Anonymous said - Headcanon: Although ace eats just about anything, his favorites are Leigh cooking. He loves her cooking the most.
A/N: Leith's not a master chef, so really her food is just kinda average. She can follow a recipe and maybe remember one or two things off the top of her head, but otherwise her food isn't really anything to get excited about. She doesn't even like cooking most days.
Ace doesn't so much as love her cooking, as he loves messing with her while she's cooking.
"What'chu makin?"
Leith jumped with a screech, her entire body jolting in surprise as warm breath tickled behind her ear. She cursed herself to hell and back for teaching the jerk how to conceal his presence.
She growled, flinching as she felt his fingers drum along her hips. "I'm trying to make candied o-oranges," Leith said, stuttering at the end when those damn hands of his got just a bit too close to her ticklish ribs. Her eye twitched even as a stifled giggle escaped her. She was trying to hold it in the best she could. "W-will you get out of here?! I'm holding a knife!"
"How scary~" Ace whispered mockingly, his lips grazing the sensitive shell of her ear. She could almost hear the smile in his voice as his hands clamped down on her pelvis as she tried to jerk away. She squeaked as the action tickled. "Ohh careful~ you're holding a knife, Spoons. You don't want an accident do you?"
Leith snorted, her shoulders shaking with chuckles as she squirmed. He wasn't actively tickling her, but the threat that hecould was enough stimulus to get her laughing anyway. "S-stop– Ace! Damn it! I'm trying to–to–" She broke down into giggles again.
"I'm doing nothin', Spoonie," he breathed, his tone practically dripping with amusement as he rubbed his nose into the back of her neck and held her close, "What's the matter? Cut the orange, Spoons~"
There was no way that was going to be possible, not with how much her hand was shaking. Ace's "encouragement" was a farce of course, he was being deliberately obnoxious to get a reaction out of her. And damn it all, it was working.
She dropped the knife on the counter, unable to take anymore, her body quivering with breathless laughter.
Ace held her as she lost her balance, her legs temporarily turning to jelly as the giggles took over. "Ah! Don't fall!," he teased, making her sputter when he stuck his hands under her armpits to keep her upright… one of her greatest weaknesses.
"Noooooooo~" she wailed, trying to twist away, but he just pulled her back, his fingers hooked into the ridiculously ticklish flesh. Leith could hardily breathe or think straight, she was laughing so hard. Ace was chuckling at her expense… the jerk. "Y-you're doing th-this– this on purpose!"
"What?!" he asked, sounding aghast and taunting all at once. "No! I would never do that~"
Then he twitched his fingers a little.
Leith lost it.
"–eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The cabin boy nearly leapt out of his seat at the scream, his back shooting ramrod straight. It sounded like it'd come from the kitchen, where he saw Commander Ace disappear to and where he knew Miss Leith was. He looked around in a slight panic, his eyes sweeping over the remaining members of the crew that lingered in the dining hall after the lunch rush.
Commander Marco sat with a bored expression, placing yet another card in the center pile.
Another guy, one he hadn't become well-antiquated with yet that had black hair and a yellow headband, snapped up that card with a matching suit of his own. Marco cursed.
"Did anybody else hear that?" the boy asked, disturbed at the lack of response from his fellows. It sounded like quite the desperate sound to him.
"Yup," Commander Haruta grumbled, drawing another card. He scowled at what he got, clearly it hadn't been what he wanted. "Just ignore it. Isn't that right, Pitch?"
"Yup," the black-haired one replied, drawing a card of his own. "They'll stop in a bit."
The cabin boy flushed, his mind oh-so-helpfully going to the most logical conclusion to that response.
"Oi, get your mind out of the gutter, brat. That's not what I meant."