Tick Tock [Portgas D. Ace/Sabo Fan Fic]

Sheltered Embrace

Disclaimer: I do not own OP or any of the characters involved.  

Time passed by too quickly, grains of sand that fell in an endless weight, a mountain of stress to pile against his shoulders in increasing tension. A hand rose to rub at his face, shoulders slack as sigh parted lips to brush through cooling air. There was a tightness in his throat that was becoming more prominent, a constant irritation now that brought coughs to life far more often than he would like. It was becoming increasingly difficult to pass off the raging coughs as little more than a lingering sickness, especially around Sabo. He was like a shadow now and days, ashen hues sliding past the comfort of his sketchbook to rest across the length of  bed too close and too far.

Sabo had taken to crashing in his room now, more out of stubborn belief that he could get Ace to sleep than anything else. It was amusing really, given his tendency to fall asleep before him anyway, Ace relying mainly on his own narcolepsy to draw him into sleep now. It was an annoying but welcome presence all the same, ashen grey falling upon the back of his blond head as he focused on the even breathing that brushed through the air of his room.

He smiled at the memory of shared feelings, still taken aback by Sabo's confession, though that had been nearly two weeks ago now. There was a constant question in those cerulean eyes, one he had taken to meeting once more now if only in fleeting glances.

Love was a strange, foreign thing yet Sabo seemed so willing to share it with him, with the ticking time bomb that was rapidly becoming Ace's life. How was he supposed to express his own fears without tearing up the floor from beneath him? He was walking on thin ice, constantly fearing the moment icy chill rise up to meet with him and drag his struggling form down into dawning abyss. That was not a dip he looked forward to, nor a path he had ever wanted to follow.

Another sigh rippled from his lips, light cough tensing shoulders as his hand slipped from eyes to cover over lips and muffle any sound that might escape. He shivered, the sudden chill passing down his spine as he struggled to control his own breathing and stifle short coughs before they could grow worse. Sabo may be sleeping, but he wasn't an idiot. If he coughed up blood here, there would be no hiding it.

He bent forward, stiffing the coughs with difficulty before pushing himself up from his desk to head towards the bathroom once more.

It was becoming his sanctuary of sorts, his own room taken over by Sabo now so that was out of the question. Funny really, given he had finally offered to clean out his studio and make room for Sabo to sleep there, yet he had insisted to stay in here. Ace didn't need a babysitter, but if anyone was going to watch over him, then it might as well be the irritating blond.

He wet a cloth, bringing it to his face with slight shaking of hands as he leaned back against the bathroom counter besides the sink. Damp chill to wake him up again. He didn't want to sleep, not when sleeping either ended in nightmares or coughing spills yet again.

Another cough shook his form and he turned to grip at counter in a vice like grip, cloth held over his lips as he bent over once more.

He hated this, hated the pain that came with each ripping cough and the weakness that lay just around the edge of his thoughts. It was a sickness that spread and devoured, Ace again reminded of the passing weight of time, each second a second lost. To think of time was to think of how much time he had left, an impossible crashing fear waiting just over the horizon.

Shaking spread from his fingers to shoulders, and no longer from the pain of coughs that still racked his form. When a hand fell upon shoulder, he nearly jumped, eyes flashing up to stare into the depths of mirror only to meet with tired blue. Another cough and Ace shook his head, cloth pulled away from lips as he tossed it into the sink once more with a steadying breath.