Chapter Text
“Today is Compliments Day!” the kindergarten teacher announced with a warm smile, while the children responded with a chorus of curious “oohhhs!”
“What’s that?” one of them asked.
The teacher couldn’t help but giggle softly as she watched the children’s eyes sparkle, “It’s a day where you compliment the people you love! You can say what you like about them, how much you appreciate them, or tell them they’re amazing.” She clapped her hands lightly. “Which is why our next activity is— compliment your seatmate!”
At the mention of something new, the children’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Soon, the room filled with sweet, clumsy, and sometimes shy compliments.
“You’re pretty!”
“You’re beautiful!”
“I really like you!”
“I love your shoes!”
“Your hair is so sparkly!”
Some spoke easily, while others struggled, fidgeting as they tried to find the right words.
Luffy, whose smile shone like the sun, immediately turned to Zoro, his seatmate, “I like your swords! They’re so cool! And you’re really strong too— so amazing!” Zoro instantly turned red like a tomato in response. He huffed and crossed his arms, glancing at his two wooden toy swords with pride. “I know,” he muttered with a smirk.
Kuina who is sitting nearby, leaned over and frowned. “That's not how you say it!” Zoro looked at her, “Huh?”
“You’re supposed to say thank you! You're just bragging” she rolled her eyes and poked his arm. “I'm not bragging!” Zoro argued back, “You literally just said I know“ Kuina delivered the line in Zoro’s voice, crossing her arms proudly and huffing in imitation.
“Because its true!”
Kuina puffed her cheeks. “You’re so weird!”
“No, you’re weird!”
“You are!”
“I’m not!!”
Luffy just laughed, watching them.
Zoro huffed, still red, then slowly looked back at Luffy. “I—” He gritted his teeth, clearly not used to this, “...Thanks.” Kuina nodded proudly, placing both her hands on her waist. “There! That’s better. Now you say something back.”
Zoro blinked, pointing his index finger to himself as if to confirm. “Eh?”
“Give him a compliment!”
Zoro frowned, thinking really hard, before you clearly see a lightbulb in his head. “...Uh... I like how you don’t cry a lot.”
Kuina gasped. “That’s not nice!”
“It is nice!”
“No it’s not!”
Luffy beamed even brighter and immediately threw his arms around Zoro in a hug. “I like it!”
Zoro lit up a little. “See?!”
Kuina stared in shock, silently watching them, before shaking her head and giving up, she just can't seem to understand them both. “You’re both weird... Whatever, it's my turn! Eherm,“ Kuina cleared her throat, before looking at both of them with a warm smile. “I like how you never back down,” she added to Zoro, before turning to Luffy. “And I love how your smile is so bright.”
Luffy grinned at her. “I like how you’re really cool!!”
Kuina chuckled. That compliment felt very Luffy.
“Luffy! Your guardian is here!” Luffy's face practically glowed in happiness. He said his goodbyes to Zoro and Kuina, and then dashed towards the door.
“Sabo!”
He leapt straight into Sabo’s arms. Sabo stumbled back slightly “Woah- careful there!” but laughed, steadying himself as he hugged luffy back.
“How was school, Lu?” Sabo asked with a warm and gentle voice. “Good!” Luffy smiled, holding Sabo’s hand with his little ones as they started walking home after Sabo thanked the teachers.
“D’you know, Sabo-nii? We had an activity today!”
Sabo raised a brow slightly, nodding as he listened. He always loved hearing about Luffy’s day— what they ate, what happened, what he did with his friends. It always made his heart contented whenever his lively little brother is happy. “Oh? What was it about?”
“It's about Compliments Day! Teacher said it’s for telling people we love how much we appreciate them!”
Luffy suddenly stopped, letting go of Sabo’s hand just to hug him tightly instead, cute little cheeks squishing against sabo's thigh. “Thank you for taking care of me. I love you, Sabo!”
Sabo did not cry.
In just a second, he already crouched down to Luffy’s level and hugged him back just as tightly— and it definitely didn’t look strange in the middle of the street. Nope.
“Luffy! ughh, why are you so cute!” he whined, pressing his cheek against Luffy’s as the little boy giggled. “nii-chan, you look so silly!”
“I do, Its because I love our Luffy very much too!!” Sabo smiled with all his tooth seen, trying and failing to compose himself. Sabo stayed crouched as he pulled out his phone.
“Can you say that again, Lu?”
Luffy tilted his head, but nodded. “Okay! I just wanted to tell Sabo thank you for taking care of me, giving me warm huggies when I’m cold, and always telling me how precious I am! Shishishi, Sabo-nii is really cool and precious too!”
Sabo quickly stopped the recording, staring at the screen like he had just captured the greatest treasure in the world. He sighed, every ounce of his energy fired up as he squished Luffy, struggling to resist the cuteness aggression. “Luffy... my sunshine, you’re soo kind. I love you so much. This is the best day. Actually, it’s my favorite day now. It's still not my birthday but—”
This is a memory he would surely store for a lifetime, and maybe show Luffy in the future. No way he was deleting it...
...Maybe he’d let Ace see it too, but only for the sake of making him jealous duh.
On the way home, Sabo walked with the widest grin he could ever make, adorable tears clinging to his lashes while snot falling down, and absolutely no dignity left. Luffy giggled at how Sabo looks so funny while they're walking. Sabo just held his hand tighter, his voice soft with fondness, “Do you want ice cream? Let’s not tell Ace, yeah?”
“Mhm! Ice cream!” Luffy cheered “Sabo, you're the coolest!!”
Sabo smirked.
“I know I am.”