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Ace grins, baring his teeth at the endless stretch of blue across the horizon. The wanted poster in his pocket burns like hot coal but the lick of ocean mist is a balm against his skin. He’s going to prove himself and denounce his wicked blood with a decisive strike against one of the most powerful pirates.
“You better not come back,” a voice chokes.
Ace tears his eyes away from the ocean to peer at Luffy. His fists are clenched at his side and a fat sheen of tears coats his eyes. His lower lip is captured between his teeth and his face is flushed as his chest heaves erratically. His body is barely able to suppress his tears.
“Want me gone that badly?” Ace teases, but he knows what Luffy means. If he comes back, he’ll have given up on his dreams; dreams are all they have.
Luffy sniffles. The snot dripping from his nostrils recedes and it’s disgusting, but the sight replaces the bloodlust coursing through Ace’s veins with molasses. Sticky and sweet, it crawls through him, nudged only by his throbbing heart.
“Come here, crybaby,” Ace says, extending his arms. His lips melt into a crooked smile.
Luffy barrels into him, knocking Ace back several steps. Ace regains his bearings and steadies them both as Luffy bawls into his shirt — shuddering from the earthquake of his sobs.
Ace runs his hands up Luffy’s bony back, counting each vertebra as he did last night and the night before. He tangles his fingers in Luffy’s hair and holds him, stroking Luffy’s scalp as he cards his digits through coarse, perfect strands.
“You’ll see me again,” Ace murmurs, watching the hair spill between his fingers like sand.
Luffy draws back and peers up at Ace. His cheeks and the tip of his nose are a vibrant red, and tears cling to his lashes. “Do you promise?”
“On my life.”
“Then prove it,” Luffy says, extending his pinky finger. “Swear it.”
Ace hooks his pinky around Luffy’s much smaller one and then presses their thumbs together to stamp it.
Luffy nods, but his lips are twisted in a pout. He’s clearly dissatisfied. His hand drops to the side and Ace grabs it. He tangles their fingers together and slots their palms against one another, tasting Luffy’s calluses with his own.
“I’ll make another promise, then,” Ace says
He cups the side of Luffy’s flushed face with his other hand and swipes Luffy’s damp cheeks with his thumb, smearing the tears. His thumb trails down to Luffy’s lips and he presses down slightly. He lets go to see the blood return to pale, chapped skin.
Luffy blinks. He’s never been one to ask about Ace’s motives, but just as Ace is breaking the constant of their proximity by leaving, Luffy is breaking the constant of his unquestioning faith. “What kind?”
“An adult promise,” Ace replies,
He bends his knees and slides his lips against Luffy’s. They’re greasy, tasting just like their final meal together, and Ace wonders how long the flavor of Luffy will remain in his mouth.
Luffy melts like candle wax. He wraps his arms around Ace’s neck and steps onto the tip of his toes, meeting Ace halfway.
Suddenly there’s spit. Suddenly there’s tongue.
Suddenly Ace is sucking Luffy’s lower lip and Luffy is writhing in his arms, tangling his small fingers in Ace’s hair and squeezing the roots. Ace is shoving his knee between Luffy’’s thighs and Luffy is rubbing against him and it’s too much.
Ace tears himself away, freckled skin burning despite the cool ocean wind surrounding him.
Luffy blinks at him, panting, and Ace wants nothing more than to kiss him once more. See what other types of reactions he can provoke. But he has a journey to start.
“We’ll do more when we meet up again,” Ace promises.
He wraps his arms around Luffy one last time, relishing the remaining boyhood, and then hops onto his boat. Luffy snivels as he helps push it into the sea.
The ocean catches the small ship and Ace is locked in the lazy current and lazy wind. He waves at his baby brother. “Don’t miss me too much!”
“I won’t miss you at all!” Luffy wails.
Ace watches until Luffy disappears. The sun beats down on him, arguing with the ocean mist over which temperature should reign supreme. Ace lies down while the elements bicker and he rummages through his pocket for the bounty poster to examine his target.
Except Ace doesn’t kill Whitebeard. He becomes his son instead, aspires to make his new father the King of Pirates, and then eats the Flame-Flame fruit. The composition of his body changes and he’s fire — burning bright, burning wild, and burning up his wicked blood.
Then three years pass. Ace hoards Luffy’s wanted posters and spits literal fire when someone attempts to nab them. He leans over the worn paper and engraves Luffy’s smile behind his eyelids as he touches himself.
Biting back grunts, Ace wonders how much Luffy’s voice has deepened. The difference between Luffy’s moans of pleasure and Luffy’s moans of pain. If Luffy still sleeps with his limbs splayed like a starfish and if he’s received new scars from his adventures.
Ace wonders if Luffy is still his.
…
Enter Alabasta.