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Summertime! Summertime meant hot weather, busy parks, and a lot of free time for kids. This was apparent, as the local neighborhood park was swarming with the little ones today. No doubt people were trying to make up for the week, which had had thunderstorms for about 4 days straight. Ace tried, and failed, to explain to Luffy that they couldn’t go to the park when it was raining, so it was a relief to everyone when Ace finally took Luffy after days and days of begging.
Ace didn’t care much for the neighborhood park. He liked being in the sun, but the crowdedness was a bit off putting, so he always sat on one of the benches near the jungle gyms to keep an eye on Luffy. The weather was perfect, all warm and sunny after all of the rain. It was rejuvenating for Ace, laying out in his shorts and tshirt, unbuttoning it and stuffing it in his backpack so he could feel the heat on his skin. As he laid, he watched Luffy make friends, all rambunctious and loud. It was sweet, seeing Luffy get to play. He was such a good kid, friendly and kind to others, not worried about who the kid was or what they looked like. Smiling, Ace reclined back on his forearm, closing his eyes and enjoying the day.
It didn’t take long to snap out of his relaxed state, though. Furrowing his brows, he sat up at the sound of boys arguing, quickly spotting Luffy by the sun hat he wore around his neck. Luffy and another kid with pink hair seemed to be fighting over something under the jungle gym.
“Oi, Luffy! Share, or I’m taking you home!” Ace yelled across the playground, not wanting to get more involved than he needed to. After all, Luffy knew better, even if he needed a reminder. The kid scowled across the way at Ace, still clutching the ball to his chest.
“But it’s mine! Yuuji was trying to take it,” he complained, pointing to the pink haired kid next to him. The pink haired kid, who Ace assumed was Yuuji, looked over at Luffy with an incredulous expression.
“I was not! We were playing, dummy,” Yuuji said, rolling his eyes and trying to take the ball back. Luffy yanked it out of his reach again, complaining. “Come on, let me play with it!”
“It’s mine,” Luffy whined, bending down and grabbing a handful of wood chips, before throwing them at Yuuji. This made Ace stand up immediately, rushing over to the playground and grabbing Luffy by the arm. The boy scowled up at his big brother, mad that he was getting in trouble.
“Hey, we do NOT throw wood chips at people, Luff. That’s dangerous,” Ace scolded, bending down to Luffy’s eye level. “What if one of them got in Yuuji’s eye, huh?” It was obvious that Luffy felt bad, immediately avoiding eye contact and frowning. His little shoe kicked around in the dirt and wood chips awkwardly. “Luff,” Ace prompted, causing the boy to look up at him.
“It could’ve hurt him. I’m sorry,” Luffy mumbled, his mouth scrunched up awkwardly.
“Don't apologize to me,” Ace said, tipping his head in the direction of the pink haired boy. He ruffled Luffy’s dark hair, standing up again to watch over the interaction. Luffy shuffled over, ball still in hand, awkwardly looking at Yuuji.
“‘M sorry that I threw wood chips at you. Wanna play again?” he mumbled, looking up at the pink haired boy hopefully.
“It’s okay. Can I throw the ball this time?” Yuuji asks, voice instantly cheerful. It seemed that the boys had already forgotten about the little spat, because Luffy hands the ball to Yuuji and the two of them run back up the jungle gym to play. Ace chuckles, shaking his head fondly and walking back to the edge of the playground area.
Ace settled back on his bench, reclining and watching the boys run around, playing as if nothing happened. He smiled fondly to himself, thinking about how grateful he is for Luffy and how things were going. Having a kid brother wasn’t always easy, but it was so worth it to see that huge smile on Luffy’s face on days like this. His attention shifted when he noticed a man around his age stepping up to him. The man had dark hair, thrown back in a sort of half-bun, pieces falling down around his face and his neck.
The man smiled a bit awkwardly at him, throwing one hand up in a half wave, his rolled up sleeve falling down a bit at the movement.
“Hey, great job with the kids there,” he complimented.
Ace wasn’t sure who this man was, but he smiled back, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. “Hey man, thanks. Gotta make sure somebody’s raising my bro right, yknow?” He chuckled, before offering his hand out. “Oh, my name’s Ace, by the way. Luffy is my little brother,” he explains, pointing out the kid in the Sonic t-shirt.
“Hah, I figured. Looks like our brothers are friends, then. Mine’s the one with the pink hair,” he smiles, looking out at the boys playing. “Oh, I’m Choso, by the way. My brother is-”
“Yuuji, right? Yeah, they kinda got into it for a minute. Luffy’s a little excitable, but he’s a good kid,” Ace explains with a shrug. “We’re working on using words to explain how we feel.”
The two are silent for a moment, watching the boys play. It’s not awkward or anything, and Choso sits down next to Ace. “I take care of Yuuji. His grandpa died a little while back, and he never really had his parents in his life. It’s nice. I like watching him become a person. I’d do anything for that kid,” he smiles fondly. Ace watches Choso, seeing his soft expression and knowing the feeling.
“I have another brother close to my age, and we kinda take care of Luffy together. It’s… a little hard but worth it. Wouldn’t change a thing,” Ace grins one of his big, wide smiles at Choso.
Just when he was about to say something else, Luffy and Yuuji ran up to them in unison, eyes creased with huge smiles and loud giggles.
“Show ‘em, Yuuji!” Luffy laughed, his expression a bit mischievous and excited. He bounced on his toes, when Ace and Choso realized that Yuuji had his hands cupped in front of him like he was holding something. The two exchanged an amused look that everybody with younger kids knows means, ‘oh boy, what is this nonsense.’
“Whatcha got, Yuuji? Let’s see it,” Ace prompted, standing up and bending down in front of the pink haired kid. Yuuji smiled widely at Ace, opening up his hands right in front of the older boy’s face.
“TA-DAAA,” he announced, proud of his reveal. In his hands were about 15 rolly-pollies, all escaping as fast as they were able to. Luffy cracked up in laughter, tears coming to his eyes as he thought the bugs jumping out of Yuuji’s hands was hilarious. Choso smiled fondly, laughing softly as well.
“Wow!!! Good finds, you two,” Ace praised fondly, before turning to Luffy. “Luff, this is Yuuji’s big brother.”
Luffy looked up at Choso, expression contemplative for a moment before running up to the man. He grabbed Choso’s pant leg, tugging on it for a moment before declaring himself loudly. “Hi! I’m Luffy! Ace is my big brother. Are you Yuuji’s brother? I like Yuuji. He’s funny and good at throwing the ball.”
Ace sighed, snorting. Choso bent down, offering Luffy a high five. “Yeah, I’m Yuuji’s brother. My name is Choso. You guys did an awesome job catching all of those bugs.” He straightens back up, still talking to Luffy. “Are you and Yuuji friends now? Maybe you could come over to play some time,” he says, stealing a look at Ace to make sure he’s not overstepping. Ace nods with a smile, assuring mutual feelings.
“Yesssss, Yuuji is the best! I wanna play at your house,” he yells, jumping excitedly. Luffy’s arms stretch up, circling around Choso’s neck. His body snaps up to meet his arms, suddenly climbing over Choso.
Ace jumps up, a bewildered expression on his face. “Agh, no, Luffy! Don’t do that-”
“HE STRETCHES?” Choso chokes out, not concerned with the climbing but very confused about the stretching.
“Ah, sorry. It’s a bit complicated. Luffy, don’t climb on people. We’ve talked about this,” Ace scolds, causing Luffy to get down off of Choso’s shoulders. He stood in front of Choso, sulking a bit.
“Sorry for climbing on you,” Luffy pouts. Yuuji runs up to Choso and Luffy, excited.
“Isn’t it so cool, Cho!!! Luffy’s body is stretchy,” he looks up at Choso, eyes shining. The dark haired man looks down at Yuuji, still a bit startled by the stretchy boy in front of him.
Choso looked over to Ace, who wore an apprehensive expression. No doubt he was nervous that Choso was going to say something about his brother, calling him weird or a freak or something, and forbidding Yuuji to be his friend. Choso nods at Ace, trying to reassure him that things were fine.
“Hah, yeah buddy. That’s super cool,” he smiles down at the pink-haired boy, ruffling his hair. “Good job at making a new friend today, Yuuj.” He bends down next to Yuuji, sighing and looking at his feet, noticing the missing Lightning McQueen croc on his left foot. “Yuuj, you know what I’m gonna say,” Choso starts. Yuuji makes himself busy, suddenly really interested in something other than his big brother. “Where’s your other shoe?”
Yuuji shrugs, not wanting to offer an answer, which makes Choso sigh. He looks over at Luffy, who also is really interested in anything other than the dark haired man. “Luffy, can you help Yuuji find his shoe?” he asks, sending the boys on a task. Luffy secures his hat on his head, a determined look in his eye, before grabbing Yuuji’s hand and running off.
“Sorry if my reaction was rude,” Choso says to Ace. “I’ve never met such a stretchy kid before.” He chuckles to himself, before becoming serious. “It’s fine though, mine and Yuuji’s brothers are a bit different too.”
Ace smiles, watching the two run off before turning to Choso. “Nah, you’re good. I was expecting way worse, to be honest. He’s not supposed to stretch in front of people he hasn’t met before, and he knows it. It’s sweet that Yuuji doesn’t even seem to notice that the stretching is… odd. He’s a good kid.”
Choso smiles back, a bit bashful. “I try to raise him to not judge people for stuff they can’t control,” he says, smiling fondly.
“Hey, I was gonna take Luffy for ice cream after this. Do you guys wanna come?” Ace asks, inviting Choso and Yuuji to hang out with them for a bit longer. Choso smiles and nods, accepting the invitation before hearing some excited screaming from the boys. Watching Luffy pop out from a bush, the boys find Yuuji’s other shoe. They raise it triumphantly, before running back to their older brothers.
“Cho! Luffy found it. It was in that bush over there,” Yuuji exclaims, pointing to where Luffy emerged from just a moment earlier.
“Awesome, thanks for saving the day, Luffy,” Choso chuckles, smiling at the pair.
Ace bends down, beckoning the boys over. “Can I let you in on a little secret?” he fake whispers, pretending that the information he was about to share is top secret. “Yuuji’s big brother and I were gonna get some ice cream. Do you two wanna come with?” The two boys erupt in excited exclamations, laughter and squeals and fake outrage.
“You can’t go by yourselves, that’s not fair! Kids literally love ice cream” Luffy yells, scrunching up his nose.
“Yeah, we’re kids! You can’t leave us by ourselves,” Yuuji lectures, his hands resting on his hips. Ace snorts, amused at the scolding from the boys.
He sighs, faking resignation. “Alright, alright. Choso, you think they should come with us?” Ace looks up at the other man.
“Yeah, might as well let them come with us,” Choso shrugs, one side of his mouth quirking up in a smile. He winks at Yuuji, who giggles and runs over, clinging to his pant legs. Choso looks up at Ace, who has scooped an excited Luffy up in his arms. “Drive together?”
“Sounds good to me,” Ace smiles, grabbing his backpack. The four of them head to Ace’s car, a lifted red SUV, and the boys pile in the back.
“Seatbelts on?” Choso asks, making sure the boys buckle up. With confirmation from the two in the back, Ace pulls off in the direction of the ice cream shop. He looks over at Choso, smiling as they listen to the boys chattering about what kind of ice cream they were both gonna get, knowing that the two were gonna be best friends for a long time.