Some days were better than others, easier, but today was not one of those days. Today had started with one disaster after another. It began with Ace rolling out of his delightfully comfortable bed to the sound of his phone blaring at 5am. As a firefighter it wasn't too uncommon to be woken up at all hours for an emergency. It had only taken him a moment to orient himself before resigning himself to leaving his bed and another to be out the door. This time a fire had started in a residential home and by the time Ace and his crew had arrived on the scene the house had nearly collapsed and it was all they could do to keep it the fire from spreading.

As it turned out, the loss of the home would be a minor setback for the family. Since once they had the fire put out and the house inspected they found out that grandmother had been sleeping in basement when the fire started and hadn't made it out. The only conciliation Ace had been able to offer the family was that she had died in her sleep from the smoke inhalation and hadn't burned to death. Needless to say the family had not found that to be much of a consolation.

After standing through the family's grief filled shouts and accusations, he had dragged himself back to the station to fill out the paperwork at around 10pm. He had needed to file a report for a complete investigation for the reason behind the fire, due to the death. The police department would also need to get involved if anything unusual turned up.

By noon he had been ready to grab some breakfast, or lunch, and knock out for a few hours before finishing for the day. Unfortunately that was not how his day had gone. Marco the acting chief, the old man left him in charge when he needed to be elsewhere, had caught a mistake in his paper work. The mistake had been minor, a classification error. But to fix the mistake he would have to redo the paperwork. Really, he had been lucky Marco had caught it before it had gone out. It would have been a huge headache to correct in a week from now when it became a problem. But that meant another hour spent on paperwork before he could get some rest or food.

It was about 1:30 now. He had finished his paperwork and he was ready to pass out without the food. 'Really that alone should let everyone understand just how tired he was'. On the bright side he was heading to the lockers now ready to _

"Ace, you_ Ace. Ace!" Marcos voice filtered in and out like he was talking from miles away. He lifted his head from the locker he was currently slumped against to peer up at Marco. Marco was leaning sideways one locker to his right. 'Hmmm when did he get there?' He thought blearily. The room shifted as he pushed away from the lockers. 'Damn' He felt like he was drunk or something.

"You take your meds today?" Marco asked a few minutes later when Ace had pushed himself into a standing position.

'Fair question. Had he?' He could remember waking up to the alarm and his boyfriend complaints about the hour and mumbling something about meat. 'But that could have just been him dreaming.'

Marco rolled his eyes at Ace's distant look. "Never mind. You should get home already and get some sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, no problem." Except now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember taking his narcolepsy pills and he really shouldn't drive if that was the case. He quickly looked around for his phone before realizing he had left it at home in his morning rush. "Shit. What time is it?"

"Just after 2:40." Marco pushed off the lockers. 'Damn, so he had knocked out… really he should have realized it the second Marco woke him up.'

"Need a ride?" Marco had known him long enough now to be able to tell when he had taken his pills and when he hadn't. He would also know when he might be reckless enough to attempt the drive home anyways. But today he was definitely not going to try it.

Though he really didn't want to take Marco away from the station. He was acting chief for the entire week and didn't have the time. Ace truly owed the old man Whitebeard, the chief of the station, too much to let Marco walk away from his station even if neither of the two men would fault him for it.

"No, if I can borrow your phone I'll get Luffy to pick me up. He doesn't have work today." He sat down on the bench as Marco handed over his phone with a 'No problem.'

"Just drop it off on your way out, yoi." Marco called back as he left the locker room.

Once Luffy promised to be there in 30 minutes, Ace dropped off the phone and thanked Marco. With half an hour to kill, Ace took a quick horrifyingly bone chillingly cold shower to wake himself up and get some of the smoke smell off of himself. He headed outside the station afterwards and sat to the far right of the building on the stone steps. He figured that would be the best option in case he conked out again and Luffy couldn't find him.

Really he hated his narcolepsy. It was a genetic case and had only ever given him problems since presenting itself in his teens at the orphanage. If there was something Ace hated it was having to be dependent on others or something. And his 'condition' made certain he needed to depend on his drugs at the very least and people whenever he was forgetful. His hate for his narcolepsy was second only to his dislike for his dead beat dad. The father had given Ace nothing but his 'condition' and the faded memory of his now dead mother.

'Family, that's a touchy subject…' he remembered the tear stricken faces of the family from this morning. They had gone to sleep as a secure cuddly unit only to wake up in a rush of panic and flames. They had been depending on him, waited for him, for a firefighter to save their grandmother. They had trusted in people they had never meet only to be let down. He had become a firefighter to make some use out of his cliché orphanage life and he hadn't even been able to put out a standard house fire. 'Maybe the lady had a point. What use was he?'

"Ace!~" He shot up and looked around widely. 'When Luffy sounded like that it could only mean…'

"Umphhh…" 'Too late.' He thought rubbing the back of his head. A lanky body had shoved him into the building he was sitting against as Luffy made himself comfortable on the lap he had just thrown himself into.

"Opps. Hi, Ace!" Luffy chirped smiling at him like they hadn't seen one another in days and like he hadn't nearly given Ace a concussion. Ace couldn't help smiling back. He tried to build up some frustration at being shoved into a wall, he really did but with Luffy it really was just wasted. That and he didn't have the energy for it and it felt nice to have Luffy in his arms again.

Luffy threw his arms around Aces shoulders as Ace dropped his hands to his hips. "I missed you. I keep trying to call you but then I heard your phone ringing."

'How many times did he call it before he figured that out?' Ace sweat dropped.

"Yeah, yeah missed you too." Luffy grinned even wider and pressed a quick chaste kiss to his lips.

Ace tried to keep the blush off his face at the more obvious PDA but considering the slightly smug look Luffy's smile had gained he hadn't been successful.

"Where did you park the car?" He grumbled as he got up, letting Luffy fall off his lap.

Luffy now laying on the grass next to the steps simply pointed to the street. "It's right there silly Ace."

Looking at where Luffy pointed, Ace saw that while yes, the car was 'right there', parked wasn't the word Ace would use to describe the situation.

"Luffy." He said conversationally.

"Hmm" Luffy looked up at him with a smile.

"Is the car still running?" 'Wait that's not right.' "Actually, what have I said about leaving the keys in the car?"

"Um, not to do it when the cars turned off. But Ace, the cars still on and this way we can leave right away." Luffy got up and pulled the speechless Ace towards the car. 'Does he really think that's better?!'

"Come on Ace, you're so slow today."

By the time they made it back to their apartment, Ace was ready to knock out. He wasn't even sure how they had gotten back home and thankfully in one piece. Ace was pretty sure the only way Luffy had gotten his driver's license was because one of the annoying workers there idolized him.

'Dumbass green puck doesn't know when to back off.' He shed his clothes as he dropped into the bed leaving only his boxers. Luffy had disappeared into the kitchen the minute they had entered. Probably to clean out the fridge. The bed had never felt more inviting as Ace sunk into the comforter and fluffy blankets. 'It feels so nice~. Time for sleep.'

20 minutes later and Ace was still awake. 'Of all times for his narcolepsy to not kick in.' But this wasn't that unusual, most narcoleptic fits for Ace only happened when he was comfortable or relaxed and he had been anything but since the locker incident. 'Mostly because his damn brain kept repeating the grief filled words of the women from this morning.' 'What use was he?'

Usually this stuff didn't get to him but her words echoed the ones he had asked himself for at least a decade now. Growing up in an orphanage had not been the ideal childhood and he had been a prime example of a problem child. He had lashed out at everyone and anyone. He didn't even want to consider what would have happened to him if he hadn't run into a clingy brat and Whitebeard.

Whitebeard had given him a purpose and a place to belong at the age of 17. First, as a volunteer and then as an employee at the station with friends and co-workers. But it had been that brat, Luffy, that he had meet at 15 who had opened him up enough to be able to accept what Whitebeard and the people at the station had offered to him. But what good was he to them when all he amounted to was a narcoleptic mess that needed meds to function.

The bed dipped as someone crawled in. He turned onto his back to see what Luffy was up to. And came face to face with Luffy. He was leaning over Ace as he knelt on the bed with one hand by Ace's shoulder and the other holding a plate almost on top of his head.

"Oh, good Ace is still awake." Luffy chirped.

"That is not good Luffy." He sat up with a sigh regardless, taking the plate from Luffy and pulling him up to sit next to him. It wasn't like he was going to get any sleep anytime soon.

"I made you some food." Luffy leaned against him. "But don't worry it's just a sandwich."

'Oh thank god.' He'd had enough fires for one day. He was touched that the bottomless pit had thought to get him something to eat. Though why it would take Luffy 20 minutes to make a sandwich was beyond him.

"Thanks, Lu." He had almost forgotten how hungry he had been earlier and knew that even if he managed to fall asleep now his stomach would wake him up in about 5 hours. After scarfing the sandwich down, he dropped back down and Luffy followed him. A minute later Ace could feel a soft tugging at his hair, meaning Luffy was messing with it again.

He wasn't sure when Luffy had picked up the habit of 'styling or combing' his hair but he only did it in quieter moments and he was always uncharacteristically gentle. Ace never tried to stop him. He might not admit it openly but it always soothed him. Sometimes he wondered if Luffy did it when he thought Ace was getting into his own head too much. He couldn't help the soft smile that tugged at his lips at the thought. 'That would be like him.'

"Ace is okay, right?" For a second he wasn't sure the soft whisper had come from the usually loud boy.

He turned around to face Luffy and the hand fell away from his hair. Luffy was on his right side facing him now with his hand lying in the inches between them. He looked as concerned as Ace had ever seen him. He reached out to touch Luffy's check running his thumb over the scar under his eye

"Yeah, I'm fine just tired. What about you?" He didn't know what was running through Luffy's head but the kid was worrying about something and that wasn't like him at all. Luffy usually didn't have the concentration to focus on anything for more than a few minutes.

Luffy reached up and covered the hand on his check and brought it up to his mouth and kissed the palm. At Ace's surprised look, he spoke.

"I don't like it when you leave before the morning and I wake up alone. I know you have too and that;s okay. Just I don't know where you are and if you're okay and it scary." When Ace moved to say something Luffy cut him off in a rush. "You're always taking care of me whenever I need something or someone and I need Ace, I know I do. But I want to do things for you too and sometimes you look sad and I don't know what to do too make you feel better and I want to be there for you too. 'Cause I love you and need _"

This time Ace cut him off but surging forward to close the distance between them and press his lips against Luffy's. He opened his mouth to feel the answering heat of Luffy against him and swallowed the answering moan. Luffy pressed against the entirety of him and he felt the burning in his body spreading until he could feel it the fingertips buried in Luffy's hair. When the kiss turned soft and lazy Ace let Luffy pull away for air and touched his forehead to Luffy's.

'He really is adorable.' He thought with a soft smile as Luffy looked back up at him, face flushed and panting lightly. 'And I'm such an idiot. Luffy answered that question years ago.'

"Idiot, you should know I'll always come back to you. So you're not alone and besides you have your friends to keep you company." He pressed a finger to Luffy's lips when he made to utter an anger "It's not the same!"

"Yeah, Yeah I know" He said with a half-smile. "And you do things for me all the time just by being here."

He might hate to be dependent on anything but some people were worth depending on.

"You know I love you too." Luffy was still frowning at him seriously but he couldn't help the growing smile on his face. "What is it now?"

Luffy flopped onto his back and stared at the celling. "I still don't know what to do." He huffed "Being here is too easy."

He couldn't help it, he laughed and dragged Luffy over to him placing his head on his chest and getting comfortable. "Fine. If you want something to do you can be my pillow to help me fall asleep."

"Huh, does Ace want me to tell him a bed time story?"

'The brat.' Ace couldn't see his face but that was definitely a smirk he heard.

"Shut up and let me sleep. Pillows don't talk." He said too lazy to lift his head or move anymore.

The quiet "Shishishishi" and soft feeling of fingers running threw his hair was the last thing he felt before falling asleep.

Okay, so this is my first fic and of my ultimate Otp. This fic started out as a sort of project to test the speed of my writing, I'm going to need to write a few papers a week soon. But it ended up just proving that my cynical self is just the sappiest sap which ever did sap. Oh, also the prompt for this thing was completely different. I don't even know how this one-shot ended up this way but Ace just wouldn't cooperate. Anyways please feel free to review and ignore the author's ramblings.