Bon Voyage! [Ace x Reader x Law]

[𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓]

"I'm sorry," Ace only manages to mouth those two words, probably not sure of what to say. In the long silence after your storytime, hearing the male's voice snaps you out of your stupor. And you immediately realise that you must have unintentionally made him feel bad by mentioning your traumatic experience with fire — which apparently is the nature of his Devil Fruit power. You have heard a little bit of Devil Fruit, thanks to a certain somebody, but this was your first time hearing about the many types of it.

Quickly blinking away your tears, you try to recover the situation and clear any possible misunderstanding.

"Oh! No, you shouldn't be. It wasn't my intention to guilt you. Oh dear, rather, I actually never thank you for saving me earlier and on the other day too," you say, trying to meet Ace's onyx orbs again.

"Don't mind my wimpiness. It's something that I have to fight myself. So, don't feel sorry for me and... thank you," you end your frantic explanation. Meanwhile, your hands travel to his to give them a squeeze as you impart your gratitude. It's something you remember your mother did in her last days. Hoping it could help get your message through to the other male like what you think your mother wanted to do then, you earnestly hold onto his hands. And you unconsciously note how big and warm they are.

Your worry is gone at the sight of his carefree beam. The same bright look that tugged your strings and saved you from your downtime today. You wish you could tell him more about how you are also grateful for that. Alas, your shyness forces you to gulp those unspoken words back down into your throat, and you resort to merely returning his smile.

You hope you could tell him about it someday- if possible, without making things any weirder between the two of you. Is it possible, though? You start to ponder as you begin retracting your hands and straightening back to your previous sitting position.

However, that agenda is quickly out of the window as you feel a tug on your hand and you are once again brought back to mere inches away from the freckled male. The curve of his lips droops a little and his expression slowly turns serious with his lips pursing in deep thoughts. The diminishing proximity between the two of you catches you off guard. Nonetheless, the embarrassment is soon replaced with intrigue, as you wonder what he is thinking about with such a solemn expression. But that soon, too, will become something carping in your mind as his grin returns and he lets go of your hand. You then hear him say,

"Hm, sorry, it's nothing,"

"What is i-"

"Ah, the air here really feels good. I think I can sleep just like this," Ace suddenly exclaims and begins to stretch his back. You wanted to pursue your curiosity, but your train of thoughts are interrupted when he changes the subject and starts acting all goofy again. The way he behaves just now slightly bothers you as it adds more layers of enigma around the man instead. But not wanting to jump into a misunderstanding, you put those questions to rest. It might be because you just do not know the man enough to tell if there was any significance to his previous gesture or not.

Just like you and Aunt Anasthasia, you think to yourself as your finger unconsciously traces the defects on the leatherbound book on your lap.

"Hm? What do you have there?" the other male starts speaking again after getting himself into a more comfortable position on the concrete foundation, one that has his arm touching yours. Yes, you are still ever so conscious of the amount of foreign skinship you have with this man.

"Ah, this? Hmm, I honestly do not know," you hesitant but nonetheless answer truthfully. Throughout the night, you have racked your brain so hard to find a connection between the things written inside this book and your aunt telling you to fetch yourself a new identity. However, you have found no way to fit these pieces together so far. Perhaps, has she finally decided to kick you out for real? W-wait? Is that it? You internally grimace at the probability. You suppose you will have several hours to find out about that.