Broken Promises (AcexReader)

 “No! Ace, I’m not going to let you do this!” Silky locks of [h/c] hair fluttered out as you leaned forward, stomping your foot on the ground to emphasize your point. You wouldn’t, couldn’t, let Ace do something so stupid. You understood how he felt, but you also knew what could end up happening. You couldn’t allow him to make a decision like this, one that seemed so rash and reckless.

 “[Name]—“

 “No, Ace, I mean it! Even Whitebeard told you not to go! This is a bad idea.” You were almost pleading by this point. You weren’t sure how, but you just knew that something terrible would happen if Ace did this. You could feel it in your gut, eating at you the way a rat gnaws at a rope.

 Sighing, Ace ran a hand through his hair, pushing the dark strands away from his troubled eyes, focused down at the wooden deck of the ship. He couldn’t bear to look at you right now, knowing the expression you’d be wearing. He couldn’t stand to see an expression that venerable right now.

 “Alright, [Name].” Finally, he seemed to concede. Ace knew how you could be, as did everyone else. You were impossibly stubborn, and there was no argument nor reasoning that could make you change your mind at this point. You weren’t going to let him go. He couldn’t win.

-

 A frown made its way to the freckled face of Whitebeard’s second division commander as he remembered the events of your last argument, one that took place three nights prior.  

 “Why do you have to be so stubborn?” Ace risked a whisper as he stared down at your sleeping face, just barely able to make out your peaceful featured by the moonlight spilling through the porthole in the side of your shared room. It was rare you looked so calm, but Ace liked to see you looking peaceful. It bothered him that by the next morning, your face would be one filled with grief, and it would be all his fault.

Steeling himself and retracting the hand that had been caressing your cheek, Ace stood up. No matter what the others said, he had to do this. He knew it would hurt, and he knew he would be breaking both the express orders of his captain, and a promise he’d made to you. Still, he simply couldn’t allow anyone to insult Whitebeard, the one he considered a father, the way that Blackbeard had the audacity to. Ace could only hope that you would forgive him.

Standing up, Ace glanced back at you one more time before pressing a lingering kiss to your forehead, allowing himself to get a little lost in the feeling of his lips against your skin. This would be the last in a long time

“I’ll be back before you know it. I promise.” And with one more forced grin, he was gone.