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Luffy groaned as he took a seat at the table one of his best friends was seated at. He and Coby went back a long time, so finding out they would be working in the same city had been a joy. Especially as they did work together, with them being a firefighter and a policeman.
“What made you groan like that”, Coby asked, concerned as Luffy was generally a happy person. So for him to have this kind of reaction, it meant something.
Huffing, Luffy runs a hand over his face, “Ace…”
Tilting his head, Coby asks about what is going on with his oldest brother. Leading to Luffy explaining that Ace had a real low self-esteem that didn’t seem to get better. In fact, it was getting worse ever since Luffy and Sabo started seeing someone. Before all three of them would date, but now only Ace was left to the casual dating scene and he didn’t like it.
Sighing, Luffy shook his head, “You know we were wild children, you knew me as a wild child. But it seems everyone Ace is interested in either isn’t available and luckily, he doesn’t want to be a dirty secret or a home wrecker. Or the person just isn’t interested; there have been people who told him he is too invested in Sabo and me, as well as Whitebeard’s.”
None of Luffy’s brothers were related to him by blood, but they had been together for so long that people tended to forget that the first ten years of his life, Ace had been placed in Whitebeard’s orphanage. He had friends there and would hang out with them quite a lot. Given everything they had given him, and his family, all three of the brothers were often found on their premises the moment they were free to help out as much as possible. Ace, given his own life there, was the one most often around and loved to see the people he grew up with and was close with. Old Newgate had retired, not that it stopped him from coming by almost every day, but the kids he had adopted over the years took over and were making the best out of it.
Which made it all so difficult, as Ace was an amazing guy, just as any of his friends or his brother’s friends, but none of the people he dated seemed to think so. It was always too much and at twenty-five that was weighing on him. Even more so as Luffy was on his one year of dating Nami and Sabo and Koala had been going steady for close to three.
Resting his head on his arms, Luffy pouted, “It just isn’t fair that he has to deal with all that shit. He’s amazing, and I know I am incredibly biased as his baby brother, but everyone thinks so too. I just wish he’d see it and if he did, to make sure he has someone there who makes him see it everyday.”
Patting Luffy on the back, Coby muttered, “Maybe we can look around and see if there is someone that we can introduce him to. And I don’t mean look around as in here, but co-workers or people in our circles that don’t belong to either of the main friend groups?”
That has Luffy feeling better, sending off a text to Sabo just to let the blond know. He and Koala had been feeling down because of Ace too. As soon as he had Sabo’s ok, Luffy gleefully texted his own friends, making a note to text Ace’s when his older brother was home again as he was currently out with a few of them and no one wanted to give anything away just yet.
—
Coby felt for Ace, he really did. While not close with the oldest of Luffy’s brothers, he had met him multiple times and found him to be very charming and kind. To know that a man like that can’t find someone to have a relationship with made him sad, especially as he knew from Luffy what a wonderful person Ace truly was.
Opting to set him up had been an idea with ulterior motives, in a way. Not that he wanted to manipulate the situation, but he had offered to set up a colleague of his not too long ago.
Isuka was an army vet, who after three tours had been given an honorable discharge after one too many bombs went off close to her and wounded her hands to the point that she was often achy and sore. She had also served under Admiral Sengoku, who had given her a recommendation for the Raftel Police Force, as Garp (their current captain) was also a veteran and loved having more ‘able bodied people’ on the force.
However, between her sore hands and general adjustments to life out of a combat zone she had a hard time adjusting and picking up her life. She was also an orphan and didn’t have people to fall back on, except other vets or the force. So setting her up with Ace, who had his own struggles and who did come with a built- in family unit, seemed like a great match.
He didn’t share as much with Luffy from the start, but did circle back to it the next time they saw each other. The beaming grin he got from his best friend at having a co-worker he believed would match well with Ace was everything. Smiling as they started planning, with Sabo, Koala and Nami joining so they could make sure Ace at least had a pleasant date and would feel as loved as they all believed he should feel. Coby mentioned where he knew her from, and that she was approved by Garp (who happened to be the boys’ grandfather) and that he believed they would be a good match.
Sabo, oddly enough, was the first one to agree. Stating that Ace needed someone down to Earth and aware that life had its struggles. He didn’t add to that, but Coby knew from Luffy that Ace’s childhood (despite the love and care at Whitebeard’s) hadn’t been all that great and left its scars on the man.
In his opinion, Isuka and Ace would be good for each other. They both had their scars they carried with them, but they were better people because of that.
“So, what’s the plan on introducing them to each other? Because as much as Ace used to date, he has just about given up on that and I don’t see him agreeing to a blind date”, Sabo asked. Which had them all pondering on the answer.
Koala gasped, “The Whitebeard Halloween Party! It’s next week and Ace always goes, even when he’s on call or working he’ll pop in before or after his shift. If we coordinate their costumes, that could be the focal point.”
Luffy cheered, “That’s easy too, Ace has been a werewolf since the first Halloween he stayed at Dadan’s.”
They start planning, and Coby can’t help but grin widely as he finds out that Isuka loves red-riding hood. Convincing her to look for, and wear, a costume to the largest Halloween Party in Raftel is child’s play.
—
Ace was aware of his brothers planning something, but they often did, so he didn’t mind all that much. He hadn’t been pleasant company lately, so it made sense that they wanted to help him out there.
With the Halloween party tonight, he had been looking forward to it. Even more so as Sabo and Luffy pushed for him to get into his costume and giggling like little girls as he did so. It was the same costume he had worn for years now, ripped jeans, no shirt, a wolf’s tail and wolf ears in black to complete the assembly.
Looking up at his brothers and their partners, he felt like there was a theme going there. Sabo was dressed as Dracula, with Koala as one of Dracula’s brides. Where Luffy was a pirate, and Nami a siren. Couple costumes hadn’t been a thing before, but he couldn’t help that there might be someone out there who matched his get-up.
Shaking his head, he didn’t know what to think of that. He didn’t have anyone and seeing his brothers so happy, he was feeling the loneliness even more so.
“Don’t look like that, bro”, Sabo said as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “I’m sure there might be a Red-Riding Hood out there for you to find.”
Tilting an eyebrow, finding it oddly specific what Sabo shared.
He doesn’t ask about it, if his brothers wanted to set him up with someone he’d indulge them. It wasn’t like it was meant to last, none of his relationships lasted very long and he hated that. None of the girls he dated seemed to know what family meant to Ace. All they seemed to care about is how he looked and how he could give them the attention they deserved, so all the effort from him and none from their side. He didn’t want that, he wanted a partnership.
Part of him also didn’t know if this girl would compare to the one he saw last time he passed by the precinct to see Gramps. He didn’t talk to her, but she did look interested the brief moment their eyes met. So who knows what might come out of there. For tonight though, he was going to have fun with his brothers, family and friends, everything else would be added value.
Only, he found that there was someone running around in a Red-Riding Hood costume and she was the same person he had seen before. The one whose eyes locked onto his and there was this connection he couldn’t quite explain.
They gravitated towards each other, something his brothers and their friends seemed to like very much.
“Hi, I’m Ace”, he introduced himself, “I saw you at the precinct but didn’t talk to you then.”
She nodded, “Isuka, I saw you come by and wasn’t disappointed. Men in uniform just track, you know.” She blushed after realizing she said that out loud. Looking away before Ace mentioned he didn’t mind, that he had looked too but didn’t know how to approach her.
Isuka giggled, “I didn’t know what to think when Coby offered to introduce me to someone here. I… I don’t really know anyone, except those at the center up on Marineford. So, it was nice of him to offer, even if it was just to be friends.”
Looking back at Coby standing next to Luffy, and the grin on both their faces, Ace knew they had been the ones to set this up. But he couldn’t mind, not when it brought him this. Even if it was stow, or just the start, at least it was with someone he felt a connection with.
Turning back to Isuka, he asked her if and where she served. He didn’t, but Gramps did and from what he had been told his parents had both been in special forces (before they had been killed in action). Mentioning that he had a lot of respect for those of them that went out there in a warzone to protect their country.
“Not a lot of people see it that way”, Isuka whispered, “I didn’t have anyone else before so making the move to Raftel was of no concequence. But it gets lonely, even more so as people assume I didn’t serve on the front lines being slender and a woman.”
Ace scoffed, “That’s bullshit, I’ve seen women lay out men twice their size.”
Mentioning to Luffy and Sabo’s girls, he explained that while they didn’t look like it, Koala was a reigning champion in Karate and Nami was a mean hand with a bow staff. They didn’t look like much either, but they could each hold their own and he respected them for it (on top of the fact that they made his brothers happy). Which changed the topic of conversation to family and friends, and the fact that Ace came with a whole army’s worth.
They’d talk about everything and nothing, leading to them exchanging numbers at the end of a great evening.
—
The next time there was a larger gathering, Isuka showed up hand in hand with Ace. A flush on both of their cheeks, and a ‘thank you’ to the people that got them together. They had been dating for three months at that point and couldn’t be happier.
Ace had someone who saw him, who supported him and who made room and effort to get to know the people in his life.
Isuka got someone who understood, even if it wasn’t the same, who supported her in everything that she did and who came with the package of a support system she didn’t have but who were quick to adopt her once they got to know her.
It was the perfect compromise, and an even better partnership. Making all parties so very happy about the result.