Kitsune here! Sorry for the long wait, everyone~ Obviously I have NOT forgotten about this little gem. I just have this habit of starting new stories and getting side tracked with work and such. Is this going to change? Not likely. Really need more hours in a day, since I still need time to read myself, as well as watch shows and talk to my friends. Let's see… In recent news I've still been having a rough go of it. Applying for jobs in my field, but still no luck (Animal Behavior. PLEASE anyone need a zookeeper or a fish-and-game type person? I'm looking!). I'm about at my wit's end and suffering burnout at work, but I'm trying. I had a bout of really bad depression around two months ago when I found out one of my cat-show friends was dieing of a bone marrow cancer. He has since passed. Um. In the last week, I've lost two fish and my pet rat, so that kind of sucks. In slightly better news another breeder/cat-show friend of mine (who had lost her husband in January) is giving me a kitten. I'd called to see how she was doing and it kinda just happened. Brittish-Maine Coon mix. Still need to meet him to pick a name.

Yeah, so for now I'm trying to ignore the bad stuff in my life and focus on the good stuff, like all of you awesome readers and reviewers who I don't thank enough! And all the stories I'm working on, of course. I also want to give a shoutout to Anjelle, who's been a great help. Go read her stuff if you haven't… or at least go read our JOINT story "Immortality Is What We Leave Behind". You won't regret it! And another shout out to WeRunYounder for being an awesome 'little brother'. She and I are going to a Supernatural Con in DC this summer and she always knows when I need a cheering up. She's horrible at talking me out of writing new stories though.

Question of the chapter: Ever call a friend something that has people scratching their heads? I do! I call 'Younder my Little Brother. People are like "What? But… she's a girl?" It's fun.

Approaching his idol was a lot harder than he'd expected. For one, Luffy never seemed to go anywhere alone. When at City Tech and not in class he was usually with his scary-as-fuck older brother, or this British asshole who was way too familiar with Luffy, always offering to carry his bag or buy him food. Did he think the guy was weak or something? Luffy could carry his own bag! Naturally he didn't blame Luffy for taking the food - growing up where he did, under Teach's care, he was sure food was hard to come by. Slimy bastard, taking advantage of what a friendly guy Luffy was...

Off campus Luffy tended to hang out mostly with this one guy. The guy was pretty cool, didn't ever seem to try and tell Luffy what to do, and he'd seen him actually threaten people who'd been lying in wait for his idol more than once, so this Zoro guy was okay in his book. Except… he was pretty sure he was a cop. Wasn't normal for a punk to go in and out of the back of the precinct once a week. OR be that familiar with the deputy sergeant. It was hard to hate the man because he obviously put Luffy first. Plus, his hair was this amazing green color. Zoro was hyper observant though, and he couldn't even get close to Luffy. Like, not even within a block.

Trying to follow them to the zoo had been a disaster. Zoro'd noticed him right away and given chase. If he hadn't climbed to the top of the utility shed behind the tiger exhibit he was sure the man would have killed him. Not that he blamed him of course! Anyone trying to hurt Luffy like those shit-heads at Rip-Off's suggested deserved to die. Painfully. Zoro masterfully played it off like he'd gotten lost in the tiger cage so as not to worry Luffy. Of course even the tigers were scared of him.

So yeah, that didn't work. And the two times he'd tried at Rip-Off's so far had ended horribly. The first time Enel had mentioned what he'd like to do to Luffy and, well… the man was just lucky Rayleigh was there to pull him off. He hadn't meant to start a full on bar brawl that night, but when people started talking about Luffy like he was some piece of meat they could just barter for it pissed him off. They didn't know him like he did. Luffy was amazing! So strong and brave and kind! Trusting, too. That was the problem. He needed to protect Luffy from scumballs like Enel. The second time Red Hair Shanks was sitting with Luffy for a while. Word on the street was that the Red Hair and Whitebeard mobs were sharing the boys. He didn't like that one bit, even if others were claiming it was their due as 'spoils of war'. Shanks obviously didn't like the way the younger brother flinched away from him at first and must have said something to him. Still, the poor guy looked strained for the rest of the night, even that asshole Ace and slimy Sabo looked uneasy the whole time.

The only time he even had a chance to maybe get close to Luffy was during class. Somehow through the grace of God he was in two of the same classes, English Comp 101 and Physics 101. During class time he didn't want to disrupt the younger man's studying. He could learn a thing or two from Luffy! That guy was always jotting something down in his notebook, watching the professor lecture with an intensity rivaled by no one else in the class. No, if he was honest, he was too in awe of the younger man to dare approach him him class. It was all he could do to sit a few rows behind Luffy and try not to spend the whole time watching him.

Finally after months of waiting, he thought he'd come accross the perfect opportunity to approach his hero- his idol. Luffy was on campus, just sitting on a bench after class. Normally he'd already be on the bus back towards home, or have gotten a ride with one of those damn Whitebeard men. But no, not this time. He was just sitting, looking a little lost in thought. He wondered if maybe Luffy needed help- and maybe -just maybe- he could be the one to offer it. Before he'd worked up the nerve to approach, though, Ace stormed over to the bench, a scowl on his face. He didn't miss the way Luffy flinched as the shadow covered him from behind.

"What the fuck, Luffy?" Ace bit out, glowering down at his brother.

"I know…" Luffy looked down, pulling in on himself as the older brother rounded the bench with a growl.

He didn't even give Luffy any time to protest, just picked him up, sat down and put him in his lap, arms wrapping possessively around him. "I told you no! It's too dangerous!"

"But, Ace-"

"No, I don't want to hear it!"

Luffy squirmed, trying to look his brother in the eye, "I don't wanna have to depend on you guys forever…"

"LU!" Even from where he was standing he could see those arms tighten painfully around the smaller form, "You're supposed to depend on me! I'm your big brother! Where the fuck would you even get it into your head that you should learn how to drive?!"

Luffy muttered something he couldn't hear, not for the roaring in his ears. All this anger was over Luffy wanting to know how to drive? He bit back a snarl at the thought of Luffy's own brother treating him like property. Just looking at the way the boy, his idol, refused to meet his brother's eyes told him this was something that happened a lot. It was all the more amazing that Luffy was such a strong wonderful person given what assholes he was with.

"ZORO?!" Ace's voice rose to a yell before turning deadly, "I'm going to kill him for this."

"No! Don't! He just… well…" Luffy looked away.

"He just what? Is putting you in danger? Is pissing me off? AGAIN? Fucking narc can't mind his own damn business…." He knew he was a cop!

"He thinks that it'll be good for me." Luffy finished in a softer voice. He said something else but he couldn't hear it from where he was. Whatever it was Luffy said had Ace going white with rage though. He could see the man's muscles tense and he was honestly scared what he was going to do to Luffy. The poor kid was going to have bruised ribs for sure, at the very least.

But then Ace nodded. "Fine."

"You sure, Ace? I won't do it if it's gonna make you all upset…."

One hand came up and cuffed Luffy upside the head, "I said it was fine, idiot! You just better not fuck up and crash! If he gets you hurt, I really will kill him this time. I don't give a flying fuck if he's your friend. And you tell him CARS ONLY! And buckle up you fucking moron!" Another cuff to the head. "Don't expect me to buy you a damn car, either."

Luffy just smiled happily, ignoring the abuse and instead cuddling into his brother's wide chest. "Thank you, Ace. I promise I'll get really good!"

"Right up till you drive off a cliff…." Ace grumbled back, arms tightening around Luffy. "The things I let you talk me into, brat." They sat like that for a while. "Marco's coming to pick us up. YOU get to tell him."

"ACE!"

"Don't whine. Your idea, not mine. YOU deal with the mother hen."

"Fine…" Luffy pouted.

As he watched them sit there, Ace's arms still tight around his brother's middle holding him close, he vowed to stop anyone from messing with that Zoro dude. Cop or no, it looked like that man was the only one of Luffy's so called friends that would stand up to his brother. When those hands roamed under Luffy's shirt he vowed Luffy'd have at least one other person he could depend on, even if he was still too shy to go up and talk to his idol.