch before he headed home.

His parents most likely wouldn't even notice he was late; they were both working overtime, like they always did during the week. On the weekends it was all business functions, but those he was dragged along to and paraded in front of ladies that his parents were quite obviously attempting to get him to flirt with.

"Damn it, Ace," he grumbled, a bittersweet smile tugging his lips. "You sure did pick a bad time to leave me on my own."

Shifting his backpack over his shoulders, and watching the shadow of the leaves dance along the path, Sabo didn't notice that someone was blocking the path until he'd almost banged into them.

Leaping back as a pair of sandaled feet came into view, Sabo bought his fists up and glared, hoping that he looked a bit more threatening than he actually did.

"Oy! What the hell are you doing?" He demanded, trying to figure out if he had enough space to sprint past the red-shirted guy in front of him, or if he'd have to make a break for it back to school.

He'd consider fighting, seeing as Ace'd started to teach him some moves but-

They hadn't gotten very far before the freckled teen's... accident.

Black-hair looked exceptionally relaxed for someone standing on private property, and Sabo tried not to let any hint of nerves show on his features.

"Do-," the stranger started, before he stopped, pausing and narrowing his eyes at Sabo. "You'know, you look really familiar."

Sabo blinked, staring at him with a hint of confusion on his features.."What? I've never seen you before in my life."

"Really? Are you sure? Hey, did you know Ace?"

Sabo started, surprise crossing his face, and watched as black-hair lit up, practically glowing.

"I knew I knew you from somewhere! You're in-," The dark-haired boy paused, his excitement fading somewhat, but he continued none the less. "His wallet. He had a picture of his brother in there. That makes you Sabo, yeah? I'm Luffy!"

Sabo raised his eyebrow, nodding slowly and suspiciously. "Riiight," he drawled, relaxing slightly, but still on edge – possibly even more so, now that this guy'd revealed he knew Sabo's name. "How do you know Ace?"

"He was my brother, too. And he always said that he'd introduce me to you, but he never did." Luffy pouted again, sighing slightly, and his eyes flicked to the side, his next words mumbled. "So I figured it out myself. I just wanted to talk about Ace with someone who knew him like I did, that's all."

Sabo blinked, surprised at the honesty in the boy's voice, and made his decision, leaving little time to regret it. "Well, I have half-an-hour to walk home in. Are you coming?"

Luffy blinked, before lighting up again, happily frolicking to walk next to Sabo, and chattering his ear off.

Almost thirty minutes later, and they'd traded stories of every description, some about themselves, but mostly about their missing brother.

Then, the conversation changed.

"Why'dyah look so grumpy?"

"What do you mean, 'why do I look grumpy'? I really don't believe that you have any grasp on my emotional state at all."

Luffy pouted, folding his arms and looking distinctly sulky from the corner of Sabo's eye, before demanding; "Says who?"

"Well me, quite honestly. And as they're my emotions, I'm the leading expert." Sabo felt a small smile threaten his passive features at their silly banter, but quite firmly refused to show it, unwilling to give the boy any more ammunition to base his theories off of.

Noting that they'd almost passed his street, Sabo stopped and turned to Luffy, matter-of-factly getting ready to dismiss the boy.

"Anyway, this is-"

Luffy kissed him, cutting off the words, and Sabo's eyes widened in surprise; they fluttered, as he tried to reconcile reality with what was currently happening, but no matter how many times he blinked nothing changed.

Luffy's grin when he pulled away was absolutely devilish, and Sabo was ninety percent sure that the boy'd been just waiting to do that. "What're you emotions telling you now? 'Cause I think they're going nuts."

Still shell-shocked, and confused by the sudden kiss, the blond could barely do more than blink, before his brain finally clicked back into gear.

"Hey- what-," He started, shaking his head and feeling tingles race around his body like he'd ingested a kilo of pop rocks. "Oy, Luffy-"

"Eh!" Luffy's eyes widened in panic as he grabbed Sabo's wrist, checking his watch, and his face morphed into one that closely resembled the phrase 'oh shit.' "I'd better go, I'm late for Sanji! See you later, Sabo!"

About to bolt away, Sabo switched their grip, sliding his wrist around so that he grabbed Luffy instead of the other way around, and firmly tugged the other boy closer. Luffy half-tripped, his momentum suddenly changed, and landed ungracefully in Sabo's arms. Sabo almost fell over at that, but recovered quickly, giving Luffy a taste of his own treatment, stealing a kiss.

Their teeth clicked, and their noses smushed into each other, Sabo not exactly being a master of surprising someone with a kiss (or even kissing at all,) but when Luffy realised what was going on, his initial surprise fading, a laugh bubbled between their lips and he angled it properly, peppering tiny kisses on Sabo's lips that made him want to chuckle.

Kissing a boy in the middle of his street? That was something he'd never thought he'd do, honestly.

Pulling away took time, Luffy refusing to stop until he'd apparently laid something like a hundred kisses over Sabo's lips, and Sabo unwilling to shove him off, but separate they finally did, Luffy looking breathless and grinning, and Sabo unable to fight back his own smile this time.

"I guess I'll see you later, then," Sabo said, lips tugging upwards, and he fixed his bag over his shoulder.

Luffy nodded eagerly, puppy-like and excited, and Sabo almost laughed again, waving goodbye as he headed the last few blocks to his house.

"Bye Sabo!" Luffy called from behind him, before his feet pounded away in the opposite direction.

Sabo's fingertips fluttered to graze his lips, which still tingled. Well.

This was going to be a fun development.

(He didn't think about what might've happened if he hadn't met Luffy when he did.)

AN: ^w^ Request on tumblr for SaboLu and the song "Nothing to Lose." The song itself is really sad and I kinda wanted to make this sadder?

As you can see, that didn't happen.

Feel free to leave a request or an ask on my tumblr, AuthenticAussie! also, poll on my profile that I really really would like answered, please.