"Oy!" called a voice, and Sora looked up see Ace running at her at full speed.
Sora backed up, holding her hands out in front of her. "Ace—" she started, but Ace tackled her, bringing her into his arms and wrapping them around her as tightly as possible. Sora felt like her ribs were going to shatter as she struggled to breathe as she laughed.
"Happy birthday! Happy! Birthday!" he yelled as loudly as he could, claiming the attention of the entire bar.
"Ace," Sora choked, and he released her. He still had his arms around her as he tapped his forehead against hers.
"Happy birthday," he said again, grinning.
"Thanks," she said, putting her finger on his forehead and pushing him off. She grabbed a tray of food from the back and hurried to a table, smiling at the customers. "Sorry about that. Enjoy." She came to a frowning Ace. "What?"
"Why are you working on your birthday?"
"It's not like I'm going to close the bar just because it's my birthday."
"You should."
"I can't," she laughed. "But I think Marco was planning a party or something for tonight here. So I won't be working then, I guess."
"You guess? You guess? Hell, no, are you working during your own party! You are going to get drunk as hell! So drunk that you won't even remember that today was your birthday, and then we'll have to have another party tomorrow!"
Sora laughed, waving him off. "I'm not drinking with you ever, remember?"
"But it's your birthday. You're like thirty now, it's okay to have a little alcohol, Sora," Ace teased.
"I'm twenty-four!" Sora said, slapping Ace's arm playfully.
Ace made a face as though something had crawled on Sora's head and died. "That is so old."
"Oh, my God, when you turn twenty-four—"
"You're gonna be forty!" Ace said as though horrified.
"I'll be twenty-nine!"
Ace patted her on the head, making a face at her as though he were a parent disappointed in his child. "It's okay, you don't need to lie to me. You're very old. I understand. I will still follow you to the ends of the earth."
Sora rolled her eyes, swatting his hand away. "I am not old."
"I know, small boobs!" Ace said, slinging his arm around her. "I'm just teasing you. Didn't know you were one of those girls sensitive about their age. It's cute. You're cute. Still will be cute, even when you're thirty next year."
"Shut up," Sora sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Oy," Marco called, returning to the bar and waving at the woman.
"Hey," Sora greeted, leaving Ace for a moment to meet with him.
"Happy birthday," Marco said with a smile, ruffling Sora's hair. She laughed, smoothing it back down. "Izou and I are working on a few things for your party but in the mean time…"
He slid her a box from his pocket, and Sora took it, shaking it. There was a dull clacking from inside and she widened her eyes. "Ooh, presents! Can I open it?"
"It's your birthday, right?"
Sora lifted the cover off, and grinned. It was a gold chain necklace that mirrored the belt around Marco's waist. It was a much smaller version, with turquoise and peridot gems. "Aw, this is so cute!" she squealed, handing it to Marco so he could string it around her neck. She lifted her hair up and Marco attached the clasp. "Thank you! Did you have it made?"
"If by having it made you mean that I made it, then yeah," he said, grinning. Sora's face lit up at this. Marco knew how much she loved handmade objects. "Sorry, it's about eight years too late."
"It's fine," she said, smiling. She gazed down at the necklace again. "It's your phoenix colors."
Marco nodded, patting her on the head. "To heal and protect, right?"
Sora grinned up at him. "Right."
"Oy, Ace," Marco said, noticing the second division commander just staring. "Can I put you in charge of just watching her to make sure she doesn't run off all excited? She loves her birthday more than it seems." Sora slapped Marco playfully and he swatted her away, laughing.
"Yeah, sure," Ace said with a grin, running a hand through his hair, trying to pretend like he wasn't jealous. It disgusted himself how quickly he became envious of Marco. He knew they had a very close relationship from when they were on the Moby Dick together, but Ace couldn't help it.
"Cool," Marco said, giving Ace the thumbs up. "Okay, well, birthday girl, I have things to do for tonight. Just be here for dinner, okay?" He ruffled her hair again, Sora grinning, watching him leave before smoothing it down.
She turned to Ace, who had both his eyebrows raised. "That's cute," he said sarcastically, smiling dryly.
"Are you jealous again?" Sora asked immediately, rolling her eyes. She touched the necklace, looking down at it again. "It's just a gift. And I like it – Marco made it for me. Why are you getting all roused up?"
"I'm not," Ace argued, leaving the back of the bar.
"It was cute at first but now it's just annoying," Sora said as a matter of fact, crossing her arms over her chest, knowing that Ace was lying. "Just get over it. Marco and I are going to be friends for the rest of our lives, so why—"
"Holy shit, Sora, I just said I wasn't jealous," Ace snapped back. Sora seemed a little taken aback by his reaction, her eyebrows raising, and she shook her head, walking away.
"Whatever, Ace."
Ace wasn't going to say sorry. What the hell was with her anyway? He didn't understand. One day she didn't bother shrugging off Ace's arm around her after a date when Marco was there and the next Ace was invisible and she was swooning over Marco's gift. They literally had a fantastic date just last night, shouldn't she be swooning over him? He just didn't understand.
"You know what, I'm just gonna go," Ace said, shaking his head.
"Fine," was Sora's reply, and she didn't even look back as Ace left, the door slamming behind him. He took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.
Well, that hadn't gone so well.
Ace figured he could go buy her a gift now, at least. Damn, why did he always have that tendency to upset Sora? And it was her birthday, too. He sighed, heading into the town square. He'd try to make it up to her later tonight.
Sora slammed down a tray of dirty dishes in the back of the kitchen, massaging her temples. Dammit, why did Ace always say stupid things like that? She hated that he got so worked up when she and Marco were only friends. Admittedly, she hadn't been so truthful about some things that happened on the ship, but that was a long time ago and it didn't matter anyway. She sighed. Why was Ace such an idiot? She had been hoping to have fun today, as it was her birthday, but now Ace was all in a huff. Normally she wouldn't really have cared if she just upset some guy, but Ace wasn't 'some guy' – it was Ace.
"Idiot," she mumbled, dumping the dishes into the sink. She jammed the faucet open, water spewing into the basin violently. She snatched the sponge off the counter and began scrubbing as hard as she could. "Idiot." She threw the soapy dish into another sink and it shattered, breaking another plate and some mugs. "Idiot!"
"Oy, oy," Eiichi said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Piece of shit," Sora mumbled, tossing another dish into the other sink. It shattered again and she let out a sigh, washing her hands off and leaning lowering her head to try and gather herself. She smiled widely as though Eiichi hadn't seen her little spasm. "Hello!"
"What's wrong?" Eiichi asked. He never saw Sora angry like that. The only time she ever got serious was during spars. Even when she was scolding Kohaku she wasn't serious.
"Nothing," she said, shrugging and wiping her hands on her apron. "I dropped a couple dishes. Oops."
"I'm not stupid," Eiichi said, raising an eyebrow. "What did Ace do?"
Sora scoffed, tying her hair up as she headed out of the kitchen. "Why do you think that Ace did anything? I said there's nothing wrong."
"Well, one, he's not here right now 'bothering' you," he said, making finger quotations, "And two, you just broke like ten dishes. I saw it with my own eyes, Sora." Eiichi nodded, raising both of his eyebrows now.
Sora sighed. "I just-I don't know. He drives me nuts. He gets so worked up over the whole Marco thing."
"That's kind of your fault, too, isn't it? You tease him about it."
"Well, he knows I'm joking. And this was different. Marco just gave me a gift and he's all shitting himself."
Eiichi crossed his arms over his chest. "And you don't think it's cute when he tries to compete for your attention?"
Sora turned her back, filling glasses with water. "No, it's annoying."
"Liar."
"Okay," Sora said, whirling around. Eiichi knew her too well. "Okay, it was cute before, but he yelled at me, you saw, didn't you? He yelled at me."
"You're cute," Eiichi said, patting her on the head. "Why don't you just tell him that there's no reason to be jealous?"
"I have told him!"
"No," Eiichi said, smirking. "Really tell him."
Sora scoffed. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Admit it. You like him."
"I do not."
"Okay, well, you care about him, then."
"We're friends. I'm supposed to care."
"You care a lot. You care about what he does and what he says and how he says it. You care about what he thinks of you. You care that he notices your relationships with everyone – especially Marco – and gets worked up over little stuff about it. You care that he's a little upset right now because he worked so hard for you yesterday for your date and you didn't even give him the time of day today," Eiichi said, smiling as his words hit every bullseye. He could see it in Sora's face. Her lips were pursed together slightly and her eyebrows were creased inwards – she was struggling with what to say back. "Am I right?"
And then she gave her typical answer: "No."
Eiichi let out an exasperated sigh and threw his hands up in the air, giving up. "I will never understand women. This is why I'm gay, Sora; women like you who don't even know what they want."
"I've never wanted anything from Ace," Sora replied.
Eiichi shook his head. "Liar." He swooped up a tray that the kitchen pushed out and headed to a table, leaving Sora to just sigh. Thatch called her over and Sora decided to just push everything out of her mind. She wanted to enjoy herself today. She deserved that, right? One day to have to herself? It was her birthday – she didn't want it to be flooded with questions she couldn't answer and thoughts she wouldn't control.
She slid into the booth next to Thatch, smiling at the other division commanders as well. "Hey."
"Happy birthday," they all said, grinning at her.
"Want your presents now or tonight?" Thatch asked, putting his arm around her. All the division commanders actually looked a little excited, colorful boxes and bags poking out from all over the table.
"Oh, you guys are so great! You didn't have to!" Sora squealed, clapping her hands together. Then all at once, she was showered in gifts, the commanders arguing over whose gift she should open first.
"Mine, duh," Thatch said, shoving his box in her face. It was messily wrapped in bright pink paper, a silver bow tied on top. It looked like a five year old had wrapped the gift, but Sora grinned and took it anyway. She ripped open the paper, revealing orange colored shorts. Marco smiled. "Gray is cool, but I just thought you'd want a different color."
"Thank you!" Sora said, hugging Thatch. She opened the gifts from the other division commanders, which included several more colored shorts – it seemed like this had been a group thing, as now Sora had red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple shorts – some earrings and other jewelry, and shirts. Sora was surprised of how much they remembered about her – she absolutely adored every single gift.
"You guys are the greatest. Thank you!" she said, smiling at all the division commanders.
"Sora," said a loud, deep voice, and Sora turned to see Whitebeard making his way to the table as well. Holding a bag that was more than half of Sora's size. Of course, it looked tiny in comparison to Whitebeard. He placed the gift on the table in front of her, and it clunked heavily.
"Aw, Oyaji, you didn't need to," Sora said, standing on the chair so that she could peer into the bag. She gasped happily, covering her mouth. Thatch and Namur stood up as well, helping her pull her gift out of the bag. "Daiginjo!"
It was indeed a giant bottle of Daiginjo sake – the most expensive sake in the world – and Sora's favorite drink. A bottle of 720 milliliters normally ran for about 50,000 Beli, but Sora knew this was way over 50,000 Beli. It was just as wide as her and the neck of the bottle stretched up to her chest.
"Drink with us tonight," Whitebeard told her with a smile.
How could Sora turn this down? She hadn't drank Daiginjo sake in years – she could still remember the slightly dry tasting liquid sliding down her throat, the warm feeling rising to her head as her mouth was left with the slightest of fruit tastes. It was, without a doubt, one of the best feelings in the world.
Ace was mad – he probably wouldn't come back, right? The thought of that actually sparked a little flame of annoyance in her chest. He said he would be there to celebrate her birthday, but he had left, disregarding what Marco told him. He just left. In her mind, she scoffed. He was being a jerk, so who cared if he came back? So, Sora grinned back at Whitebeard and nodded. "Okay. Just for tonight."
The division commanders cheered and Whitebeard's laughter rumbled through the bar. Sora smiled. Tonight would be fun, with or without Ace.
Ace sighed, glancing into shops as he headed to the town square. What could he possibly buy for Sora? Marco's necklace that he made her was probably going to be the best thing she got today. Okay, that was a little bad to say, but Ace knew that whenever there was a birthday, there was always one or two gifts you liked the most. Everything else was nice, but it was just those one or two little things that really blew you away. There was thought put into it, and effort, and sometimes it was expensive – Ace wanted to give her something like that, that really showed her that he knew her.
"Ace."
Ace turned for a moment to see Coral, her auburn hair bouncing as she made her way to him. He smiled and waved. "Hey. What's up?"
"Oh, I'm shopping for something to give to Sora for her birthday," she said. "You're going to the party tonight, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," Ace said, shrugging as they walked along. "We're, uh, I don't know, right now."
Coral frowned. "But I thought last night was such a success! She looked so happy coming into the store! And Kohaku told my sister that she said she was happy, too!"
"I don't know," Ace shrugged again, shaking his head. He chose to ignore Coral's last statement about Sora saying she was happy. At this point, he wondered if Kohaku was making stuff up. "What were you planning on getting her?"
"Oh, I saw these cute ice cream earrings in a shop before. I wanted to buy her green ones," Coral answered, smiling. "Are you going to get her something even though you bought all that stuff for her yesterday?"
Ace shook his head. "That wasn't for her birthday. That was just for the date. Which I thought went well. And I mean, it did, but today, I don't know. It's frustrating."
"What'd she say?"
"She's always getting on my case about Marco," Ace sighed, wondering why the hell he was talking to Coral about this. "I mean, yeah, okay, it seems small but I care. I don't know why I care, but I do, and it sucks. I wish I wasn't such a jealous bastard sometimes but she doesn't have to say shit to me all the time. She could just drop it and accept that, hey, sometimes I like to have her pay attention to me, you know? Especially after I worked so hard on that date and all Marco had to do was make her a little necklace and she totally forgets."
"Oh, I see," Coral said, seeming to take in Ace's words. She looked up at Ace with gentle eyes. "I understand that you get jealous and I feel like you're right – she should pay attention to you because of all you do, but you also have to get that that's not really how Sora is. She doesn't like to talk about her feelings as much; she just kind of keeps them inside. She's always been like that. She doesn't want to make things easy, you know?"
Ace shook his head and sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't really understand. If you like someone, you should just tell them."
"Have you told her that you like her?"
Ace thought for a moment, recalling every conversation and every gesture he made. He grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "No, I guess not."
"See?" Coral said with a smile. "Why haven't you said anything?"
"I don't know," Ace sighed. "I guess I like her, but I don't even really know. I've only known her for, like, a month. It just feels like a lot longer. I guess I just don't want to say anything until I'm sure."
"Because you're afraid she'll freak out?"
Ace nodded and shrugged his shoulders at the same time. "Yeah. I don't know, it's stupid," Ace said, waving her off. "Sorry for blabbering on. We're not even like, really fighting or anything. And I mean, I guess it's a good excuse to escape from her and buy her something for her birthday."
Coral grinned, hopping up into the air slightly, excited. "What are you going to get her?"
Ace took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I don't know. I wanna get her something good. I'm gonna think about it for a little. We can go to your jewelry shop first."
"Oh, okay!" Coral said, her voice high pitched, as though she were excited that Ace were tagging along with her. What could he possibly get her? He didn't want to trump Marco's gift, but at the same time, he did. He wanted to get Sora the best gift ever and show her that she was important.
Damn, he didn't even know he was this jealous.
He followed Coral around for most of the day. He was surprised at how mature she was, even for fifteen years old. The store that she had been planning on getting Sora's gift from was sold out of the earrings, so they spent most of the day exploring the rest of the shops.
"Oy, what about this?" Ace asked, pointing to a necklace.
"Mm, Sora has Marco's necklace now, right?" Coral said with a smile. "Maybe a bracelet or a ring?"
"Maybe this?" Ace said, looking at a charm bracelet. "You can buy this stuff." There was a whole rack of different charms and Coral clapped her hands.
"Oh, yeah, this is awesome! Thanks," Coral said, spinning the rack to look at some of the charms. "You're actually a good person to shop with."
Ace shrugged. "Thanks, I guess."
Coral pulled off charms of cupcakes and flowers, holding them against the silver bracelet to see how it would look. "Did you think of something to get her yet?"
Ace shook his head. "I still have no idea."
"Maybe you can make her something?" Coral asked as she took the bracelet and several charms to the cash register. "Sora likes stuff that people make."
"What could I possibly make for her within the next few hours?" Ace asked, shrugging. "I'm not artistic or anything—" And then it clicked, and he grinned at Coral. "Wait. I think I definitely know what to get her."
"Ooh, what is it?" she asked excitedly, clapping her hands together.
Ace glanced around, looking for things on the wall. "Do you know anywhere that would sell, like, dials?"
Coral furrowed her brows. "Dials?"
"Have you ever heard of the sky island? They have this kind of, technology, I guess. I've never been there but I've seen some on our ship and on other islands. They'e kind of like, shells that can do stuff," Ace said, waving his hands around vaguely as he attempted to explain.
A lightbulb seemed to click in Coral's mind and she nodded. She reached into her purse, pulling out a palm-sized white shell. It was shaped like a cone with vents at the top and an open tube at the bottom. "You have one?"
Coral nodded. "Yeah, I bought it off a traveling salesman. I use this to remind myself where I leave things – I can lose things really easily," she said sheepishly. She handed the shell to Ace. "But I have another one at home, so you can have this one."
"Are you sure?" Ace asked. He wondered if these were really rare to come by. "At least let me pay for it."
Coral shook her head, waving him off as she took her shopping bag from the cashier. "It's totally fine. It's for Sora, right?"
"Yeah, but really. It must have been expensive. Let me take you somewhere to eat for a late lunch or something, then. Where's your favorite place to eat?"
Coral visibly blushed, shaking her head vigorously. "Oh, no, it's okay! You really don't need to do that!"
"How am I going to repay you, then?" Ace asked, pushing open the door and holding it for the younger girl. "Let's grab some food, and we'll call it even."
"Um, o-okay," she said, hooking hair behind her ear.
Ace grinned, shoving the shell into his pocket. "Awesome! Let's go eat!"
Sora glanced at the clock. It was dark already and people were starting to come in, handing her small gifts and birthday wishes, to all of which Sora smiled and thanked them. She was still working, however, her apron tied around her waist.
"Go get ready," Eiichi told her, shaking his head. "Please don't work tonight."
"I was just getting off," Sora said with a smile, untying her apron and dropping it into a bin. "Can you handle everything? I'm go change and come back down for the party."
Eiichi shooed her away. "Yeah, yeah, this is pretty much my bar. So go make yourself pretty for your party, Sora."
Sora grinned and nodded. "Okay." She whirled around, her eyes flicking over the door for a moment, and she noticed Ace come in with Coral, who was looking cute in a black and pink cocktail dress. Her auburn hair was curled slightly and she waved at Sora. Sora forced herself to smile in recognition. What was Ace doing hanging out with Coral? Had they been out together all day?
"Happy birthday!" Coral said, skipping to Sora and handing her a pink bag. "I hope you like it!"
"Oh, thanks," Sora said, giving her friend a hug. "I gotta get ready, so—"
"Oy," Ace said, poking the side of her neck. Sora flinched, putting a hand over the place he poked. She decided to ignore him. "Oy. Oy. Oy." He said again, poking her in a different place each time, Sora laughing. She had broken the angry façade. Damn being ticklish.
"I have to get ready, Ace," Sora said, putting both hands over her neck and backing away.
"Let's not fight," Ace said suddenly, smiling.
"We're not fighting."
"Awesome," he said, shrugging playfully. "Ticklish?" he asked, poking a spot over her hand, Sora's jumpy reaction confirming that he was correct. His eyes widened with a new idea and Sora backed away, shaking her head vigorously
"No, Ace!" she cried, but Ace scooped her up bridal style and started walking up the stairs. His hands were obviously out of commission as he needed to carry her, so he lowered his face so that he was biting on her neck, making 'nom-nom-nom' noises, Sora shrieking with laughter as she tried to push him off. "Ace! Ace! Stop it! Stop! We're fighting now! I'm mad!" she tried, but her bursts of laughter ruined everything.
"You already said we're not fighting," Ace said, pushing open her door and kicking I closed behind him. "You should also be thankful. I just chauffeured you to your room." He let her down on the bed, continuing to bite her neck, using his body to pin hers and holding her hands above her head as she squirmed and squealed girlishly, trying to push him off.
Before he could stop himself, Ace slipped his tongue out and he wasn't so much as chomping her neck anymore, rather, he was kissing it, allowing his bites to soften ever so slightly. He tongue delved into the sensitive area and he felt Sora's breathing become shallow, her struggling stopping. She shifted in such a small way, tilting her head back ever so slightly, allowing him access to her flesh.
"Ace, I need to get ready," Sora said, and Ace heard her falter, barely able to speak.
"Later," He said, his voice deep and velvety, sending ripples down her spine.
He felt Sora swallow, trying to gain the courage to push him off. "Now," she breathed, attempting to sound confident, but failing. Ace focused on one patch of skin at the base of her neck, unable to restrain his want. "Ace, you should stop."
"I'm mad at you," Ace said quietly, continuing to kiss her, his hands tangled in hers.
"I thought we weren't fighting."
"No, I changed my mind. We are fighting. I'm furious."
"Ace, you should stop," Sora said again and Ace stopped sucking on her skin, instead dragging his tongue slowly up the length of her neck, eliciting a shudder from the woman beneath him. "Ace," she breathed, one of her hands tangling in his hair. The way she said his name right then – like a secret, like a guilty pleasure – it was maddening. It set his body ablaze, and he breathed her in, her scent and the feel of her body against his so intoxicating. What was this feeling? He had never been so lustful, but at the same time, so patient. It was amazing how they had come from fighting in the morning, to going their separate ways, to Sora's bed. She may hate them, but the woman was a rollercoaster ride.
"You should get back to Coral," Sora said before she could stop herself.
"Mm, what are you talking about?" Ace whispered, not moving from his position above her. He laid butterfly kisses from her jaw line to her collarbones, feeling Sora's body falter at each of them.
"You spent the whole day with her. You know she's kinda young for you."
She could feel him smile as he continued to kiss her. "Jealous?"
"No."
He chuckled and brought his lips up to her ear. "Just say it. Tell me yes."
Sora knew exactly what he was talking about. He didn't want her to admit that she was jealous – not that she was in the first place – but rather, yes to the question she had asked him on the beach. Could she? No, she couldn't. But why couldn't she move? She was frozen beneath him, completely surrendered. Voices in her head screamed for her to shove him as hard as she could but her body didn't listen. She was numb, her mind blank. Why did she lust for his touch? It was never like this. She liked his hugs and kisses on the forehead, but this wasn't like that. It was passionate and uncontrollable, like a hurricane, destroying every wall that Sora had ever tried to put up.
"Ace—" she started, and then there were three loud knocks before the door was pushed open. Ace washed the lust wash out from her eyes like last week's dirty laundry as she tilted her head back so that she was staring at Marco upside down. Ace didn't move, keeping his face in the cradle of her neck as Sora grinned at the older man in the doorway. "Hi," she greeted as though prepared to talk about the weather.
"Am I interrupting something?" Marco asked, locking eyes with Ace immediately. Ace still didn't move, keeping his fingers entwined with hers, silent.
Sora grinned and answered, "Nope."
"Eiichi said to call you. Dinner's ready," Marco said, not taking his eyes off Ace for one second. Ace stared back just as hard. What was he looking at anyway? Yes, he had interrupted. Why was Sora lying?
"Okay, we'll be down soon," she said, and Marco slammed the door loudly behind him, so hard that the room shook.
Sora's hand slid out from Ace's hair and she gently pushed him off, sitting up. Her neck was still glistening from Ace's kisses, two dark spots appearing on her flesh. She wrapped her hand around her neck, knowing that Ace had left marks on her. She pursed her lips and looked up at Ace. "I'm, um, going to change and go back downstairs."
Ace ran a hand through his hair, breathing deeply. He definitely needed time to recover from that. "Okay," he breathed, not knowing what else to say.
"We should probably not sleep in the same bed for a while," Sora said, standing up and heading over to her dresser.
"Probably not."
Sora pulled out the first clothes she could, obviously still a bit shaken. She didn't even understand what had just happened. She forced herself to keep breathing steadily. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
Sora was at the door, her hand on the doorknob. She glanced back at Ace, who was sitting on the bed, resting his head in one hand. "Are you going to go eat?"
Ace didn't lift his face to look at her. He couldn't look at her. He didn't know whether he was upset or embarrassed. "I'll shower and stuff after you change. I'll be down later."
"Oh, okay, well – okay," Sora said, and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Shit," Ace whispered, sighing as he massaged his eyes and temples. "Shit." He picked out the tone dial from his pocket. He had tied a nice blue ribbon around it and that had really been the real reason he had taken her upstairs. He wanted to give her his gift without other people watching and judging. Because while others may have bought Sora expensive gifts, Ace had made her something instead. It had cost virtually nothing, as Coral seemed so nervous during their lunch that she barely ate.
He gently placed the tone dial on her nightstand, deciding to give it to her tomorrow morning or something. He realized now that he was just embarrassed. He was ashamed about the way he had acted ten seconds ago. He had nearly pressured the woman into completely giving herself to him and that's not what Ace wanted. Ace knew that a part of him was still upset and jealous about Marco and that was a little bit of why he had acted that way, but it was no excuse. What he had done was inexcusable and he needed to apologize to Sora for it.
He really did need to shower though. He just felt so grimy. It as odd for him – feeling wrong about doing that to a woman. But this wasn't just any woman, it was Sora, and Ace felt like he had completely disrespected her and he needed to make things right. Damn him for thinking these things now instead of before she left the room. He grabbed fresh clothes and pushed open the door, seeing that the bathroom was open. Sora was downstairs. Now he knew he could take his time and think about what to say to her tonight.
"Are you okay?" Marco asked Sora quietly when she came to the foot of the stairs.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Sora asked, cheerful as usual. Marco eyed the slightly red patches of her skin that were flecked with dark spots, like a light rash. Sora covered them immediately, obviously knowing what Marco was looking at. "There was a bug in here, and yeah, it's a vampire bug, haven't you heard of those?" she said, tossing Marco a very poorly thought up lie.
"If he does that again then I'm going to do something about it."
Sora shook her head. "It's nothing, Marco. Really."
He hummed as though he didn't believe her, placing his hand on the back of her head. He pulled her in and kissed her forehead, ruffling her hair before walking away. The Sora eight years ago used to flush whenever Marco touched her, but now there were no feelings for him at all. There was no excited spark.
"Hi, birthday girl!" Izou said, wrapping his arms around her. He pulled away and glanced at her neck, also noticing the marks left there. He narrowed his eyes at it as though unable to determine whether or not he should ask. "Hmm."
Sora covered her neck sheepishly again. "Damn, that's gonna suck if I have to keep my hands here the whole night."
"I have just the thing," Izou said, pulling out a bottle. He squeezed some thick liquid onto his finger, and snapped the bottle shut. He titled Sora's chin up a little, pushing her hand aside and dabbed his finger over the splotches on her neck. He rubbed in the concealer, blending it with her skin. "There."
Sora smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
"Mhm," he said, patting her on the head. "I told you you're a naughty girl."
"It was a vampire bug."
"Oh, okay," Izou said, waving her off. "Was that vampire bug's name Ace?"
"No," Sora said, sticking her tongue out at him. Izou just laughed, shaking his head.
"I'll interrogate you both later, but right now I have something for you." Izou reached behind him, pulling off a bag from the counter. He pulled out a piece of clothing, holding it to Sora and smiling. "Happy birthday; love, Izou."
"Oh, this is cute," Sora said, taking the top from him. It was a cropped shirt – as Izou did know Sora's tendency to expose her midriff with everything she wore – and had a zipper front, designed half of it white and half of it a bright sky blue. It was sleeveless, and there was also a hood in the back.
"Also, what the hell are you wearing?" he asked, making a face at her current outfit. Sora looked down at herself. Definitely not what she meant to grab out of her dresser. It was a shirt she had just cut the collar and hem off to make it smaller. It was a shirt she used when she went hiking. She was wearing her signature grey shorts and worn out slippers. "You look like a hobo."
Sora grinned sheepishly. "Oh, well."
"Don't 'oh, well' me. It's your birthday, you can't dress like that. You are so lucky that we are friends because I bought you these, too," he said, pulling more things out of the bag. "Now, scamper off and go change. Quick like a bunny! Make sure you put on everything I gave you." He shuffled her into the downstairs bathroom, closing the door behind her.
When Sora emerged, she looked down at herself. "Izou, I'm pretty sure you're the naughty girl," she teased. The shirt he had bought her had obviously been a little small as it hugged her figure, and she was unable to zip it up all the way, so some of the black lace from her bra was showing. He had bought her short new black shorts and black underwear with garterbelts on the front and back of her thighs, which connected to lacy stockings.
"I brought these for you, too," Izou said, handing Sora her pair of heeled boots.
"Are you sure this is okay?" Sora asked, looking at herself.
"Yes, you are very sexy," Izou said, leading her out of the corner bathroom and into the main hall of the bar.
"Happy birthday!" the entire bar cried when they saw Sora, cheering and hooting loudly as she entered the room.
She giggled. "Thank you! Please enjoy yourselves tonight – this party is for everyone!"
Her statement was met again by cheers and roars of agreement and she made her way to the table with the division commanders and Whitebeard, sliding in next to Marco.
"What are you wearing?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is it bad?" Sora said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Izou bought it for me. Does it look bad? I can go upstairs and change."
Marco took a sip from his scotch, patting her on the head. "You look good. It's fine."
"Okay," Sora said, bouncy again. "Oyaji! Daiginjo!"
Marco furrowed his brows a little. He didn't know that Oyaji had bought Sora daiginjo. She was drinking tonight? Oh, this would not end well. Especially dressed in that outfit. Whitebeard's laughter rumbled through the bar and he lifted the giant bottle of sake to the table, the glass landing with a clunk.
Eiichi stopped by and gave Sora a sake cup that was roughly the size of a dinner plate and Whitebeard poured it in. Eiichi had also prepared several atsukan of the daiginjo so that the other division commanders could also pour in their own miniature versions of sake. All the men lifted their cups and Sora followed as well, needing to use both hands to lift her enormous cup.
"To Sora!" they said together, clinking cups before pouring the chilled liquid down their throats. Sora drank the entire cup's worth, slamming it down and wiping her lips. She already felt a little woozy from the alcohol and let out a small hiccup.
Thatch slapped her on the back. "Drunk already?"
"No," Sora said, but everyone could see her face lighting with color.
"I'm fairly certain you just drank your body's weight worth of alcohol with that one drink," Jozu said, and the division commanders laughter.
Sora shook her head, and Marco could already see her swaying and losing focus. Damn, this woman could not do alcohol. "One more, one more! And bring food! Sushi! Maguro! I'm hungry!"
Ace could hear everyone downstairs. It seemed like Marco and Izou had put together a rather big party for Sora. Ace turned his face up, allowing the hot water to run over his skin. He only showered with hot water. Not like it was anything he couldn't handle. Nothing could burn him.
He sighed. What could he possibly say to Sora? Could he even face her now? And Marco knew, of course, too. He wasn't stupid. What would Ace say to Marco? How would he even possibly begin to explain what happened? Marco was most likely mad. Ace couldn't forget the glare Marco had shot his way. It was like he suddenly saw Ace as an enemy.
Ace didn't blame him. He had a very good feeling that Marco was madly in love with Sora, and that he had been for some time. But Marco was a respectful man and if he knew that Sora didn't feel the same way then he wouldn't say anything about it. But that also led Ace to wonder why didn't she feel the same way? They had the perfect set up. They were best friends and had a history together aboard the ship as the first and second division commanders. They must have spent a lot of time together and Sora did say that while she was on the Moby Dick she did have a crush on Marco. Sora can be a private person sometimes but he could only imagine that part of her only happened recently, within the past four years.
Four years. Ace still wondered about that. People mentioned that time frame a lot and Ace had witnessed it for himself – that look of heartache in her face. He remembered how she looked at the grave at the waterfall – Takamune Kenjiro – and how she had screamed at him when Ace had asked about that person from the photograph. Was that marine the reason why Sora wasn't with Marco right now? Ace wondered if Takamune Kenjiro really was dead. Maybe he just left and the grave had been put there as a remembrance. Who was he to Sora anyway? There were so many questions swirling around in Ace's mind that he didn't even know when to start. A part of him wished that she would just be with Marco already. Just be with him and have been with him since the start so he would have known already that he doesn't have a chance and he wouldn't feel like he was wasting his time.
But then he had to wonder if he really did feel that way. Whenever Sora laughed or smiled or got excited, Ace felt his heart inflate. He liked making her happy. He liked buying her things. He liked taking her on dates. He liked being there for her. And the funny thing was that he never used to care for these things with other women before. He had been on "dates" a few times, but never saw girls again after that. With Sora, it was different. He wanted more, and more – he always wanted to see her.
Except for now. He didn't know how to even look at her. He sighed again, turning off the water. The room was completely filled with a thick layer of steam, but it wasn't hot at all. Ace changed into a loose white button down linen shirt and black corduroy pants. He didn't button the shirt, but rolled up his sleeves and towel dried his hair. Some water droplets fell onto his shirt but he didn't care. It would dry later.
Ace watched all the steam flow out as he opened the door. He went back to the room and kicked on a pair of his docksides and headed down stairs. He could hear music playing and also the shouting and cheering and laughing of many people. He hadn't realized that he had been in the shower for some time. It was already getting pretty late.
"I love everyone in this bar," he heard someone say loudly. "I love everyone so, so, so, so much. I feel like I'm going to just die from all this love." Ace looked up to see Sora sitting on the counter, taking a swig from a bottle of beer as she talked to some of the crewmen.
She was drinking? Ace could see that she was wearing a zipper up top, but the zipper was down, exposing her all black lacy bra. He looked away immediately, making his way over to the table with Marco and the rest of the division commanders.
"Oy, better late than never," Thatch teased, grinning at Ace.
"Yeah, I guess I missed a lot," Ace said, furrowing his brows back at the woman who was still sitting on the counter yelling and giggling at a rather obnoxious volume. "Why is she drinking? I thought she passes out."
Izou snorted. "Passes out? Oh, no. She doesn't pass out 'til way later."
"Oh, but I thought she didn't drink," Ace said, raising an eyebrow.
"We banned her from drinking," Marco clarified.
"But Oyaji had to go and break the trend," Thatch piped in, and their captain just laughed.
"She is entertaining," Whitebeard said, sipping from his bowl of sake.
"Perhaps too entertaining," Izou said, gesturing at the woman who had now completely shed her top and was basically just sitting on the counter of the bar in her underwear. And shorts. "She probably doesn't realize that the bar is 98% men and children. I love drunk Sora. Two drinks and it's like poof, goodbye, brain, hello, impulse."
"Aneki, put on some clothes," Kohaku said, covering his eyes.
"You put on clothes," Sora replied, downing the rest of her beer. She threw the empty bottle behind the bar and it shattered. "More beer, dammit! More sake!"
"I can see why she was banned," Ace said, making a face. Ace wasn't sure how he felt about women being rowdy drunks like how Sora was being right now. It perhaps was one of the most unsexy things a woman could do. But it was Sora, so it was sexy. He couldn't decide. He did decide, however, not to think about just how sexy she looked in all that lace.
"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet," Izou assured him.
"Aneki, clothes!" Kohaku said, punching his sister's knee lightly.
"I hate clothes. I should just never wear clothes," Sora said, shrugging off the top Izou gave her. She hopped off the counter, staggering for a bit, needing help from a few crewmen to stand up. It was quite late but Ace knew that everyone was already quite drunk and it was only going to get worse. Sora kicked off her shorts to reveal the lacy black lingerie that Izou had bought her and the entire bar hooted and howled and whistled as Sora sauntered on to the back of the bar.
"This is why she was banned," Izou chuckled.
"And yet you bought her that underwear," Thatch sighed.
Izou shrugged, guilty. "What? It's nice underwear. I thought she'd at least like to look sexy while she strips for us. Again."
"What was I saying?" Sora asked the crewmen at the bar, pretending to think. "Oh, yeah, no clothes." She stuck her thumbs under the straps of her bra, allowing one to fall off her shoulder.
"Oh, no," Ace mumbled, and quickly shuffled out of his seat, quickly shrugging off his shirt. "Sora," Ace said just as she pulled down the other strap of her bra. He slid behind her and whipped his shirt around her body, holding the arms up so that only the silhouette of her body was showing. The men at the bar still hooted and whistled anyway. Ace immediately turned his head away. "Sora, come on. Put on your clothes."
"Oy, Hiken," Sora said, her words slurring together. She was completely shit faced, her eyes glassy as she turned around looked up at Ace, her lacy new bra falling to the ground amongst the glass from the beer bottle she had broken "I don't think I have small boobs."
"Sora, put on your clothes."
"Do you wanna see?"
"If you're not going to put on your clothes, then put on my shirt."
"I don't want to," she said and tried to close the distance between them but Ace backed away, still keeping his arms up to hold the shirt. Ace knew that Sora's torso was completely bare but he forced himself to look away, not letting his eyes wander for one moment. She placed her hands on his chest, sliding one hand up to wrap around his neck, and Ace inched away, shutting his eyes.
"Sora, you're going to regret this tomorrow. Put on your clothes."
"No."
"Okay, then," Ace said, and wrapped his shirt around her, enclosing her arms as well as he quickly buttoned up the shirt, covering her body. "Come on. Time to go to sleep."
"I don't wanna!" she cried, spreading her arms out as though trying to burst the buttons on the shirt.
"Stop that," Ace said, putting her arms down. "Let's go. You have to go to sleep." Ace grabbed her hand and lead her up the stairs.
"Goodbye, all my lovely nakama. Apparently big daddy wants me to go to sleep," Sora announced to the entire bar. Normally Ace would have teased her about calling him 'daddy', but perhaps now was not the time. Marco kept his eyes on Ace, but didn't move from his seat next to Thatch, sipping from his scotch.
Sora was stumbling, tripping over the steps and giggling as she tried to stand up, tangled in Ace's shirt. Ace continued to pull her up, pushing open the door to her room. He led Sora and sat her down on her bed. She laughed as she swayed and fell over, her body heavy.
Ace pulled open a drawer of her dresser. "You should probably put on some pants, it's going to get cold." He opened a few more drawers searching for pajama bottoms. "Where do you keep—"
Ace was spun around and slammed into the nearby wall, Sora's body against his. She had stuck her arms through the sleeves, allowing Ace's shirt to hang loosely over her shoulders. Her hands were cold and clammy as they ran up and down Ace's chest, the younger man swallowing a lump in his throat. "Uh, Sora? Where do you keep your pajamas?"
"Hmm?" she said as though not listening, standing on her tiptoes to nibble at Ace's neck, leaving a cold trail of kisses along his throat, her arms wrapping around him.
"Hey, we already went through this today," Ace said, lifting his hands so that he could grab hers and lower them. Her kisses felt amazing. They were just on his neck but the feel of her soft lips against his flesh was maddening. He struggled to keep his breathing even, struggled to keep control of his body. Ace tried to push her away but Sora fought him, her bites becoming slightly rougher as she ran her tongue over his skin.
Ace couldn't fight her. He closed his eyes for a moment, his grip weakening on her arms. Sora pressed his hand against the wall leaving no distance between their two bodies as she continued to do to him exactly what he did to her mere hours ago. He was weak to her touch. Ace kept his head tilted up, however, and Sora couldn't reach his lips. She tried to, and ran her tongue along his jawbone as though to tempt him, but Ace couldn't. As Sora's mouth lowered to his collarbones to suck on a patch of flesh, her hand lowered as well, sliding down his stomach and popping off the button on his shorts, two fingers ducking slowly into his boxers—
"Okay, that's enough," Ace said, pushing her off and slipping out from under her. He wiped his neck and returned to her drawer, returning to the original task of trying to find her a pair of pants.
"Mmm, you don't want to kiss me?" Sora complained, wrapping her arms around Ace from behind. He could feel the shape of her breasts against his back and again, was struggling to breathe. He didn't answer, just kept rummaging through her clothes. "Aaaaace. Aaaaaaceee, kiss me. Kiss me! Now! Right nooooowww. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes," she began to chant, hopping up and down.
Ace turned around and grabbed her hands holding them together. "No, Sora."
"What? You don't want me anymore? You don't want to kiss me?" she asked, looking confused. Her face was red and her eyes were glossed over. She wasn't even coherent anymore.
"I do," Ace said quietly, kissing her hands. He smiled at her. "I do. But not like this."
"Like what?"
"Look, if you really me to kiss you, then you can tell me yes again tomorrow, when you're sober. But for now, you have to go to sleep. Come on," Ace said, leading her to the bed. He sat her down. "Stay here, I need to find your clothes."
"Bottom left," Sora answered, falling onto the bed.
Ace followed her directions and pulled out a pair of cotton polka dotted pajama bottoms. He knelt in front of her, pulling them around her feet and up her waist. There were a few knocks at the doorframe and Ace turned to see Marco standing there. "She okay?" he asked.
Ace nodded. It was a good thing Marco hadn't come in two minutes ago; he had left the door open. "Yeah. Did you want to stay with her?"
Marco shook his head and turned around. "You stay with her. I'll trust you."
"Oh. Okay," Ace said, watching Marco turn the corner and head back down the steps. Ace got up for a moment and quietly closed the door, muting most of the noise. It was quite loud; maybe he should get some sleep as well.
"Aaaaaaacceeeeeee," Sora groaned from her bed.
"Yeah?"
"Come heeeeeere!"
Ace stretched, rolling his shoulder blades back. He flicked off the main light and rolled into his bed. "Go to sleep Sora."
"Ace! Now! Here!"
"You said we're not sharing a bed anymore and I'm not going to sleep there tonight."
"Well, can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Sora asked, her voice becoming small. Ace had his back faced to her and the sound of her tiny voice was too much for him to handle. "Please, Ace?"
Ace sighed exasperatedly, hopping out of bed. He dragged a stool from the corner to the bedside, and sat on it, determined to not get onto the woman's bed. Sora inched as close to him as possible, curling up into a little ball and smiling as though she were actually happy that he was going to stay with her. She grabbed onto his wrist and tried to pull him into bed but Ace remained firm.
"This is as far as I'm going," he told her. "I'm not going to let myself be tempted again."
"But I want you," Sora complained, tugging on him again.
Ace pulled his hand away, gently brushing the hair from her face. He smiled down at her. "Like I said, if you can tell me that again tomorrow, when you're sober, I will gladly be with you for the rest of my life. But I'm not going to do anything right now, okay?" What did it really matter what Ace said now? He cared about her so much. He realized that even if he said anything, it wouldn't matter because the chances of her remembering anything about this tomorrow were close to zero.
Sora held Ace's hand in both of hers, running her thumb over his knuckles. She was so drunk she didn't even know what she was saying. "Okay, I'll tell you tomorrow, then."
Ace chuckled and shook his head. "Unlikely."
"No, really. I will. Then you'll have to stay with me."
The younger man just nodded, skeptical. "Okay, fine."
"Forever?"
"Forever."
"What about when you leave?"
Ace felt his chest tighten. He didn't want to think about leaving. How could he just leave Sora behind? He had never cared about anyone as much as he cared about her. He hated that he had no other choice but to set sail with Oyaji whenever that day came. It could be tomorrow, it could be a week from now, it could be months. Ace didn't know how long he had with Sora and just that thought killed him.
"Distance doesn't matter," Ace decided to tell her. "I'll still be with you forever."
"Really? You'd stay with me even if we were apart?" she asked, and the hopefulness in her voice almost broke him. He couldn't tell if she meant what she was saying. Even if she meant it a little, even just a sliver, it would make Ace so happy that he would burst.
"Yeah," Ace said quietly, stroking her hair with his other hand. Her ebony locks were soft under his fingers. Sora hummed happily, bringing Ace's hands to her lips and kissing his knuckles gently. It seemed like she had calmed down a lot and Ace was relieved. Rowdy, sexy Sora was too much for him to handle.
"That makes me happy," she said softly. "I'm so happy when we're together, Ace."
"I'm glad," Ace said. "I really like spending time with you, too."
Sora just smiled, keeping nuzzling against Ace's hand. His gaze softened at the cute gesture. She was irresistible, even as a drunken mess. "You have to promise me now," she said quietly, laying more kisses over his knuckles.
"Promise what?"
"That you won't leave me," she said. Her eyes were closed and Ace could tell that she was on the verge of passing out. "That even though someday, we might be thousands of miles apart, you won't leave my side."
Ace smiled gently. "Of course. I promise."
"Pinky promise?"
The man linked his pinky with hers. "Pinky promise."
"And promise," Sora continued, yawning softly. "That you'll never die. Because then you'd be breaking the first promise."
"Have you met me?" Ace said jokingly. "I'm never going to die."
"You have to promise," Sora insisted, opening one eye to stare at Ace.
Ace chuckled and nodded. "I promise. I'm definitely going to outlive you."
"You better," Sora said and Ace felt her body relax as she started to drift off to sleep. "Because I can't live for one day if you're not right there with me, even if you're a thousand miles away. I need you."
Ace smiled at her incredibly sweet words. "I would love if you would tell me that tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll tell you tomorrow," Sora said, her breathing becoming rhythmic.
"And everyday, for the rest of my life."
Sora's response was weaker, and she just repeated, "And everyday, for the rest of your life."
A/N: A chapter with ten thousand words! I'm not gonna let negative reviews get me down, so any reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!