Disclaimer: Nope. I do not own One Piece. I wish though.

...

Ace stared down into his coffee, the steam rising into his face as he inhaled the scent. It was currently eight in the damn morning, and he had not slept a bit last night. Now he had to be on watch for any narcolepsy episodes throughout his day. He counted himself lucky that it was Saturday, the weekend being his days away from college.

Of course, he didn't live in a college dorm, no way would he leave his little brother all alone in an apartment, without a stable job. Instead, Ace lived in an apartment with Luffy, while Ace worked three jobs to keep up with payment and other costly items. Besides, Luffy was still a highschool student with no other family to stay with, and if that wasn't reason enough, his little brother had... a disability.

Luffy had been blinded at an early age in both eyes.

Ace could remember the doctors giving Garp and his ten-year old past self the news of his little brothers condition. It was heart-breaking to see the devastation on Luffy's face at the news that he would never be able to see again. Of course Ace had helped Luffy adjust, and was there for his little brother whenever he needed him. Though even today, Luffy has his moments where he would just break down. Though it was very rare now, and Ace was grateful for that.

Ace came out of his musings and glanced at the clock on the kitchen stove, it read 9:27 am. Ace blinked in shock, had he really been thinking aimlessly for over an hour? Ace glanced down into his coffee and realized that the steam had stopped and the cup was cold now.

He grunted and stood up from his seat, sighing as he dumped out his cup of coffee, not in the mood for anything to drink anymore. He washed the cup and put it into a cup-board before exiting the kitchen to stand at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the bedrooms.

"Oi! Luffy, wake up already! I thought we had plans today!" Ace yelled from the downstairs level, hearing a groan and a door open and close. Ace waited a few more moments before he heard the shower turn on. Ace sighed and ran a hand through his hair, might as well check for any messages on his phone while he waited. As Ace flopped down on the long couch in his living room, he pulled out his cell phone and wasn't so surprised to see a text from Thatch.

From: Elvis

Hey buddy, you gotta check out the latest prank pulled on Marco!

Ace had to muffle his laughter into his palm when his phone showed him a video of what appeared to be Thatch knocking on Marco's door and backing up a few steps. The camera zoomed downward to see plastic wrap at knee level. When the door opened, Ace could only feel sorry for the sleepy blonde, because in the next second it showed Marco being dowsed with cold water from a simple plastic cup.

It didn't sound bad, but when Thatch started to run away with Marco on his tail, he of course tripped on the plastic wrap and tumbled face first.
And of course, it was all caught on camera. It wasn't necessarily the prank that was funny, it was the facial expression on Marco's face that did it for Ace. Ace quickly typed out a reply.

To: Elvis

You're such an evil bastard. Brilliant though, wish I could've been there.
Don't tell Marco I said that.

It wasn't often that Marco was actually fooled into a prank that was orchestrated by Thatch since he was so used to it. Ace rewatched the video of Marco, smirking. It was well known by everyone that Marco and he were a couple. It had only happened recently, a few months ago actually. Earlier in the year, Thatch had introduced his brother Marco to him at a party that Thatch had been hosting. After that, Marco and Ace had kept contact, and it had lead up to the both of them finding out about their feelings towards eachother. Ace sighed in content, he'd been happier than he ever had lately.

A blur of red flashed from the corner of his eyes before Ace was pounced on by a hyper-active teen that was giggling like mad. Ace 'oophed' and opened his eyes to see his little brother now full out laughing and claiming to have 'won', to what? Ace didn't know. He wrapped his arms around his brothers neck and rubbed his knuckles hard against the kids skull in a rough show of affection.

"Oi, Luffy! Warn a brother before you go jumping on them!" Ace scolded with a grin as Luffy laughed and said 'woops' before sliding off his brothers chest.

"Where's the fun in that? Shishishi, lets go Ace! I wanna go see the penguins!" Luffy yelled before using Ace's stomach as a launch-pad to jump over the couch and to the front door. He counted his brother lucky that he memorized where everything in the house was, otherwise he'd be running into everything. Ace grunted and chased after his little brother, knowing full well that a trip to the zoo with him, most likely would not end well. Honestly, they didn't need to be banned anywhere else.

Two hours later, a soaked Ace and Luffy were escorted from the local zoo to the parking lot. You would think that Luffy being blind, would excuse them from being exiled from the place, but no, the workers here were brutal.

"And what gave you the idea that jumping into the dolphin exhibit was a good idea? What if something had happened to you!" Ace yelled as he lead his little brother to the car, Luffy hitching a ride on Ace's back. Ace knew his little brother couldn't swim for his life.

"Shishishi, I knew you would be there if something wrong happened. Besides, they sounded like they were having fun, splashing around and stuff, so I thought I'd join em!" Luffy smiled and rested his chin on Ace's shoulder. Ace sighed and shifted Luffy higher on his back so he wouldn't fall off.

"What will I ever do with you?" A few moments passed and Luffy was silent. "So, you wanna head to lunch? Maybe we can invite Zoro or something, my treat by the way." Ace smiled softly as his little brother shouted out with glee, and held on tighter. Luffy might be a handful, as well as annoying, but he was his little brother, and Ace wouldn't imagine life without him.

...

Author's Note: Hello! I hope you liked the little introduction to this story. It's not the best, but hey, it was one in the morning when I typed it out, and than fanfiction wouldn't let me go onto my account, so I had to wait till today to upload it. Just my luck, right? I edited a few things. Hope you like it though. Review, telling me if I should continue. I'm thinking about it.