Old Adventures: The Alcohol Talking
Irin sipped her beer as she continued listening to Izou talk, the two were getting along very well and half the time Irin wasn't even aware that she was completely being herself. Izou just somehow had a very comforting energy, he was kind but he wasn't like Marco or Thatch.
She didn't know how to describe it but she enjoyed talking to him and hearing about his stories about her mother.
Ace only served as a bartender for Irin when she was immersed in her conversation with Izou. His face held a common deadpan as he poured the alcoholic liquid into her mug over and over again. He must've lost concentration and lost count the amount of times he refilled her mug because if he was conscious he would have never poured that many refills for her but no, his mind was somewhere else as he got bored from listening to their conversation.
The cacophony of laughter rang throughout the ship as the banquet raged on, everyone was either having an eating competition, having a drinking competition, dancing, singing or engaged in a very interesting conversation.
Izou and Irin had both spent hours conversing, the two had lost track of time while Ace, who had moved to sit next to Irin, pouted from being bored. He looked at the two as he sighed, he liked that Irin was finally being herself and having fun but he really wanted to spend time with her, after all, the two have not met in a long time.
The two who were talking came to a brief silence, Ace took this as an opportunity, "Izou! Look there! An alien!" he pointed towards where Izou's back was facing. When the man in the kimono turned to see what Ace was talking about, he had already dashed off with Irin.
Izou looked back to tell Ace that he did not see any aliens but the freckled man had already carried the pinkette away.
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Ace held Irin on his back when he dashed away, carrying her with her back facing the front as she dangled behind him. He hid behind a wall, on the quiet side of the ship, as he gently put her down on the wooden floor of Moby Dick. Irin inhaled deeply to scold Ace but was stopped when he slapped his hand over his mouth and shushed her, "Shhh!!"
Irin pushed his hand away, "You just kidnapped me! I was in the middle of talking to Izou-san!" she whisper-yelled.
Ace stayed silent as he tried to formulate his sentence for rebuttal, he would've just said that he wanted to spend time with her but his pride prohibited him from doing so.
She looked at him expectantly, awaiting his reply but he just sat down on the wooden floor.
"You know when you left without saying anything, Luffy cried for days," he said, "He thought you died or something and he kept going out to look for you... I didn't know whether to tell him the truth or not because you never said anything to him so I just thought you didn't want him to know."
Irin smiled sadly, taking a seat next to Ace, "I wonder if he'd hate me if I showed up in front of him as a Marine..."
"He would never, you know that"
"Do I? I didn't even tell him a single thing about me becoming a Marine... We promised to go out to the sea, didn't we? We promised to live freer than anyone... And here I am..."
"And that was your choice, Irin. I respect it and I'm sure Luffy would too. We both know how he is, he's reckless, stupid, careless and a crybaby but he's also kind. He would never hate you for something as minor as this." Ace reassured Irin, pouring more beer into both their cups.
He had managed to run away with an unopened bottle of beer and a plate of meat.
Irin looked at Ace, hiding her worries with a smile, "I guess you're right..."
"Don't just guess, I know I'm right," Ace grinned, taking a sip from his cup, "He's probably fast asleep and alone right now at Dadan's place."
The pink haired Vice Admiral giggled, "He probably is... Remember that one time when we thought it was a good idea to practice fighting in the room and Luffy fell right through the floor!"
Ace laughed at the memory, "Yeah! You were the only one laughing for no reason and Dadan didn't even scold you!" he reminisced, "Luffy was the only one who got a beating and scolding from that, you got away with it just like you always do."
"What can I say, I was just always on Dadan's good side," Irin shrugged, mockingly.
The freckled boy shook his head as he smiled to himself, "Glad that you're aware... You were always Dadan and Jii-jii's favourite, what a people pleaser," Ace teased.
Irin frowned a little as those words left Ace's mouth.
She had been called a people pleaser multiple times and they were all meant as insults so she didn't really like hearing those words. Even though she knew Ace didn't mean any offense, those words always left an uncomfortable feeling behind.
She forced a chuckle, "Yeah..."
Ace turned to look at her, sensing her very subtle change in tone. It was barely even noticeable but he had always paid close attention to her behaviour. Why? Nobody knows. It was just something he did since he was little, "Iri-"
"Do you think Luffy will join Whitebeard-san if you asked him to?" she asked, cutting Ace off.
He frowned at her attempt to avoid the topic, he was going to get her to speak about it either way but he decided to put it off for a bit and just enjoy his time with her, "Probably not, but it'd be nice if he did," he chuckled.
"Right? He's not the type to follow orders... Plus he's extremely determined to become the King of Pirates."
"That's too bad for him then because I'm going to make Pops the King of Pirates."
"I guess the two of you are just gonna have to fight it out then. I'm rooting for Luffy," Irin teased, sticking her tongue out.
An irk mark appeared on Ace's forehead, "Fine... I'll win anyways so I don't need your support."
Irin chuckled, "Don't be so sure about that, Ace," she looked at him with a smirk, "He may cry a lot but he's not weak."
"Tsk you're always siding Luffy, stop pampering him," Ace unknowingly pouted.
The pinkette giggled at his expression, he seemed to always pout whenever she showered Luffy with compliments and not him, "I can't help it Ace, Luffy's a lot nicer to me than you are," she teased.
It was true though, as children Ace pulled pranks on Irin a lot and bullied Luffy quite a bit to get a reaction out of Irin. He liked making fun of her because she always had the best responses. The two eventually developed a friendly competition of teasing with each other although Ace would occasionally get butthurt.
"Hey! I'm nice too!"
"I didn't say you weren't!"
"But that's what you meant!"
Irin stared at Ace with an annoyed face, "That's not what I meant, you dummy..."
"Your face says it all," Ace squinted at Irin.
"My face isn't saying anything!" she glared.
The two glared at each other for a while, not breaking their eye contact at all. They then broke out in laughter, laughing at their childish antics and at the nostalgia of that moment they shared. Their laughter softened, the singing and then laughter from the Whitebeard Pirates could be heard in the background as the two stared into the starry skies.
They leaned against the wall comfortably, Ace's warmth could be felt by Irin even though their skins weren't touching. She moved a little closer to him and looked at him, taking in every detail of his face.
She thought he was beautiful.
She moved her finger and poked his face.
Ace moved his head back a little and looked at her finger then switched his gaze towards her face, "What are you doing?"
"Counting every single freckle you have on your face," she grinned, "They look pretty on you." The pinkette giggled as she poked his face again.
Ace blushed.
He blushed as those words left her mouth, if he remembered correctly this exact scene had happened before when they were younger, "Didn't you already do this a few years ago?" he asked, averting his gaze.
"Yeah but I wanna see if you've gotten any new ones," she said, concentrating on his freckles and dragging her finger across his face gently, "You've got 5 new ones."
He continued to look away.
Irin tilted her face to meet his eyes, "What's wrong?" she asked.
"N-Nothing..." he stuttered, still avoiding eye contact with her.
Irin giggled and returned to her original sitting position as she took a sip of beer from her cup, "Ahh!" she sighed, "I wish I discovered this gem earlier..."
Ace looked at her and smiled gently, "You shouldn't drink too much..."
"But it's nice..." she pouted.
"Amateur, you don't know what's nice..." he teased, "One day, I'll get you some of the best wine the world has to offer and then you'll know what's nice."
Irin smiled ear to ear, "Really?" she asked, "I guess you're nice after all."
He glared at her playfully, "Only to you."
"Liar," she smiled with her brows furrowed as she stifled a laugh.
"I'm not lying!"
"Sure... And I'm not a Marine."
"You're a real piece of shit, Irin."
"I know."
The two once again sat in a comfortable silence as they stargazed. That was something strange about them. They didn't have to talk or do anything to keep each other entertained, they just had to keep each other company and do nothing.
They liked doing nothing.
Ace glanced at Irin from his peripheral vision, she was silent as she gazed at the beautiful stars that lit up the sky (moon: am i a joke to you?). She was quiet but her expression spoke a thousand words, her face told him that she was content yet sad.
She didn't want moments like this to end but Ace didn't know that.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," she sighed.
"You're not," Ace looked at her with worry in his eyes, "You're not okay... Your smile... It's sad. What's wrong?"
She turned to look at him, forcing another fake smile on her face, "There's nothing wrong, Ace."
He frowned, "Stop it."
"Huh?"
"Stop smiling like that! I don't like it! It's ugly!" he scolded.
Irin moved back as she tore her gaze away from Ace, "I'm sorry I'm not pretty to look at..."
Ace frowned as he craned his neck to try and meet her eyes but then decided to turn her to face him because he couldn't meet her gaze by just craning his neck. He held her by her shoulder and then pulled her towards him to face her,
"You're beautiful, okay?" he said, pronouncing every word clearly for her to get his message, "But only when you're yourself and not someone you force yourself to be for the convenience of others."
She looked at him with wide eyes as her eyes glazed over with tears.
No, she won't allow herself to cry. She mustn't burden people with her meaningless tears. That was what ran through her head.
Irin turned away from Ace and looked up at the sky, "I'm okay, Ace. There's nothing wrong," she lied as she bit her lip, preventing her lips from wobbling downwards and allowing herself to cry a river.
Ace tsked, "You can't just keep lying to me and yourself!" He spoke loudly.
Irin closed her eyes with her brows furrowed, she wanted him to get off her case. She was too prideful to share her problems and to her, she viewed her problem as something small, something that shouldn't even be viewed as a problem.
The girl may care deeply for others but when it came to herself she was unbelievably harsh.
"It doesn't count as lying if what I'm saying is true," she said.
"That's the dumbest lie you've ever told me," Ace replied, trying to read her expression.
Irin kept quiet as she stared at the ground, if what she said was a lie then she shouldn't say anything more, at least that's what she thought.
He frowned at her silence, "Fine... If you don't wanna talk about it then it's fine but I'm here for you... So if you need someone to talk to, I'll be here for you, okay?" he told her.
She looked at him with slightly widened eyes then smiled gently yet with a hint of sorrow lingering at the tips of her lips. Irin scooted closer to Ace then leaned her head on his shoulder.
The freckled boy flinched at the body contact, it may have just been the alcohol's work but Irin was never one to go for body contact much. "I'm tired, Ace..." she mumbled.
He allowed the comfort of her head on his shoulder to sink in, her body temperature worked perfectly well against his hot one. Ace liked the feeling of her body temperature on him.
"Then sleep," he said.
She closed her eyes as she continued to rest on his shoulder. Irin had her knees folded towards her chest while Ace sat with his legs crossed.
"Not in that way..." she muttered as she brought the cup of beer towards her lips for another sip, finishing the whole cup of alcohol. "Ahh," she sighed.
The alcohol and her tiredness was actually getting to her. She was not a lightweight and she had an extremely high alcohol tolerance despite this being her first time. However, she had way too much to drink that night.
Ace glanced at her, "Stop drinking already, you'll get drunk," he warned.
Irin only giggled at his warning, "Don't worry, I won't..." she said, "But it's nice to have someone to care for me..."
She was already drunk.
Not only was she drunk but she was extremely tired from the day's events. Her social battery ran out quite a while ago but she forced herself to continue socialising. So right at that moment, she was just being her unfiltered self.
"What are you talking about? We've always cared for each other since we were kids," Ace cocked a brow.
The pinkette smiled as she opened her eyes, "I miss that... I miss being with you and Luffy," she said, "I really miss not being alone..."
Ace scanned her face, he couldn't see much because of the darkness but he swore he had seen a tear trickle down her face. He remained quiet, awaiting for her elaboration on her feelings.
Her lips wobbled downwards a little before she spoke again, "I don't wanna feel alone..."
"You're not, Irin," Ace looked at her.
"But I was... I am..." she muttered, "I-I... Nothing I do is right... Not even living... I hate this..."
The ravenette frowned at her words, what went wrong over the years? He wanted, so badly, to know, "What happened, Irin? What happened after you left?" he asked, not expecting an answer due to her previous responses.
This time, however, she replied, "They hate me... Many people didn't like how I became a Marine Officer so quickly..." she stared into nothing, she just looked blankly ahead of her. "Nothing much happened, I shouldn't care about what people say and I, frankly, don't so why? Why does it bother me so much? Why does it hurt so much?" she sobbed, allowing her tears to run free.
Irin then chuckled at her words, "Oh god I hate myself so much." she said, voice filled with venom, "I'm so pathetic, letting small matters like this bother me. It shouldn't even matter and yet I..."
"God, I'm terrible." she laughed.
Ace's brows knitted together as those words left her lips, "Don't say that," he said, "Don't ever say that about yourself."
She removed her head from his shoulder and looked at him with a smile, though her eyes were filled with tears. What a contradicting expression. "But it's true," she said softly.
To Ace, her words were a lie but he could tell that in her eyes she spoke the truth.
That was how she felt about herself. The hurtful words that people told her over and over again got to her. She tried her very best to not let those bother her but in the end it did. The words that she heard never really left her and she started to believe in those painful words that people had said.
Irin started to believe in the lies she was told.
She started to believe that she was unworthy of being a Vice Admiral, that she was nothing but a people pleaser and her success was only gained through her connections.
In her own eyes, she was nothing but a leech, taking credit for all the work she didn't do.
But she was no leech, she worked for all she achieved. Irin worked harder than anyone, she tried harder than anyone but nobody believed her.
Nobody saw her hard work, they only saw her success and chose to blame it all on her connections. It made her feel like a joke but she always shrugged that feeling off, that feeling slowly grew into how she felt about herself.
"It hurts... It hurts so fucking much but I don't know what's hurting and why it's hurting..." Irin cried, clenching her fists till it bled, "Damn it, I wish I wasn't so weak!"
Ace couldn't just watch her do this to herself, he hated how she believed those lies.
He hated how she felt that way about herself because in his eyes she was amazing. To him, she was the most wonderful person in the world, she was the kindest, the strongest, the most caring, the most hardworking; she was the embodiment of everything good in his eyes and yet this was how she saw herself.
She was made to believe that she was everything bad, she was fed with words that weren't true.
Irin's eyes widened when she came to her senses, realising that she had just ranted about her problems.
She felt as though she had made Ace uncomfortable with her negativity, "I'm so sorry-"
Ace cut her off by wrapping his arms around her body.
"If I made you uncomfortable..." she finished her sentence softly as her eyes widened from his abrupt actions.
Even amidst her hurt she still put others before her.
He hugged her tightly as he brought his hand towards her head and gently caressed her, "You're not weak, Irin... God, you are so not weak... You are so incredibly strong that I can't even compare. Don't apologise for feeling pain... Don't ever apologise for feeling. I wish I could tell you to just ignore the painful words but I know it doesn't work that way so I just wanna tell you that you're everything they say you're not."
"You're so incredibly hard working and you deserve everything that you've achieved. You deserve it, you deserve everything good. Heck, you deserve the whole damn world. If you still don't see it then I'll show it to you."
"I'll show you that you're beautiful and that you're the most wonderful person in the world."
Irin's body went limp in Ace's hold, she had fallen asleep amidst his little speech but she heard them. She heard his words even if she wouldn't remember them the next day, at that moment she heard it and she felt better for a moment.
"Irin?" Ace held Irin by her shoulders and pushed her off a little to see her. She was asleep. He sweatdropped at her sleeping expression but smiled gently at her face. Irin reached for Ace's body, she hugged his warm body, snuggling close and into his bare chest.
He turned red at her actions as he looked at her sleeping figure on his body, she clinged onto him like a little koala bear.
"Warm... Thank you... Ace..." she mumbled in her sleep.
Ace brought his arm towards her, wrapping them around Irin's body. He patted her softly as he watched her sleep. He watched her shoulders rise steadily as she breathed. The tear stains on her face reflected the gentle moonlight as he brought his finger towards it and gently moved it across her face.
Despite the sounds of the party ringing behind the two of them, their worlds were silent. Ace looked up into the beautiful night sky as he kept his arm around Irin's sleeping figure. He thought about how she must have felt and wondered if he could make her feel better. No, he had to make her feel better, he wanted to.
He was a little like her. He believed that he didn't deserve to be born and he was going through his own problem, yet he wanted to help her no matter what.
That part of him was exactly like her.
They were both so selfless yet so selfish.
Ace lifted her up and hoisted her into the bridal style, smiling softly at her sleeping expression. He'd never admit it but she looked so peaceful and beautiful. The freckled man got up and got ready to walk back to his room. She was carefully held in his arms as she leaned into his body warmth.
Irin remained fast asleep as Ace walked to his room with her in his hold.
The ravenette walked past the main party with Irin snuggled in his chest as his crewmates stared at him. Sure, some of them were too drunk to notice the situation but not Thatch, Marco or Izou, they stared at Ace wide eyed as they noticed the pinkette he was holding.
"Ace, where are you bringing Irin-sama?" Izou asked.
"I'm taking her to my room, where else?" Ace raised a brow.
The three men stared at him wide eyed, "You're what?!" Izou stomped towards Ace, "I think it's safer if Irin-sama slept in my room!"
"What?! Why?!" Ace exclaimed, pulling Irin closer to himself.
"Because I don't trust you!" Izou reached his hand towards Irin, "Who knows what you'd do to her!"
"Yeah! It's not fair, Ace! Who knows what you'd do to her," Thatch joined in.
Marco laughed at their reactions, "Don't worry-yoi! Ace wouldn't do anything to her-yoi! He's not the type to do anything to an unguarded girl," he defended Ace.
"Exactly! What am I even supposed to do with her? It's not like I can play catch with her while she's asleep!" Ace said.
The three men sweatdropped at Ace as they gave a deadpan expression.
"He's absolutely hopeless as a man..." Thatch walked away with a gloom cloud floating over him.
Izou sighed, "At least now that I know this my mind is put at ease... I'm going to bed."
Marco just smirked at the two men who had left then turned to face Ace, "Don't try anything funny," he warned seriously then returned to his friendly demeanor, "Alright off to bed, kids!"
Ace sweatdropped at Marco, 'Kids?'
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The freckled ravenette stepped into his room, it was dark and no candle was lit. He brought his finger towards a candle and lit it up with his Devil Fruit ability. Ace walked deeper into his room which was now visible because of the candle light, he had a queen sized bed, a small table at the corner of his room and a wardrobe, that was all. His room was simple and only had the things he needed, he was rarely in his room besides night time anyway.
Ace pushed his clothes that were occupying his bed onto the ground along with his blanket, to make room for Irin, then gently placed her down. Her pink hair sprawled across his pillow and her sleeping figure silently snoozed away. He pulled the blanket over her and smiled gently.
She looked so calm.
He brought his hand towards her face and pushed away a strand of hair. Irin leaned towards the warmth of his hand and he flinched, retracting his hand. She frowned despite being asleep.
Ace looked at her quizzically then brought his hand towards her face again, she reacted the same way as she did before. Irin leaned towards his warm hands and smiled a little in her sleep.
He pulled away his hands, getting ready to sleep on Moby Dicks deck as she rested on his bed but Irin reached her hands out towards him, "Don't go..." she whispered.
The freckled man turned to look at her, she was still fast asleep but a frown was visible on her face.
He contemplated whether to stay or leave and decided to go with the former. Ace decided to stay and rest with her for the night.
How strange could it be? They used to sleep together when they were little so it shouldn't be that bad, right?
A/N: HOLY SHIT GUYS WE'RE AT 1K READS!! THAT'S ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE READS AND SUPPORT!! I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM!!
THANK YOU FOR READING, VOTING AND COMMENTING ON MY STORY! I LOVE SEEING YOUR VOTES AND COMMENTS IN MY NOTIFICATION BOX, IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME SO THANK YOU!!
because we reached such an incredible milestone there'll be a special update later this week so stay tuned!! <3
also guys... how do you guys feel about lemons?