A/N: This is a quick thing I wrote in celebration of something. Hope you like it! I know a lot of the people reading this would rather I work on my chapter stories, but I haven't been able to squeeze much out in between preparing for my upcoming exams. I hope you can understand.

EDIT: Sorry for all the edits to this I've had to make... Not sure why it uploaded with so many formatting problems. I didn't notice until after I posted.

At 11:50 PM, December 31, Ace was sitting alone in the living room with a small piece of chocolate cake, untouched on the coffee table in front of him. Luffy had begged for them to watch the countdown on TV together, but the younger brother still hadn't made an appearance.

Ace's eyes slid over to the clock. Nine minutes left. Nine minutes until January first and nine minutes until Ace was officially fifteen. Luffy had been buzzing about the New Years for a week — he said nothing of Ace's birthday.

Suddenly, there was a bang from the direction of the stairs.

When Ace looked over, he saw Luffy crumpled in a heap, clutching a box. Ace was about to hop up to see if he was okay when Luffy's head lifted, his usual grin firmly in place, and he jumped to his feet and scrambled over.

"For you!" Luffy said, thrusting the box into Ace's chest.

Ace looked at it, wondering whether he should save it for his actual birthday, until Luffy went on, "It's a New Years present!"

"A… New Years present?" Ace looked up at the still-standing Luffy from under knitted eyebrows; his hands felt a bit numb around the gift box. "Luffy, you don't give gifts for New Years."

"What are you talking about?" Luffy tilted his head, his lips pursed. "You always get gifts on New Years."

"But those are for my birthday," Ace said. He wondered if the emphasis was enough of a hint.

"Same thing," Luffy answered promptly.

"No, they're not…" Ace looked down at the gift box again, trying to form the explanation into words. "Sure, my birthday is January first, and New Years is—"

"New Years is when everyone celebrates your birthday!"

Ace's head lifted back up. He blinked at Luffy; that had probably been the last thing he had expected Luffy to think. "…Everyone celebrates my birthday?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Luffy was looking at him, disbelieving, now, and Ace was matching the look right back. "Ace! Everyone in the world celebrates your birthday!"

Ace could only blink again. "What?"

Luffy huffed. "Calendars start on your birthday. Did you think it was a coincidence? Your birthday is a holiday!"

"My birthday is not a holiday, Luffy."

"Yes it is," Luffy insisted. "You're my awesome and cool and strong big brother and you play with me and help me with my homework; why wouldn't everyone celebrate you? You're, like, amazi-cool! And I'm so happy that you… that you exist! Of course your birthday is a holiday!"

"You're… happy that I exist?" Ace repeated quietly.

Luffy didn't hear; he had taken one look at the clock and stopped paying attention. "We're gonna miss the countdown!" he shouted, grabbing the remote and switching the TV on. They were already at four.

Luffy joined the counting with enthusiasm, but Ace was a bit too shocked to do more than watch Luffy.

The count reached zero, and Luffy immediately tackled Ace in a hug, shouting, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Ace threw his arms around Luffy in return. He didn't let go for hours, but Luffy didn't mind.