Just Like Fire (Ace x Reader)

Chapter 12: Poisoned

Your weekend went well, if not, perhaps, a little boring.

All three men in the house decided that medium low activity meant absolutely no activity that wasn't necessary. They let you cook cause you threatened to cut them all into steaks if they stopped you, but otherwise you didn't do much else.

Luffy brought you snacks, Sabo kept you in place with some of your favorite books, and Ace brought you drinks and offered to pick out a movie for you to nap to if you were tired of reading.

On the one hand it was adorable how hard they were trying to make you comfortable. On the other hand, it would've been nice to just continue on like usual. The special treatment made it hard to forget why you were getting it.

Fortunately, the intent warmed your heart enough, and you were able to get lost in a couple books, so it was a relaxing weekend at the bare minimum.

Your only real complaint was that it was difficult to find time with just Ace. You wanted to talk to him. You weren't sure about what exactly. He knew all of your situations – about Ichiji, and the "disease", and your family discomforts. It wasn't like you needed to let him in on any big revelations.

You were almost certain he was giving you space because of the detoxification process.

Because of all the spare time you ended up with over the weekend, you had a lot of time to think about it. While the boys were doting on you, only Sabo was there the whole time. Ace and Luffy had shifts to work, and were in and out of the house over the weekend at odd hours. Which didn't make it any easier to try and find time to talk.

Monday rolled around, and because of the doting from the boys you had forgotten to make lunches for everyone the night before. You were a little frantic that morning, but with a little help from Ace, you managed to get bentos together for everyone else. You weren't worried about making one for yourself, the first floor of the office building you worked in had a cafeteria and a few shops. Finding something to eat was easiest for you out of the entire household.

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Ace asks as he's distributing grapes into the sections you pointed out.

"Yeah, there's a lot of options, and Mr. Bon-chan won't let me go without eating." You assure him, dividing the hot food and sorting it as Ace switched places with you, following behind you and stacking the bentos.

"Yay, done with seconds to spare." You muse as Sabo comes by, tugging his suit jacket on with a glove in his mouth.

"Sorry, lil' spark." He apologizes, and you put a piece of honeyed toast in his mouth as Ace hands him a bento.

"No worries, drive safe!"

"They grow up so fast." Ace muses once the door closes and you laugh.

"Trying to hold onto that eldest title, aren't you?" You tease.

"I don't have to hold onto it, it's mine." Ace sticks his tongue out at you as he hands off a small stack of bentos to Luffy.

"C'mon Ace, we're gonna be late!" Luffy stays, grabbing the lunches and heading down the hall.

"Yeah, yeah," Ace turns to you. "Have a good day, bella." He says, kissing you on the forehead before dashing out of the kitchen.

"You ... too." You manage to say, realization sinking in as your hand goes up to your forehead.

You stand in the kitchen for a few minutes, trying to play back the event, but you can't manage to decide if he did it without thinking or not. He had run off very quickly afterward, but he was also in a rush to catch up to Luffy.