Note: This... took longer than it should have to write... A while ago on tumblr I asked for drabble prompts and I was sent a prompt for AceLu Royalty AU where they're in an arranged marriage but don't meet each other until their wedding day.

This is set in a completely different world and I hope it's easy enough to follow? Might write more for this AU someday because this feels rushed to me.

Arrangements

Rouge smoothes out her son's suit, ignoring the maids that titter about, not wanting their Queen to such a task that any of them could easily do. The Queen however, had insisted.

Ace looks down stubbornly, refusing to look at his mother until Rouge cups his cheeks in her hand. Her thumbs brush against the freckles he inherited from her, trying to coax him into looking into her eyes - the color also being something he inherited from her.

"Ace, please look at me." She requestes gently. Her son is as stubborn as a mule just like his father, but luckily that's not the only thing he inherited from her husband.

Ace looks up just slightly, reproachfully but it's enough for Rouge. It reminds her of her husband, who was never able to deny her.

"I understand that you don't wish to be married, but you have to sweetheart. We need to strengthen our bond with the Monkey family, we can't afford another war with them."

Growing up, Ace had learned all about the Monkey family. They were a royal family who had ruled an empire once upon a time that had rivaled the empire of his father's family's when they existed. Both the Monkey and the Gol empires had been strong and had been fighting for centuries until they had both been abolished. The world had changed vastly since both empires had started and took the empires with it.

While the world changed and the empires ended, the nations that had ruled the empires still had their problems. It wasn't until Ace's father Roger and King Garp of the Monkey Clan had taken their respective thrones did the two nations try to set aside their differences. A large amount of people just wanted to see the centuries of fueding and fighting come to an end.

Roger and Garp were two very different people and got into arguments frequently, but it was clear that they both liked one another and were friends. They had signed treaties and bills, had even entered an alliance together but there was always room for more.

Ace had found out when he had been eighteen what 'room for more' meant and it involved him.

Garp had a grandson who was three years younger than Ace. The Crown Prince of the Portgas-Gol throne had only heard of this grandson briefly at this point but apparently he was the son of Garp's only child, Dragon, who had gone missing years ago. Having met his grandson and checking his paternity was true, Garp had made him the Crown Prince of the Monkey throne.

However, around the time their alliance was beginning to weaken.

Roger was one of the first people to talk to Garp about matters concerning Luffy after his paternity results were positive.

What this meant was that Roger and Garp decided to arrange a marriage between their respective princes with no word to either of them about it until after negotiations had started.

Ace had been angry when he had first found out, had spluttered and screamed insults at his father, thinking that the man would be better than to conduct an arranged marriage for his son. Arranged marriages were very uncommon in this day and age, especially in free countries like theirs.

With time, he did understand that the alliance was an important one that could not be lost and gave his word, but he was still unhappy with the whole deal.

Two years had passed since that day and Ace was now twenty. He knew that running away wouldn't work, that guards would come after him the moment they heard of his escape.

Ace had still not even met his betrothed and knew very little about him.

"It's just really stupid mom. I get I need to strengthening the alliance, but why can't we strengthen it other ways? It's already pretty strong again!"

Rouge shakes her head. "Alliances and treaties can all fail. Marriage contracts are the strongest bonds you can make."

Ace wants to argue that marriage contracts can fail too, that they have in the past and that was one reason why rarely anyone did them anymore, but he already has countless times and it was useless saying anything.

"Luffy is a sweet boy, you'll like him Ace." Rouge says, kissing her son on the forehead. "You two are going to have to work together from now on as a team."

"How can I make a successful team with someone I don't even know."

Rouge drops her hands from her sons face but stays in close proximity. "You'll have time, Ace. Your father and I only knew each other for two months before our marriage, but it worked out. It'll work out for you too."

Ace sighs to himself as his mother backs up. "Yeah, but you guys chose to get married. I hope you're right."

"I'm always right. Take time to relax, go on a walk. Before your father comes into talk to you. There are two hours before the ceremony begins." His mother leaves the room with all of the grace the Queen of one of the most powerful nations can possess.

It wasn't bad advice, he had to give her that. Plus, he really didn't feel like talking to his father right now... A few minutes he leaves the room, ordering none of the maids to follow after him and to not tell his father what he was doing when he came looking for Ace.

Walking down the hall, he loosens his tie. He always hated wearing suits as a child and had avoided them as often as he could. To this day he tried to ignore them, but it became a lot harder to.

Personally, Ace preferred to go shirtless but wasn't able to often without getting caught by photographers and appearing in magazines.

He scarcely paid attention to tabloids, had only bought one on his own free will in his life, but he knew that he appeared in them quite often. Vaugely, he remembers that his fiancé was a big deal in tabloids as well for different things. Ace remembered the media storm that followed the announcement of their engagement well. There had been a lot of coverage and a lot of people questioning if the marriage arrangement was a violation of both Princes' basic human rights.

The world had freaked out and people had crowded around the palace for days until his fathers closest assistant, Rayleigh, had made an announcement to the people. He had said that it was a marriage alliance, but all parties had agreed to it. It had cleared up a lot of confusion worldwide and started a countdown until Prince Luffy was legal and ready to be wed.

Luffy had turned seventeen just a few weeks back, the legal age for both nations, and wedding fever was in the air.

Ace was a bit nervous form the whole thing. And that had led to him buying a special tabloid that had been published with information about the other prince. It had some helpful information so Ace wasn't completely clueless, but Ace still felt like he didn't know anything about Luffy and his nerves hadn't been calmed.

He sighs for what feels like the thousandth time that day and turns a corner, but what he doesn't expect is to run into a smaller person.

Ace stumbles backwards, but the smaller person starts to fall. The freckled crown prince acts fast and reaches out to catch the other person. They're pretty light and it's not sure to support them at all.

"Sorry," Ace apologizes, holding them up. "I didn't see you. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine! Thanks!" A high-pitched voice responds, their face still facing the floor. "I guess we both didn't see each other then!"

Ace chuckles and starts to help right the smaller person as he speaks. "I guess so-"

He cuts himself off when he sees the face of the person who he caught. It's no other than Monkey D. Luffy, the person he was betrothed to.

Luffy looks different than how he looked in pictures. He was much cuter and shorter than any picture led Ace to believing. His hair was black and stuck up in all different directions, like brushing it would never do it anything to fix it.

He wasn't in a suit like Ace was, oddly enough. Luffy wore casual clothing – baggy, sleeveless shirt, tattered shorts, sandals, and a tattered straw hat that were out of place for such a fancy church, but felt right on Luffy.

Just as Ace realized who he was, Luffy seemed to realize who Ace was because his lips curved into a wide smile and recognition sparked in his eyes.

"Hey! I'm supposed to marry you today!" Luffy chirps cheerfully, confirming that he did indeed recognize Ace.

Ace gapes, not believing that he had just ran into the one person he didn't want to see and that they were talking about their marriage so nonchalantly.

"Ne, did you sneak off too?" Luffy questions, his wide blue eyes looking into Ace's expectantly, the little scar underneath his eye wrinkling as he smiles up widely at the older prince. "Grandpa wouldn't stop talking and it was really boring and long so I snuck out when he wasn't looking, shishishi!"

Ace can't help the strained laugh that leaves his lips. "Funny, I wanted to do the same."

"Did you run away from King Roger? I've met him a few times, he's pretty funny!" Luffy says, swaying from foot to foot.

"Something like that, it's all… weird." Ace replies, his eyebrows slightly furrowing. "It's a longer story than it has to be, really."

Large, owl-like eyes blink up at him, a little bit of confusion shining in them, but Luffy grins and looks up at the decorated ceiling, swinging his arms back and forth. "You don't gotta tell me now! We're gonna have a lot of time! It's so weird, I'm just meeting you right now, but we're getting married in a little bit! Don't you think it's weird?"

"You could say that again…" Ace sighs, rubbing his neck and relaxing as much as he can. "Hey… do you maybe wanna… you know walk with me or something? It's pretty boring just standing here."

Luffy throws his arms up in the air and cheers. "Sure! That sounds cool!"

"Shh!" Ace says, putting a finger to Luffy's lips and looking around them to make sure no one was around to hear Luffy's loud exclamation. "Do you want everyone to hear you and find us? We'd probably have to go back to the rooms to get ready."

Ace looks back at Luffy, who is a little surprised at the finger on his lips. The older prince brings back his finger, looking at Luffy's lips. His cheeks unvoluntarily flush slightly at the situation.

"Sorry about that… I just didn't think it would be fun getting caught."

Luffy captures his lower lip in between his teeth and brings it into his mouth, sucking on it for a second. It's a quick process, but Ace catches it and can't help but feel oddly mesmerized by the plump lips.

"Yeah! That doesn't sound fun at all!" Luffy says, bringing his voice down to a whisper and leaning in closer to Ace so only he could hear.

Ace snorts and bumps shoulders with the younger prince, like they've been friends for years. "You don't have to whisper, just don't yell."

"Okay!" Luffy chirps, nodding his head with a enthusiastic spark of determination shining in his eyes. "Oh! We probably can't go outside though… I tried going out to the garden before I ran into you and there were a bunch of people outside with cameras asking me what I thought about getting married to you and stuff like that."

"Did you tell them anything?" Ace says, starting to turn the corner. Luffy starts walking with him, his shoulder occasionally bumping into Ace's.

"Nah, Nami and Sanji told me to not talk to those people. I don't really get it though… But I would have told them the same thing I told you, y'know?"

"That… That probably wouldn't really be good."

"Hm? Gramps was saying something like that once, but I didn't really get why?" Luffy questions, resting his hands on his head.

"It would have caused a lot of drama and even more paparazzi following us around." Ace explains slowly, hoping the teen would understand.

"That doesn't really make sense, but okay!" Luffy says after a second, not getting the point.

Ace looks at the teen with an exasperated, yet fond look. He had just met the other prince, but it felt like he had known him for much longer. There was something very comfortable and warm about Luffy that Ace wasn't completely sure how to explain. It kind of reminded him of a warm summers day.

"It'll just be for the best if you didn't mention anything about the whole arrangement part."

"Mmm… Okay! I mean, it's not that big of a deal!" Luffy says, despite Ace and the rest of their world thinking different. "I mean I know we just met and stuff, but getting married to you doesn't seem bad! You're pretty cool!"

Ace can feel his face flush slightly and bashfully scratches a freckle. "You're pretty cool, too."

Luffy looks up at Ace and grins brightly, seeing the light embarrassment on his fiancés face. "Shishishi, why are you embarrassed?"

"M'not embarrassed…" Ace responds, not looking at the shorter prince. He's got a smile on his face now, unable to top himself. There was something about Luffy that just made him want to smile. Something that made him feel like they've known each other for a long time even though they had just met in reality.

"Really? 'Cause you look pretty embarrassed! Nervous, too!" Luffy says, a playful edge to his smile as he peers around Ace's shoulder to get a better look at the freckled man.

"No I don't." Ace says, playfully pushing Luffy's face away from him. The seventeen year old stumbles a little, but Ace keeps his palm over Luffy's face in order to keep him at a distance. "Can't reach me now, can you?"

Luffy squirms and giggles, his breath warm against Ace's palm and his arms waving like a windmill until he can get a grip on Ace's wrist. He tries to pull Ace's arm back but ultimately fails until his tongue, warm and slick, licks Ace's palm.

Ace jumps and pulls back his arm, looking down at his now wet palm before quickly looking back up at his fiancé who is closer to him than before and grinning like the cat that caught the canary. "Did you just lick me?"

"Yep! And what are you gonna do about it?" Luffy says teasingly, putting his hands behind his back.

Ace leans in forward, a smirk on his lips and a mischievous glint shining in his eyes but he's not entirely sure what he's doing. "Would you like to see?"

Luffy's cheeks turn a little pink, but he smiles back at Ace. He inhales to answer, but a woman's voice interrupts him.

"Luffy! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Hearing the voice, Luffy looks up and his face brightens and he greets the person out of Ace's view. "Hi Nami!"

Ace turns around to see a tall woman with short, red hair and scolding expression on her face. That is, until she sees Ace and her expression is one of brief shock instead. The woman, Nami, bows her head at Ace.

"I am sorry to interrupt you two. My name is Nami, I am His Royal Highness, Luffy's, advisor. I am honored to meet you, your Highness." Nami says, completely professional.

"Nami! Just call me Luffy!" Luffy says with an exaggerated pout.

"It's an honor to meet you too, Miss Nami, but you can just call me Ace. I'm guessing we're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on." Ace replies, an easy-going smile on his face. He extends a hand to the woman, who takes it with a smile.

"Luffy, your grandfather fell asleep before he realized you were gone, but he could wake up any second! You need to go back to the room and get dressed! I'm not gonna be hit with a fist of love because of something you did!"

Ace grimaces at the mention of the infamous fist of love. It was King Garp's way of expressing his 'affection in a stern way' or so he claimed. Ace, King Roger, Queen Rouge, and who knew who else had been hit with the fist of love and, to be honest, it really hurt.

"Aww… But I was having fun talking to Ace!" Luffy whines, his shoulders sagging.

"You two are going to have plenty of time to talk, you're getting married! But, you won't be able to if you don't get ready."

Luffy groans but shuffles forward. Nami doesn't hesitate to grab his wrist and start dragging Luffy away.

"I'll see you later Ace!"

"See you later. Give me an answer then." Ace says as Luffy and Nami get further and further. Really, he was glad for her intervention because that had all happened rather quickly and he wasn't even too sure what sort of answer he was looking for.

Luffy's grin is enough of an answer though. The seventeen year old waves at Ace as Nami drags him away, calling out: "I'll see you at the altar! Don't get embarrassed or nervous!" before they are out of sight.

Ace bashfully rubs his neck, a smile on his face.

Maybe this whole arranged marriage thing wouldn't end out too bad.