I had always known pirates to be rowdy, but I couldn't deny it. They threw incredible parties. 

It was Ace's birthday, and the Moby Dick was alive, ebullient cheers and song likely reaching for miles across the vast ocean. Thatch had outdone himself preparing dish upon dish, and Whitebeard had even called in a few favours, blessing us with the finest booze on the Grand Line. Music, food, drinks and fun, it was better than any party I had ever been to in my entire life, but I couldn't enjoy it to its fullest. 

The only thing on my mind had been Ace's confession the week prior, and now that he was the man of the hour, I couldn't escape him even if I wanted to. He was distracted, which was helpful, but there was no way I could miss the way he would glance over at me, lingering upon my form, silently saying so many things I didn't want to hear. 

That was probably why I didn't stop at one drink, or even two. I was downing alcohol like water, making my own little home, sitting upon one of the several giant kegs. My legs swinging, I watched everybody else have a jolly old time, content with keeping to myself. 

"It's weird seeing you so quiet. Borderline unnatural, if you ask me, yoi." Marco appeared below me, pouring himself another drink before leaning close to where my legs hung. 
"I'm just observing...I like bein' tall..." My words came out a little slow when I spoke, and the pineapple head picked up on it immediately. 

"Oh, I get it. A gut-full of liquid courage before you can face him, huh? Pretty cliche, isn't it, yoi?" He snorted, catching my foot before it struck the side of his head. "Easy, easy! I'm just teasing! Lighten up, kiddo." As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right. I felt like I needed to be far from sober to be anywhere near Ace without freaking out, and it was pretty pathetic. 

"What did I say about calling me kiddo?" I huffed, nearly losing my balance if it weren't for his grip on my foot. He was giving me a look. Such a knowing look, which shouldn't have surprised me in the slightest. 
"You should go talk to him." Marco motioned his head towards the birthday boy, who was being showered with attention in the form of food across the deck. "It'd make his whole night, I'd bet my left nut." 

Grimacing, I tried to wriggle out of his hold, but there was no escaping him. 
"Don't bet that. I don't want it. Nobody wants it." I complained, yelping out loud when he gave me a hard yank, dragging me down and catching me in one arm around the thighs so I was still above him
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"(Y/N), I'm not telling you to go confess your undying love for the guy. I'm just suggesting you go and wish him a happy birthday, spend a little time with him, yoi." Again, there was that look, and I screwed up my nose, keeping myself from slipping further down by bracing myself against his shoulders. 

"If you put me down and take your left nut out of the betting pool, then I will!" I barked, but it quickly turned into laughter as he let me slip down through his arm onto my feet. Releasing me and ruffling my hair, Marco handed me the drink he had poured for himself and nudged me in the right direction. 
"That's my girl!" He chuckled, giving me a quick thumbs up before walking away, taking any slight courage I had had along with him. 

Okay...I can do this! Pull yourself together, woman! Just say happy birthday and turn tail! 

Sucking in a deep breath, focusing on keeping my steps even and straight, I approached Ace's little group, deciding it was definitely the alcohol that almost floored me instead of the blinding smile Ace shot in my direction.

"Heya! Is that for me?!" He asked with a loud laugh, and I nodded slowly, handing over the tankard, unphased when the exchange caused the liquid to overspil and drizzle down my hand.
"Happy Birthday, dumbass." It came out much quieter than I had expected, and I flinched when he held out his opened bottle.

"A trade!" Intoxicated Ace seemed a lot more jovial than when he was sober, and I found it cute. I didn't even have the capacity to mentally refute that thought. Once I had accepted the drink, he tugged at my skirt, and I had no choice but to follow it down so I wouldn't become exposed to the entire crew.

"O..oi! Watch it!" I snapped, but there was no real agitation behind it. The smile he directed towards me made damn sure of that.
"Sit with me! Not avoiding me can be my present!" He laughed, throwing his tattooed arm over my shoulders and butting his head into the side of mine.

But...Wait, you know what? Screw it!

Returning his affectionate little headbutt, I chuckled, reaching to clink my bottle against his tankard.
"Sure, as long as you don't try and rip my skirt off again, jackass!"

Sitting with Ace, drinking with him, it was more fun that I had anticipated. When my anxieties had been swept under the waves of fine beers and spirits I could truly appreciate just how well we clicked. Not only our personalities, but how well I fit beneath his arm, which he didn't move even for a moment.

"Wow, (Y/N), you can really throw them back." Deuce commented, watching me down yet another bottle with barely a single breath.
"It's always the tiny ones. They're scary." Vista added, tossing his head back to release a hearty chuckle.

"Truuuuue that! Never underestimate a woman who can drink you under the table!" Ace added, squeezing me just a touch closer, which had my body absolutely thrumming. Poking the mouth of my bottle against his cheek, I nudged his face away, but only slightly, smirking.
"What? You sayin' you underestimated me before, huuuuuuh, Peps?"

Pushing back against my bottle, Ace grinned, that cheeky, bratty type of grin I had stopped being annoyed by as of late.
"Nah, never! You're tough, for how you are." He shrugged, and my lips pressed into a pout.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Before I had a chance to press further, Ace jumped up with a start, pulling me along with him and nearly causing us to stumble and fall on both Deuce and Vista.
"I wanted to show you something! Come with me!"

Without hesitation, I nodded and allowed him to lead me off, whatever Deuce shouted after us falling on deaf ears. Stumbling and tripping our way, we eventually made it to the crew cabins, after several detours, and Ace pulled me into his room.

Making myself at home, I followed close behind him, hazy curiosity building as he opened a chest and began digging around, throwing things left and right.
"A man on a mission, I see." I chuckled, having to take a crooked step back when he spun around, holding something in his hands.

"This! Isn't it cool?!" He hiccuped, forcing the item into my hands. It was a straw hat, but one much different to Luffy's, and I smiled, running my thumbs around to feel the texture.
"Where did you get this? It's [hiccup] cool..." I murmured, twitching my nose after hiccuping.

Pride emanated from Ace's very being as he thumbed towards himself, taking the hat back and placing it upon his head.
"Made it! I'm super good at it, too! Even made a giant one for my buddy, Little Oars! He ain't so little, but man, did he love it!"

I like hearing him talk...He's so passionate about everything...

All I could do was laugh, freely and loudly, as he began striking poses, having to wipe a stray tear from the corner of my eye.
"Wait, earlier, what did you mean when you said I'm tough for how I am?" I asked, dragging the conversation back to what it had been before he had taken me to his room.

Smile unfaltering, Ace tossed the hat back into the opened chest, pointing to me, his finger close to touching my chest.
"Cuz you're small. I don't mean anything bad by it, cuz I like how you are, but in a fight it's a disadvantage."

Remember, he likes you...like that...

Forcefully drowning that thought in my booze-flooded brain, I stuck out my tongue.
"Never stopped me before! I'm fast, and I-" Ace reached out and pinched the tip of my tongue between his thumb and forefinger, silencing me.

"I know you are, but that's not always gonna be enough, y'know? With a frame as small as yours, if someone bigger pins you, that's it. You're done for." Once he released my tongue, I was just about to argue when he lunged forward, knocking me back down, onto his bed.

His hands held my wrists in a firm grip, but I didn't didn't attempt to fight my way out of it. His knees clamped down on either side of my own, and even though I knew he wasn't using all of his strength, he got his point across.

Yep...Done for...

"Would ya look at that? Pinned ya again." While he started off with a smirk, it eased off into a minimally upturned line as he looked down at me, the red of his nose spreading to his cheeks. "You're tough, but you don't have real experience. You're more like a rabbit. You're gonna have to rely on tricks rather than physical strength in a fight."

I was getting lost in his eyes, but I didn't have the wherewithal to fight against it anymore.
"You literally just ate rabbit stew for lunch...should I be concerned?" I cocked a brow, and he leaned in a little closer, that beautiful, bratty smirk returning.
"What? You don't want me to eat you..?"

I can't take it anymore!

I was making a habit out of kissing Ace out of nowhere, but this time it was more than just a mere kiss. The feelings that had been so clouded by anxiety and confusion had become crystal clear, and they came out as desperate, heated oral affections.

This time, Ace didn't hesitate, even for a moment. He returned those kisses with equal, if not more vigor, the hands he had been using to pin me abandoning their duties and moving to my waist and the side of my face in turn.

In that moment, I wanted him to eat me. To devour me, body and soul, and to make good of the heart of his decade old promise. To keep me as part of his crew. To keep me as more.

Now freed, my hand moved to the front of the leg of his shorts, the material bunching into my fist as I arched my back, attempting to get closer. It was all I could think about.
"A..Ace..."

In an instant, my lips had been abandoned, and Ace held himself above me, eyes wide and breath uneven. There was an air of distress in his gaze, but still, all I was capable of doing was just laying there, my entire body tingling and hot.

"We...can't do this. Not right now...We're both drunk as hell..." He murmured, voice taut as he attempted to hold himself back. I wanted to say something, to make him realise I wasn't as drunk as he thought I was, but I couldn't. He wasn't wrong.

But I mean it...

Sitting back on his heels, Ace ran a hand down his face, groaning into his palm as it passed over his mouth.
"Fuck...You have no idea how hard this is, (Y/N)..." He sighed, swinging one leg over me to join the other, shifting so he could drag me up the bed, making sure my head was on his pillow. "But you're drunk...and there's just...there's too much you don't know about me yet, so, just...Not tonight, okay?"

Once Ace had pointed it out, I began to realise just how intoxicated I really was. My limbs felt heavy, and my vision wasn't exactly cooperating. Ace, however, was still clear as day to me. His flushed face, his messed hair, the deep, legitimate care in his eyes.
"But...I could be your present..?"

What? Why did I say that?! I really did drink too much...

Ace drew his bottom lip between his teeth, biting down hard and placing a hand on my arm to keep me down, just in case I tried to jump him again.
"Y..you're really trying to kill me, aren't you..?" He chuckled weakly, turning to reach for his blanket, which he must have left bunched at the end of his bed that morning, momentarily standing so he could pull it over me.

"Nooooooooo..." I whined in a pitiful voice, pathetically struggling as he tucked me in, having to move over me to pin me again, this time with the blanket between our bodies.
"Yes. Sorry, believe me, as much as I loved that...and as much as I love seeing you in my bed...I'd be a sick son of a bitch to keep going like this."

I get it, but...

Squirming a little and realising I was trapped, I stuck out my bottom lip, staring up at him with what was likely the most pathetic attempt at puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.
"One more kiss..? For your birthday?"

Even in my state, I could see the exact moment Ace caved, his smile returning, gentle and familiar.
"Dammit, Marco was right. I'm gonna end up whipped..." Leaning down, Ace pressed his lips to mine, but again, it was a completely different sort of kiss to the ones we had shared before.

It was like he was trying to convey his every feeling to me through his lips, so gentle and loving, a cure-all to my every fear. For those few, short moments, I was completely cleansed of Doflamingo, the Family, Dressrosa, and every painful memory that came with them.

This...is what it's supposed to feel like, isn't it..?

Parting, but keeping his face close, Ace sighed, nose nuzzling against mine before he finally stood up, his smile almost sad as he looked down at me.
"Sleep it off, and if you remember this tomorrow, and if...you don't regret it...then I'm begging you...

...come find me, and tell me that you love me back..."

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***I was going to take a few days break from writing but my ex fiance has been hounding my friends trying to get me to talk to him (it seems like he wants to try again, but things that happened when we were together were bad and I'm still scared of him). We only have contact via email regarding our child but he's relentless so I needed to distract myself.

Anyway, Ace kiss yay.

Next Time: Stranded***