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4:03 flashes at Ace at the top of his phone as he scrolls through the list of university courses, eyes almost glazed over. He’s not really reading, just scanning for something that would meet the literature requirement for Luffy’s first semester.
It’d been an almost grueling several hours trying to help Luffy pick what classes to take, and after this long, Ace and Sabo had managed to narrow it down to only one more class they needed to figure out. But this seemed to be the one Luffy was struggling with the most. No matter what they suggested, Luffy refused. It sounded too boring, or it was too early in the morning, or the workload sounded like too much; Luffy’s excuses were endless, and Ace is beginning to wonder if they’ll actually be able to find something that meets Luffy’s standards.
“How about this one?” Sabo holds out his phone screen toward Luffy, gesturing to a course description with one finger. “It doesn’t sound too boring and seems to have a bit more focus on creative freedom.”
Unfortunately, Luffy takes one look at it and shakes his head, pouting. “I don’t like the teacher’s name.”
“Professor,” Ace corrects, but a second later he processes Luffy’s reasoning and gives his brother an incredulous look. “Really, Luf? The name is a factor now?”
“You’re telling me you’d take a course taught by,” Luffy pauses to squint at Sabo’s screen again, “Professor Gecko? He sounds like a weirdo. No thanks.”
Ace bites his cheek, trying not to laugh. In his defense, Gecko Moria is a pretty unique name.
“Huh, he looks weird, too,” Sabo mutters, having searched the name on the university’s website to find the professor’s profile. Shaking his head, he sighs and returns to his tab with the list of courses offered for the upcoming semester. “C’mon, Luffy, you need to pick something. They won’t let you register otherwise.”
Puffing up his chest, Luffy huffs, “Well, maybe I just won’t register, then.”
“That’s definitely an option,” Sabo says, sharing a look with Ace. “If you really can’t pick, maybe it would be better if you didn’t go.”
“Though it’d prove Gramps was right,” Ace adds. He watches Luffy twitch at the mention of their grandfather. “But if you decided you didn’t care that he thought you wouldn’t be able to get through college, then it wouldn’t be a problem-”
“Fine, whatever, I’ll just sign up for that one!!” Luffy interrupts, slamming his hand on the dining room table. Sabo raises an eyebrow. “Give me the course code before I change my mind!” Sabo reads it off one number at a time so Luffy can type it in, and after that, Luffy submits his form on the student portal.
“So this’ll be my schedule?” he asks, turning back to his brothers.
Ace nods. “Unless one of ‘em fills up, in which case you might end up waitlisted.” As a scowl starts to form on Luffy’s face, he hastens to amend, “I don’t think you need to worry about that, though, since the classes you signed up for still had a bunch of open seats. I’d be shocked if you didn’t get in.”
Sabo voices his agreement with Ace’s assessment, but Luffy still doesn’t look convinced. Or maybe the stress of spending hours looking at college courses had caught up with him because in the next minute, he slams his laptop closed, abruptly stands up, and stalks off to the bedroom.
Ace glances at Sabo, who sighs and shrugs. They wordlessly get up to trail after their brother.
Luffy had simply gone and face-planted onto his bed. It’s a tough call to decide whether being left to his own devices to process everything or being comforted would help him more. Ace defers to Sabo’s judgment, and when Sabo takes a step into the room, Ace is willing to follow him.
“Are you okay, Luffy?” Sabo asks, coming over to sit at the edge of Luffy’s bed. Ace opts to stand, hands in the pockets of his shorts. When all Luffy does is grunt in response, Sabo tries again. “I know it was a lot to take in, but you did really well today. I’m proud of you.”
“Me, too,” Ace chimes in.
After a moment, Luffy turns his head toward his brothers. His expression is fragile, lip trembling, brow furrowed. “I don’t wanna go to college,” he mumbles, sounding younger than he is.
“I know,” Sabo says with a soft smile. “You’re tough, Luffy. I know you can handle it. And if you can’t, there’s no shame in quitting.”
“But if I quit, then Gramps will be right about me,” Luffy whines, rolling over onto his back.
“No he won’t,” Ace shakes his head. “He doesn’t know the first thing about you, Luf. Who cares what he thinks. You don’t owe that old jerk anything.”
Luffy pouts, averting his gaze. “I know that… But… Everybody else had the same thought. Usopp and Nami laughed at the idea of me going to college. I wanna prove to them… and to Gramps… and to you… that I can do it…” As he talks, he looks more and more frustrated.
Sympathy softens Sabo’s face, and he shifts to position himself next to Luffy on the bed, wrapping his arms around his brother. He glances back toward Ace and jerks his head toward Liffy’s other side, and Ace rolls his eyes but obliges and moves around the bed to lie down and let his arm hang loosely around Luffy’s waist.
Luffy sniffles and turns onto his side, burying his face against Sabo’s chest. “It feels bad,” Luffy mumbles. “Everything’s changing. I don’t like it. I wanna go back to highschool.”
“I know,” Sabo soothes, running his fingers through Luffy’s hair. “It is pretty stressful, isn’t it. But… Didn’t you feel the same way when you started highschool?” Reluctantly, Luffy nods. “It just took some getting used to, didn’t it. You’re one of the strongest, most resilient people I know. Once you get your bearings, I’m sure you’ll feel at home. Grandline is a good place. I think you’ll like it there.”
With a shuddered breath, Luffy nods again. He moves one of his hands, seeking out Ace’s own, and Ace accommodates him, giving him a tight squeeze for his effort.
“You’ll do great, Luf,” Ace says, not wanting to be shown up by Sabo, “in your own way. You don’t hafta try to be like us or like your friends. Just do what feels right and the rest will sort itself out.”
Luffy shifts to tilt his head back to give Ace a watery look of gratitude. “I love you, Sabo, Ace,” Luffy says thickly. “Thanks for helping me. And… Sorry for being difficult.”
“Oh, nonsense,” Sabo says, chuckling as he pokes Luffy’s side. “It’s a justified reaction to dealing with something stressful and new. Give yourself a break, alright?”
“I want to, but it just feels bad…” Luffy pouts again.
Ace gets an idea. He catches Sabo’s eye and, slipping his hand from Luffy’s grip, taps a finger on his own lips while gesturing with his eyes toward Luffy. Sabo understands the message immediately, a grin spreading across his face.
“Maybe this will help,” Sabo says. When Luffy lifts his head to ask what Sabo means, the older brother ducks down and presses his lips to Luffy’s forehead. Luffy’s eyes go wide, his expression slackening, and Sabo uses the opportunity to adjust his position so that he can kiss both of Luffy’s cheeks, as well as plant a kiss on the tip of Luffy’s nose. “How’s that?”
Luffy recovers after a moment and bites his lip. “More…?” A quiet request, but it’s met with a warm laugh as Sabo obliges and kisses all over Luffy’s face. To Ace’s delight, the tension in Luffy’s body starts to loosen, and before long, a shy, happy smile tugs at his mouth. He rolls over to face Ace and says, “You, too!” and Ace can’t help but roll his eyes fondly.
“Spoiled,” he mutters, but he humors Luffy anyway and leans in to kiss Luffy’s flushed cheeks. He’s not as thorough as Sabo, but he gives Luffy a number of kisses until finally, to finish off the flurry, he briefly pecks Luffy’s lips. That one gets Luffy beaming at him, a small giggle escaping the younger brother. “Good enough for you?” Ace inquires, gaze soft with affection. Luffy nods, turning back over to once more hide against Sabo’s chest.
“Should we have an early dinner?” Sabo asks, glancing toward the doorway. “It’s been a weird day, so I think that warrants a shift in our usual schedule.”
“Yeah!!” Luffy lifts his head to fix his brothers each with an eager grin. “I want meat!!!”
Ace laughs. “Alright, alright. I’ll go get started.” Ruffling Luffy’s hair, he gets up. Before he leaves the room, he gives Sabo a grateful look, which Sabo returns with a wink.
While Ace is still preparing the food to cook, Sabo joins him in the kitchen. When Ace raises a brow at him, he explains, “I reminded Luffy the game he’s been playing had an update and so he grabbed the Switch. Figured I’d see if you needed any help out here.”
“Thanks, but I got it covered,” Ace says, shaking his head. But now that he has the opportunity, he adds, “I’m glad Luf’s feeling better. You always were better at comforting.”
“Says you,” Sabo chuckles. “It was a joint effort. Nothing less would be enough for our little brother.”
And Ace can admit that to be true; it often took both of them to calm Luffy down and cheer him up – even to the extent that, if either of them was out, they’d have to hurry back or else Luffy wouldn’t be able to relax. He snorts.
“We spoil him too much.”
“Maybe,” Sabo concedes, his gaze flitting back to the bedroom when Luffy’s excited raised voice carries into the next room. “But he deserves it. Don’t you think?”
Can’t argue there. Ace just smiles and focuses on cooking, turning the stove on and prepping the pan.
He expects Sabo to leave and go back to Luffy, but a minute passes and he realizes the blond is still hovering nearby, watching him. Ace gives him a quizzical look. “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just…” Sabo’s expression is a little mischievous as he eyes Ace. “... This reminded me of our first time signing up for classes at Grandline three years ago. If memory serves, you needed more kisses than Luffy to recover from the stress.”
Ace feels his cheeks redden, though he sort of hopes he can attribute it to the heat from the stovetop in front of him. (There’s no way Sabo would buy that excuse.) “You’re exaggerating,” he mumbles.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sabo hums. “I seem to recall that me and Luffy had to sit with you for half the day and-”
“Okay, we get it,” Ace cuts in with a huff, “You’re the most put together of the three of us!” At that, Sabo snickers. “How’d you even do it? I mean, compared to Luf and me, you didn’t seem bothered at all about starting college.”
Despite his snickering, Sabo’s smile is tender as he considers Ace’s question. “Well… I wouldn’t say I’m put together. More that… When it comes down to it, I really like getting to experience new things with you guys. The joy of that generally far outweighs anything else I might be feeling.”
For some reason, Ace hadn’t expected such a candid answer. He’d thought Sabo would tease him some more, and had even opened his mouth, ready to retort. Now, though, he lets his mouth hang open and stares at Sabo. He’d managed to admit something so… sweet. Blush brightens Ace’s face.
“What? Was it something I said?” Sabo laughs, poking Ace’s cheek. “You’re so predictable, Ace.”
“Whatever,” Ace grumbles, forcing himself to look down at the oil sizzling in the pan. It’s not like he can help it. Even if he wanted to, it’s impossible where Sabo is concerned. Ever since they were kids, he’d practically had Ace wrapped around his finger. And for that matter, Luffy did, too. Ace is just a sucker for his brothers.
(He doesn’t think that’s a bad thing.)
“Guess I’ll go see how Luffy’s update is coming along,” Sabo says. Ace grunts, determined not to meet his gaze, but this proves to be his downfall. A moment passes and suddenly Sabo is invading his space, and a warm kiss is pressed to Ace’s very warm cheek. “Thanks for cooking for us!”
Ace barely manages a flustered, “Yeah,” before Sabo disappears back into the bedroom.