Stolen // One Piece

chapter thirty-two

Ace sat in the med-bay, staring at his little brother's lifeless face, as the sun sunk below the horizon, bathing the small room in a soft orange. Chopper's desk chair was uncomfortable, but Ace didn't care much, as long as he could sit and wait for Luffy to wake up.

Every now and then, Luffy would whimper and writhe, screwing his face up as his dreams twisted into what Ace could only imagine were memories of his experience with Bluejam. Each time this had happened so far, Ace had reached out to hold Luffy's hand and soothe his nightmares with soft cooing and reassuring him that he was safe. Then Luffy's face would relax, and his breathing would return to normal. Ace pulled his chair forward a bit so he could carefully massage the younger boy's head like he had done when they were children, rubbing small circles and increasing their size with each turn of his hand, before starting small again.

The door opened slowly, and Sabo softly padded in. Ace still hadn't apologized for the outburst yet. He ducked his head in embarrassment. From his peripheral vision, he could see Sabo setting a kitchen chair down next to the brunet. He sat down, and gently nudged Ace with a mug of coffee, which Ace had gladly accepted while Sabo cautiously drank his. A heavy silence hung in the air, clinging to Ace's body like a thick, sweaty shirt in the sun.

"Hey," Ace began, his voice a bit higher and squeakier than he had expected. Sabo chuckled.

"Hey," he replied, sipping the contents of his mug.

"He's been having nightmares." Ace nodded at the boy in the medical bed. "I hold his hand when he starts freaking out," he added, thankful his voice had returned to normal. Sabo nodded slowly.

"Bluejam?"

"From what he says in his sleep, yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"I'm going to kick that bastard's ass," Sabo mumbled, reaching out with his free hand to carefully push the hair out of his younger brother's sleeping face. "I should have ended Bluejam years ago. Before he could hurt you guys." Sabo met Ace's stare then, and the brunet sighed.

"You couldn't have known. This wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for what I said the other day, I didn't mean to blame you for what happened," he added, setting his now-empty mug on the desk behind him. Sabo shrugged.

"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't've responded so aggressively. I knew you were misdirecting your frustration, but I picked a fight with you and I'm sorry."

A moment passed.

"Are we cool now?" Ace asked, offering his free hand toward his brother. Sabo grasped it and smiled.

"Yeah, we're cool." Ace returned his smile.

At that moment, Luffy whimpered and stirred. His arms stretched outward and he yawned, before his eyelids fluttering open, and his eyes rolling to land on Sabo.

"Hey, Sabo," he said, his voice thick with drowsiness. A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as the blond reached to run his fingers through his little brother's hair again.

"Hey, buddy. How're you feeling?"

"Exhausted."

"Want some coffee?" Ace asked, smirking. Sabo chuckled and smiled at him. Luffy's eyes immediately shot over to the brunet, widening. They raked up and down the older man, once, twice, three times, before filling with tears.

While Luffy wanted to shout with joy, his tired, aching body was insistent on keeping him from doing so. Ace. Ace was alive. Had he been more awake, his tears would probably come in waterfalls rather than trickles, and Luffy would have probably attacked Ace with a hug tighter than what would be considered humanly possible. But all he could force his body to do was turn his head.

"Ace?" he choked out, slowly reaching his hand up toward him. The brunet smiled and clasped the outreached hand.

"Hi, Crybaby." Ace leaned down and carefully wrapped his arms around Luffy's damaged body, and planting a quick kiss on his brother's forehead. "It's good to see you," he added, before pulling away. Luffy sniffed.

"You too," he chuckled wetly. Sabo smiled and wiped the boy's face dry of tears, before leaning back. Luffy's eyelids began to droop, and sleep called his name again. He fought to stay awake as he looked up at his brothers. "How...?" his voice trailed off and Ace shook his head.

"We can talk about that later, but right now you should get some sleep, okay?" Luffy began to panic.

"No! I'm okay, I'll be fine." Ace held up his free hand in protest, quieting the younger boy down.

"I'll be here when you wake up," he said, as if he were reading Luffy's mind. "I promise. You won't be alone when you wake up again, okay?"

Luffy hesitated for a moment, before nodding and curling up in on himself. His eyelids fluttered closed as he mumbled, "I missed you."

Ace and Sabo watched quietly as Luffy's breathing slowed and became deeper. The room was now dark, as they moon had risen far above The Sunny, and no movement could be heard upstairs.

Sabo yawned. The effects of his coffee had worn off already, but he didn't much feel like getting up and going to get more. So, he shrugged and carefully crawled into the bed with Luffy, taking extra care to avoid rocking the bed too much. Ace, also rather tired, sighed and followed suit, cautiously crawling over both boys until he was pushed against the wall, and he laid down, wrapping his younger brother in his arms and looking over his head at the other. Sabo smiled warmly as he faced the brunet.

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I? Luffy's probably going to kick me off in the middle of the night," the blond whispered, lowering his eyelids to the sleeping nineteen year old in his arms. Ace grinned back at him before yawning.

"Most likely," he murmured in return, before letting his eyelids droop closed. Soon the brunet was fast asleep, and soon after Sabo followed his brothers into dream-land, finding the eldest brother's snoring soothing rather than annoying.

The door creaked open as Chopper stepped into the room, holding mugs of coffee.

"Oh, for the love of—really?" he set the mugs down on the desk and rolled his eyes at the three. He had wanted to check Luffy's wounds, but that would have been difficult with Sabo's arms draped across his body. He sighed in annoyance before pulling a blanket out from a desk drawer, and gently placing it over the sleeping brothers.

"Goodnight, I guess," he mumbled as he stepped back out of the room, though a small smile danced on his face.