Affection 1 (ASL x Reader) -Complete-

Chapter 19: Happy Birthday Luffy!

(A/N): I haven't done this in a long time but heads up 2 Star guests! Also, apologies for not updating on Luffy's actual birthday, things escalated quickly involving death. Not me but a friend and I had a guest over, as well as celebrating Niece's birthday <3 she was my inspiration for this so lucky me lol but Happy Birthday Luffy! Please enjoy~

Sun hats, summer breeze, pollen and the millions of flowers blooming beautifully brought you happiness. A reminder that your favorite time of year is coming. Although Autumn is your favorite too, the thought of camp and your best friends brought you excitement. It has been your paradise for years. The only place where you are yourself where you fit in and held actual friends. You stood outside wearing a small sun hat similar to Luffy's. Only your ribbon is sky blue. It daggles off the edge of your Vanilla colored straw hat. You carry pots of flowers over to your mother to plant. She had brought dozens of tulips of different colors. Now that spring has arrived, she makes sure to buy a dozen of different flowers once a week every weekend. Your mother has decided to teach your brothers the tradition of gardening. It is more than that. It is and always has been therapeutic. Whether it's when you're down, angry or a way of venting it is one of the ways your mother relaxes over such a hobby.

Veronica let's out a sigh. She inhales the scent of the outdoors.

"Such a nice day, gardening with my boys. This is the life eh?"

"It's pretty girly to me." Ace starts. He buries a tulip into the soil. He wipes his sweat off his head.

"Oh Ace, nothing truly is girly. If anything, it's therapeutic. If I recall, you woke up bummed out. After a while you seem fine now, or am I wrong?" Ace hums in thought. He was a little embarrassed she took notice of how distant he has been; was it really that obvious? Looking back, she is correct. He was busy earlier with his thoughts, now they just felt unimportant almost as if he can see clearly.

"Yeah." He admits. "I guess this isn't so bad." Never in his life here has he agreed. He usually denies it like the child he is or kept silent. Lately, since his thoughts have been scrambled due to many reasons, he felt himself changing slowly and simply following the flow just like growing up.

Veronica turns to Luffy on her left. Her face dropping into a mortified one. Sitting in front of Luffy is a deep hole, wide enough to fit a pail. She stops the dirty boy from digging further.

"Luffy! Stop! What are you doing boy?" The straw hat tilts his head a fee degree.

"What do you mean? You said to dig a hole so I am. You didn't say how deep or wide so I figured to keep going." Veronica chuckles at how literal he is.

"No, no, no darling that's not what I meant. Although I do apologies for not specifying nut a flower doesn't need that much space. Here I'll show you." The woman sits behind Luffy to guide him through each step. First, she conceals the soil returning the earth to its proper state. The only thing that remains is a large enough gap to slip the flower inside its new home. She grabs a red tulip, Luffy's favorite color, and removes the cover keeping it intact. "Here now you gently slip this inside." The boy takes the naked plant. He settles it into the hole. Her gloved hands guide his smaller ones over to the remaining soil on each side to tuck each gravel into place. Once patter down, she hands him a water can. "Now you water." Luffy is left in awe bathing what he planted.

"So cool." He chirps.

"Yes, and every day you must take care of it. It needs plenty of sun to grow but remember not to over water it or they will die." She Pat's his head.

"Okay! I will remember to take good care of it. Can we do more?" He asks.

"Of course, love. We still have a lot more to go until the box is empty and we fill in the spaces." The boy cheers in delight.