His Firecracker Her Rock

Chapter 12 - It's about time!

Chapter 12 - It's about time!

Dawn was sitting up in the Sunny's crow's nest watching the wind blow gentle ripples across the canvas sail. This was so typical. After two years of training with Ace, she still couldn't get along with him for five minutes. He was so confusing, and irritating, and hotheaded, and cute-

'Wait...cute?' Dawn thought to herself with a blush.

"Dawn? You up there?" Ace shouted from below the hatch that led into the circular room. "I think I owe you an apology,"

Had Dawn just taken a drink of something she was sure she would have spit it clean across the room. Ace, apologize? Those words did not belong in the same sentence. Dawn crept over to the hatch and listened, not yet revealing she was in fact there.

"I'm not sure if you're up there, and I've already said this to like four different rooms. Including the bathroom which just led to a very confusing conversation with Brooke, who mind you uses the ladies' room and not the mens, but anyway..." Ace rambled clearly nervous. Maybe he really was going to apologize. "I'm sorry, for lashing out like I have been ever since you joined. I guess I was a jealous idiot, I thought you liked Sanji. Or rather...that you liked him more than me,"

"That does sound like something a jealous idiot would think," Dawn muttered just loud enough so he could hear her.

"Can you please let me up?" Ace asked, and Dawn knew without a doubt he was doing that stupidly adorable thing he did with his bottom lip when he was mad or wanted something. Against her better judgment, Dawn unlocked the door with a loud clunk. Ace popped his head up and immediately knew his apology had better be a good one. There was a rosy undertone around her eyes as if she was on the verge of tears. "Hey,"

Dawn turned her back to him as she tried her best to control the blush that was now spreading across her face and up to the tips of her ears.

"Robin spoke to me, and I guess even the shitty cook helped too but I realized that the biggest reason we fought was because of my jealousy, I'm sorry," Ace said without a hint of sarcasm.

"You idiot," Dawn said with a light laugh before sniffing and wiping a tear from her eye. No one had ever confessed their love for her before. Most marines at her level were way too old or afraid to talk to her, and that's really the only group of men she had been around her entire life.

"That's me," Ace smiled before gently spinning Dawn around to face him. Her blush was adorable and made his heart skip a beat. Looks like their feelings were more similar than Ace had thought. Robin was right, per usual. Sanji just got lucky this time...

"Dawn," Ace grinned. His smile was contagious and in mere seconds Dawn was sporting a matching smirk. He lightly gripped her chin and raised her head up to look at him, their noses practically touching. "Can I take you out to dinner tomorrow night? Just the two of us?"

"I think I'd really like that..." Dawn whispered before the distance between the two closed and their lips finally met. The kiss was soft, shy even as neither wanted to risk spoking the other. Dawn felt her toes curl inside her shoes, as Ace slowly ran a hand down her arm and onto the small of her back. Her own arms rhythmically locking into place behind his head, deepening the kiss.

It was now filled with passion, with a burning desire to catch up on all the time they wasted yelling at one another. The two finally broke apart with a gasp for air before resting their foreheads against one another's as they caught their breath.

"I love you," Ace began once he had caught his breath enough. "I think I've loved you ever since I first saw you. You're strong and beautiful. Yet kind, so very kind. Plus you don't mind that I'm a pirate..."

Dawn laughed lightly before slowly reconnecting their lips, "I love you too,"

Epilogue - Another two-year skip

It's been two years since Dawn and Ace first kissed. Since they finally realized their love for one another. The crew just sailed away from a desert island where the sun was a bit more intense than even Ace could stand.

"Looks like I can say goodbye to bikinis for a while..." Dawn muttered as she poured aloe vera onto her sunburnt stomach.

"Stop before you make me cry!" Ace half joked as he rubbed some into her shoulders. The two were inseparable, and although it took some time, they could finally lean on each other for support no matter what the problem was. When Sabo came back from the dead, Dawn was there. When Blackbeard tried to steal Dawn's devil fruit, Ace was there. And then when he tried to steal Ace's, Dawn was there again. Now, even for something as small as sunburns on her shoulders and stomach, he was there.

"Thank you," Dawn smiled a genuine grin of happiness. One that Ace instantaneously mirrored. One that the two would happily share, forever.

THE END.