Chapter Text
The smell of hotdogs, beer and sweat was surprisingly soothing. There was cheering, the back and forth of the commentators and the occasional ‘thunk’ of a baseball against a baseball bat.
“Didn’t sleep well?“, the blond asked.
Ace had asked himself how long his brother could possibly just sit still and watch the match over the TV.
“Not really.”
He himself was leaning against the firetruck. His eyes were closed, concentrating on his other senses. His nose would pick up smoke long before his eyes could see it. If the wind played along, that is.
“Was it that dream again?”
Sabo was fidgeting with his pen again. He could hear the soft ‘whoosh’ sound it made when Sabo spun it hard enough.
“Yeah.”
How someone used to action like the two of them could be stationed as back-up at a baseball match was beyond him. They just had to be there for five hours and wait for something to happen. Or on that day, nothing to happen.
“You’ve been having this nightmare for years now.”
At least as paramedic Sabo would get the occasional results of hooligans’ rampage. Though baseball was tame in contrast to football. Ace was only there for kittens in trees, a rare occasion in stadiums, or for fires, also a rare occasion in stadiums.
“So what?”
He was a little jealous of Ikkaku. She and her police partner were at least stationed inside, closer to the game. They were stuck behind the stands. The TV was there to taunt them.
“Your Pops and you dying in this big battle of pirates against marines? Fighting against Grandpa Garp? It’s the same as the play.”
Ace opened his eyes.
“You know, I had the dream first and Luffy saw it as fate and wrote it into the play.”
His brother huffed.
“I’m not trying to copyright-strike you over your dream. I’m simply concerned that replaying your nightmare on stage for several weeks in a row wasn’t the best idea on how to cope with it. If you want, there are excellent psychotherapists at the clinic. I could get you a session booked for next week.”
There was an argument to be made about how Ace was haunted by his demons, and they weren’t as nice as to leave him alone during his waking hours.
“Thanks for worrying about me, but a nightmare can’t defeat me that easily.”
“Tell me when you change your mind.”
WHEN not IF. The audacity.
The blond stepped up his game. “Besides, Luffy just needed an idea to kill you off, because you constantly fell asleep on stage.”
The audacity! Playing with his firefighter helmet like it was a basketball, Ace grinned. Oh, how Sabo would regret those words.
“Let’s see what he has planned for you, now that you convinced him of your revolutionary army idea. I mean, come on. It reads like a bad fanfiction. The long lost brother whom we had never heard of, introduced right after my tragic death. Why wasn’t he dead? He was rescued! Why didn’t he return to his brothers? Very convenient amnesia! Should I go on?”
Sabo wouldn’t let this slide so easily either.
“You’re just jealous because I will get your sacred fire fruit next season.”
Bringing the made up devil powers into this game. Real mature.
“Bold of you to say anything, really. If you were such an important figure in the Revolutionary Army, SECOND IN COMMAND even, with the same getup as a kid and with the same name – that’s something the convenient amnesia didn’t erase, I guess – why didn’t I know you were still alive and about?”
Rounds of cheering sounded from the stadium. A homerun, probably. Ace felt affirmed. They were cheering for him, of course.
“I’m trying to hold my dear old dead brother in good memory and that’s how you thank me?”
The blond wiped away a non-existent tear. He was made for the theatre and he knew it.
“I’m just saying your character is flawed. Bad fanfiction.”
Now that Ace had toned down his argument, he wanted his brother to say that he was right.
“Hey, isn’t that Yamato?”
To that the black-haired man could only laugh. What a pathetic attempt.
“That’s a textbook diversion. Don’t change the subject. You know I’m right.”
The glint in Sabo’s eyes was no good sign.
Ace gulped as a silhouette appeared between him and the sunshine he had been enjoying. He had to look up at the considerably taller figure in front of him. Long white hair, dipped in green-blue. Eyes so golden they looked like the finest honey. Muscled arms that could compete with his. The sun right behind her head gave him the impression of a halo.
How fitting for an angel, Ace thought.
Yamato laughed. “I didn’t know you knew what a textbook was. Long-time no see, Ace.”