Alternate Universe - Blog Posts

thinking about making a bsd magical girl au but i dont know how the magic system would work and i also barely know anything about magical girls i just thought they were cool

also i dont know how to write

yes i posted that zutara titanic au on ao3 what are you going to do about it

His Eyes Speak by forever_42 / foreverforty2

- Star Trek Fanfic - Vulcan/Human - Male/Female -

FIC NOW COMPLETE. (art / clothing design by me)

click on the pic for the higher quality image

Fonts used: Sword, Gill Sans Light Italic.

His Eyes Speak by forever_42 / foreverforty2

Star Trek Fanfic - Vulcan/Human - Male/Female

His Eyes Speak by forever_42 / foreverforty2

- Star Trek Fanfic - Vulcan/Human - Male/Female -

Chapter 4 - Consummation (aka THE SMUT) is up on AO3.

✮⋆˙ THE ONLY EXCEPTION.

𓂃 ࣪˖ ཐིཋྀ LIFE EMBODIMENT! Dazai!

X DEATH EMBODIMENT! Chuuya!

⁺‧₊˚ ཐིཋྀ ˚— SUMMARY: Everything was the same for the two bodies, one had a curse of living and the other had the curse of death.

Every reincarnation of chuuya was him losing his loved ones then hisself, and on dazais side of the story, he does not reincarnate. He rots in the boundaries of living trying to fill the gaping hole in his chest but everytime he gets close to another human being, they face misfortune that does not include death.

It is bad both ways. The people around dazai gets corrupted by the living and chuuyas dies on his hands.

𓂃 ࣪˖ ཐིཋྀ — ANGST + FLUFF (?) + ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

A/N: can you guys tell i dont know how to get more color fonts in tumblr? I genuinely don't know how people get grey or pastel colored texts..(－‸ ლ) also the title is from the song, "the only exception" by paramore! Anyways, enjoy the soukoku — <3

Extra note! : i decided not to write what i usually write, gothic romance.. But you never know🙏

(i also just broke my leg and English isn't my first language so please excuse my grammer..)

also NOT!! PROOFREAD.

—˚₊‧⁺⋆ WARNINGS! : Blood, Death, Swearing, Alcohol

Most people that lives in the world believes that reincarnations did not exist, but chuuya did. He believed it since he has experienced it himself, in every universe he was always reincarnating as his self but in different universes with different outcomes. And every outcome was never good, he always had to lose somebody or himself, in every universe he loses somebody, it was either the flags, the sheep, dazai or more..in every universe someone is always dying. And that someone is someone he cares about.

Reincarnation after reincarnation, his memory was still there.. The memory of his past lives, he lost hope that he truly did not wanted to get close with anyone again. Everytime chuuya died, He wished that he would finally reincarnate in a universe that he belonged in.

Every waking day of his life felt like dread but he tries to make the best out of it, his personality never changes. He was still the sarcastic guy he is, but just more distant..

Another stake to his heart and caskets were served once again, this was the end of chuuyas other life. And he will reincarnate into another one once again, it was a never ending agonizing cycle.

As he reincarnates all over again, same story same everything. He escapes the lab through his brother verlaine, joins the sheep then join the port mafia. Chuuya avoided mostly everyone though, not getting too close with anyone as always. But as he met dazais snarky face again, he felt the same as others. Someway somehow he knew that dazai would die due to him but he ignored it.

"Ugh. Do i really have to work with this kid?" Dazai says while rolling his eyes

"who the hell are ya callin' a kid?"

✮₊⊹₊⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆₊ ⊹✮

Mission after mission, dazai and chuuya spend their time together, dazai wanted to learn more about chuuya, in his eyes, chuuya was more human than he could ever be. He was drawn to his aura and how perceptive chuuya was. (due to how many times he has reincarnated.)

Chuuya was drawn to dazai as well since he seemed like he had no affect on chuuyas 2nd ability, which was being the embodiment of death. Dazai was alive and all teasing as always that chuuya missed the feeling of spending time with someone.. Even though it was dazai, the person that made his head hot, he found comfort in the way dazai was.

Years passes by, they both found comfort in eachother, within each banter was a hint of care, and dazai found something to live for.. For atleast a certain period of time. And it was chuuya, chuuya was unreadable to him, chuuya was like an anomaly, something extraterrestrial. Which made dazai want chuuya more, he wanted to live for chuuya and for chuuya specifically.

The two of them just had a connection in this universe thay chuuya couldn't decipher, why? Dazai was the only person that believed that he was human, that mattered to him alot.

The both of them currently just finished a mission and they both just sit down on a field of grass, talking and just bullying each other as always.

"Don't talk crap about my height when im still growin' jackass." chuuya snarked back at dazais comments about his height.

"And when will that magically happen?" dazai chuckled, chuuya glares at him and sighs and mutters out — "soon. I swear."

Dazai smirks and moves closer to chuuya, his face close chuuyas, chuuya just glares at him with a faint pink tint on the ends of his ears.

"you know, you're very hot headed and weird."

"what the hell does that mean?!" chuuya asks in an offended way.

"But that's what makes me love you." dazai smiles softly at chuuya before pulling away.

Chuuya looks at him with a raised brow and replies back, "ew, that's gross man!"

Dazai laughs back at his reaction. The reaction that he seemed to feel weird towards to. The feeling that bubbles up in his stomach that he found uncomfortable but exciting, chuuya had always standed out of the rest that dazai knew that he was— The only exception.

⋆｡‧₊°♱༺𓆩❦︎𓆪༻♱༉‧₊˚.

Chuuya and dazai balanced out eachother perfectly, they matched eachothers personality in an unexpected way. And thats why they're always hanging out after missions.

Chuuya bought some ice cream for the both of them, they played some arcade games and then went on a walk in the forests of yokohama.

Dazai stared at chuuya the whole time as they ate their ice cream. Dazai had the same feeling again, something bubbling up in his stomach. He wasn't sure of the feeling since he has never quite experienced it before but as he thinks about the last "dates" him and chuuya have been going on, it hit him. He has a fucking crush on the chuuya nakahara..but it wasn't a biggie for him, he did confess that he loved him from the start.. But he wanted him madly. A graze of chuuyas hand already sent him to the moon...

Chuuya looks at dazai and catches him staring, dazai locks eyes with him and smiles warmly while eating the ice cream. Chuuya felt warm.. Like it was the first time he has ever experienced life, dazai had no effects of chuuya and neither did chuuya to dazais.

The more and more time passes by, the more desperate they got. Chuuya felt more attracted to dazais demeanor and dazai felt more attracted to chuuyas mannerism.

There was just something that made dazai lose his breath from chuuya, to his way of combat and to the way he even replies back to banter, dazai felt more intrigued.. From the way chuuya patches dazai up with soft and gentle touches and the eye contact they always gave each other.. Drove dazai insane.

Everything felt out of hand for the both of them, dazai was smitten and chuuya was embarrassed, they both swore it was just a crush and they were both indenial about it.

Chuuya has lived through many universes but in this one.. In this one he felt something. No body was dying when dazai was around, and chuuya wanted to keep it that way.

In dazais case, he felt like something was wromg with him, like he was just alone with nobody understanding him like the way he understood people. He saw death as just an extension of life and that's why he wanted to die so badly, because he could not just die through natural causes, but as many times he tried to die, he couldn't.

One day, chuuya wanted to reject the feeling that was lingering in him, the feeling of wanting dazai. And that was the worse decision of his life. He decided to distance hisself away from dazai that dazai got curious.. "did i do something to piss him off? Why is he just randomly ignoring me?.." dazai thought.

As time distanced the two, everything went back to normal, chuuya wanted to protect dazai by just distancing himself from him, chuuya knew that his deathly quirk wouldn't hurt dazai but he was still wary. The both of them slowly lost connections that led to dazai leaving the port mafia and bombing chuuyas car— "god damnit. Ugh.. great."

As the two distance theirselves, chuuya tries to take another shot in getting close to people even though he knew the consequences but still.. Cadavers scattered his soul.

Distance took a toll on dazai, he felt connected to chuuya like he was his soulmate, they were one soul in 2 different bodies, that which made the both of them somewhat connected.

Years and years passes by and melancholy filled the hearts of both of the 2 men, dazai had already tried to commit suicide numerous times.. And time after time.. It finally worked.

His body was found floating unconscious in a deep lake, bricks and his wallet was found in his coats pocket. The police investigates the scene and this eventually reaches chuuya, his heart stopped at the news, dazai was the only person he cared about during the time.

His eyes were wide as he gets the news from a phone call through his akutagawa and he clenches his fist, "i.. I understand.. Yes."

"a picture of you was found in his wallet.." akutagawa mentions before chuuya hangs up. he felt numb. he wanted to scream since thats how he expresses pain but he couldn't. He already knew the feeling of losing who he cares about, why does he feel so Different?

He covers his mouth and a cold sweat dripped down his back, he felt regret. He should've never distanced hisself fron dazai, he wished he could've atleast confessed his feelings. The only person who stayed alive with him that he cared about died because he thought distancing hisself would do any good.

He would never forgive himself, but in every universe, he forgave dazai.. Since he was the only exception.

BONUS! :: a bouquet was in chuuyas arms as he walks aroumd the graveyard, visiting the grave of an old friend. Dazai osamus. He leans down and offers the bouquet of flowers, sitting down with his hand in his coats pocket, he stares at dazais name and he smiles softly and chuckles, "you know.. I take back what i said.. I didn't mean it. I swear. I love you too, samu."

He says as he takes out a pistol out of the pocket of his coat, "i hope i meet ya again, i swear i'll treasure you more." he says as he points the pistol to his head and pulling the trigger.

© All works by @Verlaineszz. Do not copy, redistribute, or repost on other platforms.

||TAGS:

DAY SEVENTEEN Emmet appreciation month (June 2024)

[alternate universe/crossover]

It´s really easy to tell Emmet and Ingo appart, really. Emmet´s smiling, Ingo´s frowning, Emmet is white with black stripes, Ingo is black with white stripes...

Happy Valentine’s Day 🫶🏽

Edit I did hours ago but forgot to post on tumblr ..

- “𝑖'𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦”

@maiascrimesecrets

————

Omg I can’t get this worm out of my head like I feel like a Hannigram x Secretary fic would be amazing with Secretary Will and Boss Hannibal and with adding the same kinda traits as the characters would be so good but like if someone actually wrote this AU I could peacefully pass away but for now I’ll yearn for this 😭🫶🏽

(but like don’t baby will, don’t water him down 💔)

Ok guys…I have an AU for One Piece inspired by Percy Jackson (hear me ou)

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy as Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth

WAIT!!

We will change things around here. Of course they’re still brothers. Luke in PJO has implied romantic interest in both Thalia and Annabeth, and well…Ace isn’t like that!

But yes, the same story goes for the ASL brothers and Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth. There’s gonna be a LOT of Ace mischaracterization here because it’s an AU and well…he’s Luke Castellan here. Constructive criticism or welcoming comments are welcome!

Color Code: Green is something to take note of, Pink is the tragic and the drama, Red is the warning, Blue is the Adventure.

(Warning: Plot Holes)

The ASL brothers are led by their “Guardian” (Whether Dadan or Garp. Like Grover) to a safe haven “Mt. Colubo” (Replacement of Camp Half-Blood)

They were persued by creatures sent by Saint Jalmack (replacement for Hades, who sent the monsters) since he had crossed paths with his ship once. (Similar to Hades’ anger with Zeus for killing his beloved Maria d'Angelo)

Sabo makes a last stand to allow Ace and Luffy to reach the Mt. Colubo’s border, sacrificing himself.(similar to Thalia, who sacrificed herself to let Grover, Luke, and Annabeth in the camp) The world took pity on Sabo and turned him into a tree to play as Mt. Colubo’s boarder. (Similar to Thalia, who got turned into a tree by her father that took pity on her and became CHB’s boarder)

This is where the “betrayal” takes in… (Luke’s Betrayal)

Years Later in Mt. Colubo, once Ace turns 17, he’s now manipulated by the World Government to work for them (similar to how Luke was manipulated to work for Kronos). He betrays Luffy and leaves Mt. Colubo. (Similar to how Luke betrayed Percy and Annabeth in Lightning Thief). Ace decides to weaken Mt. Colubo’s defenses by poisoning Sabo’s tree, which stirs trouble for Luffy and Dadan. (Angst for both Ace and Luffy…)

Luffy goes to retrieve an item similar the “Golden Fleece” with his trio (any trio that isn’t ASL, whether it be monster, supernova, or romance dawn). The adventures go like how the “Sea of Monsters” book go. They compete for the item since Ace is also trying to get it for the World Government. In the end, Luffy takes the item and heals Sabo’s tree, strengthening the boarder….but

…Sabo gets revived!

Shikana and Kawaki Next Generation: Our Lives Were Written In Stone

Girls (minus Shikana)

If you want the story, go to my account, and you'll see their backstories

Can you guess which ones are my favorite

BM has glasses now

Ok so in the first post for this series thingy on the last photo you may have seen Bm holding his hand over his eye- so he got stabbed in the eye and now has glasses to help him see- because everything’s blurry for him in his right eye! (The one with the gray)

When writing this, I did not consider that the Odyssey takes 10 years. For most of the story Odysseus has a toddler and a first grader.

Odyssey AU where Odysseus takes Astyanax with him instead of killing him.

Plotwise everything stays the same, Odysseus just has a baby permanently strapped to his chest for the entirety of the story.

Odyssey AU where Odysseus takes Astyanax with him instead of killing him.

Plotwise everything stays the same, Odysseus just has a baby permanently strapped to his chest for the entirety of the story.

it’s not done yet but I thought I would post the link so people can read the chapters as I finish them

This is the Alive!Mel x Phoebe fanfiction I offered to write for @gracelandtoobaby. I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it

So adding on from my last post with the alternative universe leaders, I decided to do a spread of the four friends, and I added little details about each of them. I kept the theme of each ‘Matt’ alternative getting a second coat with their hoodie, that way it’s still following some of the pre-established alternative universe stuff.

Mattsworld:

Essentially this would be similar to Eddsworld, a bit goofy, a bit serious, over all nothing is entirely different. Matt doesn’t lose his memories here, but he’s a lot more fun-loving and likes pulling a ‘turning you into a vampire’ trick on his friends. In the WTFuture for him, he’s trying to manage a boat and catch up to Blue Leader, trying to put a stop to his old friend’s flooding of the planet while also trying to keep an eye on Edd. Tord is a little less serious, he does still leave the house like EW Tord does, but he doesn’t go to the army. Instead, Tord tries to actually make it in the big city and fails, so he comes back and Tom mocks him about it relentlessly. In WTFuture, he’s captured by Blue Leader and given a deal, either he can be Tom’s head engineer and have a seat at the table, or he can be tied to a cinder block and thrown into the deep blue sea… Tord chooses life obviously, and finds that after working with Blue Leader for a while, he’s starting to like life at sea, what fun it is! Edd is a little more absentminded, this is due to the fact that he had lost a little of his mind thanks to this world’s PowerEDD incident (Tom in his monster form was way more aggressive in that situation) so he’s kinda drifting through life with Matt trying to help him out. In WTFuture, he’s a lot more lucid, he’s still crazy, but he understands that this isn’t a good situation and they need to stop Tom from his quest to drown the world. Tom is crueler he’s a lot more venomous in his comments towards everyone in the house, he’s a high functioning drunk that is drunk nearly 100% of the time, he loves being mean to Tord and fighting him, it’s a thrill. In WTFuture, he is Blue Leader, and I went into detail about him in my last post, so check him and the other leader’s info out on that post.

Tomsworld:

This is comedy, pure random comedy. No one expects Matt to be the ruler of everything, so it’s a whole ass joke until Matt actually just goes ‘yeah I took over the world in a week’ it’s not even questioned. Tom is a lot more friendly, he doesn’t drink alcohol in this universe and instead drinks sprite, he’s likes to crack a joke or two and this is a Tom that gets along very well with his Tord, Tom also has a pet duck instead of Ringo, they have a ducky called ‘Ender’ and Tord laughs about it because it’s Norwegian for ‘Ducks.’ Speaking of Tord… he’s this world’s Matt, he’s a lot more docile and more focused on his hentai collection than violence, he’s a total weeb and has a figure collection that is slowly taking over his room and an intervention needs to be set. Edd is a lot more grumpy, being this world’s Tom, he’s not a drunk! But he is very snappy and sleep deprived, he’s a starving artist that really doesn’t like how Matt basically funds everything in the house thanks to his rich inheritance, he doesn’t like owing people and hates handouts, this is where their animosity begins. Now Matt… well it’s pretty easy to explain him in this world: ‘money will fix all my problems’ and it does, any problems he gets into, he either seduces his way out or buy his way out… it works everytime and Edd hates it so much. In their WTFuture, Matt rules the world and his old friends are his subjects… personal staff even. His friends all have three words to say about it: ‘God Damnit Matt…’

Tordsworld:

It’s a horror segment, everything is wrong here. When Tord left for the big city, it was the start of Edd’s deterioration. Matt and Tom noticed, getting very nervous about it… Tord came back much sooner than he does in EW mainly because of Matt and Tom’s constant calls and texts to come back. When he does, Edd seems to calm back down… but from then on, they can all see him on edge. Tord is kinder, still trying to do the red army thing in this universe but he is willing to drop it when his friends beg him to come back. He has Pau and Patryck working on the army prepping while he returns home and finds that Edd has totally changed, he’s obsessively keeping Tom and Matt close to him, once Tord is back, Edd does the same thing… it only gets worse when the PowerEDD situation goes down and Tord left due to an emergency at the Red Army base. In the WTFuture situation, Tord has been running from Edd and Pau and Patryck are helping him, as he tries to find a way to stop Edd, he’s also being haunted by the spirits of Tom and Matt. Tom is this world’s Matt, he’s constantly nervous and that in turn makes his more monster-like features appear almost constantly. Edd scares him, Tom remembered a time when their green friend was friendly, so seeing him like this? He’s afraid of what will happen if any of them leave the house again, what if that causes Edd to go off the deep end and do something drastic? He didn’t know how right he would be, he is killed by Edd, being ripped apart and murdered while he tried to shift into his monster form, his spirit now haunts Tord, usually telling him to watch out and keep his eyes out for Edd. Matt is this world’s Tom, but instead of hating Edd, he hates Tord. The reason? Because Tord eventually leaves a second time after PowerEDD without telling anyone why. He has a resentment built up against Tord, believing him to be the sole reason that Edd lost it, had Tord not left, Edd would be his happy self.. now he’s worse off. Matt does his best to bring comfort to Tom, who panics a lot more when Edd becomes more manic and aggressive towards them, Matt also does his best to soothe Edd, telling him that Tord will come back soon this process worked… but not for long, eventually Edd doesn’t take the words well and ends Matt’s and Tom’s lives. He now haunts Tord, sometimes being nice and pointing things out that could be useful but for the most part, he’s vindictive and angry towards Tord, he wants to make the other’s survival hard. I go into more detail about Edd in the other post, but he essentially develops an obsessive desire to keep his friends close after Tord leaves, getting paranoid and flipping his shit anytime one leaves his sight, he only deteriorated more after being exposed to Radiation, he amassed a following simply out of fear and uses them to search for his missing friend, when he finds him, they’ll all finally be reunited and happy again. :)

So yeahhhhhh I made things for an idea that popped into my head while writing the newest Tom Gets Therapy fic, I’ve come to the conclusion that it would need to be multiple chapters and I am not good at multitasking lmao I can’t focus worth the life of meeeee QwQ

But yeah, the story is basically like:

Tom, Edd, and Matt have been moving from place to place because Tom is someone that can shift into his monster form, but he doesn’t have proper control over himself in this form, he can’t keep himself looking fully human and when people find out about him they try to hunt him. His kind have been hunted to near extinction, most people after their fur as it is resistant to pretty much all attacks, the only way you can properly kill or damage Tom’s kind is by catching them slowly morphing into their forms.

But that’s not the only way you can gain some of their fur. If the creature cares enough for you, they will willingly gift you their fur and weave it into a cloak so that it may protect you from harm. Tom has gifted both Edd and Matt these cloaks, but he also gifted one more to someone from his past before they were separated.

Anyways, Matt is a vampire (No duh, I'm so creative lol) and Edd is a witch, a very powerful one that does his best to protect his two ‘monstrous’ friends from danger, creating concealment charms to hide Tom’s form when he can’t fully shift into a human, and making spells that protect Matt from sunlight and keep Hunters from getting suspicious of them when they’re passing through. His familiar is Ringo obviously and she usually warns him of when people start to get suspicious or when either of Edd’s charms for his friends begin to fail. These charms do take quite a lot of energy as they are supposed to last a full day and that can take a lot of magic out of someone. Because it takes so much energy, Edd and friends are on their way to find a place that is welcoming to monsters and magic users, their journey has been unsuccessful until they one day settle for the night in the Scarlet Kingdom and find out that they and everyone else currently staying in the kingdom have been invited to a ball and you are welcome weather you’re human or monster. Of course Edd is cautious, this could be a trap… so he prepares himself for a night of holding up illusions only to see that it was the truth and that monsters are indeed here and having a good time. Though something about this ‘cursed king’ is making him a little nervous, especially when he sees the cloak the king wears is made from the same fur that Edd and Matt’s are.

So that's essentially the idea... there's obviously more to it but if I'm really going to make this into a fic I should prolly keep those details to myself... prolly also should find a beta reader too XD

Aw well!

Planning on writing a Slowburn fanfic, but i wanna make 1st Person POV & 3rd Person POV. Yet I also want to gain readers but I know some people don’t prefer the other

Is this account just for random idea dumps most if not all the time Luffy? Yeah listen my notes apps just ain’t doin it for me my brain can fit so many au ideas

Anyways the idea of Nika being an antagonist typa character is one of my favorite ideas, my interpretation of villain Nika is him having a screwed idea of what true freedom means

Like he would think you cannot have true freedom if you have anything “holding you down” emotions, friendships and any other attachment, this apathetic way of thinking being caused by the fact he is a god having a very hard time understanding things the way a mortal can.

I could see a villain Nika being a foil to Luffy’s “you can’t do anything alone” way of thinking

Anyways my monthly Op au raving session over

TOORU BOGGS (tooru oikawa x randall boggs)

I’m making an au and no one can stop me

as soon as I’m accepted into Ao3 ima start writing

someone help Maria is so hard to draw

Technically speaking comic cons are just major crossovers between series and Au's.

AceSabo Superhero Soulmate AU

Summary-

The Jester blinked at him, before he sighed and slipped his glove off. Raising his hand to grab the others, “okay, then. It’s a deal-” as soon as their skin met, both froze. The shock seemingly forcing Jester’s words to fall silent on his lips.

Like his hand had been burnt, Ace snapped it away. Eyes wide and brow furrowed as he stared at the villain in a new light.

Impossible!

It was impossible!

There was no way that could be right-

The villain just stared at him with a gaping mouth, “...what?”

Ace couldn’t help but agree, “fuck.”

The Jester then stared at him with a furrowed brow, “you-” he then lifted his gaze back to Ace’s, “you’re my soulmate?”

Shit.

Or

When Ace started working under the Whitebeard Hero Agency, he thought the biggest secret he'd have to keep would be his- illegal- nightly activities as a defender of his district... not that he was the soulmate to the number two villain in the whole city... maybe it wasn't too late to see if McDonalds was still hiring.

This is my fic so i hope you enjoy!<3

and it felt like forever

i kinda didnt like the plot of this but its the only piece i completed for esuka week in 2023

Isuka grew up on the castle grounds. Being the ward of the captain of the royal guard meant she lived with him in the castle. Despite her proximity to royalty, she was never one of them. Her adoptive father's closeness to the king he served had meant she received some privileges - schooling, clothes, and training. But there was a line between her and the princess, the world reminded her of it constantly. 

Her world was incomparable to the life of the boy she would eventually fall for. 

Ace was a prince, despite it being through adoption, he was just as important as the ‘real’ prince. He was kind, beautiful and more importantly out of reach.

Each year, the kingdom threw a banquet for his birthday and Isuka would attend with the royal family of her country. Her adoptive father had to stay close to the king, so there was no reason to leave her alone.

She hid away most of the time, finding solace in the castle's library in the week-long period they stayed. Often because she was too scared about what the other royal kids would think of her. She stumbled across the prince a couple of times in a corner of the garden where she sometimes sat to read in peace, huddled beneath a giant coat and mittens. He was apparently escaping people who spoke badly of his father.

~ ♡ ~

She looked up, startled, a loud rustling noise making its way towards her, she hid behind the book hoping not to be told off by some grown-up. A kind old man had told her it was okay to use it.

‘Stupid people!’ A yell. The person sounded younger than she thought, so she looked up. It was a boy, he looked to be her age, his freckles had faded with the winter cold, but they were just visible. He regarded her with the same shock she did with him.

‘Who’re you?’

‘Isuka,’ she replied, hoping he would pry further.

‘Oh,’ he sniffed and she realised his eyes were red like he had been crying, ‘I’m Ace.’

‘Like the prince?’ She scrambled to stand up and bow to him.

‘You don’t have to do that, it’s not like I’m a real prince anyway.’

She looked up at him, ‘what?’

‘You know I’ve never seen you before, which royal family are you from?’

‘Oh no I’m not a royal, but I’m the ward of Knight Draw, the King of Oykot’s personal protection,’ she was proud of him.

‘Oh, is it your first time here?’

‘No, I’ve been coming here for the past five years,’ ever since she had been adopted five years ago. 

‘Oh,’ it was the prince’s 12th birthday, and five years is a long time. ‘Are you not close with the princess?’

‘We get along fine, we are inseparable,’ she imitated the Queen’s tone. When they were home it was true, they loved each other like sisters would. Medora knew how Isuka hated royal events, and even defended her when Draw would scold her for hiding away. So when they had to travel to other nations Medora would cover for her as she spent the week hiding. Unlike her Medora adored social events, and most of all the attention of other people.

‘So you hate those royal brats too?’

‘Technically you’re a royal brat too,’ she replied without thinking, when she realised what she had done she slapped a finger over her mouth. 

To her surprise he burst out laughing instead, ‘technically you would be correct, my country believes so, but the other kids seem to hate me.’

‘Why would they hate you?’ She sat back down, patting the seat next to her.

He took the invitation, sitting down next to her. ‘They think I don’t deserve to be a prince,’ he continued when he saw her confused look, ‘my father was a criminal, but the king took pity on my mum when he was executed.’

‘Well if your country accepts you that’s really all you need right?’

‘Ah, well, other countries need to like me to be king.’

‘Oh,’ Isuka’s face was red, she hadn’t learnt much about international politics yet, Medora had been learning for years.

‘Luffy and Sabo don’t want to be king. Luffy, the youngest, just wants to travel the world and have fun. Sabo, the middle one, wants to lead in a different way, he wants to focus on the common people.’

Isuka listened in amazement, he was the same age as her but already had a greater understanding of the world. He was considering her brothers’ feelings and taking on such a big burden. ‘But what do you want to be?’

‘I haven’t thought about it.’

‘Well,’ she smiled at him and the slight blush on his face deepened, ‘you have lots of time.’

‘Yeah I guess I do,’ he smiled back at her.

For the rest of the week, he spent as much time as he could with her, laughing like actual kids, without the weight of the world on them.

When it was time for her to leave, he hugged her goodbye, whispering about how he was excited to see her again.

~ ♡ ~

For the next two years, they saw each other at royal events. Medora made sure to tease her about it every single time she caught them together and if what Ace said was true his brothers were the same.

He sent a present on her birthday and they wrote letters for the rest of the year. She was starting to think royal events weren’t so bad when he was next to her, like Medora he didn’t care what the adults thought of her, even if the kids would say things.

~ ♡ ~

On his 15th he eagerly awaited her arrival and when the carriage from Oykot he watched the princess, her governess and ladies-in-waiting step out. Isuka was nowhere to be found.

When he caught the princess’s eyes she shook her head slightly and he smiled back in gratitude.

He found out the exact reason later. Draw had been a traitor, and Isuka had barely stopped a plot to poison the king. The king was in critical condition, and the queen did not want to leave his side as he recovered from the poisoning. Ace thought that Medora was strong for coming by herself, and her best friend was not there to support her.

Isuka had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. Medora had tried to talk her out of the room every day for two weeks since the incident. Even the mention of seeing Ace hasn’t convinced her to get out.

Ace tried to enjoy his birthday festivities but nothing seemed the same. Her presence made everything better. He found solace in the company of his brothers, they did their best to cheer him up. Even though their attempts often worked, not long after he went back to feeling empty.

When Medora was leaving, he pressed a note into her hand, ‘please give this to her.’

‘I’ll try,’ she reassured him with a smile.

~ ♡ ~

It would be another year before he saw her again. It was his 16th birthday and he was greeting guests as they stepped out of their carriages when he caught sight of that vermilion bob he hadn’t seen in nearly two years.

He must’ve looked absolutely silly, his mouth open wide as she stepped out. She looked different, older, more serious. There was a blade at her hip, her outfit more fitting for a knight than a young lady. 

Their eyes met briefly and he smiled but she simply looked away. He was confused at her attitude but chalked it up to the awkwardness of being older. He hoped that they would get a chance to catch up later.

~ ♡ ~

Unlike before, Isuka stayed beside her princess. It was impossible to get her alone. She was always surrounded, by the princess, the princess’s ladies-in-waiting, by other security. He hoped to at least make eye contact, for her to smile at him so the world could go back to what it was, but by the end of the first night he was convinced that she was avoiding him.

He was honestly confused, had he done something to annoy her? Was she mad at him? If so he wanted to apologise, he just wanted his friend back.

It had been an awful week for him. Of course, the food was good and the company great, but her bright red hair simply wouldn’t leave his eyesight. Constantly reminding him that for some reason they weren’t the same anymore.

On the third day he had given in, walking up to her when she was alone with the princess. 

‘Medora,’ he nodded and she nodded back, glancing over to Isuka to see her reaction, but the girl had an indecipherable expression on her face. He straightened his shoulders and mustered up the courage to ask, ‘may I speak with Lady Isuka alone?’ He didn’t know why he was being so formal - this was the girl who’d thrown a snowball at him for calling her beautiful.

‘Of course, I was planning on heading back to my room,’ she looked at Isuka who was going to protest at leaving her alone, ‘my ladies-in-waiting will be with me. There is no need to worry,’ she reassured Isuka with a smile before patting her on the back and leaving the pair alone.

Isuka didn’t meet his eyes and since she clearly didn’t plan on speaking first he did, ‘you never replied to my letter. You know I thought maybe you had died and they just weren’t telling me the truth.’

‘What do you want, your highness?’

‘You,’ she looked at him with shock, ‘I want to back to the way we were.’

‘That would be highly improper, your highness, you should focus our attention on girls who are right for you.’

‘And who would that be?’ He asked, annoyance building in his tone.

‘That’s not my place to say.’

‘Why are you doing this Isuka? Why are you pushing me away.’

‘I think it would be better for us to stick to our own worlds.’

He watched as Isuka walked away, helplessly staring at her retreating figure. 

It wasn't until the fifth day that he found out why Isuka had changed. Medora had been alone in a corridor when Ace had stumbled across her. She grabbed him and pulled him into a corner.

‘Shush Isuka can't see us together. She would kill me if she knew what I was going to tell you .’

She spent the next hour explaining what had happened since he had seen her last. Apparently, when Medora had been here on his 15th birthday she’d talked to the king and queen and insisted on joining the royal knights. She trained hard enough to become her personal knight in the shortest time possible and was the youngest royal knight ever. She had thrown herself into work over the guilt she had felt. Apparently, she had felt betrayed that she trusted Draw for so long when he had been the one to kill her parents because they tried to expose him and only adopted her so that he could win the favour of the king. She felt like she had played a part in his cruel plan and wanted to work in order to make things better. The king and queen had initially refused, placing none of the blame on her, she was a victim too. She had been very convincing.

‘But why would she ignore me?’

‘I think maybe she feels like she needs to keep her distance, she can’t be with you and doesn’t want to hurt you further.’

‘I don’t care about that, who told her that.’

‘I don’t know, she usually doesn’t care about what people say about her, but whoever it was really got under her skin.’

He buried his face in his hands, despite being one of the smartest people he knew she was so dumb sometimes.

So when it was time for them to leave, he waited and grabbed Isuka’s hand as she tried to get in. He handed her a note and waited for her to take it from him. She looked puzzled and in a sort of half daze accepted the letter. He helped her up into the carriage and watched as they left.

On her way home Isuka opened the letter, trying her best to conceal the contents from Medora who sat next to her.

Isuka,

It has come to my attention that you’ve been ignoring me for my sake. Well, I have to say that it’s a load of rubbish and will continue to bother you until you reply.

Waiting eagerly for your reply, Your fire fist

She smiled fondly at his use of the nickname she made for him, and then immediately stopped when she noticed Medora smirking at her.

‘He won’t be receiving a reply any time soon.’

‘That’s not going to stop him.’

‘He can try his best.’

~ ♡ ~

Isuka,

Hoping this is actually going to be read and not immediately burned. Will you be attending my brothers’ banquets?

Your wonderful and amazing Ace

P.s. please reply

~ ♡ ~

My dear Isuka,

I am going to take your silence as a yes every time I ask a question. If you don’t want me assuming weird things you should really reply.

Your dear Ace

~ ♡ ~

Oh wonderful and gorgeous lady Isuka,

Since the party is next week I shall be assuming your attendance and will be awaiting your arrival

The extremely hot Ace

~ ♡ ~

He did indeed see her at both his brothers’ banquets in which he spent the whole affair sending her notes. Paying little royal brats with sweets to give them to her. sometimes a small gift would be sent instead of a note, a flower or a piece of jewellery. The flowers she kept in her notebook, going to preserve them and the jewellery stored away safely.

~ ♡ ~

My beautiful and splendid Isuka, whose hair shines too bright sometimes,

Will you be my girlfriend?

Your stunning now boyfriend Ace

~ ♡ ~

To my breathtaking, charming, dazzling, extremely good sword-fighter girlfriend,

Happy birthday, I hope you like your present. Bet you were wishing for a kiss right?

Ace

~ ♡ ~

He would not stop sending more letters with longer and more ridiculous lines. She couldn’t reply of course having been ignoring him for close to a year now.

She definitely couldn’t let anyone know that she kept those letters in her box, tucked safely next to her other treasures. She loved his handwriting, the scrawling way he wrote her name. She read them again and again, hearing his voice talking to her softly. 

She was falling for him and she found herself minding less and less as she received more and more letters.

The words Draw had said to her as they dragged him to his execution faded slowly in her memory. 

~ ♡ ~

When she saw him next he was turning 17. This time she let him pull her into a hug, ‘I hope you plan on listening to me now.’

‘Yeah, I missed your stupid voice.’

‘Why do you always do this,’ he pulled back.

‘Do what?’ she stared up at him with innocent eyes. He was taller now, and definitely had way more muscles compared to the last time she had hugged him.

‘Insult me,’ he was pouting now and she resisted the urge to poke one of his freckled cheeks.

‘Get a room the both of you!’ Medora shouted from the stairs.

Isuka pulled away from him so fast, the blush on her cheeks spreading to her ears.

Ace chuckled, looking back at her ‘so technically I did just assume we were dating, your answer is yes right?’

She smiled sort of deviously and for a second he was worried. So when she kissed him on the cheek and whispered a yes into his ear, he froze and she used the opportunity to sprint up the stairs to join Medora.

~ ♡ ~

quiet night in

my first i didnt know where else to go fic

Isuka was enjoying a quiet night in, with no roommates, no fuss and no noise. She was all alone, and she could not be happier as she turned on the TV. She could finally watch what she wanted, with no judgement and no interruptions. Or at least that's what she thought. As she took a spoon of her ice cream, someone knocked on the door. She prayed internally it was a delivery of some sort and not one of her roommates back way too early and most likely crying.

She placed the ice cream on the coffee table and padded towards the door, 'I'm coming!'

She, however, did not expect to throw open the door and find one Portgas D. Ace leaning against the wall, injured. It was a well-known fact that the both of them did not get along in school, with Isuka being a stickler for the rules and her trust in authority meant she wasn't too fond of Ace's carefree nature. They'd argued about plenty of things in school, like Ace's uniform not being up to standard, about his poor attendance and his tendency to get into fights. She barely saw him now that they no longer went to school or lived anywhere near each other.

'Oh, thank goodness you're home. I didn't know where else to go,' Isuka gasped as she took in his appearance. He had bruises and cuts on his face, fresh ones as if he'd been in a fight. Scrapes on his arms and legs, almost like he'd fallen out of a tree and some bigger ones which definitely needed to be dressed. There were bruises on his stomach, like he'd been kicked, visible because, as usual, his shirt was open.

'What on earth happened to you?' She draped his arm around her shoulder to drag him in. She sat him down on the sofa before frantically trying to search for the first aid kit; no, maybe he needed to be taken to the hospital.

'If you're worried about me, you should see the other guys,' he smirked at her despite the fact he was clearly in pain, wincing when he tried to move. He kicked off his shoes and placed them to a side, his bag was on the floor, and he emptied his pockets onto the table. He also took off his shirt to make it easier for her to access all the cuts and grazes.

Isuka had managed to find the first aid kit fully stocked because of a certain someone's clumsiness. 'Why are you here?' She waited for him to sit up before opening the kit and pulling out what she needed; most of his injuries were minor cuts and grazes, but the bruises made it seem a lot worse. 'Are your brothers terrible at treating wounds? That would be horrible considering the fights I've seen the younger one get into.'

'That would be Luffy,' he laughed, coughing as pain shot up his side, 'and yes he's a terrible doctor, you're better off not going to him for this sort of stuff. He's also with his friends so I can't really bother him.'

'Noted,' she smiled at him before opening a packet of sterile wipes to clean the wounds, starting with his legs. She could feel him tense as she held his ankle to tug his leg onto her lap.

'Sabo, you can trust, he's pretty good at this stuff,' he caught her eyes again as she focused on his other leg, 'but he's out with his girlfriend right now, he might murder me for ruining his date and then murder me again for getting into a fight and getting injured.'

Isuka chuckled, 'he sounds like a reasonable person,' before adding, 'well anyone would seem more reasonable compared to the both of you.'

Ace held out her arms for her to clean next, 'yeah he's always been the smart one. I figured they would murder me if I didn't do anything at all about these wounds and I don't know anyone else around here.'

Isuka continued to clean his wounds. After getting through about five wipes, she made sure everything was good enough to move to the next step, cleaning the skin around the bigger wounds. She dabbed the cotton ball with antiseptic before signalling for him to come closer.

She heard him suck in, 'sorry I'm trying to be gentle. What are you doing here? You're pretty far away from home.'

'This is home,' he had an indecipherable look on his face, 'I had some time off so I came back to visit. It's been a while since I've seen everyone.'

'Yeah, it has,' she thought about the last time she'd seen him, younger and more carefree, as school ended. Then he moved away, and in all this time, Isuka's career hadn't gotten any further; she heard about his achievements, and some part of her was happy for him even if they had their differences.

'It's been even longer since I've seen you, I see my brothers way too often,' he looked up at her, but she didn't address the statement.

'Sorry I couldn't help more. This is all we have,' she apologised as she tugged his arm closer.

'Oh don't worry about it, you've already done more than I expected,' he smiled gratefully.

'What did you think I was going to do?' She continued her work, focusing on the cuts on his lip and nose.

'Honestly? Wrap me in bandages and send me home.'

'We may not like each other Ace, but I'm no heathen.'

'We don't?'

'Huh?'

'No, nevermind,' he waved it away. He watched her work, her concentration as she tried to only dab the skin around the wounds. Whenever he winced, she apologised before carefully going back to what she was doing.

For a while, Ace sat there watching her work. Isuka had always been kind, almost too kind for her own good. He knew she didn't like him that much, but she had been nice enough not to say it to his face, so hearing those words from her mouth was somehow different. 

She pulled out small plasters for his nose and lip and pieces of gauze for the bigger cuts on his arms and legs. She placed the plasters on, 'so why did you fight them?'

'Huh?'

She began placing the gauze on the wound on his arm and took out something to wrap it with, 'I mean you didn't just fight them for no reason right?'

'Oh that, of course not what do you take me for?'

'Didn't you get into fights a lot for no reason when we were back in school?'

'What?' he chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head after Isuka was done wrapping his arm. 'It's been a while, I was young and stupid, I've changed since then.'

'Oh so you admit you were stupid?' she teased as she focused on a cut on his leg.

'Hey, I have changed, give me some credit,' Isuka knew that to be true, but his flustered expression was way too funny to ignore, 'I really did have a reason.'

She shook her head affectionately as she finished up the last bandage, 'let me put this away, then I'll get you some ice for those bruises,' she gestured to his stomach. She packed everything back into the first aid kit and got up. When she got back, she walked over to the kitchen. 

'You don't have to worry about an ice pack, I'm pretty sure these will just fade,' he called out to her.

'No, that's really not how it works, in my opinion you should get checked in case of internal bleeding but since you insist things will be okay the least you could do is ice it,' she replied as she bent down to open the freezer. She pulled out the first ice pack she saw, wrapped it in a towel and made her way back to the sofa Ace was now lying on. 

He let her place it on his wounds before sitting down on the floor next to him, 'why do you even have an ice pack?'

'Sports injuries are very common in this household, you've got to be prepared,' she shrugged as she gently iced his injury.

'I can do this at the very least,' he placed a hand on hers to get her to stop.

'If you'd like,' she sighed and got up, settling herself on the armchair next to the sofa.

Ace continued icing the area before speaking, 'they were trying to attack this girl.'

'Who?'

'The guys I attacked.'

'Oh right.'

'After I went to Sabo's and he gave me the leave and if you accept any offer to third wheel our date I'll murder you look,' Isuka chuckled, picturing Ace's teasing look and Sabo's murderous one. 'I took that as a signal to leave the lovebirds alone and was making my way to Makino's bar,' Isuka was familiar with Makino, the kind woman who ran the only bar she enjoyed going to, 'I was cutting through this alley when I heard a voice shouting for help. So I went over to where I heard the voice and I saw four guys cornering this girl. She looked terrified so I stepped in, she ran away as soon as she had the opportunity and I fought them to make sure they didn't try to chase after her.'

'You got beat up pretty badly, you sure there were only four of them?'

'They had weapons, this bruise is probably from the bat they hit me with,' he pointed at the bruise he was currently icing.

'A bat? You sure you didn't break a rib or something,' it didn't feel broken when she touched it, but there was no harm in double-checking.

He ignored her concern at first, 'I couldn't bother Makino with my injuries. She's busy,' but he quickly added, 'stop worrying so much. I've broken ribs before; this is nothing compared to that.'

'None of that statement makes me any less worried,' she shook her head disappointedly. 

'You worry too much. You should know by now nothing hurts me that much,' he glanced over at where she was, but she didn't look convinced; like usual, she thought too much. 'Have I ever told you you think too much?'

'Yes,' she sighed, multiple memories coming to the front of her thoughts, 'multiple times.'

'Oh, well you do, maybe you should think less Isuka, you look stressed.'

'I'm stressed because of you! You can't come to my home, for the first time, injured and expect me not to worry.'

Ace was quiet before he spoke again, 'I tried visiting you before, but you were never home, always holed up at work,' Isuka opened her mouth to try and deny the statement, but he continued, 'your roommates told me.'

'Well, I can't say they were wrong but I do take breaks; matter of fact, I was taking one before you came,' she leaned over to grab the half-melted ice cream; she might as well put it back in the freezer.

'Oh that's right, it's quiet, where are your friends?'

Isuka grabbed two cups of water before making her way back, 'Tash is on a date,' she placed one in front of him and sank back into her seat, 'Koby and Helmeppo are doing something or the other. I didn't question it.'

'Oh so you're home alone? Must be fun,' when he was younger, being home alone was a luxury he rarely had, but when he did, the peace and quiet was something he appreciated.

'Well I planned on bingeing some show until I passed out on the sofa and was woken up by my roommates,' she signalled to the stack of blankets and pillows she'd moved to make space for Ace, 'but as usual I can never catch a break.'

At first, Ace didn't quite clock what she was talking about before realising he was very much the problem, 'ah, sorry about that.'

'Nothing you can do about it now,' she waved off his apology, 'have you eaten? You mentioned being on the way to Makino's.'

'Now that you mention it,' he hadn't eaten; he was planning on clearing Makino's stock, lovingly as her sort of younger brother.

'Let me see what we have,' Isuka got up yet again, she had eaten a big lunch and decided eating a whole tub of ice cream was good enough, so she hadn't had dinner yet. She opened the fridge, which was startlingly empty; not even the basic things like eggs or milk were present; she really needed to go grocery shopping. She and her roommates were always busy, meaning lots of takeout and tons of leftovers in the fridge, but apparently not today.

'It doesn't have to be fancy!' He shouted, supposedly helpful, but not when the fridge had a single energy drink and a strawberry, the one Koby picked from their strawberry plant the other day.

She returned to Ace, 'yeah turns out we have absolutely nothing,' she pulled out her phone to see what places would deliver.

'What were you planning to eat?'

'Ice cream.'

'For dinner? And you say I make terrible decisions,' he teased.

'I don't make them on a daily basis, just sometimes, plus I'm not on the clock. Let me relax,' his annoying, bother Isuka voice was making a comeback, 'do you want pizza?'

'Yeah sure.'

She placed her usual order and let him pick what he wanted before paying, not without a small argument about who should pay. Isuka won, her main reason being he was in pain to simply fish his card out of his bag. With food on the way, they sat in silence.

Ace broke the silence first, 'so what have you been up to,' he hadn't heard much about her in the past 3 years. He got updates about basically everyone else through his brothers, but Isuka wasn't friends with them, so he didn't have a real reason to ask them about her. He was not about to call his grandfather to try and get information about his subordinate. Skull was able to get snippets of information about her from time to time, but it was not much.

Isuka thought for a moment before replying, 'well work I guess, there hasn't been much time for anything else.'

'Is that why you're home alone on a nice night like this.'

'Like you're any better, you ended up at my place, injured on a nice night.'

'Like I said I would've bothered someone else, but unlike you they are with other people.'

'There's nothing wrong with enjoying some alone time.'

'Sure,' he really had a way of making her annoyed. Damn his stupid face and addictive smile. 'Are you still fencing?'

'Huh? Oh yeah, but it's just for fun, I help out with a kids class too,' she smiled, remembering the little kids who watched in awe as she demonstrated different moves.

'I see, that must be a lot of work,' Isuka had almost become a professional, representing nationally and even had an offer to take part in an international competition. That was until she gave it up because of personal circumstances.

'Yeah but it's a lot of fun seeing the younger generation interested in it.'

She smiled sadly, he hadn't known her for long, having transferred into her school a little late, but her friends had told him enough. She was once one of those kids eagerly attending every session. Even in the time he knew her, her passion for the sport was astounding.

He wanted to say something of comfort, but she broke the silence first, 'so what about you? What's it like living away from your family?'

'Of course I miss my brothers and home, but I've found a family there too. They're good people.'

'That's good,' she'd been worried about his reckless nature, but he'd found people who'd helped him settle down.

Silence took over again. Ace fiddled with one of his bracelets, 'so, um, what show were you gonna watch?'

Isuka looked puzzled, 'oh, my show. It's nothing really, a friend recommended it to me. It's one of those murder mystery shows.'

'I see,' Ace wasn't someone who spent a lot of time keeping us with tv shows. If it was on, he'd watch it, but he spent most of his time outside with others. Deuce would always be rambling on about some show or book; in all honesty, he'd learned to tune him out.

'Do you want to watch something? While we wait?'

'Oh sure, we can watch your show if you want,' he felt bad that she was missing out on her form of relaxation.

'You sure? I don't mind watching something else if you'd prefer,' she offered.

'Nah, murder is interesting enough.'

'Okay then, murder it is,' she turned on the TV and pulled up the show. She hadn't started watching it and planned on not sleeping (or trying not to) until she finished it.

~ ♡ ~

The both of them watched quietly as the show began, setting up the murder, introducing the victim and then the main character. Ace winced as the murderer stabbed the victim, and Isuka laughed, which then prompted him to call her psycho for enjoying this sort of stuff. They watched as the murderer hunted for the main character, and the doorbell rang, causing the both of them to jump, before Isuka realised it was the pizza, paused the show, and went to collect it. 

'There you go,' she placed the boxes on the coffee table.

'Almost thought we were going to be murdered.'

Isuka laughed and said, 'don't worry there are enough weapons in this house to protect ourselves with.'

'Oh right, you guys have a bunch of swords and stuff,' Ace sat up slowly and opened up the boxes as Isuka went to grab some glasses for the drinks.

'That would be all of us but Koby, he's more of a martial arts type person,' they each had their own interest, with made for an odd assortment of weapons in the house.

'Right, remind me never to try to surprise you. I might end up riddled with holes,' he watched as she sank back into her seat, 'can you even see the TV from there?' Isuka nodded, and Ace added to the question, 'I mean properly? Isn't the angle kinda weird?'

'It's not too bad, I'm used to it, all four of us can't fit on one sofa,' the four of them tried to eat dinner together as often as they could, which was very rare and always caused arguments about what to watch.

'Join me,' he smiled, patting the seat next to him. The sofa was quite spacious, and at first, Isuka denied the offer, stating she was quite comfortable where she was. Ace, however, was insistent, and she caved, getting up to join him.

He clicked play when she picked up a slice of pizza and leaned back into the seat. They were mostly quiet, their attention focused on eating and the show.

'Who do you think did it?' Ace asked when they paused to clear up the mess.

Isuka pondered the question before answering, 'I think it's too early to know, but the uncle is suspicious.'

'Right? He gives me the creeps.'

They sat back down on the sofa, Isuka grabbing the blankets and pillows so they could get more comfortable. Isuka wrapped herself in the blanket and sat with her legs up on the seat. Ace accepted a pillow and placed it behind his head.   When the show started again, the both of them talked a bit more, Ace making a comment about the dumb ideas the police had and Isuka complaining about how reckless the main character was.

At some point, Ace made a noise of discomfort, and Isuka made him lie down on the sofa, putting the pillow below his head and draping a blanket over him.

'You don't have to baby me, you know.'

'My house, my rules, you are injured, you don't get a say.'

'Yes ma'am,' he saluted as she sat back down, lifting his legs to sit down before placing them on her lap.

~ ♡ ~

It wasn't very long until Ace fell asleep, he tried to fight it, but the nice hot meal and being tucked in made it really difficult. He woke up, the room was dark, and the only light was the TV; Isuka was still awake. 

He watched her as her expression changed, her hair tucked behind her ear, making it all the more easy. Her eyes seemed tired, but she stared intently, barely moving.

'What's happening?' She seemed a little startled as she turned to face him.

'Oh, how was the nap? If you want you can take my bed.'

'Nah, I'm good,' he wasn't going to admit that he likes being on the sofa with her, 'did they find out who did it?'

'Yeah, it was the uncle, but they haven't caught him yet.'

'So we were right? Wow I'd make a great detective, maybe I should join you Birdie.'

'I don't think you should quit your day job too soon, Fire Fist,' he smiled at the use of nicknames, well more like Birdie was what he called her to annoy her, and Fire Fist was what most people knew him as, but it was still cute she remembered.

He smiled to himself before turning his attention back to the TV, the show was clearly coming to an end, and he wondered what time it was. Isuka grabbed them the ice cream she planned on eating later, and they finished the whole thing, laughing at each other when they got a brain freeze. 

When the show ended, Isuka got up, stretching her limbs. He wanted to do the same, but the pain made him stop.

'That was a good show.'

'Yeah, Deuce was right,' Isuka chuckled, and Ace did too until he clocked her words.

'Deuce?!'

'Yeah, he watched it a while back and told me it was good and I should check it out.'

Ace hadn't wrapped his head around the fact she'd just said Deuce. Deuce, who was absolutely terrified of her and used every excuse to avoid being in her path, that Deuce was now exchanging TV show recommendations with her? He vaguely remembered Deuce mentioning a murder mystery show, but then again, he hadn't been paying attention, so he wouldn't know.

'You talk to Deuce?'

'Occasionally, he usually texts me. Skull too, he tells the funniest stories.'

'They have your number, but I don't?' He was even more shocked that Skull had also kept in contact; he always mentioned admiring her from afar, not exchanging stories weekly.

'Well you never asked, Deuce asked before we finished school. Skull asked a little later.'

He muttered under his breath, 'those traitors,' he'd mentioned Isuka multiple times in the past couple of years, and apparently, they never thought to mention that they were in contact.

'You can have it now, if you'd like,' she held out her hand, and he scrambled to find his phone for her to enter her number.

'So it's just me you don't like?'

'Huh?'

'Earlier, you mentioned not liking each other, you really don't like me?'

Isuka stared blankly at him before bursting out laughing, 'Ace you really crack me up, sure I didn't like you when we first met. I thought you were annoying as hell.'

'And?'

'I still think that,' Ace's hopeful look immediately fell, and Isuka started laughing again. 'However, I never really hated you. I mean, we were just similar people with different views; we could have been good friends.'

'Could have? Can't we? Like now, we can be friends right?'

Isuka saw the look in his eyes and realised he was being serious about getting closer, 'sure.' His face immediately lit up; Isuka always thought he looked adorable when he smiled. 'I do think, however, since it is four in the morning, we should get some proper sleep.'

'Yeah that's a good idea Birdie.'

'You're not letting that nickname go are you?'

'Oh, absolutely not,' he smirked, and Isuka questioned what she was getting herself into.

~ ♡ ~

Come morning, Isuka woke up with a crick in her neck and her arm numb. She'd fallen asleep on the armchair, Ace sprawled out on the sofa. She got up and stretched, making her way to her bedroom to freshen up. When she got to the kitchen, she was met with a slightly bemused Tashigi.

'Looks like you had a fun night,' referring to the sleeping figure of Ace on their sofa.

'I could say the same about you, when did you get home?'

'About 10 minutes ago,' she took a sip from her cup, 'should I be happy or worried for you?'

'Happy, I think,' she opened their cabinets to make herself a coffee.

'Well, I guess our guest is staying for breakfast.'

'Let me check,' she abandoned her quest to make coffee and instead turned her attention to waking up Ace.

He woke up, a lost expression on his face, 'where? Who? Birdie?'

'Yeah, it's me. I was wondering whether you were going to stay for breakfast.'

He sat up, Isuka helping him. He rubbed at his face before looking back up. Tashigi had made her way to the living area, so he waved at her, and she nodded back. 

'Well, considering I told Makino I was going to see her yesterday then disappeared, it would be a good idea to drop by and let her know I'm not dead. Plus I have invaded your space enough for one visit.'

'Okay, if you want you can use the bathroom over there and I'll pack your stuff,' he nodded, getting up.

When he came back, he looked a lot more awake, and Isuka handed his bag over, 'thanks, Birdie.'

'No problem, Fire Fist. Make sure to take care of those injuries.'

She opened the door to let him out, 'I look forward to seeing you again, now that I have you I'm never letting you go Isuka.'

She could feel her cheeks burn as he turned around, waving as he disappeared down the stairs, 'I look forward to it.'

~ ♡ ~

Mutual Destruction

lokwey mustve been going through something

When Ace had held out his hand to her, she'd almost laughed at his absurd request, but despite that, she found herself running through back alleys towards his ship.

~ ♡ ~

Isuka rarely ever cried; it was something that held true throughout her childhood. She had vivid memories of her mother praising her for not crying when the other kids teased her or when they pushed her. Instead, she always stood back up and walked back to her home, ignoring the shouts. Her mum would be in the kitchen preparing dinner. She'd hug her, and her mum would turn around and bend down to wrap her arms around her, and despite feeling like she wanted to, Isuka never cried, and she never fought back.

She had told her mum, after one of those incidents, that she was going to become strong so that their pushes didn't hurt anymore, and when she was old enough, she was going to sail away and make lots of money so they could move to a bigger house, with a big garden for any plants her mum wanted. That should have been what happened. 

She began spending the afternoons after school in the mountains, training to become stronger, or was trying to. She was there that fateful day too. She had accidentally stayed too long in the mountains, and it had become dark as she ran back towards her village, hoping her mum wouldn't be too mad or that her dad wouldn't ground her. What she should've returned to was a peaceful village, with the sound of light chatter as the families settled down for dinner. Instead, she returned to an inferno.

She was out of breath as she stood at the edge of the village, the houses were burning, and there were screams and cries filling her senses. She couldn't let herself be overwhelmed. She thought of her parents and began to run. This time she couldn't stop the tears from falling, overcome with a sense of dread.

She pushed past the fatigue in her legs, running out of necessity. Her lungs burned as the smoke seemed to thicken. She lived on the other edge of town; it would take too long to run around the edge, so she sprinted through the roads she once knew, now unrecognisable. The fire had touched everything. Everywhere she looked, homes were burning up in flames.

When she reached her home, or what was left of it, she could no longer hold herself up. Something had taken out the middle of the house, leaving the rest to collapse in on itself. It looked like something massive had been thrown at the row of houses since all of them were similarly damaged. The fire in this section of the village was dying down, there were still flames, but it wasn't the inferno the other sections of the village were.

On her knees, she crawled closer to the rubble, barely feeling the rough ground scratch at her skin. She couldn't see anything under the debris, but her tears were clouding her vision, and she didn't want to give up hope. She cried for her parents as she tried to claw at the rubble, picking up smaller pieces of wood or stone. Her hands brushed against something soft, and she frantically tried to pull it out; she fell back when the object finally came loose. It was a toy bunny that her mum had found earlier that day, she had asked Isuka whether she still wanted it, and Isuka had said no, that she was too old for toys like that. She looked at it now. The purple colour of its fur had faded, and one of its ears had burnt off in the fire, but she hugged it close, thankful to have something familiar.

She wiped some of her tears and placed the bunny to the side, and tried to go back to searching. The material was still hot, and she had to pull her hands back often. Just as she was able to stop the tears from flowing down her face, a piece of wood collapsed and fell on her hand. Crying even harder now, she pulled it out and cradled it close. 

She sat there for a while, trying to ignore the pain, but it burned the more she tried to focus on something else. She hadn't given up hope, but everything was starting to catch up to her; her legs hurt to move, the scratches on her knees were bleeding, and her hand was burnt. She couldn't do anything but cry. She felt useless.

'Lieutenant Commander!' She looked up, picking the stuffed bunny up again; there were people nearby.

'Lieutenant Commander Draw, sir, we need to leave, we have the pirates in custody. We've rescued everyone we can, the village is going to collapse!'

'I can hear crying,' the small group of people rounded the corner, and Isuka could see that they were Marines. Marines had once landed on the island, and although they'd stayed on their ships, the kids had all snuck around trying to get a glimpse of them. She recognised their uniform, white and blue, the man in the middle had a large coat on, but she couldn't see the back.

'You were right sir, there is a child,' Isuka was standing up now, trying to stifle her sobs. 

'My parents,' she tried to say, pointing at the rubble; the soldiers looked at her with pity.

The man walked up to her and bent down to his knees to level with her before wrapping his arms around her. 'You can let it all out,' he whispered before picking her up. One hand clung to his shirt, and the other kept a hold of her bunny as she cried. 

'She's injured sir,' one of the men pointed out.

'The poor child, it's moments like this that show how much suffering pirates have caused; she's lost her village and parents,' the men seemed to agree with the statement, 'let's treat her on the ship along with the others, hopefully, she can find a new home.'

Isuka stayed silent until they reached the ship; the man put her down and let another crew member led her to the medics. A kind woman patched her up, cleaning her wounds and dressing them, she tried to ask questions, but Isuka continued to stay quiet, and the woman didn't prod further.

'There's a family willing to take you,' the man had returned, 'I'll take you there, they're setting up camp.'

'Can I stay?' she mumbled; she clutched her toy a bit harder.

'What?' he struggled to hear her murmuring.

'I'm really strong, I promise, I train everyday!' she shouted a bit louder, 'so please, let me fight as well, that's what you do right? You fight pirates,' she fiddled with the ear of the toy, 'so let me fight them as well.'

The medic put a hand on her shoulder, 'sweetheart calm down, it's okay, I know what you feel like, but sweetie, you're just too young.' Isuka didn't listen; she kept her eyes locked on the Lieutenant's, hoping she looked strong enough; the medic tried to usher her back into the chair.

'Wait,' he said to the medic and bent down again, 'are you sure?'

'I want to fight,' Isuka said back; she'd never been so sure of anything in her life. She was done taking things lying down. She wanted to fight, for her parents, for her village. 

'Well then, I think it's settled; she'll join us,' he grinned at her, and Isuka sighed, relieved; the medic, on the other hand, seemed apprehensive.

Looking back at that now, she realised that she was too young, no child should have to go through what she went through, but no child should be joining the Marines either. She wondered if she was just another part of his extremist views, no one would question the man who'd gone back just to save a child he'd faintly heard crying. To him, her village was just in the way of his path to power, and he'd gotten what he wanted. He was promoted as the 'hero' he was seen as. 

~ ♡ ~

After the incident, she'd vowed to herself that she would never cry again, that she'd get stronger and fight back, and that she'd destroy all pirates. So, for the next seven years, that's what she did, first as a chore girl on Draw's ship, training in her spare time with the crew. It was actually the medic who introduced her to the rapier as a weapon; she said there was an elegance the weapon held that suited her. 

She was then left at a base; the seas were not for her, not yet. The officer of the base let her work there as a chore girl, allowing her to train in her spare time. She moved up the ranks fast, becoming one of the youngest ensigns. She was soon on a ship of her own, with a crew of her own, on the Grand Line. That's where she met Ace.

In a word, Ace was unpredictable. He was a wild card that was making the higher-ups nervous, being one the fastest-growing rookies at the young age of seventeen. So who else would be better suited to bring him down than the equally young Isuka? Having been on the Grand Line for a year now, Isuka had an impressive record, that was until she met Fire Fist Ace.

~ ♡ ~

If anyone had told her that when she'd first met Ace, she'd end up joining him; she would've stabbed them. Yet here she was, breaking the promises she'd made and on the deck of the Spadille as it sped away from the archipelago and made its way to the New World.

She'd promised she'd never cry again, but the weight of the years had crushed her all at once. The truth she believed, her one motivation in those difficult years of training was false. A blatant lie. So she let herself cry, feeling the tears stream down her face as she tried not to be too loud. She had also promised to always fight back, but her legs didn't let her move. The ache she felt that day made its way back to her muscles, the fear and betrayal she'd felt in the moment was something she had hoped never to feel again, but once again, she found herself on the floor. This time, she had nothing to clutch onto for hope.

So when Ace offered her a hand and made the most absurd request, she found herself accepting it. She let him drag her through the alleys, shouting directions at Deuce. 

She found herself feeling thankful for the pair of them, they'd fought hard, and despite being on opposing sides, they'd offered her a hand instead of leaving her. So without thinking it through, when Ace had told her to jump, she'd followed. 

Landing on the decking of Spadille felt different this time; she'd been on the ship plenty of times before. She could even make out all the marks she'd left trying to fight Ace. Ace still held onto her hand, she suddenly felt eyes on her. Of course, she thought, to them, she was still the enemy. 

Before she could say anything, Deuce was leading her away, 'you have a crew to lead Ace, and Isuka needs rest,' Ace nodded, giving Isuka's hand a comforting squeeze before turning to address the rest of the Spades.

'I'm sure you all have questions, but first we need to get out of here, so full speed ahead!'

~ ♡ ~

Isuka found herself in the captain's quarters; Deuce had said it was the most private. No one would bother her, except for Kotatsu, who came and went when he pleased.

She looked around the cabin; it was bigger than hers and much more personal. The only thing she had from her childhood was the bunny, which she'd probably never see again, and the scar on her hand. Ace had photos and all sorts of knick-knacks from his travels strewn across the room. She saw one of him as a young child with two other kids. She recognised Luffy from Ace's stories, and she smiled, remembering the way his face lit up talking about his kid brother. There was another child that Isuka couldn't quite place, she didn't recognise him from any of his stories, even he had stories he kept private.

She saw pictures of the Spades in various different places; she could recollect having fought Ace in most of the places. Looking around, she felt like she was intruding. The Spades were a tight-knit family, one she felt she didn't belong in. She envied Ace as a leader; he had a relationship with his crew she could never have; her crew didn't joke around with her. They simply respected the hierarchy. Maybe she had made a mistake following Ace. She'd never feel like she belonged.

She found herself wanting to crawl up into a ball, so she sat down in the corner of his room and pulled her knees closer. She didn't know how long she'd stayed in the position, unmoving, her head resting on her knees.

'Isuka?' It was Ace, he was standing at the door, 'you there?'

She wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked up, 'yeah?' She winced at how hoarse and tired her voice sounded.

He stepped into the room to inspect where her voice came from, 'what are you doing over there? Was the bed not comfortable?' He chuckled at the little ball she'd curled up into.

'No, I, no it's just nice in the corner,' he offered a hand, and she took it, stumbling as she got up. Her legs ached a little from being in the same position for way too long. 

He sat back down on his bed, patting the spot next to him so she could join him, 'so how do you like it?'

'About that,' she began, fiddling with her fingers. It would seem that Ace had noticed her hesitancy, and instead of allowing her to stand around awkwardly, he pulled her down next to him.

'You don't have to say anything; it's not easy getting used to different environments,' he looked over at her, she had her head turned down. 'Tonight you can sleep here, I'll be taking the night watch, so don't feel like you're intruding.'

'But I do, Ace, I really don't think I belong here,' she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes; he'd been so kind, and she wasn't used to it.

'Why do you think that, this crew's full of people who aren't strictly pirates, they can be whoever they want to be.'

'I don't want to be selfish Ace, I couldn't do that to you,' she could feel the tears pricking the back of her eyes.

'You and your selfless heart,' he tilted her chin up to get a better look at her face, 'be selfish Isuka, let me be selfish for you.' He pulled his hand back, a little startled when she began to cry.

In between sobs, she spoke, 'you've always been like this. Aren't you worried?'

'About what?' 

'I'm scared I'll destroy you Ace,' what good would come of her joining the crew? She could think of a million things that could go wrong, and she wished none of that on him, 'I don't want to hurt you.'

'You're worried you'll hurt me?' he asked almost incredulously, running a hand through his hair, 'Isuka I'm so scared I'll hurt you.' She looked up, confused, 'leave it to me to fall for a girl who'd been hurt by flames and pirates, and who am I, a pirate who can turn into flames.' He chuckled at how cruel fate had been.

She tried her best to wipe her tears yet again and took a hold of one of his hands, 'I'm strong Ace, you could never hurt me, I know you won't.'

'I know but I can still worry,' he smiled at her trust in him, 'if you want to leave I'm not stopping you, I would never force anything on crew members. You can just tell the Marines you were taken hostage, I'm sure they'll take you back.'

'But then they'll think worse of you, for crimes you've never committed,' her eyes were full of worry.

'They think enough of me already, you don't have to worry about that,' he brought his other hand to her face, brushing away a strand of hair.

They sat there quietly; Ace had removed his hand, suddenly aware of what he was doing. Isuka quietly contemplated what had been said, 'so it'll be mutual destruction?'

Ace burst out laughing; she was taken aback by it, 'yeah, you could put it like that.' He considered it for a second, 'mutual destruction.' He pulled back and stuck out his hand, 'so you'll stay?'

She wiped away all her tears and took a deep breath in before taking his hand, 'for as long as you'll have me.'

~ ♡ ~

Eyes as deep as the ocean

totally wasnt based on a tiktok trend ahahah

Ever since she met him, there was something she couldn't deny, how beautiful his eyes were. They were so bright and expressive; she never had trouble figuring out how he felt because his eyes talked for themselves. No matter how hard he tried to hide what he truly felt like, she saw the subtle changes in his gaze, like the subtle changes of the ocean. His eyes even had the same depth, full of mysteries waiting to be solved.

When she'd first met him on his ship, promising his downfall, his eyes had an amused expression as he flickered into a flame. When she lunged to attack, there was a glint of fear as he dodged, but it was soon full of admiration of her power; he knew she'd be a powerful adversary. When she struggled to stay afloat in the choppy waters, she saw something new, something like recognition, but as he turned away, she didn't catch his words.

From then onwards, every time they bumped into each other, she'd see a new side to him, all visible through his eyes. It was sometimes happiness, pure excitement in seeing her; other times, it was annoyance that she was interrupting his meal. It had soon become a small game where she'd track his expressions, guessing how he was feeling. Of course, she had no way of knowing whether she was correct, but it was fun nonetheless.

There were times she'd catch him staring at her, an unreadable look on his face, and it annoyed her that she didn't know what he was thinking. He always looked away when she caught him, and it made her all the more curious about him. She'd asked a friend what it meant if a man kept staring at her and then looked away and if it meant he wanted to fight her. Her friend simply laughed and said sometimes it was hard to forget that she was barely an adult and never really had the time to experience much about being a child. In the end, she was none the wiser of Fire Fist's strange tendencies.

Obviously, that wasn't the reason why she chased him; that was because he was a pirate that deserved to be arrested. Absolutely no other reason. So why was she up at night thinking about him? When she saw a twinge of darkness in his eyes, why was she worried? She found herself constantly thinking about him, that stupid pirate and his stupid hat.

She remembered the time his gaze towards her had suddenly changed. It was after she'd jumped into a lake to save him. When she'd pumped the water out his lungs, and he coughed up the rest, he had stared at her with a whole new expression.

'Why,' his voice was croaky, surely his chest was burning, 'why did you save me?'

'I want to arrest you, I can't do that if you're dead,' she'd answered, tucking a strand of wet hair behind her ear. He watched her hands as they fell back onto her lap before looking back at her. He couldn't quite comprehend why she put herself in danger trying to save him, he who had done nothing to earn her respect.

They parted ways after that; Ace confused about his new feelings for her. The next few times they fought, she found him staring at her more often. 

~ ♡ ~

Ace then stopped staring at her after she'd taken her shirt off, and they made eye contact. His head had turned so fast she was worried he'd break his neck. 

They were trapped in a cave together whilst the rain poured torrentially outside. Isuka had gotten soaked in their attempt to find shelter and desperately wanted to be warm and dry. So she rid herself of her coat and shirt, trying to dry them by the fire.

He held his hand out toward her, and she looked up at him. He still wasn't looking at her, so she looked at what he was holding in his hand. It was his shirt.

'Wear it so you don't get cold,' she was startled by his voice; this was the first he had spoken since they entered the cave. He'd silently gathered wood and started the fire, his hat low over his eyes so she couldn't tell what he was thinking.

She accepted the shirt, suddenly aware of how exposed she was in just her bra and shorts, 'thank you.' She put it on; it was warmer than she thought it would be. She did the buttons up, leaving the top two undone. It smelt almost familiar; maybe they fought way too often. 

They continued to sit in silence; they had never had a conversation apart from the insults and comments they made as they fought each other. She stared into the fire: it had been a long time since she'd been this close to an open flame as big as this. It made her sort of nervous, so she sat a small distance away, still grateful for the warmth.

Ace kept stealing glances at her, her small frame in his shirt. The yellow suited her well, the way it hung loosely off her shoulders. Seeing her like that made his feelings clear; he wanted to see her like that more often. This was a feeling she'd never seen in his eyes before; the warmth in his gaze confused her even more. Why was he so at ease with her? So Isuka pretended not to notice the way Ace was glancing at her; he would just stare and smile to himself. 

She hadn't really seen him without his shirt before; he always had it on. It was weird to see him without it, but for some reason, she simply couldn't take her eyes off of him, having to force herself to look away so he wouldn't notice.

There was nothing they could really do, so Ace decided to make himself comfortable and sleep through the storm; hopefully, the skies would clear by the morning. Isuka, on the other hand, was still uneasy around the fire and decided to stay awake. When Ace woke up, the skies had cleared, and he could hear the birds chirping outside. Isuka was gone, his shirt was folded up neatly next to him, and her stuff was gone. The fire must have eventually died as he wasn't keeping it going. 

~ ♡ ~

The next time he saw her was Sabaody, her dedicated self chasing him even while she was on holiday. When they ended up locked together in the Ferris wheel, he could feel her gaze burn into the side of his head, but he kept looking outside. Hearing her story, he cursed fate; how could he fall for her as a pirate who could turn into fire?

When Isuka proposed that he leave the pirate life and join him as a marine, she noticed the change in his eyes. There was a small darkness she'd seen before, and she already knew his answer, so when he jumped out of the capsule, she simply closed the door and sat back down, now facing a terrified Deuce.

Once they reached the bottom, she let him go too. Those on the side of justice shouldn't take hostages.

Two days later, she found out the truth about her life, about the morals she'd lived on for the past decade. She wanted to cry, to let it all out, but she stayed silent, tears streaming down her face as she had a hand on her mouth. She could dimly hear the ongoing battle. She didn't remember when her silent cries had become sobs, but Deuce had mentioned clearly hearing her as he faced Draw. Both Ace and Deuce had fought for their lives as she sat there uselessly, unable to think, let alone stand up.

When she no longer heard the sound of punches being exchanged, she looked up; Ace was offering her a hand. Just when she thought she couldn't laugh again, this man says the most outrageous things. During the fight, there was darkness in his eyes, especially when Draw blamed him for the children being put in danger, but now they were lighter, hopeful she'd take his hand. So she did.

She held on tight as they ran through the back alleys towards the shore, where a fleet of marine ships was making their way towards them. She caught sight of the Spadille as they neared the coast. His crew were shouting at him, asking him to get on, and it suddenly hit her; she couldn't join them; she couldn't do that to them. Ace was kind enough to look past their differences, but she felt bad for his crew. To them, she'd always be a marine, and she knew she wouldn't be able to look past it either. So when he leapt, she didn't; her shaky legs stayed planted on the ground. She almost didn't have the heart to explain when he shouted for her. He deserved all the love in the world.

'Don't die out there, Ace. Thank you,' she smiled as best she could, but she could tell her eyes didn't carry the message. The tears in her eyes clouded her sight, and she couldn't tell what Ace looked like as he disappeared on the horizon. She hoped his eyes were still bright as he looked to the future.

Only Deuce saw the longing in his eyes and the darkness that clouded them. He was always scared he didn't deserve to be loved, Deuce knew this not to be true, but Ace had a pain that couldn't be healed by medicine.

~ ♡ ~

It had been two years since she'd last seen him, he was now a commander in Whitebeard's crew, and she was now a captain. She hoped she'd bump into him in better conditions than this, but escorting him from his cell was not how she imagined their reunion would look like. She'd seen his pictures, how he'd grown, the man he'd become, but now as she held his arm to lead him, he was barely himself.

He refused to make eye contact, but she could see the lifelessness in his eyes; he'd accepted his death, and to her, it seemed almost impossible. The boy she met wouldn't accept his fate so easily.

She walked with him to the ship, letting the other marines take him from there, unable to chain him to his temporary prison. As she went downstairs, he caught her eyes, and she turned away, praying something would happen and he'd be safe.

The war itself was a horrible memory she never wished to go through again; the inhumane killing sanctioned by the higher-ups made her sick. She was forced to choose sides halfway through the battle, unable to hover between the two sides, and she wanted to rescue Ace. She used the distractions caused by Straw Hat Luffy to her advantage; Ace's eyes were full of fear as he watched his family fight for him. Isuka finally understood why he was ready to die; he was willing to die for those he loved, the stupid fool.

In the end, she could barely remember how they'd actually saved him, he was badly injured, like his brother, but they were safe. She was on the Heart Pirates' submarine, sitting by his bedside, watching him breathe. His eyes were shut, but if they were open, she thought they'd be empty. His captain and father had fought to the death to ensure his safety, and she knew Ace would blame himself.

~ ♡ ~

The next two years were hard. Maintaining his health, both physically and mentally, proved to be a task. When he wasn't being restrained because of his reckless tendencies, he trained with his brother, wanting to get stronger to go after Blackbeard again. She constantly had to tell him not to overwork himself when he was still recovering, but Isuka knew she couldn't stop him. There was a fire in his eyes no one could distinguish.

The one thing she could count on was that Ace returned to her side every night. Now that she was no longer a marine, considering she'd betrayed them to save him, she stayed with him. She planned to continue to stay by his side for as long as she could. The remaining Whitebeard pirates had all journeyed to see him at least once, the Spades had come to stay, and Marco had stayed for extended periods of time to help medically.

She looked up from her book as he entered her room; it was basically his as well, with how much time he spent in it. He smiled at her, and she made space for him next to her on the bed. He took it as an invitation and laid down next to her. They stayed in a comfortable silence until Ace moved her arm to allow him to crawl onto her, and she simply adjusted her position to make it more comfortable for the both of them. He was heavy as his weight pressed her down, but she found herself not minding; it meant that she knew he was there.

'Thank you,' he whispered as he buried his face into her neck; she carefully stroked his hair. He thanked her a lot recently, she wanted to tell him he didn't need to, but he won't stop.

'It's okay,' she whispered back as he fell asleep in her embrace. 

Ace also enjoyed watching her work; whenever she had her books open to conduct research on various things, he sat next to her. She ignored his presence most of the time, especially since he usually fell asleep, but sometimes he stared at her.

'Stop looking at me with those eyes,' she pleaded, his gaze clinging to her. It was hard to concentrate when he looked at her like that.

'What eyes,' he asked innocently as she turned to face him. He looked at her with such pure adoration she didn't need to search his eyes to see what he was feeling. He'd made it clear that he loved her when he'd woken up and seen her passed out by his side, but in no way did he pressure her to return his feelings, just another thing she loved about him.

She leant over and placed a kiss on his lips, and he sighed contently; what an attention-seeking cat. He was resembling Kotatsu and his clingy behaviour more and more every day. But she still loved him more and more. 

Now that she could clearly see his eyes, she didn't need to play guessing games; she didn't have to think about it; all she had to do was love him like he loved her for as long as time allowed her to.

~ ♡ ~

Тот пост набрал уже больше 10 лайков...

Придётся продолжать АУ 😨

Думаю о том, чтобы сделать первичный возбудитель инфекции в Сумрачном лесу (ну, не зря же я для начала нарисовала Кленовницу и Частокола, которые, будучи живыми, вроде как совсем не связаны). А живые коты начнут заражаться через кошек, что учатся в СЛ... Хорошая ли это идея? Я без понятия.

Честно говоря, Котов-воителей (и то не все книги) я читала достаточно давно, поэтому делать продолжение для АУ будет тяжело... Но я постараюсь сделать хоть что-то оригинальное.

Чисто ради интереса я (может быть) сделаю первых живых заражённых котов во время событий 1го цикла.

Хотя по большей части это из-за того, что именно его я помню больше всего.

Here’s a guide to all my Gregory aus!

#1 - My first Gregory au, You Get What You Get (YGWTG) also known as the Invero Au. Gregory was killed by Vanny and he possesses a animatronic that was meant to help Vanny and Glitchtrap but he is instead working against them.

#2 - Shock Zone. This is the au that i’m writing a fanfic about, and this gregory is known as Zappy. He was a lab experiment and escaped with electrical powers.

#3 - Cherry Pie. Gregory lived in an abusive home where he was forced to be a model. They had starved him to make sure he was “kept pretty”. He gave Vanessa a note through a pie that asked for help and she adopted him.

#4 - Up The Rabbit Hole. Gregory is a trans boy who ran away from home after his father killed his mother. He hitchhiked around the country until he ended up in Big Timber Montana where the pizzaplex is.

#5 - The Bad Guys. This one is based off of the bad guys movie, but isn’t a complete replica with some character replacements. In this universe, there are half humans, fully humans, and full animorphs. Gregory is a wolf animorph who broke into the pizzaplex to steal from it and got caught by Freddy.

#6 - Remnant Farm. Gregory was kidnapped by Vanny while he was at a birthday party and was used by Vanny to farm remnant. Remnant in this au is like life juice, and the more remnant you have the more youthful you are and you’ll live longer. Vanny found out how to extract just enough remnant so he would have enough to live, and he was kept there for a year and a half.

There’s the summaries of all my aus! I will update this if I make more, and feel free to ask about them, my ask box is open!

This shit hits harder than Peruvian cocaine 🙏🏻

kickoff | series masterlist.

gojo satoru x reader [18+] | angst, fluff, smut

ᰔ pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader (f)

ᰔ summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying & drinking while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.

ᰔ warnings/tags. 18+, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, weed usage, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot

ᰔ status. ongoing

ᰔ word count. 72.5k

ᰔ taglist. open (feel free to comment!)

chapter index.

ch1. gojo satoru sent you a message

ch2. terms and conditions

ch3. returning the favor

ch4. a day in the life of a hot soccer player

ch5. these feelings are hard to find

ch6. devil's advocate

ch7. to lose someone you love

ch8. a little cottage on the countryside

ch9. words you've been wanting to hear

ch10. pending...

additional content.

official headcanons pt1. fluff, mild nsfw | link

anon headcanons. fluff | link

a note from the author. hello! my name is ellie, and this is my first long fic series called 'kickoff' which i began posting earlier this year in january! if you do decide to read it, i thank you very much from the bottom of my heart as it means a lot to me :””) please let me know if i missed any tags or warnings! and for those who may want to know before reading, this series will have a happy ending <3