Portgas D. Ace X Reader - The boy from the church

4

Ace agreed on having a light meal for dinner, and finally took off his brown jacket and his hat. He looked muscular, but his features were quite delicate. He hesitated before sitting down next to you, and, based on his still tense body movements, it seemed like he was a bit skeptical about being inside your house. This was the first time you're seeing him without his jacket on, so you analyzed his body even though he looked a little insecure; your intention wasn't to judge him or to make him feel assaulted in any way. He revealed his strong arms and you noticed a tattoo on his left shoulder, which spelled out 'ASCE', with a crossed S.

"Did your tattoo artist misspell your name?" you joked, before taking another bite from your food.

You both laughed at your question, but it seemed like Ace had actually put a fake smile on his face for some reason, and immediately changed his expression as soon as he started stroking his arm.

"It resembles my home and family." his smile faded away. He got up and insisted on washing the dishes before excusing himself for having to leave so early.

"Why the rush?" you asked. "Where are you going?"

"My new home. I promise I'll take you there some day. It's beautiful and I think you'll love it." he hid his face while tying his shoes. He quickly arranged his hat in the mirror, and went for the exit with a frowning expression, probably regret.

"Wait... I wanna ask you something before you..."

All of a sudden, someone started knocking heavily on your apartment door. You didn't even expect someone to come by today, except for Ace, so this took both of you by surprise. You stopped everything you were doing, or else the person behind the door might hear that you're home. You looked through the door's eye hole and you saw Izo standing at the other side, before knocking one more time and causing you to flinch. Ace wasn't safe here at all.

"It's Izo..." you whispered to him. Suddenly, your phone started ringing, and you rejected the call as soon as you took it out of your pocket. Ace put his hands over his head and started walking in circles, breathing heavily. "Don't worry, he'll eventually leave." you tried to comfort him, but right after you said that, there was another knock.

"Y/n?" Izo asked from the other side. "Can you please open the door? I know you're there. I just wanna apologize."

His words surprised you, but today isn't a good time to fix this. Ace managed to ask using his body movements something like, 'What the hell is going on?', but you couldn't explain anything in these circumstances. You heard a loud sigh from the outside, and when you looked again, Izo had already left. Ace was constantly frowning and he seemed very mad and disturbed from this incident.

"I can explain. Look. I got drunk at the party. I was so sick, I'm surprised I didn't even throw up that night. Anyways, Izo led me into a bedroom and I spent the night there with a guy named Shanks. He was nice, I liked him. And I wanted to ask if you know him by any chance?"

The boy widened his eyes at the mentioning of the man you shared your room with, and you realized there was actually something going on with him. However, Ace chose not to answer and pretended to be occupied with something else. At first, you thought that he was just jealous about you sleeping with another man, but that wasn't the case, because he didn't look mad anymore, but worried.

"Just stop hiding already. You're always trying to get away from the truth but that won't work forever." you grabbed his arm and you looked him in the eyes. He was actually panicked, and sweating excessively. And again, you felt bad for making him feel this way, but you've waited enough. It's time to hear something from his point of view.

"I don't want anyone to know what I'm involved in right now. I'm just trying to protect everyone. I don't wanna hurt anyone anymore." he explained, with tears almost falling from his eyes. "And yes, I'm staying at Shanks'. He told me about you. And I know I've done a lot of mistakes because otherwise you wouldn't have been able to find this out. But I'm glad it's only you two who know, or at least, that's what I hope." he said, probably making a reference to your relationship with Marco. "However, I can't forgive myself yet. I need to do what I have to do, and only then I'll probably be able to say that I've actually done something. I don't want them to see me as a failure anymore, or having uncontrollable emotions or whatnot, or even to pay for what my biological father has done. I wanna be the best version of myself, I really do. I wanna change myself, and the people around me, just how pops did for his family."