Just Like Fire (Ace x Reader)

Chapter 19: Soar

Ace's kisses were hot, dry, soft, and barely contained. He kissed you sweetly, briefly, deeply, and sometimes with soft shivering breaths tumbling from his own lips. He laid back and let you kiss him tentatively, shyly, and curiously.

At least until your lips became swollen and chapped.

And then you laid down, side by side, fingers tangled together as you looked up at the endless sky. You traded off stories about the stars. You knew some older tales from the books you'd read growing up, and Ace knew more recent constellation stories. Everything from true love stories, to ones about warriors and criminals and gods that Dadan had told him.

"I've never been so full of energy in my entire life." You muse, eyes wide as you try to commit every star to memory, squeezing Ace's hand a little.

He smiles, squeezing your hand in return. "If you don't sleep tonight, you can sleep on the drive back." He offers.

"If I don't sleep though, you won't sleep either, will you?" You ask, smiling at him despite your question.

"I'll get us back home safe, don't worry about that." He promises, sitting up. "Why don't you fly?"

"Huh?"

"Fly. Change. Leap from the truck. I won't be mad if you scratch the paint taking off." He offers again, smiling. "I'd love to see you fly."

You feel the heat rush into your face, and take a few steps toward the tailgate.

"O-Okay, but!" You turn toward him and hold a finger up. "I haven't taken off when I'm n-normal sized, so-."

Ace puts his hands up. "I won't laugh."

You narrow your eyes a little as you change, stretching your neck to emphasize the expression before you stepped up onto the tailgate. Moonlight outlined you from Ace's perspective, and he was already certain he could never laugh at such a sight.

You were beautiful the moment he had laid eyes on you, but seeing you like this was almost like getting to see who you really were, and it was the only time he'd ever considered a bird to be pretty. He'd teased Marco about being a pretty bird, but that was different.

How much more lovely would you look, completely free in the sky?

"Don't stray too far, Pajarito." He says with a grin as your wings spread.

"I won't." You assure him. Powerful legs push off from the tailgate as your wings catch as much air as they can. The truck's shocks creak and Ace lets himself be jostled by the shift as the bed tilts a little before you take off.

One, two, three, you almost dip to the ground, tucking your feet as you let a few more powerful wing flaps pull you up into the air. Again and again, with each beat of your wings you get further and further from the wide field of grass.

Once you have more space, you turn a little, beginning a wide, lazy circle even as you continue to push an ascent, bringing yourself slowly back around to the truck, flapping past it just close enough to catch Ace's bright wide eyes watching you with open joy. The force of you passing by him knocks his hat off his head, the skull adorned strap keeping it around his neck as he turns to continue watching you.

When you get a little higher you can feel your wings catching shifts and updrafts in the air. With a little practice and concentration you start to learn how to catch them, and like a kite you rise swiftly into the air. Far above the trees in a rush, and suddenly the smoldering embers of the campfire, and the bright orange of Ace's truck were almost too far away. You panic a little before a bright, wide ball of fire lights up below you.