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Day 2: LawAce - Prompt: Mistletoe
Thanksgiving was just barely over and Luffy was already on his kick of decorating everything in sight for Christmas. Sabo of course was enabling him by helping pulling everything out of the storage closet in the hallway. Ace was lying on the couch refusing to give into any of the holiday cheer. He was still mourning over his boyfriend- ex now; Smoker dumping him just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Apparently Ace was too immature for the police officer to be seen with. Funny; the man had no problem fucking his immature ass.
“Stop whining about old Smokey, it’s his loss,” Sabo scolded. Apparently the brunet had said that aloud, woops.
“I can’t help it,” Ace scuffed.
“Try to get into the holiday spirits,” the blonde suggested.
“Oh yes, Christmas is so close I can just smell all the mistletoe I’m not going to be kissed under,” the older huffed.
Sabo rolled his eyes while handing another box of decorations to Luffy who bounced off with it.
“Come on Ace, who cares about kissing anyway? There’s gonna be hot chocolate, cookies, presents, ham… mmm ham…”
Ace chuckled at his youngest brother who only seemed to think with his stomach. Once ham was mentioned Luffy was practically drooling just imagining it. Ace had to admit the food was one of his favorite parts as well. Shoving thoughts of lost love aside Ace pushed himself off the couch, setting his phone down on the coffee table.
“Alright fine, I’ll make some hot cocoa and you guys get the tree unpacked from this mess,” Ace suggested before heading into their kitchen to get a kettle on so he could make the drinks.
“That’s the spirit,” Sabo cheered, glad that his brother was coming out of his mood. Honestly he wanted to throttle Smoker when he’d broken Ace’s heart but he was also one of the first to admit that the older officer just wasn’t a good match for Ace. The boy had a wild side that wouldn’t be tamed and Smoker had been too fixated of reining him in rather then helping him flourish as he was. Sabo didn’t like anyone who tried to stifle that fire inside of Ace. His brother’s were precious to him and he wanted to see them both happy. Ace would find someone he was sure. In fact the blonde already had someone in mind. “Hey Lu, why don’t you see if Law and his room mates wanna come over and help?”
Luffy was friends with the doctor who lived just down the hall from them. Ace and him and butt heads for a time until Ace finally understood that Law wasn’t dating their little brother and had no interest in him aside from an odd friendship. Luffy had that effect on people though. He made them friends before they even realized what was happening. Sabo always found it entertaining.
“Okay!” Luffy cheered, already abandoning what he was working on to go drag his friend to their apartment. He was out the door before Sabo could say another word. The youngest was always eager to have friends over. He said it livened up the place and his two brothers’ couldn’t help but agree. Ever since they’d moved out of Dadan’s and started living on their own, they’d found it was always too quiet.
They were too used to yelling and chaos that came with living in an orphanage to take to calmness of having their own apartment. Luckily their friends were always happy to come over and help cause havoc. Usually it was Luffy’s friend but sometimes Sabo’s girlfriend Koala would come over and her scolding the blonde was almost familiar to them. It was the same when Marco and Thatch would come over to spend time with Ace. Law was probably the most subdued of their youngest brother’s friends though.
“Where’s Lu?” Ace asked, coming out to lean against the door way to the kitchen.
“He went to see if Law and company want to come help with decorating,” Sabo told him with a shrug. It wasn’t uncommon for Luffy to invite people over for that type of thing and make a little party out of it.
“Guess I better pull some more cups down then,” Ace mused, pushing off the door frame and disappearing back into the kitchen to pull three more mugs from the cupboard and probably make up some type of snack tray for their guests.
It didn’t take long for Luffy to come back with Law and his two room mates in tow. The older brunet didn’t look like he was too happy about the situation but Sabo had expected that. It was likely a mix of Luffy and the man’s best friends that convinced to just give in.
“Hey, glad you decided to come. Ace is just in the kitchen making some hot cocoa and snacks,” Sabo told him in a friendly manor.
“Should I go see if freckles-ya needs some help then?” Law asked, clearly hoping for a reason to avoid the decorating as long as possible. Sabo just gave a nod and Law disappeared into the kitchen to see if Ace could use a hand.
Once Law was out of the room, Sabo’s neutral smile turned into a mischievous grin. “You guy go ahead and help Luffy set up the tree,” he suggested, gesturing to a box with an arterial tree in it. While Penguin, Luffy and Sachi got to work on that, the blonde dug through a smaller box of holiday decorations with purpose. It wasn’t long before he found the tiny plant he was looking for and set to hanging it over the kitchen doorway before moving on to other things.
In the kitchen Ace was working on making some rice balls and sandwiches knowing that Luffy’s friend hated bread. Normally he wouldn’t cater to someone’s pickiness but he didn’t mind doing it for the doctor no matter how much Sabo teased him over it. It wasn’t like he liked Law or anything. Well maybe he did a little but the older man was defiantly out of Ace’s league and if someone like Smoker couldn’t deal with how immature Ace was at times he highly doubted Law would either. He was a pretty serious guy after all and always seemed annoyed with Luffy’s childishness though he let the younger boy do what he wanted anyway. Ace suspected that Law might have a crush on his youngest brother.
“Ace-ya?”
The younger hadn’t even heard him come in so when the other suddenly spoke, Ace jumped a little from being spooked, though he’d never admit it to anyone else.
“Geez, trying to give me a heart attack?” Ace asked, turning around so he could scowl at the other. Law only offered a satisfied smirk in response.
“Well if I had it’s a good think I’m a doctor, right,” he replied cheekily. Gun metal eyes rolls before he turned back to the food he was making.
“Aren’t you suppose to be decorating right now?” he asked, still a little bitter over the thought of the holiday though he was trying to push past it for Luffy’s sake.
“I came to offer assistance. You seem more bitter than usual,” the older man pointed out. Ace found himself frowning at that. He wasn’t trying to let on that he was. Guess he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. “Smoker-ya decline your little get together invite, hmm?” he continued in a teasing tone.
“Ah, guess you didn’t hear yet,” Ace mumbled as he sat another finished sandwich on the tray.
“Hear what?” Law asked, moving to stand in front of the counter to the right of the other.
“We’re not together anymore. Apparently I’m not mature enough for him,” he said with a bit of a laugh, trying to play off that it didn’t bother him. He didn’t want to be the damper on their evening.
“He’s an idiot then,” was the doctor’s immediate response. “He was lucky you paid an old geezer like him the time of day.”
“Thanks,” Ace told him, glad the other hadn’t decided to poke fun at him. “I can be pretty immature though so I guess he’s not wrong…”
“Please, has he met your brother? You’re a model adult compared to him. Anyone would be lucky to have your adorably freckled face in their life.”
That drew a laugh from the younger man. He didn’t expect to find himself being cheered up by Law of all people. He just never seemed like the type but then again Luffy usually only attached himself to good people. The kettle whistled then, cutting their conversation short.
“You finish that up, I’ve got this,” Law told him actually planning to give the other a hand like he’s said he was going to.
Once everything was ready and they couldn’t stall having to go out there for the holiday cheer any longer both men picked put the trays of drinks and food and headed out to the sitting room together, the doorway wide enough for both to pass through at the same time. Just as they were about to set foot into the next room a loud shout of “wait!” stopped them in their tracks.
“Huh?” Ace was the first to respond to his brother’s sudden yell while looking around, thinking they might have been about to step on something. Instead Sabo just pointed his finger up at the ceiling.
Slowly both men looked up to see the bright mistletoe hanging there in the door way. The mistletoe they were both currently standing under. Everyone except Luffy were looking at the two with smug and expecting grins on their faces. Ace’s face was already starting to turn a deep shade of red while Law was oddly silent.
“Are you kidding Sabo?” Ace asked because really? He knew his brother was messing with him just because he’d been whining about the silly holiday tradition not even an hour ago.
“Its tradition, Ace,” Sabo told him with a smirk.
Before he could protest farther he felt a pair of soft warm lips touching his own. He nearly dropped his tray, yet was able to keep a hold on it slowly registered that Law was kissing him. It didn’t last long, just a chaste kiss but it was enough to leave the younger man’s lifts tingling at the sensation. Left speechless, Law grinned at him.
“You know I wouldn’t mind getting stuck under the mistletoe with you again, freckles-ya,” Law told him before turning away and setting the tray down on the coffee table. “Or even out from under it,” he added as an after thought.
Well maybe Law didn’t have a crush on his little brother after all.