Old Adventures: Good Idea
"Alright Stefan, follow me," Ace said as he walked ahead. He looked back to see the dog staring at him with his doe eyes, "Tsk oh come on Stefan, I need your help!" the freckled boy grunted, he then sighed and deadpanned, "I'll give you some of my meat later on."
The dog barked twice in glee before trailing behind Ace. The two of them had left the group, who were busy eating watermelons, to pursue their plans.
"Okay so, Stefan, here's the plan; you are going to help me lead Irin to me because she likes you and she clearly doesn't like me as of this moment but the problem is where the heck do I find somewhere private on this beach to apologise to her?" Ace ranted as softly as he could to a dog.
Yes, this 18 year-old was asking for girl advice from a little white dog who could only bark once, indicating that he had no help to offer.
Ace sighed as he continued to walk away from the watermelon-eating group with Stefan by his side. Stefan then barked at Ace multiple times before dashing off ahead, "What?! Where are you going?!" he yelled out to the dog that was running away from him.
The freckled ravenette chased after the white dog. Wherever Stefan was heading was definitely away from the crowd.
They stopped when they were at the far end of the beach. Stefan, panting with his tongue out as he stared at Ace with a proud look.
Ace, too, was panting. With his hands on his knees and his body bent forward, he inhaled and exhaled, "What's up with you?!" he asked as he tried to catch his breath. He then looked up to see Stefan walking towards a cave.
The raven haired boy followed him, walking slowly behind. The deeper they got into the cave the brighter it got.
What? The brighter it got?
Yes, the deeper they ventured into the cave, the brighter it got.
Ace gawked at the bioluminescent fungi that coated the ceiling of the cave, it was absolutely stunning. There were glow-in-the dark mushrooms lining the sides of the cave; like candles lined on a romantic walkway. The mushrooms were all coloured differently and exotically and as he walked further into the cave he couldn't help but notice a lone bright pink mushroom hanging from the top of the cave instead of growing from the ground like the rest of the coloured mushrooms.
"Pfftt, Irin," Ace snickered with a hand covering his mouth to stop him from laughing and his other hand pointing at the pink mushroom. Stefan barked at Ace and glared at him.
He was not going to allow Ace to make fun of Irin.
Ace frowned and pouted at the dog, "Don't tell me I've got more competition now," he squinted as he crossed his arms, "You're supposed to help me, Stefan, not give me more trouble."
Stefan only barked as he walked ahead of Ace with his head held high and away from the freckled ravenette's gaze.
"Someone's got an attitude," Ace chided.
The dog turned around and glared at Ace. He had enough of this idiot's shit.
Stefan barked at Ace and made his way to the exit of the cave.
"Argh!" Ace exclaimed as he caught Stefan in his hands, "I still need your help, Stefan!"
Stefan deadpanned at the 18 year-old boy who was seeking help from a dog. He looked at Ace expectantly as he continued to hold his deadpan.
Ace stuck his lips out as he, too, deadpanned at the dog before sighing, "Fine, I'm sorry... Will you please help me?" he asked as nicely as possible.
The white dog grinned and hopped out of Ace's hold. He walked ahead of Ace and continued deeper into the nicely lit cave.
The two stopped walking once they reached the end of the cave. Ace gazed up and around the cave with a grin on his face, he was sure that if he apologised in this very cave Irin would forgive him and maybe even fall for him a little.
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Ace and Stefan sat in front of each other as the freckled boy briefed the dog on what he was supposed to do.
"Okay so, all you have to do is to lead Irin here but make sure she doesn't catch on that you're leading her somewhere. Make her follow you without knowing where she's heading because if she knows that you're leading her to me she'd definitely turn back and leave." Ace explained cautiously, "Capisce?"
The dog nodded before getting up to leave the cave.
After Stefan left, Ace was left to compose a whole apology essay in his head; he tried to figure out what words he should use and how he should apologise to her.
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"Stefan! Where are you going with my onigiri?!" Irin exclaimed as she chased after the white dog. He had stolen her onigiri and ran off; the one thing Irin would not allow anyone to touch.
Her onigiri.
Her rice ball.
She was close to letting this slide because she loved cute things and Stefan was absolutely adorable but the dog just kept the onigiri in his mouth's hold without chewing or eating it. This made her wonder why he stole her onigiri in the first place so she chased after him.
What Irin did not expect was that Stefan had led her deep into a cave and to Ace.
She stared at Ace with wide eyes as she blinked twice then frowned a little.
"Stefan, what-" she turned to face the white dog but he was gone. The pink haired girl then returned her gaze to Ace before taking steps away from him.
Ace reached out to her, this time in time, to grab her hand, "Wait!" he exclaimed.
Her eyes widened, 'Is this the moment that Thatch-san and Marco-san were talking about?'
Irin pursed her lips and turned around to face the fiery boy.
"Look, I just need a few minutes with you, Irin... Just hear me out and if you still hate me after this then it's fine... But just hear me out, okay? Please?" Ace pleaded with guilt in his eyes that Irin had never seen before.
'I-I hurt him because I was selfish!' she thought as she bit down on her bottom lip and frowned.
Ace scanned her face as he awaited his reply but alas, she only remained quiet. He pressed his lips together before speaking, "Irin... I-I..." he stuttered, choking on his words and unable to force them out.
Irin looked at him, she was holding herself back from apologising to him first but she promised Thatch, Marco and Vista she wouldn't.
The freckled boy took a deep breath with his eyes closed before sighing then looking at her. He gathered his thoughts together in order for him to apologise to the girl that was so important to him, "Look Irin, I err... I didn't mean what I said that night, I hope you know that a-and I really want you to know that you mean so so much to me that I couldn't help but feel frustrated that--"
"That you didn't need me to be there for you... Honestly, I'm not really sure what got me so frustrated but what happened after made me feel even worse and I... I don't ever want that to happen ever again..."
"Irin, you're my best friend in this whole entire world, we swore to it, and you mean the world to me too. You're the most amazing person I know and I'm so lucky to have you in my life. So I just hope you know that, I'll always be here for you even if you don't want me around, I'll always treat you as my best friend even if you don't want me as your best friend anymore and I've never thought that us meeting was a mistake, instead, it was one of the greatest things that happened in my life."
"I'm so sorry, Irin..."
"I'm so sorry for all those times I hurt you, I'm sorry for being insensitive at times, I'm sorry for not trying to understand you when you're the one person who understands me the best, I'm sorry for being mean to you all the time... I'm just so sorry, Irin!"
"I'm so so goddamn sorry for making you sad and I'm so sorry for not apologising to you when I should've... I'm really really sorry and I understand if you hate me and if you don't want me in your life-"
Ace's apology was cut off when Irin wrapped her arms around his upper body, hugging him as she stood on her tippy toes. His eyes widened at her abrupt actions and he was unable to reciprocate the action.
Irin couldn't help but tear up at Ace's apology, she was glad that their friendship did not end because she did not apologise and she was extremely touched by his apology.
His words meant so much to her.
The ravenette was released from his shock when he heard the soft sniffles of his best friend. His arms that were frozen inches away from making body contact with her, gently touched her and caressed her. "I'm sorry, Irin," he whispered.
She loosened her hold on him and gazed at him with her teary eyes, "No, I'm sorry, Ace! I'm sorry I ignored you and made you feel sad!" she exclaimed.
Ace looked at his pink haired friend who he thought looked like a sad puppy at that moment. "Don't apologise, Irin, it's not your fault, it never was..." he said with a sad smile.
"But, Ace... I'm really sorry for storming out on you that day..." she continued to sniffle while she looked at him with her teary eyes.
The freckled ravenette didn't know what compelled him to do this but he wanted her to stop apologising for what's not her fault so he leaned down and towards the pinkette's face.
Ace brought his hand to her face and cupped it before squishing her cheeks, "It's not your fault, you little baby," he said before letting go of her squished cheeks, "So stop apologising."
"I'm the one who should be apologising for pressuring you to tell me what you don't want to talk about... So... I'm really sorry Irin," he apologised again.
Irin wiped her tears away with the back of her hands before giving Ace a slightly melancholic smile, "No, Ace, I understand how you felt back there and I'm really sorry... I should've told you the answers to the questions you asked because you're the person I trust most," she said.
"You asked me to tell you all that had happened after I left you guys and the truth is... Not much happened, I wasn't lying when I told you nothing happened but I was lying when I told you I was okay whenever you asked me if I was."
She walked deeper into the cave and sat down. The pink haired girl brought her knees to her chest and hugged them, "Of course, when I'm with you I feel okay but... every time I go back to work or when I'm left alone, I just can't help but let my thoughts consume me and I know... This sounds ridiculous but at times I just feel like an absolute failure and I don't know how to stop that feeling..."
"I know that I shouldn't feel that way but I just can't help but feel that way. That feeling just keeps eating me away and it gets even worse whenever people tell me I don't deserve my position and that I'm a failure... I get it, there are many people who deserve the position but it just really hurts that nobody sees how much I worked for it."
"I tried so much, I put in so much effort but people don't see it!" she cried, unable to hold back her tears, "I shouldn't care if people see my effort but hearing people talk about how I don't deserve what I worked for really really hurts!"
Ace bit his lip as he took a seat next to her as he put his arms around her, bringing her close to his body as he listened to her.
Irin sniffled as she adjusted her position in Ace's arms, "I should be happy, really... I have everything I need and yet here I am making problems for myself... It's just... difficult to put it into words... I want to get along with everyone around me and I want them to be happy but sometimes the moment I enter a room filled with people the mood changes... I tried so hard to make everyone happy but-"
"But it's never enough..."
"I just want to be enough... so everyone around me would be happy... I just don't want to be hated anymore..." she sighed as she closed her eyes and her tears fell.
Ace tore her off of his body and brought her to face him. She stared at him wide eyed as her tear stains glistened under the bioluminescent fungi that lit the cave. "Listen, Irin, you are enough. You shouldn't have to force yourself to be someone else to make people happy and you shouldn't feel responsible about how people feel when you're being yourself because being true to yourself isn't a crime," he told her as he wiped her tears away with his finger.
"You've always been so strong. You always put Luffy and I first and you always make sure everyone around you is happy. But who's there to make sure you're happy? You don't let anyone into your problems and you don't let people see your pain, why? You don't have to be so strong all the time, Irin... I'm here for you, always and forever," he smiled a gentle smile.
Irin couldn't help but tear up even more as her lips wobbled downwards, "But Ace... All these feelings that I am feeling are all just made up in my head... There are so many people in the world who are going through worse things and here I am crying about not being liked and being alone, doesn't that sound stupid?"
"No, whatever you feel is valid. Don't invalidate your pain just because you think there are others going through something worse. The hurt you feel is valid. The anger you feel is valid. The sadness you feel is valid. They're all valid. Just because it is not a physical pain or injury doesn't mean that the hurt isn't there. You're entitled to feel what you feel, that's what makes us human after all. All your feelings are valid, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Ace patted her head gently as he smiled at her like how she would've whenever he was feeling down.
She nodded to his words as she bit her lip to stop herself from crying.
"And if anyone makes you sad or hurt, just tell me and I'll go beat them up!" he grinned as he flexed his biceps, "But when I'm finding my way to you, you'd have to stand up for yourself first... then I'll beat them up!"
Irin giggled at Ace's proposal, "Stupid, you can't beat up my coworkers... especially my superior..." she said, sadness lacing her voice.
Ace squinted at the mention of her superior, "Tell me about work, Irin," he said with an unsuspecting smile.
She looked up and pursed her lips as she thought about what her work was like.
"Well... During work I'm usually alone which used to make me feel unhappy but it's fine now that I've met you again because knowing that you and the Whitebeard Pirates would be waiting for me to return during my holidays makes being alone at work feel okay... I have a few friends at work and they're pretty nice but I'm not especially close with them and I rarely see Garp-jiisan because, I don't know, he's just always here and there y'know," she chuckled.
Ace smiled at her as he continued to listen to her stories.
Her expression then suddenly fell as a sad smile was etched onto her face, "I was alone for the first three years of work and it was really hard for me to get by... Nobody wanted to be my friend and even when they did, they'd leave me after I helped them with something... It was tough and lonely. I had no one to really talk to back then so I spent a lot of time training to distract myself from feeling lonely... but it's all good now since I'm the same rank as Garp-jiisan and I can see him more often and I'm even acquainted with Aokiji, the Admiral. I like talking to him, he's funny and he always forgets what he wants to say."
"I got along pretty well with him and Admiral Kizaru but..." she sighed before taking a deep breath,
"I thought rising in the ranks would mean getting along better with Admiral Akainu but he just seems to despise my whole existence. Everything I did, every mission I completed, he'd always have something to complain about me and every time we met he'd tell me that a brat like me shouldn't be a Vice Admiral. It kinda hurts that he doesn't view me as someone worthy of the Vice Admiral position but... I dunno... It's just really hard to get along with him and I'm starting to think he created and leads the 'Irin Hate Club'."
"Can you imagine? A 51 year old man leading a hate club for a 17 year old?" she waved her arms around exasperatedly, "That'd be really funny, no? But I don't think that he's that bored to do something like this!" she laughed.
Ace chuckled, "I mean, you never know... The world's a strange place after all," he said with a laugh following after.
His deep laugh echoed throughout the cave and pink was dusted all over Irin's cheeks as she watched him laugh with a content smile on her face. The pinkette loved seeing him laugh.
Ace's laugh quieted down, "Listen to me Irin, I know it'll be hard but I want you to be yourself. Don't let anyone take advantage of you and if there's something that bothers you, speak up about it," he told her.
"Because I can't stand to see you unhappy and if I do again, I won't be able to hold myself back and I might just beat go beat up the whole Navy."
Irin shot up at his declaration and was about to tell him that he can't do something as outrageous as that but he interrupted her.
"You don't want me to do that, right?"
She nodded slowly, "Yeah... Please don't do that..." she said.
Ace smiled gently at her as he patted her head, "Then stand up for yourself and be yourself, because, trust me, when you finally allow yourself to just be you, you'll be happy," he said, "Why do you think the Whitebeard Pirates and I are always so happy? It's because we don't give two shits about what people think of us, we just live as we want and do whatever we please."
The freckled ravenette gave Irin a toothy grin.
Pink dusted Irin's cheeks as she gazed at the handsome freckled boy who sat before her. She smiled a gentle smile before nodding, "I'll try," she said. The pink haired girl had finally decided to accept the help that she was given, she had finally accepted that her problems were real and not something made up.
The problem was her mentality and though it may sound trivial, many people would find that problems like such are the hardest to solve. Her conditioned way of thinking would take awhile to fix and she would constantly need reassurance but, lucky her, she has Ace.
"Don't worry about it too much, Irin. You can do it, I believe in you," Ace said as he flashed another grin at her before leaning back against the cave wall.
He sighed gratefully, happy that he had finally apologised to his friend, "Man it sure was hard to look for the right place and the right time to apologise to you," Ace huffed, "I'm happy you didn't whoop my ass and you didn't hate me."
Irin laughed at his confession, "What? Why would I whoop your ass and hate you? In fact I was really worried that you wouldn't apologise and our whole friendship would just end," she admitted.
"I'd never forgive myself if I failed to apologise to you because you're super important to me, like Luffy... And really? You're gonna ask me why I'm afraid that you'd whoop my ass?"
"Do enlighten me."
Ace squinted at her, "Are you telling me you forgot all those times where you absolutely wiped the floor with my ass when I made Luffy cry or got him hurt by accident? What a barbarian. But just so you know, I let you do that," he huffed as he crossed his arms.
Irin grew red from embarrassment, "T-That's different okay! I had to get revenge for Luffy!"
"He said it was fine."
"I- You were a huge jerk..." she sent him a childlike glare as she pouted with her face red. Ace laughed at her, "I guess I was a pretty terrible child," he said.
The pinkette looked at him and put a finger on her chin, "Well, I wouldn't say you were a terrible child. You were just... dumb," she stated.
"Dang, thanks for the compliment, Irin," he said, sarcasm lacing every bit of his voice.
"What no! Let me finish!" she exclaimed, "What I meant to say was that, you were a little dumb at the area of expressing your emotions."
Irin continued to speak, "You always mean well but you weren't really sure how to express them because no one had really expressed their feelings freely to you. Dadan-san loves both you and Luffy a lot but she just doesn't show it, that's probably where you picked up the habit of not showing your feelings and not knowing how to express them." she concluded.
Ace looked at her with slightly widened eyes, he had never thought about it that way. He knew he sucked at expressing how he truly felt but he didn't know why he was terrible at it. "I guess you have a point... I never thought of it that way," he noted.
She giggled, "There's a reason to almost everything, you just have to look for it and try to understand it. That's why I believe that not everyone is truly bad; I mean, of course there are reasons for bad doings but unless they had no choice then they should be treated as a friend instead of an enemy. But if they truly chose the path of 'evil' where uninvolved people are harmed then they must learn to understand why what they did was not right and take responsibility for their actions," she said as she stared off into nothingness.
Irin shuddered from her speech, "Man, I kinda sound like a prick; deciding what's wrong and what's right. But I guess what I really wanna say is that, if one is brave enough to take the action they must be brave enough to bare the consequences too."
"If they do good then, hurray, no one is harmed and they get to live their lives knowing that they did good but if they did bad then they must carry on their lives knowing that the consequence of harming others will always be chasing after them unless they own up to it and take responsibility over their actions."
There was a beat of silence between the two, Irin cringed at herself while Ace stared at her awestruck and with slightly widened eyes.
"Does that even make any sense?" she cringed. "Yeah, I guess it doesn't really make any sense," she chuckled awkwardly, replying to herself.
Ace chuckled at her idiosyncrasies, "It makes sense, Irin. You really are a great Marine," he said with a genuine smile etched onto his face.
She couldn't help but blush and felt her heart beat faster when he said those words, she had never been told that she was a good Marine. Many of the Marines called her a failure, especially Sakazuki and hearing Ace tell her that she was a great Marine just made her feel extremely happy.
Irin teared up at his words, "Thank you," she smiled, wiping her tears away before they fell. "Heh, crybaby," he teased, smirking at the pinkette as he brought her close and gave her a hug.
"I will punch you," she said through her muffled voice as her face squished on his bare chest.
"I would rather you not," he chuckled as he slowly and gently caressed her.
She switched her gaze to Ace, "I'm really glad you're here, Ace," she said with a soft smile.
Those words.
Those few words made the famous Fire Fist Ace tear up, though he never made it known to Irin but he could almost start bawling his eyes out from those words. He released her from his hold and turned away from her fast to wipe his tears away.
She was slightly taken back with his sudden actions. Irin raised a brow and reached her hand out towards him, "Ace?" she called out.
He turned around and faced her with a grin, nose a little red and pink coating his cheeks, "Thank you, Irin," he said.
Irin tilted her head, "For what?"
Ace chuckled a little, "Nothing," he said with a smile.
She stared at him for a bit before smiling to herself, "Weirdo," she muttered. Being the observant person she was, she gathered that her telling him that she was glad that he was here had made him emotional but she decided not to pry and to just let him be.
The freckled ravenette shook his head as he chuckled to himself before standing up and facing Irin, "Come on, let's go. There's going to be a festival tonight in the town, don't wanna show up late now do we?" he flashed his usual smirk as he held out a hand towards her. She giggled as she grabbed onto his hand and followed him out to the exit of the cave.
With their hands never leaving each other's, they made their way to the mouth of the cave together. The two never realised that their hands were still attached until they reached the exit.
And once they reached the mouth of the cave, they realised that it was raining heavily outside. They also finally realised that their hands were still in each other's hands.
The two blinked twice at their hands before immediately removing their own. Irin placed her hand on her arm as she avoided Ace's gaze and Ace put his hand into his pocket as he blushed while looking straight ahead.
"It's uh... Raining really heavily..." Irin said, stating the obvious as an attempt to diffuse the awkwardness between the two.
"Yeah... Do you think if we run fast enough we can get back to the ship just fine?" Ace asked.
Irin shrugged, "It sounds a little stupid but I guess it can't hurt for us to try."
"Alright then at the count of three we run out?" Ace said as he looked at Irin.
She nodded as she got into a running stance, "Okay... Three--"
Ace dashed off into the rain.
"What?!" she exclaimed as she followed in pursuit, chasing after his figure that was barely visible in the fierce rain.
Irin had planned to run when she counted from 3 to 1 but Ace had planned to run the moment Irin said 3 which was why he sprinted away before she was ready.
Slightly ahead of Irin, Ace had stopped running as he panted and made his way back to her. She stopped when his figure was right in front of her, "Guess it won't work, huh?" she panted.
He,too, panted as he nodded, "The rain's too heavy, I can barely see what's in front of me and it's hard to breathe," he told her.
"Yeah, I figured, guess we'll just have to head back to the cave and wait it out," she said with her eyes squinting from the rain as she held onto Ace's arm and led him back to the cave.
An idea then suddenly burned into Ace's mind, "Hey, Irin!" He called out loudly because it was hard to hear in the heavy rain.
"What?!"
"Let's race back to the cave!"
"What?! Are you seriously kiddin-- Y'know what, okay!"
And so the two raced back to the cave. Ace emerged as the victor as he left first and was faster than Irin when it came to running short distances.
The two panted as they reached the shade of the cave, breaking out in laughter after they had caught their breaths. Something then caught Irin's eyes.
"Ace... Your tummy..."
He gasped, remembering that Izou had applied contour on his abs and told him not to get his body wet. Ace immediately crouched a little to hide his contoured abs, "Huh? What about them?" he asked cautiously.
Ace gulped, hoping that Irin would not notice the smudges on his abs.
She, however, did.
The pinkette walked closer to Ace. She pushed his body straight and stared at his abs, "Is that... Contour...?" she asked.
Ace screamed.
A/N : this is absolutely insane! we're at 11k reads already!! thank you so much everyone!! this is so crazy and i can't even bring myself to believe that we've already passed by such an incredible milestone! thank you so so much for all the reads and support!! i love you guys!
also i have two questions for you guys:
1) i asked this before but would you guys like me to include lemons in this book?
2) i have a jujutsu kaisen book in my drafts (it's my very first xreader story!), there are only three chapters as of now and i probably won't spend as much time on that book compared to this book, should i still post it?
anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed this week's chapter and i'll see you guys next week!