Modern AU where the Cross Guild work for the same company, and they all bring their families to one of those "employees can bring their partners and kids" parties.
So, Crocodile brings Luffy, who naturally drags along his stray brothers. Mihawk brings Perona and Zoro. And Buggy brings Uta.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sabo are off talking while Ace and Uta are both trying to chat up Perona.
Mihawk, however, is very displeased. Like, "No, you're not good enough for my daughter, stop pestering her" except she is blushing and giggling and clearly falling for their words and not bothered at all by the attention. She's right where she wants to be right now.
Not that Mihawk wants to start a fight with Whitebeard for trying to kill one of his children but I'm pretty sure he would not be happy at all about Perona dating Ace. As neutral and unbothered as that man is, he would likely be unnecessarily harsh and rude in his nonchalant way just to show his clear disapproval. He probably thinks his daughter can do far better.
Perona absolutely never let's Ace lay in her bed if he hasn't at least taken a quick shower first. Wdym she would allow a post-training sweaty man on her clean, beautiful lavender-smelling silk sheets??? Not on her watch, that's for sure. Or hug her even.
Edit: I just realized the peronace dynamic has a lot of similarities with the shuggy dynamic and it makes me so happy cuz I love both 😭
Perona x Ace | This is my rarest rareship/rarepair. I hope to find someone in here who also like them cuz I'm suffering out here
If youre thinking "Why is Ace in the Kuraigana island??" Shhhh, we don't ask for context in stories like this
This is just for fun. I'm not good at writting stuff and this is probably cringe asf so
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Perona lay on her stomach in bed, covered by her silky pink and black sheets with a book placed high on her pillow while the rain outside splattered against the big window in her room. Despite the gloomy weather the Kuraigana island was always in, Perona's large window let in just enough light that she could read without the need of turning on the lamps. She could say it was a peaceful evening... if it wasn't for the loud snoring coming from a certain freckled pirate sleeping beside her. Even in her king-sized bed, this man still managed to hog most of the space with his sprawled out sleeping body. Ace's arms and legs were everywhere, and the sheets barely covered him anymore. He had his boxer briefs on but nothing else, so his chest was bare, moving up and down with his breathing. Perona had been trying to read the same sentence over and over again, to no use because the snores were not wavering.
Ace sat up straight in a startle when he felt a sudden slap to his chest. He looked around before quickly realizing where he was, flopping back down onto his pillow. He mumbled sleepily. "What was that for?"
"You were snoring. Loud. I want to read, you brute." She was met with some unintelligible mumble before he turned on his side, facing her before seemingly going back to sleep. Her eyes were back to her book, finally going over the same phrase again for the last time before switching to the next one. Surprisingly, Ace didn't start snoring again after dozing off and she was thankful for it.
The room was quiet apart from the rain outside and the flipping of pages of the book she was reading. Her voice slipped out in a faint hum, so soft the sound barely carried past her lips. It was such a gentle melody. The words came out barely above a whisper.
The humming stopped abruptly when Perona noticed Ace looking at her. An awestruck expression painted over his freckled face. Her own face flushed pink. Had he been watching her the whole time? She had thought he'd fallen asleep after she complained about the snoring.
"Please, keep singing," he finally asked. "You know I love when you sing." It was true. Perona liked singing and he loved listening. The first time he heard her sing might have been when he fell. Despite the gothic style, Perona sounded like an angel to him, or something just as capable of bringing peace to someone's soul. No matter how many times she sings the same songs, he never gets tired of listening to her. But this one is new. It was such a soothing melody. Pretty and soft and oh-so sweet when it came out of her beautiful lips.
She turned back to her book, cheeks still flushed pink. "Staring is really creepy, do you know that? Weirdo." That's all she managed to say. What is it with his stupid habit of watching her? Staring when she isn't looking. It made her stomach flutter like startled bats flapping their wings when forced out into the light.
He gave her a lazy smirk. "God forbid a man wants to look at his girlfriend while she's being cute instead of throwing a tantrum." Perona scowled, looking offended which earned him a laugh.
"Are you implying there's times I am not cute?!"
"No. You are cute at all times. But I really like it when you look like that. Please sing again? I want to listen to the entire song." His hand tucked a strand of her bubblegum-pink hair behind her ear. Her frown didn't hold up for much longer after that but the blush deepened slightly.
She forced a pout and looked away. "Only if you let me dress you up as Kumashi like I asked you last week." She demands. In reality, she just asked for this because she knows he will refuse. It's an easy way to keep from embarrassing herself by actively singing for him, knowing he is watching.
"Okay," he answered simply making her turn her head abruptly to face him. He's been refusing to let her dress him up for days.
"What?"
"I'll let you do it but sing for me first, please?" His hand had come down from her hair to touch her arm instead, rubbing slow circles on her forearm with his thumb.
Oh but she hated when he'd do that. Look at her that way. She preferred when he'd tease or just be loud and crude than when he acted all loving like that. She felt lightheaded every time. Stupid heart flutters. Stupid pirate. She turned back to her book. "But you will be quiet and let me read while I sing, like before," she muttered. He nodded quietly.
She didn't sing right away, looking for the line she stopped reading at. The fact she knew he was just looking at her waiting for her to sing was somewhat unsettling, so she read a little before the humming started once more.
Like before, he watched and listened in silence as the sound left her lips. She was so beautiful when she sang. Whatever problems he may have had couldn't matter less in that moment, not when her voice sounded like that. The words were so soft-spoken, much different from her dramatic way of speaking. He could listen to it forever. Ace had always liked music. The Whitebeard pirates sang a lot during banquets and Izou had quite a nice voice to listen to, also very soothing, but nothing that was even remotely similar to what he was feeling when listening to Perona sing.
Once she finished, her forehead dropped on the pillow, the movement causing the book to close on its own. She turned her head a tiny bit so that he couldn't see much of her red cheeks. "Satisfied?"
He nodded. "Very. You never sang that song before."
"It came from one of Master Moria's zombies. She used to sing it sometimes and I took a liking to it because it's cute," she explained and he nodded in understanding. The Whitebeard crew had wide knowledge on big pirates, specially the Schichibukai, so Ace knew some things about Gecko Moria's devil fruit powers and what he did with them.
He moved his hand and picked up her book from the pillow, right above the top of her head. Her face was still half hidden against the silky pillow, framed by her fluffy pink curls. He placed the book down on the nightstand and moved to hover above her slightly. "What are you—"
With the shift of his position she had to turn on her back, so she could face him properly. He brushed the hair away from her face completely, then grinned. "Why do you look so embarrassed from singing for me? We've done more inappropriate stuff."
She blinked once, taken aback, before pushing his shoulder half heartedly. "You are such a jerk. We were having a moment, you idiot! Do you always have to find crude things to say?" She scolded.
Ace laughed. "Yeah. Come on, it's much more fun like this. Plus, I like seeing you flustered when i say stuff like that." He leaned down to kiss her frown. Once he pulled back she was still sulking. It was cute, really. "You're so dramatic." He leaned down again to press another kiss to her lips but this time more firmly.
Didn't take long until she melted into it. Her arms wrapping around him before pulling away to speak. "Don't forget you told me I could dress you as Kumashi," she reminded between kisses.
"Yeah, yeah. You can do whatever you want later." One of his hands supported his weight so he wouldn't crash her, while his other hand held her waist, warm through the fabric of her sleeping top, before sliding underneath to touch the skin on her side.
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Outside, rain kept splattering against the big window, the steady sound of the droplets hitting the glass drowning out the sounds inside until the rustling sheets and their breathless words blurred into the background.
Note: Ace loves when she sings in general but specially when she sings songs by Lamp. They sound ethereal and dreamy and he finds they fit her soft side a lot, despite her showing her dramatic and spoiled side more. The band Lamp was the reason I even made up this scenario in my head in the first place, specifically the song in the title (ゆめうつつ) which is the song Perona is singing here. I think its a better experience to listen to the song before or while reading this but it's cool if yall don't want to.
Ace likes Perona's hair regardless of what she does to it but he is damn weak for her curls. They're so soft and bouncy and he loves touching them, despite barely ever being allowed because she doesn't want the hairstyle to get messed up.
