the light behind your eyes | portgas d. ace x reader

.one.

warnings: midly strong language, character's death and possible spoilers for one piece if you're not past the dressrosa arc.

The grass is itchy against my skin, the wind is cold against my skin but the sun... the sun is warm and bright against my face and makes up for everything else I don't like about being lying on the ground in the forgotten area that used to be part of the city of Saboady Archipielago.

And as I lay there I think to myself that if I close my eyes real tight, I can still see him. I think that if I try hard enough I can see past the blood pouring out from his chest, I can see past the peaceful smile he bore when his body hit the ground, past that awful sound of his body colliding against the rock hard ground that still haunts me to this day.

I think I can remember a time when things didn't look so... lost.

....

"Ace..." my voice is soft, quiet and not wanting to break the little atmosphere that surrounds us.

For a moment a think he might be asleep but his mumbling against the soft pillow underneath his face tells me otherwise.

"What's that?" I ask softly, as I lean on my elbows to watch his face buried in the white fabric of the bed, his face suddenly turns and with closed eyes and a smile on his face he repeats himself.

"Go... to... sleep."

"But I'm not sleepy, Ace." I sigh, as my fingers run down his soft dark curls, he groans both in satisfaction and annoyance, maybe because he knows that if I don't sleep he won't, but I have never asked him that he should join me on my sleepless nights, he just does.

"I'm going out for a while, okay?" I tell him as I kiss his cheek, softly; he mumbles something which I don't quite catch and I shrug it off as sleep taking over him once more but before I can sit properly on the bed and leave our shared bedroom, his warm fingers have a soft grip on my wrist to pull me down on the bed as I find his body pinning me down into bed.

"There's no need for you to leave, I'm up."

"I can see that," I chuckle, looking away from his intense gaze, "you can go back to sleep, baby. I'll just take some fresh air and be back in a flash."

"Last time you said that, I woke up in an empty bed and you," his tone is accusative, "cuddling with Marco after playing strip poker with the other commanders, so I rather not."

"That was a one time thing, Ace! You don't have to mention it always." I pout with a blush.

He smiles down at me, his hair obscuring part of his eyes before he lifts his head and his dark orbs are once again drilling inside my head, scorching my soul and it's when he does that that I find myself unable to look away from his intense gaze, as I blush madly at him.

"S-stop looking at me like that, Ace."

He chuckles, a smirk painting his lips; "I've never heard you once complain."

I look away, while hiding the ever-growing blush on my cheeks.

"You look so cute when you blush like that."

"S-shut up," I stutter.

"Oh my god," he gasps, "how much redder can you get?" he finishes with a chuckle.

....

"Where do you go when you're not here?" he asks, his question is soft and gentle as if to try and not break me, it bothers me when he treats me like a china doll, especially today.