It's been a while since I had joined the Whitebeard Pirates and I've gotta admit that joining them has been the best decision I ever made and they were the best thing that's ever happened to me. Although I was one of the few rare girls on the crew, I still never felt out of place or like I didn't belong, they were my family now.
We had just landed on an island earlier today and the boys had decided they needed a little break, a guys' night out of partying and drinking, it wasn't like they didn't already party all the time on the ship but still why not let them have their fun, right? Besides I could use some alone time to work on my music or something, it was quite hard to focus sometimes with all their noise.
My bedroom was on the lower deck of the ship, and I was sitting by the small circular window that overlooked the blue sea, with my music note book resting on my legs and my pencil in hand, when I heard a knock on my door. It was quite strange considering I was sure all the boys had gone off to party except a few who were keeping guard of the ship, but I didn't think any of them would bother coming to talk to me at such an hour or anything. "Come in" I called and Thatch slightly opened the door peeping in. "Hey Rosa!" He greeted with his usual friendly attitude as he completely pushed the door open and slowly walked, followed by Marco, they were half carrying half dragging Ace along with them as he had each of his arms around one of their necks.
"Idiot got himself drunk and could barely walk so we had to drag him back here." Thatch complained making an irritated expression though he didn't seem really upset. "He couldn't walk but that didn't stop him from beating up those guys back at the bar, yoi" Marco added. "Whatever, they totally deserved it!" Ace argued and they both sighed and just tossed him over on the bed while I just sat there watching them and blinking not sure what to make out of all this.
"Sorry to drag you into this Rosa, but you mind looking after him tonight?" Marco asked scratching his head. I was expecting Ace to complain or make a remark about how he didn't need anyone looking after him even if he was drunk but he didn't say anything and just lay motionless. "We'd like to enjoy whatever is left of our party night without having to worry about anymore reckless hot headed behavior" Thatch said placing his hands on his hips and shaking his head unimpressed as he spoke of Ace's behavior and I just smiled. "Sure, don't worry about him" I said with a nod, still surprised that Ace was making no comment about the whole situation.
"Thanks!" Thatch said with a wide grin. "You know you could learn a thing or two from Rosa about staying out of trouble, Ace" he teased with a laugh and Ace let out an irritated groan. "We'll try not to stay out too late, yoi" Marco added as he pushed Thatch out the door and closed it behind him.
And just like that I was left alone with Ace, for a while I didn't say anything and just watched him as he lay down on my bed, he didn't move or say anything either and it was rather awkward silence, I then remembered that he was wasted and probably not feeling too well. "Would you like me to get you water or something to drink? It could make your head feel lighter…" he just shook his head and the room went quiet again. I sighed and went back to my seat next to the window and picked up my notebook again.
"Aren't you going to ask what happened?" he finally asked as he flipped to his side.
"What's there to ask?" I said with a gentle smile, I could tell that he was in no mood to talk about it, he actually didn't seem like he was in the mood to talk at all. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me not exactly expecting that kind of response.
"I can already imagine what happened" I explained as I closed my notebook put it to the side and turned to him, playing with a strand of my hair out of habit. I knew Ace almost as well as Thatch and Marco did, he was the commander of the 2nd division I was a part of after all and the recklessness and hot headed behavior of his that they had mentioned earlier were no news to me, yes he was rather polite and well-mannered but a bar fight wasn't something unusual or unexpected out of him.
"They must've mentioned something about pops… bad mouthed him or something, right?" I paused tilting my head to think of what else it could be that upset Ace. "That or they mentioned the Pirate King, compared him to Pops maybe…" I purposely avoided saying Roger's name, the mention of that man always seemed to trouble Ace and just make him act… I don't know… different? Distant? "It doesn't matter" I said as I shook my head before giving him a chance to explain what exactly happened. "They probably deserved it anyway" He looked at me eyes wide open, overwhelmed by my answer at first as I had seen right through it but then he relaxed and flashed a smile of understanding.
"Thank you" he suddenly said and I blinked, not sure where that had come from.
"What for?" I asked.
"For understanding, for not asking" he replied but looked away as he did. "Never mind" he then added but I couldn't help but smile. It seemed like I smiled a lot when I was around him, I can't really describe how his presence makes me feel, all I know is that when he's here I'm happy, regardless of what we're doing or talking about or if we were even talking at all.
The room fell silent again and I found myself struggling to keep my eyes off of him, the bare exposed skin of his chest and the way it moved slowly up and down as he breathed, the strands of black hair that were out of place and fell over his face, his motionless muscular biceps that lay on either side of his torso, he looked like a tired mess as he rested on my bed and I had to resist the urge to walk over to him and hold him. I wondered what he was thinking about, what went through his head as he spaced out staring at the walls, I wished I could read his mind, see through all his troubles and worries and take them all away.
"A belli for your thoughts…?" I slowly asked.
"And 500 million for my head" he said with a halfhearted smile as he joked about the bounty the marines had set on his head. It was quite a huge bounty, especially for a young pirate his age, it made him seem dangerous which I suppose he was, although as part of his division I felt safe around him and it sometimes made me laugh when I thought about how the rest of the world viewed us pirates.
"I was just thinking about how you're stuck here with me" he then said, I honestly expected him to just let the matter go with the remark about his bounty but he didn't, guess drunk tired Ace was more open than regular fiery energetic Ace, it was hard to decide which version I liked more when I was already aware that I had completely fallen for him in all his different moods. "I'm sorry about that" he added and the apology made my heart ache a little. I didn't mind being stuck here with him, in fact I loved it.
"Don't worry about it, it's not like I have anything to do" seriously? Was that the best I could come up with… that I have nothing to do? Ugh I seriously hated myself right now and mentally slapped myself for my stupid response. I finally picked up my courage and walked over to the bed and sat behind him, I lifted his head up and put it in my lap then moved a strand of his raven hair from his face and placed a kiss on his forehead. He tossed himself over on his back so that he could look up at me but didn't really say anything.
"Ace…" I began. "I'm glad you're here and I wouldn't rather be spending my free night with anyone else besides you, even if I could be doing anything else in the world right now I would still choose to be right here watching over you"
He lifted one of his hands and touched my face, he had a huge grin on his face and an expression that seemed rather childlike and innocent, I could feel the heat rise in my face as the blood rushed to it when he touched me, and I smiled as I anxiously waited for him to say something, anything at all after what I had just said.
"I love you" he said it so casually that I was left speechless for a moment, his deep voice echoed in my head repeating the words he'd just said, but it felt too surreal…
"You're drunk" I reasoned looking away not daring to meet his eyes cause I knew if I did I would get lost in them and I wouldn't be able to restrain myself any longer from claiming his lips with mine and throwing myself into his arms.
"I'll be sober in the morning and I'll still love you"
Even though all I wanted was to say it back to him, to tell him that yes I loved him too, of course I did, but there was that nagging insecure part of me that just felt that this was too good to be true, I was right he was drunk and chances were he didn't even know what he was saying, and if he did he might not remember this conversation in the morning, if he didn't mean it he would have an excuse to take it back… but I was completely sober and aware of what I was about to admit… and for me there would be no going back.
"Maybe… but you wouldn't admit it in the morning" I hesitantly said and his face fell as he himself was quite unsure of whether he would or not, we both knew very well that Ace and being open about his feelings were two things that just didn't mix or go well together, I didn't mind that most days, it was just the way he was, he had his own ways of making me feel special without needing all the cliché romance talk but I was being spoiled tonight, trying to push him into a corner and have him confess things he wouldn't usually, he's already admitted it once so why was I pushing my luck?!
"Yeah I would" he said, and I could sense a hint of disappointment in his voice, he was about to drop his hand and let go of my face but I placed my hand over his and held it in place.
"I love you too" I finally admitted and let go of his hand to lock both my arms around his neck and hold him as he lay in my lap. I couldn't see his face but I had a feeling he was smiling. I kept holding on to him for quite a while till I thought he had finally fallen asleep, I then slipped from under his head and placed a pillow under it instead.
I hesitated before sliding myself down, lying down next to him and cuddling up to him; the smell of his musky scent mixed with sweat and alcohol lured me in and I pushed myself even closer towards him, I put my head over his bare chest and placed my arm around his waist, I was a little nervous about the move I was pulling but found it difficult to keep myself away from him, as I felt his heart beating so close to me that I could actually hear the sound of it I felt safe and comfortable, all my fears were washed away by the closeness of him and I decided that it didn't matter what the morning would bring as long as I could spend tonight in his arms.