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

5

In the well lit kitchen, you noticed Shanks' dark circles from under his eyes and that he was still moving a bit slow, so you insisted on cooking something yourself. You let him rest on the dining chairs and he fell asleep with his head on the table soon enough. The smell of fried rice woke him up and you enjoyed seeing him feasting and recovering from the hangover. 

"You're a great cook, y/n." Shanks moaned, shoving a big bite in his mouth.

The sound of the door closing marked Ace's arrival. He straightly followed the smell, and you saw the boy leaning over the door frame, with a smile on his face as soon as he saw you two here. His hair and clothes were wet from the rain, and he carried a small backpack with him, which was something you haven't noticed since now.

"Mind if I join?" he asked, already sitting at the table. "Hey, you're wearing my hoodie." he noticed.

"Shanks gave it to me. Do you mind if I keep it on?" you asked, hesitantly.

"No worries, now let's eat!" he announced, almost drooling.

Ace surprised you with the capacity of his stomach, being able to devour three servings, while you and Shanks only ate one.

"This is the best fried rice I've ever had in my entire life." the boy said, then burped loudly; and you immediately hid your blush.

He was more relaxed with Shanks around, so you kept their company until the rain had finally settled down. By this time, the sun was starting to set, leaving the fresh smell after rain. As you were watching some TV with the two men, you noticed that Ace had his eyes locked on yours almost every time you turned to him. But one thing you still couldn't understand was the reason behind his actions, and what kind of relationship he had with the red haired man.

~~~

"I have new reports from Ace's case." Tashigi affirmed confidently, walking in her boss' office.

"How so?" Smoker asked, lighting both of his cigars at once.

"It's y/n, I talked to her yesterday and she kept asking me about a guy named Marco... so I did a little bit of research and I reached out to him; he said that she actually met him a couple of days ago." she smirked.

"The woman met up with Ace?" he adjusted his seat, and raised his eyebrows. "I'm impressed."

"You're gonna promote me now, right?"

Smoker locked his eyes on her and left the room without saying anything, so Tashigi threw a pile of documents from her boss' desk on the ground and ran outside, ensuring that no one saw her doing that. 

~~~

"You can tell her, Ace. She deserves to know." Shanks confronted him, as the young boy was trying to get away from him.

"We weren't even talking about this, there's no need to spit it all out without the proper context." he said, leaving the room with an annoyed expression.

"You can't be an asshole your whole life, Ace." the red head yelled.

You were indeed confused and also waiting for the moment of truth coming out from his own mouth, but Ace was still hesitant. You were debating on whether or not to go home today, even though it's sunday, you only need your laptop for work.

"I got this, Shanks, thank you. But if he doesn't want to say it yet, don't force it out of him." 

After a few minutes of thinking, you decided to stay over for one condition: no drinking and no staying up past midnight. Shanks adored your idea and prepared a bed for you, while Ace waited for the right time to enter your room for a talk. After you got dressed into one of Shanks' old pajamas, Ace busted inside and reminded you of the first time the red head did the same thing at Luffy's party.