It has been a while since Ace has been at Dadan's place. Not that you could tell by looking at it, Ace is pretty sure it hasn't changed one bit in the ten years since he first arrived. There's a sort of comfort in that. Or at the very least, it's very convenient when Ace needs to grab something in the little time Sabo and Luffy can buy him.
As the leader, Dadan has her own room though it's kind of small. In fact, it's smaller than Ace's is, though that may be because Ace was given the old attic. It also looks really tidy because she doesn't have much. She always complains that bandit work is not what it used to be but she always manages to put enough food on the table for all of them so it can't be that bad.
There's a wooden box beneath the bed where Dadan keeps the little jewelry she has. Are necklaces jewelry even if they are made of cheap beads? Well, whatever they are, Dadan keeps them there.
Ace takes the box out and opens it over the bed. Inside there are only four necklaces identical to the one she is wearing today and a couple dozen of dry flowers which make Ace snicker a bit. Who knew the tough as nails leaders had such a girly side? Well, he is not here to sightsee so he quickly replaces one of the beaded necklaces with a thick gold chain he and Sabo had found on a treasure chest way back.
It's not like he feels bad for stealing from Dadan, it's just that Luffy had looked at him that way and he had had some necklaces laying around anyway. Sabo had wanted to give her some of what Buggy had stolen but that could have brought Dadan trouble and anyway, this one was cooler so she wouldn't be able to complain about Ace keeping the red beads.
With his prize in hand, Ace quickly hides the box away and goes to meet his brothers. They had lucked out in their timing and managed to visit the same day Makino did so distracting Dadan hadn't been too hard. The bandits are all outside, preparing a barbecue and chatting with each other and Makino is making Luffy and Sabo try on some new shirts she has brought.
"Makino!" Ace calls and suddenly everyone's attention is on him. "Could you help me sew something into my hat?"
Makino beams at him and Ace returns the smile because he is pretty sure it's illegal not to, or something. "Ace! I was beginning to wonder where you were! Did you get a hat too?"
Ace proudly presents his hat to her. "Yes! It's cool, isn't it?"
Makino takes it from him and looks at it closely. "Very nice, I especially like the color, such a lovely shade of orange! It's my favourite color, you know?" There's a squeak by her side where Dadan is suddenly very busy tying her hair back. "What do you want to sew on it?"
Ace makes sure that Dadan's attention is on him before smiling as innocently as possible and thrusting the necklace towards Makino. "Here! I thought this would look nice."
Dadan's eyes go wide and as soon as Makino is looking down at the necklace Ace sticks his tongue out at her. Dadan splutters but Ace knows she won't say anything in front of Makino. She always acts funny around her.
"So cute! You'll match Dadan! Where do you want me to put it?" Ace shows Makino, trying to wrap the giant necklace over the hat. It's too loose on it but there's not enough for two loops. He pouts. "If you want I can resize it for you and make a couple of bracelets with the rest. I think there may be enough for three even, so you can share them with your brothers!"
"Great!" Ace smiles and then decides to show Makino how far along he's gotten with his 'politeness'. "Thanks for letting me borrow it, Dadan!"
The woman is red in the face but has to mumble 'it's nothing' since Makino is there. The younger woman just smiles at the both of them. "It's really sweet that you want to carry something of Dadan's with you," she praises Ace which is totally not what Ace was going for. "It reminds me of when you used to bring her flowers."
"Oh?" Shit, when did Sabo start listening.
And because Makino is too nice to realize that the rest of the world isn't, she doesn't even notice the hint of mockery on Sabo's interest. "Oh yeah, he was about five I think?"
"Six," Dadan has noticed the glint on Sabo's eyes and she wants payback. Ace is done for. "He brought me a new bouquet every month, he picked them all by himself too, didn't let any of my men help him with that."
Ace splutters. "That was rent! You know it was rent! I just did it because you didn't let me go work with the rest of the bandits!"
"I remember that!" And when did Magra decide to stop being afraid of him? Ace is going to have to fix that. "Boss was trying to make Ace do his chores and mentioned how that was his job since the rest of us went to make money. We had to tie him up to stop him from following us because he wanted to pull his weight too. In the end, he decided to pay the boss with pretty flowers."
"It was Dogra's idea!" Ace reminds them and why is his face heating up? It's not like he gave the flowers as a gift or anything. "He said it was something safe I could do that would help the family!"
At that the bandits laugh. "Well, I was right. A happy boss makes for a happy family, after all!" Dogra's laugh is cut immediately when Dadan 'accidentally' steps on his food.
"It's not like I was happy to receive them or anything, they just made for nice decoration. Not like any of you would care about that," she mumbles.
Luffy tugs at Makino's skirt. "Why is everybody laughing? Isn't it normal to get your mom flowers?"
And with that the laughter doubles while Ace and Dadan try to ignore how red their faces are and deny that they even think of each other as tolerable. Makino is giggling behind her hand but she whispers an answer to Luffy loud enough for them all to hear, "I think they are just embarrassed."
"I'm not!" Ace and Dadan speak as one.
"It's okay Ace," cooes Sabo. "I think it's sweet."
Well, now he is just asking for it. Ace jumps at him and the two end up rolling around, wrestling with each other.
"Me too! Me too!" Luffy throws himself over them making Ace lose his grip on Sabo, and just when he had him pinned too. "This doesn't count as one of my fights, right?"
Ace shakes his head while elbowing Sabo in the face and the blond kicks him in the ribs. Luffy flails around managing to hit himself more than the others.
"They have such a good relationship," Ace hears Makino say while trying to get Sabo into a headlock.
He can't look up to see the expression on Dadan's face but the sound she makes is a cross between a laugh and a sob. "That's one way to put it, I guess. Say Makino, do you want some tea before heading back?"
"Of course, I even brought some cookies for us to share! Do you children want some?"
Ace shoves his brothers away and gets up, dusting his pants. "Sure!" He can teach Sabo a lesson later, it's not like the blond will let him live this down ever. He's pretty sure he'll tease him about this even after they become Captains. At least that will give him an excuse to sink Sabo's future ship. The Old Geezer likes canon balls, right? Maybe he'll let Ace borrow some if he says it's to destroy a pirate crew. Still, cookies now, retaliation later.
