Who Knew? {Ace x Reader}

Who Knew...

You took a large swig from your tankard, the bar you're in is very rowdy but you don't care, you're so wrapped up in your happy thoughts to pay attention. You still remember the first time you met him, that energetic man. 

Your beautiful [e/c] orbs has first noticed his cowboy hat, then his chest which was all too exposed. Upon dragging your eyes from his chest, you met his freckles and then lastly, his eyes. Fire-Fist Ace.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you alright?" he asked politely after he accidentally sent a marine flying into you. You could barely believe this guy was truly said to be a pirate, he was so friendly and well-mannered. He even had his hand reached out to you in order to assist you to your feet. "My name is Portgas D. Ace, may I ask what yours is?" his voice was so calm, but polite. You had let him pull you up with his strong hands and that was the day your life changed completely. Once you told him your name, he had realized that you were the girl he'd heard so much about the past days he had been in that town. You were reknown for your strength in both your combat and your mind. When you decided you wanted to do something, you sure as hell did it. And he liked that about you, he even got you to join his crew.

♫You took my hand

You showed me how

You promised me you'd be around.

Uh-huh

That's right...♫ 

Your tankard was now empty, you waved your hand to the barkeep, silently requesting a refill to which, he carried out doing, before leaving you to your thoughts. Ace had spent weeks training you, you were strong when you joined but if you're involved with Whitebeard's crew, you needed to be at your strongest. You still remembered the times you'd start to doubt yourself and Ace would always say the right things to get you to believe in yourself again.

"If you give up on your dreams, what do you have left?" His voice was still ringing in your ears, as if he was sitting right next to you. He had made you more headstrong than you'd ever been, more tough. But he had done this without changing who you are and that was what made you admire him most.

"No, No, [f/n]. You do that in a fight and you'll end up on your butt." Ace had laughed at you in one of your many failed attempts, the more he got comfy with you, the less polite he was but he was still kind-hearted  and you adored that. 

"Then stop laughing and teach me, you jerk!" you bit back at him, you weren't being serious though, you had always bickered with him in training as he made fun of you.

♫I took your words and I believed

In everything you said to me

Yeah-huh

That's right...♫ 

You'll never forget what he had said to you that night, by the fire. You had always had a fascination with the flames and you found his ability simply beautiful. You had found everything about him beautiful, it hurt you when he had labelled himself as worthless.

"[f/n]...I wanna ask you something..." you remember looking up at his bright red face as he avoided making eye contact with you. "Will you..." he started but hadn't finished, you had a feeling what he was going to say but you desperately wanted to hear him say it. "D-Do you love me? Will you be my girlfriend?" he had blurted it all out at once, you had doubted it was his intention, since his entire face, even his ears had lightened up, a blindingly bright red colour. But you had still worn your smile on your face, growing slowly as you reached for his face and rested your hand on his cheek, gently pulling him so that he was facing at you, his eyes landing on yours.