The First Birthday (Portgas D. Ace)
Title: The First Birthday
Fandom: One Piece
Characters: Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, Sabo
Genres: General, family, friendship
Rating: G
Pairings: N/A
Summary: The world keeps spinning, the years keep mounting and humans keep counting them. Ace just wants someone to count his.
How odd it was that today was his birthday. The day that everyone celebrated the world turning older was the day he too should celebrate turning older. Not a one person in this world would celebrate it, though.
Everyone would party, consuming food and drink and enjoy each others company, over something as simple as the planet turning older, but they would not celebrate him turning older. Though he shared the same birthday as the world, he was forgotten and abandoned, cast aside for the dirt, the sky and the ocean. Everyone wished each other a “Happy New Year” but no one wished him a “Happy Birthday”. He wasn't even a dog worthy of a stray bone.
What a twisted cosmic joke. God must truly be incredibly unfair and cruel.
Acting out against God, Ace was always his worst on this day and disappeared without a trace. It was already dark, somewhere between half-past one and a quarter to three, when he finally dragged himself out of the forest to the tiny tree house by Dadan's that he and his surrogate brothers called home.
Ace purposefully waited until this ungodly hour to show himself, knowing by this time they were usually sound asleep. Tonight though, the glow of candlelight twinkled dimly from the top of the tree house. The abandoned birthday boy balled his hands into fists at his side and stared reproachfully at the ladder.
They had been celebrating the world's birthday too.
Ace counted to three and considered his options, considered turning right back around and returning to the forest where a wild child like him could feel important and needed. In the end though he steeled himself and climbed one rung of the ladder at a time.
Ace was tired and hungry, and if they were celebrating the New Year still when he got up there, he was kicking them out and they could sleep on the hard, cold ground or beg Dadan to let them inside. He didn't care where they ended up right now because it was a very unhappy un-birthday to him.
When his eyes peaked over the top of the ladder, Ace was dragged up by his elbows before he could recoil in fright at what waited for him up top.
“Finally! We were wondering when you were going to show up! Does it really take that long to get dinner? You're losing it, Ace,” Sabo laughed, his words a playful jibe.
He dragged his brother(by bond, not blood, but as good a brother as any) across their tiny home and sat him down and Luffy's eager hands pushed the glowing object towards him.
A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake. Ace had seen them in bakeries before and on the tables of other children but never had one been placed in front of him whole, un-sliced with candles dancing with flames eager to whisk away his wishes with a puff of smoke.
“It had your name on it,” Sabo released a sigh, clapping Ace on the back as he sat down beside him. “But Luffy dropped it on the way here. We got rid of most of the dirty parts though.”
Ace nodded slowly, not saying anything. A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake.
“Hurry up! Hurry up!” Luffy bounced his knees up and down, fluttering in place like an excited butterfly longing for nectar. “Blow out the candles! I wanna eat it!”
“Luffy!”
“Ah!? What!? You wanna eat it too, Sabo!”
A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake. This was his birthday cake. It wasn't the cake he saw in his dreams each birthday night. It wasn't perfect and his mother wasn't there, her hands on his shoulders to support him as he inhaled as deep as he could, and expelled every last puff of air in him and then clapping and praising him as he blew out all the candles.
He never saw her face, though, and though he knew she praised him, he never heard her voice.
“Ace? What's wrong,” Luffy scooted around the cake, staring at it and then Ace in turn. “Hey, are you crying?”
“Idiot!” Ace hissed, slamming his fist into Luffy's skull. “The smoke from the candles got in my eye!”
Quickly, Ace summoned his breath and extinguished the candles before anyone could spy another tear.
He couldn't see their faces in the dark, but he heard their praise, their hands, their footsteps and cries as they rushed to light the lamp, eat the cake and Ace swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Maybe, God was not as unkind and cruel as he had let himself believe.
Fandom: One Piece
Characters: Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy, Sabo
Genres: General, family, friendship
Rating: G
Pairings: N/A
Summary: The world keeps spinning, the years keep mounting and humans keep counting them. Ace just wants someone to count his.
How odd it was that today was his birthday. The day that everyone celebrated the world turning older was the day he too should celebrate turning older. Not a one person in this world would celebrate it, though.
Everyone would party, consuming food and drink and enjoy each others company, over something as simple as the planet turning older, but they would not celebrate him turning older. Though he shared the same birthday as the world, he was forgotten and abandoned, cast aside for the dirt, the sky and the ocean. Everyone wished each other a “Happy New Year” but no one wished him a “Happy Birthday”. He wasn't even a dog worthy of a stray bone.
What a twisted cosmic joke. God must truly be incredibly unfair and cruel.
Acting out against God, Ace was always his worst on this day and disappeared without a trace. It was already dark, somewhere between half-past one and a quarter to three, when he finally dragged himself out of the forest to the tiny tree house by Dadan's that he and his surrogate brothers called home.
Ace purposefully waited until this ungodly hour to show himself, knowing by this time they were usually sound asleep. Tonight though, the glow of candlelight twinkled dimly from the top of the tree house. The abandoned birthday boy balled his hands into fists at his side and stared reproachfully at the ladder.
They had been celebrating the world's birthday too.
Ace counted to three and considered his options, considered turning right back around and returning to the forest where a wild child like him could feel important and needed. In the end though he steeled himself and climbed one rung of the ladder at a time.
Ace was tired and hungry, and if they were celebrating the New Year still when he got up there, he was kicking them out and they could sleep on the hard, cold ground or beg Dadan to let them inside. He didn't care where they ended up right now because it was a very unhappy un-birthday to him.
When his eyes peaked over the top of the ladder, Ace was dragged up by his elbows before he could recoil in fright at what waited for him up top.
“Finally! We were wondering when you were going to show up! Does it really take that long to get dinner? You're losing it, Ace,” Sabo laughed, his words a playful jibe.
He dragged his brother(by bond, not blood, but as good a brother as any) across their tiny home and sat him down and Luffy's eager hands pushed the glowing object towards him.
A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake. Ace had seen them in bakeries before and on the tables of other children but never had one been placed in front of him whole, un-sliced with candles dancing with flames eager to whisk away his wishes with a puff of smoke.
“It had your name on it,” Sabo released a sigh, clapping Ace on the back as he sat down beside him. “But Luffy dropped it on the way here. We got rid of most of the dirty parts though.”
Ace nodded slowly, not saying anything. A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake.
“Hurry up! Hurry up!” Luffy bounced his knees up and down, fluttering in place like an excited butterfly longing for nectar. “Blow out the candles! I wanna eat it!”
“Luffy!”
“Ah!? What!? You wanna eat it too, Sabo!”
A birthday cake. This was a birthday cake. This was his birthday cake. It wasn't the cake he saw in his dreams each birthday night. It wasn't perfect and his mother wasn't there, her hands on his shoulders to support him as he inhaled as deep as he could, and expelled every last puff of air in him and then clapping and praising him as he blew out all the candles.
He never saw her face, though, and though he knew she praised him, he never heard her voice.
“Ace? What's wrong,” Luffy scooted around the cake, staring at it and then Ace in turn. “Hey, are you crying?”
“Idiot!” Ace hissed, slamming his fist into Luffy's skull. “The smoke from the candles got in my eye!”
Quickly, Ace summoned his breath and extinguished the candles before anyone could spy another tear.
He couldn't see their faces in the dark, but he heard their praise, their hands, their footsteps and cries as they rushed to light the lamp, eat the cake and Ace swallowed past the lump in his throat.
Maybe, God was not as unkind and cruel as he had let himself believe.