Tick Tock [Portgas D. Ace/Sabo Fan Fic]

Tell Tale Time

Disclaimer: I do not own OP or any of the characters involved.

A/N: Merely an introduction to a story of mine. this takes place in the modern world, a good wight years or so before the actual plot. This is my first story on this site, so I'm still kinda getting used to everything. Comments and critiques are welcome.

Fair Warning: Trigger warnings may appear later on in the series. I will always warn before hand.

Pairing: AceXSabo, Possible LuXZoro

How do you tell someone that you're dying...?

Laughter, young and rich, it washed over him like a wave of warmth, gentle and bright as it tugged insistently at the edges of his lips, pulling a small smile into being. How could you not smile at that idiots laugh? It was infectious, innocent and naive. Pure.

How unlike the impurity and darkness that crept up upon them around every other corner. The world was not the perfect place you were told tales about, a web of security spun to life around a fragile existence by the calming words of your parents- for those lucky enough to have parents that is. Ace and his brothers didn't live in that perfect world. They never had. Still, it was easy to forget the pain and strife when Luffy was laughing.

Even when he was laughing over something stupid...again.

"Will you just shut up, you moron?" Keep your voice stern Ace. Nope. Not possible. His tone was thrown off kilter by the crooked grin spreading across freckled cheeks like wildfire as the raven shot his 'little brother' a half-hearted glare.

He was covered nearly foot to toe in mud, dirt smudged across his face and muddy water clinging to his unruly locks of black. A single slip and it had landed him here...in a rather cold puddle. Not nearly as amusing as his brother seemed to find it.

"Bu-But Ace-" Luffy's young voice cracked, tears on the edge of his dark eyes as he crumpled into yet another fit of laughter, bending forwards with hands gripping at his now aching sides. It was almost comical how he bent into himself, trying and failing to hold back the peals of laughter that shook his form and left the youth gasping for air.

Thanks bastard. Love you too.

Another laugh chimed in, forcefully ripping Ace's attention from the dark youth to instead meet the startling blue of the other's eyes. An ocean. That was really the only way to explain it. Funny considering Ace had never actually seen the ocean. Still, it matched the stories he had heard. Boundless. Both terrifying and calm. That was the raging storm of blue that met him in the form of two circular orbs.

"You can't honestly expect him to contain himself after that, can you?" A gapped-toothed grin had Ace's irritation and amusement peaking to an all time record as Sabo crouched at his side, shooting Ace a cheeky grin as he poked at Ace's muddy shirt.

"You look like a pig let loose from the sty."

Probably not the best thing to tell Ace in this situation. Especially when those words came from an equally roughed up blonde, clothes once regal and now torn and dirty. Well, not dirty enough in Ace's mind. Another laugh and Ace was lunging at the blonde, wrapping a dirty arm around his shoulders before pulling him right down with him. Luffy roared with laughter in the background and Ace could no longer hold back his smile at the sight of both himself and the blonde so completely covered in mud.

"And you look like a disgruntled brat- Oh, wait!" His smile spread even farther, laughter of his own ringing in the air to drown out the furious sputtering of his now filthy friend. He looked ridiculous. The lot of them all still under fifteen and yet Sabo looked like a clown in this state, face stained with mud and beet red with a mixture of what had to be embarrassment and rage.

Speaking of which...

"I'm going to kill you..."

Ace choked down another laugh as he rolled to the side in an attempt to avoid the angry, grasping hands of his best friend, Sabo seeming intent on inflicting some sort of pain. "Oh come off it, Curly! A good tosser in the river and your clothes will be good as-" He slipped in the mud, another laugh bursting forth from Luffy as Ace lost his balance and slipped back down the muddy hill he had been so desperately scaling. Even Sabo paused in his attempts to laugh at his plight- Though laughter was short lived.

It always was.

A cough, ragged and painful tore up from Ace's throat, stifling the once light atmosphere as both of his adopted brothers threw him worried glances. Just like that, their happiness was gone, snuffed out like a candle in the wind. Ace clutched at his chest with one hand, the other moving to smear more mud across his lips as he covered his mouth. He bent forward, eyes wide and laced with tears that he refused to spill as he shook.

He would not cry. That was one thing he refused to do.

It didn't last long, one of his shorter spills. A long moment passed, Ace kneeling on all fours and breathing in deep gulps of air as Sabo sat besides him, rubbing circles into the space between his shoulder blades. Luffy was unnervingly silent, sitting only a few steps away as he made a point of glancing elsewhere.

"It's just...asthma, right? That's what you said." Luffy's voice was small, the kid only twelve yet smarter than most. Street smart at least. Ace was silent a moment longer, tension like a heavy blanket now shrouding over the three.

"Yeah, Lu. It's just a cough. Asthma maybe."

It was routine. A lie told without knowing if the answer was true or not. That answer wouldn't come until nearly eight full years later. Better to fill the air with calming lies than face a truth that lay buried beneath. Some things were better left alone. This was no exception...

So, how do you tell someone that you're dying...?

The answer is simple- You don't.

A/N: Short and sweet. I will hopefully be adding the next chapter within 24 hours from now. I honestly, don't have a lot of this planned out in advance, and updates will be pretty inconsistent. I might upload three in one day or one a week... Try to bare with me guys~

Any thoughts so far?