"No, that makes sense. Oh, it's fine Mr. Bon-chan, I promise, I'll be okay. Just keep me posted." You hang up the phone, and sigh.

It will take months for the office building to be rebuilt, and the current belief is that it will have to be fully demolished and rebuilt entirely. Mr. Bon-chan's firm is looking for temporary space as fast as they can, but it will likely be another week at least before everyone can return to work. There's a chance some people will have to – or be able to – work remotely, but for right now there's a small army of executives working at Mr. Bon's home keeping everything afloat.

Frankly, you're too new to be much help, and you were also the only person in the firm to be trapped in the building. A few people on other floors weren't so lucky, in the end seven people died because they couldn't evacuate, and dozens more were hospitalized from smoke inhalation.

You felt a little guilty that you had survived, but Sabo said that several other people had been successfully rescued by the fire department, not just you.

"How long?" Ace questions, cleaning up the dishes from the morning's breakfast.

"Months for the office to be rebuilt, but Mr. Bon-chan says that they're trying to find a temporary location in the meantime." You say with a sigh.

"Chin up, Bon-chan's resourceful, you'll be back to work in no time." He says with a smile.

"And you? It's okay that you're here?" You question.

"Oh yeah. I worked everything out at the station once we got you admitted." He assures you, putting the last of the dishes up to dry. "We're supposed to take time off when we enter a building anyway. I mean, I usually don't – what's fire going to do to me? But, I can take advantage of the procedure this time, so, sure."

Ace leans up against the sinks, looking at you from across the breakfast bar. "Besides, we wanted to talk." He lets the idea hang in the air for a moment. "Only if you're up for it. You've been going through a lot the last few-."

"I am." You cut him off. You can't look at him, but you're smiling. "I've spent my whole life thinking every moment was precious... and I guess it still is, even if I'm not legitimately sick, but if I wait until nothing is happening, then, well, nothing will happen."

Ace considers it for a moment and then smiles. "Good point." He pauses. "It's not nighttime, but we can still talk outside."

You nod. You never got to spend much time outside in the first place, and it was lovely outside.

"Were you going to show me your fire Monday night?" You question, referring to the original plan that had been derailed by the fire.

"Yeah," Ace admits, pulling the patio door open and letting you walk by. "I know some of what you and Sabo went through as kids, I was worried you would be afraid of it."

"... What my parents did isn't the fault of anything they used to do it." You say after a moment. "Which isn't always enough to make it easier, but only Sabo was, um, scarred that way."

"Ahhhhh, heck. Sorry, we came out here to talk, but not about this. My bad." Ace says with a bit of a sigh. "Dredging up old stuff isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Indeed. The past isn't what we need to talk about anyway." You agree, turning toward him and taking a couple steps backward.

"Yeah... Are you sure about this?" He asks, pulling his hat up and putting it on.

"Sure about... talking?"

Ace suddenly looks unsure. "... Dating. Me."

You turn away and start walking further into the backyard. "I suppose that's what we're going to talk about, isn't it?"

"So I thought." Ace says. You can hear a grin in his voice as he follows after you.

"Should I be unsure?" You question, looking over your shoulder before coming to a stop by the fire pit.

"I mean... I'm, uh..." Ace clicks his tongue. "My dad's kinda... was kind of notorious."

"Mine too." You say with a small smile. "They're not us." You assert, sitting down on the log. "You're not going to hold my father's actions against me, are you?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"Then why should I care about your father's actions?" You prompt, straddling the log as Ace does the same beside you. Unlike the night spent camping, you're facing each other instead of simply sitting side by side.

"It's... been a problem for people before." Ace admits, concern on his face. "Did Sabo tell you?"

"About your dad?" You shake your head. "Sabo didn't even tell me what you and Luffy could do. Was your father a murderer?"

Ace shakes his head.

"Did he keep and abuse slaves?"

He shakes his head again.

"Did he beat and scar children?"

"No, he... he didn't do any of that as far as I know."

You lean down to catch Ace's gaze and smile. "Then, to me, he's already a preferable father. But even if he had been awful, you are not."

You straighten back up and can see the pink in Ace's face, despite the coverage his hat offered.

"Hmm... was he Roger?" You question, and you see Ace flinch. "Sorry. It really was a lucky guess."

"How so?"

"Gol D. Roger is infamous. Enough so that your average person has a concept of him that may or may not be correct." You explain. "For people to hold it against you, and since you're not a noble, it would have had to have been someone infamous. You're too young for Xebec to have been your dad, and you're not actually blood related to Luffy, which means your father couldn't be Dragon.

"Process of elimination."

"How'd you know about Luffy's dad?"

"I sorted that out before I even moved in. Garp's a hero of the people, but his son is practically struck from all records. Monkey D. Garp, Monkey D. Dragon, Monkey D. Luffy." You say. "If it was meant to be a secret, it's a poorly kept one."

"It might not be a common surname, but it's not just them." Ace counters.

"You're not wrong, but I'm not wrong either." You insist with a smile. "Luffy is chaos incarnate, there's no way he's not related to such big names."

Ace laughs. "He is, that's true."

"I could be cursed." You say after a moment, and Ace nods.

"You could."

You scoot a little closer to him. "It doesn't matter that you are."

"... I know." Ace looks over at you and gives you a crooked smile. "I knew... when you called my fire pretty." He admits. "Pretty though? Of all words?"

You smile. "Cute?"

"Handsome?" Ace tries to prompt.

"I mean, you are, but your fla-." You freeze, and then cover your face with your hands.

You hear Ace scoot closer to you. "Got you." He says softly.

"That was cheap." You grump from behind your fingers.

"Hardly. Now, if I had tricked you into calling me sexy," he muses, letting the idea hang in the air.

"It's not a trick when you are." You say, parting your fingers and looking at him from behind your hands. His face is pink, but he's smiling back at you.

"Can I come closer?" He questions.

"Yeah."

"Pardon me then." He says, grabbing your legs and putting them over his thighs as he scoots closer. He has one hand against the back of your waist, your covered face inches from his chest. The new position pulls a quiet squeak from you, but you don't make a move to leave.

"Can I hug you?" He questions, his voice nearly a whisper.

You nod, moving your hands away from your face and putting them around his waist as the two of you lean into one another. You rest your head on his chest, and felt his cheek nuzzle against your head as his hands wrapped around you.

"My flames," he says softly, nearly speaking into your hair. "Are nothing compared to how beautiful you are."

"... That's cheating." You mumble. You're glad you don't combust when you're embarrassed like Ace does, but you're sure he can feel the heat radiating off of you at this point.

"Cheating would be telling you, how the first time you laughed, I thought I was so screwed. Or that when you were pressed against me when we destroyed those books, I was scrambling to keep my composure. That I was so scared you only tolerated cursed, and you wouldn't ever truly see me." Ace's hug tightens, and your mind scrambles on the spot. "You don't even have to do anything, and I feel like I'm getting pulled in a hundred directions at once. I... it's a little scary, so I'm sorry for saying so, but I want to burn your mom to ashes for what she's done to you."

You tighten your hug and scoot a little closer. "You don't scare me."

"Heh, haaa... ahh, I might not scare you, but you're kind of scary." Ace admits. He breaks the hug, wiggling away a little. He puts his hat on your head, covering your view with it.

"I'm not scary!" You protest with a laugh, bringing the hat up and seeing him sitting properly on the log, one leg crossed over the other. The red on his face, and his position is enough for you to realize what happened, and you feel your own face heat up. "... Sorry."

Ace gives you a wide grin, pulling his hat down over your eyes again. "It's okay."

You sit cross-legged on the log, facing him with a smile as you tip the hat back up a little. It's a bit too big for you, and you have to tilt it back to keep it on without it falling forward, but you don't take it off. You decide to distract yourself with the stampede strap, and the ornament on it.

"It's... a very nice hat." You say absently.

"Mm." Ace looks over at you and smiles. "I've had it since I was a kid. Well, fourteen, but still."

"You've taken exceptional care of it, then." You run your fingers over the skull and horn motif.

"The lady who looked after Luffy and I, helped me make it. She's an amazing leather worker." Ace explains. "Otherwise, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have lasted this long no matter how well I took care of it. Marco, and the guys at the station, made the necklace to go with it." He says, preemptively answering your next question, as he lifts the crimson red beaded necklace he usually wears.

"Such nice gifts from your nakama." You muse softly. "I hope I can gift you something suitable at some point as well."

You see flames flicker over Ace and celebrate internally. It was, perhaps, a little cruel of you, but it was so cute, and you had to admit you were trying to make him do that.

"You're cheating again." He grumbles.

"Intentionally." You admit with a smile.

Ace grunts and ruffles the hat against your hair a little. "So... what now?"

Biting your lower lip a little, you grin deviously. "Someone promised me a better first date."

"Was Ichiji your first date?" Ace asks. "Like, I mean, first ever?"

You crinkle your nose. "That doesn't count." You pout. "I didn't... choose him."

There's a moment's pause before Ace leans toward you slowly. He reaches out and brushes his fingers over yours a little before he takes your hand gently. You're certain if you were still hooked up to the heart monitor, the alarms would be going off already.

Warm, calloused fingers, slide over the soft skin of your palm as he brings your hand to his face.

"It would be my pleasure, (Y/N), to take you on your first date." He kisses your hand softly, grinning deviously at you as he straightens up.

"Che... Cheater!" You accuse, pulling the hat over your face and hiding behind it.

"Ruffian." He corrects, causing you to both laugh.

A/N - None of this was what I had planned for this chapter. (But ain't none of us complaining either.)