A warm hand nudges you awake, and you turn to see Ace smiling down at you. "Hey sleepyhead." He says, taking a step back. "Luffy and Sabo are finishing setting up the tent, so I came to get you. Didja sleep well?"

You nod, wiping the sleep from your eyes and stretching in the recliner. "Perhaps a little too well." You manage to get the words out before you yawn. "I feel like I slept a day and a half."

"Nah, just a few hours." Ace assures you as you tilt the recliner up. He bends a little at the waist and offers his elbow with a toothy grin. "My lady."

You almost choke on your laugh before setting your hand on the offered elbow and pulling yourself up to your feet. "No one says that anymore." You explain with a smile.

"Oh? What does a proper gentleman say to a proper lady, then?" He questions.

"May I, or allow me." You answer. "You only say 'My Lady' if you're in a formal relationship." You explain as Ace escorts you to the backyard.

The 3,500 sqft two story house was set on almost two full acres of land, just outside heart of the city. Sabo had explained to you that one of the partners in his firm had bought up eight plots, and essentially bulldozed the whole area to make a singular plot. Then went on to do the same thing with several other sections of land nearby.

It caused a strange shift in scenery, considering that the next block over, looked very typically like what you'd expect from a populous city.

But that same partner had also paid off the leases, loans, and mortgages of the people nearby. Altruism wasn't exactly the point, but the act had created a positive outlook on the sudden changes. Quite a bit of land had been snapped up, after all, so things had been done to relieve the sting of those actions.

For some reason, it was important to the partner to have control of the land in this area specifically. If Sabo knew the reasons for that, he hadn't told you, and you hadn't asked. The setup afforded you a level of privacy and security, and the large house was more than comfortable for the four of you.

Tonight, what it afforded you was a wide-open view of the night sky.

"Ah, there you are." Sabo says, wiping sweat from his brow before motioning toward the tent. "Allow me to show you the luxury of a tent." He over at Ace. "Can you get the fire started while we, uh, do this?"

"Yeah." Ace answers. There's something in his and Sabo's tones that catches your attention, but before you can ask Sabo's already turning you toward the tent.

The tent is somehow both larger and smaller than you had expected. You'd only seen pictures of them, and it always seemed that barely a single person could fit in one. This was much larger, enough so that you could easily step inside of it, but it was also smaller somehow.

Maybe you'd read too many fantasy novels growing up, about grand magic knights' tents on the edges of battle being big enough to host whole banquets in them.

The tent was large enough to easily fit three air mattresses, some pillows, a few extra blankets, and still have enough room for people to maneuver around one another. There were a couple books and a few unopened packaged snacks in the tent, some bottles of water – things you would've absolutely expected if the tent had been set up in the forest, and not just the backyard.

"We didn't bring the whole experience in." Sabo admits with a grin. "Figured it would be easier for us all to just go use the bathroom in the house."

You laugh. "Yeah, that's something I can wait to experience." You look around before looking up at Sabo. "Um... three beds?"

"Luffy's already offered to sleep on the floor, but chances are one of us – and by us, I mean not you – will double-up." Sabo explains.

"Ah... yes. This is... this is normal for camping." You say, trying not to sound as nervous as you were feeling.

"Concerned?"

"No! No, I'm... I just..." You shake your head. "No, I'm going to sleep in here, and it will be proper because that's how camping works."

Understanding comes across Sabo's face. "Right. I forgot. We can fix this easily, honestly." He says, walking over to the other end of the tent.

"F-fix it in a way that doesn't ruin the experience, right?" You question nervously. It was true you had never had to share a room with someone before, and honestly for a noble lady to do so would be considered highly improper. You weren't always concerned about the rules, but something about this made you a little nervous, even if you didn't want it to.

"Yes." Sabo answers, pulling a tarp free and walking back over to you. "This," he explains as he easily reaches the top of the tent and begins snapping the tarp into place. "Is a room divider that comes with the tent. It's an acceptable piece of camping equipment to use." He assures you with a smile.

"Oh, is that what that's for?" Ace asks, stepping into the tent with the two of you. He smiles over at you. "Fire's really going, if you want to come sit." He offers, holding the tent flap to the side for you.

"Yes, thank you!" You step past him, deciding against asking where his shirt had gone to. You weren't surprised to see Luffy in nothing but shorts as well, when you found him around the fire pit.

Luffy looks up and starts coughing from the smoke and points for you to sit across from where he is. There's no fancy seating around the fire pit, just some big logs cut into sections, with spots that were worn smooth from use. Luffy comes around and joins you with a smile.

"You might have to move as the wind shifts, but it's nice, yeah?"

"It is! I thought it would be uncomfortably hot since it's June, but without the sun out it's quite nice." You agree. "Luffy, what do you do around a fire? Do you just admire it?"

Luffy tilts his head and looks at the fire with you for a moment. Sabo and Ace join the two of you while you're staring at the fire, and you hear Sabo behind you.

"What are you two doing so quietly?" He asks with concern in his voice.

You both look over at him. "Admiring the fire." You answer together.

You hear Ace choke and turn to look at him. He has his back to everyone as he composes himself, so you leave him to it, and look back to Sabo.

"Are you okay, brother dear?" You ask softly.

Sabo puts a hand on your shoulder reassuringly before sitting down. "Being around Ace and Luffy has helped me get past that; much better than I ever expected. I'm okay. I don't know that I'm quite ready to admire fire, but I'm not afraid of it anymore." He smiles and you can tell he's not just humoring you. "It's pretty to you though?"

"Mm-hm," You admit, turning back toward the flames. "The colors, the shapes, it's here and gone in the shift of the wind, but if you're lucky you can catch everything in it. Faces, faeries, forests – er, I'm getting hung up on f-words." You smile.

"Dragon!" Luffy shouts, pointing at a shape that's already gone.

"It's like extreme cloud watching." Sabo muses.

You laugh. "A little like that, yes."

Watching the fire for a moment, movement catches your eye as Ace sits down next to you. He hands you a long metal rod, with a couple marshmallows already skewered on the end of it.

"I'm going to teach you the great art of marshmallow roasting." He says with a smile as he puts a couple marshmallows on another metal rod. "Sabo likes his barely golden brown, almost cold."

"They're warm." Sabo huffs.

"Luffy sets his on fire until they're almost black." Ace continues, tilting his head toward Luffy who already has his own going. His marshmallows are almost in the center of the fire and speeding past golden brown as they start to blacken. Luffy pulls them out and they're on fire, but he still waits a second before blowing them out.

You're almost certain you can hear the crunch of carbonized marshmallow when he eats them.

"Mine," Ace says with the smile that dances in his eyes. "Are perfect."

"Quite like -." You freeze. You weren't entirely sure what you were getting ready to say, but you knew you couldn't safely say it. "I would quite like them to not be on fire." You say, hopefully fast enough. Suddenly it's a lot warmer on the log, and it's not the fire's fault.

"Or – or cold." You add, hoping that you don't sound nearly as awkward as you feel at the moment.

Ace looks from you to Sabo and then back to his own marshmallows. "You want to help her set up against the log?" He asks Sabo.

"Nope." Sabo says, getting up and walking away. "It's your perfect technique, Ace. You can teach her. I'm going to go make some cold roasted marshmallows."

Abandoned by your own brother. Neither of you knew it, but both of you were thinking it as Sabo went over to sit with Luffy.

There's a second of silence and you can hear Ace almost growl Sabo's name under his breath before he sighs and turns toward you. There's an adorably sheepish look on his face as he resolves to continue with the lesson.

"So, between your legs -!" He starts and freezes up. You can see his face turn red as realization dawns and his embarrassment is making yours worse. "On the log, on the log!" He adds hastily, looking away and pointing to the space between your knees.

Moving your legs apart a little, you look down at the log and see a de-barked circle worn into it. The bottom of the rod fits into it easily and you can see relief wash over Ace.

"Like this?"

"Y-yeah, like that." He says before setting his up the same way. "And see? Now you just guide it a little and get it right by the fire. If you pull your leg up, you can brace against it a little too." He says, setting his ankle over his knee and letting the rod brace between the log and his calf.

You mimic Ace, adjusting a little to get the tension right. "Won't the metal get too hot? It's not going to burn my leg?"

"If we made a couple dozen of these back-to-back it might, but it's long enough that it shouldn't even really get warm." He assures you. "Just turn it a little bit every few seconds."

"Oh, I'm not turning it constantly?"

"Nah. You can, but this way is better." He grins.

"Oh! It's brown already!" You gasp, turning the rod a little.

"Yeah, that's normal though, it's not done yet, don't pull it back." Ace instructs. "Sabo sees the browning and thinks it's done but keep turning."

You giggle. "Otherwise, I'll have a cold marshmallow."

He beams. "Exactly!"

"It's not cold!" Sabo yells as his marshmallow catches on fire. "Hells – Luffy, help."

Your evening continues, and the pressure of the day eases up. You have a few marshmallows, even trying one of Luffy's deeply burnt ones. The ones Ace makes have little patterns of light and dark brown on them from how he rotates them, and you have to admit they're your favorite ones.

Sabo's aren't exactly cold, but they're not very warm either. Ace's make the best s'mores, and everyone agrees on that so much so, that he's stuck making s'mores for everyone.

Luffy decides to tell you your first campfire ghost story, but he's a little upset when you're laughing at the end. Somehow the fridge being devoid of meat wasn't nearly as scary to you as it was to him.

After your belly's full of camp food and the fire's starting to die down, you're leaning back, looking up at the starry sky. The day has been a mess of emotions. Even though it was only hours ago the hospital already feels like it was days away.

Even meeting Ichiji in the driveway feels far away.

All that exists right now are you, them, and the stars.

A relaxed sigh leaves you before something catches your attention and you turn to see Ace holding a couple lit sparklers. He hands you one as he sits down next to you.

Your eyes are on the sparkler, but his eyes are on you.

"Oh." You gasp moving it around and watching the light trail in the dark as the little sparks dance. "Oh it's so pretty."

"Yeah." He replies, clearing his throat before he nudges you with his elbow directing your attention across the yard.

Luffy has a sparkler in each hand and is dancing and twirling around the lawn. There's no planning or coordination to the show, but it was still pretty to watch. You hear Sabo grumble that he's not too old yet and he's out in the lawn with Luffy. His pant legs are rolled up and he's barefoot, dashing around with Luffy in an odd sort of dance of light.

You look over at Ace. "Are you going to join them?"

"It's... tempting." He says with a smile. "But I think I'm okay right where I am."

You can feel the heat rush to your face as you turn back toward the sparkler. "That's... good."

"Yeah?"

"... Yeah."

"Good." Ace says softly.

A/N - Oh hey, I forgot when I first posted this: Have an image of The Tent

I found it when I was trying to gauge legit big tent sizes. It's surprisingly affordable for what it is.