Work Text:
Rising with the morning sun became a habit for you over time.
The sunlight would try to filter past the thick curtains shrouding the window, but only a glimpse of the brightness outside would pour in. With the steady approach of winter, even that light became scarce.
The small hearth in your room was still crackling from when you lit it last night before bed, the flame now much smaller and near extinguished, but it provided enough light for you to be able to see around without squinting.
You barely shift in your place before Ace's arm, draped over your waist, twitches.
The weight is one you've fondly grown accustomed to over the past few months after you concluded that accidentally jabbing your elbow against him in your sleep won't hurt him.
His sigh tickles the back of your neck, hot and breathy, amplified in the silence of the room. You feel his arm flex, hand curling underneath your body before you're dragged back with relative ease.
Your fingers curl around your shared blanket as your back hits his chest. Ace groans out something incoherent, burying his head against the side of your neck as his hair softly brushes the underside of your jaw.
You can feel his warmth envelope you even through his shirt, grounding, real, and yours. Immediately biting down on your tongue in an attempt to stop the memories from flooding in because all that matters now is that he's here.
No more bounties. No more blood spilled. No more losses endured.
The two of you are together now; that's all that matters.
Unwrapping your finger from the blanket, you raise your hand up and carefully thread your fingers in his hair, mindful to not accidentally tug.
"I love you."
You feel his entire body lock up.
You don't expect him to say anything in return; he's just woken up. He might still be groggy; he might've not even heard you, but regardless, you're already rubbing small circles on his arm, trying to soothe the tension away.
Ace is quietly breathing on your neck by the time you switch to tracing letters on his skin.
His name.
A
C
E
Your finger slowly glides over his skin, tracing each letter with care that you wanted him to feel without the need to express it using words. Your hand in his hair occasionally rubs his scalp, and you don't miss how his body reacts to all of it.
Ace kept inching closer, his thighs pressed to the back of yours, your spine bent forward until you're both curled into yourselves, and his lips pulsed against your skin with a tremor you're sure he didn't intend for you to feel.
"I love you, Ace."
The warmth surrounding you grows stronger as you repeat those words, not with fierce flames, but with the gentle flickers of the man beneath it.
Because no matter how brightly Ace shines or dims low, you'll always be willing to burn softly in his warmth.