I come bearing a literary offering of the fictional sort.
Yes, there has been activity here! C'mon folks, join in the fun and flood the community with D. love! Oh. >> And on a side note, I just ordered an Ace x Luffy doujinshi. So hopefully I can get that scanned and posted whenever it finally arrives from overseas. :D
Title: Little Boys Real Men and Mudpies
Word Count: 820
Rating: G
Pairing: Pre- Ace x Luffy
Disclaimer: I sometimes wish they were mine, but they're not...
Summary: Set shortly after Luffy ate the Devil’s Fruit in canon. There is a good reason why you're not supposed to let your younger brother run off and play in the mud, Ace...
___________________________________________________________
Another wet shirt, another clothespin plucked from the depths of a pre-adolescent pocket… Ace grudgingly returned to the never-emptying basket at his feet. He hated laundry day. I am ten years old and practically a *man*, he grumbled to himself. Real men don’t do laundry. He’d rather be off mooching food from the villagers, or playing pirates with Luffy… Which reminded him: if Makino found out that the younger boy had wandered off *again* while Ace was supposed to be watching him, she’d promised a healthy application of willow switch to his backside.
“Ace~!” Wiping his damp hands against the worn denim of his jeans, Ace turned to see the boy in question huffing and puffing his way up the path to their modest cottage. “Ace~!”
The older boy blinked and looked closer. Was that…?
Luffy skidded to a stop, the mud his brother had hoped was only a figment of his imagination smeared over the small boy like some obscene body paint. Clutched in his small hands was a lump of the stuff, decorated with leaves and what might have been a daisy. Slapping it into a more proper shape, Luffy bowed and politely held it out, still panting from his run. “For… for Ace.”
Oh *no*. “Umm. What is it?”
“It’s a mud pie; Taisuke showed me how to make them. And it’s for big brother.” Mud-stained fingers thrust the mushy mess towards Ace again, eyes shining with pride.
Ace sighed. He knew the only way to keep a hurt pout from that cheerful face was to take… *that*. “You didn’t eat any of it, did you?”
Wide brown eyes blinked almost comically. “No, ‘cause it’s a *present*. You’re not supposed to eat presents.”
Normally, unless your name happens to be Luffy. Relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with another lecture on not allowing his younger brother to eat whatever the heck he felt like stuffing into his mouth, Ace gingerly accepted the squishy blob with a bow of his own before setting it safely aside. “Thank you very much. It’s, uh, nice.”
“So… you like it?”
“…Um. Yes?”
“Yay yay yay!” Luffy broke into a flailing sort of dance, obliviously flinging splatters of mud as his happy celebration bounced him dangerously close to the clean laundry.
“Whoa, not so-”
“You liked it you liked it you liked it YAY!” And suddenly all thoughts of the laundry were driven from his mind as the muddy bundle of energy launched itself into his arms, plastering them together with a sticky *splat*. “I didn’t know if you’d like it-”
“Luffy.”
“-or if you’d get mad when I came back all messy-”
“*Luffy*.”
“-and I wasn’t sure if it was the right kind of mud-”
Ace groaned and gave up, wrapping his arms around his brother and deciding to ignore the now-shared mess. Luffy jabbered on about how he’d made it and all of the things he’d put in it to make it good, bare feet balanced precariously atop his brother’s sandaled ones; the older boy just smiled and walked them out of the danger zone, step by shuffling step.
Luffy quit talking long enough to suck in a much-needed breath. “-but big brother *liked* it.” Small hands grabbed and wound themselves in the soiled material of Ace’s t-shirt as a muddy face nuzzled into his stomach. “I’m glad.”
“You’re cute, that’s what you are.” Ace chuckled and ruffled Luffy’s hair good-naturedly, trying not to mind how the mud made dark locks stick up in strange and gritty tufts.
His brother’s answering growl thrummed against his abdomen. “Not cute. Manly.”
The older boy laughed. “Manly, then. But either way, we both need a bath now.”
“…Real men don’t take baths.”
“Real men don’t do laundry either, but if we don’t do *both* Makino is gonna have our hides, and we won’t get *lunch*.”
Luffy rarely moved as fast as he did when food was threatened, and this time was no exception. Clothing flew through the air as the younger boy stripped on the run, one rubbery arm stretching forward to rocket him through the doorway with the barest glimpse of sunlight off of a pale bottom. Shaking his head, Ace followed along and gathered the discarded clothing in his arms before tossing the whole muddy mess into a heap by the door, stripping down himself. He’d finish the laundry after he’d taken care of the munchkin running noisily through the house. Thump. Tha-thump. *Crash*. “Ace! Help, please!”
Real men probably didn’t have to watch their seven-year-old brothers take a bath so they wouldn’t drown, either. But how many could say that they had a Devil’s Fruit user in the family? Ace was sure that taking care of such a spastic rubber boy like Luffy had to earn him man points *somewhere*.
“Ow ow OW! Hot!”
“Luffy! You’re supposed to *wait* for me, remember?”
Or at least he hoped so.
Title: Little Boys Real Men and Mudpies
Word Count: 820
Rating: G
Pairing: Pre- Ace x Luffy
Disclaimer: I sometimes wish they were mine, but they're not...
Summary: Set shortly after Luffy ate the Devil’s Fruit in canon. There is a good reason why you're not supposed to let your younger brother run off and play in the mud, Ace...
___________________________________________________________
Another wet shirt, another clothespin plucked from the depths of a pre-adolescent pocket… Ace grudgingly returned to the never-emptying basket at his feet. He hated laundry day. I am ten years old and practically a *man*, he grumbled to himself. Real men don’t do laundry. He’d rather be off mooching food from the villagers, or playing pirates with Luffy… Which reminded him: if Makino found out that the younger boy had wandered off *again* while Ace was supposed to be watching him, she’d promised a healthy application of willow switch to his backside.
“Ace~!” Wiping his damp hands against the worn denim of his jeans, Ace turned to see the boy in question huffing and puffing his way up the path to their modest cottage. “Ace~!”
The older boy blinked and looked closer. Was that…?
Luffy skidded to a stop, the mud his brother had hoped was only a figment of his imagination smeared over the small boy like some obscene body paint. Clutched in his small hands was a lump of the stuff, decorated with leaves and what might have been a daisy. Slapping it into a more proper shape, Luffy bowed and politely held it out, still panting from his run. “For… for Ace.”
Oh *no*. “Umm. What is it?”
“It’s a mud pie; Taisuke showed me how to make them. And it’s for big brother.” Mud-stained fingers thrust the mushy mess towards Ace again, eyes shining with pride.
Ace sighed. He knew the only way to keep a hurt pout from that cheerful face was to take… *that*. “You didn’t eat any of it, did you?”
Wide brown eyes blinked almost comically. “No, ‘cause it’s a *present*. You’re not supposed to eat presents.”
Normally, unless your name happens to be Luffy. Relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with another lecture on not allowing his younger brother to eat whatever the heck he felt like stuffing into his mouth, Ace gingerly accepted the squishy blob with a bow of his own before setting it safely aside. “Thank you very much. It’s, uh, nice.”
“So… you like it?”
“…Um. Yes?”
“Yay yay yay!” Luffy broke into a flailing sort of dance, obliviously flinging splatters of mud as his happy celebration bounced him dangerously close to the clean laundry.
“Whoa, not so-”
“You liked it you liked it you liked it YAY!” And suddenly all thoughts of the laundry were driven from his mind as the muddy bundle of energy launched itself into his arms, plastering them together with a sticky *splat*. “I didn’t know if you’d like it-”
“Luffy.”
“-or if you’d get mad when I came back all messy-”
“*Luffy*.”
“-and I wasn’t sure if it was the right kind of mud-”
Ace groaned and gave up, wrapping his arms around his brother and deciding to ignore the now-shared mess. Luffy jabbered on about how he’d made it and all of the things he’d put in it to make it good, bare feet balanced precariously atop his brother’s sandaled ones; the older boy just smiled and walked them out of the danger zone, step by shuffling step.
Luffy quit talking long enough to suck in a much-needed breath. “-but big brother *liked* it.” Small hands grabbed and wound themselves in the soiled material of Ace’s t-shirt as a muddy face nuzzled into his stomach. “I’m glad.”
“You’re cute, that’s what you are.” Ace chuckled and ruffled Luffy’s hair good-naturedly, trying not to mind how the mud made dark locks stick up in strange and gritty tufts.
His brother’s answering growl thrummed against his abdomen. “Not cute. Manly.”
The older boy laughed. “Manly, then. But either way, we both need a bath now.”
“…Real men don’t take baths.”
“Real men don’t do laundry either, but if we don’t do *both* Makino is gonna have our hides, and we won’t get *lunch*.”
Luffy rarely moved as fast as he did when food was threatened, and this time was no exception. Clothing flew through the air as the younger boy stripped on the run, one rubbery arm stretching forward to rocket him through the doorway with the barest glimpse of sunlight off of a pale bottom. Shaking his head, Ace followed along and gathered the discarded clothing in his arms before tossing the whole muddy mess into a heap by the door, stripping down himself. He’d finish the laundry after he’d taken care of the munchkin running noisily through the house. Thump. Tha-thump. *Crash*. “Ace! Help, please!”
Real men probably didn’t have to watch their seven-year-old brothers take a bath so they wouldn’t drown, either. But how many could say that they had a Devil’s Fruit user in the family? Ace was sure that taking care of such a spastic rubber boy like Luffy had to earn him man points *somewhere*.
“Ow ow OW! Hot!”
“Luffy! You’re supposed to *wait* for me, remember?”
Or at least he hoped so.