The photo above is what inspired this short story. I do not own it, credit goes to the original artist! I love it!!❤️❤️❤️

You sat on the swing early evening alone. Your (h/l) (h/c) blowing in the breeze. Goosebumps appearing on your (s/c). Your Uncle Rayleigh was supposed to pick you up from school, but like always he never showed up. Your friend Luffy said he and his older brothers would walk you home but you ran off with tears in your eyes.

You'd been there for over an hour just sitting in the tube between the monkey bars and the swings crying your eyes out. He promised he'd remember this time he promised! The thought only making you cry harder.

"Hey there's no one here! We can test it out!"

"Did you check everywhere Kid? We got in trouble last time remember?"

"Okay fine!"

You stiffled your cries and sat very still. You brought your legs up and put your head to your knees. If I'm still they won't know I'm here.

"Who the hell are you?!" Or not.

When you looked up you saw a boy about 3 years older than you, he had amber eyes and red hair that looked like fire and a pair of mechanic goggles on his head.

"I asked who are you?!" He yelled and in the tube it reverberated making you cover your ears.

"Don't yell in here dummy!"

"What'd you just call me?" He grabbed you and dragged you out of the tube and let you fall on your butt into the sand.

"Hey jerk! That hurt!" You got up and tackled him to the ground. At 9 years old your teachers complained about you being violent, but you only did that to kids who picked on your friends and bullies. You both started to roll around in the dirt when his friend older than both of you pulled you both apart.

"Kid stop! And you." He pointed a finger at you. "Quit it! He's not above hitting a girl."

"Bring it Red!" You clenched your fists and stuck your tongue out.

"Let me go Killer!" You stayed out of reach of his feet so he couldn't kick you, all while taunting him.

"Hey what's going on over there?" You all froze when you heard a yell. It was a police officer on patrol, he was tall with white hair smoking a cigar. Crud it's Smoker! "Y/N? What the hell kind of trouble are you causing now?" Smoker asked exasperated. The two boys shot you a look.

"Nothing much just playing around."

"Uh-huh sure. And you two didn't I warn you about testing your go cart here?"

"There wasn't anyone here and she started it!" The redhead yelled.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"ENOUGH!" You all winced at Smoker's voice, he was known for being a hard ass, but with kids he tried to have more patience. "C'mon I'm taking you all home."

You all three sat in the back of the police car. Smoker had made you and Kid (who you learned was the redhead's name), wash your faces in the water fountain. But your clothes were still filthy.

"Y/N wasn't Rayleigh supposed to take you out today for your birthday?" You felt the boys' eyes on you again.

"He forgot. I went to the park to be by myself." Smoker winced. He was usually the one on scene when you got into trouble. But he knew you wanted your uncle's attention. The old man wasn't abusive, just not good at remembering you were there a lot of the time.

"Sorry sweetie."

"Nothing new, he always forgets."

You reached your house. Smoker kept the boys in the car while he walked you to your door. No one answered when he knocked. Rayleigh was gone.

"I'll be fine Mr. Smoker, you can leave now." You unlocked the door with your key and walked inside. The quiet was what was there. Walking into the kitchen you took out a can of chili and some bread and ate food. You did your homework than went to bed. Chances are you wouldn't ever see those boys again. And life would go back tomorrow.

You were woken up to a loud bang. Rayleigh was home, and drunk. Meaning he'd lost a lot of money.

"Y/N! Are you home sweetie? I got you a cake, but I dropped it so it's a little ugly now. But it has a wolf on it, your favorite animal!"

"Mr. Rayleigh please! You're going to wake her up! It's a school night for Y/N, she's in bed it's 4am!"

"It's okay Shanks! It's her birthday!"

"Her birthday was yesterday you missed it!"

You went to sleep crying.

~Next Day~

"Sorry we forgot your birthday yesterday Y/N. Happy birthday!" Luffy, Ussop and Nami has given you a charm bracelet from all of them. Luffy's charm was a piece of meat, Ussop's was a paint brush and Nami's was an orange.

"Thank you guys! I love it!" You twirled it around on your wrist and smiled.

"Oh yeah Ace and Sabo have a gift for you too Y/N. They said they'd come after school."

"Thanks guys you're the best friends ever!" You hugged everyone.

"What did your uncle get you?" Ussop asked. You didn't want them to worry so you lied.

"He got me a cake." The rest of the day went by fast. Mr. Rocinante gave you a card with a Wolf bookmark inside you wrote him a thank you note and then went to the front of the school with Luffy to wait for his brothers.

"Hey it's you!" You heard a yell and saw Kid and Killer from the other day with backpacks on and school clothes.

"You know them Y/N? Are they new friends? Hi I'm Luffy let's be friends too!" Luffy held out a hand but Kid ignored him.

"We got in some serious trouble because of you!"

"I got in trouble too ya know." Kid looked like he was gonna say something else but someone's hand on his shoulder had him turn.

"You picking on our brother's friend Eustass?" Ace and Sabo appeared.

"Go away Portgas this is between me and this brat!"

"I'm not a brat!"

"I'm 12 how old are you?"

"I turned 9 yesterday!"

"Still a brat!"

"Am not!"

"Enough you two. Kid c'mon we gotta find another place to test the cart." Killer was pulling Kid away. Kid's eyes on yours the whole time.

"You okay Y/N?" Sabo held your hand.

"Yeah he doesn't scare me." Sabo and Ace invited you to their house for dinner. Their big brother Thatch was a professionals chef. When you got there he'd made your favorite along with a cake in the actual shape of the a wolf. After dinner Marco who was in college drove you home. But you didn't go inside, instead you went to the dock by the lake that was behind your house. And sat there, Rayleigh wasn't home, his car was gone. You stared at the water when you heard a noise.

"Kid are you sure this is okay?"

"No one is going to know."

Sure enough the two boys appeared before you again. They looked shocked to see you.

"What are you doing here?" This time Killer was the one to ask. You pointed to your house behind you.

"I live here what are you doing here?" Both boys gulped and looked around. "I don't care if you're here. Just leave me alone and you can do whatever you want." Kid and Killer went wide eyed.

"You don't even know why we're here." Kid growled.

"To test a go cart right? I heard Blondie say something about it when you guys were harassing me at my school."

"I was-I didn't. Whatever!" Kid yelled. "Won't your parents get mad?"

"My parents are dead and my uncle isn't home, as long as he thinks you're my friends he won't care. Now leave me alone and do what you wanted to do and go away." You went back to staring at the water. You wished you had a family like Luffy's. You wished you were their sister. It sucked being alone all the time. Rayleigh never showing up for school events, or coming to get you when you got in trouble.

Killer sat beside you and looked at your face.

"Are you okay?" His face was so close you pushed it away.

"I'm fine." You heard a growl and looked around you heard it again and noticed Kid blushing. "You hungry?" He grew redder. "C'mon there's food in my house. I already ate so I'm okay." You started to walk away both boys stayed still. "Well come on." After that they followed you inside.

An hour later they'd eaten half of what was in your fridge and pantry. You didn't care it saved the food from going bad and Killer who you learned was 14 was a pretty good cook.

You'd even let them use some of your uncle's tools to help them complete their go-cart. They'd told you that they'd entered a contest. If they could make the go-cart go like a car, they'd win and get into a mechanical school next year.

"That's pretty cool. Do you want to build cars when you grow up?"

"Cars, boats, anything with a motor I want to create the best! Killer is also really cool his designs are awesome!"

"Thanks Kid but even the best looking stuff isn't worth anything if the engine and everything holding it together is crap."

"You guys ever though of owning your own racing team?" You were all having so much fun you didn't realize how late it had gotten until you saw car lights.

"My uncle is back wait what time is it?"

"Crap Kid it's after 10pm. The group parent is going to kill us!"

"Let the old bitch try!" Kid looked at you than looked at the cart.

"Hey let's move it to that shed over there. It's my personal spot no one goes in there but me." After some effort you'd managed to move the cart and the tools they'd need for tomorrow. "You guys can come over tomorrow. You can keep it here until the day of the competition."

"Why would you want to help us?" Killer asked.

"Cause it was fun hanging out with you guys, and it was nice not being by myself. I'll have lots of food! Will you come?"

Kid and Killer exchanged a look. Killer reached out and ruffled your hair. Kid scoffed and said something like "got no choice anyway," it didn't matter you were happy to have people come over. Even if they were both a little moody.

~Day of Competition~
Kid and Killer had invited you to come and watch them race their cart. There were a lot of people and a lot of kids older than Kid and Killer. Over the course of three weeks, they'd met your uncle and had made it a habit of coming over everyday. It was nice to be with kids close to your age and have fun. It was also nice not to be home along anymore. But now that they've built the cart, they don't need to come over anymore.

"Y/N!" You heard Kid call your name.

"Kid! Are you excited?"

"You crying?"

"No I'm not. Just thinking." He grabbed your hand and started to drag you towards the cart.

"Killer I found her."

"Y/N! Good you're here now Kid can relax?"

"Shut up its not like I thought she wouldn't come!" You giggled. You were going to miss them.

"Let's go kick some butt!" You yelled and threw your fist in the air. Kid and Killer had a sweat drop but just chuckled at your antics.

"After this we'll go my house and have a party!"

"Now we really gotta win." Killer laughed.

"All racers to the starting line, please bring your carts to the starting line." Before they got up to leave you gave each boy a kiss on the cheek.

"Good luck!" You waves and failed to see the pink blush on their faces.

5 minutes later you were at the end of the race line. You saw Kid and Killer both in the cart. Kid was messing with the controls and Killer was getting it started. Once the start was signaled they raced around an obstacle course twice, then headed straight towards the finish line. They didn't win though they came in third.

You walked over to them. Both looked upset, and sad. Kid looked like he was holding back tears. You didn't know what to say.

"Kid, we need to go get our prize." Killer's voice sounded sad too.

"Screw that! If I'm not in first place there's no point!" He yelled loud enough for everyone around him to turn and stare. He ran off leaving you and Killer by the cart.

"He'll be okay. We were...this time was supposed to be the time we won."

"This time?"

"We've done this three times already, this was our fourth and last time we were allowed to do the competition." Killer clenched his fists. He was sad too but was calm about it. You wanted to cry for him. Instead you hugged him around his neck.

"You guys can do it without the school. Do you know how cool you two are without the school? You guys built that cart without any help!" You squeezed him tighter. Killer took a second but soon returned your hug.

"Thanks Y/N." Killer took the prize and then was talking to an old man who had blue lips, purple hair and had a weird symbol on his jacket. You'd thought you'd seen it before. You kept an eye out for Kid. No where to be seen. "C'mon Y/N, I'll walk you home." He held out his hand to you, you took it. It was bigger and rougher than Sabo's and Ace's hands.

"I'm gonna miss you Killer." You whispered.

"Hmm? You say something?" You shook your head and held onto his arm while holding his hand. You didn't want to say goodbye.

Killer walked you home, and was turning to leave when you hugged him from behind. Squeezing as hard as your little arms would allow.

"Y/N? What's wrong?"

"I just thought that you needed another hug. Tell Kid I thought he looked cool today." Killer reaches behind him and pulled you into a full on bear hug. He squeezed air out and you giggled.

"See you later Y/N." No you won't but it's okay. You nodded than ran inside to your room and then started to cry. You sobbed into your pillow letting all your sadness and loneliness finally come spilling out.

"Why the hell are you crying?!"

"Waaaahb!!!" You turned and fell off your bed. And saw Kid in your room, his eyes red and puffy. He'd been crying too. "Kid how did you get in here?"

"I remembered you don't lock your window so I snuck in. I didn't want to go to the group home yet. And I...waited for you."

"You broke in?"

"I didn't break in. Just wanted to come where I felt at home." You gasped and walked over to him and sat on your window bench with him.

"I think your cart was cool. And if you want...you can keep building in my shed. Uncle Rayleigh may not look it but he is actually a good mechanic. So he'd take you on as an apprentice when you got into high school. Killer could start now. I can talk to him tomorrow."

"You think I need your help?! I don't need some brats help who doesn't know anything about me and who probably laughs at me behind her back! So shut up!" You let his hand go, and walked away.

"Go away Kid. You're not welcomed in my space anymore." He huffed and left. You cried anew. Realizing that he probably said that cause he was angry and hurt. You were going to miss them

You ended up being right in the end. They never came back around and stayed away from the places you used to hang out and you went back to being lonely when you came home.