I didn't expect to be loading this story first. As I've already explained in my profile Ibelieve Sanji is heterosexual ( though I cannot say the same for most of the rest of the cast!). This story is, therefore, a complete flight of fancy; not because I'm a huge fan of shounenai (quite the opposite, as it were) but because it just seems so bloody obvious to me everytime I watch the Alabasta arc that Ace has fallen for Sanji. So here's my take on AceSan, because I haven't yet found an AceSan fic that does justice to the depth of feeling I see in the way Ace looks at Sanji in episode 95... not obsessive do have better things to do
please r+r, constructive criticism is very welcome. I await my first flame with bated breath!
(a/n: title is provisional, until i think of a good one. beleive it or not it's a very obscure One Piece related joke... I'll be interested to see if anyone gets it!)
Märchen Ero Ero
Approximately 20 seconds after being introduced to his brother's nakama, Ace began to suspect that he was in over his head. It wasn't the presence of the ex-pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro; even when he had been a bounty hunter, Ace knew he could have taken him. Nor was it the strange coincidence of Yassopp's son sailing with his father's captain's protégé. Still less was it the odd appearance of poor little Chopper; Ace had encountered stranger beings in the past. And it certainly wasn't the state of near undress of the navigator and her little friend. With the odd notable exception, Ace tended not to notice what women were, or were not, wearing. No it was none of these things – it was the seventh and final person on board… When Ace had noticed him he had nearly fallen overboard. Was it possible for a human being to be that beautiful? Ace had heard rumours of a Devil's fruit that endowed the eater with breathtaking beauty, and something else he couldn't remember. He wondered if Luffy's cook had eaten this fruit… Surely such physical perfection was unnatural otherwise? However, now was not the time to be melting over him, however attractive he was. Every successful pirate should be able to conceal his emotions, and Ace had his mask for such occasions, as the best of them did. It slipped slightly, however, as the beautiful blond spoke to him. Ace was not used to being graciously offered tea by adorable blond chefs, so he really couldn't help the smile that slipped out from behind his pirate captain mask. The presence of a fleet of hostile ships had served as a timely reminder that now was neither the time, nor the place, for that that kind of behaviour… and also, though Ace had tried to pretend that this had been the last thing on his mind, an opportunity to show off for his brother's stunningly beautiful chef; he usually prided himself on being a swift, no-nonsense fighter, and had in the past despatched entire ships without even standing up in his skiff, so there was no getting away from the fact that all that acrobatic leaping and all those artistic columns of flame had been to catch the eye of the slender blond.
Sanji was his name. Ace had found this out a little later, after the Baroque Works ships had been reduced to charred pieces of driftwood and it had been agreed that he would travel with them as far as Yuba, and he was sitting in the little galley of the Going Merry with his promised mug of tea. Ace hadn't known how much he loved tea before this moment in time – normally he drank coffee, downing buckets of Espresso in a vain attempt to keep himself awake, but from now on, he thought, he would always drink tea – Darjeeling tea with milk, but no sugar.
Sanji… that was a really nice name. Ace never normally noticed names; they were useful things to have, saved shouting "Oi, you – the fat one with the red hair!" or whatever, but that was about it. But Sanji was a lovely name; sweet, without being girly and it sounded kind of exotic, which really suited him. If Ace had been poetical his thoughts would have been able to continue along these lines and wax lyrical on just why Sanji was such a wonderful name. But Ace was not poetical. So he merely mentally remarked that it was a cute name, sipped his tea, which was now the most delicious drink in the world, and continued to gaze at this vision of male perfection who was currently shouting at his younger brother and Yassopp's son for playing with their food.
Ace took advantage of Sanji's being thus engaged to really take in his beauty. Now that he had had a chance to observe Sanji at closer quarters he could see that his skin was not quite as smooth as that Devil's Fruit was reputed to make it, but it was as near flawless as any skin Ace had ever laid eyes on before, and so clean-shaven that, had it not been for the perfectly sculpted bit of beard on his chin, Ace could hardly have believed that he grew facial hair at all.
And there were so many other things that had him transfixed… Ace had not been a huge fan of fair hair up to now, but then, he had never seen hair before that shone quite as much as Sanji's did… and it looked so soft! Ace longed to run his fingers through it, kiss it, bury his face in it… Likewise he had not thought he had liked his men so thin; and even under that kaftan, he could see that Sanji's build was slight. But he knew that if he ever once got the chance to wrap his arms around that slim, graceful body he would not want to let go. And those eyes! Never before in his life had Ace seen eyes so beautifully and flawlessly blue. He couldn't usually remember the colours of his lovers eyes; he'd never wanted to gaze into them as he did Sanji's. They made him want to compare them to beautiful things, but, as already noted, flowery language was not Ace's forte so he contented himself with admiring them when he thought Sanji couldn't see him.
After Sanji had suggested (rather violently) to Luffy and Usopp that they wash the dishes if they had nothing better to do, and turned away pouting and muttering about how much work he had to do, Ace did something that, even with his natural good manners he rarely did; he offered to help in the kitchen. He was richly rewarded for it when Sanji turned to him and refused the offer with a radiant smile. Ace was glad he was seated, as he felt that, had he been standing, his legs would have been in danger of melting. Later on, after Luffy and Usopp had escaped the galley, Ace had offered to help Sanji again. Sanji had declined once more, but this time Ace had insisted and, taking up a tea towel had begun to dry the recently washed dishes. That smile had appeared on Sanji's face again, giving Ace the sudden, absurd desire to spend the rest of his life in the galley of the Going Merry putting away dishes.
Ace was trying his best to surreptitiously gauge the way Sanji was reacting to him. He was not good at this kind of subtlety - up to this point his "romantic" encounters had been mainly of the "Fancy a shag?" "Yeah, all right," variety. But Ace somehow felt that even suggesting such a thing would be an insult to Sanji's perfection and he knew Sanji wouldn't have been the person he was had he made the suggestion himself. Normally Ace would just have come straight out with a proposition and good-naturedly shrugged it off if he was rejected – but this time he knew he would be very unhappy, to say the least, if Sanji refused him. And he wanted to be absolutely sure of how Sanji felt before he asked.
He knew he could hardly expect Sanji just to blurt anything out, especially as he himself was so carefully concealing his feelings. Then again, he was sure he was not flattering himself when he thought he noticed Sanji was flirting with him a little bit. Certainly he was being very attentive. Sure, Ace had already noticed the way Sanji went to pieces over the women in the crew, but he had decided that this didn't necessarily rule out the possibility that Sanji could feel anything for him. He himself preferred men but sometimes went with women, so why couldn't Sanji prefer women but sometimes go with men? With this comforting thought in mind, Ace tried to analyse Sanji's every word, movement and change of expression as they tidied the kitchen and talked.
While the dishes were being dried and put away (in the case of those "washed" by Luffy, they had to be re-rinsed first), and that evening's dinner was being prepared and put to simmer, Ace was beginning to really believe that he was developing a special rapport with Sanji. They had talked mainly about matters relating to piracy; the intentions of Baroque Works, the whereabouts of Blackbeard, the skill (or otherwise) of the International Marine forces. But when Sanji had given the dinner a final stir and put the lid on the pot, he turned to Ace and said: "Why don't we have another cup of tea?" then put the kettle on. They sat down together at the table side by side, and conversation turned to less immediate matters. Sanji told Ace all about what it had been like working on the Baratie with Red Leg Zeff, and about his early childhood in North Blue and even alluded to the awful time marooned on that barren little island with Zeff. In return, Ace told him about his impoverished, orphaned childhood in Fuchsia Village, attempting to bring up Luffy, and the constant battle to make sure that they had enough to eat and clothes to wear.
They had lapsed into a companiable silence, which Ace was enjoying, when the others entered the galley, led by Luffy shouting "Meshi!" and suddenly Sanji had leapt up from the table to attend to the women, dancing round them seeing to their every need and giving them the best food, eyes turning heart-shaped and limbs wiggling if either of them deigned to speak to him, particularly Nami, and Ace found himself all but forgotten about.
Only Usopp noticed the slightly crushed look on Ace's face, and he kept quiet about it.