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Ace x reader - Melting point

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Pairing(s): Ace x fem!reader, Ace & fem!reader & Deuce (platonic)

Word count: 23.2K

Summary:

While the Piece of Spadille is docked for repairs, Ace takes you, Deuce and Kotatsu on an overnight camping trip to a nearby uninhabited summer island. As you’re the most recent addition to the crew, this is the perfect opportunity for Ace to introduce you to the Spades’ secret vacation spot and get to know you a bit better. You, however, find yourself torn over your growing feelings for the captain and terrified of the potential repercussions of those feelings coming to light. To make matters infinitely worse, an uncharacteristic snowstorm turns the verdant oasis into a frozen wasteland and forces you to seek refuge from the cold in Ace’s embrace…

Note: reader does not know about Ace being Roger’s son, nor about Sabo, as I imagine these are topics he would rarely if ever divulge even to the closest people around him (Deuce knowing about Roger is a blip in this regard, since he accidentally deduced (heh) it himself)

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”You guys are idiots,” you state as you glare in exasperation at your companions.

”Sorry, uh… I guess we got a bit too carried away, huh?” Deuce chuckled awkwardly, fumbling with the oar he had just broken in two against the rocky reef near the shoreline of the island your group was sailing towards. Deuce and Ace had come up with the bright idea of racing each other to the shore, with Deuce rowing the boat that seated you and Kotatsu as well while Ace sailed atop Striker. What had possessed Deuce into a race against a devil fruit user all the while being weighed down by additional passengers, you had no idea. Well, you did have some idea, but you were too livid about the situation to let those dumbasses off the hook with a ’boys will be boys’.

”Hey, you don’t gotta worry your pretty lil’ head over this, okay?” Ace pulled up to a stop beside the boat, ”Deuce and I built Striker when we were stranded on an island, remember? We can make a replacement oar or a dozen if we need to!” Ace smirked in a way that was simultaneously reassuring and annoying.

”Oh, right… kinda hard to row with just one functioning oar…” you swear you could make out a hint of a flush on Deuce’s face in spite of that mask of his.

”Like I said, no need to worry, ’kay? I’ll give you guys a boost to shore,” Ace reassured the three of you; even Kotatsu had caught on to your predicament and yowled in distress. You gently stroked the thick fur along the lynx’s cheeks in an effort to calm him down. As Kotatsu leaned into your touch with a content chirp, you felt the boat jolt back into motion. Ace had grabbed hold of the boat’s mooring line and fired on Striker, effectively towing the boat behind himself as he surfed the ocean waves.

Deuce let out a defeated sigh. ”What a show-off. I bet he planned this whole thing to make me look like a bumbling idiot.”

”’Look like’?” you quipped.

”Oh, shove it,” Deuce waved you off, yet he couldn’t help the smile that crept up as he admired Ace gliding over the waves with all of you in tow, ”okay, I have to admit: he’s a cool dude. Awesome, even.”

”Amazing? Superb?” you added.

”I mean yeah, but don’t tell him I said that. Would seem kind of… fruity, coming from another guy.”

”What do you mean ’fruity’? Didn’t you two eat a forbidden fruit together when you first met?” you mused, but Deuce was not amused.

”Stop forcing homoerotic subtext onto me and the captain’s friendship,” Deuce deadpanned.

”Woah, I didn’t say anything about ’homoerotic’!”

”No but you-… Agh, forget it,” Deuce threw his hands up in defeat while you laughed at him with much mirth. Bullying Deuce was one of your favorite leisure activities.

It didn’t take long before the boat hit the wet sand of the island’s shore. Ace hopped off of Striker and shoved the skiff further up the sandy dune. Just as you and Deuce were about to stand up and unboard the boat, Ace hoisted the mooring line and pulled the boat, along with its passengers, further onto the beach. Although both you and Deuce were quite busy trying not to keel over as Ace manhandled your vessel, you couldn’t help but stare at Ace’s pronounced muscles at work. His dark, wavy hair was wet at the ends from the saltwater splashes of the tides, droplets dripping down his tan, freckle-dotted skin and glistening as they caught the Sun’s light. The sight made you feel light-headed.

”Great. Now he’s definitely showing off,” Deuce surmised, vaulting himself off the boat. He began unloading the supplies you all had brought with you while Ace tied the mooring line around a suitable, sturdy boulder.

”Ace, I swear I’m never gonna take you up on another challenge,” Deuce declared. An oath that would likely last no longer than a day or two, knowing him and Ace.

”Sounds like sore loser talk,” Ace smirked, only to wince in the next moment wherein Deuce smacked him on the crown of his head.

”If you’ve got time to show off and run your mouth then you should have plenty to help me unload and carry all of this stuff. Most of which is just your rations and snacks, mind you,” Deuce nagged all the while he piled up rucksacks and various pieces of equipment into Ace’s arms, on his back, and wherever else Ace could possibly haul the stuff along (Deuce had even looped the straps of a few rucksacks around Ace’s neck). By the end of it Ace looked like an overburdened cargo mule; you could barely see any part of the man save for his legs. After you and Deuce grabbed your respective packs of supplies, the four of you made your way inland.

The island was a remote, lush summer island the Spade pirates had discovered some time ago. There were no settlements nor any large predators, making it an ideal spot for a camping getaway. The closest inhabited island was only a few nautical miles away, and that was where the Spade pirates’ ship, the Piece of Spadille, was currently docked for repairs and restocking supplies.

Ace had proposed the idea of taking one of the lifeboats for an overnight camping trip to this pristine isle, and seeing as you were the newest member of the crew and had yet to experience the Spades’ favorite vacation spot, the captain had insisted for you to join him. Inseperable as they were, Deuce had naturally taken Ace up on his idea. As for Kotatsu, the lynx basically went wherever Ace did since the captain’s devil fruit ability combined with his narcoleptic predisposition to doze off made him the ideal nap buddy and heated blanket. It really was an undeniable fact that Ace was the Sun at the center of the Spade pirates.

As your dynamic quartet trekked onwards, your attention was drawn to the picturesque flora and fauna all around you. The overhanging foliage of various tree species shaded your group from the oppressive afternoon sunlight, leaves rustling at the periodic ocean breeze. Flowers bloomed in every color of the rainbow and saturated the air with sweet scents. Every now and then you could see movement among the wildly sprawling bushes, and if you were lucky, you could catch a glimpse of birds of various shapes and sizes or of scurrying lizards with iridescent scales. Your group passed by and crossed a number of gently rippling brooks, and you eventually found that their source was a small lake atop a slowly ascending hill. There was a clearing on one side of the hilltop which opened up a breathtaking view of the forest below, framed by glimpses of the beach and the sea beyond.

Deuce set his rucksack on the ground and whistled. ”Once again this place is even better than I remembered. Still can’t believe we found this gem completely on accident.”

”I can see why you guys love this island. It’s like a secret oasis,” you marveled.

”Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Ace’s voice came from right behind you. He leaned his arm on your head as he took in the sight with you and Deuce.

”Ace, do I look like an arm rest to you?” You feigned an annoyed tone. It wasn’t that you actually found this habit of Ace’s irritating, though. Rather, it made you feel so nervous that you simply had to pretend not to like it in hopes that Ace would stop doing it, lest he eventually might notice how nervous the proximity makes you.

”Of course not! You sure do feel like one, though,” Ace teased you, patting the top of your head as if to illustrate his point.

You noticed Deuce side-eyeing the two of you and decided to use the guy as a means of escape from Ace’s clutches: ”Um, Deuce, where did you put the tents and campfire stuff? We should start setting up so we can eat soon.”

”They were somewhere on Ace last I checked… Ace, where’d you- oh,” Deuce frowned at the pile of supplies Ace had just unceremoniously shed onto the ground; the tents were, naturally, crumpled up underneath and between all the other supplies. It took the lot of you quite a while to sort through all the stuff and get the tents set up. At least the campfire was easy enough to light.

While Deuce got started on grilling some of the hoards of salted meat Ace had brought along, you and Ace went to search the woods for fresh fruit. The summer climate of the island meant that ripe fruit and berries were available and plentiful here all year round — yet another reason why this was the best vacation spot.

It didn’t take long for you to spot a tree with fruit so sizeable and visually ripe that it was a wonder the branches weren’t bending and breaking from their weight. You snatched up the best-looking pieces of fruit on the lower branches and deposited them in the basket you had brought. Just as you were getting on the tips of your toes to reach another juicy-looking fruit, Ace walked up to you and plucked the fruit from its stem.

”Here ya go, short stuff,” he held out the fruit with a mischievous smile. It was all too obvious what he was trying to do.

”Nice try. I told you already that I’m not falling for that one anymore,” you huffed, ignoring Ace in favor of scanning the tree for more fruit.

”Aaaw c’mooon,” Ace whined, ”it’s just so cute when you have to jump to reach my hands, kinda like when you hold out a toy for those little sausage dogs and they jump on their tiny legs.”

”So first you infantilize me and then you dehumanize me? Wow, Ace,” you deadpanned.

Ace wilted. ”Please don’t go all Deuce on me with the fancy words you learned in school. I’ll just admit to being a jerk and help you out for real this time to make up for it, ’kay?”

”Okay then. But you know I was just kidding, right?” you glanced at Ace tentatively.

”I know,” Ace smirked, ”I just wanted to get you to accept my help so I could do this.”

You barely had the chance to blink before Ace picked you up by the waist and hoisted you over his head and onto his shoulders. It was so sudden that your body instinctively braced for a fall, your hands darting to grab hold of the nearest thing, which just so happened to be Ace’s hair. The force with which you fisted Ace’s dark locks made him groan in discomfort.

”Ow- I’ve got you, shortie; no need to scalp me,” Ace chuckled. You were glad he couldn’t see your face at the moment considering how you could feel your cheeks decidedly burning from nervousness. It was an all too unexpected barrage of sensations; the feeling of Ace’s soft hair and his broad shoulders, the sound of his voice, the hints of his natural scent in the breaths you took. Shit. This was worse than bad. Your crush on the captain seemed to be on a path of exponential growth thanks to this little camping getaway in paradise. It was all you could do to robotically pick a few pieces of fruit for show.

”Y’know, I used to do this all the time with my little brother. Pick fruit together with him on my shoulders… although his devil fruit power made him a climbing monkey, so it’s not like he really needed my help. I think he just likes to cling to people’s heads for some reason,” Ace reminisced.

You smiled at the captain’s musings; Ace often gushed about his little brother, Luffy, who could stretch his body like rubber. The boy clearly meant the world to Ace — so much so that you felt a bit envious of Luffy at times. You could only hope to become even a fraction as important to Ace as his little brother was. Your fingers unconsciously moved to twirl a piece of Ace’s hair.

”I think he loves to cling to your head in particular.”

”Hmh… I suppose he does,” Ace said softly. He seemed momentarily lost in thought until he took notice of you fiddling with his hair. ”Maybe you two have something in common…”

Panicked, you blurted out the first thing that came to mind: ”There was a bug in your hair.”

”See if it was Luffy, he’d be putting the bugs in my hair instead of removing them. That guy is crazy about beetles — you wouldn’t believe me if I told you how many times he’s put a beetle in my hair, my pockets, my backpack..! ’I wanna take him home, Ace! He seemed tired so I put him in your hair so he can have a nap’,” Ace quoted his brother with his voice pitched higher and louder than usual.

You chuckled at Ace’s anecdotes about Luffy, suddenly feeling more at ease. You grabbed a couple more plump pieces of fruit, earning a hum of approval from Ace as you presented the contents of your basket. The captain was highly likely to eat most of the fruit anyways, so it was honestly up to him how much was enough. Ace set you back down on your own two feet and the two of you scurried back to camp, spurred on by the duet of growls resonating from your respective bellies.

Deuce, the angel, had made good progress on grilling the meat. He had also whipped up a hearty stew from some dried mushrooms, cheese, and fresh veggies you guys had bought at the market on the neighboring isle this morning. Kotatsu was much too busy foaming at the mouth and staring dreamily at the slabs of meat to even acknowledge you and Ace’s arrival. Ace promptly squatted in front of the campire and joined Kotatsu in drooling at the meat on the grill. The captain definitely had some animalistic tendencies which you suspected as stemming from the time he spent living in the wilderness when he was younger. Were it not for Ace’s superhuman brute strength, you would have had trouble believing the captain’s stories of the wild beasts he fought with his brothers when they were mere children.

Deuce set out travel plates and cutlery for all of you, and none of you wasted time in digging into the stew. Deuce tore pieces of bread for you guys to dip into the stew, though in Ace’s case, it seemed that the captain was content to dip and eat full loaves at a time. After you’d gone most of the day without eating, the stew and bread tasted simply heavenly. You gave chef Deuce your compliments and asked that he keep Ace at bay long enough for you to have a second bowl, as the captain could inhale insane amounts of food in a matter of minutes — especially when he was famished. It was baffling just how much food Ace consumed on a daily basis while staying so lean; the only logical explanation was that his feats of superhuman strength and his devil fruit powers must have consumed ridiculous amounts of energy at supersonic speed.

Once the meat was ready, Deuce tossed the first big slab to Kotatsu, who dug in with ferocious chomps. The second slab went to Ace, while Deuce cut out regular portions for the two of you from another piece of meat. As Ace and Kotatsu devoured their hunks of meat side by side, you and Deuce couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

”Which one of you was the wild beast, again?” Deuce remarked.

”They’re like two peas in a pod,” you added.

Ace glared at the two of you. His face everywhere around his mouth was stained with the meat’s juices and marinade, and his cheeks were still puffed out from the huge bite he had just taken. ”Mwath out… owr yull bwe negth om my mewnu!” Ace mumbled around the mouthful of meat, eyes narrowed. You were unsure if the captain was addressing both you and Deuce or just one of you; either way, you felt amused, if not a little flustered. You forced yourself to focus on savoring the grilled meat — which quite literally melted off the bone and in your mouth — so that you wouldn’t drift off into a daydream about being Ace’s next meal.

By the time all of you had eaten your fill of the main course, the Sun was beginning to set in the horizon. The sky was painted in shades of red, orange, pink and purple, the final golden rays of sunlight dancing across Ace’s beautiful features, highlighting his freckles and the warm tones of his skin. You found your gaze transfixed on Ace as he chatted animatedly with Deuce, and each time he smiled you felt butterflies stirring in your stomach. When Ace glanced in your direction and met your gaze, you quickly looked away. The butterflies gave way to a pang of anxiety; this crush of yours was getting wildly out of control at this point. It was only a matter of time before someone took notice, assuming they hadn’t already.

You weren’t just being paranoid, either. Deuce was almost certainly starting to catch on to your feelings for the captain, since even now, you spotted Deuce eyeing you with a small, knowing smile. You’d had a few interactions with the masked man as of late where it felt as though he was dropping subtle hints that he was onto you. It was getting to the point where you almost hoped that Deuce would accuse you explicitly, just to break the tension.

But then what? What would happen if you confessed your feelings for Ace? How would Deuce and the rest of the crew react? Better yet: how would Ace himself react? Would he be uncomfortable? Would he hate you? Kick you off the crew? As far as you knew, it appeared to be an unspoken rule that you shouldn’t come on to or try to date another crewmember. After all, you were like a family, and you were also comrades. Neither relationship was compatible with romantic nor sexual feelings.

While you agonized over your dilemma, Deuce and Ace’s conversation had come to a pause. Next thing you knew, Ace was squatting down in front of you and voicing a suggestion: ”Hey, we were thinking about taking a dip in the pond before we have the fruit for dessert. Whaddya say?”

”If you happened to bring swimwear, that is!” Deuce hurried to add with an awkward chuckle.

”Uhm… what makes you say that?” you hesitated, confused as to why Deuce was stressing something so obvious.

The masked man hadn’t the chance to explain before Ace inadvertently demonstrated the why himself. The captain kicked off his shoes and took off running towards the pond, stopping only to remove his shorts and underwear in one swift motion, and shortly he disappeared into the water with a huge splash. Your eyes widened.

”…And that would be the what. I tried telling him that it’s not appropriate to skinny dip in front of a lady, let alone invite you along if you didn’t have whatever swimwear you’d be comfortable in-”

”Nevermind that, Deuce! The captain can’t swim!” you interrupted Deuce in distress, leaping onto your feet and taking off towards the pond.

Deuce followed you at a walking pace. ”I know, I’ve got him. You don’t gotta-”

You were already wading into the water, however, beelining for the spot where bubbles and ripples were still visible from Ace’s plunge. The water was a tad murky and reflected the colorful palette of the dusk sky, so it was quite impossible to see anything below the surface. You took a deep inhale and dived in, searching for Ace with your hands and the sliver of sight you could manage without filling your eyes with suspended particles. The water wasn’t so deep here that you couldn’t reach the bottom standing up, but as Ace’s body went limp even in knee-high water, he would just sink like a stone. Luckily it didn’t take long for you to locate Ace; he was passed out in a semi-seated position against an underwater rock. Like two pebbles in a pond, you thought, angry at the captain’s carelessness.

You grabbed hold of Ace under his arms and supported his weight with your shoulder and upper back. The buoyancy created by the water didn’t help very much against the dead weight of an out cold, six foot one muscle man, however. Your best course of action was to reach for the bottom with your feet and bounce forward until you reached the shallow part of the pond. Once the water only came up to your waist, you opted to drag Ace with you as having him on your back above water would probably make you collapse. In the meantime, Deuce had stripped down to the swimming trunks he’d just worn under his clothes, and he was now rushing to take Ace off your hands.

”I’m so sorry, I tried to tell you that the captain can manage just fine underwater for a minute or so,” Deuce explained awkwardly, ”but you moved like a bolt of lightning. He sinks immediately but he can stay conscious and hold his breath for a few dozen seconds; and he’s learned to do this thing where he uses his devil fruit power to heat up his lungs before he goes in the water, so once he loses consciousness, his lungs are still hot enough to evaporate the water he breathes for another few dozen seconds.”

”That’s… the most insane thing I’ve heard. Why would he risk his life like that?! And by the sound of it, he’s been practising going underwater?! And making you play lifeguard?!” your voice rose an octave from a mix of panic, anger and confusion.

”Mmgh… what’s got ya so riled up, short stuff?” Ace came to, looking up at you with a dopey smile. He really did look to be just fine after his underwater voyage.

”What’s-!” you choked on your words. The captain’s nonchalance about the whole situation pushed your emotions to the point of overwhelm, angry tears welling up in your eyes. ”I thought you were drowning! Why would you do such a thing?!”

Ace straightened up, his droopy expression shifting to a troubled one, ”Wait, what? Have I not told you I can spend a while underwater? Well, as long as someone pulls me outta there.”

”Do you really have to ask?” you snapped, motioning at your drenched clothes.

”Oh! Oh, no… I’m really, really sorry. I could have sworn I’d told you already,” Ace said. He looked like a puppy that’s been yelled at. A sopping wet, six feet tall, buck naked puppy. Flustered, you averted your gaze from the stupidly attractive idiot.

”Jerk,” you huffed, brushing off sand from your wet clothes as you stood up.

”Ace, you ass,” Deuce shook his head.

”Good thing I did bring my swimwear, since I didn’t exactly count on having to bring a spare bra, even,” you grumbled and took off to go grab your rucksack.

”I can dry off your clothes, just takes a bit of time to do it without scorching them,” Ace got up with the intent to follow you.

”Dude, at least cover up your Jack of Spades, for crying out loud,” Deuce scolded, picking up Ace’s shorts and smacking them against the captain’s pelvis.

You got your bag and retreated into one of the tents to change into your swimwear and coverup. You couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious about going back out there; you didn’t exactly have the most athletic body, especially compared to Ace. He seemed so at home and confident in his body, what with him always wearing his shirts open or going entirely topless. For you, on the other hand, this was the first time you were wearing this little clothing in front of the guys. You knew, of course, that you could trust Ace and Deuce not to make any comments about your body; it was just your own insecurities tormenting you. You gave a long sigh, psyching yourself up to go back outside and just enjoy the rest of the evening.

Just as you popped out of the tent, you almost collided with Ace who was coming to check up on you. ”Uhm… here,” you handed the heap of soggy clothes to Ace.

”Right-o! Do you want me to dry them for you asap, ooor… do you wanna go for a soak?” Ace was definitely giving you puppy eyes, now, ”I promise I’ll stay where I can keep my head above the water!”

You tsked, ”okay, fine. Might as well since I’m dressed for the occasion.”

”That you are,” Ace agreed. For a second, you thought you saw a hint of a blush on Ace’s cheeks, but it might have just been the light of the setting Sun creating the impression. ”I really like the colors. It’s like you’re a mermaid,” Ace grinned.

You could already foresee yourself replaying in your mind what Ace just said, over and over again, trying to decipher the exact meaning behind it. Shit. You snorted, ”hah, nice one.”

”I mean it,” Ace stressed, looking at you intently.

You were pretty sure your heart leaped out of your body just then. A sudden dizziness took over as your gaze went from Ace’s hazel eyes to his freckled cheeks, finally settling on his lips. Oh, how you wanted to kiss those lips…

Your thoughts were becoming all too dangerous, you realized. You had to escape whatever situation this was, and you had to make it fast, as you feared you were already radiating creepy energy. You noticed Deuce stoking the campfire, and an idea dawned on you. ”Last one in is a rotten egg!” you exclaimed, shedding your coverup and racing towards the water. If there was one thing that could immediately divert these guys’ attention, it was an arbitrary contest. Although you were the one that called the race and therefore you had a slight headstart, you still ended up being the rotten egg. Deuce had been closer to the pond than you and Ace, and Ace ran like a damn cheetah.

Keeping to his promise, the captain stayed in a part of the pond where he could sit with the water up to his shoulders and lean against a rock whenever he passed out. Which happened constantly. Thankfully you and Deuce discovered that a good few splashes of water onto his face could rouse Ace from his stupor, and thus your evening swim became more of an evening of splash war against Ace. The poor guy tried to retaliate every now and then, but you and Deuce could easily just outswim the trajectory of Ace’s splashes.

This often led further into a swimming race between you and Deuce, which in turn eventually devolved into a swimming tug-of-war as you grew tired of Deuce winning every single time. You began sabotaging Deuce by hanging onto his leg or arm and kicking yourself forward off of him, boosting yourself into a small lead. After a while of this, Ace began moaning about being ”sooo hungry” and wanting to sink his teeth into ”those plump and juicy things”. The vague manner in which the captain referred to the fruit you’d collected had both you and Deuce a little frightened; was Ace implying that if he didn’t get fed fruit posthaste, he might sink his teeth into something else ”plump and juicy”? You and Deuce decided that you didn’t want to find out, and so the pair of you swam back into the shallows to collect the limp ragdoll that was Ace.

No sooner had Deuce picked up the incapacitated captain and supported him like a crutch, than Ace began protesting and pouting: ”Nooo I want shorty to help mee..!”

”She already helped you when you were mimicking a halibut, remember? Plus you’re too heavy for her, you’ll break her back,” Deuce explained.

”But it’s just a few steps before the water is low enough for me to use my legs,” argued Ace.

”May I remind you that you got butt naked — again — when you got in the pond, and that you, a man exposing himself, demanding to cling to her qualifies as sexual harassment?” Deuce toppled the captain’s appeal.

It was a bit ironic that Deuce should say that, as the amount of attention you had to dedicate to avoiding having Ace’s ”Jack of Spades” in your line of sight made you feel like you were the real creep here. It was only human nature to be curious though, right? Just like how most everyone regardless of gender or sexuality struggles to not stare at women with big chests.

With your gaze firmly fixed on a random spot of trees, you tried to defuse the situation: ”How about you get between me and Deuce and the both of us help you out? Isn’t that a good compromise?”

You need not look at Ace to know that he was pouting at you. ”Well I guess I could do that if I absolutely must,” he huffed.

Begrudgingly, Ace slung one arm around Deuce’s shoulders and the other around yours. You could feel, however, that the captain tried sticking closer to you than to Deuce, while Deuce was attempting to support the bulk of Ace’s weight. This made it hard for any of you to keep your balance, and so the three of you shakily waded through the water until it was shallow enough for Ace to walk the rest of the way on his own.

It wasn’t altogether unusual for the captain to act a bit childish like this, though it appeared he only did it when he really trusted someone. From what Ace had told you about his childhood, you got the sense that Ace had always looked out for his little brother, been the strong, responsible, caring older brother. You wondered how much room Ace’d had to be a kid himself; to be vulnerable, to be taken care of.

You and Deuce slumped around the campfire, physically exhausted from all the swimming, splashing and Ace-handling you’d just done. The sky was getting darker now, allowing the smoldering fire to bathe you in the glow of its yellow-scarlet light. Kotatsu was curled up next to the campfire, lulled into a deep sleep by its warmth and gentle crackling sounds. Little by little, most of the moisture on your skin, swimwear and hair evaporated, and you donned your coverup to feel cozier and less exposed. Ace had gone to grab a towel from his bag to dry off and get dressed. Once he was clothed — as far as you can call Ace’s outfits ’clothed’ — he joined you, Deuce and Kotatsu by the fire. Ace had barely sat down before Kotatsu roused from his sleep, chirruped, and cuddled up to his favorite heater.

”Hehe, did ya miss me, little guy?” Ace grinned toothily and began stroking and scratching the lynx’s fur. Kotatsu purred loudly, blinking up at Ace until sleepiness overcame him. The lynx rested his head atop his large paws and gave a deep sigh of relaxation as he closed his eyes. Truth be told, you wouldn’t mind curling up to Ace the way Kotatsu did, especially as the evening air became colder.

Before you became too distracted by your thoughts, Ace addressed you: ”Hey, short stuff, look what I found at the pond.” He dug in his pocket and held out a freshwater shell. It was around the size of a date fruit, with a swirling pattern and a pearly color with an iridescent sheen. ”I think it’s only fitting that a pretty mermaid should have this pretty shell.”

You gaped at the shell, then at Ace, lost for words. You never quite knew what to expect from Ace, and this was a prime example of that. Sure, Ace could give unexpected and hearty compliments, and there was no doubt that he was very generous. And when you thought about it, picking up stuff he thinks someone might like also seems like something Ace would do. Be that as it may, somehow the little gift along with the lavish compliment, directed at you specifically, took you by utter surprise. It had to be a joke, like the kind of faux flirting one might do with good friends. Either that, or it was Ace’s big brother insticts kicking in and treating you like a little sister.

Flustered, you took the shell from Ace’s hand. ”I don’t know about that ’pretty mermaid’ part, but the shell really is gorgeous. Thanks, uhm… captain,” you stammered.

For a moment, it looked as though Ace’s expression fell a bit, but then he flashed a wide grin.

”Hey, what about me? Am I not a pretty enough merman for you?” Deuce threw in, perhaps catching onto the awkwardness radiating from you and lightening the mood with his typical banter.

”Nah, Deuce, you’re more like a mermanatee in my book,” Ace dismissed the masked man.

”Now that’s just wrong,” Deuce guffawed.

The guys carried on with their back-and-forth while you admired the shell Ace had given you, tracing its patterns with your fingertips. You knew you shouldn’t read into it, nor get your hopes up. Surely Ace treated you the same as any other female friend, and you were only getting flustered because you had a one-sided crush on Ace and had never had a guy give you something thoughtful like this. Which made your heart pound that much harder. Fuck.

Grappling with the thoughts racing through your mind practically had you in a state of dissociation, at least until Deuce poked you on the shoulder. ”Fruit? Better grab one before Ace hoovers all of them up.” Apparently you’d been so preoccupied you hadn’t even noticed Deuce getting dressed.

Deuce’s warning was warranted, indeed: Ace had already gnawed through half a dozen pieces of fruit, judging from the cores scattered on the ground. You rushed to grab some fruit for yourself, stashing them on your lap once you sat back down. Even if you ended up not eating all of them, this was the only way to make sure you could have your fill; your eating speed was but a small fraction compared to that of Ace, after all.

You took a bite out of the first bulbous piece of fruit and had to suppress a moan. It was ripened to perfection, intoxicatingly sweet and rich in its distinct, fruity flavor. Eating fresh fruit picked straight from the tree was a wholly unique form of pleasure, simply beyond compare. As such, though it had been nerve-wracking, you were glad Ace had helped you pick fruit from higher branches; the more Sun-exposed pieces of fruit were that much sweeter than the less colorful specimens you’d gathered from the low-hanging branches. Lost in the ecstasy of exotic fruit, neither you, Ace, nor Deuce spoke a word as you ate your dessert.

The conversation flowed again when Ace and Deuce had finished eating, and almost as if to signal the start of their dialogue, Ace released a thunderous belch. Out of the few dozen pieces of fruit you’d gathered, Ace had made quick work of all but the 8 pieces eaten between you and Deuce.

”Seriously, where does all of that stuff even go?” Deuce motioned between Ace and the empty fruit basket.

”Can’t you see me being bloated like I’m on my third trimester?” Ace gave his belly the kind of proud smack one might give their trusty old boat.

”Yeah, yeah, and then a couple hours later you’re back to being nought but chiseled abs. It’s just not fair, is it?” Deuce lamented, ”It has to be the devil fruit, right?”

Ace shrugged. ”For the most part, at least. I did eat a lot even before the fruit, though.”

”So you were born superior and then a devilish power made you even better? Sure makes us regular guys look like failed test runs before the creation of the true man,” Deuce continued his tirade.

”Get a room, you two,” you commented in between licking the juices off your fingers from your last piece of fruit. You then rested your hands in your lap, only to shiver at how cold it felt to simply sit still.

”Do you see any rooms around her-,” Deuce trailed off when he noticed your shivering. He promptly shrugged off his jacket and handed it to you. ”Here, take my jacket.”

You accepted the article with gratitude, quickly pulling it on and hugging your sides to increase the jacket’s warming effect. Ace suddenly leapt to his feet and consequently stirred Kotatsu from his sleep. This earned the captain a dissatisfied growl from the lynx.

”Sorry, Kotatsu. There’s someone in greater need of my heater services,” Ace reconciled with Kotatsu.

Oh? He couldn’t be planning on-

You had no time to process what was happening — the next thing you knew, Ace had sat down beside you and pulled you in between his legs with your back flush against his bare chest. You instantly felt heat rushing to your cheeks, albeit it had nothing to do with Ace’s power just yet. You feared Ace would feel your pulse through your back and Deuce’s jacket, given that your heart began pounding as if you were about to run a marathon. As if the aforementioned physical reactions weren’t enough to deal with, there was also the feeling of Ace’s muscular body and warm skin against yours. The feeling of his hot breath ever so close to your ear. The scent of his natural aroma — earthy, warm, and citrusy, along with a certain spiciness akin to cinnamon and red chili — wrapping around you, spreading a feverish feeling across your body.

You found it difficult to even register Deuce speaking up: ”Ace, you’re running too hot. She looks like she’s about to pass out.”

Gee Deuce, thank you so very much for pointing that out, you thought in exasperation. You prayed to any and every possible god out there that Ace wouldn’t suspect your deliriousness to derive from something other than the temperature.

It appeared that your prayers were answered. ”Oh! I’m sorry, short stuff, I forgot that people have a much lower body temperature than lynxes do,” Ace chuckled apologetically, and you could feel him dial down the heat he was giving off.

As good as Ace’s warm embrace felt, you worried that enjoying it much longer really would cause you to faint from nervousness. ”Um, Ace? What about my clothes?” you reminded him about the soaked bunch sitting sadly off to the side.

”Okaaay, I’ll get started on drying ’em,” Ace groaned. Surely drying some clothes wasn’t as cumbersome as the captain was making it out to be.

Ace grabbed the pile of clothes and proceeded to lay down on his back on the ground. At first, you were confused by Ace’s actions, but the mystery unfolded once he began laying out your clothes on top of himself. First Ace laid out your pants on top of his legs, then he positioned your bra on his chest. You felt mixed emotions at how much his pecs filled out the cups. Lastly, he draped your shirt across his torso and on top of your bra.

”Uhm, Ace?” you addressed the captain incredulously. Deuce, on the other hand, was too busy laughing his ass off to offer a comment of his own.

”I know it looks weird, but this is the best way for me to heat them up slowly and evenly. Unless you’d prefer some grill marks…” Ace raised an eyebrow, a signature expression of his. You found the gesture equal parts goofy and weirdly sexy.

”I’ll take your word for it, don’t scorch my outfit, please!” you conceded.

Breathless from his bout of laughter, Deuce finally managed to squeeze out a quip: ”Ace, should we get you a bra of your own in the next town? You seem to fill those out pretty well!”

”You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Ace snorted.

You stifled a snort of your own with your hand. Deuce threw a glare at both you and Ace, but made no further comments. The masked man merely sat down with a small huff and began poking at the campfire, all the while the glow of the embers revealed the slight flush on his cheeks below his mask. You smiled to yourself knowingly. Try as he might to deny it, Ace was the sort of attractive that defied preferences, even for straight guys like Deuce.

Hell, Deuce was probably feeling the same brand of conflicted as you did at the sight of Ace (kind of) in a bra. Despite his muscular physique, Ace was just really, really damn pretty in an androgynous sense. From his striking yet soft features, amazing bone structure, and beautiful hazel eyes, to his silky smooth skin, the color of caramel and dotted with constellations of freckles, and to his thick, wavy, mid-length locks, flowing like the midnight space between stars. It was hardly a leap of the imagination to envision Ace in feminine garb, or presenting himself more femininely in general. You’d be genuinely surprised if Deuce had never entertained the idea.

As the evening progressed, the three of you talked about anything and everything, played games, goofed around. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d had so much fun in just a single day, and you felt so grateful to Ace for bringing you along to this amazing place. Now dressed in the clothes Ace had painstakingly dried off and warmed up for you, you found yourself having to borrow Deuce’s jacket again as the air became crisper and cool winds rattled your bones. It was quite unusual for the temperature to drop this low on a summer isle, even during the night.

With every minute that passed by, it seemed as though more murky clouds crowded the sky above you, winds raging with increasing fervor. The campfire struggled against the sheer velocity and freezing temperature of the gales that passed through its flame, and it came down to Ace needing to repeatedly rekindle the fire. Even Ace’s hat was holding on for dear life on his head.

”Since when do summer islands get winds like this? It’s colder than a damn celestial dragon’s heart!” Deuce exclaimed, rubbing his hands together for a bit of warmth.

”Has to be a passing-by storm current; Grand Line climate fuckery, as usual,” Ace deduced.

As if on cue, the gusts grew even more violent, and flakes of snow began descensing from the sky — or, to put it more accurately, the snow was flung nearly horizontally towards the ground by the wind. Kotatsu yowled and wrapped himself around Ace, shaking from the cold.

”Well this just keeps getting better and better,” you said, hugging your knees to your chest.

”Man, usually when I’ve been on winter islands, the snow stops falling due to the influence of my devil fruit power… But I guess the effect isn’t strong enough to stop a full-blown blizzard,” Ace speculated with an apologetic tone.

”I mean, that former part is impressive enough, captain. We’re not expecting you to stop a storm on top of everything else you do for us Spades,” Deuce gave Ace’s shoulder an affirming squeeze, halted for a second, then suddenly wrapped himself around Ace in a similar fashion to Kotatsu, ”oohhh you’re so warm… feels so good…” Deuce mumbled euphorically. Ace rolled his eyes at Deuce’s antics, yet hugged him closer all the same.

”Get in here, short stuff, before you freeze your tits off!” Deuce’s voice was muffled against Ace’s shoulder.

”Don’t you start with that nickname, too!” You seethed. You couldn’t deny, however, that it was getting far too cold to bear, and so you joined Deuce and Kotatsu in huddling together around Ace.

”Well, aren’t I popular?” Ace smirked in amusement at the situation.

”Less talking, more warming!” Said you and Deuce in unison, with Kotatsu agreeing via a trilling sound.

By and by the snowstorm became altogether unmanageable, snuffing out the campfire each time it was re-lit by Ace. More than the cold, though, the greatest discomfort was the constant onslaught of snow, which threatened to transform the four of you into a snow sculpture. The final straw was when the influx of snow was periodically replaced by hailstones.

”Okay, I think it’s time we hit the hay. I’m pretty sure some of this hail is gonna leave bruises,” Ace stated and promptly shook off you, Deuce, and Kotatsu along with the snow and hail sticking to his skin and hair.

Deuce immediately fixed Ace with a pleading stare. ”I call dibs on the heated tent!”

Ace raised an eyebrow. ”Isn’t there a saying that it’s ’women and children first’?”

”Respectfully, captain, that probably comes from some marine propaganda they don’t actually abide by. Not to mention that we’re pirates,” Deuce argued.

”Well be it propaganda or whatever, you’re a big man with a big jacket, so I wager you’ll manage just fine,” Ace said, then glanced at the lynx pushing up against his legs, ”And Kotatsu is a big cat with a big fur coat and high body temperature, so surely you two can manage if you bunk together.”

”This is unfair; it’s favoritism! Also, is it not sexist to assume that a woman can’t stand the cold while men can? Are you saying she’s weaker than us? Wooow, Ace, you really are-” The sound of Deuce’s tirade was cut off as Ace ushered him into one of the tents. Kotatsu followed them meekly, and by the look of the tent rustling here and there, the guys were unfurling and setting up sleeping bags and mats for Deuce and Kotatsu.

Ace emerged from the tent after a while, wiping his hands against each other with an audible ”whew”.

”The kids are all tucked in?” You asked, grinning.

”Snug as two bugs in a rug,” Ace replied, giving you a smile in return and unintentionally making your heart skip a beat. Something about a man who’s good with kids and animals…

You and Ace grabbed your things and retreated into the other tent to fix up sleeping spots of your own. Ace heated up a few water bottles and placed them inside the foot end of your sleeping bag to keep you warm — at least for as long as the extra heat could hold inside the sleeping bag before conduction eventually snatches it all away. No matter how tightly you closed the zipper of your sleeping bag or how closely you tried to model your position after a pretzel, however, you still felt damn cold. Your clothing was much too light for a goddamn blizzard, and the sleeping bags you guys had brought were of the lighter, summer appropriate variety, so there simply wasn’t much it could do to insulate you against the sudden subzero temperature.

Ace, on the other hand, looked as though he couldn’t be cozier; lying on his back with his sleeping bag slightly open at the top so that he was able to use his hands as a pillow for his neck, his gaze fixed on the roof of the tent. Ace did not seem the slightest bit bothered by the cold air coming into contact with his bare skin — if anything, it probably felt to him like having a fan on during a summer night so that you didn’t get too hot under your blanket. Just one of the perks of having a body literally made of fire.

The captain appeared so lost in thought that, for a second there, you wondered if his narcolepsy could cause him to fall asleep with his eyes open. The sudden rasp of Ace’s tired voice disproved your theory, though: ”Hey, short stuff?”

You gave Ace a hum of acknowledgement, genuinely fearing the loss of what little warmth lingered inside your body were you to speak up.

”I uh… I just wanted to say I really am sorry for scaring you at the pond,” Ace’s voice sounded fragile in a way which often foretold a burst of tears, only that burst never came, ”I mean, growing up with a kid brother with devil fruit powers… I’m all too familiar with the horror and panic of seeing them sink into water… and the fear that you won’t make it in time to save them.”

You felt a tug at your chest. ”Ace, it’s okay, really.”

”No, it isn’t. I was an idiot. I forced you into a situation no one should have to experience, especially not someone I care about,” Ace stated firmly.

You smiled in spite of yourself. Hearing Ace say he cares about you felt like such respite after agonizing over your own feelings all day. Even though Ace probably only saw you as a friend, at least he might care enough about you to not hate you or banish you from the ship were he to ever connect the dots.

”Well, now I know not to panic as much in the future if you wind up waterlogged,” you replied.

”I’m still only about as waterproof as the average non-swimmer, though,” Ace clicked his tongue. He quieted for several moments afterwards.

Your focus had shifted back to the waning warmth in your sleeping bag and finding a position that could conserve as much of it as possible. Ace’s next words caught you right in the middle of yet another twist and turn.

”It’s scary to think that a single wave can just… sweep away your whole world. At least, that’s what it felt like when I was younger, what with Luffy bumbling himself into every other body of water he came across,” Ace sighed, ”but now it’s more like… every wave I ride broadens my world. I don’t mean just in the literal sense, though that’s part of it… But mostly it’s you guys — all the Spades I’ve collected along the way.”

Suddenly it felt like you were no longer freezing inside your sleeping bag. ”I know what you mean,” you beamed, ”I feel the exact same way.”

Ace turned to face you with the widest, prettiest grin. ”You, my short stuff, are definitely the two of Spades.”

”Oh har har, how clever,” you rolled your eyes.

The brief interjection of silliness was followed by a yet more serious tone from a furrow-browed Ace: ”You guys are so, so important to me. More than I know how to express… which is why I don’t want to jeopardize our adventures or freedom by being a dead weight everywhere we go.”

”Ace, you’re like a real-world superhero. You’re about the farthest thing from dead weight that there is,” you guffawed. Each and every one of the Spades would be dead a hundred times over by now if it weren’t for Ace and his kindness.

”And the moment I touch some water I’m as useless and as buoyant as a rock. In other words: dead. Weight.” Ace chuckled, but there clearly wasn’t a drop of amusement behind the sound.

”Ace…” you swallowed, unsure what to say. Please don’t talk about yourself that way, your thoughts bellowed as you struggled to say another word.

”It’s something that all devil fruit users have on their mind constantly; ’how do I avoid the water? How do I survive if I do end up submerged?’ You need a plan, and a backup plan, and the backup plan’s backup plan… Having friends around who can swim sure helps, but I don’t want to burden you guys with that. I don’t want you guys to have to imagine, let alone experience, what would happen if you were even a second too late.”

”So… you’ve been intentionally training being underwater?” You deduced, to which Ace gave a quick nod.

”That’s right. I figured, if there’s nothing I can do about the fact that I can no longer swim, then maybe I should learn how to drown slower… so that if we’re ever in some deep shit, you guys can save yourselves first and worry about me later.”

You felt your eyes sting. It was so like Ace to prioritize the people around him, even when it came to his own survival. Rather than him fearing the possibility of drowning, Ace was more concerned about how he might inconvenience others if he did. You were unsure whether the tears forming in your eyes were ones of sadness or anger.

”You should worry about yourself, too,” you stressed, glaring at Ace with determination, ”And we can’t help but to worry; you should know that better than anyone.”

Ace’s mouth fell ajar at your expression and matter-of-fact tone. He appeared to consider your words for a few seconds, an almost shy smile spreading on his features. ”Yes, ma’am. I’ll give it a try.”

”Well, good!” You huffed, ”You already do so much for us, so why not rely on us for this one thing, at the very least? That’s what friends are for.”

Ace’s smile had grown into a full-on grin by now. ”Aren’t you the one selling you guys a bit short right now? There’d be no Ace without the Spades.”

”I’m gonna throw something at you,” you said flatly.

”A whole damn blizzard and you still can’t chill, huh?” Ace continued to tease you, while you responded with a loud groan of frustration.

”As intense as this blizzard is, I had so much fun today that I almost don’t even mind it…” you mused, gazing at the shadowy indications of snow flakes falling against the roof and walls of the tent. ”We gotta do this again sometime.”

”You bet,” Ace said, a long yawn escaping him as he adjusted his position; evidently his arms had fallen asleep during your conversation.

With that, you figured it was about time for you two to try and catch some Zs. ”Good night, cap’n’.”

”Sweet dreams, little one,” Ace murmured so sleepily that you had trouble telling whether or not he was being serious. Your cheeks felt hot as you repeated the words in your mind, wondering if they were as flirtatious as you thought or if you were just too far gone into your own delusions.

A small eternity of overanalysis passed until you realized that, without Ace being conscious enough to make you nervous, you were running out of body heat uncomfortably fast. Ace had likely fallen asleep the second he had closed his eyes, and by now the telltale sign of gentle huffing and puffing informed you that Ace was either dreaming or in a state of deep sleep. How you envied the captain’s ability to fall asleep as if on command… Especially right now that you were stuck in a limbo of staying still so you could doze off, feeling your extremities slowly freezing, and just when you were on the brink of passing out, the cold would get so unbearable that your body began to shake involuntarily.

The cycle continued for who knows how long until, eventually, the very audible chattering of your teeth roused Ace from his sleep. ”Too cold?”

”Ye-yeah,” you managed to squeeze out through the chatter of your teeth and shaking of your lips which were numb from the cold.

”C’mere,” Ace unzipped his sleeping bag and held it open for you, ”At this rate you’ll be frozen solid before Kotatsu starts yowling for breakfast.”

”No-no, it’s okay. I’ll be-be okay if yu-you reheat the water bottles,” you argued.

”Clearly they’re not much help, though, unless I’m up reheating them every 10 minutes,” Ace raised an eyebrow.

”Real-really I’ll be fine, just got to-to get used to the-the cold,” you countered. Quite frankly, you couldn’t even convince yourself at this point — you felt and sounded like your mouth may freeze shut any moment now.

”Get in here. Captain’s orders,” Ace demanded.

At this point, you had no choice but to fold. Any amount of awkwardness resulting from sharing a sleeping bag with Ace would be preferable to the feeling of your body going rigid from cold. You think. Either way, you braced yourself before unzipping your sleeping bag, and thus the last sad remnants of warmth vanished into the freezing air. Sitting up proved challenging because of how stiff your muscles had gone, but you did it nonetheless.

”Um… you should probably take off the top layer of your clothes,” Ace’s suggestion stopped you in your tracks. You flushed red, redder than your skin already was from the cold.

Ace took notice of your uncertainty and hurried to reassure you: ”It’s just so we can get you warmed up quicker, I promise I’m not trying to cop a feel” he smiled a bit awkwardly, holding out his palms in a gesture of ’I’ll keep my distance’. You wanted to explode on the spot because, truth be told, you felt a bit disappointed to hear him say that… god do you want him to cop a feel or dozen on your body.

Still hesitant, you shrug off your clothes, leaving you only in your bra and panties. Ace respectfully looks away as you do so, holding his sleeping bag open for you to slip in at your leisure. Before you got in, however, you couldn’t help but steal a guilty glance at Ace’s naked upper body. His muscular frame, olive skin, freckles on his shoulders… he was perfect, like a carefully crafted visage of a god. You looked elsewhere in a hurry so that Ace wouldn’t catch you eyeing him up, opting to rely on your tactile sense to crawl your way into Ace’s sleeping bag.

With some effort and shuffling around on the part of you both, you managed to lay down in the sleeping bag with Ace — incidentally, with you on your side pushed up against him. It was all you could do to tuck your arms somewhere so that your hands weren’t just plastered all over Ace, you thought to yourself, embarrassed beyond capacity. Ace struggled to properly close the zipper since the sleeping bag was naturally sized to house only one person, not to mention that Ace’s proportions alone were bigger than average. With no small amount of careful maneuvering, Ace eventually got you guys zipped up as far along as was allowed by the stretch of the fabric. Luckily, it was plenty enough to have you snugly covered up all the way up to your jawline.

The relief was as immediate as it was intense. Everywhere your bare skin met Ace’s, the steady transfer of heat awakened your numb nerve-endings with a prickling sensation of pain; like tiny, icy needles all over your body. It felt like you’d been set on fire, but as far as you could tell, Ace was not exuding any flames from his body. You could not stifle the moan that escaped your lips, the sound, equal parts pleasure and pain, reverberating against Ace’s shoulder.

”Sorry, hah-ha… that was weird,” you fumbled for words, ”you just feel so good- uhm, so warm… yeah.”

”Oh! Uh, yeah… I guess so,” Ace blurted as if distracted by something. His response was uncharacteristically awkward; you’d half-expected him to say something annoying like ’thinking about me, are ya?’. You waited in case Ace had something more to say, but the captain stayed silent, presumably lost in thought or nodding off already. In spite of yourself, you scooched a little closer to Ace, his warmth drawing you in like a moth to a flame. Just as you rested your arm across his chest to better warm up your frigid fingers, Ace stirred in his spot.

”Sorry! Am I too close?” You asked, alarmed by the sudden movement. You reeled your arm back in and tucked it as far away from Ace as you were able to.

Ace merely sighed in response, fueling your anxiety.

”It’s-it’s just that my fingers are so cold, so I thought… well, I uh, guess I didn’t think — that was kinda invasive, huh?” Your babbling was punctuated by nervous chuckling. Mortified, it dawned on you how weird and creepy you were being just now, basically groping Ace’s chest.

”Look, shorty…” Ace heaved another heavy breath, ”I can appreciate that you’re trying not to give any mixed signals, but… wow, are you obvious about it.”

Your eyes widened in pure terror. It felt as though you were flash frozen, every last comforting bit of warmth gone in an instant. A chill so primal, so bitter, so utterly lonesome, it was as though the stars themselves had died.

He knows.

He fucking knows. God, maybe he’s known all along. Deuce probably knows too. Maybe everyone knows, and they all have a good laugh about it whenever you’re not around. Fuck, you fucking idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid girl.

You see it so damn clearly now. Deuce’s weird looks, his comments. The nicknames Ace calls you, the way he rests his arms on your head, the way he keeps touching you, the compliments… it was all just some game, wasn’t it? To see how flustered you’d get, to make you fall for him harder, and make yourself more and more of an idiot around him. All some big inside joke you weren’t in on, with you as the butt of it.

You didn’t know what to say. Even if you did, your throat felt barren, your lips frozen shut. You could only silently stare up at Ace, frozen in time and space. Stare at that beautiful face, the face you loved, the face of the man you loved… only to see it finally for what it was; a mask to hide cruel intentions. A mask which wore a frown and a smile to reveal your fate to the audience, a tragic irony you were never privy to. Any moment now, he would laugh, and that would be your cue to exit the stage.

Only Ace didn’t laugh. His lips did not budge, not even to grin at you. He merely raised a confused eyebrow, quietly inquiring: ”Uhm… short stuff? What’s wrong?”

That stupid nickname. More theater. The former unfroze your mind, allowing you emotions again, tears flooding your eyes. The latter unfroze your body, your actions free once more, free to push yourself away from Ace. You yanked open the zipper of the sleeping bag, uncaring whether you broke the damn thing. All you cared about was getting away from Ace, away from the tent, away from this mirage of an oasis. The blizzard should have been your clue; this island was no paradise. It was your purgatory, a lake of fire, frozen over in a perpetual winter.

”Wait, where are you-” you were on your feet and rushing outside before Ace could finish his sentence. A new wave of slashing pain washed over you when your bare feet, which had just thawed inside Ace’s sleeping bag, met with the ankle-deep snow that had gathered on the ground. The wind and the snowfall were like a whip against your nearly nude body, but you did not find the sensation unpleasant. In fact, you welcomed the physical torment as a necessary distraction from the pandemonium inside your head. You willed your body to move forward, faster, faster, fucking faster, until you were running towards the snow-powdered woods.

The tears were non-stop by now, mucus filling your nose and beginning to leak, spurred on by the subzero temperature around you. Your body shook, convulsed, your insides feeling like every organ had suddenly switched places. Your breathing became shallow, constantly interrupted by the wails of distress you couldn’t hold back. You gasped, choked, swallowed. You stopped in your tracks and bent over, grabbing your knees. The sudden exertion, the crying, the panicking, and the extreme weather all caught up to you at once, turning your stomach upside down and-

You vomited an ugly, yellow-brown concoction of stomach acid, ground up meat and tropical fruit, the sight all the more harrowing against the canvas of pure white snow on the ground. You turned your back on your creation, disgusted with yourself, and collapsed onto your knees. You buried your face in your hands and just cried. And cried. And cried. Part of you wished to simply lay down on the snow and be slowly entombed by the raging blizzard.

It didn’t take long for the scrunching sound of snow underfoot to notify you of Ace’s arrival. Whatever he came to do or say, you wouldn’t- no, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. And if Ace had any sense of human decency towards you, he’d leave you here and never show his face around you again.

Ace took a second to catch his breath, then asked: ”What the fuck are you doing?”

You weren’t sure if he sounded more confused, angry, or scared. Maybe a combination of all three, though you couldn’t fathom why Ace cared to even question your actions at this point.

”Go. Away,” you rasped against your palms.

”Nope. Now tell me, seriously, what was that all about?” Ace’s tone was gentler now, for whichever absurd reason. You didn’t have any strength left to theorize, nor to think at all.

”Like you don’t know,” you said venomously.

”I don’t know, though,” Ace insisted, ”Not exactly Mr. Mindreader over here.”

You gave a mirthless scoff at Ace’s sarcastic remark. Seems like he came here to provoke you by continuing to take the piss.

When no futher response came from you, Ace crouched down, his voice now much closer to you. ”Look, all I know is, one second I’m telling you I can take a hint, and the next second you’re storming off into the literal storm. So I’m kind of at a loss here.”

You couldn’t even begin to comprehend why Ace was still playing dumb about the situation. Did he really not realize that the jig was up on their little game? Did he really think you were that gullible, or so obsessed with him that you’d be willing to overlook being Ace and the crew’s personal Boo Boo the Fool? Surely even someone as pathetic as you deserves some semblance of dignity? You lifted your head to glare at Ace in disbelief and rising rage.

Ace’s eyes widened at the state of your face; you could only imagine what a mess it was after all the crying, the freezing, the vomiting. Out of all the ways he could react, you weren’t expecting Ace to pull you into a tight hug, nor did you anticipate his words: ”Shit, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I upset you, again. Please… Please tell me what I did wrong. You’re so important to me, I can’t stand hurting you like this, I… fuck-.” Ace tightened his grip on you, choking up.

Stop. Stop. Stop it. Stop lying. That’s what’s wrong. The lying, the big fucking satire, the illusion of connection.

Ace’s touch burned you. Burned your nearly frost-bitten skin, burned your teary eyes, burned you inside and out… Burned your hope to ashes. And so you pushed him off of you, frantic to escape the inferno.

A joyless smile twisted Ace’s lips, and it was only now that you noticed tears running down his cheeks, too. ”You… you really hate me, huh? You’re minutes away from hypothermia but you won’t let me touch you… Won’t let me help you.”

You sniffled and wiped at your tear-blurred eyes. You were unsure if your confusion at Ace’s words and actions alleviated your distress or simply added to it. Was he trying to manipulate you into taking pity on him, only to keep fucking with you once you were comfortable enough to trust him again? It was nothing like the Ace you knew, or thought you knew… but people can be deceptive. You’d joined the Spades only a few months ago, but you knew from experience that people can deceive you for years if they must for whichever gain they were after. You swallowed, mumbling almost inaudibly: ”I wish I could…”

Ace’s brows furrowed as his gaze swept over your face, perhaps searching for more answers. ”So… you don’t hate me? But you don’t want me anywhere near you,” Ace surmised, crumpling into a seated position on the snowy ground and hugging his legs to this chest. ”… I’m sorry. I should’ve taken the hint way earlier, it seems. I… I really thought I was keeping my feelings to myself and treating you like I would any other friend… But clearly I’ve crossed the line, and ruined everything. Like I always do…” Ace trailed off. He buried his face behind his knees, his shoulders shaking from silent sobs.

He… there was no way he could fake a reaction like this, right? And even if he could, the sight and sound of Ace crying, making himself so small, gripped your heart like a vise. You felt your panic wane a little, replaced by a strangely focused sensation… protectiveness. Ever so slowly, you reached out to Ace, your hand settling atop his forearm. You felt goosebumps appear on Ace’s skin beneath your fingertips.

”Shit, you’re cold as ice,” Ace flinched and fixed his gaze back onto you, ”Please, short stuff, let me take you back inside the tent. It’s too dangerous for you to stay out here any longer.”

”Why..? What do you care? I’m just-just nobody. I’m no one. I have no one. I thought maybe… Maybe I could be someone, and not be alone anymore… With you, with the Spades. But… I guess I’m the one that ruined everything. So maybe… maybe you should just leave me here, huh?” You stated, bitter tears flowing down your fozen red cheeks and creating tiny craters as they fell onto the snow.

The consequent change in Ace’s demeanor was so quick it was almost frightening. His folded posture, fragile body-language, the quiet sobs escaping him and resonating from the bone of his knees… gone in the blink of an eye and replaced by a straightened-up, towering Ace, whose eyes were fierce enough to pierce through you, sparks of flame flickering across his body and sending your hand on retreat from the rising temperature of his skin.

”I sure as fuck won’t be doing that,” Ace’s voice was much lower than usual, ”Don’t ever say something like that. Never.”

You immediately regretted your words. Ace’s anger was like a bucket of cold water thrown on you, sobering you up from the sheer self-hatred you felt, if only for Ace’s sake. Something in Ace’s tone was different, personal, impossible to argue with.

”I’m sorry, Ace,” you said, hanging your head in shame.

”And I’m sorry for any part I had in making you feel that way…” Ace’s voice softened, a sigh escaping him. ”C’mon, let’s go back, okay?”

You took a deep breath and nodded. Ace stood up and offered you a hand. You considered it for a second, accepting his help by grabbing on to the outreached hand. Ace heaved up you up with ease, but as you tried to take a step forward, your kneels nearly buckled underneath you. Not only were your legs nearly completely numb from the cold, your muscles had fallen asleep from you sitting atop your legs. Ace caught and supported you in place. ”May I?” He offered over-politely.

”Yeah,” you gave a brief laugh, feeling both amused and awkward about your newborn animal -esque gait.

That was all the confirmation Ace needed to sweep you off your feet and lift you into a princess carry. You yelped, fumbling to grab hold around Ace’s shoulders out of instinct — Ace’s grip around you was so secure that there was really no need for you to anchor yourself in any way. Ace’s strong arms around you, his muscular chest and abs against your side… The warmth spread like wildfire, even though Ace was likely keeping his body temperature only somewhat raised. You shivered all over from the clash between you and Ace’s body temperatures.

”You could’ve just given me a piggyback ride, you know…” you whined and leaned your head against Ace’s neck.

Ace was already taking off with a power walk that soon transitioned into a full jog. ”Nah, takes too much time — we gotta get you warmed up, like stat.”

As much as being cradled by Ace was a very good start towards unfrosting you, there was no denying that you were closer to hypothermia than homeostasis at the moment. As such, you made no further complaints, pressing yourself closer to Ace and the core of his warmth instead. Ace squeezed you tighter as an affirming gesture in response. He tightened his pace as well, and not long after you two were already back at the tent, Ace sealing the zipper of the entrance behind you.

”Let’s get the air in here to a more reasonable temp,” Ace announced and began to emit flames from his upper body, careful not to get too close to the walls or floor of the tent, let alone to you, as he did so.

You sat and watched the dance of Ace’s fire, the warm crimson and yellow glow. It reminded you of the dusk sky, the campfire, the rippling waves of water. Ace was everything that was warm, everything that was life. His energy sustained all around him, sustained you. You felt foolish for having wandered out there into the blizzard, for running away from Ace. Like some bizarre antithesis of a sunflower, turning to the darkness and cold for comfort.

Once Ace deemed the air suitably warm, the flames flickering across his body fizzled out. He then sat down atop his sleeping bag, while you crawled inside yours. Ace gestured between the two and suggested: ”If you’re uncomfortable with the skin-to-skin contact, how about you get nice and snug in your sleeping bag, and I’ll lay down next to you?”

”Oh, uhm… I..,” you stammered, caught off-guard by Ace’s proposition. It was really thoughtful of him, sure, and it would certainly make you much less nervous… And yet, at this point, you couldn’t deny that your body craved Ace’s touch; the heat of his skin, his firm but soft muscles, his big hands. The temptation was too strong, like a piece of meat dangled in front of a starving man. You just needed to be close to Ace, be held by him… be loved by him…

”Sorry, I know you don’t want to give Deuce the wrong impression — and knowing him, he’ll probably poke his head in here at the ass crack of dawn to wake us up for breakfast,” Ace breathed out an amused huff, ”but I have to insist. I don’t want you getting permanent damage from frostbite.”

Wherever your eyes had wandered towards while you were pondering your state of ’starved for Ace’s touch’, they now snapped back to look at Ace in bewilderment. ”Wait, what? Deuce? Doesn’t he already know, though?”

Ace paused, then said: ”Know what? That you’re into him? Or that you’re definitely not into me? Either way, I’m not sure what he knows.”

You frowned; completely, utterly baffled by Ace. ”I… what? Me… into Deuce?!”

”Uh… yeah? And me into you, and Deuce into… well who honestly knows, you’d think he has the hots for you too, but he never really talks about… well, anything relating to romance,” Ace rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

”Wait, what?!” You exclaimed.

Ace blinked. ”…What? What do you mean, what?”

”You tell me!” Your voice rose an octave.

Ace looked like a lost puppy. He groaned, threw his arms up, and fell onto his back on top of his sleeping bag. ”Okay, I’m gonna spell it out for you, because this is getting kinda ridiculous by now.”

You hummed in agreement. Well, that was one thing that was for sure.

Ace sat back up, his voice as determined as his gaze upon you: ”I have feelings for you. Like, way more than you usually have for a friend. And not in a brotherly type of way, either. In a romantic way.”

A furious flush took over your features, and your heart rate skyrocketed. Ace… liked you back?

”But, I don’t think you’re into me. Not like that, anyway, which is why you’ve kinda been keeping your distance from me lately. But when you’re with Deuce, well… you guys just seem to have this… connection? You bicker like an old couple, you seem like you have inside jokes I’m not in on, you guys can swim together… And he came to the rescue when I got your clothes wet, putting his jacket on you like some Casanova,” Ace grumbled, ”He’s way smarter than me, too, educated. You guys can talk about books, science, politics… I don’t know much about any of that; I was homeschooled by bandits, haha. And well, I guess he’s handsome enough, if you squint. The mask makes him all mysterious — even I haven’t seen him without it. He knows how to cook too, damn,” Ace groaned and folded his arms, ”Didn’t even realize just how little I can compete with him until I started listing it all out… kinda depressing, ha.”

You listened to Ace’s rant with growing relief and amusement. By the end, you couldn’t help but giggle. ”Ace, are you sure you’re not the one who’s into Deuce?”

”Ugh, I should hope not. Haven’t you heard him at night? Dude snores loud as a foghorn. Also, he has the most foul sock sweat stench, ever. One time he took off his shoes out on deck and the smell was so bad I almost dived in the ocean to escape it,” Ace wrinkled his nose, pinching his nostrils closed to illustrate his point, ”That’s why I did not want to share a tent with him, though I feel kinda bad for Kotatsu… keen sense of smell and all…”

You were laughing downright hysterically by now, clutching at your aching sides.

”I’m glad you can get some entertainment outta this, at least,” Ace raised an eyebrow.

”Sorry, sorry… It’s just,” another bout of laughter shook your frame before you could continue, ”This is great material to use against him. He gets so awkward about… well, everything.”

”My point exactly; you guys are always teasing each other and he’s always getting all flustered,” Ace clicked his tongue, his tone green with jealousy.

”Ace, I’m not into Deuce,” you stated simply but firmly.

Ace’s brows shot up. ”You’re not?”

”Nope. He’s an awesome friend, sure, but you made him sound way more attractive than I’ve ever seen him as,” you shrugged. Emboldened by Ace saying he likes you and him apparently being jealous over you, you quietly added: ”It’s kinda… hard to pay any attention to other guys when you’re around, Ace.”

”I’m… cockblocking you?”

”What the shit, Ace? No!” You borderline yelled. Who was the one needing things spelled out, again?! ”I’m saying I don’t pay attention to Deuce, or anyone else for that matter, because I’m into you!”

Ace had a satisfied, no — smug grin plastered on his face. Did he just..? ”That wasn’t so hard to say, was it, sweet stuff?”

Red exploded across your cheeks. Sweet..? Stuff..? Meanwhile, Ace’s grin widened at your reaction.

”I’m still a bit confused, though,” Ace said softly, ”If you’re not into Deuce, then why did you run off like that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

You averted your gaze from Ace’s, embarrassed about your earlier assumptions and actions. ”Well… That’s… When you said I was being obvious, I thought you meant… that I was being so obvious about liking you. I’d been trying to hide it because I was scared how you’ll react, so when you seemingly blurted it out just like that, I thought… that you hate me, or that you’ve been bullying me about it… what with asking me to share your sleeping bag, and calling me nicknames, and getting into my personal space, and commenting on my swimwear…”

Ace mulled over your words, looking up as though recalling the day’s events. ”I did all that today? Wow, how damn obvious am I?”

”Not obvious enough for my dense ass, I guess,” you sighed, rubbing a hand against your forehead, ”Thing is, I think Deuce has noticed that I like you. He keeps giving me these looks whenever you and I are doing something together, like,” you imitated the side-eye glances Deuce would frequently throw your way, ”So when I thought you were calling me out on it, I was scared that… that Deuce and maybe the rest of the crew are in on it too, and you’ve all been making fun of me.”

Ace listened to you intently, his expression morphing from curiosity to compassion throughout your explanation. ”Oh, shorty… we’d never do something like that to you, you know that, right? Not even if you actually did something bad, and definitely not because you like someone! Who would do something so cruel?”

”Lots of people would,” you murmured absently.

Ace studied you for a brief moment, evidently deciding not to pry any further details: ”Yeah, I know… but, I’d never do that to you. And neither would Deuce, nor any other Spade. And if for some reason they did, I’d make ’em walk the plank.”

You were about to chuckle at Ace’s last comment until you noticed how serious he looked. Ace was not just kidding… He actually would do it.

Somehow, Ace expressing such protectiveness over you caught you off guard; you felt shy and excited at the same time. Ace liked you back. It wasn’t just a hopeless, one-sided crush. You repeated the statements in your mind like a mantra, lest the disbelief or doubt took over again. Ace actually returned your feelings… but what exactly did that mean? Not once had you considered this as a possibility, not even in your most fantastical daydreams.

”What… what happens now, though? I mean, you’re my captain and I’m your crewmate. Us having feelings for each other might make things complicated… it’s probably against like, the pirate code or something, to date a crewmate…” you agonized, hugging your sleeping bag closer to your body.

”Well, first of all,” Ace piped up and crawled over to you, closing you into a horizontal bear hug, ”I’m the captain, so my word is you guys’ command. Second of all, there’s no such thing as a ’pirate code’…” you and Ace laughed in unison, ”being a pirate kinda means that there’s no code, no laws, no rules that bind you. You follow your heart, do right by your comrades. That’s all the rules you really need.”

You stared in awe at the revelation that was Ace. Freedom was in his very nature; like a fan to the flames, the ocean wind in his sails spread his fire, his warmth, across the world. You realized Ace had already burned down your old world with a cleansing fire of rebirth, turning to ash the laws, the rules, the norms, the expectations, the blood ties. Ace had freed you and breathed new life into you. And who were you to squander the gift he had given you?

”What does your heart say, sweet stuff?” Ace asked you softly, barely louder than a whisper, as he brushed a lock of your hair behind your ear.

”I…” You bit your lip in apprehension. You closed your eyes, willing your anxious thoughts to the very back of your consciousness. Now was not the time to think about the past or speculate about the future. The only thing that existed right now was the present, this moment between Ace and you, sheltered from the snowstorm, from the world, inside this little tent. ”I want you, Ace.”

Ace breathed out audibly, as if relieved to hear your words. ”And I want you, sweet stuff,” Ace’s hazel eyes were fixed on you, the look in them impossibly gentle, and so, so warm; so warm that you forgot whether you’d ever felt cold before. ”Can I kiss you?”

”Yes,” you replied breathlessly, ”Please, yes.”

Ace slid his hand up from where he was hugging you around the waist and came to a stop at your neck, resting his thumb on the side of your jaw and cheekbone while the rest of his fingers threaded gently into the hair at the nape of your neck. The sensation was comforting and pleasantly ticklish, your eyelids slipping shut in anticipation for what followed: the soft, warm touch of Ace’s lips against yours. At first, Ace merely gave your lips a slow, gentle peck, pulling back just enough to gauge your reaction.

Your eyes blinked slightly open, enough for you to peek hazily at Ace through your lashes. Even with your vision blurred and the colors around you close to greyscale in the dim light of a single, small camping lantern, you were captivated by the sight of Ace so close to you, with his lips parted and his curly locks fanned across his handsome face. Your already rapid pulse escalated further, blood pooling within your cheeks — hell, across your entire face. You released a breath which almost resembled a moan, your excitement resticting your ability to breathe. The corners of Ace’s lips curled up at the sound, half-lidded eyes closing again as his lips claimed yours with a simultaneous brush of his thumb against your heated cheek. The kiss was much more intense this time; Ace sucked lightly on your lower lip, applying more pressure as his lips parted yours once, twice, a dozen times. Hungrily, he licked your bottom lip with the tip of his tongue while he pulled away from you. You gasped for air.

”Fuck… you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to kiss you… how many times just today,” Ace groaned, licking his lips as if savoring the lingering taste of your lips.

You felt light-headed, drunk off the feeling of Ace’s lips, his touch, the way he looked at you, his scent. And yet you wanted more, more, more — you wanted to drown in Ace, be consumed by him to your very core. You tried to imbue all these thoughts and feelings into your gaze, to convey to Ace what you were too oxygen-deprived to put into words. All you could say aloud in the moment was his name, like invoking the name of a deity: ”Ace…”

Ace seemed to understand the meaning of your expression, of you calling out to him. ”You want more?” He asked, already leaning close enough to brush his lips against yours as he spoke.

”Yes, oh god, yes… I need you, Ace,” you begged, flushing even hotter at how needy you sounded. How could you possibly keep your cool right now, though? Pressed up against Ace, only the fabric of the sleeping bag separating his body from yours, his lips grazing yours tantalizingly. No longer did you feel warm in Ace’s embrace; you felt hot, impossibly hot, a drunken fever burning within you.

Ace chuckled briefly, murmuring against your lips: ”I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself if you talk like that.”

”Then don’t,” you said, resolute. You snaked an arm free from the sleeping bag so that you could trace Ace’s collarbone with your fingertips on the way to settle your hand on his muscular shoulder. ”Kiss me, Ace. Touch me, please.”

”Mmh… Demanding, are we?” Ace teased you, yet he couldn’t hold back a moan at the way you said his name, the way you begged for his touch. He held you a little firmer by your hair, pulling you into another kiss. Emboldened by your words, Ace worked at your lips harder, deeper, his tongue brushing against the parting where your lips met in a bid for access. You allowed Ace’s tongue to enter your mouth and flick against yours, though it didn’t take long for Ace to intensify the kiss even further, downright massaging your tongue with his own. The both of you moaned and panted against each other’s lips, desperate for air yet unwilling to pull apart even for a second.

When you two finally had to break apart for some oxygen, Ace took it as a chance to peel the sleeping bag off of you. He reached for the zipper with his hand, pausing to ask you for confirmation: ”May I?”

”Fuck yes, you may,” you gasped, grasping harder at Ace’s shoulder as your excitement grew.

Ace wasted no time in unzipping the sleeping bag all the way and unfurling it from around your body, his gaze traveling across your body all the while. He got up from laying on his side and crawled in between your legs, supporting his weight with his arms. ”You’re so beautiful,” Ace breathed out, enthralled, ”Mine.”

Heat spread through your body in reaction to Ace’s words, intermingling with the warmth radiating from Ace’s body and permeating your skin. He caught your lips in another deep kiss, a hand traveling to your neck, then to your collarbone, and onto the top of your breast right after. Ace swallowed your moans as his long fingers explored your skin, tracing, grabbing, and massaging in an effort to find your sweetest, most sensitive spots. You melted underneath his touch, your nerve-endings set ablaze everywhere your bodies made contact with each other.

Ace’s lips departed from yours in favor of travelling downward and peppering kisses on your jaw, your neck, and your shoulders. He paid particular attention to your neck, alternating between hovering his lips over the skin, then pecking, sucking and licking on it. He even gave your neck a few light bites, eliciting ever louder moans from you with the blend of mild pain and intense pleasure. You buried your hands in Ace’s dark hair, anchoring yourself with the silky curls. Ace groaned deeply at your touch, the sound vibrating against the skin of your neck and adding to a building feeling of pressure around your nether regions.

”Oh god, Ace… mmh… more,” you whined and squeezed your thighs against Ace’s hips, wanting to relieve some of the pressure in your core in any way that you could.

”Patience, little one,” Ace drawled against your neck, his voice husky from arousal, ”I want to enjoy you, to pleasure you, to the fullest.”

You swallowed, biting back a moan of frustration. Your brain was short-circuiting from overstimulation; Ace’s lips on your neck, his hair between your fingers, his hips against yours, his voice, his warmth… It was maddening, all too much, and yet you craved more. You were already past your boiling point, but it simply wasn’t enough. You had to feel more of Ace, be closer to him, meld together into one.

Ace escalated his attack on your neck, sucking harder and longer on your skin. You moaned and whined underneath him, certain that Ace was gonna end up leaving a mark or few at this rate. It appeared, however, that Ace wanted exactly that to happen, since he gave the areas he’d sucked on some bites for good measure.

”Mine,” he whispered, sending a tidal wave of pleasure towards your core. As if all the aforementioned weren’t enough to drive you to the brink of your sanity, Ace then grinded his hips against yours, making you feel the hardness of his erection through your panties and his shorts. Although seeing is believing, the feeling was unmistakable; Ace was big.

”Oh, fuck!” What you intended to keep inside your head spilled out from your lips instead, earning an amused smirk from Ace.

”Hm? What was that?” Ace tormented you with another roll of his hips, only slower and firmer than before, ”You like that?”

”God… yes! I want to… to feel it,” You confessed before you could stop yourself, flushing an even deeper shade of crimson than you already were — provided that was even possible.

”All in due time, sweetheart,” Ace asserted and returned to teasing your neck. He was entirely gentle this time, pecking and licking invisible patterns onto your skin. Ace then ventured up towards your jaw, not missing a single patch of skin on his way there. He covered your whole jawline in kisses before he proceeded to one of your ears, giving your earlobe a smooch and softly nibbling on it. The sensation of teeth against such a sensitive spot made you gasp and buck your hips up against Ace. Ace, on the other hand, put more of his weight on his hips so as to pin you in place, then kissed his way up along the shell of your ear. You shivered, resisting the urge to pull away from the unfamiliar sensation by directing your attention to your hands, gently raking your fingers through Ace’s semi-long locks. Your grasp on Ace’s hair tightened considerably, however, when you felt Ace’s tongue drag across the shell of your ear and consequently supercharge the nerves within. You moaned noisily as an intense feeling of pleasure overtook you, a sensation which would normally register as ticklish having become strongly erogenous.

”Ow,” Ace groaned from the slight pain of you grabbing his hair, whispering right into you ear: ”naughty girl.” Despite the playful reprimand, you felt Ace’s cock twitch within his shorts and intuited that Ace didn’t exactly dislike you pulling his hair…

You took the chance to guide Ace back to your lips by his hair, governing the pace of the kiss and stopping every so often to passionately suck on Ace’s plush, kiss-swollen lower lip. Ace’s moans increased in volume at the attention and assertiveness you were showing him.

”Hah, apology accepted, baby,” Ace’s voice was breathy, caramelly sweet, and you realized you had never heard this exact tone from Ace before; intimate, wholly vulnerable. Your heart swell with affection, the innocent feeling both contrasting and complimenting the predominant lust you were experiencing.

Ace gave your lips a few more pecks before moving down your body again, kissing and nipping a trail from your neck to your collarbones and eventually along the top of your breasts exposed by your bra. All the while Ace’s lips were lavishing attention upon one of your breasts, he would cup the other with his hand, squeezing, massaging, and lightly running his nails over the area where he could feel your hardening nipple through the fabric of your bra. Your back arched, a hand grabbing hold of the sleeping mat underneath you while the other lingered among the soft tresses of Ace’s hair, holding on for dear life. Your moans were accompanied by the wet sounds of Ace’s lips against your breasts, the constant melody interrupted only when your moaning turned into whining as Ace grazed your nipples.

Growing a little impatient himself, Ace relinquished your breasts and sat up. ”C’mere, sweet stuff,” he rasped, reaching his arms towards your waist and back. Before you could do much to bring yourself up into a sitting position, Ace lifted you with a hand on your back between your shoulder blades. You were a bit abashed by how suddenly and easily Ace lifted basically half your body weight, but your attention was soon redirected to Ace sucking on the side of your neck again while his fingers slid over your back and found their way to the clasps of your bra. He kept devouring your neck as he unhooked your bra and slid the straps down your arms, a shiver running through you at the sensation of Ace stroking his big, rough hands across the length of your arms. Ace discarded your bra somewhere nearby, drawing his lips away from your neck to admire your naked chest.

”God, they’re perfect,” Ace exhaled deliriously, closing his eyes for a second as if fighting back wicked thoughts, ”you’re perfect.”

”Like you’re one to talk,” you countered Ace’s praise playfully, your gaze traveling across Ace’s upper body in a manner which was not the least bit subtle.

”You’re playing with fire, baby,” Ace all but growled, holding you by your waist as his mouth latched onto one of your nipples, alternating between soft suction and swirling his tongue. You arched into Ace with a loud whine, a hot pleasure almost bordering pain spreading through your breasts and seeming to reflect all the way to your core. The heat grew, prickling at your sensitive nerves and making you hiss as the feeling crossed over into more painful territory.

”Ace… you… you’re not using your devil fruit power right now, are you?” You inquired, suspicious at the pain despite not feeling a lot of pressure from Ace’s lips around your nipple.

”I told you already, didn’t I?” Ace pulled back and smirked at you deviously, then raised his brow with a worried look, ”Is it too much?”

”No, I…. I kinda love it, actually,” you admitted, looking away shyly.

”Mhm, is that so?” Ace bit his lip as he blatantly stared at your body, ”Such a naughty girl…”

The muscles at your core tightened at the way Ace was teasing you and consuming you with his eyes. Ace stood up and began unbuckling his belt, which only worsened the throbbing sensation within your hips.

”Damn, it’s getting painful to have these on,” He groaned as he made short work of his belt and moved onto the zipper of his shorts. You could see what Ace was talking about; his erection was straining against the dark fabric, looking more than ready to burst out. Your arousal spurred you into action, standing on your knees and hooking your fingers into the waistband of Ace’s shorts as he carefully slid the zipper open. You pulled the shorts off of Ace’s hips and down his thighs, his cock nearly slapping you in the face when it sprung up from underneath the fabric.

”You were commando this whole time?” You looked up at Ace and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

”Got sand in my briefs and forgot to bring spares,” Ace shrugged.

You giggled at Ace’s nonchalance. Your gaze returned to his erection, hard as rock and frankly a bit intimidating; not just the length of it, but also the sheer thickness. You swallowed, unsure if you’d be able to take it, but hungering to find out. You gave the swollen head a tantalizing lick, causing Ace to groan deeply as his cock twitched in excitement.

”Fuck, baby… you’re making it so hard to take my time with you,” Ace panted, stroking your hair affectionately.

”You can take your time in the morning,” you stated simply and dotted soft kisses along Ace’s shaft.

”Morning?” Ace raised an eyebrow with a sly grin, ”Who says I’ll wait ’till morning? Nah, I’m gonna keep going until one of us passes out.”

Your eyes rounded as you considered Ace’s words. He did have seemingly endless stamina… who knows how long he could go at it if he set his mind on it? Maybe the only restriction was the possibility of one of his narcoleptic episodes. You let out a heated breath, circling Ace’s shaft with your fingers. ”God, Ace… are you a man or a beast?”

”Depends on my mood,” Ace quipped, craning his neck backward at the relief your touch brought to his throbbing erection, ”Hard not to go feral with you looking so pretty right in front of my cock.”

You moaned against Ace’s tip as you brought your lips towards it, slowly working his foreskin back and forth with your hand. You swallowed the head of Ace’s cock, tongue teasing along its bottom side. You began bobbing your head and applying some suction around Ace’s tip, careful to keep the stimulation sufficiently light so as to not overwhelm the most sensitive part of Ace’s cock. Taking Ace with your mouth was manageable, at least while you focused mainly on the head, but your pussy might be a different story. You hadn’t had anyone — or anything — as big as Ace inside of you before, and the mere thought filled you with nervous excitement.

”Oh, fuck… fuck your mouth feels good,” Ace was a mess of moans, his hand buried in your hair, ”mmh… you take it so good… so fucking good… oh- oh god!”

Ace cried out in pleasure when you took him deeper into your mouth, experimenting with how much of his cock you could take. He was so thick that your jaw protested at the intrusion, needing time to adjust to the wide stretch. Despite the discomfort, it felt unbelievably good to have him in your mouth — the silkiness of his skin contrasting with the hardness right beneath, the protruding veins like winding paths on Ace’s shaft, and his deep cries of pleasure which went right into your cunt, wetness pooling inside your panties. His cock felt so warm in your mouth… Warm to the point where you couldn’t tell whether it was just your mouth, the movement, and the blood throbbing throughout Ace’s erection causing the heat, or if Ace was deliberately imbuing his cock with extra warmth.

”Shit, baby… god I don’t want you to stop but my cock’s gonna explode,” Ace whined and reluctantly pulled away from your touch. He ran a hand through his hair as he steadied his breathing, the flexing of his bicep captivating your attention. You took in the sight of Ace in all his naked glory; the familiar pecs, abs, wide, freckled shoulders and strong arms complimented by the not-so familiar sight of the V and happy trail leading to his huge cock, which curved a bit upwards and leaked precum from the darkened, swollen tip. Even his legs looked amazing: proportionally muscular and long, not a flaw in sight on the tan skin. You sighed in awe at the man in front of you.

”You’re so hot, Ace.”

Ace smiled sheepishly, and you could barely make out some red among the freckles on his cheeks in the dim light. ”You’re hotter. And you’re driving me crazy.”

Ace gently pushed you back down on your back and slotted himself between your legs, capturing your lips in a passionate kiss before he made his way down your body, tracing every shape with his hands, his tongue, his lips. The way Ace worshipped your body was pleasure and torture in one; every touch was like a lick of a flame which was not quite close enough to ignite you. The sweet sensations Ace lavished upon you just weren’t enough to drown out the painful arousal, not with Ace’s erection pressed up against your thigh as a constant reminder of what you needed. You writhed underneath Ace, your breathing heavy, a near constant stream of curses, praises and Ace’s name escaping you.

”Ace… please… I need you too badly. Please,” you urged Ace to pick up the pace.

”Oh, baby, don’t worry… I’ll take such good care of your cock-hungry pussy. But first you gotta be a good girl and let me taste you everywhere else,” Ace cooed at you, his lips barely leaving your skin even as he spoke.

Ace continued devouring you, his attention drawn to your breasts in particular. By now he was grasping and massaging them more ardently, circling your nipples and flicking over them with his tongue. He moved his lips expertly against your swollen nipples, pecking and sucking on them with varying degrees of pressure, making you squirm and moan helplessly as the unpredictability kept your nerves on high alert. As Ace’s own arousal escalated, he occasionally swallowed not just your nipples but your areolas and some surrounding breast tissue into his mouth, sucking hard and biting down on the less sensitive skin outside your areolas.

”God, Ace… are you trying to eat my boobs?” You asked, your voice somewhere between a giggle and a whimper.

”Mmh, maybe,” Ace licked his lips as he looked up at you, ”They’re so soft and squishy and such a pretty color… It’s like if you put a pudding or marshmallow in front of me and told me not to take a bite…”

You flushed at Ace’s comment and watched as he again clamped his mouth around one of your breasts, his dark curls cascading on your chest. You held onto Ace’s shoulders for dear life, your back arching off the sleeping mat as the sensations from your tits travelled into your core, stoking the fire there. When Ace gave a final few licks to your nipples then pulled away, you noticed that his lips were even more swollen and darkened than your nipples were.

”You’ve been such a patient girl for me, haven’t you?” Ace smoothed a large hand over your upper body, trailing down all the way to your upper thighs. He sat up on his knees and ran both of his hands up and down your thighs before hooking his fingers around the sides of your panties. ”You deserve a reward for being so good.”

”Yes, please, yes… touch me, Ace!” You pleaded, your voice nearly broken from your cries of pleasure and frustration. You felt so wet that you honestly weren’t sure that your juices weren’t already seeping through and spilling out from your panties. The moment Ace began sliding your panties off, you raised your hips up so as to be rid of the damn things as quickly as possible. Ace thankfully took the hint and removed the panties at once, backing up and laying back down with his head between your thighs. Ace gave your inner thighs a few kisses before promptly making his way to your overflowing, aching cunt, kissing and lightly licking the length of the slit. Your hips bucked at the sudden intensity and relief brought by the soft movements, and you felt the vibrations of Ace moaning against your pussy.

”My poor girl, so wet that it’s leaking all over… Can’t let any more of your juices go to waste,” Ace groaned, enraptured by the sight of your juices flowing out from between your lips as he gently spread them with his hands. He managed to catch some of the fluids on his tongue and proceeded to spread them on your hole, inner lips and clit with his tongue. A loud moan sounded from you as the warm, tingling sensation of your juices spread and allowed Ace’s tongue to glide on your cunt without any resistance whatsoever. He trailed his tongue up and down between your clit and hole, teasing you with the slow movements of the tip of his tongue.

”Mmh, Ace… that feels so, so good… more… please gimme more!” You whined at Ace, your voice breathy and sugar sweet from the pure pleasure he was giving you. You could feel your thighs shake and your core tighten from anticipation, your entire body begging Ace to eat you out harder, faster, finger you, fuck you… anything to release the immense hot pressure between your hips.

”Anything for my sweet girl,” you could hear the smirk in Ace’s voice; he was still teasing you, edging you, holding himself back. You wanted to make him lose control, become engulfed in his fire.

Ace swirled a finger on the edges of your hole, slowly pushing it inside of you as he continued licking your clit. The sudden feeling of being filled, if only by the width of a single finger, had your walls tightening at the deeply satisfying sensation. Your hole was gushing wetness, Ace’s finger sliding back and forth with ease. He added another finger alongside it, your entrance relishing the slight stretch. Ace’s fingers were so long that he could easily reach, press and massage your g-spot. You moaned in ecstasy, your walls spasming around Ace’s fingers.

”Yes, fuck! Yes, yes, mmh…” Your cunt was elated at the stimulation, especially after such a long wait. It felt so good, so goddamn good, that you arched into Ace, your thighs hugging his head in desperation. You could barely form any thoughts as your full attention was drawn to the sight and feeling of Ace between your legs, lightly sucking and circling his tongue on your clit. The concentrated, intense pleasure from your clit mingled with the softer, more extensive sensation fanning in all directions from your g-spot.

”God I love how you taste… love those cute sounds you make when your pussy clenches around my fingers,” Ace praised you, all the while he licked along his lips to catch any of your juices that had evaded his mouth. You stared down at Ace in absolute rapture: his lips glistening with your juices, his hair messy from you grabbing at it, his beautiful face dipping back down to be all but buried in your pussy. The visual was as arousing as was the concept; Ace dirtying his perfect face and hands with your wetness, like an angel splattered with human blood. Yet both were overshadowed by the orgasmic feeling saturating your body as Ace devoured you.

”Oh, god… feels so fucking good… Please, Ace. Please, faster… more — please make me come,” You moaned out as the heat within you grew, the tension unbearable. You wanted to give in, to be consumed by Ace, glimpse the light as he detonated you.

”Yes, baby, I want you to come for me. Show me how you look when I drive you over the edge,” Ace coaxed you, his voice guttural and his pupils dilated from want. He pushed a third finger inside of you, the stretching of your entrance releasing a wave of intense pleasure made even better by a fleeting feeling of discomfort.

Ace worked his fingers harder inside of you, quickening his pace as he pushed against your g-spot. Your walls were overloaded with stimulation and began to heat, a prickling pressure swelling the tissues inside your hole. Through your fucked-out haze you realized that the hot feeling inside you was much too potent to simply be an effect of your arousal and Ace’s movements. Ace was making use of his power again; heating up his fingers inside of you to intensify your arousal. You felt even more sensitive now, Ace’s heat causing your blood to pump faster, the warmth flowing from your g-spot towards your clit. In consequence, his hot breath and tongue on your clit made for a yet more powerful feeling; a burning pleasure which rapidly consumed the wick within your core.

”Oh, fuck! Fuck, Ace… too good- feels too good. God, don’t stop. I’m so fucking close,” Your words were tangled with your cries of pleasure, pitching higher and louder the closer Ace brought you to the brink.

Ace’s reply came in the form of deep groans against your clit as he kept pace with both his mouth and his hand, storming you from the inside out. One of your hands dug into the sleeping bag and mat underneath you, clawing at the material while your other hand wound into Ace’s hair. The straining of your muscles, the heat, and the sensory pandemonium within your nervous system caused perspiration to form and drip down your body. You were certain you were experiencing what it was like to be lit on fire — said to be one of the most painful ways to die — only if all the pain registered as pure ecstasy instead.

Ace flicked his tongue faster on your swollen clit, simultaneously pressing harder on your g-spot, and that was all it took to reduce the rest of your fuse to ashes and reach your flashpoint. Your thighs clamped against Ace’s head, your moans practically morphed into screams, and your vision momentarily blacked out from the force of your orgasm exploding forth from your core to the tips of your toes and the ends of your hair. Never before had you experienced anything as powerful and all-consuming as this — you felt as though you had died and been born anew somewhere between the beginning and end of your climax. You gasped for air, desperate to replenish the oxygen your fiery undoing had consumed.

For many more moments, you felt the after-effects of your orgasm in spasms that ran throughout your entire body. Concurrently, Ace held your thighs and peppered soft kisses on them, uttering sweet praises to you: ”Good girl. You came so good for me, baby. God you look amazing like that, so pretty and all fucked-out.”

Shivers ran across your skin at Ace’s touch and his words, and you could only answer him with euphoric whines while still coming down from your high. By and by your body began to settle, and Ace kissed and caressed his way up your hips, stomach, breasts, neck and finally lavished gentle pecks on your lips. You responded to Ace’s kisses by sucking on his lower lip and parting yours as an invitation for Ace’s tongue. Ace followed suit at the suggestion, voyaging inside your mouth, tracing every part of your tongue with his own. You could feel Ace’s cock throbbing against your pelvis, practically screaming for more. Ace appeared to become all too aware of his erection as well, separating from your lips, though connected still by a thin string of saliva.

”God, I wanna fuck you so bad, baby. I hate to rush you in any way, but are you ready for my cock yet?” Ace asked you. Both his tone and the look in his eyes were almost feral, contrasted by the innocent appearance of his blushing freckled cheeks. It felt like the physical manifestation of the duality within Ace: both too old and too young for his years, so caring and protective of others yet so neglectful and disregarding of himself.

You wanted to show Ace how much you appreciated him, how much you cared for him, how much you needed him. It was one of the ultimate expressions of trust, after all: you pinned underneath Ace’s bigger, stronger body, fully exposed to his gaze and his touch, ready to let him inside of your body. And though your lust was undeniable, it was nothing compared to your desire to become one with Ace — one body, one mind, one soul.

”Yes, baby, I’m ready for you. Please, I need your cock inside of me,” You asserted fervently, circling your arms around Ace’s neck. Ace let out a shaky breath and kissed you again.

”Fuck… I feel like I could come from just hearing you say that, sweetheart,” Ace groaned. He grinded his rock hard erection against your cunt, and you gasped from how intense the movement felt against your sensitive, post-orgasm folds.

Ace grabbed the base of his cock to guide it to your entrance, angling the tip just right to begin pushing himself into you. He slid his cock inside you slowly, pausing after your hole had swallowed the head so that your muscles had time to adjust. You were still sopping wet with your own juices as well as Ace’s saliva, but nevertheless, the lubrication couldn’t entirely accomodate the sheer size of Ace’s dick. As slowly as Ace advanced into you, the muscles of your entrance struggled to stretch wide enough, and you had to try and consciously relax yourself down there to lessen the discomfort.

”Shit, Ace. You’re so big… feels like you’re gonna split me in half,” You panted.

Ace gazed down at you with worry. ”Sorry, baby. Am I hurting you? Should I stop?”

”Don’t stop,” You hurried to say, ”Please, I need you… want you so bad.”

A sigh of relief and arousal slipped from Ace’s lips. ”Then I won’t. But you gotta be a good girl and tell me if it gets too much, okay?”

”Yes, captain,” You complied with Ace’s request, winking at him playfully.

”Mmh, baby…” You could feel Ace’s cock twitch inside of you as he looked at you, enraptured, ”You’re gonna awaken something in me at this rate.”

You gave a giggle which promptly turned into a high-pitched moan as the thickest part of Ace’s cock made its way inside of you. Hot discomfort prickled along the muscles of your entrance, which were now stretched to their very limit, far beyond anything you had ever before had inside. It definitely felt painful at first, but that only seemed to turn you on even more; the pain simply meant you were that much closer to Ace. Soon you felt the friction lessening as your muscles adjusted and your juices gushed all over Ace’s cock, the slippery fluid guiding him deeper and deeper inside of you. Ace groaned loudly as he bottomed out inside your pussy, the tip of his cock right against your cervix.

”You fill me up so good, baby. Oh, god… feels amazing. Your cock feels so fucking good,” You mewled, any previous pain all but gone and forgotten as your walls fluttered and gushed around Ace’s cock, just the feeling of him inside of you driving you crazy with desire.

”Fuck, you’re tight,” Ace panted, ”so fucking tight even though you’re so wet… feels like your pussy was made for my cock.”

”Ace… fuck me, please. I need to feel you even more, need you to wreck my cunt with your huge, hot cock,” You spoke the naughty words with utter conviction, too cock-hungry to filter any of your thoughts. It was like your brain was merely the middleman between your pussy and your mouth, just a conduit for you to vocalize your desires.

”Shit, baby,” Ace leaned down to bury his face into your neck, ”You turn me on so much that I feel like I’m gonna completely lose control the moment I start moving.”

”Do it, Ace. I want you to consume me with your wildfire,” You whispered into Ace’s ear, nipping at the shell of it with your lips and teeth.

Ace shivered and moaned in response. ”Careful what you wish for, my little succubus,” He whispered in turn, nuzzling and pecking your neck as he slowly withdrew his cock from within you, then thrusted back in after teasing your entrance with the head of his cock.

You cried out as sparks of pleasure spread all over your sensitive walls, the sensation nearly overwhelming you already. His cock buried deep in your pussy, Ace rolled his hips against yours, seemingly opting to stretch you out with gentler motions before resuming proper thrusting. The gyrating movements were indeed easier for you to take, and the deep stimulation went right into your g-spot, making you moan from unadulterated pleasure. You wrapped your legs around Ace’s waist, meeting the grinding of his hips with your own. You angled your hips just right to receive even greater g-spot stimulation from the tip of Ace’s dick, which caused you and Ace to groan in unison.

”Such a perfect pussy; squeezing my cock so tight,” Ace voiced his ecstasy, his husky voice making your cunt ache from arousal, ”I don’t ever wanna stop fucking you, baby. I wanna eat you out and dick you down every which way all fucking night.”

”Yes, baby! Fuck, yes. Fuck me so hard that my womb aches,” You urged Ace as you ground your hips into his and raked your nails over his back.

”Mhm, anything for my little slut,” Ace teased you. He abruptly sat up on his knees and grabbed you by the hips, driving his cock into you from an upwards angle. ”Is this what you want, sweetheart?”

Your voice grew exponentially louder from the combination of surprise, intense pleasure and slight pain. This was exactly what you wanted; for Ace to hold nothing back and show you even the most scorching expressions of his passion. You felt a red-hot sensation inside of you, your cunt throbbing, spasming and overflowing with your juices like never before.

”Yes! Yes, captain! Just like that, Ace, fuck me just like that!” You chanted like a woman possessed, spreading and pulling back your legs to allow Ace even better access to your cunt.

”Damn, you’re definitely awakening something in me,” Ace confessed in between heavy breaths and deep moans. He leaned forward and caught your legs with his shoulders, slowly bending your legs further towards your chest as he lowered himself to lean on his hands. Ace thrusted into you fast and hard, hitting your g-spot dead on with each thrust. ”My pretty girl, I wanna see your face better when I rail you like this.”

”Mmh, Ace! Your cock’s going so deep, feels like it’s all the way in my womb,” You marveled at how full Ace’s cock made you feel. Everything about Ace fucking you was pure euphoria: his muscular shoulders flexing against the back of your knees, his beautiful face hovering not far from yours, dark curls falling over his face, the warmth of his skin, the throbbing heat inside of you, no doubt amplified by Ace using his power through his cock, his tip ramming constantly into your g-spot, drowning you in pleasure, and on top of it all, his pubic area rocked against your swollen clit.

”You make my cock so fucking hard, baby… the way you clench around it, feels like it’s gonna burst any second,” Ace groaned, momentarily squeezing his eyes shut as if to will his body to postpone his climax.

”Keep going, baby… I’m so — oh, fuck! — so close,” You prompted Ace, arching closer to him to feel more of everything, if that was even possible.

”Already, sweetheart?” Ace’s soft tone contrasted with the teasing smirk on his lips and the lustful look in his eyes. ”I wonder how many orgasms I could give you throughout the night… I need to see and hear and feel that divine way you come over and over again.”

You moaned at the mere thought of it; of Ace giving you orgasm after orgasm, toying with your body and seeing all the ways he can use his powers on you. You could feel your walls tightening around Ace’s cock as you fantasized about all the ways he could fuck you.

”I can feel you like that idea, baby,” Ace breathed sensually. ”Why don’t we start immediately?”

With no more warning than that, Ace reached a hand between your bodies, trailing his fingertips along the entrance of your cunt, slicking them with your fluids. He spread your juices on your throbbing clit, eliciting a cry of pleasure from you. Even the slightest touch felt so powerful that it sent spasms through your walls, pelvis, and legs, like a bolt of lightning setting your nerves on fire.

”Ace! Oh, oh my fucking god! Yes! More… more… fuck me harder!” You didn’t even fully hear or register your own words as you thrashed underneath Ace, soaring on cloud nine.

”You’re so fucking sexy, baby, I can’t take it. I’m so close… be a good girl and come for me, I want us to come together,” Ace groaned. He picked up his pace, slamming his cock into your cunt, the contact causing unbelievably lewd slapping and splashing sounds. The pads of his fingers worked circles on your clit, soon enough settling for a faster up and down motion. The resulting pleasure had you practically screaming.

”Oh god, Ace! Fuck, fuck, fuck, I’m so close, Ace! Fuck me! Yes! God, yes! Fuck I’m gonna come!” You grabbed Ace’s bicep with one hand and a shoulder with the other, your nails digging hard into Ace’s skin.

”Come for me, baby! Come harder than you’ve ever come before,” Ace’s voice was close to a growl, his hips moving against yours like a piston, brutalizing your g-spot. The gentle but fast motion of his fingertips on your clit brought you to the edge in seconds, the stimulation from both sides of your pussy melding and harmonizing together, sending you over the edge to a white-hot pleasure, like falling into a star.

”I’m coming, Ace! Fuck, I’m coming,” you cried out as your orgasm struck you, wave after wave of burning bliss seizing your body, making you shake and convulse against Ace, around his cock, the pleasure like a supernova. You couldn’t sense anything around you, every last nerve in your body feeling only your climax for what felt like an eternity.

When at last you began to come down from your orgasm, you were just in time to hear Ace’s breath hitch, his thrusts growing erratic. ”Good girl — fuck! — such a good girl. So fucking beautiful, so breath-taking, god I wanna fill you up with my cum! Wanna come inside you again and again, breed you until you can barely walk.”

Your still-spasming walls clenched hard around Ace’s cock, a sinful haze making you feel feverish and desperate for more. The sudden pressure was just what Ace needed to reach the high of his own climax.

”Fuck, baby, I’m coming! Oh, fuck!” Ace cried out and buried his face in your neck, teeth clamping down on the curve between your neck and shoulder, which only somewhat stifled his voice. His moans weren’t much quieter than yours had been as he rode out his orgasm inside you, coating your walls with spurt after spurt of his hot cum. You could feel his cock twitching and throbbing inside of you as his thrusts slowed down, shudders running throughout his body. He hugged you close, placing gentle kisses on the spot where he had bitten you before moving up your neck and to your lips, catching them in a languid yet lascivious dance of tongues and lips. When you two parted, Ace smiled at you blissfully and stroked your hair.

”Damn, we literally had sex and I’m still so nervous even looking at you. My gorgeous girl,” Ace sighed dreamily and began kissing you all over your face, making you giggle.

”It feels pretty surreal… I mean, I’ve daydreamed about being with you like this so many times, but I never thought it could actually happen,” you admitted, absently curling a lock of Ace’s hair around your finger.

”We might be a bit too similar in that regard,” Ace said softly, kissing over both of your ears.

You hummed in agreement, petting and running your fingers through Ace’s soft hair. Ace groaned in a way which almost resembled Kotatsu’s purring, pecking his way back to your neck then laying his head on your chest. You continued stroking Ace’s hair while bathing in the afterglow of your orgasm, as well as Ace’s warmth. You weren’t sure how many moments passed with the two of you like this, but you suspected not much time had yet passed when your ears picked up a familiar sound: Ace’s soft snoring. Frankly, you were impressed he had made it this far into the night without a bout of narcolepsy.

You figured you should try and get some sleep yourself, and so you carefully pulled your sleeping bag over you and Ace as much as you could without moving, though the heat from Ace’s naked body might’ve kept you warm by itself. You settled into a comfortable position and closed your eyes, feeling a wave of tiredness wash over you now that you were simply laying down in Ace’s embrace. You were just about to drift off when Ace’s snoring ceased all of a sudden and he lifted his head up to look at you with that droopy expression he always has when you wake him up.

”Oh, did I fall asleep just now? Must be all that meat making me sleepy,” he mumbled.

”No, it’s okay, Ace. I was just about to fall asleep myself, actually,” you chuckled and kissed the top of Ace’s head.

”Baby, what do you mean ’fall asleep’ when we haven’t even had round two yet?” Ace raised an eyebrow at you. He was dead serious. ”When I said I’m gonna fuck you all night and make you come until you can’t anymore, that wasn’t just dirty talk. It was a promise; one I very much intend to keep.”

You swallowed, almost fearful of the ferocity behind Ace’s words, and in his eyes. You realized just then that you had no idea what you had gotten yourself into. Ace was no ordinary man, after all; he was the Sun. And the Sun takes billions of years to run out of fuel…

❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*

You awoke to bright sunlight filtering through the walls of the tent, illuminating everything around you. The travel lamp had long since fizzled out, and both you and Ace’s belongings were strewn about — Ace’s handiwork as he had repeatedly searched for more towels, handkerchiefs, anything to clean up all of the messes you two had made throughout the night. You flushed at the sight of everything you two had used as makeshift cum rags and made a mental note to either wash them secretly on the ship while everyone slept, or just have Ace burn the evidence.

As if on cue, Ace moaned sleepily and turned his head to blink at you, his eyes struggling to focus in the overwhelming brightness. His hazel eyes were like gemstones refracting the rays of the Sun as they peeked through his long, dark lashes. The variations of color in his freckles, skin and hair also became visible, and it was like you were admiring a vibrant portrait by one of the old masters. You brushed a few stray curls away from Ace’s face and caressed his cheek, attempting to count the constellations of freckles on his face.

”Am I in heaven?” Ace asked, his morning voice raspy and deeper than usual.

You chuckled. ”Close, I suppose.”

”Explains the angel in front of me,” Ace smirked. Somehow, what would’ve sounded corny coming from anyone else gave you butterflies when said by Ace.

”Should we get up, baby? It looks like it’s at least noon by now,” you said. You didn’t much feel like getting up yet, truth be told, but you found it a bit worrisome that neither Deuce nor Kotatsu had come to wake you two up. Your mind began conjuring images of Deuce and Kotatsu huddled together as one big block of ice.

”Noo… five more minutes…” Ace mumbled as his eyes began drooping closed. He wrapped his strong arms around your waist, effectively locking you in place, and snuggled his face against your breasts. ”Mmh… so soft… warm.”

You were unsure if the act felt more childlike or pervy; sometimes it was difficult to tell with Ace. In this case, it appeared to be the latter, since you soon felt Ace’s tongue and lips playing with your nipple.

”Ace! You can’t possibly still be horny,” You said in utter disbelief. Your breasts were sore as hell from how much Ace had already played with them during the night.

Ace pouted up at you and hooked a leg onto one of yours, pulling you closer to his hips until you felt his erection against your thigh. ”I can’t help it, baby. I saw you laying there with your tits all exposed and it just… sprung to action.”

”Well, I’d love to help you out with that, captain, but I’m sore pretty much everywhere. Not much I can do besides lay here,” You commented in jest.

Ace got a devious look in his eyes. ”Oh, no worries, sweetheart. That’s more than enough for me — I’ll just help myself to your delicious pussy.”

You blushed a deep red at Ace’s lustful statement. ”For fuck’s sake, Ace! We have to check up on Deuce and Kotatsu before anything else!”

”Oh! Now that you mention it, it really is odd for them to not be awake at sunrise…” Ace pondered.

With a bit more ushering from you, Ace got dressed — meaning he pulled on his shorts and stepped into his boots — and left the tent to check up on Deuce and Kotatsu. It took you a few moments longer to do the same, your muscles aching at every turn as you put on your clothes.

When you stepped outside, you were greeted with the sight of…. Deuce trying to drown Ace?! Both Ace’s boots and shorts lay abandoned on the way to the pond, wherein a buck naked Ace was being pushed into the water by Deuce, who had taken his own shoes off and rolled his pants up above his knees. Ace gurgled water from his mouth as his head momentarily slipped underwater, only to be pulled up rough-handedly by Deuce.

”Wha… What’s going on here?” You gaped as you jogged up to the shore of the pond.

”He-helpghlrg… ba-babe…. Ouhhrlgrl,” Ace’s speech was nearly incomprehensible through the gurgling and coughing.

”I don’t care that you’re my captain; nobody, nobody is allowed at my breakfast table smelling like a fucking sex dungeon!” Deuce snapped. He was brandishing one of those wooden wash brushes with a long handle as if it were a sword, flailing it about and attempting to scrub Ace, who in turn kept thrashing about in the water. You stood motionless, flabbergasted at the antics unfolding in front of you.

”Heh… Deuce, what do you know about sex dungeghlghrugl-” Ace’s comeback was cut short as Deuce pushed him underwater again.

”And what do you think you’re doing just standing there, missy? You’d better remove those clothes and get in here before I come and take them off for you!” Deuce raved, pointing the brush at you like a threat.

Too scared not to comply, you shrugged off your clothes and waded into the cold water. Though the blizzard had passed many hours ago and the island’s normal weather conditions had taken back over, the ground was still partially covered in ice and snow, and the water in the pond felt close to freezing. Both you and Ace trembled in the cold water like scared little puppies, Ace’s innate fire nullified by the water. Back near the tents, Kotatsu laid next to the campfire — relit by Deuce — and gazed at you and Ace with pity in his eyes and his ears folded down in fright.

”So uhm… I guess you know now that short stuff and I got together,” Ace chuckled awkwardly amidst Deuce abrasively scrubbing the two of you down.

”’Now’?!” Deuce exclaimed, ”I’ve known since all fucking night last night! So does Kotatsu, and every other living creature on this damn island!”

You instantly went beet red, burying your face in your hands in shame. ”I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we were that loud. Guess I figured that the blizzard-”

”Did absolutely fuck all to cover up the howling and screaming! All. Fucking. Night. Long. I’m pretty sure people get brutally murdered quieter than the two of you having sex! I had to shove wads of Kotatsu’s fur up my ears to muffle the sound, and even then, I feel like I barely got a wink of sleep before morning when you guys presumably finally passed out,” Deuce chided you and Ace, dramatically waving the brush around.

”Dude,” Ace sighed, ”it’s okay to admit you were too turned on to fall asleep.”

Deuce looked as though a vein had just popped in his head. ”EVEN IF I WAS THE HORNIEST MAN ON THE PLANET I WOULD GET PRETTY SICK AND TIRED AFTER HOURS AND HOURS OF ’OH YES, BABY, FUCK ME, OH GOD I’M COMING’!” Deuce’s face went red as he yelled at you two, his tone so loud it was difficult to even tell whose voice he was imitating.

Deuce drew in a deep breath, then continued at a much more normal volume: ”Geez, this is what I get for rooting for you two, I guess. I figured you guys might finally confess to each other at a getaway like this, but fuck me for thinking there’s no way you guys would have your first time together in a tent in a snowstorm, right next to me and Kotatsu’s tent, mind you! No one sane would even consider it!”

Ace gave you a rather suggestive-looking side eye, not seeming the slightest bit ashamed of his actions.

Deuce likely noticed this as well, since he proceeded to toss the brush at Ace and throw his hands up in defeat. ”Oh, whatever! Nothing’s gonna go through the thick skull of this dick-for-brains. I oughta leave you horndogs right here on this island, for the sake of everyone’s sleep and peace and quiet! God, I can’t even look at you two right now!”

Deuce turned on his heels and more so stomped than waded out of the pond, leaving you and Ace to finish washing up by yourselves.

”What do we do, Ace? He’s so angry, what if he really does leave us here? Or if he decides to leave the crew?” You dreaded, huddling closer to Ace in the freezing water.

”You know, baby, normally I might worry about that too… but I really doubt he’s all that angry besides being a bit sleep deprived,” Ace reassured you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

”What makes you so sure?” You asked, worrying your lip.

”Well, have a look over there,” Ace nodded his head in the direction of the camp.

You peered over and saw Deuce preparing what was to all intents and purposes the closest thing to a celebratory meal one could have while out camping. Deuce had somehow summoned up many more slabs of meat to grill, and he was boiling rice in a kettle and frying up mushrooms on a pan. He’d also went and gathered more fruit of all sorts into baskets, and there were even some mystery bottles of alcohol chilling in a pile of snow.

You smiled and leaned into Ace’s embrace, basking in the warm feeling spreading inside of you. For the first time in your life, your heart felt full and unburdened by fear.

❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*⌒*♤༄♡❆※*

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading! ❤️ This is my first fanfic in about 9 years (I’m old lol), possibly my first piece of creative writing over all since then (I was 19 and had a mental breakdown over my writing and just kinda quit altogether). One Piece has been inspiring me so much lately to get back into creative hobbies, and I’ve got so many ideas for fics and art but not enough time lol. I’m planning a huge sci-fantasy AU OP fic for one, and now that I got this hella long piece out of the way I’m hoping to start working on the AU.

I know Ace being your heater on a cold night is prolly the oldest Ace fic trope in the book, but what can I say I’m a classics lover. I wanted to write this with that feeling of ’a day so memorable it feels like a movie’, and also to see how much I could build this dynamic between Ace and reader within a single day narrative lol. Also this was the perfect chance to get heavy-handed as hell with the temperature and burning metaphors. As a STEM girly I just love combining scientific terminology and discourse with prose, and that’s very much the style I’ll be going for with that sci-fantasy AU, along with a sort of 19th century romantic/gothic feel in terms of the language… hhmh we shall see.

Also expect loads more One Piece smut and art whenever I’m not working on that AU (also don’t expect the AU any time very soon since atm everything I’ve written for it is still in my notes app lmfao 🙂‍↕️)

Also also it was so hard to keep the bisexual throuple and BDSM parasites quiet in my brain. It isn’t my fault that I wrote Deuce as a tsundere malewife now, is it?? 😖

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