One Piece One Shots [x Reader]

Sucker Punch (Ace x Reader)

Modern AU, loosely inspired by the song "Sucker Punch" by Sigrid. This is nothing but self-indulgent fluff.

„It hit me like a sucker punch, just one look and now I'm out of touch."

It had never occurred to you that there were different ways of falling in love with someone. You'd always just assumed that it was a standardised procedure with minor deviations due to the individuals involved.
As it turned out, you had been wrong. Big time.

You had been best friends with Portgas D. Ace since the second year of University, when you'd woken him up after he had fallen asleep during a test while munching on food.

Everyday, he would pick you up from home. At first, you'd felt bad about it and wanted to offer him some money, but he'd just laughed it off and called you insane. And since he had an actual car of his own while all you could afford was public transport (barely), you had gratefully accepted. You hadn't ever acknowledged the fact you two had become friends, there was no need to. Other than his narcolepsy and bing-eating tendencies (though he still managed to stay in shape flawlessly, god how you'd kill for that metabolism), Ace was one of, if not the easiest person to be around: He always made you feel comfortable and at ease, made you laugh everyday and cheered you up after the inevitable failures here and there (Hey, nobody said Uni was easy, but that didn't mean you couldn't throw yourself a pity-party regardless).

To you, he had always been just a friend. Sure, you saw each other on a daily basis and since your last relationship (fiasco), you hadn't hung out with anyone else as often as Ace, but somehow, it all seemed natural and perfectly platonic to you.

Until you'd met his brothers Thatch and Marco, who had proceeded to try and rile Ace up by calling you his „girlfriend" and „wifey" all the time. He'd mostly just laughed and shrugged it off, but you couldn't help but blush everytime the two demons older guys brought it up, resulting in them only teasing you more for it.

And then, you'd asked yourself: Why were you blushing? Was there something your physiological reactions were aware of that your psychological self wasn't?
So, being the budding scientist and severe case of OCD you were, you'd done the only thing that seemed plausible to you: You'd set up a theoretical model of possible causes for your going red in the face.

When did a person normally blush?
When they were embarrassed or ashamed. But was there a reason for you to be ashamed of the potential situation of Ace being your boyfriend? Certainly not. He was a wonderful person and he was definitely good-looking (in an objective, empirically valid way, of course).
But if you weren't ashamed or embarrassed, what was the reason?
(Of course you knew there was another opportunity. But you were way too deep in denial to even let it come to your mind.)
You decided you needed to gather more practical evidence to expand your model.

So you started to pay more attention to the way you and Ace interacted with one another. But somehow, you just couldn't manage to find anything out of the ordinary.

But then, today, you had an epiphany. It didn't come naturally though, but was rather forced on to you. After school, you were waiting at Ace's car as always. He was usually more late than you, but today, he was exceptionally late. You pulled out your phone and texted him.
(Y/N): Hey fireface, you fell asleep in class or what?
When he didn't answer for another 5 minutes, you were contemplating to just go back in and search for him (yes, you were a very patient person). Just when you wanted to leave to go find him, you saw him.

But he was not alone.
Walking next to him, basically shoving herself against him, was without a doubt the most beautiful girl you had ever seen. Her skin and hair was flawless and her overall appearance made her seem like a freaking supermodel, not a university student. Self-conscious, you took a peek down at your own outfit – plain, normal, boring.