The Whitebeard Pirates had told you early on never to let Ace have more than two tankards of rum on any given day. When you’d asked why, they’d only given a vague response of ‘you’ll regret it.’ You were curious, but didn’t ask further.
But it all made sense now.
“Why did you let this happen, Y/N?” Marco asked, arms crossed as you both watched the idiot bluster at full volume how much he loved the chef’s cooking, and that he didn’t want to go another day without telling him that in case he died the next day.
“I didn’t realize he’d get like…this.” You say, gesturing as he drunkenly stumbled over to one of the other crew members and snagged his arm around their neck, proceeding to tell them that he could never remember their name, even if they’d been with the family 2 months already.
Marco gave a sigh, rubbing at his temples wearily as he turned to enter the lower decks. “Well, he’s your problem now, yoi. You’re in charge of making sure he doesn’t stumble overboard.”
“But-”
“Let this be a lesson.”
And with that, the 1st division commander left you on the upper deck to deal with Ace’s loud and drunken behavior. You watched for several more minutes, half amused and half apologetic as he spoke with the other members of the crew one by one.
He was an idiot, but you couldn’t help but think he was pretty cute, wandering around and spouting his drunken nonsense to anyone and everyone he focused his attention to. You smiled to yourself, glad that you got to see another part of him.
Everything about Ace made you smile, even his unusual habit of speaking everything on his mind when absolutely hammered. You couldn’t deny that he was someone special to you. The two of you were great friends, but you harbored feelings that went deeper than platonic friendship.
Simply being around him was enough for you, though. Even if he didn’t reciprocate your feelings.
As the night wore on, crewmates began filtering off to bed. You figured that since you’d snuck Ace the extra alcohol, it was your responsibility to make sure he got to his bed alright. Standing, you made your way over and threw his arm around your neck, helping him towards the lower decks.
“Oh…hi, Y/N!” He chuckled happily, allowing you to drag him wherever it was the two of you were going. “I didn’t see you at the party! Did you have fun too?”
“I did. Watching you make a fool of yourself was great fun.” You said with a laugh, kicking open the door and setting you on the path to his room.
“Are you taking me to bed with you? How naughty…waiting until I’m drunk to make a move.” His words were slurring all over the place, barely understandable if his mouth wasn’t directly next to your ear.
“I’m dragging you to your room so you can sleep, dummy. You’ve had way too much to drink.”
He gave another chuckle, and you rolled your eyes. “Maybe I’m just faking it…so you can hold me against you like this.”
“No, you’re definitely drunk.”
“Yeeaahhh…I’m drunk.”
You turned into the hallway for his room, his door in sight. “Come on, you can sleep it off and feel like shit in the morning.”
“Wait, wait…I gotta tell you something.”
“It can wait for the morning-”
“No, what if I die in my sleep? I gotta say it now.” He started frantically pushing away from you, stubbornly planting his feet in the hallway so you couldn’t drag him anywhere else.
“Ace, you won’t die in your-”
“I fucking love you so much.”
You blinked. “What?”
His arms wrapped around you in a tight hug, pulling you to his chest, perhaps forgetting that he’d just spent a good minute trying to push you away. “I think about you all the time when you’re not around, and I miss you if I don’t see you. You’re my favorite person. You’re so amazing and strong, and you’re so hot, I don’t know what to do with myself.”
You can feel your face turning a mad shade of red at his words, your heart beating so fast it nearly hurt. “Ace-”
“Y/N, I wanna spend the rest of my life fighting next to you. I wanna protect you, and I wanna kiss you and a lot of other things. So much I wanna do but we should probably start dating first.” He said, finally pulling away to look you in the face. “I wanna be your boyfriend and your husband and whatever else you want me to be. I’ll steal you a ring if you want one, whatever you want-”
“Ace!” You manage to get him to shut up, but the wild desperation and abject honesty in his eyes was overwhelming but so, sovalidating to you. Damn, you wanted to kiss him too.
But he was wasted drunk, and you were sober. And it wouldn’t sit right with you to know your first kiss was likely one he wouldn’t remember. You ball your hands into fists against his chest, and gently push him away.
“You need to sleep.” Some of the excitement dies from his gaze. “You’re really drunk. And I don’t want you regretting what you’re telling me-”
“I don’t live with regrets, Y/N.” He stated. And for as drunk as he was, you could believe he meant those words to the very core of his person. “I could never regret loving you.”
“…” His promise made you speechless, but you shook your head, managing to keep your heart from bursting in joy. “Then tell me again in the morning, when you’re sober. I’ll tell you if I feel the same way then, ok?”
Your words made him widen his eyes. “I didn’t even ask if you feel the same way! Ugh, I’m such an asshole! I’m sorry, Y/N, if you don’t feel the same way, just…forget everything I told you, we can go back to being friends, I’ll be fine with that too-”
“Ace, get some sleep. Please.” You say, unable to help your smile. Your gentle nudging on his shoulder finally prompted him to keep walking towards his door. “You’ll thank yourself in the morning if you go to bed now, ok?”
“Yeah, alright…” He let out a disappointed sigh. You finally reached his door, and he opened it after a moment of struggle. Before entering, he turned to you and gave a wide smile. “Thanks, Y/N. I’ll see you in the morning.”
You cover your red cheeks as you walk back down the hallway to your own room. You definitely weren’t getting any sleep tonight.
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